The Child Saviour

GLOBAL FOOD RATIONING: You Have Been Warned

Two rows of spuds...

 Two more to go,  We wont go short. I plan to grow some potatoes in a black dustbin this autumn. Will get started this week.I have a few "rogue" red ones that are just begging to be replanted.

Sorted  for storage. The red ones are going in a bin.

Leeks now occupy the ground the spuds have just vacated.

Preparing the whitecurrants for syrop and jelly.Anne-Sophie says "Ayup".

Agrarian revival...

Leaving  the wageslavery of urban poverty.  Growing enthusiasm for reinstating a more resilient domestic economy, locally there is an awakening that profit need not solely be defined in financial terms.  Bottom liners only count the money.  Give them nothing.
Marie-Noel invested a small portion of her dwindling prosperity in some chickens.  They have increased in number to the extent that her small garden could not support the birds. Anne-Sophie and Gwendoline are preparing a disused chicken shack  and the surrounding land to house   some of Marie-Noel's excess population. Opportunity exists for a growing stable domestic economy. An exodus from the panned out  and denatured urban wasteland is gradually growing. Sharing the burden of labour is the key to mutually assured abundance. The shack has been scrubbed with black soap, clean straw has just been gleaned for comfy bedding. Almost ready for the new residents.

  Weeds and tough grasses have taken over the garden field.. It wont get cut just  by looking at it...

Gwendoline is no weed.

The old chicken shack, a comfortable haven from all adverse weather.

 Heroic effort ,a long afternoon's work,clears enough space for a large kitchen garden.Resurrecting the life supporting utility.

Ready for the new residents...

We're ready...

He can handle it.

Settling in nicely.

 Happy enough, the little brown hen laid her first egg this evening.

This morning...

Leek seedlings, ready for transplanting.

Greeting the morning sun.

Maize, grown for mini cobs and pop corn. Ahead of the commercial season.

Hollyhocks.

It'll grow.

They don't make buckets big enough to carry all the good news , here's some spillings you might enjoy...

 We are about 12 kilos of Groseilles (Whitecurrants), to the good so far. There about 5  plus kilos more to be harvested. Best season yet.  Redcurrants ,next then gooseberries.
The sky is ashen grey, no wonder with all the volcanic activity around the planet. I am grateful for the cool.
 More good news, Brother Eddie is at long last about to pay us a visit.  August  will be upon us soon. I am looking forward to it, there's progress in the making.
Morning promenade produced some pretty pictures...I'll give you a few slices of that next.

I have just picked these.

Tree frog (rainett) makes a quick visit.

Sunflowers.

That's all for now, See ya!   I. Wazir

Big "Give Away"... As the pot boils dry.

July 6, 2019. The shade is down , Killer heat  out there. I'm just blowing tunes and keeping cool. A pleasant way lose excess heat. I've made another tisane of meadowsweet, had to compost the last lot it nearly burst into flames, the music was getting hot.Worth the small sacrifice,I have the noise recorded.
Meadowsweet will thin the blood.and help transport that good magnesium  to the furthest outposts of my mineral and vitamin deficiency. I reckon we will have to revive our dormant kambucha culture. A week or so of detox and regenerate. Should be tasty.
The first of this seasons courgettes have just reported for duty,putting them together with some of last years schallots a small navet and a carrot. The Garlic is good, Finely chopped mushrooms and two handfulls of precooked black eyed beans. Fresh ground pepper, a little sea salt and a whole pile of chopped corriander . A dash of tomato cooli. It'll go well with the pasta.
 We ended up with freshly dug potatoes instead of pasta. The casserole was good. Zero food miles; Zero pathogenic agrichemicals.
Frustration ruled my day.My debility prevents me from working in the airless heat. The ripe wheat is not yet harvested. It will get worse before it gets better. I'll concentrate on regenerating my physical health . The veg are well nourished mulched and/or shaded. Lush green abounds. Nuts and fruit swelling well. There will be leeks to transplant some cool evening.

I

Carrot flowers,sweetcorn, coriander  and sunfowers, .There's more here than meets the eye.

 Lush green iz wot I mean...

Destination "Terminus", and all points forward...

Turning the great beast of humane terrestrial progress around before  it hits the wall. A "Last World"
agrarian revival, I'm puffing up the sales pitch, buy the idea it'll cost you nothing. "Do it now, cut down on mud struggling miles", building a durable habitat   that can weather the storm. All aboard, we are not on schedule but we are on track.

Good morning starts here...

The view towards the village crossroad

Red Hazels are starting to hang heavy

We're heading this way...

Lavender,Thyme, Hyssop, Leek seedlings, Meadowsweet and White Horehound, Mullein in the background, That's not all , If they look healthy they aren't overcrowded. Plenty of room for more.

Further down the bed a sneaky "rogue" lettuce has snuck in, .I had better water the Rhubarb.Can't keep the pansies down. Silver Birch further down has had a baby. It's got two leaves already, really cute...  More of this bed later.

Don't ask me... Zoom around and work it out.

Hyssop flowers, I will freeze some for our winter Soups and salads.

 Swiss Chard making next season's seed. Nasturtiums and cucumbers shading parsnip roots.

Looking back ... A good morning walk about. Curvatious learning,  colour and charm at every turn.

Reflections of the day they switched on summer...

 Some better pics of things much to iz liking.

Redcurrants

Whitecurrants.

Blackcurrants.

Onion flower.

Extra sprouts.

Peas a plenty, full pods.

Saluting the sun, iz onions are going to be huge.

Squash and beans happy to share the compost heap.

Marginal shade.

News from the Fabled Realm...

I have been too impatient, projecting myself ahead of each growing season . Stuff never seems to grow fast enough.  The pace of the work has slowed me down somewhat,I shouldn't have been so anxious. In  the spite of  the unscheduled glitch due to health issues, my morning walkabout brought the realisation that most of the current cultivation is in time on track. I should have kept faith. It rained hard yesterday, much new lush growth throughout the home field. It was a fruity morning walk.

 Lets get prowling... 

Red hazels and green filberts.

Elder berries .

Young walnut tree promises a heavy crop this year.

Strawberries just coming into their season.

 Nectarines and peaches, grown from stones discarded in the compost.

 Thornless blackberry supported by a self seeded "rogue" peach tree

Blurred whitecurrants.

Oh oh, more peaches

Ripening redcurrants

There'll be a bucket or two of peas to shell from this lot.

It looks a bit crowded,but they all appear perfectly happy together. Lettuce, maize, Brussel sprouts, sunflowers, coco beans ancoriander, there is more to come not yet showing.

The onions will be huge this year. Just wait and see.

 I have heard so much doom laden news of global crop failures, here's a patch of wheat the nasty weather missed.  I believe the paranoid farmer has just dosed his almost ripened wheat with fungicide. I wouldn't eat it.

Saving this batch of broad beans, an old variety, for seed. 

Some pretty colour.

Looking back at the entrance to the vegetable garden.

There will be more images later. Glean what you can from the photos.  I'm happy to share some of my "funny ideas" you may find some of them suit you. Bon courage, don't be shy.