18 January 2025 (Saturday)
We had a Work Social this morning. It had been postponed from the cold, cold Saturday of last week, to land on the cold Saturday of today. Decisions. So often they need to be made with an inkling of what might be, though more often than not no surety. Whilst expecting it to be cold, though not freezing, I’d hoped for sunshine beating down on us as we got on with the jobs list… though there was, as seems usual currently, none breaking through. As usual I’d already planned out the jobs that needed to be done. I'd walked around the site the day before, visiting the areas that I thought needed work and making a mental note if it was needed or not. The one job that I thought we might not get on with was painting of the furniture with a wood protector; the cold was still here and unlikely to lift to allow the protection to soak in and do its job well. Accepting this one might have to wait for another day, I wondered how many other jobs on my list might have to wait. Just how many of the jobs we’d get done would rely entirely upon just how many plotters turned up to assist and maintain their site. Sometimes the turnout surprised one way, and sometimes surprised the other. So to the jobs list. One of our tenants who manages the riverbank had pruned willow trees. Their poles and brush needed to be moved away from into the site to ensure no prunings dive into the river when the bank next floods; eight tonne of wood chip needed to be moved and barrowed and shovelled onto paths; the ivy along the pavement that borders our fence line needed to be cut back just a little to allow better access, and the same with the cornus by our main allotment gate; our communal shed needed a tidy, and a sort as items tend to build up… in particular items that some feel might be useful for our little allotment community, though so often turn out to be junk to be turned into a skip months or years later; a litter pick of the site, including the riverbank; and finally, a few areas needed a judicious prune to allow easy passing of plotters over paths. Despite no longer being chair and despite no longer being on the committee, I still organise and manage the Work Socials. At the moment I’m fine with this, and in all honesty think I’m the best to do this at this time. Fortunately, one fellow tenant in particular helps, and she picked me up on her way down to save me the faff of walking with a heavy flask of 5 litres of boiling water, various biscuits, Lidl apples pies and a carton of oat milk - refreshments that will sustain the morning's work. The lift was gratefully received! As we drove the short journey from my home to the site we caught each other up, and continued doing so whilst sitting for ten minutes further in her parked up car, with the doors open a touch to save condensation, and then to the site gate and in to get all ready for the masses. I'm delighted to say that despite the cold we had a decent turnout, and got most of the jobs done I'd wanted but not expected to get done. The completion of a litter pick will have to wait for another day, and so will the protection of the wooden furniture, as had been expected. Before these Work Socials, I always feel a little deflated with the time and organisation I'm putting in and the tasks that need to be done. However, by the time I’m walking home some three or so hours later my mood is always buoyant and many laughs have been had… and importantly much work has been done. And, of course, I start making a mental note of the jobs to be done at our next gathering. Weather: That blanket is still fully cloaking the sky, but it does feel a tad brighter. Maybe a little colder than yesterday, but feeling MUCH milder than a week ago. Breakfast: Porridge, banana and Lidl Bran Sticks Lunch: Squash & Red Lentil Soup, Quorn ham sandwiches with Lidl artisan baguette and cucumber Supper: Baked Lidl Spinach Gnocchi and broad beans in a cream-style blue cheese sauce, and grated salad.
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After a long day yesterday I’ve lots to do at my desk,.. so mainly a desk day.
I got to the plot late afternoon to start putting into my head where things would be grown this year. Weather: Grey, damp and mild’ish - a typical winter’s day. Breakfast: Leftover Brown Rice, Peas, Egg and Soy Sauce Lunch: Leftover Vegetable Curry with Lidl Lentil Soup, Bread & Butter Supper: Cauliflower Cheese (Richard’s), homemade chips and peas - DELICIOUS!!! A quiet day. Last section of AWATP recorded, during which the connector between my phone and tripod sheared away… and will need replacing. The afternoon I read, finishing The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home; I will read his others.
Weather: Another cold start to the day with Alexa saying it's -4°, though the main thing is that there's really, really thick fog. It quickly dissipates, and there’s a golden light trying to break through and burn it away more quickly, though the clouds are strong and the grey blanket descends once again. Breakfast: Porridge with sliced banana and some Bran Sticks Lunch: Lidl Lentil Soup, red lentils, miso, yesterday’s leftover Spiced Squash & Lentil Soup and chopped up Sweet Potato, plus cheese and coleslaw sandwiches. Supper: Broad Bean Omelette, baked potato (last of Jeremy’s) and leftover coleslaw bulked out. Another desk morning… and then to the plot mid-afternoon.
The sun was still out, and I started on weeding the bed by the greenhouse and giving it a light forking over… but some areas of it were still frozen and I gave up having got three quarters of the bed done… the rest will have to wait for another day. A bonus for me today… Richard said he’ll do supper!! Yay!!!! Weather: Cold. Despite early sunshine the heavy frost stayed for quite a while. It really began feeling colder late in the afternoon and was -1° by bedtime, and likely to get colder overnight… Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: Mushroom Soup with the leftover Egg Fried Rice from last night, plus a half teaspoon of bouillon. Supper: Baked pasta using a Loyd Grossman sauce and leftover falafel and sauce from a few days ago. Richard constructed it and topped it with a little cheese sauce - delicious, though could have been a little hotter. All crockery needs to be warmed up at the moment or the food goes cold quickly. 5 January 2025 (Sunday)
It’s wet… wet, wet, wet… cold, though above freezing by a degree or two. By 11am it was 10° and there was condensation on the OUTSIDE of our windows. That temperature rise seemed to happen in less than an hour… odd! By 8am I’d finished editing this week’s A Week at the Plot, and it’s now uploaded to YouTube, title added, description added, all the boxes that need to be checked or unchecked are, and I’ve added a new style thumbnail. For some time I’ve thought of changing AWATP in various ways, though one I kept coming back to was the thumbnail, so finally, change it I now have. It used to have A WEEK AT THE PLOT in a block of solid colour, in text the days at the plot as well as the dates of the start and end of the week, the Richard & Paul photo (which is rather too many years old now: note to self and Richard - need to do that photo again at some point), and of course the background is always an exported still from the upload. Much will stay the same, even though they change each week: colours of text and text blocks change each week, as does the date and the background photo, and of course the title changes weekly too - so, these elements will all stay the same, by changing weekly! The changes that I’ve decided to make are to move some elements around, drop two, and add a description of the main tasks I’ve done at the plot each week. The ones I’ve dropped… our R&P photo, as it’s too old and there’s a better use of that space! The second dropped one is the days of the week worked at the plot; they're still in the description and broken down in the chapters, and I think this will do just fine. Some of these changes have been on my mind for months, if not years… though I’ve held steadfast in my mind that the thumbnail worked. In reality, I don’t know if it has or not, though it’s time for a change, so… I’ve now added brief block descriptions of what’s happened in this week’s upload - putting WHAT I’ve done now seems more sensible than WHEN. I chatted my thoughts through with Richard and Vivi of What Vivi did next over the festive period, and these helped me take a step back and think again of what might work best for others, rather than what works best for myself. So often we think about what’s best for us without considering how it works for others, and I realised I’ve been guilty of this with what is an important weekly thumbnail for my A Week at the Plot series. Will it work better for the task it needs to do… to be honest, I’ve no idea, it’s a bit of trial and error. I do think the change is right, and right for the right reasons as it will be clearer to people what I’ve done that week, and the beginning of the year seemed the right time to make a change… though, in reality, we all know not to wait for necessary changes; if changes need to happen the sooner the better, however tumultuous or not the changes may be! So the above is the new thumbnail, and we’ll see how it goes - though I can’t see myself changing it back to what it was as the change seems right to me, and hopefully to you too. What do you think? Better? Worse? Or maybe it doesn’t really matter as there are far more important things in life to think about? Weather: Cold moving to rather mild… 0° to 11° by 11am! Wet, wet, wet… Breakfast: Toasted Lidl German Bread with Flora Pro-Activ, Yeast Extract & Peanut Butter Lunch: Richard's Moussaka, HM Baked Chips, Tangy Red Cabbage Salad Supper: Spiced Squash & Lentil Soup (freezer), cottage cheese and crackers 3 January 2025 (Friday)
We both woke early, a bit too early though not too, too early. As I sat down nice and cosy at my desk at the top of the house well before seven gongs had chimed, the early morning sky was like a Rothko painting - pale and watery up top and a dusty warm orange glowing from the horizon. Plane trails scurried across the nature painted expanse, each so very slowly vanishing in the stillness of the breeze. Looking out I noticed frost had pasted itself across all rooves, far sharper than the dusting I’d expected. It would be a paid work day for me today, or at least a paid work morning, though very much admin, sorting stuff out and making notes rather than one needing conversations. And Richard's off, it being a Friday, and took photos of the sunrise… flinging open the windows and letting the cold, frost crusted air in; if only my fingerless gloves had been to hand! And so, the day wore on… Mid-afternoon (as seems usual), a client needed me just as I was about to walk out the door to work at the plot. Now, whilst I’m flexible with my hours I prefer being available and doing most of my paid work between 8am and 2.30pm. Outside of these hours I get done all that needs to be done at my desk, at our home, and at the plot. So, after needing to sort something to make the life of another easier, I had a later start down to the plot than expected, though of course Lady Synchronicity stepped in with an unexpected meeting of a similar soul. This similar soul has been pivotal in saving Warren Farm from being bulldozed by our local council, and this year the push is for the area to be designated LNR status, or a Local Nature Reserve to me and you. After a truly lovely chat, where we both put the world to rights and metaphorically rid our planet of the people she could do without, the similar soul went on her way, and I finally got to the plot. As I unlocked the padlock, the sun was dipping behind the treeline of the allotment site… and a few steps in I heard the crunching of ice-crisped grass beneath my boots. More steps brought the lid of a water butt wedged immovable in ice, and yet more the sight of the compost I’d put down on Wednesday which was frozen in place. I then knew the area of ground I wished to work on and turn would have to wait for another day. I covered a few plants in the greenhouse to give them added protection, collected plastic bottles and bags that had been blown in by the blustery gusts of new year, and did a bit or two of general pottering… then I wended my way home, to the welcome of Richard lighting the paper to kindle a fire in our hearth. Weather: Very frosty start, with lovely sunshine, pale skies… definitely colder than yesterday with snow due over the weekend. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, Yogurt, Banana Lunch: A brown soup from the freezer (Unlabelled - I think it was Christmas veg blitzed with red lentils and seasoned), Mixed Veg microwave omelette, Wholemeal Pitta & Sliced Cucumber Supper: Wholewheat Pasta with homemade (sort of!) sauce (Olive oil, onion, garlic, celery, carrots, tbs miso paste, Loyd Grossman Roasted Garlic Sauce), topped with grated cheese, and side of sliced radish and cucumber. |