Yesterday I planted a second batch of white climbing beans. We now have three different bean types - runner, French and my white climbing bean and these are good for winter drying, for use as a white haricot bean. So its great for addinng to stews and casseroles and many types of other European dishes.
Now just last week our home printer stopped working for some reason. It may have been a problem with the ink, with the cassettes simply not being accepted but, whatever the problem, the result is that now I cannot print off all the docs I need for future use...this is very irritating. We may need to buy a new printer .....so annoying......which is something we really do not want to do just now. No spare fiunds for new toys now !!!
So my beans need to be dried at some point this summer and I needed to update my "how to" guide and now I can't print off the details,s o they've been saved to my Desktop. This is a problem because this place becomes very choked with all the saved items !!
Sunday 28 June 2020
A Granny's Diary - 13th Week of Lockdown - Saturday 27 June 2020
Our week began with a minor domestic catastrophe...our 'fridge-freezer went into melt-down. Water pouring out of the escape exit at the base of the freezer and obviously, there was a blockage somewhere. This had happened in a small way before but now, it was a positive torrent, which we dealt with by complete removal of food items and drawers, doing our best to clear out the outlet exit and the channel going down from the back wall draining section. So that was that. All done and freezer cleaned and turned on again for food items to be returned. Come Saturday morning, the flood was upon us again and further investigations took place, just as we were looking forward to visiting our allotment. Bother ! This time, the Grandpa deconstructs the base area of the freezer and discovers a further blockage and an enormous amount of ice around internal workings...thus our leakage was still ongoing. This time we cleared away the blocking and the ice and finally, our freezer was repaired, returned to order and His work done.
It's been a very hot week and gardening has been a trifle exhausting. More precisely, the digging out of plants in my secret garden has, definitely, been hampered by the great heat of Wednesday and Thursday. It's a chore which up to now I've simply avoided or allowed Him to do, but do you know, I've discovered an odd thing. Digging, like changing things around, is positively liberating, allowing one to create a new, even enhanced vision for any space, be it your sitting-room, kitchen, or garden room/garden. An area you make your own becomes so special, so linked to your every-day self and good opinion of yourself, you feel empassioned and energised to making that space attractive in every way possible. Its condition confirms your status and personality, reflects the ideals you hold and cherish and keeps you going forward, positively.
I believe the best hopes for humanity to go forward with, during this present difficult time, and for the new normality to be created one day, will come from today. Our present difficulties are opening up avenues of activity and real pauses in time, for reflection. Nature is clearly benefitting from our being in lockdown. The atmosphere is cleaner as we've been locked into our homes and gardens and kept from polluting our countryside. Our green, open spaces are full of nature, less choked by noxious substances, more welcoming of all nature.
We were unaware of Covid-19 before it began, suddenly, last December 2019. We were shocked into disbelief that such a pandemic could begin, just like that. However, it did. We have since recovered some sense of ourselves. We have accepted new rules for living and now are moving forward into a less stringent normality, a new reality yet still cautioned into watchfulness, daily mindfulness and awareness of the ongoing restraints which beset us still.
Talking to my Grandmotherly friends, the one constant is the thought that what we learn today, from our surroundings and self-awareness of today, will influence how we live tomorrow. How we dig our way out of today and transplant ourselves into the new normality of tomorrow, can link us to what many of us are doing right now...gardening and growing. Our gardens and green spaces are positively helping humanity to survive and grow.
Let's hope that the great benefit of these gardening days will carry us forward to a healthier new normality, sometime soon.
In the meantime, our family has grown with the birth of a new darling baby boy. I have carried on with my sourdough experiment, completed my elderflower champagne and enjoyed a friend's bounty of a gift of allotment gooseberries - I made gooseberry crumble; while another allotment neighbour has given me a clutch of verbena bonariensis seedlings. I am most fortunate.
As I write, grey skies and cool air dominates. We will go to the allotment again and see what the rain has done for our beseiged plants and vegetables. Will it rain again today or will I undertake more digging this evening, we'll see ! Actually, I must at some point this weekend, for my squash plants, kale, turnips and chard need a rejuvenated soil to to go into and we shall need a new supply of homegrown vegetables to get us thru'! At any rate, spending time in my garden is teaching me a thing or two about the whole growing process and that can only be a positive outcome for me and my sometime future.
Margaret xxx
ps I've begun a pip trial for growing a lemon tree .. I wonder if my pips will germinate ? Gardeners' World with Monty Don last night included a viewers film showing how pips are able to develop and,as I'm already experimenting with avocado pits, have grown leek ends and am still now growing broad beans in jam jars for my grandchildren, three of which are already in pots of compost, doing well I just thought I should have a go !!
It's been a very hot week and gardening has been a trifle exhausting. More precisely, the digging out of plants in my secret garden has, definitely, been hampered by the great heat of Wednesday and Thursday. It's a chore which up to now I've simply avoided or allowed Him to do, but do you know, I've discovered an odd thing. Digging, like changing things around, is positively liberating, allowing one to create a new, even enhanced vision for any space, be it your sitting-room, kitchen, or garden room/garden. An area you make your own becomes so special, so linked to your every-day self and good opinion of yourself, you feel empassioned and energised to making that space attractive in every way possible. Its condition confirms your status and personality, reflects the ideals you hold and cherish and keeps you going forward, positively.
I believe the best hopes for humanity to go forward with, during this present difficult time, and for the new normality to be created one day, will come from today. Our present difficulties are opening up avenues of activity and real pauses in time, for reflection. Nature is clearly benefitting from our being in lockdown. The atmosphere is cleaner as we've been locked into our homes and gardens and kept from polluting our countryside. Our green, open spaces are full of nature, less choked by noxious substances, more welcoming of all nature.
We were unaware of Covid-19 before it began, suddenly, last December 2019. We were shocked into disbelief that such a pandemic could begin, just like that. However, it did. We have since recovered some sense of ourselves. We have accepted new rules for living and now are moving forward into a less stringent normality, a new reality yet still cautioned into watchfulness, daily mindfulness and awareness of the ongoing restraints which beset us still.
Talking to my Grandmotherly friends, the one constant is the thought that what we learn today, from our surroundings and self-awareness of today, will influence how we live tomorrow. How we dig our way out of today and transplant ourselves into the new normality of tomorrow, can link us to what many of us are doing right now...gardening and growing. Our gardens and green spaces are positively helping humanity to survive and grow.
Let's hope that the great benefit of these gardening days will carry us forward to a healthier new normality, sometime soon.
In the meantime, our family has grown with the birth of a new darling baby boy. I have carried on with my sourdough experiment, completed my elderflower champagne and enjoyed a friend's bounty of a gift of allotment gooseberries - I made gooseberry crumble; while another allotment neighbour has given me a clutch of verbena bonariensis seedlings. I am most fortunate.
As I write, grey skies and cool air dominates. We will go to the allotment again and see what the rain has done for our beseiged plants and vegetables. Will it rain again today or will I undertake more digging this evening, we'll see ! Actually, I must at some point this weekend, for my squash plants, kale, turnips and chard need a rejuvenated soil to to go into and we shall need a new supply of homegrown vegetables to get us thru'! At any rate, spending time in my garden is teaching me a thing or two about the whole growing process and that can only be a positive outcome for me and my sometime future.
Margaret xxx
ps I've begun a pip trial for growing a lemon tree .. I wonder if my pips will germinate ? Gardeners' World with Monty Don last night included a viewers film showing how pips are able to develop and,as I'm already experimenting with avocado pits, have grown leek ends and am still now growing broad beans in jam jars for my grandchildren, three of which are already in pots of compost, doing well I just thought I should have a go !!
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