Wild Burro tagged me with the Five Things Meme, so now I have to tell you five things about myself you didn't already know. You didn't log on today to find the name of my first crush at school or what bizarre part-time jobs I had when I was a student, so I'll try to keep it self-sufficiency related.- Just over 9 years ago I tried to grow vegetables in containers in the horrible paved yard in our old house in Liverpool. Things started off really well and I had strawberries, rubber beans, tomatoes and I can't remember what else beginning to grow. But then I got pregnant with my eldest and was prostrated with sickness and exhaustion for 3 months. When I felt well enough to go back out there, the slugs had eaten everything. I never tried to grow stuff at that house again.
- I'm worried this whole plan will never work because my kids (well mainly my eldest who has Asperger Syndrome and sensory issues) are very picky eaters and won't eat almost anything we can realistically grow. Worst of all my husband colludes with them. So unless we can become self sufficient in pizza and pasta we might be on a hiding to nothing.
- When we first got the allotment I asked the kids what they would like to plant. Tom (the eldest) said "Bananas". Sam (the youngest) said "Jelly beans!" Well, we've all learned a lot about fruit and vegetable growing since then.
- I was once bramble picking in a field near here, off the footpath, when the farmer let his cows into the field. The buggers all chased me and you may laugh but even just one cow is much bigger than me and a whole stampede of them is not funny. I scrambled through the thorny hedge, ripping my jacket, and continued picking berries on the other side. As I worked along the hedge the cows followed me. I could hear them snorting and stamping through the hedge. I've never picked berries in that field since.
- I was sorting out some packets of seeds the other day and making a month-by-month spreadsheet of what to sow and what to harvest, on Ed's new laptop. A packet of radish seeds emptied itself all over the keyboard. I managed to get most of them out by holding it upside down and shaking it. But every now and then I discover another one causing a key to stick. Sorry, Ed.
Well there are your five things. Now I have to tag five more people. I'm going to tag some of my favourite blogs which have been inactive for a while, in the hope it will encourage them to start posting again.
- www.anythingbutsprouts.blogspot.com
- www.academicsqueaking.blogspot.com
- www.multiveg.wordpress.com
- www.marvin-the-magnificent.blogspot.com
- www.goodlifeallotment.blogspot.com
Today's picture is an aerial photo of our allotments, with our plot marked with a red "X".
7 comments:
Did you ever try bananas and/or jelly beans ? How did you get on ?
Cows kill - just read the Hereford Times.
We never did try bananas or jelly beans. We meant to sow some jelly beans with Sam just to make the point but we never did.
I've been chased by cows, too. Terrifiyingly fast and huge in my opinion :(
Me too, although I remembered some advice and turned round and walked towards them, which made them nervous and they backed off in a hurry. They don't see too well, and tend to assume anyone in their field is bearing food.
I liked that you shared your worries about your dreams for the self-sufficient life not succeeding because of your family's lack of fondness for veg. It seems to me that you have so much imagination and creativity about what you cook and you're so enthusiastic about getting them involved that there's every chance they'll come round.
If all else fails, you could always just live off potatoes and nothing else - it's hard to imagine anyone could be so picky they wouldn't eat spuds in some form or other. I could probably send a few spare seed pots your way if you need them!
Thanks, Clare. Yes, the kids will eat mash and chips so a wholly potato-based diet is a possibility, but it makes for awfully dull gardening, not to mention meal times.
I saw on your blog that you're sufferring from a seed potato glut. I personally have enough runner bean seeds to start my own market garden.
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