AUTUMN NEWS 08

         Once again the leaves are falling and we are preparing the garden for winter. The sweet corn has been harvested and we are just picking the last of the runner beans. Already the potatoes and beetroot are stored in the cool dark recesses of the cowshed and the onions are strung up crisp and brown in the conservatory beside the front door. It is a familiar routine and we are gearing ourselves up now to kill poor old "tiger-pig" who has been such good company over the summer (and loves his greens). As the days shorten and the nights become cold the pig becomes more expensive to feed as the surplus from the garden is no long available so his days are numbered. We are hoping to demonstrate the butchering of the pig and making cider over one of the coming weekends.

Just a few weeks now until Halloween and and I must say that our single surviving pumpkin plant has really done the business. It now covers the whole of a single plot and carries 5 or 6 good sized pumpkins. Overall it has been a pretty difficult year with the terrible wet weather giving the weeds the lion's share of the action which has given the garden the tinge of the jungle. But mercifully the slugs have been no worse than usual. It is the mosquitoes which are now tormenting us which seem to have benefitted most from the deluge.    

Last week we had major tree clearance work carried out by a monster digger. 10 years accúmulation of wild cherry, bramble, ash and nettles was swept away neatly in a matter of hours to rejuvenate our field and let more evening light into the garden. We have replaced the jungle with a smart new post and rail fence. As a bonus we were able to "harvest" a great quantity of rough timber for the woodshed and tip the larger boulders onto the foreshore to replace the old hard which has been submerged in washed down mud from Ireland's much abused farmland. It really does seem remarkable that no-one ever mentions the deadly consequences of modern farming in terms of flooding and erosion. When you combine the cultivating power of the modern fossil fuelled tractor with the fact that no-one can afford (or be bothered) to put organic material back into the land you have a mass of bare land just waiting to be washed away by the winter rains. Cheap food is no doubt a wonderful thing for today's politicians but it will leave a bitter harvest for the future!

A further benefit of the big digger has been the "sorting out" of the part of our garden which had become "lost" behind the old woodshed. My fingers are stiff now from digging foundations for a new length of garden wall and laying the first of many concrete blocks which will become the side of an extented woodshed. We are determined to make an organised start on a coppicing area during this winter as a reliable source of carbon neutral heating for the future. Up until now we have been dependent on driftwood garnered from the river and the odd ash tree harvested from our field boundary.

After several dramas with our chickens and the local fox we have had to build a new (and hopefully foxproof) chicken enclosure. Sadly for us (and the chickens) but luckily for the fox we lost 4 chickens during the summer, snatched in broad daylight by a bold yound vixen who seemed able to defeat all our efforts to prevent loss. Finally I cornered her up against the new fence, having closed the main gate behind me, and was able to kill her with a single blow using the large branch I was carrying. We replaced the four chickens with point of lay pullets but they have not settled in well for some reason - possibly because of a certain tenseness between them and the couple of chickens remaining from the old guard. They also include some expert escape artist so I have been cutting back overhanging branches and trimming wings over the last few days and this seems to have cured the problem.

 Three weeks ago we actually had a week of lovely summer weather and finally put our old National 18 sailing dinghy into the water. As usual she leaks like an old basket before she "takes up" being nearly 70 years old and my bailing antics attracted the rescue services as I drifted down river on the tide. But they very kindly gave me a tow and we were soon moored up safely to our concrete filled old tyre opposite the smallholding. We have had some lovely spins out with the kids when the tide is up and the weather is fine. "Tarantella" (that is the boat's name) really must have been a gem in her day when she was built just at the beginning of the second world war. We found her rotting in a local boatyard where no-one had the time to mend her rotting oak ribs so we took her in hand and rebuilt her rib by rib and copper nail by copper nail. Now she has a new lease of life showing a new generation just how gracefully speedy a sailing boat can be. Amazingly we put her story on the internet and have made contact with one of the skilled men who helped build her all those years ago.

         Other winter social activities are now picking up their own pace and momentum.     The tourists have mostly gone home now back to their factories and offices, leaving the pubs free for the locals to enjoy.     There are umpteen kids activities to attend to - dancing, art, drama, music, etc..     Not to mention what seems like the imminent arrival of Christmas and the planning of numerous visits and trips which that celebration will require.

         It's time to get on with the blocklaying now so we can fortify the garden against the livestock that will surely be on the rampage at some time during the hungry winter months. The rain has stopped and there are another 80 blocks to lay!

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