KW-10 Injury of the Week

It's a new one! And it's a doozy.

Last week, I said you don’t have to rush your seeds.

I stand by this, but then I went ahead and sowed an optimistic tabletop full anyway. Most of this was old seeds that I found, some from years ago, so they are a bit of a gamble anyway. It’s worth chancing a few, for the fun of it.

A table of sown seeds. You can’t really see, but it’s actually snowing quite heavily out there.

Sorry that this newsletter is a bit late. The laptop really didn’t want to turn on this morning. Quite often it pretends it doesn’t want to, but today I very nearly believed it. The usual procedure is to put it on top of the still-warm fire from yesterday, make a cup of tea, and try again. It resisted firmly today. I wonder, is it a bad sign if the only way you can get around your computer is by force-quitting apps? Probably.

Sometimes a thing is exactly where it should be. The Polytunnel catching the very last evening rays of sunlight might be the best example of this in the barracks.

I started a new newsletter this week. This one has been getting a bit wordy, which I like. I’m pleased with how it has developed over the last 81 weekly editions, and it’s going to carry on in a similar trajectory. The new one is called The Barracks In Pictures and that is what it is going to be. Amazingly, 40 people have already subscribed! Thank you if you are one of them! Your feedback will be essential to how it develops. At the moment, I’m thinking about a couple oftwritten titles, but other than that, no words, not even captions on the photos.

As with this one, it’s free, it will always be free, and there will never be any part of it that is not free, but paid subscriptions are turned on from the get-go for anyone who wants to chuck a fiver a month in the direction of the pigs. All subs still go directly to pig food, unless clearly otherwise stated. We now have hit a staggering quarter-century of paid subscribers - 25 of you lovely people - representing a simply indispensable 50% of pig food costs covered. The new substack is the same fiver a month as this one, and an entirely more reasonable 60 notes annually.

The piggers have taken to sleeping in a pile of pigs. Unfortunately, you don’t have long to take a sneaky pic of sleeping pigs. They don’t stay sleeping for long

This week in the garden is somewhat weather dependent. I was hoping for nice warm apricating springtime, but they decided to go with another 16 days of snow. If it’s good then we shall:

Make all sorts of things pretty -

• In the soft fruits

  • Strawberries. You should replace your strawbs every 3 to 4 years. Or, in other words, dig up one third of the bed every year. I have an exciting plan for this!

  • The Rhubarb and Asparagus - need tidying up. All 8 beds need tidying, but I managed to get 5 of them done last autumn, so they are basically going to be ok for a while.

• The path from the loft to the piggies

  • Clip the hedges. I have a lot of hedges. I started yesterday, because why not?

  • Make decorative circles around the maple trees.

  • Start on the kitchen herb garden - this might not happen. Especially not if it snows

  • Apricot Tree - weed, protec

And if the weather is shitty, I am going to read and potter and:

• Make seed trays

• Study mushroom growing

• Take down a big tree in the wrong place

This is the Big Tree In the Wrong Place. Can you see the distinct angle in which it is leaning. That is exactly the angle I do NOT want it to fall in. Gravity is a bummer.

A Collection of Thoughts I Have Made of Note of This Week.

This week, I re-read Camus, The Outsider. Live a good life, because it makes no sense anyway. Camus was the original Happy Doomer

If we live in a simulation, then the way to test for it is to find corner cases. You’re not going to find them in cities, trying to peep behind walls or staring at cats. Do things that they don’t have adequate test coverage for. Be unique.

Eating ethically starts somewhere. I was reminded again this week, that most people don’t know that you really shouldn’t consume anything made by Nestle.

In the news, fish are self aware. On my screen, I watched Watson on Water Bear. You should too. And then you should stop eating anything from the oceans.

And the injury of the week?

Whilst feeding the piggers, I forgot to turn off their electric fence and, climbing through it, electrocuted myself in the dick.

Not done that one before.

And so, until next week (or Friday if you join us on The Barracks in Pictures), with much Piratey Love

Your Pirate Ben

xoxo

And I just had another thought. I’m going to restock some of my seed potatoes this year. First person to take out an annual sub on The Barracks in Pictures will be the Official Potato Sponsor and will be so named every time I mention potatoes for the next six months!