The Middle of March

First, thank you one and all for the 33 comments after my last short post about the weather in the West and that obnoxious bloke on TV. The interesting thing about blogging less often is that I seem to get more readers for each post and more comments. Sorry I didn't reply to any of the 33 but there wasn't much to say really except..... Thank you!

We have had some nice bright weather here since that last post, but more very grey cold days too, the first few daffodils were brought indoors but other than that it is still quite quiet in the garden. In other parts of the country people have rhubarb several inches tall, we have just the first signs of it growing through the compost, I've told the asparagus to hurry up but it's ignoring me!

 At least we have got 4 nets of onion sets planted and covered with fleece and still good quantities of salad leaves from the poly-tunnel.
And at last the Purple Sprouting Broccoli has enough spears to make a meal -Yum.

   The pots of crocuses that I had flowering in the kitchen last month have  been transferred to the garden and 2 small tree seedlings that were popped into pots last year have gone out on the edge of the campsite.

More preparation has been done for opening the campsite, mainly Col grass cutting and turning the water and electric on to check everything is OK and I've ordered the leaflets about local places of interest for the information room/library. Our first visitor is due on the 1st of April and we have 4 caravans booked in for Easter Weekend...... fingers crossed they all turn up.

Mothering Sunday fell smack bang in the middle of the month and I had cards from our 3 children and a lovely cushion cover from our eldest daughter, while the youngest daughter treated us to a takeaway on Monday night.

Just need to find a fatter cushion pad to fill the cover

  We didn't  go out on Mothering Sunday, not even for a walk - the East wind was just too darn cold, instead we got the dining room back together again after it's coats of paint ( found matching emulsion in the cupboard that we didn't know we had so didn't need to buy any) and did an hour wood cutting in the shed. I'm pleased that we are getting the house looking smart in case we sell. Just a bit of filler to do in a couple of  cracks in the new plaster of kitchen and living room, and a touch up with paint. Plus the back door needs painting when it's warm enough to leave it open all day.

In 1994 Col bought an old Grey Ferguson potato planter for £50, we've used it for years and it got gradually more rusty but it's now been sold and delivered -sight unseen- to another smallholder for £150. Maybe that's the difference between old and vintage! It was one of the things that made the weekend of the 14th/15th a good weekend for income, because apart from the bit of  tatty machinery we also sold 18 bales of hay for £45, 13 boxes of eggs = £13 and Col earned £30 for working at a neighbours. That's how our income arrives, in small bits, but it didn't stay here long because the electric bill also arrived, followed closely by the bill for business insurance and the bill for the solar thermal service - an expensive time of the year!

Talking about expensive- did you know the price of postage stamps goes up on the 30th of this month? I've invested in £20 worth  to beat the increase, which should last me most of the year. Now I come to think about it, the Post Office are missing a trick here by having stamps marked with 1st and 2nd instead of the price. In the old days it was necessary to go and buy a whole lot of 1p stamps to add to old ones when the price increased.

I've not mentioned books that I've read for a while but two more have been added to the list on the separate page on this blog.
 One from my own book shelves - Dorian Amos - The Good Life up the Yukon - Panning for Gold.

 This is the second book about a young couple who moved from England to the freezing forests of North Canada to live in an off grid cabin often cut off from the nearest town by a river. It is fascinating to read about coping with the sort of cold that means getting up several times during the night to keep the fire alight and having to don 6 layers of clothing before stepping out of the door. Brrrrrrrrr!

And Finally for today......... welcome to Melanie, a new follower on Bloglovin' .

Back in a few days
Sue