Home Page
   Articles
       links
About Us    
Traders        
Recipes            
Latest Articles
... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
Page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 328, 329, 330 ... 423, 424, 425  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own
Author 
 Message
gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 18 9:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

When you say the ring kiln that is the big job, so I assume static for most of the time, or do you have lots of flat spots to erect it regularly? It is good when the burn yeilds well.
I would definitely ask how much the person enquiring for timber for carving wants and give a set of prices for the differing woods per piece or per cubic foot. That way they know it isn't for free, but this may open up a whole new market of timber in manageable pieces for you. I guess it depends how much you are looking for outlets, but such an outlet, could I think, be quite lucrative, particularly if you have a good variety of wood in different sizes and shapes. May be take some along to the shows you are going to already, or at least photographs to demonstrate what you have available. As I see it, it could be another string to the bow. Wood carvers I have found tend to be 'collective' types where they can be as they spend a lot of time alone and have to get out a bit to peddle their wares.

This morning I have been to our local agric. merchant for a new gate post, the last one was demolished by my friend as he left with his last load of hay. What surprised me was how much a new one costs-over £40 with tanilising and vat. Well we all have to get a living and chopping down trees is not easy work unless you have a timber harvester, which my neighbour does, I should have asked him for a large round one and stood it in a bath of creosote after shaving the bark; this one will be creosoted too and left to dry before erecting. A friend has volunteered to put it in place well dig the hole, I'll keep out of the way when he comes to do the job!!

I am hoping to watch the football with England playing, but not sure when it is and I have so much to do, but it would be good for an hour. or so.
I have another appointment at 6pm with the Bowen method of treatment, for my arms. The left got sorted last week and the right should be done today done by a local operative. I have to write a report on how it went but haven't started yet-oops!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 18 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The ring kilns tend to stay in the same place Gregotyn. They can be moved, but once you have got the 'hearth' in good condition and dried out, it is far better to keep the kiln there. The small retort kiln is the one we take to shows as the is fairly easy to move, only being about 1m diameter and just over 1m tall with the lid on. The chimney sits on the top, but come separately. We were hoping to empty the little kiln yesterday and do a firing with brown ends, the incompletely fired wood that comes out of the ring kiln, but it was too hot so we gave up the idea.

We have taken some wood to shows for spoon makers and people that want to do small carvings, but we don't have the room for any large bits.

Yesterday we had our volunteer group, and most of them did some deer fencing, which was moved from one coup to another nearby. I went with one of the 'less active group' to do some flora surveying in the coup we were removing the fencing from, and found a good selection of plants. Lots of violet leaves, which is good for the butterflies, some centaury, which is a little pink flower I rather like, nettle leaved bell flower and lots more. There were quite a lot of seedling trees, which is always good. Also saw lots of butterflies and I was wrong, the horsefly season isn't over.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 18 7:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yesterday was a charcoal bagging day; 50 bags filled. 20 plus 15 log sacks went out yesterday and today it is 20 with 2 bags of sawdust, so quite a mixture. There appear to be fewer horseflies but the mosquitoes have started again.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 18 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

You did well with 50 bags sold, and some left for emergencies! I thought there was a lot to moving the ring kilns and it looks like a pain if as you say the hearth has built itself to be "right", and then have to destroy it to take elsewhere.

It must be good to have a ready made workforce to come and help especially with deer fencing. I didn't realise that deer fencing was mobile! I thought that once up it would be far too much trouble to take down and re-erect elsewhere even if closeby. I also killed some horse flies on a neighbour's horse, but got bitten myself by a Kamakasi fly-he/she died.

I am having a disastrous day today for some reason. Because of all the cardboard and banding I have to cut during the course of my half day's work, and bale up, I have a few knives about my person-2 Stanley knives and always a pen knife for staples. Well I also carry a stone for sharpening the same. Couldn't find it when I needed it, so got another blade out for 'Stan'. Fate said "go pay your rates", so off I went and then couldn't find my wallet. Found the wallet half an hour later at home with the sharpening stone-it happens-but my forgetfulness is becoming all too frequent, and very, very annoying.

Another mishap occurred at the end of hay and my friend caught the large wriggley gatepost well it happens, as he drove his last load away. So a friend said he would come today and dig a hole-and what a hole, 3ft. deep and 2ft. square all before I got home. He is older than me and I would have struggled to get that far in a day! What surprised me was the price of a gatepost-2.4m x 200mm square, with a shaped top, tanilised-just shy of £40! Anyway I have creosoted the post too as a double insurance and will be leaving it to dry before erecting it. I missed him when I went home so hope he will be back when I have done here.

On my other front I had a second treatment with the Bowen technique. Not sure if it is working or not. Another trip to the practitioner next week and will decide if it works or not then, I am hoping it is better and next week is the last. Chopping firewood doesn't help the cause!

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 18 4:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I have been busy doing all sorts of things like going to markets and meetings to raise my profile and sitting at home busily knitting to finish off the first side of the jumper. I have done this successfully which is all good. Dog and cats are all fine and healthy and patient transport has been involved too.

Yesterday it became apparent that Council has been up to something terrible and so between driving patients to Hobart and dropping them off to their destinations I have been chasing up sources of information to find out what happened and how.

Chauncy Vale is a nature reserve at Bagdad. It was first established by an author - Nan Chauncy - and her husband after various failed attempts at farming and orcharding. Nan wrote some of the iconic tales of Tasmanian life during and immediately following on from the War. Her characters grew up at the same pace we did and visits to the reserve are a part of most Tasmanian children's childhood. It is a place on the Tasmanian Heritage Register and is administered by a committee which includes the daughter of the family. The committee also includes two Councillors.

Some months ago the reserve was closed to the public as Council was carrying out work to deal with erosion that was undercutting one of the picnic sheds. The results of the work are horrendous. The have filled in the creek course for part of its length and have created a new channel which is not formed properly, has near vertical banks and no stabilisation. There's an article in the Tasmanian Times showing images of the destruction (there is no other word for it).

I contacted Council staff to get some clarification and was assured it was a 'storm in a teacup', that it was fully supported by the committee, that in a couple of years no-one would be able to tell the difference. I was not satisfied with this response, so I contacted Heritage Tas which was oblivious to the works. I have also contacted DPIPWE and await their reply. Permits and approvals would have been required from both before work commenced. Bit late now.

Having witnessed the methods by which Council obtains committee approval for things they wish to do (ie, feed them half-truths, create obstacles for any alternatives and threaten no action if their method is not supported), their claims to committee support are dubious at best.

I have also contacted a local councillor. I phoned and when there was no response sent a text seeking his intervention. His response was to text back with a request I supply him with the name of a competent conservation professional and recommend funding sources. I texted back asking for an email address so I could elaborate on my concerns - a request he refused. I continue to await a phone call from him.

So this, folks, is why I am standing for Council. In the mean time I am pursuing my inquiries and drafting a set of 'questions on notice' for Council's response. This will obtain a written response (assuming it is not 'lost' in transit). I have also requested an opportunity to address the meeting (at which, having found out the answers for myself, I will challenge the advice provided). I am sitting on the letter as I consider its wording and also who it is that should be copied into the email. Wish me luck.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 18 6:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We had orders for another 18 bags of charcoal today, so ended up still bagging a bit more. We have a little left in the bags, but after that it will be another firing I am afraid. Hopefully all our outlets now have enough until at least next week.

I don't know if you have spoken to your doctor/nurse about your absent mindedness Gregotyn, but it might be worth while when you are next there. There may be some methods that help you to remember that they can advise, like having routine places to put things, or doing things in a certain way. Your friend certainly sounds fit if he can dig a hole like that before you get home. It is not the digging so much as getting the soil out. We have shove holers (sp?), but they are pretty heavy to use, so I can't carry on with them for very long.

Sounds as if you are getting your teeth into the Chauncy Vale thing Cassandra. From what you have said and the pictures you posted on FB, it certainly doesn't seem to have been done properly. One thing to remember though is that, although I don't know about Aus, where vegetation is disturbed and trees cut, they do grow again quite quickly. The other work doesn't sound as if it has been done right, and if they have partly filled in the creek and not rerouted it properly, that is going to cause trouble in the next heavy rain.

We are having a 'jolly' today going to a Royal Forestry Society meeting just up the road. It should be interesting as it includes discussion on forestry with public amenity and conservation and will be led by son's first boss, who is very knowledgeable on the subject.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 18 6:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Went on the RFS walk, which was quite interesting. They have Chalara ash die back far worse than us, but the worst affected area was in a stand of almost pure ash in a valley which son says stays damp most of the time.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 18 2:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

BBQ's seem to be rife in the South, we have had a couple up here but it has got quite chilly at night sometimes. And develop the market for the winter, a challenge too far maybe.!! Does it store?

I have talked to the doctor and nurse about my absent memory, they just say it is normal at my time of life! It is things that I have done/put down in the immediate past that concern me most. I am not worried about long term, if it is coming then it will, not a lot I can do about it. I will get a notepad soon and write it down-now where is the pen-ha-ha?

Lovely to hear from you Cassandra, I was beginning to worry you had deserted us. I guessed you were, on a mission somewhere. Actually it is not too late now to be following the alleged illegal works in the reserve, if anything it may be a feather in the cap for you with some of the sea-saw voters next time, if you can get this 'work' out and well into the open and it is viewed as a disaster, for those who "commissioned" whatever it is that has been done. Somehow you need to get in there to "see". You will only carry weight if you have viewed the area affected.
We are all of baited breath to any response you get. Good luck with it, one pace at a time...

You are right about the friend who dug the gate post hole, he is fitter and older than me too! It is a really good job now and the post is in to the same depth as the previous on and upright, I will have to adjust the gates. The overall plan is to change the gate from 11ft to 12ft-bit more 'backing in' tolerance! I've hit nothing.... yet. We are planning on another gate replacement to give me 2 lockable entrances. The second goes round the back and its gate isn't hinged at all. It is a slide from a wall, and a pickup and carry to the fence. Hanging would be a revolution. What I don't understand is how am I left with half a barrow of spoil from the hole after the new post has been put in and well tamped down? It was about 2 ft square and 3.5ft deep?

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 18 9:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I went and saw for myself today and it is worse than the photos in the article show. Definitely a recipe for disaster. This is a deep valley that sees little sunlight in winter and is rather dry and drought stricken in summer MR. As an example, here is a tree stump cut about 60 years ago. The area was devastated by fire in 1967 and the surrounding vegetation is what has grown back.




The diversion happens were the stream turns a corner, and so goes straight ahead instead of around the corner. The stream is basically what is referred to as a young one (ie in a steep sided valley) but has portions where the valley broadens a bit. On those bits it has several residual courses which become streams in high floods. Unfortunately one of these is upstream from the barrier so in a flood the barrier will be ignored and the water will enter the original stream (of course I didn't have a dumpy level with me, but it certainly looks that way to me).

The barrier itself is just a heap of uncompacted soil and rock (sandy soil) behind which is a deep 'pond' whose base is deeper than either stream bed, and a second barrier of even looser soil with the odd stone in it.



There's an attempt to introduce some sinuosity here (odd, since I would have expected them to be wanting it to flow rapidly as it enters the new route) but downstream it is straight in a run to the base of the one tree they left standing, whose roots have been compromised by the digger. The sides of the new course are steep and the base is soil.


We had a sudden downpour about a week ago which seems to have resulted in a sudden flush down the new course. The effects have undercut some of the steeper outer curves and have scoured the bed a little (starting off the process of building ponds and rills).

The really bad result is that downstream of the reconnection it is apparent there is significant siltation in the course.






But on a happier note I have finished the first of four pieces of my new jumper
Poppet has approved it following inspection.



Gregotyn I hate it when medical folk dismiss concerns by saying that! It is a legitimate concern if it is starting to effect your life and they should take it more seriously. A notebook and pencil (attached with a string) is a good idea, though of course you will have to remember to keep it with you. I have similar problems from time to time and worry about longer term effects.

gz



Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8571
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 18 10:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

that looks a serious problem , Cassandra.
on a lighter note,cat with matching jumper..

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 18 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We await the outcome of any winter excessive water from higher up the water course, Cassandra. The un-compacted barrier will be a giant filter for a while, till it gives way under pressure from above. I feel a rise in the rates/council taxes coming to get the stream sorted by a professional who should be in charge of any remedial works, as well as giving the advice needed for the regular maintenance work needed.

The notebook with an attached pen, advice is good-now what do I want that for,ha-ha! We expect you to model the new jumper on completion. Will it be going to any shows? You had considerable success last year if I remember correctly.

I have had a good day at work today. A few of our customers bring their dogs with them occasionally and 2 came today both very sociable especially the black labrador aging bitch. But the Labradoodle dog puppy is just fun and mischief. Highlight of the day for me, 2 dogs to fuss!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 18 7:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Certainly doesn't look as if they have thought that one out Cassandra. I suspect at the first really heavy rain the water will be in the old channel. In the New Forest they are going from canalised to building the streams up and having them meander as they have found that there is too much water arriving down stream too fast, and they are cutting further and further back along their course. Without seeing that myself, I can't really give a good opinion, but doesn't look like a sensible job to me.

I like the jumper, as obviously does Poppet.

We have been in Newcastle for a few days, and on the way back yesterday saw a woman with a cross Bengal cat on the Metro. She had it on a harness and lead, and apart from a certain reluctance to leave as it was raining, it was perfectly happy. It allowed me to stroke it, remembering to let it sniff and approve first.

Went to a gig on Saturday night with a band that son and DIL follow and know well. They are real characters, and to my mind, pretty good. We were in a pub side room, but they had the sound balanced so well that it wasn't overpowering even when it was loud. There was one young one, but the rest in their 40s and 50s I would say. Good rock music, mainly from 70s on, but one or two earlier ones. Their version of 'I'm a Believer' made the Monkees seem like amateurs.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 18 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

If they are in their 50's MR, then they are still young ones to me! I am feeling positively aged just now as my arm is not improving with this alternative therapist using the Bowen system. I started "treatment" with a pain in the left shoulder. That became better, but the pain has spread to the other shoulder. The woman insists that I must reduce my wood chopping as that is causing the problem-having chopped wood for 62 years and never a problem with my right shoulder I think it is the pummelling about my body gets from this treatment that is causing the problem. The only difference is the "treatment." As you can guess I am not happy, especially if I have to give up chopping wood. I know what is wrong with the left shoulder-a problem with a vertebrae the doctor said and to leave alone as it will recoup itself, and this woman insisted it would be better in no time with her quack treatment. The problem is they are friends as well, but if I have any other problems I will be keeping quiet!!

I remember the Monkees of the 60's/70's MR, but not a big fan. I was much more of a rocker, country and blues. If I remember ABBA were starting up in the 70's and I really liked them. You say the Monkees were a bit amateurish compared to the impersonators-I seem to remember I was told that they mimed to all their records and professionals did the real stuff in their name! But it is a long time ago and I am only repeating hearsay.

A bit of news came out today. My immediate boss has decided to leave the company and bought out a rival firm about 15 miles away in the country, but they have a good reputation. And the man concerned is young and fit. But mostly he is very knowledgeable agriculturally, and with machinery generally. He also has his own flock of sheep, from which he is breeding and selling rams. But as he said, if he doesn't go now he will be there for ever.

I am going back home now to cut wood and tomorrow I will be chopping it!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Jul 18, 18 6:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I think the Bowen technique is a pretty well known and respected one Gregotyn, but the treatment may have moved the problem from one side to the other. I hope it sorts itself out, and I assume you will not be going back for any more sessions.

We fired the little kiln yesterday, son moved some more timber, and I took the bark off and finished a couple of besom handles, so now have 2 assembled besoms and the components of another 2 for a show at the weekend.

Had the first courgette from the greenhouse yesterday along with a few mangetout peas and a few french beans, so garden being productive in spite of the weather. The summer cabbages seem to be hearting up, and even some of the root vegetables are coming through.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 18 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The Monkees, as it turns out, were actually made up as a result of an advertisement and were primarily miming their songs. This was a great disappointment to me as I was a big fan of Mike Nesmith. I won their album on a radio competition (as source of embarrassment as I was not actually allowed to use the telephone for such purposes, haha).

I have been hanging on tight lately as we have been hit by several Lows in quick succession which brought very strong winds - about 100kph. I went shopping in the middle of all this and lost a portion of my shop which was blown out of the trolley. In recovering it I also lost my glasses which blew off my face!

It seems to have gone away for the time being which is nice though tomorrow will be seven degrees with rain which may translate as snow locally (but unlikely to settle as the ground is not all that cold).

Poppet continues her explorations of the potential of beds but remains unconvinced.

Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own All times are GMT
Page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 328, 329, 330 ... 423, 424, 425  Next
Page 329 of 425
View Latest Posts View Latest Posts

 

Archive
Powered by php-BB © 2001, 2005 php-BB Group
Style by marsjupiter.com, released under GNU (GNU/GPL) license.
Copyright © 2004 marsjupiter.com