How The Countryside Has Changed

This is such a well written book, I really enjoyed it once I got into it.

The story of Miss White, a woman who lived in the author's village 80 years ago, a pioneer who realised her ambition to become a farmer during the Second World War, and how she worked to become accepted within this community. Nicola Chester, too, dreamed of becoming a farmer but working with horses was the only path open to her. Was it easier for women to become farmers in the 1940s than it is now? Moving between Nicola's own attempts to work outdoors and Miss White's desire to farm a generation earlier, Nicola explores the parallels between their lives - and the differences. Miss White buys a derelict farm and begins to renovate and modernize it. As ghost (barn) owls flit between these two worlds, Nicola draws connections with farming and rural life in both times, from the role of women in rural communities in the modern day to Miss White's experience in the 1940s.

The difference between the wildlife on the farmland then and now is quite frightening. Nicola is fighting to help preserve the few birds that remain, fighting against Big Business - which is what most farms are now. Living as a tenant in a farm cottage neighbouring the farm where Miss White farmed during the war Nicola  finds all the information Miss White left in the record office and finds the stone that marks her burial in the churchyard.

March Full Moon and The Garden

 The March Full Moon tonight  seems to have  had lots of names in history- the Plough Moon, Lenten Moon, the Worm moon - when worms emerge, the Sap Moon, Crow moon or Storm moon. We are not in the right place on earth to see  the moon's total eclipse happening, although the moon hasn't been very visible lately with so much cloud every night.

 March weather can be as cold and unsettled  as February, but the sun is rising higher and it's now just 17 days until the Spring equinox and 26 days until the clocks go forward. At this latitude Suffolk gains two more hours of daylight by the end of the month and the week ahead is looking to be fine here in the East of England which is very good news. 

Yesterday was the first mild day of March......I had the patio door open to let the fresh air in....lovely

It is the first mild day of March:

Each minute sweeter than before,

The redbreast sings from the tall larch

That stands beside the door

There is a blessing in the air

Which seems a sense of joy to yield

To the bare trees, and mountains bare,

And grass in the green field.

William Wordsworth.

Last week BiL kindly came and cut the grass for me, it's hardly stopped growing all winter but also hasn't been dry enough to cut with my battery mower for weeks. He also pressure-washed the patio which was getting very slippery. I can get the weeds out of the cracks but the mould remover I tried for the slabs was useless and pressure washing is the best.

I had to move all the pots off the patio for the pressure washing, most things have survived the winter but the few strawberry plants in two planters that were OK last year have almost vanished. I emptied one compost bin onto one of the veg beds, there's still another to empty but I need to do some serious weeding everywhere..

The  summer fruiting raspberry canes didn't get watered enough last summer they haven't put up many new canes, I think it will be a poor year, not sure about the other canes some fruit early and some late, I cut most of them back in the autumn as it's impossible to know which are which.

The slab under one  of my water butts that collects off the greenhouse had tipped backwards so I emptied it in the autumn and need to level the slab before I can put it back. 

So many jobs to do as soon as my gardening mojo returns properly - it always happens -  sometime.

Yippee! Car Boot Season is Almost Here.

 My new header is Spring on the bookshelf, I don't have many things for Spring compared to Autumn and Winter and everything has been out of the cupboard before except for the small Brambly Hedge plate which I found from a car boot sale in June last year. What the shelf really needs are flowers. My daffodils still aren't out - weeks behind everywhere else.

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Weather permitting car boots should have started yesterday at the Sunday one furthest from home - 14 miles. I only go to that one about twice a year and as the weather was rather grey and cold yesterday and probably not many selling I didn't bother to go (and a good thing I didn't as later in the day a facebook message said they'd cancelled.)

The smaller Sunday boot sale that's nearest to me is on land at Stonham Barns - a leisure and retail complex with campsite, holiday caravans, lodges, fishing lake, golf centre, teapot pottery, showground, lots of retail units and the Owl Sanctuary. The people who own the land have gone into administration although all the things on the site are still running. Hopefully someone will buy the whole thing. Must be worrying for people who've splashed out thousands of £s on a holiday lodge there.

They have to wait for really dry weather to start the boot-sales at Stonham as the site is completely flat and gets very water-logged.

The usually much bigger Saturday boot sale at Needham Market  gets going next Saturday, they are on dryer sandy heath land on a slope and rarely get rained off,  they'll have Wednesdays boot-sales as well from mid month.

This year I'm looking for.............

• A pickle draining spoon!
• Interesting books
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Useful things from the house clearance people like parchment paper, foil, half started packets of washing soda etc
• Things that will make Christmas Presents

Not much needed at all, but it will still be good to get back to that early morning walk with a purpose.