Hoe my goodness fairy

Down down down. Sometimes this job can really get you down. You can understand why the suicide rate amongst farmers is the highest of all profesions. I know of two in the next village from my youth who killed themselves. Cheery!
I say this because yesterday Jones the steam pulled about some weedy land for me ready to put the last beds of carrots in. (He likes to be helpful)I told him not to pull about the top as I'd drilled beans and beet. I'd even put up a stick. Him no listen it would seem as when I walked the doggie this morning all beans and beet gone and lovely and flat again. :( I gotta do it all over again with more seed. Think positive, there are even fewer weeds than before!

And OH's list of things to do is getting longer as he has alot of work on. Turn it over and add some more..

 Some things have been transferred from list to list about 4 times now. (thats my kitchen wall planner...I've had it about 13 years now and the white is coming off! And yes, its colour co-ordinated, my jobs are green, DS is blue and OH is red!)

 Thankfully they are mainly jobs that can wait, like take trays back to the nice man who gave us potato seed. But one of the things was spray the leeks. I had a look today. What leeks? I have a delightful bed of weeds :( We really can't do leeks the way dad did! Next year I'm going with plants instead so the weeds will be less of a problem.
On the way back I had a rootle in the Agria potatoes in case they were big enough for the chip shop. They make a lovely chip. Blight. Last year we had to top all the potatoes early because of it. Which in turn means little potatoes. Which means the chip shop can't use them and alot get wasted. (Well, we eat them so thats not really waste...its more waist..as in mine from eating alot of buttery mash and small chips!) 
And birds have eaten alot of the brassicas too.
And we were £3 short in the money box on monday AND someone stole my pink and blue chalk from my little stall. Honestly, two two inch pieces of chalk? Why?!
When I saw the beans and beet were gone I actually cried. When you see the work you've put into something just gone it so frustrating and miserable. I actually asked myself why I bother doing this. Well I asked the dog out loud but she didn't know as she was busy looking for cat poop.

So, music on, hoe in hand I shall just plod on, as thats what you do. Theres always next year. Dad always said "I'll get that right next year".
Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't. I know we are definitely learning from our mistakes.
But buggrit its a hard ole life!
And the hoeing is paying off...

See those weeds? They are dead or dying :D

The most weed  free part of the farm is the bit I have tackled with nothing but a hand hoe and an old shove hoe. No sprays. 

Very close and careful around each and every 6500 plants with my sharp little hoe. (A tadge too close to a few, maybe not 6500 anymore..oops! And I actually say oops out loud everytime I kill one :-o)
 Those lovely rows are down to a hard working, hot sweaty fairy! Smug :D
And I had another one of my furtle's...

Ah..teeny tiny courgettes...and in comparison to my finger they are...

Little finger size! I love them tiny, they are like a treat!! And soon I'm sure we'll be inundated with them and I'll hate the sight of them. The yellow ones aren't quite big enough to ransack yet:) So we had homemade rice-a-roni and cougettes fried in butter..

And clean plates all round! Yum :)
And as we've discovered Aldi is open now till ten after tea we went shopping! How exciting is that?! Ok, my life is centred around hoeing, just leaving the farm is a treat for me! 

Would you look at all that? DS paid for his nasty energy drinks, there was even dog treats, enough fruit added to what I have dried and frozen to make fruit salad tomorrow and all for....

£22.75, minus the £3 for DS's drink £19.75, no wonder I love aldi! I'm keeping the shelves and the freezer stocked AND there's fruit for a treat. Oh my, that sounds sad doesn't it? Having fruit for a treat. I've had cherries from the tree today and raspberries, I decided to eat them again. Yum. Posh friut for a treat then...grapes and a melon! I wonder if last years grape juice would be too strong added to the fruit salad...we shall see :D
BBS x

Oh hoe hoe

Eeeh what a lovely sunny day :) Perfect for buttons and hoeing!

Delightful buttons chosen..

Button loops made from elastic (for those days when I expand! Thanks mommy)

Ah that'll keep me together. And I know, I'm not the neatest of handsewers!  I hate finishing things. 
Then it was off to hoe....

First put drink in the shade! Gotta keep hydrated :)

Ah the splendid hoe. Shove hoe, push hoe, my hoe!
It was mummys before me, I think it was her dads before that!! Proper family hoe..off we go...

Weeds!! Now you see them...

Now they're marmalized!! I do like simple:) And walking up and down the rows, 18 times, shoving my tool must be good for me. :-P
When I was done i thought I'd use the spare 3 squares I had left in the pretty green fabric..

A pretty bow :)

With a bobble on the back so I can have my bunches :)

And I made two of them out of three squares :) Joy!
Made a cake too...but it was just choccy fudge brownies as DD is coming over tomorrow, and you've all seen that!  
BBS x

 

Peace and closed doors in fairyland

Peace. All day I listened for tractors then OH pointed out his tractor brakes were jammed and he shouldn't have driven it anywhere yesterday so we asumed Fred was getting a service...one he had to pay for!
So..I hid in the potato shed for the first part of the day. Least I got alot of work done. :) And I closed the door from the inside...just in case. I know I can't hide forever, I'm trying to figure what I need to say to him in my mind.
Anyway...

Yo yo...its my hoe!! :D I have had this since I was a teenager and its still on the first blade (OI..don't say i haven't done enough work!!), I have a spare blade for it... I like things oldschool.
And this was me, ready to go hoeing..

Hahhhaa! Notice the smashing headgear? I always wear a headscarf when its hot...but they get all dirty and sweaty..ick! Then they have to be washed. And I have 2. So I thought maybe I could upcycle an old shirt that had pretty fabric..

Aha! New headscarf! But wait, there were still bits of shirt left after I'd removed the buttons (GGG's fault!)

So, headscarf, cleaning cloths and triangles...

Add some green triangles...and some ribbon..

OOh very 'good life' :D I have many saved shirts that are quite worn...I may be doing some more sewing!
 When walking the dog I noticed the elder were in flower...so...I bought lemons...

MMM I love the smell of elderflowers..

Pretty! And good for cataargh..no thats not how you spell it! Oh well, snot!

Heavy syrup...it must be havey syrup it had 3 1/2lb of my sugar stash in there!

And steep. This is happily sitting overnight on the counter, smelling lovely, and tomorrow it will be canned...and maybe drunk!
Tea was pie...and mash...I furtled in the potato rows but the new ones aren't ready yet!

Uncooked...

Pie!!! I used my clarified beef fat in the pastry and it was beefy, yum! even Jones the steam loved it, and no one noticed the lentils, tvp or oats...let alone the mountain of veg :D
I shall go lie in the bath in a bit and soak the achy bits...and hopefully the large piece of pie won't weigh me down too much! It was alot of pie:)
I like pie!!!
BBS x