Mid-November

We've had our first pickings from the sprouts!!!  They are small but very tasty.  And we're still eating the chard.  We're pulling up the plants in the bed that also contained the runner beans.  The later plantings are sat in a bed with some cabbages.  We'll get onto them when we've finished the first planting.  There are carrots that are big enough to eat now.  So we're doing well for fresh autumn veg, plus we've still got lots from the spring and summer in the freezer.  Now we need to get in and sort out the empty beds - weed and manure them so they can sleep productively over the winter.

The chickens remain hale and happy.  The cost per egg has dropped now below 90p!  And egg production is holding up quite well.  Many days we are still getting 4, although there are more days now when we only get two.  The egg bowl is still full though and we are eating lots and lots of eggs.

The weather has warmed up a bit this week - we've had wet, mild weather with a lot of wind.  The leaves are nearly off the apple and pear trees so soon it will be time to prune them.  And we're still hoping to plant up a supplementary fruit garden on the allotment.  I've also decided to dedicate a bed in the veg garden to autumn fruiting raspberries and another one to "perennial" broccoli.  We've also decided to put in an extra asparagus bed.  We might need to consider buying the field behind us!!

Speaking of fields, Farmer Jayne and Farmer David had decided to give up their sausage, burger,bacon, ham and prepared food business.  This came as something of a blow - not because I buy many sausages or bacon from them but because I assumed it meant that they would also be closing their butchery - and I buy virtually all of my pork, lamb and hogget from them.  Fortunately, they will keep the butchery open for the time being while they see if they can encourage other food enterprises to use it.  I hope this succeeds.  I can live without sausages and burgers, but their pork and lamb are delicious!!

The Builder has been occupying himself this week, in between rain bursts and gales, in digging up the garden bed by the back door.  We've never really used it for much and it doesn't get much sun.  And we've a plan to put a lean to up to keep some of the mud out of the kitchen and to provide a bit of space to keep the shoes and freezers in.  So now it's all dug up and the flagstones have been pushed down and are lying in an orderly manner where there used to be soil.  And now there are wooden poles up ready to become the frame for the lean to :-)

We must, must, must do something with the flower beds and the "shrubbery".  Really - we must!!  And I need to sort the greenhouse out quite soon.  I think the sage and bay tree would be quite pleased to move into their winter quarters