Saturday 27 April 2013

This time it REALLY WASN'T MY FAULT - makes a change!

Early this week we heard that there was a problem in the bank as  people hadn't been able to get money out because the computer systems were down. Then Him Outside was working for one of his customers who said they had been having real problems getting connected to t'internet all week, and finally it was explained by the computer shop man, who told us that EVERYWHERE in the area was suffering some sort of major problem with connections, so probably all my struggles to find out why my photos wouldn't upload  was nothing to do with me at all !
The reason for being in the computer shop was because a couple of weeks ago Him Outside bought me a new camera for my birthday as the one I've been using all month really belongs to his employer who he now works for just 3 or 4 days a month. (There is no knowing how long this temp. work will go on for so hence the need for a camera of our own.) The new camera was a mystery as it seemed to be stuck on a night vision thing - letting in too much light and no way to get it right. I thought it was my complete ignorance of techi things. So we took it back to our local computer man who had a look at it and eventually decided it was  rubbish, sent it back and will not stock that make again. I've now got a Canon which should be better and he let me have it for  £20 more than the rubbish one instead of  the £40 more that it should have been.
I spent the morning sorting out all the pots of herbs that I have for selling. I've always loved growing herbs as they are very easy and don't need much looking after and I've been selling pots of herbs on a small scale as long as I can remember. First just to Mums at playgroup when the children were little, then at a pick-your-own fruit farm near where we used to live, then at the gate on a slightly bigger scale, and finally, when it was running, at the once a year Suffolk Smallholders Show. Now I just do a few each year to sell in May and June at the gate. This year I just have some lemon balm, chives, thyme, oregano, a few fennel and some mint to pot on and put out on the stand. I've also got parsley which was very slow to get going this year. But Basil was a complete failure. Every autumn I pot up any seedlings that appear in my herb garden and divide up the bigger clumps of things. Then they sit in pots all winter waiting for their April tidy up. Last year I also took cuttings of Rosemary, most of which survived but will need another year before being big enough to sell. I also look out for people selling herbs off cheaply at Car Boot sales because I know if I can buy them for 50p I will be able to sell them for £1 the following year or £1.50 the year after. it's only pennies profit but every little helps. By the way I never buy new pots and I also don't use  yoghurt pots or similar. Instead I just put a sign out the front " Wanted - Your Old Flower Pots " and before you know it I'm inundated with pots of all shapes and sizes. People are so glad to find someone who wants them so they don't have to throw them out. I wash all pots with hot soapy water to discourage any nasties, and then they are fine to use.
Him outside has been carrying on with the new polytunnel preparations - in between the showers, rain and hail today.
And Once again there should be a picture here but it wouldn't upload - least I now know why. The computer shop man said he heard it could take ages to sort out as no one can find the problem.
So in the meantime heres the picture of those books again taken from the blog file.
4th from the left in the bottom pic is interesting - A Fenland Smallholding by Pam Bowers. It was originally written bit by bit for Practical Self Sufficiency Magazine which was one of the REALLY early simple living mags ever published, way back in the late 70's. I still keep a few of those early copies and look back at how things were then - much simpler I think as there were NO COMPUTERS to go wrong!!!!!

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