WELL DONE ANDY M.

Watched the tennis and enjoyed every minute. They worked so hard and it was so hot. Brilliant win.

LOVE THIS SUN!

Some lovely sunny days at last, it seems like an age since we had a few days when we wake up to sunshine and know that it's going to be lovely all day.
So smallholding and campsite jobs done as quick as possible, Him Outside has done some hay turning and also helped our farmer friend with moving the huge irrigator on the potato fields, but other than that we have taken the opportunity to sit out and feel warm. Gooseberry picking is done late evening when things have cooled down.
Brilliant tennis watching planned for this afternoon.
Oh, I forgot to say, the path along the back of the house was finished early yesterday morning. Before and after photos to follow!
Too hot to blog anymore.
Back Tomorrow.
Enjoy this sun while it lasts!

Scratching a living!

As it says over on the right hand side, we live a fairly frugal simple sort of lifestyle so that we can manage on what we earn here and a few other bits of income and so that Him Outside doesn't need to do his old job for more than a few days a month.
So we don't get the £1,650 pay cheque at the end of the month like we used to before March 2012. Now our income comes in little bits and mostly in the summer. We have the campsite income which varies depending on the weather and on people actually wanting to stay here from April to September.  We have the income from a savings bond which we started with some money my dad left me when he died ( and you know what's happened to interest rates in the last 5 years - down and down). We have the "proper job" income which varies depending on how many days he is needed, anything from two days to four days a month (and that might end in October). We have the income from Him Outside grass cutting at the second home, a half or whole day once a week, again only in the summer.We have the income from the odd bits of work he does for 5 other people - not regular but perhaps adding up to a few days a month. We have the egg income from selling on the stall at the front gate. We have the income from selling hay that we make from 3 fields( and that depends on the weather and now the B...... mower has broken down again!) and last but not least we have the income from selling whatever we can on the stall at the gate. So Thank goodness for gooseberries! They may be scratchy and a pain to pick, but when we sell 30 punnets in one day like we did today at £1.50 a punnet it's a really useful bit of money!

3 photos on a beautiful sunny day

Alstromeria cut ready to bunch up and put out for sale

Honey suckle over one of our trellis arches

Beautiful clusters of flowers on the Black Elder.

Busy Thursday

What have we done today?
Gooseberry picking,strawberry picking, hanging out washing, hay cutting, fixing hay mower, helping farmer friend load some cattle, potato digging, cauliflower cutting, flower cutting, flower bunching, packing things for sale, bread making,washing up, egg collecting, egg cleaning, egg packing, chatting to visitor, answering phone, monthly main shop at Tesco, to bank to pay a bill, making potato salad, lettuce washing,cooking dinner, washing up, getting washing in, collecting daughter, taking daughter home again, washing up, more gooseberry picking, watering three poly tunnels, checking campsite toilets.
No time for photos.
Now time for bed!

I'm blaming my late Mum!

About 5 years ago I had a horrible ache under the ball of one foot, it felt as if something was nipping together, very painful especially after a good walk. So I went to the doctor who more or less told me I was wasting his time, it wasn't bad enough for NHS  and I should buy a pair of insoles and cut a hole in them where it was hurting! ( I've NEVER been back to see him again - what a weird thing to say). Anyway I went to the chiropodist in town and she said it was because the arch was not supported and she sold me some carbon -fibre arch supports which solved the problem straight away. She said that feet problems tend to be inherited and it makes very little difference if you've always bought "good" shoes or not. Which is why I blame my poor old late mother! All those years of taking us to have our feet  measured and all those proper Clarkes shoes that we hated but  were made to wear made no difference at all. Even the 10 years of wearing Dr Scholls exercise sandals when I worked in the library and was on my feet all day didn't solve the problem I now have inherited from her - poor OLD feet!
I can't wear wellies anymore and I can't slip slop around indoors in slippers or flip flops. All my shoes have to have arch supports, be wide and comfortable, not too flat and not too much heel and meeting all those requirements means they are NOT cheap. Which is why we had to go into Ipswich today to find something that I could wear indoors ( to replace an old pair that had split right across underneath) - something easily slipped on and off as I seem to spend much of my days going in and out to the garden or campsite. I got a new pair of blinkin' expensive soft arch supports from the Shuropody shop that I can stick in to sandals but they had no suitable slip ons and then I  was forced to spend out another blinkin' fortune on some wide slip on sandals from Hotter. Aaaaaagh That's my gooseberry profits nearly vanished straight away! Pain in the pocket but comfy feet!

This afternoon Him Outside took the trailer to go and collect the hay mower from the repair place. He bought it off ebay last year and when he started to use it found it was totally useless, we ended up borrowing one but now someone else has broken that mower so it was a good thing that we've been able to get the ebay one repaired, and just in the nick of time because the 10 day forecast in 3 different places on t'internet all say GOOD WEATHER! Hay making weather. I'm not sure how it's going to work this year as neither of us can lift small bales  around  anymore so what we sell will have to either be collected by whoever wants it straight off the field or made into big round bales and moved by the loading forks on a tractor.He has  got three fields to do- ours, one just along the road at a second home ( yet ANOTHER second home- they are everywhere around us) and a 5 acre field in Saxmundham that we have rented for hay for years. So that will be his job for the next week, cutting, turning, turning and turning again and then baling. Prayers required for good weather and good health please!

Old Tractor, old mower and not-so-old man - all getting 'past it'!

Gooseberries,gooseberries and even more gooseberries.

We have quite a lot of gooseberry bushes, probably 22 I think. Some were here when we came - that makes them well over 20 years old, we added some more when we found that gooseberries sell well on the stall at the gate and then a few years ago we thought about moving and I took some cuttings to take with us and most grew, so  when we didn't move after all they were also planted and are now 4 years old and fruiting.
I started this years picking just under 2 weeks ago, but lots were not very big so I waited until today to really get going. People have been knocking at the door asking when they are going to be ready so I wasn't surprised when 24 punnets sold today( and 6 more delivered to a friend) as quickly as I could get them picked and sorted. The forecast is for rain tomorrow so we carried on picking until we had enough to put out tomorrow too.

Just a few gooseberries!

Picking gooseberries is not a bad occupation for a fine day. I've got an old milk crate that's got a carpet tile fixed to the bottom, so a comfy seat to sit on - much better than stooping, and I'm hidden behind the big old Bramley apple tree, so I can see everyone who stops to buy stuff and they can't see me until I shout "Hello" and make them jump a mile!
What a good income it is too.

Looking Back at June

Before I forget, must say welcome to 2 new followers recently, now up to 40, pretty good after just 3 months I'm told.
Looking back at June

1. Oh dear, we spent more than we earned, mainly because of paying for a years pre-payment prescription card for Him Outside, the electric bill, ballast and cement for the path and the dreaded dentist( although campsite income is not counted in the above earnings)
2. The electric bill money and dentist money were already put to one side so we didn't need to dip into savings.
3. The income from campsite and Him Outsides cheque for the 2 months grass cutting at the second home have been tucked into the ISA for the winter.
4. We have STRAWBERRIES!
5. Lots of things in the vegetable garden and poly tunnels are doing well, despite the cool weather.
6. Him Outside has tested out the hospital service in Suffolk for the first time.
7. Egg sales are still eggsellent!( Sorry, I must stop that awful pun every month) bringing an income of about one third of our total monthly requirements.
8. We have started to sell gooseberries, strawberries, courgettes, cucumbers, early potatoes 
9. Have put a small amount of broad beans and 4lb strawbs into the freezer.
10. Thanks to the help from two ex-work friends, half the pathway at the back of the house is finished.
11. Decided to make the effort to enter things in the local Flower and Produce show.
12. Made 1 small cross stitch card, plus a small cross stitch Xmas decoration for the above show.
13. Wrote a poem about A Village also for the above show.
14. Had a wonderfully large pile of good books from the library van. 
15. The raspberries are constantly covered by bees of various sorts and look to be very prolific
16. Found some interesting and hopefully useful card crafting stuff from Car Boot sales
17. Lots of lovely tennis to watch on TV with Andy M. winning Queens, just sad to see Rafa knocked out of Wimbledon so early.
18. Him Outside was able to get the parts for doing the jeep brakes off ebay, and got them fixed- saving a fortune on garage bills.

Conclusion:- An odd sort of month, weird weather, weird health issues. But we got through.

Raspberries to look forward to in July