It's been a while

It's been a while, and not for good reasons.

Everything is changing. Old man was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and it is a death sentence. We (my family and relatives and village as whole) have been relying a lot on him, because he's the one who knows everything and can everything. He's been building our house, felling trees for our firewood, taking care of maintenance of village roads, taking care of three houses...
He doesn't have the most worst type of that disease, but even less worse versions are leathal.
Everything is kind of on hold - part of it is of course the season, late autunm/early winter, when there isn't much to do.
My sister moved near to us, to nearby town. Now our distance is 12km instead of 200km. Number one is a delight, even if a bit lively (an understatement if any). I have had a couple of video meetings while having him around, and they were... interesting, to say.

D is attending college much more eagerly than I thought, part of it is because her friends are there. She's much more socially active than she's been for several years.

I put birdfeeders under some spruces in our yard, I can see them from my desk/dining table. One of our kittens is sitting under trees waiting to catch a birdie... No such luck, and I think he spends his time there just to took busy, not actually wanting to hunt.

But life lately has been drifting fron one disaster to another. Like yesterday. I had doctor's appointment at 10 am, and decided to pick some groceries on my way there. And the car died on a parking lot on one of the stores I visited. Great. Fortunately I was near enough to practise, I managed to get there under 15 mins in pouring rain. Great again.
I was supposed to have a minor operation, max 15mins with local anesthetic. Doctor (lovely Russian lady) broke her equipment and I apparently have vein where there are no supposed to be a vein, so a lot of blood instead of a little plaster. Great. Had to wait few hours to get operation done with another equipment (which didn't broke) and now I have two huge patches of bandages (she found another vein in unusual place, no wonder lab nurses have trouble to get blood, my system is all wrong) and no showering for few days. Great. And had to buy medication (antibiotics etc) I was not supposed to need at all. But anyway, a short 15min app turned to three hour saga.
I got the car running (battery had died but managed to came to live again, so I got home. I called an emergency number and they brought me a new (expensive, but not as expensive I feared) battery and replaced it. Old battery was actually hot, so there was short circuit and it would have let me down soon anyway.

Any good things? My workload on next year will be different from what I feared. Most presents are bought, planned( like rocky road I can't make too early) or made. 'Suma is a delight as well cats. Wood burners work fine, and I have plenty of wood to burn.
And I ordered several Doctor Who dvd:s for my own present (because hb isn't getting me anything). They made a serious dent to my bank account, but I really wanted to have something nice after this Autumnales Horrobilis.

And then some

 Forgot to mention:
-battery in car keyes/remote died. Need replacing, but that thing is glued together (by someone who had no idea what he was doing) so it's not the 5min/10€ work, instead it takes 1,5-2 hours and 60-70€ depending how much damage there is. I think I have to buy new set of remotes, and that's about 250-300€. Or I can buy a new car (new to me anyway) and that'll be anything from 3000€ to 20 000€ depending how desperate I am. And that sum doesn't buy me a new car.
-'Suma ate one of my shirts (not the whole shirt but quite a big hole and in a way there were no way of salvaging). The one I was planning to wear next weeks seminar. Now I have to buy a new shirt (because I have very limited wardrobe) because I have no time to sew new one (I have fabric but no tested pattern).

Waiting game

I was so looking forwar for half term. Ha, I was planning to have most of the week off, doing all those previously listed things in veg plot and polytunnel and greenhouse. Time to relax and enjoy autunm.

No such luck. I got called (ordered) to a planning group at work. Two full days of meetings (and  train trips to capital). I got two days off, spent them driving to sister's and back (detour to Ikea).
And on Saturday I took part of emergency exercise organized by local Red Cross. There was also emergency services (fire dept., ambulance crew and police) some other voluntary organizations (I was representing our community committee). Spending six hours in the wind and rain I was exhausted and cold. Now I have headache, slight temperature and sore throat. So this Sunday was the day I was supposed to do all things I had in mind... Nope.

I got clocks switched and separated last garlic bulbs I had waiting. I've given up hope (long ago) to build any new frames this autunm, so I just pulled last golden beets from garlic+beet frame I had this summer and planted all gloves I had. So 20+18 gloves planted. There's also those mini garlics grown from scapes, they might be ready next summer!
Anyway, I got that done and took 'Sumawalk, and then it started to rain. Now rain has turned to snow.  Next week is going to be frosts all week, so I can't get polytunnel down even if I had time.

Sister asked for "tummy tubes" or knitted maternity belts. Number One is going to have a sibling! Sis has some difficulties to fit in her winter clothes, so I knitted her two tubes (brainless ribbing with stripes). It didn't take time away from veg plot, because I knitted during evenings, and we have darkness by half eight - by half seven today.
I wanted to pick some mushrooms today, but no, my fingers will not work in this weather (I don't have arthritis in my hands, yet, but my mother and my brother have, so it's in my genes and working in cold and wet environments is trigger to it).

Sis is also moving closer to us, and now I have to sew that cover for that chair I bought for her. Now they will have room for it. And Number One will have his own room, we shall see how much sewing that includes.

It's Sunday, and so far I haven't had time to relax. I should be writing presentation (or making PowerPoints) to next weeks seminar, because I will not have any time next week because I'm still working on that planning group. And all my other work is on hold at the moment, which means I have to squeeze it all into few weeks I'm able to work in December. And when I thought I will have nice calm summer next year without rushing through all berry picking farms, I will be working even more during the summer - at least for the next four years.

I have a terrible headache and I just wish this four years will rush forward very rapidly.

Brrrrr!

It's snowing. Not hoped for this, but oh well, it's October. I still haven't made a teacosy for my teapot, and I still haven't build another cold frame for my garlics. So thick scarf will keep my tea hot and old garlig frame will do another year.
Of course this snow will not stay. It's been snowing for three hours now, and ground is not covered. Ys is sick and stays at home, and he wanted to get dressed to see snow falling down.
'Suma spent some time chasing flakes, but realised they just melt into water ans she really really doesn't like water. Cats came in as soon as I was able to open a door to them.

There was some slush on lense. Couldn't wipe it dry because more of it was raining.Now it's actually a flurry!

Still snowing

There's still light in mornings, but evenings are getting shorter quicker than I'd like. If I go 'Sumawalk after eight o'clock, I need to take some light with me, I can't see my feet in forest. I'd stumble on branches even if I know where I am. I know paths and tracks by heart but new branches will fall daily.

There are also areas I will not go if it's dark or near twilight. Not because I'm afraid of monsters or something, but because it's actually dangerous there:

Also so creepy.

This is an old spring, it's lined with logs to keep it clear. Water was used in the fish ponds, it's about 2-3m deep, and if you fall, you will not be able to climb up alone. At least one moose has fallen to it's death to this pit/spring, it couldn't climb up and died of exhaustion and panic.
One thing I have no answer - why is the edges clear of any vegetation? This is in the middle of woods, no-one takes care of this (it's built around 1910) . Usually there's plenty of water, but ground water is so low now (at least 1m lower than norm), that you can see the bottom.

I've been knitting, socks. Someone's not impressed.

I have started fire in above seen stove. Hb bought me a fan to put on it, so heat can be distributed around downstairs. I don't know if it's working that way, but at least it's spinning allright. At least this corner where I work is warm and cosy.  Os complaned 'Suma has eaten all is socks, so I had to make him another pair.

I did get all tomatoes, pumpkins, melons and others from greenhouse and polytunnel. I harvested corn and beans, and since then there's been heavy frosts so no more harvest.

 

 

My pumpkins, and a zucchini.

Green harvest

I have some beet and potatoes left on veggie plot, and parsnips and carrots in one of cold frames. I pulled some parsnips few days ago - they were tiny and few were very wooden, But after all, it's been a successful experiment and I'll sow more next year. I just have to start early enough!
There's some kale left in polytunnel, and herbs.
But that's all.

Preparing for colder months

Mid September. Somehow it feels like winter is going to be here right now, but in real life I know it'll take at least two months until we are really in to the winter.

I have a bunch of tasks to do before serious frosts and snow (and the darkness October and November brings).

Garden, veggie plot, geenhouse and polytunnel:

Things need to be done now (before we have first frosts at the end of this week):
- harvest everything that can be harvested (beets, chard, nz spinach, zucchinies, beans, corn, potatoes from bags)
- cover plants that need shelter (pumpkins, zucchinies, beans)
- get strawberry runners planted
- make sure greenhouse and polytunnel are kept ready for cold nights

Things need to be done ASAP:
- build a new additional cold frame for garlic
- build a new frame ready for next summer's cucumbers
- build a new additional frame for more strawberries
- empty compost bin to aforementioned frames
- harvest everything that will not be producing anymore from greenhouse and polytunnel (cucamelon, herbs, potatoes)
- mix old spoiled concrete mixes with sawdust and fill holes on the forest tractor tracks (so that tractor is no longer in danger to fall over or lose it's oil plug)
- forage more mushrooms (boletes are soon over)
- get chillies and peppers from polytunnel inside house (and buy a growing light for them)

Things need to be done before winter is here:
- harvest all pumpkins
- harvest all tomatoes
- harvest carrots and parsnips
- plant garlic to new frame
- empty all growing bags (excluding ones inside greenhouse) and pots into cold frames
- harvest everything else left in greenhouse and polytunnel
- empty greenhouse and polytunnel, rescue rosemary and ginger (they need growing light, too)
- harvest aronia berris from aunt's garden
- harvest rowan berries (from aunt's garden?)
- empty ash buckets to cold frames (this needs to be done several times to get all frames covered)
- take poly from polytunnel down and put it into greenhouse for winter
- try to figure out how to protect kale from hares during the winter....

And some additional stuff to be done:
- try to locate some free apples
- buy new winter shoes fro three kids
- check kids' winter coats if they neew new ones
- mix sawdust and (garden) peat for outhouse use
- get some heavy duty candles for outhouse
- grind ys's new room's outside wall ready for filler
- level out that wall with filler
- get one wall done with planks, treat planks before that
- fill, sand and fill again plaster walls to be painted
- figure out what colour ys wants for those plaster board walls (hopefully not wallpaper)
- make floor with vinyl planks
- move ys to that room!
- and then the toilet...

Waiting for the goodbye

On the other side of the field Frederic the cat is very very poorly. He has a large tumour in his abdomen, and those are always bad news. He is at home now having terminal care (that is medication for pain) because nothing else can be done. The vet said maybe a day, maybe a week.
He loaths 'Suma with all his might, so we haven't really been talking lately. I do not intend to go to say my farewells, because it will only upset Frederic - he thinks if I'm there, 'Suma will be there, too.
He has been the mightiest cat I have ever known, he is not a Norwegian nor ragdoll, but with his magnificient fur he has always remainded me of a huge beast. He even has wider nose than cats usually have.

I forgot to mention

Spa visits are free to us. We get (me and hb) some workplace health promotion money from our employers, and that can be used to buy tickets to spas and pools etc. I bought season tickets to us with that money.

September - time to shikn about Christmast presents. Sister asked for a house...

Budjeting and harvesting

Summer is about to end, we will have warm days a week or two, but usually by the mid September autunm is here with full force.

Kids are back at school, so everything is normal. As normal as it ever is here at Ulv's lair.

Soon I need to check all winter clothing, because cold weather comes always fast, too fast. I bought a new jacket for me last winter, it will do at least another winter (it was around 12€, so I'm not counting on it to keep many years). I think kids have winter jackets ok, but they probably all need new shoes. Well, os won't, he has his winter boots he has been wearing through this summer, and they are ok. I don't need new shoes (I got new work boots last winter). With some rotation, I found wellies for all kids. I'm the only one without decent wellies, there is places where no waterproof shoes or boots will do, only wellies. I would have a pair, but someone ate them. Hrmpf.
Kids also need new winter gloves, they wear them out in less than a winter. I don't bother to buy the most expensive ones,  it only makes me mad/sad when they get them ripped on barbed wire or burn holes with fire while grilling sausages... something always happens.

Boys need skates, and I think I have to buy a pair of skis (+shoes +poles) for ys, he will use them at school. Sys likes to ski, so he might need also now ones. They have actually grown!

That would probably take us to the Christmas. by then d will need a new tab for drawing, and I think sys would also need a better one, he has been using d's old one, which was already worn out when he got it. D likes to have a polaroid camera, so that must be hinted to his uncle, who might or might not want to buy it for present.
I need to check kids' cell phones, ys's phone is quite ond and battered, and os doesn't even have a smart one at all. Hb needs a new phone, too, he has found CAT phone he likes.

- 3 pair of winter boots (60-75€/ pair)
- 3 pair of winter cloves (20€/ pair)
-  hb's phone about 300€
- 2 phones for os and ys (100€/phone)
- 2 pair of skates, one helmet (about 50€/pair + 45€/helmet)
- 2 set of skis + accessories (about 150€ per set if I'm lucky, more likely 250€)

One thing I don't have to buy is tea. I have enought loose leaf black tea and dried herbs (raspberry, meadow sweet, rowan, blackcurrant, strawberry) for at least a year (it is packed airtight) and have some mint, too. My mint isn't enjoying dry weather, and I haven't been able to water it enough. Next year I might to need a new spot for it to grow. I should pick lemon balm and lemon thyme to dry, they should be nice as tea, too. At work I'm drinking tea I got as a present from my co-worker (but I did buy her a gift, too).

Garden is producing nicely. Zucchinis/courgettes are coming strong, as well runner beans and green beans. I have managed to freeze some, I think after a week or two I'll have enough to cover whole winter consumption of green beans/runners. Also broad beans are producing, I had a massive black fly infestation this summer (because of drought) but I sow a lot in spring, which in hindsight has proven a very good idea. And brassicas are suffering very badly because of some species of phyllotretas. They are everywhere, even in beans and corn this year. I guess drought is the reason.
Corns are making cobs, so I might even have something to serve to os, he likes homegrown corn, but usually I end up few mini cobs if I get anything. This year things look more promising.
Nzs with only six or so plants is producing massive amounts. It started out really slowly, but now I can harvest every day.
But potatoes. Oh my poor potatoes! Those in bags have grown ok, but on veg plot they died. I get about 3 spuds per plant, so it is very good thing we can have food from shops instead on relying on my vegetable plot. Two years ago potatoes suffered because they don't know how to swim, well, this year...

I'll be off to check my damsons, they might be 30-40 fruits if no-one has eaten them (wasps most likely) I'd like to have 10l bucket of damsons to freeze, but it will never happen - this is the best year ever in 20 yrs I have had that bush/tree, and last "big" crop was about a dozen fruits😂

Can't get apples anywhere, might need to buy some. We eat them just like that, of course, but my mother makes apple sauce I use in everything (mainly in tomato based sauses). Maybe I'll need to put up a note on office's entrance.

It's still not raining much, so we might be in trouble in winter. Well is still dryish, so much that we have been going to local spa once a week for a thorough wash! Kids enjoy standing under a warm shower - at home we never allow them to take long showers, because our water heater is old and too small for our use. We run out of hot water quite often. (But it is not as bad as it sounds, we have a sauna and we warm/heat it at least once a week in summer and twice a week in winter, so even if kids can't spend their evenings under a shower, they can get properly clean in very warm environment ). And of course we have our pool, which is used daily now. But you just can't wash with snow... So we might need to come up with new ideas by then.

Two rainy days have made a difference in the forest, though. Mushrooms (chanterelles) and ceps are growing fast, i have found porchinos  daily. This morning I picked two and brought them to my aunt, she was happy, she had an eye operation few weeks ago and isn'n allowed to go foraging.

Disgusting

I just pulled a tick off from kitten's a**e. Disgusting.

Two things.
A positive one: I saw it without my reading glasses.
And another one: Why was I looking at kitten's bum?

No photo.

Back to nine to five (or eight to four)

So, back to work. Co-worker called he'd been admitted to half-retirement because of his poor health. His knees can't keep up the work we do. He's only, what? ten years older than I am. But I haven't never been an athlete or even a fitnes fanatic, so it wouldn't probably be my knees that give up, I'd bet on brains.

Now I remembered what I was telling about in that post I deleted. Our water is running out. Last time we had decent rainfall was 2017! Last winter's snow didn't thaw, it evaporated. We had a little rain in spring, but it didn't filled ground water reserves much. We have a rather shallow well, and sometimes in very dry summers water level drops too low to comfort. A good thing was, that in spring '18 we had really heavy flooding with all that thawing snow, so last year reserves were filled to the brim.
I have been waiting for rain since June. At the moment there is nice dark grey cloud hanging in the sky - but it comes from wrong direction, so it will not rain here (there's a lake and a big hill which divert rain from that direction). If cloud comes from east it usually rains, and we haven't had eastern clouds forever. Last autunm's jet stream/tornado? We had few drops, when half a kilometer away there were loads of hail.

Ground water filters from rainwater really slowly, it could take more than a year for rain to become groundwater, so this drough is result of last summers drought plus this summer. If the snow wouldn't evaporated, it would have stopped ground water levels going low.

So for a few weeks we can't take a shower all six people at the same day (we have a pool to use, which is helping), if I need to wash laundry and fill barrels to water veg plot. I can use dishwasher (it uses very little water, if I do dishes by hand, I use more water), so we don't have to use imagination how to make food without making dirty dishes... I'm not going to use paper plates.
If we really were in trouble, we have our outhouse, so we could skip using wc completely. Now it's only recommendation to boys to go outside to pee...

But we can take this, nature will cope with this, it will be all right. This is not like drought in India or Australia or California or Africa. This is a mild inconvenience.

It s raining now, only slight mist but water nonetheless. I went to pick gooseberries on the other side of the field and yes! my clothes got soaked with rain. What a joy! 'Suma didn't think it as a joy, but she is content sleeping on couch under ys's duvet.

This is going to be an expensive autunm/winter. D started her first year at local college, and even if the shcool itself is free (they get free lunch and free health care)  books and other materials costs dearly. We have so far bought four books, some new, some used. 135€. Today we'll go and spend some more euros for other books! A positive side of this is that the only book shop hereby sells used books, so we don't have to buy from internet - now we can choose and even be picky to get books that have all pages etc... And she needs a new laptop for school.

I'm trying to find a ways to spend less money on everything. Not an easy task, but maybe achieveable.

Being self suffiecient completely is not realistic aim at the moment, probably never. But we can be self sufficient on firewood:
 

This is my first ever attempt on creative woodtsacking. Sorry about blur - I found out I had a fingerprint on the lense. Blurry brown structure behinf the tsack is our outhouse (lighter on the left is garage).

So I cheated... No, this outside structure makes this stack sturdier, like cross laminated timber. Inside will be filled.

Btw, i have myself split all wood this summer. With that lethal screw splitter, which should be banned... Old man installed an emergency stop wire, I have tested every day it works just to be sure.

We are not only busy bees (notice no smudge on the lense).

My watermelon!

Field of trees.Not the kind of forest I like - there is no undergrowth, it's dark and suffocating place. And trees are not growing well at all.

Luckily that is only a small area (1-1,5 acres) behind our forest, it belongs to old man's cousin. This kind of forestry in no longer wanted, it doesn't produce much (much less than if you just let forest to grow how it grows naturally). They thought in '50's and 60's that if you get rid of everything else than trees, trees will grow faster because there is no competition. Wrong, so wrong. Trees need their neighbours, they need mushrooms, undergrowth, biodiversity. This field of trees is silently waiting spruce bark beetles to attack.

Years are not brothers...

No.
Last summer we had first frost at late September. Now we are already covering our gardens with fleece... A bit daunting task for me as a small person I have difficulties to get that fleece over my runner beans and corn.
Corn is growing beautifully, I see tassels forming, so i should find first small cobs soon. Ys wants to have minicorn (that is small unripened cobs) and os is waiting for real big cobs. This might be actually a year I can provide them both!
******

Darn. I managed to delete the whole post after that part. I have no idea what I wrote, probably about veggie plot, zucchinis, weird weather (now we have frosts, last year we had heat wave - but at least there were no rain in either summer...)

Did I say I was expecting frost?

And frost indeed we had. When I was taking off fleeces in veg plot after morning's 'Sumawalk, they were still stiff with frost! Ok, it was 6.30 am, but sun had risen two hours earlier. I'm so glad I tackled fleeces over runner beans and corn, too, as they would have been doomed. I hope I didn't take covers off too early, but I had to leave to work. D will open greenhouse and polytunnel doors.

Back to business, I thought I would be alone in the office today, but colleague is here too. Well, he might leave early today (after he has checked all his mail), they had a new baby in late June and he might be needed at home - his wife might be a bit in a hurry with four small children. I know I was.

We did go berrypicking with my sister yesterday, I was back home 8.30pm. We got quite nice amount, but I must say picking wild raspberries is not one of my favourite hobbies. All nettles (ouch!) thorns (ouch), mosquitos, few wasps... 'Suma was so nice, she didn't run off, se only tried eat her waterbottle twice (there's no water in forest at the moment) and she tired eat raspberries all by herself! It was lovely and funny, she loves raspberries, but this is the first time she actually tried to eat them by herself. It was much easier with 'Suma than with kids! There are so much unripened berries left, we might need to go there later. Sister is on four week vacation, so we have time.

Progress so far

So I made a list or to dos I wanted to do duiring my vacation. So far:

I have two weeks off again, I have a list of tasks in my mind I'd like to complete:
-plant cherries (bought in early June?) nope, way too hot
-weed veggie path nope, too hot and as 'Suma wants to be with me, can't go to vp, she'll boil
-feed kids carrots from cold frames that's an easy one, though not every day
-start using beets from frames this is also an easy target; I also use beet tops as char, because I couldn't sow chard until straight to the veg plot, is't coming but slowly
-harvest Belgian garlic from both frames still going on, maybe half harvested (as I pick only what we eat)
-eat potatoes from bags (I still have 13 growing bags of potatoes) had some potatoe meals
-forage mushrooms this will goi on all to way to the winter
-find some more strawberries to make more jam (to say it was a succes is a bit understatement) Yes! Persuated one market stall seller to sell me one more 5kg box even they are now selling only hal kilo punnets; made 9 jars of jam

-take sys and ys to adventure park d wanted to come along, too
-move cut and split wood from field to forest (there's pallets waiting them to be stacked) will not do this now, there's a family of viviparous lizard babies living in the stack, they cute and really need the shelter
-have a little day trip with my sister. done yesterday, d came along, too, again. Nice and funny and we are all still tired.

Might still add something else on that list: take three youngest to nearby natural history museum , we'll take a train and have sushi buffet lunch.

Oops i did it again

I lost my 'shroom knife. Again. I've lost it several times, once my brother found it few months later (from the forest). Now it has a long and brightly coloured ribon d made just for that purpose - it's usually tied around my wrist and that ribbon is easy to spot even on autunm with yellow and red leaves.
But yes, I lost it again and can't find it. Darn.

But I did find a porchini, in a perfect state.

Miles of strawberries

So far I have managed to freeze about 10kg of strawberries, 2 kg went into jam. Os asked me to make some strawberry jam to taste (he doesn't eat shop bought jam anymore).

Boiling jars and lids.

And strawberries - I use jam sugar with some pectin. It'll keep at least a year, but I think this one will not see next summer...

I was away for three days driving along smallest of small country roads trying to find berry farms, and two days again this week. I have seen ostriches, lambs, the most huge orpington cockerel, bunnies and miles after miles of rows of strawberries (and Ukrainian berry pickers). Blueberries are not in season yet, and raspberries are ripe only in tunnels. lasti week I drove 500 miles, and in the end of day three I thought I wouldn't walk five hundred miles more... This week only 300miles.

And this wasn't the narrowest road I drove...

Next summer I really hope I don't have to do those tours, they are exhausting. (I do this as part of my work, not to get berries)

Kids have been eating handful of our own strawberries almost daily, they say they are far more better than bought ones.

Most of firewood is cut and split and stacked in storage for the winter. There is s small(ish) pile of cut and split wood in the field, it's still wet and have to be stacked somewhere to dry. There is also 8 stacks of dry and split wood which is still 1m long, so it needs to be cut. Kids hate me, because they have been stacking wood for three weeks now...

These 5 piles need to be cut, and we have three more piles like these to be cut as well. 'Suma found a new playground.

Veg path and polytunnel as well as greenhouse survived my being away. D had watered them just fine, not too much and not too little. Of course because we had very cold weather so there was no need to water anything much. There was even frosts at night a bit north from us, luckily we have had +5C or +6C nights. If I had basil, it would have suffered.
Well, now we have Saharan heat wave coming. Talk about u-turn.

I found first flowers in tomatoes -  I know, most people are already eating their tomatoes. I also have nice flowers in my melons, watermelon is a bit behind now. Cucamelon is also flowering.

This is  melon, do I really need to pollinate them by myself?

 We ate first potatoes a week ago, with pickled herring, chanterelles (from pur own forest), fried eggs and roasted vegetables. Kids were not impressed with violet potatoes, to me they were ok. We do have normal white/yellow potatoes, so kids will not be starving this summer. But those potatoes are really dark, deep purple.

Violet Queens and some unidentified white potatoes.

They are spuds even if they look like black beets. They even bleed blue.

Today I'm going to pick some more chanterelles, as well other mushrooms I'll find. Os will eat them happily, and I noticed last weekend all children eating them (fried in butter). Even ys, who has been refusing 'shrooms lately.

I weeded under my black currant bushes, they are not quite ripe yet, but soon. Noighbours white currants are ripe, asn well as reds. I might pick some tomorrow, I have room in freezer. Pity there's no lingon berries coming this year, I saw no flowers in spring and therefore no berries... Kids like them in smoothies.

Is this a hazelnut?

Carrots my ow (I have purple too, but they are tiny), saskatoon (serviceberry) I bought from a berry farm to taste. Ok.

I have two weeks off again, I have a list of tasks in my mind I'd like to complete:
-plant cherries (bought in early June?)
-weed veggie path
-feed kids carrots from cold frames
-start using beets from frames
-harvest Belgian garlic from both frames
-eat potatoes from bags (I still have 13 growing bags of potatoes)
-forage mushrooms
-find some more strawberries to make more jam (to say it was a succes is a bit understatement)
-take sys and ys to adventure park
-move cut and split wood from field to forest (there's pallets waiting them to be stacked)
-have a little day trip with my sister.

I had to come inside, because there's too hot for black dog like 'Suma. Now she's been sleeping an hour so we can go back outside, this time to pick mushrooms I found yesterday while at 'Sumawalk.

No heatwave no rain

We have had basically very boring weather all spring/summer. No great heatwaves (not Spanish bubble here), neither rain or floods. Some light shovers, only one thunder (can't call it storm) and some warm days.

Weeds love that.

I finally managed to tackle all weeds I wanted to get rid off, I left on purpose one patch in which I have sown calendula, but it never germinated. I'm going to cover it with plastic (empty mulch bags I have abundance of). I did found some swedes, but I think I'm not going to have a meal out of them. My magne touts/sugar snap peas have germinated very sparingly - I can't even blame pidgeons, haven't seen them or any traces of them at all in veg plot. Peas have made a bit better, but I will not dream of a huge harvest. I think I should sow some broad beans on empty spots, it'll look better (but it's too short time to autunm, so I'm not going to have any harvest on bbs either, unless I'm having them as greens). Few chards were still alive, some might even survive 'Suma who wasn't very amused to be at the veg plot day after day. Poor puppy.

Notice the strategic alignment along rows. Her head rests on empty spot at the end of a brassica row.

Potatoes in car tyres are thriving, there's plenty of blossoms. I don't remember last time my potatoes actually flowered!  On the veg plot they are not very pretty, but alive nevertheless.

This is what they usually get.

We (kids) have been eating our own strawberries on several evenings, I picked nine even sized ones a couple days ago, and yesterday I picked maybe twenty? I divided them between kids (didn't divide berries, like I usually do, to each get their fair share) and sys looked at them confused "You mean I can eat ALL of them, as WHOLE?" Poor kids, their childhood is miserable.

This was the very first fistful of strawberries.

(I did bought 5kg box of strawberries to freezer, and let kids eat as much as they wanted to. 2,5kg ended to freezer - but our own strawberries are tastier.)

There is not much to eat at the veg plot or polytunnel, some salad and herbs. Radishes have gone over, but I did read somewhere you can eat the seedpods, too. So I left them to flower and go to seed, I'll have a taste then.
Today I took first garlics off, they are that Dutch variety which is not doing well in our place. It's softneck variety, and two years of growing it has only managed to grow a bigger cloves, not bulbs.

That dark spot is actually just dirt. They're quite strong flavoured, I couldn't use all of those in my hummus.

My Russian variety (hardneck) is doing much better, it's growing scapes now (I really should harvest them), and I did plant last autunm about 80-90  tiny cloves from scapes and they are growing now, too. I think it takes at least two summers for them to get to the point of forming bulbs, but after that all my garlic is basically free (I will have enough cloves to plant every autunm and still eat all garlic I want). Last winter I bought about half adozen garlic bulbs, my own made it until March?

Hb and I met 30 years ago. Boy that makes me feel old! D said the other day she's only third of my age, and yes, she is. I'm feeling ancient.

What else... My brother got bees for the first time this summer, this week they harvested their first batch of honey, 35kg! And they need to harvest honey at least once if not twice this summer. Bet they'll be in sticky stuff up tp their necks in autunm. No, not really, I think there's a line behind their door asking for honey.

It's wonderful, golden, runny, clear. Even os wanted to taste and liked it. He's not fan of honey.

Very tasty with creamy Turkish yoghurt.

 I have also found some 'shrooms. Boletes.

I think this is a bitter bolete (tylopilus felleus)

Didn't pick it up for some reason...

Bitter boletes are not actually poisonous, but...

I have picked maybe the last batch of rhubarb (from neighborough's garden). I wanted to try rhubarb liqueur (equal amounts sugar, fruit and vodka). Maybe it's ready before Christmas? For hampers, perhaps.

And I'll end this with best picture of  'Suma I have managed for a long time.

Nearly there

Even if this summer has been wonderful weatherwise, I'm very late in my gardening. I haven't planted all plant intended to polytunnel or greenhouse, and just yesterday got last gourgettes/zucchinis planted in to the vegplot. My mother will bring me some tomato plants, and I'll give her four potatoes (planted on milk cartons), Violet Queen. I have no space left for them.

Veg plot is hiding under jungle of weeds. I think I have some peas and magne touts, but can't find them yet. Broad beans are doing well, a year ago I tried to precultivate them, and it didn't turn out well. They were leggy and got attacked by blackflies, they suffered much more than the ones I sowed right to the veg plot. So it's direct sow for now on.

In veg plot there is of course potatoes, two varieties (Violet Queen and something I can't remember, but it is not Annabelle, it didn't like my soil at all last summer), brassicas (mostly cabbages, some kale and few others). I sowed swedes, but I think they're gone, as well as chard directly sown to soil. Beets I planted as small plants are doing fine. Cucumbers, on the other hand, are dying. I have no idea why. If cabbages and pumpkins are doing fine, so why not cucumbers (pickling ones)? I have some sweet corn (leftovers from raised bed) and sunflowers. They(sf) too don't want to grow, and I have no idea why. One fennel plant. It suprised me by staying alive!

On friday we had our annual Midsummer party at communal beach. I was hoping we wouldn't organize it, but no such luck. I have been working there about 17 times in last 20 years, and full decade in a row now! I haven't spent Midsummer with my kids at all, ever. I have been pouring coffee, cashing people, picking litter, taking care of roulette for children etc. This year we had few new volunteers, but not enough for me to stay away.
Then we celebrated the second birthday of my nephew and since that I have been stacking firewood for the winter. Loading a wheelbarrow to the brim, pushing that wheelbarrow up hill to wood shed and unloading it, and then stacking. All that while horseflies and mosquitos are trying to eat me.

Oh yeah, I sew pants to my sister one evening, she needed something else than jeans or leggins to wear while they were spending time by the lake (sister's bf's relatives has a hut there). I had some pale blue fabrick with pink flowers (thick cotton jersey (?) you could sew a hoodie) and matching pink ribbing. I had to find a pattern, copy pattern pieces to parchment paper, cut the pieces and sew... Haha. All in less than an hour. I just love me when I have those wonderful ideas. But, pants fitted her perfectly and protected her from mosquitos.
And I have one piece of fabric less to store here.

Since all that, I have been weeding veg plot. It's miserable. It is curious that some potatoes are doing fine while others are dying or just sprouted! Some spuds suffering have ant nest right in their roots, but others don't. I have no idea why some are doing fine and some not - it would be logical if most plants would be suffering? I weeded broad beans and beets, I have two more rows of potatoes to weed and then I have to tackle pea rows. There's so much thistle I'd like to cry, but most times I just make not so pretty faces when they prick me.
D cut all lupins from our yard, only one wheenbarrow, full. Most lupins I can see are in someone else's grounds, and I can't kill them without permission. Our neighbour will like me to tackle them too, I'm not sure if I want to. But needs must.

In the autunm I need to build at least one more raised bed, because I need one for brassicas, too. Now I have one for corn (doing fine), one for beans (doing more than fine) one for garlic (seeing scapes already) and one for carrots (and parsnips, I'm testing if my family wants to eat them), and two for strawberries. I could do with one shallow and narrow (like I have for strawberries) for pickling cucumbers, that's the last solution I can come up. If they don't grow in box, I don't have a clue what to do to get them growing.
And because strawberries are doing it so nicely in their boxes, I might need to build another just for strawberries... They are already forming runners, I have to remember make sure I'll get them at some point.
How lucky I have seemingly endless supply of used wood.

Suddenly June

It's suddenly mid June. Oh dear.
What has happened...

I finally got my new specks, I bought two pairs because 'Suma might eat these, too. I'm not sure about frames, they might be too bulky, but I decided it's better that way, they might better chance to survive one more attack of 'Suma? But I can see clearly now.
Much hasn't happen on polytunnel, greenhouse or veg plot. I've been waiting 'til this mid June to plant tender plants (beans, corn, brassicas, pumpkins and zuccinis and cucumbers etc) outside, and until that they occupy polytunnel and prevent planting in there.
I was supposed to do some (most of it) planting today, but farmer decided today is fine day to do some spraying. So it's a no-go at the moment. But I do have plans, everything will be done.

Our another car got through MOT, it needed some serious welding, but it was rather cheap work, 300€. Kids got out of school and are enjoying summer holiday. D left high school and is accepted to nearest college, she needs a new laptop for school, but according to school they can be rented! She has a decent laptop at home, she needs it because she draws a lot (not only computer, mind you, she is excellent artist in paper, too), but it's too good (expensive) for school! If she has to drag that laptop to school every day, it must be something easily replaceable. She also realized that she might have some use for drivers license, which she didn't want last year. So I'll need to look that, too.
Money makes the world go round...

We went to a consert with hb, and in the end it was complete disaster. There was funfair and of course he went with his (younger) cousin. And got his back hurt, so we ended up on ER in the middle of the night ( and didn't see the band) and I was going to work trip the very next day. I know I'm not as young I used to be, it was really difficult to keep sharp after one hour sleep... But I made it and maybe hb understands now why I told him not to go to that sling or whatever it was. At least he didn't go bungee jumping...
And of course hb had that week off, he was supposed to cut wood for the winter. No such luck.
We took a short relaxation trip with my colleague, she is a mother to two teenagers and two toddlers and really can use some time to rest. So, we had dinner at nine o'clock and went to sleep at half past ten. We slept 'til 8 o'clock in the morning, we had a massive breakfast at hotel and took nice slow paced walk around town center. And then we came back home. It was wonderful.

And in the meantime 'Suma ate antoher pair of cheap crock imitations and a plate full of chicken wings. It's been several days and she seems to be ok, so I think no harm done. Wonder what happens when I go for a two day trip on July (working trip, no long summer holidays for me).

We have had some not so pleasant visitors at our yard/forest. We have racoon dogs, and not only they smell dreadfull, they make unpleasant noise (they scream like cats fighting). They are considered as invasive alien species and I could hunt (trap) them, but atm I'm not able to do that. I just can't hunt, not for food, not for fun and apparently not to protect my surroundings. Not yet.

I have tried to use up all rhubarb I have (from my plants and from our neighbours'). I have made (so far)  pie, mead, cordial, cake, jam, pudding. Then I have dehydrated some, and there's quite a lot in the freezer. If I can catch up my tasks in the garden/veg plot/polytunnel etc, I might be able to pick some more.
I have foraged nettles and spruce tips (made seasoning salt) and I have a bunch of oregano drying at kitchen.
I have picked huge bunches of lupins (they are also invasive species) and some lilacs (because my cousin felled some huge lilac bushes and I decided to rescue some flowers).

I have bought two pairs of glasses, a pair of fake crocks and two black tank tops. I bought shirts and jeans for ys and sys and a summer dress for d. I bought new blender but haven't used it yet, old one makes horrible sounds but mixes berries and bananas, and smells of electricity, so it's better to have replacement on hand when needed. I lost my kettle, it doesn't boil water any more, but I haven't found a new one I like yet. I don't want any plastic in it.
Gave our sand toys to my nephew, repaired a zipper for his dad (actually I changed it, old one was plastic, I found a new metallic one from my stash). I'm worming cats and dog, I think I have enough pills for all of them for three days (they need to be given three days in a row).

So after all, it's been a pretty good few weeks.

And tomatoes

Today, after 8 hours work in front of laptop (ok, I made few phone calls which meant I had to walk 150m away from front gate to get reception to my cell phone), baking pizzas (and eating some slices) and 'Suma walk I was ready to go to polytunnel and veg plot - there was rain only in the morning!
I had my peas and beans soaking, so I had to put them in soil.
About (I lost count a couple of times because 'Suma was helping) 450 peas (peas and magne touts) to the veg plot, 80 beans into the polytunnel (I use egg cartons to germinate beans, I have three more weeks until I can plant them outside). I even planted some beets to an empty spot in garlic frame.
And I planted 12 tomato plants.
Funny that. I haven't bought tomato seeds nor germinated them, and I certainly haven't bought any tomato plants.
Tomatoes apparently can germinate if you ended up loosing one or two mature tomatoes in your polytunnel in autunm. Seeds survive winter (snow and frosts) and germinate on spring. Ok, they are tiny, but I wasn't having any tomato plants, so this is a win.

My second batch of sweet corn is doing fine, first one died just like that. Zucchinis and pickling cucumbers are sprouting, as well as nasturtiums. Even sunflowers have some seedlings, never know if they make it or not after I have planted them outside.

Not so well doing is melons (watermelons, cucamelons and than one that looked like cantaloupe), and pumpkins. I don't have any melon seeds left. I took piece of paper towel and put some watermelon seeds, halloween pumpkins and giant pumpkin seeds too to germinate on that wet paper. Now I only hope that when I'm planting them straight in the big pots in the polytunnel, they enjoy themselves and start to grow like triffids.

So much to do, so little time. As always.

Thunderstorms and beginnings/ Oh bugger, not again

I was trying to find my glasses. Yep, 'Suma got them, one lens was popped out and now there's some scratches in lenses, but they are usable (I bended them back to their shape... somewhat, they now keep sliding down my nose). It's been a year since she ate my other pair.
I had to make an appointment at Specsavers, hopefully I'll get new pairs in few weeks, I need new prescription anyway, I have kept postponing it whole spring.

 Hot weather is now gone, it ended with a bang. We had a massive thunderstorm, some places flooded heavily, but we only got some puddles. Such a boring life here.

Sunshine after a storm, another one coming (all rain and storms have arrived from south)

Mu uncle got engaged and we popped in for a coffee (or tea in my case). It was very exciting - power went off so no guarantee to actually get a cuppa...

But it's been raining ever since. I got my broad beans sowed, as well as calendulas, swedes and chards.  Now I just can't go to the veg plot, my soil is clay so I really should keep off until it stops raining.
I need to get peas and magne touts sowed, if for nothing else, they'll bring nitrogen to soil. And I really need to sow beans, I can't put them outside yet, but in polytunnel or greenhouse they'll do fine. If only I would do it...

At least something is flourishing

But this rain is a good thing, no more warning for forest fires or bush fires, and I have managed to sew! Two pairs of trousers (I needed something to wear at home apart from jeans) and now I'm working on undies (I need find another pattern, these will not do, they're huge and I used smaller size pattern that I usually use).

My sewing is a process. I don't just grab a pattern and fabric, oh no. This specific session has started last autunm, when I was looking ideas for christmas presents. I didn't find a pattern for a wide brimmed sunbonnet, we have a summer picnic every summer (my family) and last summer many of my aunts and cousins were whining because one of my aunts had a nice wide brimmed hat and they didn't. I knew I had a pattern for one somewhere, but no luck. But I did find pattern for undies.

Now I was looking through those patterns again (in need of trousers) and found that bonnet. So, so far I have made those beforementioned trousers, cut most of pieces for a sunbonnet and made a test version for undies. But it did take three hours of browsing through my sewing magazines, two and a half hour of rummaging my fabrics (my colleague has seen my stash room and she thinks I'm utterly mad. So do I)... I have another fabric for trousers, but I'm not sure if I want floral ones.
But now I need to stop making my stuff and shorten jeans for hb (they has been waiting maybe six months?) and patching another pair for him. There's another pair that need patching, too, but I need to wash them first.
While digging into my fabrics I found a pretty floral cotton. Perfect for dresses for little girls! Luckily my cousin has two girls, so I had to find a dress pattern as well.

But it's not all doom and gloom. My potatoes in tyres have been sprouting...

Violet Queen, purple potatoes

I planted spuds in much bags like I have done few years now, but I'm not quite sure about the variety now...

Ms/Mr Toad wasn't happy when I watered that bag. Uuups, sorry.

Mixed feelings

I bought a bottle of maybe one of the most hated liquids used in gardening and farming.

RoundUp.

It's not that I don't know it's dangerous (carsinogenic and propably genotoxic; also toxic to aquatic life). It's not that I don't know how Monsanto has abused poor farmers in poor countries (well, around the globe). I also know it kills bees and stays on cold ground far too long (it actually halt it's breaking down during winter months).

After all that I bought a bottle, and I'm going to use it. Neighbourgh's yard has still some giant hogweed growing, and because plants grow all over property, it is impossible cover all ground to prevent giant hogweed to grow. And because it grows in abandoned yard, I can't burn it down because that might cause a bush fire. Some plants grow between rocks (most of them) so cutting roots is not easy and not very efficient, because I can't cut deep enought to kill plants. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
I was initially told that giant hogweed is biennial, but in poor conditions it might take three years to produce flowers and die. Bah, now I know that if it can't produce flower head, a single plant will stay alive up to 12 years! And seeds stay viable ten years years.
Great.
Ignorance is a bliss.

Anyway, I have managed to kill 90% of plants, there is a major seedbank in soil, but maybe after five more years I should be a winner! I have been cutting them, covering them, weeding them and finally spraying them.

So, when there is no wind and no rain, I'll wear my protective clothing, gloves and all (not only because glyphosate, but because of furanocoumarin, it causes photosensitivity) and start my war against poor plant that can't run. I'm doing my best to work along The giant hogweed best practice manual    and guidance from my local environmental authority.

Long time no see

So it's past Mother's Day and I'm hardly advanced my veggie plot at all.
Well, I have done several things.


Nature has slowly crawled and boldly leaped towards summer. First there was yellow sea of coltsfoot, and then one of my favourites, liverworts:

Along our walks we saw some almost white ones, normal blue ones, pink ones and dark purple ones. These are very pale blue.

I found again some whole milk reduced, and made cottage cheese. Still some milk left, so I wanted to try making yoghurt. After some googling I made a batch in crock pot, I was very suprised I actually got edible product!

I used turkish yoghurt as starter, final yoghurt wasn't as thick as original, but edible. Maybe it tasted a bit boiled because I had trouble timing everything, but nevertheless I'll make some more when I find whole milk reduced again.

I found strawberry plants that were grown in a big plant nursery I visited earlier, and I know they are excellent quality. I bought 20 plants, 10 early variety and 10 late variety. They have been planted now, I built a new frame for them. I have now 29/30 strawberry plants, maybe we can eat some berries all summer?

Ys helped watering. I ran out of ground cover so I used newspapers.

I bought small plastic greenhouse for the polytunnel, there are my brassica seedlings, some spinach and beets.

Still like chaos, but it's working.

Radish and lettuce in polytunnel

Ugly as hell but working.

 My suprice garlic. After all this work I found yet another one sprouting in one of the cold frames, but I'll plant it in the middle of this monstrosity when I have extra 5 min. Cold frame on foreground has more garlic - they were all supposed to be there, but stuff happens. And that cold frame was frozen when I moved those ones that ended in that brick thing, so I really had no options.

Since last time I wrote post on the blog, my rhubarb and lovage have proven to be alive (as well as horse radish). These, however, are not from my plants, they are from our neighbours garden.

Short but tasty!

 I had two options, soup or pie.

Well, if you ask children, it's pie every time! Rhubarb pie and rhubarbless pie for os who doesn't eat cooked fruits. or maybe this is bake, but whatever, it was yummy!

Spring took some serious setback for two weeks, we had snow and frost and freezing days. Now it
seems cold is finally gone and we can start eating from our garden/yard/field/forest...

First we had nettle pancakes, kids love them. Just ordinary pancake batter, some blanched nettles and stick blender. Can be eaten as savory dish (like ys with ketshup) or as sweet (like os with sugar or like sys with whipped cream).

But maybe even more important to me is fireweed, which I use as asparagus or as any other green veg.

This lot ended up lunch as omelette.

 And while I was cooking another lunch for me, it occured to me that I'm turning in to Ilona!
 

Stuff I found from fridge (leftover rice and corn, some old pepper, some ground elder, grated cheese and and an  egg. And spices.

 If I lived alone I might be able to live on food I forage and grow (well, I would need a root cellar and few freezers). Now it's time for first mushrooms!

Which are deadly poisonous, btw.  Gyromitra esculenta, sometimes known as false morel. Lethal if eaten without proper preparation. A bit like fugu. Nice if done the right way (boil 3x5min at time with plenty of water in place you have good ventilation, rinse between every boil). There might still be some poisonous gyromitrin left, so it is not recommended to eat several false morel meals in a row.

Gyromitra perlata, nor as poisnous as it's cousin, but I wouldn't eat it without the same preparation as false morels. Pictured this morning at 'Sumawalk. Worms are actually birch catkins.

But. Veggie plot is tilled last weekend, if it's dry enough this week I'll start planting and sowing soon. We have been sick, and I did a night sift last week - not my piece of cake and hb is doing them all the time (ok, I had to work first the normal day sift and then back at work at ten and then again working on the next day). Usually I'n doing night sifts at weekends so I have time to recover.
Cukcoos are back, so it really is nearly  summer. Even if it snows occasionally.