Start of Winter

Hello Everyone,

Winter has arrived with weather to match! We have had a stunning week of snow, ice, freeze, sunrises and morning moons. This week's pic proves it…gorgeous to look at...but not great working conditions. 

Bob, the Crew and myself wrap-up like a Christmas pressie. We have thermals, heated jackets, wool jumpers, snoods, hats, gloves and more coats…layered like the ‘Michelin Man’. Moving is difficult but we do warm up and off comes the odd layer.

To keep cosy and warm the Lovely Lucy and Graham the Great have been turning compost. We will never create the amount of compost we will need for the whole ground we use for our inside and outside growing areas. But, each year we are making more and more of our own compost to use. It is very satisfying how the circle of growing, composting and using the output from the compost bins is working.

The polytunnels have been tended to. We need to keep them aerated, so the doors are opened during the day, even with the snow and minus numbers on the thermometer. The crops have been checked as these conditions can create dampness. If the plant gets wet and then freezes, ice burn can occur or they can become soooo wet on defrosting, they become mushy and smelly! Leaving them unusable.  

The paths are being topped up with more wood chip. The chippings do decompose over time and we just add more when required. For me, the chipping looks great and divide the beds nicely. I am all for straight lines and tidiness, and it means we have a path to walk along. It is always amazing that the crops growing beside the wood chip path seem to perform better than plants growing away from the path. We can only presume that  nutrients oozes from the slowly decomposing wood chip…not only a mulch but a goodness provider too!

Due to the freezing conditions…probably as low as -6!..we were unable to harvest all of our goodies needed for the boxes last week. I can only apologise on behalf of Mother Nature for the items missing (funds have been returned). Unfortunately, the idea that we ‘harvest when ordered’ cannot apply when we are in the thick of a freezing winter weather snap! The leafy greens all drooped and became crunchy in the freeze. We just could not consider using any greens. We did fleece the very tender plants which should help to keep them a little warmer. 

This coming week sees a rise in temperature and lots of rain and wind is on its way.  Fingers crossed we have fewer issues when it comes to harvesting.

Thank you to everyone who have had goodies from the ‘Pantry’. The answer is…Yes we will have all the jars and bottles back. Thank you.

Have a good week, stay safe,

Ann👩🏻‍🌾