KW-31 Quite a lot of weather
This week seems like it went past very quickly, without much going forwards. This isn’t true, mostly. Weeks tend to progress at about the same rate. It’s plans that don’t.
We were dominated by water this week. I’m sure I would find something about it in the ephemeris if I looked. If I has one for this year. Water in the crops, water in the sky, water in the ground and water in the pipes.
In short, I don’t think I got anything from last week’s list done. Did I plant the paulowinas this week, I think I did. But not the holly. I did also do quite a lot of the “clean out the woodshop” task. Oh, and looking back to the list, I did also plant out the lettuces. And the endives which are basically lettuce. And I got in a row of Christmas potatoes.
What was that I heard? Was that you asking what are Christmas potatoes? I’m sure I mentioned it last year. But one more time for the newbies, because it is pretty cool. When you get to digging up the last two plants from your earliest potatoes, if it has all gone more or less to plan, it shouldn’t be too early for the first of the second earlies to be landing on the plate. So you take the last of the earlies, harvest them, and pop them back into the ground again as seed potatoes. Being as these are the fastest growing potatoes, with a fair wind and an incantation to your spirit of choice, there is a half decent chance that by Christmas, they will have regrown, and you can dig them up on Christmas morning for fresh new potatoes for the plate. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s the only way I can think of of both a bit of potatoey excitement in the middle of winter, and how to save seed potatoes for the most unstoreable of spuds.
The water stories though? I’ve already written too much to go into them but:
It rained every day this week. The rye in the field is suffering.
On Saturday, the rain went biblical, maxing out at 65cm per hour (for a few minutes)
On Monday, the domestic water broke. I fixed it by Tuesday, but I got a little wet doing so.
On Tuesday, I discovered the wheat in the drying room was starting to rot. So I put down pallets, covered them in a thin layer of cardboard, topped with material, and the wheat grain on that. I hope that every layer wicks moisture out and into the air. It seems to be working.
The pumpkins are swelling nicely in the rain, but the unfertilised flowers are not being visited by insects and are starting to rot.
It’s been too wet to collect berries for jam. Uh oh.
And so this week, I really want to get on with just one project. I will also
trim the hedges
pick the berries!
water (possibly just the in polytunnel), weed and mow
and either
start on the foundations for the potager greenhouse
or the biogas digester
I’d like your votes please. Which one do you think you would like to see progress on next week. Please make your voices heard in the comments and continue to nag me throughout the week for updates!
And until then, be lovely
Your
Pirate Ben xoxo
Post script:
And don’t forget, this year we discovered the purpose of the barracks. It is to be useful for the rebuilding which happens after collapse.
The final week of the Collapse Laboratory is your last chance to visit us here, to participate in something important, and to meet amazing people doing the same.
For newsletter people only - if you want to come, and the price is putting you off, get in touch.
Otherwise, sign up for One Week To Save the World here.
Biogas digester !
Christmas potatoes...I am definitely giving that a go...and I think the chances are better than 50-50 - the weather seems quite warm leading up to Christmas these days...