KW-32 The week with the thing in the newspaper

I also used to be a Geologist; and a cycle courier ...

In the continuing preoccupation with precipitation, I can report that this week at The Barracks it rained once, for 15 minutes, in the middle of the night. About 100 litres went into the big container, but by the time I got up in the morning, the air hung still with the afterscent of rain, the ground around had returned to dryness.

I have been eating a substantial handful of beans every day for weeks now. They’re still delicious!

Once again, then, it has been seven days characterised by the hauling of hosepipes.

The well here is deep and narrow. This means it does not contain a great deal of water (it runs dry in about 15 minutes of hosepipe action), but it refills again quite quickly. Days, therefore are divided and into 4-hour portions, demarcated by bursts of watering action. Last week, I did the orchard. Three trees at a time. And they all look very much better for it!

I spent a lot of the week thinking about mineral fertilisers. I am most definitely not planning on buying any, but it did get me to wondering what is under my feet here. So I got to occupy myself a good few hours happily pouring over geological maps of Germany.

This one is “natural resources of Germany”, but the literal translation is “treasures of the ground”. Which is very piratey if you ask me!

There is a shop called Stanfords in London, on Long Acre, on the north side of Covent Garden, WC2. They have every map ever made in the world there (probably), as well as their own cartographers. It was known as the first port of call for adventurers from David Livingstone and Florence Nightingale to Michael Palin. I follow Lucy Shepherd, explorer, on Instagram. I’ll ask her if it’s still a thing.

Anyway, I spent many, many happy in hours in there. Maps have always been a source of fascination and beauty for me. I hope Sanfords still exists. Has anyone recently been down that part of London and can confirm or otherwise?

I don’t have a speciality map shop within hundreds of kilometers of me. But I did manage to find a trove of them online.

in summary, the ground around here should probably not be used for growing crops. It’s really Not Very Good

We are reminded again this week of the horrors of monoculture in farming. Or in other words, the strawberries were a total washout (dryout?) this year, but the blackberries are doing amazing things. I’ve been down there picking them almost every morning.

blackberries, as far as the eye can see

In the coming week, I am planning on two big jobs in the beans and potatoes, and optimistic that I will find time for some construction work, and some landscaping. The list, as it looks now looks a little bit like this:

• harvest all the peas and re-sow with something green-manurey for the winter

• try to maximise the soya

• earth up all the potaotes - in the potager and the vineyard

• hoe the entire vineyard

• some woodworking in the kitchen

• lay one more edge to the potager.

• make blackberry jam

And finally, as you all know, I am motivated by do things because of data and science, but this is rarely enough to keep a person doing a thing for an extended period of time. That is the purpose of hope. Also, boneheaded obstinacy. But mostly hope.

The question of the week is - what keeps you hopeful and resolute?

I was very Doubtful About Most Things this week just gone. The unanimously positive feedback from That Thing In the Papers has done me a great job. Thanks everyone, you all came along just when I needed you. And thanks to the journalist. I think he did a nice job too.

Much love and until next time, continuing being excellent to each other.

Your Pirate Ben

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standard pig photo. Mouths full, showing you their arses