13th July 2021
I resow carrot seeds – another area damaged by the chickens on Sunday. I then cover them with a low tunnel, to dissuade other birds from investigating the disturbed soil. There is a constant battle against entropy in the garden – the weeding, the slug-hunting, the seed-covering. Somehow, through handpower, sun, and water, with no real expertise, this leads to abundance.
6 eggs
14th July 2021
Allotment Club. Hot but successful. The harvest is beginning to mount as we take the first few Welsh onions (only a very few now, though). These are a small form of onion akin to spring onions or chives, and can be grown and used in the manner of either, and can also be used as small green onions.
We have beans, peas, and lettuce with dinner, which involves
chicken in a tomato sauce. We will have tomatoes later in the year – in fact,
the first few are starting to ripen now! – but we’d need more scale to make any
amount of tomato sauce. Possible, though. Even a bit of land, however, would
let us keep our own meat chickens.
7 eggs, 4 heads Beauregard lettuce, 0.3oz Welsh onions, 10oz
Aquadulce broad beans (3oz shelled), 1.5oz Meteor peas (0.65 oz shelled)
15th July 2021
Twilight working, which avoids the heat. I water the plants – we watered with liquid compost yesterday, but this time it’s more for hydration. Especially as stuff is fruiting or podding, we need to keep the plants satiated.
7 eggs
16th July 2021
The hottest day of the year so far, with tomorrow predicted hotter. We have allotment radishes in our chicken pasanda dinner – with land, we could also add the chicken and the garlic, and perhaps other things.
I visit briefly in the earlier evening to pick up eggs and
drop off scraps to the chickens (illegally!). I don’t have the time to water
now, but did water yesterday, and forcing the plants to push deeper is no bad
thing. Sometimes fruiting plants suffer for that – you can’t risk too much
drought – but a day should be fine.
I return later, after dark, to lock up. Most of the chickens
have gone on top of the coop, led by the cockerel. The door is still open; this
is voluntary. Why? Well, it’s still 16c – they’ve made a judgement about
staying cool. I weigh up the minuscule risk of a fox getting into our secure
yard, and – contrary to any advice you’ll get – leave the chickens out. They
will ordinarily judge much better than I can what is good for them. I deal with
the edge cases, or where our needs clash.
The sky is clear, and light pollution isn’t overbearing. The
heavens really do look like a vault studded with jewels.
I lie down on the stone path which I laid myself, feeling
the comforting cool on my shoulders. I look up, as Venus rises in the east, a
glowing pale yellow, herald of the sun. In the west, stars seem to swim down
into the haze beyond the horizon, the brightest still shining but their dimmer
brethren swallowed up.
Above, the spheres whose music I cannot hear but know by
every intuition and by revelation is everpresent and perfectly harmonic. The
perfect order of a Divine universe, fully on display and available for free,
every night under cloudless skies. What troubles have we wrought by turning on
the lights and shutting the curtains?
7 eggs
17th July 2021
Quick trip to collect eggs and check on plants. I do a bit of watering. The difficulty accessing the potato bed – which is in an enclosure beside the chickens, in half of their old yard – reminds me that we need to finish the internal fence and add a gate. The potatoes are growing mightily, however, including the main croppers. I suppose in a month or so the earlies will die back, after which we’ll leave them in the ground for a few weeks to dry and settle before harvesting.
6 eggs
18th July 2021
Sunday School at the allotment. The sun pounds down but the children are watered and enjoy themselves. I give out some lettuce at the end. The first courgettes are now visible, too – we’ll probably harvest a couple this week!
We pick a few wild raspberries on the way home, and share
them out amongst the family.
Some plants have been kicked out by foraging birds –
probably feral chickens, perhaps pigeons. It’s more chicken-like behaviour,
though, with the plants often uneaten. We have netting and mesh spare, so we’ll
cover them. In the morning I simply replant the victims.
By the evening the plants are grubbed up again – so I net
some uncovered strawberries, and also the raspberries, though in their case
more to protect the fruit. The canes are quite well-set there.
8 eggs, 2 heads of Beauregard lettuce, 6 raspberries
19th July 2021
In the evening I water the plants with a friend, after checking on the chickens. The orange Sapphire has something like a cold, sneezing repeatedly, but is otherwise vigorous and happy. One thing with chickens is that if they get seriously ill there’s no point treating them, and if they’re mildly ill the curatives are usually food, water, and perhaps cider vinegar.
7 eggs
I resow carrot seeds – another area damaged by the chickens on Sunday. I then cover them with a low tunnel, to dissuade other birds from investigating the disturbed soil. There is a constant battle against entropy in the garden – the weeding, the slug-hunting, the seed-covering. Somehow, through handpower, sun, and water, with no real expertise, this leads to abundance.
Allotment Club. Hot but successful. The harvest is beginning to mount as we take the first few Welsh onions (only a very few now, though). These are a small form of onion akin to spring onions or chives, and can be grown and used in the manner of either, and can also be used as small green onions.
Twilight working, which avoids the heat. I water the plants – we watered with liquid compost yesterday, but this time it’s more for hydration. Especially as stuff is fruiting or podding, we need to keep the plants satiated.
The hottest day of the year so far, with tomorrow predicted hotter. We have allotment radishes in our chicken pasanda dinner – with land, we could also add the chicken and the garlic, and perhaps other things.
Quick trip to collect eggs and check on plants. I do a bit of watering. The difficulty accessing the potato bed – which is in an enclosure beside the chickens, in half of their old yard – reminds me that we need to finish the internal fence and add a gate. The potatoes are growing mightily, however, including the main croppers. I suppose in a month or so the earlies will die back, after which we’ll leave them in the ground for a few weeks to dry and settle before harvesting.
Sunday School at the allotment. The sun pounds down but the children are watered and enjoy themselves. I give out some lettuce at the end. The first courgettes are now visible, too – we’ll probably harvest a couple this week!
In the evening I water the plants with a friend, after checking on the chickens. The orange Sapphire has something like a cold, sneezing repeatedly, but is otherwise vigorous and happy. One thing with chickens is that if they get seriously ill there’s no point treating them, and if they’re mildly ill the curatives are usually food, water, and perhaps cider vinegar.
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