Brrrrrrrr

Weeding Through Frozen Ground

As we were up early on Sunday morning we thought it would be a good idea to get on and do some work at lotty before John went back to work on Monday. Knowing it would be cold we put on plenty of clothes and took a flask of coffee, and planned on lighting a fire with all the wood we'd chopped down the previous day. We were going to light the fire at the bottom of lotty where we'd had our fires in the summer but at the last minute John decided to light it in our little fire place by the shed. The wood we were using was not quite dry but we figured if we could get a little bit of a fire going it would soon dry out. John started with a bit of cardboard and straw the added a few of the smaller twigs, and once that was going he added the bigger logs.

Being as cold as I was I thought getting on with something would warm me up a bit, so I took a cushion from the hut and sat by our old sweetcorn patch to get on with the weeding. The sweetcorn did very well there last year so we have decided to put some of our strawberry plants there in the hope they'll do just as well. After finishing half of the weeding John came over and told me to go and stand by the fire to warm up, which I happily did.

After my little break I finished the weeding and went back over to the fire which was unbelievably hot by this point so I plonked myself on the cushion in front of it. Within a few seconds I was lovely and toasty again and I was warm enough to roll my trouser legs up and get a bit of heat on my legs. I even took off my boots to warm my feet, though not realising just how hot the fire was when I put my hands on the bottom of my sock they burnt my feet.

Back over to the strawberry patch I grabbed a spade and started to turn over the soil which meant all of the chickens coming to join me for an easy meal. Its not easy digging with the chickens around as they tend to stand on top of where iv just stuck the spade in and I have to keep nudging them away. Penny was slightly put out when I was digging a bit too close to where she was standing and she slipped into the hole.

When John had finished building the fire he came over and asked if I was ready to plant some strawberries. We laid the pots where we wanted them, with enough space in between each one to allow for the runners which the plants will produce once they have fruited. Walking away from the plantings I turned round to see the chickens had already discovered the plants and I had a bit of a rant at them. Not wanting to lose them to the girls, John and I surrounded the area with glass and then laid a few panes on top to act as a sort of cloche.

We have had a very productive week at lotty and im hoping all of our hard work will pay off in the spring and summer. The blur being away all week meant John and I were able to spend some lovely days alone together at lotty. After going back for the first time yesterday and seeing all the strawberry plants the Blur is looking forward to doing the taste test on the with John in the summer.