KW-44 The one where the clocks go back

and the temperature went up

The job of this newsletter is to keep things light. I’ve heard from many people that they enjoy the Monday morning regularity of it popping into the inbox. I might not always hit the tone that I am going for, but as yet, I think I’ve kept it more pastoral than doomer.

Why do I mention this? I guess because the doomer vibes are hitting heavily today. Or in other words, if you are here for the “it has been a quiet week at the barracks”, then you’re probably advised to keep away from my Twitter for a couple of days!

I mentioned last week that the winter rye was coming up. This week, there is enough of it for a photo op. I can also happily report that yesterday evening saw the first shoots of winter wheat piking through the ground, and also the Phacelia. They’re not on this picture, because they are somewhere else.

In the infinite daisy chain which is known as getting things done, I spent a lot of this week working on the pomegranate trees which I started three years ago. You may remember, that I am growing them from seeds from a shop-bought fruit. Of three hundred seeds, about 60 germinated, of which 15 are still going. They are only about 20, 25 cm tall, still in pots, and need to come inside during the winter. So I decided to knock up a quick set of shelves for them. Forgetting, silly me, that I am incapable of doing anything either quickly or easily. The shelves themselves are going to be massive. Less than two meters long, so not ridiculous, but I am making them out of 5cm thick solid beech boards which are, it is fair to say, heavy. Of course, they can’t possibly fit through my planer - it’s a brave little piece of kit, willing to tackle most jobs, but it’s not quite meaty enough for these beasts - so I have been hand planing pretty much all week. They are going to be very splendid shelves, though!

I tried really hard this year to just rake up the damn leaves and put them on the compost, but as soon as I started and the negative space started to reveal itself to me, I just couldn’t help myself. 4 hours well spent.

I think that I got everything else sorted that I claimed I was going to do in last week’s newsletter. I definitely fixed the rabbit holes in the perimeter fence that I wanted to. I raked a lot of leaves. I canned a lot of carrots, and made 15 pots of that bean-carrot-tomato sandwich spread I was banging on about. It turned out ok, to be honest. I’m looking forward to tucking in to it when winter really sets in.

Did I do the chillis this week as well? Or was that last week? I think it must have been this week. I made a dozen pots of pickled chillis. Some with onions. And it probably wasn’t a dozen, but they will be great in a month’s time. By the time I am finishing them off (probably around April), they should be super spicy!

This week, more of the same. Raking and mowing, more carrots, and spending some time with the piggers. They’re doing great, by the way. They are eating way more whole foods than horse muesli at the minute - carrots and fodder beets - and they got another load of acorns this week. I really need to find somewhere to get some straw from for the winter, but their bellies are doing very well right now. I have an idea for a halloween photo of them. Which isn’t in this newsletter because I thought it was tomorrow, not today. Sorry!

And with that, I shall go and give them their breakfast and say toodlepip for now.

Sending pirate love to all corners, your

Pirate Ben

xoxo