The last week has been incredibly hot, with temperatures in the high twenties and low thirties most every day. I don’t mind the heat, but the humidity some days has made things feel quite oppressive. The plot and the potting shed are doing well though, with some exceptions. Video updates of both below.
Quick Links 19th July 2016
Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read, inspired me or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.
Pokemon Go. I’d not heard of those two words until this week, but it seems to be the latest craze sweeping the world. Only just launched in the UK, I think that’s a pretty savy move just before the school summer holidays which start at the end of this week. Anyway I reserve judgement about whether or not it’s a good thing, although I do like the aspect portrayed here, in terms of getting outdoors, and discovering new places, and also on the opportunity to develop peoples fitness, and just being outside, which I think is a good thing. It does however seem to have an all consuming effect on some (now that’s never been used in science fiction before, has it!!), and there are some obvious concerns about being too immersed in the game, and not paying attention to your surroundings or those who are nearby, with warnings from NSPCC and Police.
Currently Reading:
I realise that as I work on this post in the week leading up to when it is posted that sometimes by the time the post goes live, I’ve actually finished some of the books I list, which means that some are “read this week” rather than currently reading. Anyway:
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman [GoodReads]
DECC Abolished in Government Re-shuffle / Leadsom new Environment Minister. Slightly concerned that DECC has been abolished and the functions now sit in an expanded Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. At the moment though I’d say the proof of the pudding etc. Let’s wait and see what happens when the dust has settled. Similarly having Andrea Leadsom as the new SoS for Environment is another one to watch, although I have to say that one worries me more in some ways. Who knows?
The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures
Quick Links 12th July 2016
Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read, inspired me or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.
When I read something like this article in The Guardian, I am increasingly not shocked or surprised. Why? Well put simply, this has been said before, but politician’s and society at large, just aren’t listening, we’re not interested, unless we’re directly affected.
In 2014/15 I worked on flood recovery from the severe winter flooding of 2013/14. The lionsshare of the media attention went to places like the Somerset levels, but the effects were much more widespread than that. The immediate response, and that just after was that this was horrific and should never be allowed to happen again, anywhere. Lots of effort was put into making sure that was the case, and the winter of 2014/15 passed relatively quietly in the areas where I was working, but there was more flooding in Cumbria with storms Desomond and Eva. This might have been on another planet however, as locally things were wound down, people forgot what had happen a mere 12 months before.
Human memory is short and political memories even shorter. It seems we are destined to never learn the lessons of our own history. We won’t put sufficient effort into doing something about this issue, nor we will stop for a moment to consider the effects that continued unrestrained growth is having. We’ll still build on flood plains, not matter how short sighted stupid that is and we don’t even do the simple things, like maintaining watercourse, ditches, streams and banks to even help the existing system cope.
The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures
Currently Reading:
The Book of Yaak by Rick Bass [GoodReads]
Joyland by Stephen King [GoodReads]
Not surprised that this was sneaked through when attention was elsewhere. Whilst I know that there is a need for some chemical use in certain circumstances, I think the weight of evidence against glyphosate should have led to a different result, and a ban. Can’t help think that the pressure of big business and lobbyists against the ban might have had more influence.
I love that this guy just went ahead and helped a butterfly species, without too much assistance (or interference) from authority.
Blight on the Allotment
We’ve been having a lot of weather recently that is ideal conditions for the spread of blight. It effects tomatoes and potatoes, of which I grow both. Fortunately I am only growing my tomatoes inside this year, so they are less likely (although not guaranteed) to contract it. The potatoes on the other hand are outside and directly in the firing line. I wasn’t that surprised then to find that I had blight on the potatoes when I arrived at the plot yesterday.
I’d been keeping an eye on them, so I caught it early and it was confined to the haulms, and hadn’t reached the roots or the potato tubers themselves.
There’s a bit more detail in the video below, but essentially blight, which is airborne, spreads more easily when the weather is wet, mild and humid. More details about this disease in the UK can be found at: http://www.blightwatch.co.uk
Daily Harvest
I’m harvesting daily on the allotment at the moment. I haven’t purchased any green vegetables, potatoes or lettuce from the store in some time, in fact I think the only thing that I have been regularly buying as fresh produce is mushrooms (I don’t grow them), radish (I’ve had a total crop failure this year), tomatoes (mine aren’t ready) and cucumber (harvested the first one this morning, so not going to be buying any next week). I love it.
All of this wonderful food, grown by me and eaten by my family (with a nod to the slugs and pigeons who help themselves!). It got me to thinking about the savings on the shopping bill, which are noticeable, but then what has it actually cost me? Well I think this is maybe something I’m going to look at in detail next year, because it’s a complicated equation for the allotment. It’s not just the cost of the seed / plants, but also things like netting to protect the plants from the pigeons, cabbage collars etc. etc. and putting a figure on my time is difficult.
Ultimately it’s not just about the monetary value though. It’s about other issues.
Trace-ability of the produce for example, I know exactly what has happen to everything I grow from the moment I planted the seed / plant to the time it’s been harvested. I know exactly how fresh it is from the moment it’s harvested to the time it appears on the plate and I know how it’s been processed and prepared. These are things that it is very easy for me to track, but probably nigh on impossible for a store to be able to do the same to the level of detail that I have. For me though these are some of the most important elements. I have my own fully traceable plot nearly on my doorstep and it’s putting food on my plate daily at the moment, and I’m trying to stretch this to a longer season all the time. My biggest challenge is deciding what to eat next!
Swimming With Dogs (Redux)
Off to the beach this afternoon, to take the dogs for their first summer swim. Water was quite warm (for the time of year), but not so that we could stay in for very long. Still we had a good play, and came home again feeling refreshed but tired.
The video below, is from the last time we went.
Quick Links 5th July 2016
Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read, inspired me or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.
Today is exactly 8 years since I signed the first contract on my allotment – here’s to many more.
Currently Reading:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman [Amazon UK US CA]
The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures
And meanwhile a quick video from the garden
Allotment Update 2nd July 2016
I spent a bit of time on Saturday morning recording the above update from the allotment. I achieved most of the tasks I wanted to, but primarily I wanted to dig my early potatoes. Although I didn’t weigh them, I’d estimate around about 15 to 20 kilos of spuds (including what I’ve already harvested), which is a good harvest and should keep us going for a while. The second earlies and main crop aren’t due to be ready until the last week of August, but I’ll keep and eye on them and in particular for signs of blight. With all the humid and wet weather we’ve been having, with relatively low temperatures, it’s ideal conditions for blight. If I see any signs I’d consider an earlier harvest, or at least remove the haulms to prevent transmission to the potatoes underground.
Otherwise the main harvest at the moment seems to be the loganberries, I’m picking every other day and taking home between 250 – 300 grams each time. Lettuce, beetroot, and rainbow chard are also doing well, and courgettes are starting to come into their own. At the moment I’m cutting the latter when their small and cooking a few together, but given the number of plants I’ve got I can see a glut on the horizon! Harvested the first broccoli head at the weekend too!
Second Quarter Review 2016
Each year for the past few years I’ve been doing a year end review; books I’ve read, films/tv programmes I’ve watched and other things related to work and the allotment. You can read the end of 2015 here, if you’re interested.
This year I’m trying something a little different, and am splitting my year into quarters and trying to do a review at the end of the quarter. It helps me remember stuff more easily, and is more up to the minute than waiting to until December and trying to do the whole year in one go, or at least that’s the theory. The first quarter review is here.
Work
I’ve covered before my change in working arrangements that happen nearly a year ago, and becoming self-employed. If you want to know a little more about what I do now, click the “Home” link above.
This quarter has been quite quiet, and I’ve mostly been working on things for existing clients, closing out their projects, or taking some further forward. It’s quite a dynamic time, and each week “profile raising” finds its way onto my to-do list, as I’m concious of contract end dates, and the need to find more work. It is with a little uncertainty that I close out this quarter and head into the next work wise.
Brexit will pose some rather unique challenges for me, as part of my work is around helping companies and organisations attract / apply for EU funding. I’ll need a plan b, for that part of my work now. I have some ideas, but I also need to spend a little more time thinking about that.
Allotment
This quarter is probably one of the busiest on the plot, and there are plenty of other posts / videos about what I’ve been doing, so I won’t go into it in detail. It has been both a busy and rewarding time though, and my allotment is looking good. As always there are things that I’d do differently if I do them again, things that haven’t worked quite as well as I’d hoped or fallen foul of pests / disease, but that’s just how it is. I’m looking forward now to the time, when we really become self-sufficient for our vegetables again, I seem to be able to stretch the period each year so it becomes longer, and there is less of a gap between one years and the next. I’m hoping to be able to do the same this year, and have some plans (and hopefully some plants) for that.
Books
I’ve hit my GoodReads reading challenge target already, I’m not going to change it, but just keep going and see where I end up. It’s become less important to me to hit the target, but just to be able to take the time to read. In the last quarter there are three books that I’m going to mention here, that particularly stood out for me:
“Raptor” by James Macdonald Lockhart. The author attempts to view every single native bird of prey in the UK, and this is his story of how he went about it and what happened. I’d thoroughly recommend it, particularly if you are native to the UK yourself. It does however tell part of the story of just how persecuted birds of prey have been and continue to be in this country, and therefore how difficult it actually is to still see some of them without the concerted effort that the author goes to.
“The Wild Marsh” by Rick Bass, this is the second of Rick Bass’s books I’ve read this year, and it won’t be the last. I really enjoy his writing, and although this one could be a little self-indulgent at times, it tells the story of a full year in Yaak, where the author has his home. Great writing, and recommended.
“Running To The Mountain” by John Katz I probably read this book at least once every year. It talks to me, and is one of my favourites. I think it’s because it is essentially a book about making decisions and changes in life direction, as well as including the authors dogs. I guess at the moment, with my own life having undergone quite a bit of change in the last year, which hasn’t quite settled down yet, it speaks to me even more.
Film & TV
It’s unusual for us to get to the cinema these days, so most of what we watch is either on DVD or online, and often some months (or occasionally even years) behind when it was in the cinema.
I remember back in 1977 when my dad took me to see Star Wars. I was about 5 years old and it was called Star Wars, not episode IV or anything like that. I can remember that quite vividly even now, and going with him to see The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. It kindled that early love of Sci-Fi in me, and also just spending time with my Dad, doing stuff. When the next three films came out, the prequels, I took him to see them. Now “The Force Awakens”, has been released he’s not been in the best of health, and so we didn’t make it to the cinema to see the film, and I didn’t particularly feel like going by myself, so I bought him it for Father’s Day. I had already seen it, as I was given a copy myself and I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next two, and the various spin offs that have been talked about.
I’ve also watched “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, again well after it was in cinemas, and indeed released on DVD. I like the Marvel films, and although I didn’t think this was as good as some of the others I did enjoy it. It had some good “new” characters, and allowed the existing actors to develop their characters and their relationships a little more. Recommended.
We saw the remake of “Dad’s Army” just a couple of weeks ago, again, one that I missed when it was in the cinema but a film I wanted to see. I was pleasantly surprised with it. The film stayed close enough to the original series to play a good homage to it, but was different enough to be original. I don’t think it could ever really replace the original TV series, as that is ingrained too much, certainly in my psyche, and I suspect many other people’s too, but it was enjoyable and again I would recommend.
TV watching has been a little sparse, I think due to the time of year, so we have not had the thing on all that much, but I have enjoyed watching “Rick Stein’s Long Weekends”, part cookery, part travel. Essentially if you don’t know about it, this is chef Rick Stein going away for a “long weekend” and exploring both the local area, and cuisine he finds there. It seems to be on a break at the moment, as I think there have been five episodes so far, but it’s a ten part series. If memory serves he’s been to (Bologna, Berlin, Reykjavik, Vienna & Bordeaux). Not sure when the other five are likely to be on, but if you get a chance to watch it, I’d recommend it.
Life In General
I’d say this quarter has been slightly harder than the last. I’m conscious that my mind is much more on work than perhaps it should be or more correctly put about where the next job is coming from.
I’d like to be writing more, and I have been to an extent here on the blog, but although it’s read by quite a few people it’s not a massive audience, and I’m thinking about other potential avenues where I might be able to do that more, and who knows, potentially generate a little income from that.
Overall though life is good. I’m still settling in to my new “job” I think, and have more to learn about that, but otherwise I can’t really grumble.
Potting Shed Update (28th June 2016)
I shot this quick video yesterday in the potting shed. I’d been meaning to do an update on the tomatoes and peppers a while ago, when things were looking a little better than they do now. Things started off well, but the slugs have ravaged the peppers, completely destroying the Lipstick Peppers that were in the first trough, and I can see they’ve been nibbling else where too. So far there is very little in the way of peppers, and also the tomatoes, which also started off well, have stalled a bit. They’ve grown really well, but are either not putting out many flowering trusses or when they do they’re not getting pollinated (even though I’ve been trying to do it by hand) because the weather has been so poor, and there have been very few flying insects about to do it for me.
That’s gardening, and on the whole, the allotment is doing so well, that I’m not too worried that the tomatoes and peppers aren’t.
Electronic Scrapbook 