Meadow flowers

I don’t really have an explanation as to why I decided to grow the meadow (I’m sticking with the name meadow even though it is only 15 m²). I suppose there are several reasons:

• it requires little maintenance
• we are in a field, it makes sense
• if it was spring time, I may have done tomatoes and/or beans, as they grow quickly and the boys would love it, but it isn’t spring, it’s autumn.
• I love poppies
• wildlife is fun and who knows what insects we may get visiting.

So I ordered the seed from www.meadowmania.co.uk

I got lots of seeds. I don’t intend to sow all the seeds but wanted to keep my options open.

Wild Flower I

Musk Mallow	Malva Moschata	7.5
Meadow Buttercup	Ranunculus Acris	10.0
Red Campion	Silene Dioica	22.5
Ox-Eye-Daisy	Leucanthemum vulg	10
Self Heal	Prunella Vulgaris	22.5
White Campion	Silene Alba	22.5
Yarrow	Achillea millefolium	2.5
Corn Poppy	Papaver rhoeas	2.5

Wild Flower II

Birdsfoot Trefoil	Lotus corniculatus	0.5
Corn Poppy	Papaver rhoeas	0.5
Cowslip	Primula veris	0.5
Lady’s Bedstraw	Galium verum	1.0
Meadow Buttercup	Ranunculus acris	1.0
Musk Mallow	Malva moschata	1.0
Ox-Eye-Daisy	Leucanthemum vulg	1.0
Red Campion	Silene Dioica	2.0
Ribwort Plantain	Planatago Lanceol.	3.0
Self Heal	Prunella Vulgaris	3.0
White Campion	Silene Alba	2.0
Wild Carrot	Daucus carota	2.5
Yarrow	Achillea Millefolium	0.5
Yellow Rattle	Rhinanthus Minor	1.5

Grasses

Browntop Bent		4.0
Crested Dogstail		16
Sheeps Fescue		20
Chewings Fescue		20
Sl Cr Red Fescue		20

Cornflower mix

Corn cockle	Agrostemma githa.	45.0
Corn chamomile	Anthemis arvensis	5.0
Cornflower	Centaurea cyanus	14.5
Corn marigold	Chrysanthemum s.	20.0
Field Poppy	Papaver Rhoeas	10.0
Scented mayweed	Matricaria recutita	3.0
Night flowering catch fly	Myosotis arvensis	0.5
Forget me not	Myosotis arvensis	1.0
Long headed poppy	Papaver dubium	1.0

I also got some extra Ox-Eye Daisy

and some Musk Mallow

because they are awesome.

Sadly, I didn’t take these snaps, I just knicked them from flickr

Forking and hoeing

First off, I really don’t get enough time to write in here, and if I did, this would be much more interesting because I have many sources for new  and interesting experiences. The boys alone make me think about me and my own life in new ways and that’s fun in itself, but this is not for me and my introverted introspection, it is about forking and hoeing.

Before we get into the hoeing, just check out G being awesome.

Second off, I’ve nearly done with with the grass digging and the soil turning and I will be sowing in the next 10 days or so.

It’s been hard work to say the least and really, and it is quite easy to see why tractors were invented. The plot measures 2.2 m * 6.8 m and it’s probably taken about 16 man hours to get in into this state. I have been able to buy some awesome tools from a local shop (Groves -  honestly the best garden centre ever). Imagining people doing this without iron tools is humbling. Although please keep in mind that even though I wasn’t built for manual labour, I still envy those tool less people who didn’t have to drive for 3 hours a day to sit in front of a computer for another 7.

Anyways, I digress.

Above you can see the state of play last weekend.

Boom, tonight at around 18:00.

I also ordered the flowers, I’ll write about that in more detail while I am at work. My right arm is killing me, that’s my forking arm. The hoeing hasn’t been easy either.

the project

We have been here nearly three months, and the summer is almost gone, and the days are drawing in.  This morning we had some fine weather and the the four of us were out in the garden. Digging and burning stuff, two of my favourite pastimes.

There are a lot of brambles around. These things are annoying, so they get burnt. Blackberries too.

Last weekend I bought a hoe, and we have started digging out a patch where I intend to make a mini meadow, with poppies and other cool stuff that I like but don’t yet know the names of . The idea is to populate it more or less English meadow flowers, and not too cultured either, I want it to be crazy and natural.

The hoe and fork

D is interested in digging, G is interested in wiggly worms, K is interested in keeping the boys happy (including myself), but I like gardening. I don’t actually care about growing food, maybe as I get older that may be something that I want to to do, but for now it is a completely frivolous activity, aimed primarily at becoming something fun to do, and hopefully nice to look at. Peggy says that we can plant and grow lettuce in six weeks, so I may try this, as I don’t expect that there will be any meadow activity till next spring.

I couldn’t tell you now big the plot we intend to meadow-ify is, but it is probably something like 12ft * 60ft. I have no real idea how big it is, and it is hard to guess distances in grassy fields.  We are aiming to dig out all the way to the tree on the right.

The plot

Sorry this post isn’t very amusing, I just wanted to to note that we had started The Project.

(drive) and (sleep) but not at the same time

I wake up at 6:10, in fact I normally beat the clock to it, and wake up at around 6:03, and then wait for 7 minutes for the sickening sound of the alarm. I hit the snooze button, and then at more or less 6:13 precisely, I jump out of bed. More routine, more hum-drum.

I get in the car at 06:45 sharp. I tell Tom-Tom that I need to be in at 08:00 hours. It says I’m already 4 minutes late. I know the drill. If I avoid the A3066 (like Tom-Tom advises) by the time I hit the A35, I’ll only be 2 minutes late. A couple other micro-optimizations and I get in to work with around 5 minutes to spare.

Work starts at 08:00, some start at 08:45, those losers stay till 17:15. The lucky early birds leave at 16:30.

The sandwich lady arrives at 12:15. I get my lunch (£2.20), we get free fruit and coffee. (Free milk too, but if you are having cereal all day – as a lot of people do – you should buy your own milk). At 13:00 I have my lunch. Sometimes, I go put petrol in the car, sometimes I walk down to the coast. It’s less than a 10 minute walk and the view, even for a hater like me, is awesome.

Life stops again at 14:00, and resumes at 16:30.

The race home.

I tell Tom-Tom get me home for 18:00. I have about  a 1 in 3 chance of making it, and so, sometimes I get in with minutes to spare.

No time for anything, bath the boys, bed time, 1 hour in front my PC, 1 hour for TV and supper, and then it’s sleep time again. It’s a minor miracle if one of the boys doesn’t wake us up. Around 1 in 20 we get an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

I do this 5 times a week, and so far, I’m surviving. I think the novelty of having a real job and living a normal life is so amusing and so fresh to me, that this seems like a vacation. A change is as good as a rest, don’t cha know.

Alot to report, but no time to do it

I will be posting an update soon, have no fear!

I started the new job and my leisure time has been cut to around 4 minutes per week.  On top of my TWO jobs, I have also taken on a freelance project (out of sympathy, rather that necessity, you understand). Anyways, will update this soon.

Every silver lining has a cloud

So things are great, I haven’t started my new job yet, and the weather has been pretty damned good. Fantastic even. Life in the country side is good.

There is a family of foxes in the next-door field, and we often see the vixen and her two cubs playing silly games, and I’m sure I’ll have some horror stories to report when the hunting starts , but until then I’m happy to watch them play. It does also make me wonder about how easy it would be to realise my dream of rearing a few chickens.

I’ve also failed to mention that there are also deer, I’ve seen what looks like a doe and her two children. They are extremely timid, and we only see them from about 20 metres (although about three nights ago she came right up to our fence just as the sun was going down), their camouflage is very good in the uncut long grass, so it is quite hard to spot them, but they are there (deer).  Hoee Hee. A pun.

One of my new rituals has been to clear up the boys toys in the garden after they have gone to bed, last night I got a little caught up in Problem 251 (it really is a tricky little bastard) and finally went to clear up the toys just as it was getting dark, a little later than usual. The farmer had only a few hours earlier cut the other field, so the air was thick with the smell of grass.

That’s when the assault happenened. Luckily I had a (sponge) cricket bat in my hand, but it didn’t stop me from screaming. I heard a muffled THUD and felt an IMPACT on my arm. I screamed. I flayed the bat like a mad man.  WTF was invented for this very occasion. I looked around to see what it was.

Yehouahogarhh

I screamed.

A monster.

I shaked my body hard, making certain the little devil spawn was gone and ran inside.

I went to tell K about my ordeal, and asked her if she hadn’t heard me screaming.

She said she hadn’t.  The next bit isn’t too clear, although I do remember not ever being this scared before, certainly not in a city .

It was still on ME.

Arhogghheeeeeeeeeeeeeeraaaaaaagh

I know what the superhuman strength that Bruce (David[sic]) Banner was trying to tap into. I ripped off my shirt, and heard the buttons scatter like Tic-Tacs on a marble floor.  If I hadn’t stopped smoking I would have chained about 20. Once the beast had been caged. I ran for the camera, I can blog this I shrieked (every cloud has a silver lining).

K took the glass cage off for this photograph.

A cloud ii

But I was too scared to face him without some protection

A cloud i

I love it here, but sometimes, I do miss the sanitized world of the city.

D = 3

D, (that’s just his initial, not his name), my little boy turned 3 today (technically tomorrow, but as he says, we are celebrating his birthday today).

We got him a HET200A, I admit it is an odd present (for anyone),  and he loves it more that I think is healthy, but I will deal with his obsession on another day and do a proper post about his vacuum cleaners, so you can fully see the extent of his hoover love.  His godfather is obsessed with levelling, he is obsessed with vacuums. To each his own I say.

Anyways, here is D getting to grips with country life, check out the awesome tractor (thanks Dorko and T). Nice! Note the swing in the top right, I made that with my own bare hands (and a drill and some rope).

When in Rome

I also baked and decorated his birthday cake. I’m sure Peggy is suitably impressed. It’s amazing how little you actually need to know to do something like this.  My thanks go to Dr. Oetker.

Cake, sorted

Anyways, I got to actually go be with D and the rest of the crew now.

Make hay while the sun shines

The farmer turned up on his tractor on Tuesday and mowed the field; to be honest I was rather disappointed not to find any cows in the next door field on the day we moved in. The snap below was taken in August 2007, and I was quite excited by the prospect at being greeted by these gentle animals.

next door neighbours, taken August 2007

It was not to be, and when we turned up last week, the field was over grown and although beautiful, long grass is no substitute for cows. Possibly my favourite animal.

On Wednesday the farmer “turned” the grass (twice) and left it over night.  Believe it or not, on Thursday he baled the hay and suddenly we had around 20 haystacks scattered over the next door field.

haystacks, not bad for an afternoons work

I can promise you that this is all true.

Quite frankly, I was amazed at how easily the farmer had accomplished these tasks, I think in total he spent less than 4 hours in the field, cutting it, turning it and baling it. Astounding.

I can tell you that sitting in front of a computer for 4 hours never produces such output.

Room with a view

So this is it, the big one, after nearly 20 years in London (26th August 1989 to 16 June 2009), I’m here in rural Dorset. And I’ve got a room with a view (and off street parking)

Off street parking