What happens when a person, like me, gives up teaching, like me, and sits at home being a writer, like me but occasionally gets 'distracted' by the Internet? (Like me.)
I'll tell you what happens. She goes buying random, but at the same time, very useful stuff. Stuff that is VERY IMPORTANT for people like Andy and me who are tiptoeing our way inch by inch towards a more self-sufficient lifestyle. (This last sentence was really to reassure Andy that I haven't been frittering money away on Jimmy Choos or Chanel sunglasses. I've already texted him with news of one of my purchases and he hasn't responded, but then he could be operating in which case it's just as well he hasn't got his mobile out. You've no idea the mess a mobile can get into if it's dropped into a dog's innards - YUK!)
So firstly I reviewed my hop research, assessed the varieties available and bought 2 hop plants called Phoenix. (I might change their names once they arrive - Phoenix sounds rather pretentious for a plant and I always think you should get to know something before you name it, don't you? Personality is sooooooo important.) Apparently, they are especially heavy in pollen, and given the current 'Plan Bee Garden,' I thought lots of pollen would be good for attracting bees. I hope it doesn't mean they will get drunk. I can't be doing with sozzled bees in the garden.
Secondly, I researched worms. I was very impressed at finding all those worms in the compost bin when we emptied it on Sunday and apparently, you can never have too many worms. (Especially when you have four greedy hens roaming your garden chanting, 'Where are the worms? Where are the worms?') I'd thought about supplementing our compost bin with a wormery before now so this wasn't a completely random 'what shall I look up on Google now?' moment. Wormeries are supposed to provide excellent compost and liquid plant feed. So I went onto www.wormcity.co.uk and really enjoyed reading about worms and the whole 'keeping worms' thing. The site was very like the Omlet site for chicken-keeping - practical, straight forward, informative and full of cute cartoons! And then I sort of bought an executive 72 litre wormery. And five hundred worms.
So, come next week, we'll have 2 cats, 4 hens and 500 worms on the homestead. Plus a potential 10,000 bees within a year...
...I'd better start getting a list of names together...
I thought the worm project of yours was a great idea, but met with no response from the plant-guru sitting beside me working away on his PC. Sort of fell on deaf ears: you know how one's man can turn into a deaf-head when one is trying to partake of useful info which is capturing one's own imagination. But the 'hops idea' got a "mmmm, maybe..." from him. Peut-être hop seeds in the future? And can I have an envelope of worms to help out with the plod-land out front. And how does one count the worms to see if one has the correct amount in the packet. And what sort of rubber gloves does one wear when 'stirring up the food'. Oh, just loads of questions and will look forward to engaging with more worm-talk in the future! As I mentioned to Lester, in a chunk of land I have just worked on, I have dug 2 1/2 worms up all of which were little although fat. So a couple in the post would be gratefully received!
ReplyDeleteWell, I've been reassured that worms will live in their transit box happily for 2-4 weeks which is ample time to get to France. But do they count as live stock? Will I need to get them passports? Not a problem, obviously, with Andy being a vet, but he'd have to microchip them and I'm not sure if there's room in a worm for a microchip.
ReplyDeleteI shall use Wilkos light domestic task rubber gloves, size medium in pink for worm stirring until I am brave enough to go bare-handed! And I think worms arrive in weight so half a kilo = approx. 500 worms (a gram each??) but I shall be counting and they will all have little name tags a la 101 Dalmations! And they breed prolifically so should end up with thousands in the space of a year...