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...
Monday, 16 September 2019
Saturday, 7 September 2019
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.
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.
Monday, 2 September 2019
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...
September - time to shikn about Christmast presents. Sister asked for a house...
Sunday, 1 September 2019
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.
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.
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