Swiss family Heffernan - the almost fiasco
Posted on Apr 14, 2009 at 09:01 PM
So after weeks of fervent digging, manuring, building planters, planting, mulching etc etc etc I was tired but very satisfied. To my horror I was awoken very early this morning by a grumpy guy spraying foul stuff all over my myrtille and pear trees. Alas it was also falling on my newly planted biodynamic garden, the kids playhouse, our new herb garden, the rabbit run, the car and anything within breathing diastance.
Despite my protestations, grumpy guy refused to put away the WMD. I tried to speak to him but I reckon that years of polluting his brain with the 'stuff' he was incoherent. It seems that he has been spraying these trees for years and just shows up and does them. Let hime just try to bill me! Then he will understand prior notice!
AHHH! I am now the grumpy one!
Swiss family Heffernan - where is Brad Pitt?
Posted on Mar 29, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Yeah! Spring has arrived ...again! I'm feeling confident that the snow will now stay away. Last night dh saw a badger ambling along our lane and into the garden. I think that this is a good sign. They are clever guys. I'm hoping that he knew it was time to wake up!
I found some great horse and cow 'composted manure' in my farm stores yesterday. No real smell and a nice soft feel to it. As today is Sunday and it's illegal for me to work in the garden, I'm going to have to wait til tomorrow to dig it into the veg patch. Now, when I say dig it in I actually mean trowel it in. My back is very weak and I just can't manage the sprong and the hard heavy soil. I reckon I should have it ready for April 23rd. The ultimate potato planting day.
Want a smile? I also asked the shop lady (she of no humour) as to how I might go about finding a nice strapping young man to help me dig the soil. I could pay in a little cash and veg, perfect for a student. I even joked that if he looked like Brad Pitt then it would be even better. What did she do? She told me that I might find this 'Brad Pitt' man in the phonebook if he was local.....hmmm.
The bloody snow!
Posted on Mar 24, 2009 at 08:20 PM
16 degrees last weekend. We planted out some runner beans. The bloody snow arrived today. Global warming my "*ç*!
easy prey...
Posted on Mar 19, 2009 at 06:48 PM
On a lovely St. Paddy's morning I was having an early morning cuppa and looking at my plants. I saw a very fascinating episode unfold in the trees at the edge of the lane. Upon hearing the cry of a hawk I immediately looked up. There was a beautiful small hawk swooping upon some trees. I then saw a small bird flying about, perhaps the target of monsieur hawk. But then a large crow flew out of the tree and more or less attacked the hawk. The two fought an in-flight battle quite like something from an old movie. Eventually the hawk gave up, the crow cawed a bit in triumph, relayed the tale to all of the other crows. They then buggered off to eat the worms from under the farmers ploughed furrows.
Today I discover that my five year old SN child has been badly bullied at school. Boy, did I think of that crow as I start my battle to protect her.
Aint life funny.
Swiss family Heffernan- Spring..hooray!
Posted on Mar 17, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Finally, we have said adieu to the snow. So it's been digging and planting prep time. Actually that a big 'porky pie', I have not been digging. As I have a very bad back I can't risk digging. I spoke to my landlady about my 'no dig garden idea'. I want to create raised beds to both help my back and use a small sprong to turn the soil next year. As I am not able to build the beds myself I had the idea of buying some large wooden kids sandpits and planting in them. Needless to say she is not impressed. She's old school. As the haggart is part of our contract to live here I've got to figure this out soon........ On a plus note my rocket seedlings are now thriving into lovely plants. No sign of the peed on carrots shooting up yet though. Planted some marigold seedlings too. I used them last year in the carrot beds. Apparantly carrot fly hate their scent. Fingers crossed!
Do you want to know how to flummux a Swiss garden centre worker? Ask for willow reaths, natural, ready to plant. Believe me it took drawings, mime and much swearing in gaelic for me to convince him that such items did exist.
P.S Still no deer antlers!
The great Paddy's day feast!
Posted on Mar 11, 2009 at 07:30 PM
We are having a gang of 40 here to celebrate my birthday and St. Patrick's Day. Though we are actually holding it on March 29th, in the faint hope that we can cook in the outdoor oven. Today I went in search of a spit, the type that I can string a lamb across and roast for the feast. I have an idea that I could stuff the lamb with rosemary, albeit very snow and frost damaged rosemary! I think that I'd love a guinness and honey marinade but that might just be too strong a flavour for the mild lamb. Then I would need two spits and two lambs. One for the guinness people and one for the coeliacs (i.e. the kids and I). Anyhow I really no need to track down a spit, and a full lamb or two to go alongside.
DH thinks I'm barking. If he thinks that a lamb on a spit is a daft idea then he'll pass out when he here's about his 40th birthday plan! But that's for another day.I guess it's off to the farmstores again........
Swiss family Heffernan - funky hay and a collapsed bathroom floor
Posted on Mar 09, 2009 at 06:29 PM
The day didn't start so well. The place was bashed by heavy winds last night and the kids did not sleep. We have a loose shutter somewhere that kept us all awake, guinea pigs and rabbits included.So everybody ended up in Mummy's bed, well except for the pets that is. Daddy is banished to the guest room. I love him dearly but after fiftenn years of snoring and two sleepless kids...action was taken.
Anyhow, just as dh left for work and I was about to get out the door to school, there was a polite knock. The builders had arrived. What builders. The ones to repair the sinking floor in the bathroom. OK but who had called them? The landlady. A very lovely and pro-active woman. Did they need to start right now? Absolutely. Ok then. I looked at the wind damaged, snow covered garden as I went on the school run.
On the way back I went to the farmstores. Boy were they excited to see me! Now usually I pester them about buying bantams, finding deer antlers, chitted potatoe seed etcetc. I do think that they have a list in the back office of `crazy Irish lady requests`. But today they weren't running for cover when they saw me. They didn't even become engrossed in recounting the slug pellets as I came round the garden section. In fact today the young manager came quickly to tell me that they had a new item in stock that I would probably like. He was right. Some very funky hay. Marigold and camomile, lavender and nettle and something else that neither of us could translate from swiss german to english. But they were rather chuffed to have finally found a product for la madame irlandaise! t top it all off he had also taken stock of some hemp bedding. He hadn't bothered stocking it for a few years but reckoned I might just be interested. I've not used it but he said it's perfect for small pets. Well ok I said, let's give it a go. So. Hemp bedding. If they eat it will they get high or anything? Maybe they`ll be more mellow. .........Now there's a thought.
Swiss family Heffernan-the great pee!
Posted on Mar 08, 2009 at 07:19 PM
Between the snow, rascally rabbits and the search for deer antler I was feeling a little thwarted this week. I really do need to get cracking on with planting the seedlings. Despite the fact that I cannot find my seed delivery I did manage to get some planting done this weekend. I had two packets of carrot seed and some lavender lurking in the fridge, so that got me started. The kids pitched in and aside from having to rescue a full tray of planted lavender from the toddlers obsession with filling everything with sand (otherwise known as 'cheeky monkey`), we did get much work done. I was feeling quite pleased with myself and turned my back briefly to wash the trowel. That was a mistake. Cheeky Monkey had decided to 'water' the newly planted seedlings again...by having a good old pee on them. Lord knows if any will survive. We'll just have to wait and see!
Swiss family Heffernan - a wider search
Posted on Mar 04, 2009 at 07:58 PM
I need to briefly abandon my search for deer antler. The rascaly rabbits escaped their hutch (again) and chewed through the phone cable (again). Thankfully we have a seperate line for phones and broadband. My search now involves going to find a new phone cable. Last time they chewed it I just swopped to an old phone we had. The search begins for a phone cable and deer antlers!
Swiss family Heffernan- the great search!
Posted on Mar 04, 2009 at 07:57 AM
As we are trying this biodynamic approach, I need to find some fairly funky items to prepare the soil. First on my list is - deer skull and antlers, reasonably fresh I believe. Though we have lot's of wild deer that invade the garden at night, I don't think it's feasible to take a shot at one. Aside from the moral issues I would struggle with, I think it's illegal, my neighbours would have a heart attack and I^haven't fired a rifle in twenty years. I don't think clay pigeon shooting counts.......
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