KW-10 Let's Get Ready to Rumble

in the garden. As in do some gardening.

I am not at the barracks. I have not been at the barracks for a few nights. More nights than I have ever been away for. Yes, the pigs are being looked after, very nicely. I am getting twice daily reports and all is well.

The Pumpkin Patch. When I first dug this up last year, I was pleasantly surprised to find the quality of soil was actually not too shoddy. Now, after some considerable improvement works all last year, it is rich and deep and fertile. I was expecting to have to do a lot more work on it this year, but I’m pleased to say that that effort will now be directed to the Vineyard.

Before I left, there was a break in the rain for a few days, rain so Mr Rotovator the Choppy Chop and I went out and carved up the Pumpkin Patch. Obviously, it’s not going to be used for pumpkins this year - that would be bad rotation practices, and we don’t do bad rotation practices around these Barracks! - but wheat. It’s about 400m2 (I think I previously reported it at 350, but I have re-paced it, and I’m sticking with 400 now). Summer wheat can go into the ground as soon as it is a few degrees above zero, and provided it gets a bit of a start, it can suffer a good few degrees of frost, should they come back again. They will.

I don’t think the barracks needs 400m2 wheat - I got nearly 30kg of grain from 100m2 last year - but I am hopeful that we can grow enough straw for the piggies. I think this should be sufficient.

Now choppy-chopping is not easier work than digging, but it is considerably more fun, and maybe 100 times faster. The first thing I do when I get back home again in a few days is sow the wheat, but then after that, I’m going to rotovate the whole of the vineyeard. Last year, it was fallow , the year before I filled about half of it. This year, we are going full out, filling it full up. Of course, all with pig food - about 1/4 each of root mangolds, sweetcorn, potatoes and soya. Oh, those lucky pigs!

I made the granddaughter a set of wooden monsters. They are all painted and varnished and finished and stuff now, but here is an action shot!

Also this week, I am going to do the massive stock take of all the seeds. I really don’t know what I have in the cupboards, but I do know that it is way more than will be sown.

We do have plenty of space, though. I believe that every growing bed will be bursting to overflowing. The new herb garden is getting dug starting quite soon as well, and the Nutzfläche (where we grow the nuts) is going to be properly integrated into the orchard, and hence the whole mowing schedule. I’m already thinking about what to dig up next!

(I’m not, it’s going to be the area just beyond the vineyard, and it’s going to be used for the mass production of bush fruits!)

Oh, I almost forgot though. I got a donation to the barracks, with the instruction that I buy something for myself. Not for pigs. So I bought me some new reading glasses. Prescription ones. With blue filter lenses. Oh my. I have been reading non stop ever since. It’s glorious to be able to see books in HD again. Also, I like reading on busses, so that worked out quite nicely on the way to Berlin. And it got me to thinking. What would be the required reading list for the Barracks?

So far, I have: The Foundation Series by Asimov, The Death of Grass - John Christopher, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn and The Way of Wyrd by Brian Bates. Of course, this is all top of the head stuff, and subject to change. But what would your recommendations be for “Books to understand the Barracks Better”? Let me know in the comments!

And until next week, be excellent to each other.

Much Pirate Love

Your

Pirate Ben

xo xo

(The spoken word edition will return next week)

---

Reading: The Evolution of Cooperation, Robert Axelrod

You probably know of Derek of Veritassim on the YouTubes. I watched this video recently, and as I have been interested in Game Theory since forever, it triggered me to buy the book. It’s much better than the video and, although I’m not going to watch it again now, I don’t remember the number one rule in the book making an appearance in the video - Do Not be Envious. Your success, in real life, is never dependent on the failure of others. Be nice, be forgiving, don’t be a pushover. But also, celebrate the successes of others, and don’t measure your own against theirs.