01 September 2008 17:23:51
Well, the weather, the weather, the weather, is it me or are we even more obsessed with it? Today I could be out in the wind and scattering rain trying to start the shaping of the labyrinth and planting out the 1500 camomile plants lodged in my garage....but how can I face it? The ground is a swamp, camomile does not like growing in a swamp. It cant go on, the reluctancy I mean. There is only so much comfort eating one can do!There is one last WWOOFer here with me and we will have to start that tomorrow.
The paving, (stone retrieved from around the farm land,) is nearly finished around the garage. Just a patch of stones to lay and sand to fill the gaps. I put the stops on the cement between the stones, its just too permanent and there is enough cement here without contributing to it all. So a few things will grow there, so what? I plan to put the adelviese in some cracks and some creepers in others. I would rather see it as living surface. If a person, animal or car goes over it...well so be it!
The list of things to do grows...the windbreak is the most important, why oh why a house on top of a hill? He says after years of living in a hole behind one, he wanted to see some views. There is about 200m of some sort of wind break needed, the storm in march all but killed most of the planting we started in Jan. It is coming back, but half the size it had blossomed in to.
The grass is wild, I cant cut it, I will not put weed killer on it, the donkey idea seems to sound more and more the solution. It will take years to sculpt and grow the self seeding planting, but at least it is not the sea of mud it was for the past two years, and the cats when they come in, they be soggy, but not mucky soggy.
The mature apple trees up the farm yard are dropping there not-so-quite-ripe yield. I have been making Apple Butter from them - a firm fast-disappearing favourite here. Contrary to its name, it has no butter in it and is more like a spicy thick apple jam.
I saw a nastersian, just one single flower popping its head up near the young apple trees. Three days ago a pair of kestrels were screeching at Jasper (king of the hunting cats).
Must move cattle now and check on our new lodgers, the ducks (Daisy & Doris) my first.