It been a Long Time

Well it's been a very long time since I was here but with one thing or another I haven't had much time.

This morning my Son Jean/ Paul and I where over on the allotment trying to make the Hens little door open up in stead of pulling up a bolt to let it fall down. Well now we have done it so we pull on a rope on the outside of the run and the little door now opens.
But while I tried to do this and JP was feeding the chocks my oldest son at home was still in bed saying he was sick. Well after falling on right on to my butt and getting so muddy I took a look at the inside of the chicken coop to find that It had to be cleaned right out, which I did.

Well I went to our shed to make a brew and to phone my Wife Sheila to ask if our other oldest son Francis could bring over some feed and bedding stuff for the hens.Well that was like asking him to pull his own teeth. Like I said before he said he was sick so he was going to stay in bed all day!

In my book we have to be at deaths door before we get to stay in bed. even with all that's wrong with me I have never stayed in bed not even when I've been in Hospital. So these no way he is going to stay in bed.
I called him when we got in at 11:45 then again 15 minutes later then his mother told him this went on until I pulled myself up the stair and told him to get out of bed and get down stairs as I was not going to let him stay in bed ttext his little Girlfriend, and making out he is hard done by. This really makes me as mad as hell.

When JP and I got home we found that Sheila my wife was going to take the stuff that we needed over to the allotment with our youngest son Shane who is only nearly 5 years old. She looked as if she had been crying yet again no prizes for guessing who made here cry or upset her. It was our Son Francis yet again.

I went to see the site Secretary to ask about getting another plot just at off the side of ours that we have at the moment. Robert the Field secretary asked me if I wanted a half or a full plot.Well with this I didn't know at the time but I said that we would have a whole plot. He told me that he will get the council to come along to plough up the plot so it would be easier for us to tend.

At this moment in time we have only got about half an allotment with the chickens and there run which we made bigger in the summer.
With the new plot we can plant veg that will keep us going all through next year and we should have some left over for the out laws. That's if we get a good summer and not like the one we just had.

It's getting on towards Christmas now and I have made my Christmas Cakes and Puddings, also made chutney, pickles, all kinds of Jams, Marmalade. Next year I 'm really hopeful that we will do a great deal more.
Right time I went and got a nice cuppa and a slice of fruit cake anyone care to join me?

Well at last

Well the weather is lovely at long last and my veggies are doing well at the moment but I have not had much success with my onions this year as they are far to small.

Why this is I don't know but I have a feeling that the onion sets were planted to deep and so now they are around the size of golf balls instead of cricket balls.
Well i will know for next year or as I still have some left over may be I can put some more in this week and then I'll hope to have some more for the winter or early next year I hope.

I know that the Allotment holder next to us John his name is and he is a very nice old boy.
He is going to give us some Leeks plants as he did last year and he is all ways giving us greens for out hungry Chickens. I say hungry but they are not they are just greedy little so and so.

Well talking about our chickens we now have one that has become Broody and that is making my Wife Sheila made as when she goes to sort them out in the mornings and last thing at night there is one little lady who is sitting on the eggs we have and when Sheila goes to get them the little sod pecks her hand.

At least she will go and tend to them and so will I but I am still finding it very hard to get about. But our 2nd oldest son Francis well he acts all big and hard but he will not or can't get hold of the chickens to see if they have laid any eggs as he afraid of them (should we call him He Man??) I think not.
I find that our youngest son Shane will go into the run and pick the chickens up and he will try to clean them out, OK he won't do it right and he will make even more mess but he does give it a go.
Anyway so sorry that I haven't got any photo this time but I will get some for the next blog tomorrow or if I go to the plot tonight with Sheila I'll take a few then and put them up tonight.
Well I hope you all have a very good afternoon and a good night, I've just been told that it's not going to get down below 15 or 16c tonight. This is in Suffolk.
See you all soon.

Getting Better as does the weather!!

Hi All sorry that I've not been about for some time but with all that has gone on I have not felt able to come on my blog.

But I can now say that things with me and mine are on course for a lovely time I hope?
We are hope full that we can attend a Permaculture course in Nottingham in July, which I am hoping to go to. If we do manage to go we will use our new tent for the first time and I think it will be the first time that my wife sheila has been in a tent and if so how is she going to put up with no electricity and the like??

Our Green houseis getting full now the kitchen widow seel is also full with all kinds of plants.
My Thyme plants have not been to good as I had thought?? ButI was going in the greenhouse the other day and found A pot full of thyme so I Did grow some after all. All I have to do now is trainplant some into single pots to see how they get on.

Dear Son Shane is about to come home from Nursery so he will be full of beans.
Well the weather should be better by monday of next week we all hope so that will mean that I will be able to get to the allotment to tend my plants and to give the shed a going over and the chickens the once over. Then it's back to the house to see what can be done here.

I must tell you this that i put in some salad leaves into the greenhouse in late Dec or early Jan and for the past week or two we have had fresh salad leaves and they are lovely. We also have got loads of Spinage, more than what we know what to do with.
Well I'll let you all go now and I'll speak to you all later so untill then
Take Care and Stay Lucky.

Nicky.

Did you like them

As You Can See I have put on 3 more pictures.

I promise that I wont put anymore on today.

I do have a lot more but like I've said I 'm not really good enough to show them. But one Day things may change and I will be able to show them.

Right Have a great Easter Holiday and take care of yourselves.

Nicky.

More Pictures

These 3 pictures are as follows 1st I did this one nearly 10 years ago I think and I did it as well as the one on the right for my Children as they were all much younger then.

The middle one I call my Little Deer.

OK they are not the best but when I consider that I had not picked up a pencil for many years scene I was at school in 1975.

I like to draw water scenes and some Landscape's. I was once or twice asked to give some art work if that's what you call it, to my Children's School and they sold them off for around a £100.00.

Then My Church had to raise money for there Church hall and i gave them 3 or 4 to Sell off and there again they made a good bit of money. I must say that a lot of other people had helped to fund raise to get the Church Hall built.

I hope you Enjoyed the pictures.

Some of my Art Work

This one Is one that I liked doing as it's as you see a winter scene and It would be in my minds eye the place that I would want to live in the Woods.

This one I Call Morning on the River.

I drew this with pastels and to fix it to the paper I used hair spray.

This picture is one that I like as I can see myself This is Sprite

on the small boat away from it all.

I have got a lot of these Picture but at this time I'm new to this Blogging so i have to go slowly.

I Hope You Will Enjoy Them.

No News is Good News

Well I was going though a few of the snaps that I had taken when we where on holiday at Caster in Norfolk. You can see that it was in August and the beach was empty and it was Hot very Hot and we had nothing to do apart from enjoy the holiday.

We didn't even have to cook a thing as we went Half board, but when I come to think of it we should have cooked our own food as it was not to good. But we did get the break that we needed.

This year however no holiday and it our 27th Wedding Anniversary on September the 5 th this year and i was toying with the Idea of going to South wold in Suffolk as it's not to far away.

But I would have like to go to Holmfirth in Yorkshire and we could have gone to Heartbeat Country as well we wold have liked that but it would have meant over 9 hrs by Coach and that would not have been to good but well worth it.

So we are saying at home with the dogs and the Chickens and also our Allotment and Garden. I would like to be able to grow even more in our garden in the way of Permaculture. i know that permaculture is not just about growing things it a whole life thing, but I really have no idea and that is Why when I've been on the I.N.E.B.G. web site I have looked and asked a few Questions and hopefully a course will come of it which would be over a weekend. Then Sheila and I could go together and learn while we have Fun.

Well after I went to the Dentist this morning I got my Daughter to bring in some compost and then We put in some seedlings and more veg seed for the garden and the allotment. The plant that we will grow will not only be for us but they will go towards help with getting things done that we cant do as we now belong to the Ipswich Lets scheme. lets means Local Exchange Trading Scheme. so this now means that like I've said I hope to get somethings done that I cant or have not the skill to do and vice verse, I may be able to do something for someone else.

Well it's cold and it's wet outside and I'm now enjoying a milky Coffee and relax .

See you all soon.

Nicky.

Wanting To Get Outside.

Well this is how it was a week ago in the early morning. I think it was a lovely Sunrise that morning.

I have not been over to our Allotment for over a week now, what with the weather and myself having to go to hospital on Monday morning the 10 March for an Angiogram. Of which I have had one about 4 years ago when the put 2 stents in my arteries.

They have now told me that I have further problems with the Heat by which I mean another artery is furring up and will need to be seen to. So I have now got to wait to see the Consultant in a few weeks/ months.

they have also told me and the wife as she was with me on that morning that I must rest for a while? But what do they mean? A few days after the small op? or a week. I don't know, I wish I did.

So like I've said haven't been outside seance Monday and I think I'm getting Cabin fever ha,he,

I did take a look on line and come across a web site from Norfolk Herbs, Which i ordered a good few herbs on Tuesday and by Wednesday at 08:30am they came.

But I have had no chance to do anything with them until I hope today. As my Dear Daughter Theresa is coming around this afternoon and she knows were i want this herbs put in the Garden.

We also have got 6 Tree of Heaven in the back garden or should I say trees from hell. But any way we hope to have something done to them so that we may get more light under them as the local council don't think that they need to be felled! But we have a lot of trouble to grow stuff under them. I have asked for advice on line and have been told to grow fruit bushes herbs, and the like. Last yer I grew Runner bean under the trees and we had a great crop so I think we will do the same again this year because as I see it the runner beans clime up things so why not clime up the trees and the like under the trees.

Well Theresa will be here shortly so I'll just have enough time to have a cuppa and hopefully as it's nice and sunny,I'll be able to go out into the Greenhouse with any luck.

See you later ll the best to you.

Nicky.

My Dear Son Francis.

Well my Son Francis has done it again ! He knows that I 'am not up to much at the moment. So he has been other the plot all weekend and dug my potato trench's, and he's not done a to bad a job of it for his very first time left alone.

He just told me Friday night that he was going over the next day and did I mind! So that thank less task is now done. We went over this morning to see what he had done and were most pleased to see what he had done. I took a look at the compost heap and it looked ready to use so we did, So we have put it into the trenches and we still have enough left to put under our runner beans when we get around to it.

On Friday last week we put a few early potatoes in next to our neighbour's plot. At this time I can't remember what the potato was called, but I will find out and tell you how things turn out.

The weather over the weekend has made us think about the rotten trees we have all the way around our garden. The common name for this type of tree are tree of heaven more like tree of hell. I asked the local Council this morning if they could help and that was like trying to make tea in a chocolate tea pot. You know the type!! Yes.
I've spoken to a few people on line and they have given me telephone no. of tree fellers and I'm hoping to see what they can do. we really want something done as these trees are taking all the water from the garden and nothing will grow under them.

If the trees were gone we could then turn more of the back garden over to veg and fruit trees. This we wouldn't mind as we would be getting stuff out of the garden then as now nothing.
Well i say nothing in the High Summer we do get shade from them. But things have to change so we think the trees will go.

I'm hoping to go over to our allotment tomorrow so that I can put in a few onion set and pick some white broccoli which we have growing over there and that's the first time I've ever seen it.
Well I'll have to go now as I have made pasta from scratch for my family and so we will have a meat free meal today, I also hope to have a good few more of them as soon as we get to grips with it all. See ya take care. Nicky

Well today went really well. As you can see my DS Francis actually came with His Mother and I and as you can see he even started to dig over parts of the plot that we wanted to be done.

Sheila finished off the long bordering the path so I want to plant some early Potatoes but I am not to sure what and if the leaves will hurt the neighbours Chickens?? I have told him that I want to put some there and he has told us to go ahead! we did get a good bit done with out the aid of the smalls, not saying that they are any trouble. But if you have Children you know what I'm saying.

Whats been done In the Greenhouse.

Well we have given it a good sort out and I have got many seeds in pots an trays.But infact I am using all kinds of things that I can get my hands on. I have still to get my heat sink up and running. I've got a good amount of polystyrene boxes that we had our meat order come in will do the trick! But I still have to blag some pipe of different sizes. We will also need a small electric moter so that it can pass air around the greenhouse to keep it at a good temp.

I have got some lettuce comming up so that will be good in about 3 / 4 weeks I think? As you can see by this we are very new to growing our own veg and last year was the first year that I/we had grown a lot of the veg that we had. I think that we are on a journey and every journey starts with a single step. We now are on that journey and may we never tire of it.

I did think of putting in some early potatoes in with in the next week or two. When I've grown them before I have put them in around Good friday or Easter Sunday. But as I have been told by the old boys on the allotment we could start to put them in within the next week or 2. But I think I going to ere on the side of caution and so I may start planting the potatoes by the middle of March, That should be OK (I Hope)

The Chickens are all very well and I hope to get 4 or 5 more very soon, They are eating very well, getting all they need to give us lots of eggs but on the odd very cold day our girls do come up short so some days we only get 3 or 4 eggs out of 10. I 've been giving then hot to warm layers mash with crushed up egg shells plus they have a big tray og oster shell. I have also put a garlic clove in there water to help with there blood, I saw that on line and many other people have also told me this. Well if the Garlic is good for us.

Well as it ws such a lovely day yesterday Sheila and the 2 boys Jean/Paul and He Who Must Be Obeyed Shane went over to the plot to make a start on the weeding, of which there is a lot but the two boys were happy enough to just mess about in the sun shine. We were over there for a few hours,as well as the weeding Shelia again cleaned and feed our girls.
We have now put up some netting at the back of the hen house so that we can resow with grasses so that the chickens don't have to keep going around in the dirt all the time.
It may not be the right thing to do but We think of it this way what would you or I prefer Gass or the mud??

While over the plot my Daughter Theresa our 2 grand children Courtney/ Jade and Conner came to the allotment also so then we could'nt get very much done. We had a cup of tea and Shane went to brain Conner with a little spade that another allotment holder gave us.
So with that we came home and started to re do the veg patch. Last year we had rased beds and they were O.k but not great. We got a good amount of veg from them and being the First year of growing a lot of veg we did'nt do to bad I think.

Well this year my Wife with a lot of help from Theresa have mad the beds a litte less wide but a good bit longer so it's going to be easier to plat crops and to harvest them.
They emptied our 3 compost bins and spread that all over and dug it in. We also put some old potting compost over and mixed well, (Just like making a cake)
From there J/P washed the inside of the greenhouse while Theresa cleaned the outside and yet again all I had to do was make the tea. But I did manage to put some seeds into trays and those other type of trays that you put 1 or 2 seeds in each pot.

With all the fresh air that the children had the were eating like mad I think if Eating was an olympic event they would have won Gold, Silver and Bronze. I Still have not much appetite, but I can do with lossing a few pounds. We all slept well and Dear Shane was awake at 4.45am this mornig.

I spoke to my eldest Sister todayShe is down at Axminster with her husband. She was asking me if I'd still got the allotment and what we had ben doing over there. I told her that we had the chickens and that we have a few people around here who like the eggs and buys them off us.
She asked me if any of our Sisters or brother has any and I had to say that they don't.
As I think that as they have so much they tend to think that we are below them. I told her that I would love for them to come to mine and live a more Eco-Friendly or Greener way of life but they think you have to have loads of land and also go with out a lot of things. But we don't go without any thing that I can think of.

But my sister was saying that when the others where small they had nothing, but nobody else did have much, this was in the 50/60/70. My Dear Dad would have and is pleased with what I am trying to do even though he's been dead since May 1984. Oh how I miss him so very much.

We eat well on fresh local foods we try not to have to many packets of things, So I go along to a local Food Coop (Ipswich) that is held every 2 week to pick up organic food stuffs and if we need it the house hold cleaning stuff. As yet we have not gone over to the natural cleaning products, but I did hear how to clean a Kettle with lemon.

To Clean the scale from the inside of the kettle. Get your lemon get the juice out or and cut the rest up pop it into your kettle and boil. I did this and Theresa said that she has never seen so much limescale come out of it.

Also to clean and make shine the Stainless Steel things in the kitchen I use Olive Oil to get the sine up.

Right I have to go now but I'll be back later to show some more pictures.
Take care, Keep safe.
Nicky.

Good morning to you all, I did so want to show you all some of my photos yesterday but I messed up somehow!!

But this pooter is all new to me as I've just been in the past a big hammer person.

Well as you can see on the left are some of our girls, the hungry gutted little so and so's. On the right is my Wife Sheila who at this time is the only one who cleans them as the oldest boy is a lazy git. Well yesterdat we were given some raspberry canes, so we put them in at the top of our plot with the help of our Daughter Theresa and Grand son Conner.

I hope to show you Conner and his sister Courtney/ Jade and not forgetting Sarah Louise and little Dale my other Daughters Anne/Marie children, I love them all very much and I wish I could have them with me all the time! which I would if I had avery big house out in the country side and won the lottery (FAT CHANCE OF THAT) But untill then We will have to do with what we have got and be thankfull for it.

I was thinking of putting other things on my blog but at this time i am not to sure. I'll be off over to our plot some time this morning to do a few light things and then when I come home it's into the greenhouse to start puting in some of my seeds, what joy.

Pictures at long last.

Well the day started off verybad as We were up from 4.45am with our dear little helper Shane.
So Sheila and I had our first cup of tea of the day.
Shelia and i cleaned the living room and by 7 am Jean/ Paul another son of ours was ready for school, Shane was also ready for Nursery, but he could not make his mind up about what he wanted for his breakfast!

I then asked Sheila if the oldest son was up. She told me that he had been called and still nothing at all. At this i called up and got the same as she did! A grunt. He finally rose at 9.15am a full 2 hours later. He was here yesterday when I cane home from the hospital so he knows the score. But he does not care alas.

We got over to the plot just after 10 this morning, So sheila started on the Chickens and I made the tea, I also made up something that I can now put onto the bottem of the old kitchen chair so that the legs don't sink into the ground as they have done many time before, ( don't laugh) But everytime it has happened I could hardly get up with all the laughing.

I must say I should have thought of that last year but back then i was always using my Wheelchair and which I thought I would have to use for ever more. But just before Christmas Father Christmas came a left me an Electric Scooter that has made such a differents now. I can now go out with out someone helping to push me.
I at long last have my Indpendence back and that is the greatest feeling of all for me at this time.

Well I've gone of track so back to the allotment the chair is ready for setting trials. we had some Raspberry plant given to us this morning so they were planted and more growned was covered by black plastic so that the weeds don't grow and then it's going to be much easier for Sheila or Theresa to dig . But I may try aswell the no dig way by just covering the ground with some old wool carpet or cardboard then put garden compost over it making sure it wont fly away in any winds. Cut holes in the what ever you have and plant away, some say it's good other we talk to don't like it.

I will try any thing so that wife and daughter don't have to work to hard. When i see them working it sometimes feels so bloody wrong that they are doing this and I no longer can and we have that Lazy sod of a son on his play station thingy. My Dear old Dad would have kicked him up the arse and made sure he did a few things, But nowadays we are told that we must not do this or do that. Don't get me started.
We put in some board beans this morning and we have others about 4/6 inchs tall, I am really looking foreward to have some of them.

Hi all The little person on the right, He is my little helper Dear son Shane who will be 4 on 18th Feb .
The little chap trys to do the digging when we are over the allotment and if he could he would do it in the garden to. We caught him watering the path. But he did'nt use a hosepipe or wathering can. Can you guess what he used?? ell if you can't I'll tell you! He used his very own hosepipe.

Well I had to go to the local Hospital this morning to se the Cardiologist who has told me that they want to give me an Anagram ( i think thats how to spell it??) to see what can be done. He has told me that I can't go on the tread mill they have to do this small surgery and then they will say what they are going to do next.

He has told me not to give up trying to do things as long as I take it easy I'll be OK. I must also keep taking my meds. I can still enjoy myself in the garden as long as like I've said I don't over do it.

I'am hoping to start to put some seeds in so that they can have a head start also I can then send more time in the green house away from the Wife.
I have shown this blog to 2 or 3 people so far 1 of which my Dear friend (my I say) Mrsnesbitt from Mrsnesbitt's tea room from the INEBG web site I'm 1 of 3 tea boys in the place. I have learnt a lot from that web site and may I say found friends that I thought I would never have. I have loved my time on this site and from that I've found other Web site of the same sort of thing.

Like I've said before I am disabled and this means that I can only walk a very short way around 30 to 50 yards on a very good day. what do you do after that I hear you say ? Well I have to use a wheelchair when I go to town or have to visit my GP or if I go to a Farm shop or farmers markets and not to forget my best thing Nurseries for all the lovely plants and fruit trees that I can see, and what I can carry home or fit in the kind persons car.
I am looking foreward to meeting as many of the forum members that live around Suffolk or the East of England. But when you have no car we have to depend on public transport which can be a pain when we want to get somewhere very quickly.

Being the way Iam and have been for 15 years sometimes I have been very bad were I have not been able to move. I can see that in every way possible we have to do something in this world so that not only our Children but Grandchildren and beyond them have a lovely planet with fresh green fields trees of all kinds and of course fresh water for all on the planet not just for the one who have but the poorest in the world.

Everybody should be able to have very fresh food from this Country and we do have some lovely food in this country if only we would cook it! I know we need somethings from other countries but do we need to have it flown over to us could it not be shipped.

What I've said nobody may care a fig about it? But I am trying to live a more ECo- friendly life style with out having to spend lods of money on gadgets and fads.
So we only like to bye things from our local shops and the little meat we eat we get from the local Butcher who know where the meat has come from and has let it hang for at lest 3 weeks.

This year we want to grow most of our veg we eat and if not as much as we can, we have lovely fresh eggs every day and I also cure and smoke my own Bacon which is very tasty. We will be getting a meat mincher so I can make my own Sausages. Well I will have to go now as my Dear son shane wants me for something.
See you all later.Nicky

Our plot So Far.

This is what we had to face last April. So very over grown that we never thought that we would get it cleared! But we did, Well may be not me but my Dear Wife sheila and 1 of my Daughters Theresa helped. We also had some help from the next door plot holder who did a bit of digging. That was last year and you know how hard all the ground was, well it took some doing.

We also said that we would like to keep some chickens on our Allotment! We were told that we can have up to 24 chickens but no cockerels at all. So breeding birds at the plot is out of the Question. It took us a few week to get straight, but we got there and by late July the hen house was built and by September we were able to get our 10 chickens.

The chickens started to lay about 3 /4 weeks later and then we only got 2 or 3 but when they started to lay they laid and for months. But the cold weather we have had have made them lay 6 / 8 eggs a day.Yesterday we got our first 10 of the new year.

Well we went over to our allotment this morning 1 To clean and feed the Chickens and also to see how many eggs we had. But by 11.00 o'clock we only had 1 egg.

While Sheila was cleaning and feeding the Chickens I was in the Shed making tea as I always do.

Why Are you making the tea and your wife is doing the work?? Well I'll tell you I am Disabled and have a bad Heart condition that means for the past years I've had to use a Wheelchair when I'm outand when I'm at home I can just about go around our house but only on the ground floor as the stairs are a no no at this time.

• When I look back onto my life the past 18 years they have been some and I say some good times but in the main it's been a Bloody Nightmare, I have had no family on my side ever turn around and help us. We've always had to look to each other for help. As my spine is getting even more knackered, I'm find ing it even harder to get around or do things in the garden or on the allotment. I've said I'm having to use a wheelchair when I'm out and so when on the allotment I use an old kitchen chair to sit on and work from. Because Iwas lucky enough to get an electric Scooter. Which is now making my life and that of my dear wife a lot easier as she does not have to push me around and I have got back my Independence or atlest some of it.