KW-26 Trees, trees and summer projects

med ögon känsliga för grönt

Early summer is the time for big projects. We’ve gotten over the manic sowing schedule of spring, and are slowly starting to casually feed on fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden as we weed past them, yet not into the frenzied pickling and drying and preserving of late summer, early autumn.

watering the pigs

And we’re there. The fields are full. There’s no doubt we could still squeeze in some more seeds if inclined - the roots bed is a little sparse this year, but who needs beetroot anyway?

We have lots of things to do with trees this week.

I did some light summer pruning of fruit trees last week. I think I might make a day or two of it this week, and really get on top of it. If it means more fruits and healthier, prettier trees, then let’s be getting on with it!

I’ve been thinking about fan-training the apricot tree for a while. I’m ready. I’ve done enough of rolling the idea around in my head, and now I’m actually going to do it. Probably. And I should really get around to planting out those three wild cherries. I have somewhere quite cool to put them!

Did I mention the oak trees that have been pruned in the forest? Well, the forester has taken a few down to make room for the others, and he’s told me that if I get get them out, then I can have them. I went to look at the lay of the land a while ago, and it’s not a pretty job. But, I’d very much like to spend a day over there, seeing what can be done. Or, if anyone wants to come down for a weekend and play lumberjack for a couple of days, I’m happy to put it off until you’re here!

But mostly, the summer is for doing Big Projects. Something large and dramatic and which really pushes the barracks ahead. Every part of me says that I should be doing the potager greenhouse. But, oh my, it’s a lot of work. Digging, bricklaying, wooden frame construction. I’m trying to find an excuse not to do it, but it is probably the most important Thing to Be Done.

This field has experienced a few name changes in the past. Mostly because other new spaces came into production and things got complicated. It is not officially, and possibly finally, called Mansion House. If you look carefully, it’s full of sweetcorn, beets and sunflowers. I’m going to weed it this week. And upload one of those long, deliberately boring meditative videos to the youtube channel

So in a final, desperate attempt to put it off some more, here is the list of Big Projects that are on the list of first alternatives to the semi-sunken, heated potager greenhouse. Let me know in the comments if there is one of them you would much rather see me do!

Biogas digester. This should probably also be done this year. It would be very nice to be able to cook on home-made biogas (made mostly from pig poo and carrot tops). And then to heat with it in the winter!

Bee Hives. I’ve always wanted to make my own bee hives. I want them for the wax (to make candles) rather than the honey, but just having bees would be cool in every way anyway.

Chicken Houses. I’d love to rescue a flock of chickens. I’d give them all names and we would be friends! Probably not a great idea until I can definitely feed them all (and the piggers)

A Threshing (/ Winnowing) machine. How cool would that be? This year, I am going to have to thresh the rye and the wheat on the back of a chair. Which sounds like a lot of work. Making a threshing machine is almost certainly even more work, but again - cool as.

Weaving loom. Yes, one day, it would be amazing to be able to make my own cloth. I’m not sure if that’s ever going to actually be a thing, but I’d like to practice by building a very simple loom and starting off by weaving rugs out of broken clothes. Simple, but huge, probably. Knowing me.

Pig-feeding trebuchet. Roll up to the pig pen with a load of freshly cut nettles and grass clippings, load the bucket and whoooosh, fling it through the skies to the waiting piggies. A true labour saving device!

In last week’s newsletter, I was hopeful that the potager would look a lot better this week than it did last week. I think it does. Have a look at last week’s publication, and let me know if you think you can spot the differences.

In other news, this week, we will be eating potatoes fresh from the ground almost every day. From now until the end of October. Pretty cool.

And I think I’ll leave it there for now. Next week is the 100th edition of this creation. I would like to do something special, but I have zero ideas. Suggestions in the comments? And no, I’m not starting an OnlyFans!

Please be excellent to each other, please share this newsletter!

Much love,

Your Pirate Ben

xoxo

currently reading

The YouTube Channel is at - https://www.youtube.com/@ThePirateBen/ You know what would be funny? Hitting that subscribe button. At least, I think it would be funny to hit 100 subscribers with only something like 10, very, very boring videos on there!

Late addition which no-one will read:

Aaron suggested in the comments that I start an amazon affiliate programme linky thing for the “currently reading”. It turns out, it’s super easy to do, so I did.

This should work: Thus Spoke the Plant (affiliate link)