Posted on Wed, Jan 06, 2010
I am surrounded by people from the continent at the college, and have for some time been hearing how it is the law that when it snows people have a responsibility to clear the snow from in front of their houses. I have been inspired by this, if I can't prune trees or rake leaves then I'll clear the snow from foot paths and the drive up to the college. After the last snow we had it became a little treacherous on the drive where the snow had been compressed and then frozen again and become ice. So this is a little bit of a preventative measure, before the students come back at the end of the week I hope the drive will be safe and clear for people and taxis to move up and down freely. I've also found it's a great way to meet the neighbours as they walk up and down.
Stay safe and don't forget to clear your drive, it's going to stay cold so everywhere will become an ice rink if you don't ;0)
Posted on Sat, Dec 19, 2009
Things in this country seem to fall apart when we have just a little snow, and this week was no exception. We had a heavy snow fall on Thursday night and now the country side has a blanket of white covering everything... The garden was beautiful on Friday morning, with just lumps in the ground where the vegetables are hidden by the deep snow, but as usual after the aware had worn off the cracks appear. Most of the students had planned to leave over the weekend or on Friday but travel was not easy, the drive up to the college is a bit dangerous when the snow turns to ice so people tend to slide down rather than drive. And just at the moment it doesn't look to be over for a week or two.
There have been a few hard frosts over the week and the ground was hard enough to drive the tractor over it so I started to move some manure around that I'll be using to mulch the rhubarb and raspberries. I have found some insperation too after my Father showed me a book about the 'Lost Gardens of Heligan' it's an inspiring place and another Biodynamic Gardener has been involved in the process Tom Petherick. They have recreated an old victorian garden including a vegetable plot which particually interests me. I've taken some notes on crop rotations and it has inspired me to finish the rotation plan for this year and to make a good start on the planning fo next year, there isn't much else I could be doing at the moment though. (Other than snow man building).
The end of this term also sees an end to the way the college kitchen is run, due to redundancies and re staffing the current cook (Cilla) has now finished making way for a new business oppertunity for a local producer who has been processing food and selling it at local retailers. It will be interesting to see how the relationship develops over the coming months. I haven't met him yet but I've heard he has some great ideas to bring people from the village as well as maybe taking hte college to the village.. So 2010 might be cold to start but the excitment and enthusiasm from new collegues will surely keep us warm
Wishing everyone a very warm holiday season, I'm not sure when I'll write again, the next two weeks look to be very busy.
