Stakes for the allotment

Got a bit of catching up to do... so, here's what we did a week ago, helping a customer (Pip) install some stakes we'd sold her for a small orchard she's planting in her allotment patch.
The stakes were 8ft long, so it was kind of tricky getting the post driver over the top to bang them in:
and also getting it off again afterwards:
Anyway, after a bit of effort and a couple of blisters, 15 stakes were in the ground, ready for the trees to go in and be trained along poles or wires that will run between them.
Mike

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Allotment produce and wildlife

We had another order for produce from the wood for use at the allotment to fulfil this weekend, so went up with the trailer and brought various stuff back. Pea sticks, tomato poles and stakes for fruit trees:
The rest of this post covers the wildlife we saw this weekend...
Meanwhile everything is growing like crazy. Some of the chestnut stools have grown 12 inches now!
The wayleave outside the wood is denser than ever:
and seems to be a good place for someone to eat their dinner:
The pond is also coming on well, getting very green now:We also some some familiar insects today, such as this Speckled Yellow moth:
and this Peacock butterfly:and a new one, a damselfly. There's a competition going on here... the first picture is by me with the Nikon, and the second is by Tracy with the Panasonic, you have to tell us which is best (ignoring colour differences, which can be evened out in post-processing)!
apparently the most obvious difference between these and dragonflies is that damselflies fold the wings back when at rest, while a dragonfly keeps them outstretched.

And finally, an unknown fly:
Mike

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Shed nearing completion, and another oil record

We went down to the allotment again after dinner today, and got to work putting the roofing felt on:
Yes, I know I look a bit precarious up there, but Tracy was steadying the ladder apart from when she too the photo!
OK, it's a bit wonky, but it's an old shed and we had no instructions! It should stand up to the wind and rain I think.

We almost managed to finish the roof, just one row of tiles and then the strip along the top. The only job left after that is the doors, and a few repairs to the edges of the windows...

Meanwhile, in the energy world, oil hit another new record price, $119.90, before settling at $119.37 at close of business. Probably see $120 tomorrow, unless something changes dramatically, in which case we'll still probably see $120 by the end of the month.

Mike

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Progress on the shed, and another oil record

Another day, another oil price record ($117.76 peak, $117.48 settle) - at least that's what seems to be happening this April. BBC reporting on it here. Why? Because we've on the plateau, production can't go higher, but demand is there. Just think how much fuel's going to cost when we hit the decline!

Anyway, that's what's going on the big wide world. In our little world in Rye, the shed is making progress, as part of our preparations for a post-peak-oil world...

We went down early evening, before dinner, and set about fitting the roof. this thrush was very interested, and watched us from a nearby shed, singing his little heart out. Tracy was able to get very close for a picture - I guess the birds are quite tame around the allotment, bring used to seeing people working

As the shed is old and somewhat warped, and rotten in places, things didn't quite fit together like new, and a little trimming was required...But before too long it was coming together:
The next step is to put the felt onto the roof, which will cover the gap you can see in the above picture.

We're hoping to get the shed finished in the evenings this week, so on Saturday we can get up to the wood and make some more progress on brash burning, log stacking and making piles of dead wood to leave for wildlife.

Mike

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Shed building, and a dead boar

Over the past week we've been building a shed at our allotment, trying to get a bit done in the evenings. It was nice doing it on sunny days:
and before long we had the floor built, resting on logs from our own wood! :-)Today it was raining, but we decided to go there anyway in the afternoon and carry on, getting the walls up:
We put on the beam that goes over the doorway and then quit, as it was miserable weather and we wanted to pop up to the wood for a bit before it went dark.

One of the things we wanted to see at the wood was a dead boar that we'd heard was near the road in one of the woods that borders ours. It was quite easy to find, but very sad to see. It didn't look like it had been wounded, not sure what killed it. (p.s. Just in case anyone is wondering, we didn't touch or move the boar in any way)
On a more positive note, we noticed something happening to the stumps left from the chestnut we coppiced:
It's exciting to see the buds forming for the new growth - and also a relief, seeing as this was the first time we'd coppiced our wood, and although we knew it would grow back, there's always that niggling doubt until you actually see it!

Pete and Tom have had a good week. Something out the window surprised Tom just as I took this photo - if you look carefully you'll see he's airborne:
Pete said he was an eagle, and tried to prove it, which also gave us a chance to count his feathers and see that they are all growing back nicely after his moult:
After all the excitement it was time for a nap:
though once rested Pete serenaded Tracy, being careful to sing into her eye!

Mike

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Sheds

No, not a shed in the wood (that's not really allowed), but a shed for the allotment. A friend from church heard that his neighbour was taking his old shed down, so we got to collect it for free! It needs new roofing felt, but the previous owner had bought some to repair it, but having bought a new shed had no further need for it, so we paid him for that. A couple of trips with the trailer had it down to the allotment, but we still had the problem of need some sleepers to rest it on...

There's a timber shop nearby which was selling old railway sleepers for about £20, but it occurred to us that we had no shortage of logs, so should make some of our own. So, while we had the trailer out, we went to the wood and did this:

cut logs to length to fit in the trailer:
put them on some reasonably level ground and pegged them in place:
then sawed a face off them, for the shed floor to sit on and be screwed onto:after a couple of logs, I found an easier way - after cutting the first foot or so, to leave some space for safety, I stood the log up and Tracy held the top while I continued the cut downwards - this was easier because the weight of saw does the cutting, rather than you having to force it sideways while supporting its weight.

After a short while we had eight logs prepared and in the trailer, along with some sample pea sticks and a beanpole for some of our allotment neighbours to look at. We reckon they might want at least 30, and rather than sell them we think we'll swap them for a share of the produce!

Anyway, the main thing that we're really pleased about is this is the first time we've used some of the produce for our wood to directly replace something we would have to have bought otherwise! :-)

Mike

Click here to read the rest of this post.