tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-213877502011-12-17T20:04:46.767ZOne family's journey towards the post Peak Oil era. Becoming self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables, working from home, fighting off the local wildlife... an optimistic idiot with a spade takes on all that rural South-West England has to offer, and tries hard to take his family with him.Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4051100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-72657966580458175472011-04-03T10:47:00.001+01:002011-04-03T10:50:24.334+01:00

I've moved! Why not follow me over to Farm In My Pocket for lots more Hedgewizardly goodness? The new site is a joint venture with Digiveg, a.k.a. Mark Gatter, with whom I have many, many arguments. We write on a variety of homesteading topics, update three times a week, and are happy to answer questions when we can. Come on over! Would you buy a used chicken from these men?

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-68740113191171342992010-09-28T10:26:00.002+01:002010-09-28T11:27:34.744+01:00

I just had to post this (with names changed) - an e-mail that WP received yesterday. Just how cool is this? --- Hello (WP), I have just found these two old email addresses for you, hidden in the depths of my computer. Not sure if you still use them or even if you remember us! Alma Whitney was a little blonde girl in your reception class at Farthen school in the year 96-97. Sometime in that

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-12917541023858688092010-09-18T01:00:00.001+01:002010-09-18T01:00:15.590+01:00

This will be a hurried post over a bowl of onion soup, lest I be discovered. Because I’m in London for a conference – a corporate do which I’ve managed to finagle my way onto. Not my usual environment, I hasten to add. This rips me away from the Hollow garden for a couple of days, forcing me to put aside my present dilemmas (such as which is first – chopping the winter firewood, repairing the

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-79212126944598567142010-09-09T21:00:00.002+01:002010-09-09T21:01:30.374+01:00

My head’s been pretty full just lately. I’ve grappled with the biological uncertainty of pruning some very convoluted apple trees, tried to work out the best way to stretch a few more years out of my decrepit compost bins, argued with myself about the wisdom of renewing the raised beds (or not), poked and prodded my two rotation plans (oh yes, the tunnel has one too), continued work on the plan

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-80168129207409482772010-08-26T21:43:00.001+01:002010-08-26T21:49:12.314+01:00

I’m feeling a little smug just now, having taught myself how to create a couple of partitions on an external hard drive* and format them, so to bring myself back down to earth I’ll ‘fess up to the fate of the much-celebrated peach mini-glut. Lesson one when bottling peaches: take them slightly under-ripe. On no account wait until harvesting them involves flailing through a swarm of nectar-drunk

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-18838981807021396682010-08-22T13:15:00.004+01:002010-11-24T10:17:23.359Z

Since we have a nice crop of cooking apples coming up, this is a recipe from the Upwey Wishing Well Teahouse in Weymouth, Dorset, and comes courtesy of my mate Rentman. He's modified it very slightly just to make it simpler - and, believe me, it can’t be simpler. When at our Food Group meetings it lasts about 5 minutes!For the base6 oz (150g) self raising flour4 oz (100g) butter or margarine -

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-3037848834519658312010-08-21T12:50:00.001+01:002010-08-21T12:50:07.971+01:00

For the first time since planting the two peach trees, we have a glut of fruit. A modest glut, to tell the truth – nothing that can’t be used up by making a couple of puddings (including the wonderfully-named cobbler, which is also Brit slang for nonsense) but more than we can just put in the fruit bowl, I’m happy to say. This is something of a first for me, because peaches aren’t grown

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-6934135276708622010-08-18T18:26:00.001+01:002010-08-18T18:27:30.786+01:00

And here I am on the train again, with someone unexpectedly playing a tune on the harmonica – or more accurately that sort of monotonous two-chord drone demonstrated by Alanis Morissette on Jagged Little Pill. I can understand why so many people are crap at the harmonica, but it’s always been a source of wonder for me that they don’t know they’re crap. Oh well. I’ve spent the last few days

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-29468195612844991422010-08-15T20:15:00.001+01:002010-08-15T20:15:42.492+01:00

I’m getting older. I know, it’s shocking – and I’ve done my best to avoid facing up to it. I mean, physically I don’t look or feel that much different to how I did fifteen years ago (apart from a few grey hairs, and being more aware of the limitations of the parts of myself damaged in incidents long ago*) but I can feel myself relentlessly becoming more cautious, more fearful. I don’t like

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-54803179401940975602010-08-09T09:39:00.004+01:002010-08-09T10:03:05.298+01:00

Here's the simplest recipe I've found for my old summer favourite, broad beans (fava beans) and bacon. The Romans brought broad beans to Blighty when they invaded - thanks chaps - and this is supposed to be their standard way of cooking it. It's good hot or cold, and is one of those recipes that's really best made the day before and left to stand, to let the flavours develop. Now, here's a thing:

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-36511696319726273822010-07-14T13:03:00.001+01:002010-07-15T21:20:23.122+01:00

Aha! I was feeling guilty about not posting while I was cleaning out my old craptop - you remember, the one with the pull-start and nasty habit of backfiring in an alarming way like the car in Uncle Buck. And I found an old post that for some reason I never pressed the 'publish' button for. There was probably a reason for this - some horror story in the media about someone choking to death on a

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-31186325485383159072010-06-25T23:22:00.003+01:002010-06-25T23:35:20.362+01:00

Hmm. Making elderflower-related beverages until 10.30pm with only the prospect of strawberry jam tomorrow? It must be the start of Keats weather, so I thought I might inflict you all with a quick recipe. This being the last weekend to gather elderflowers in the south of England, here's Cheryl's recipe for elderflower cordial to go with the elderflower champagne recipe I posted a couple of years

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-29868135409723189622010-06-10T20:36:00.004+01:002010-06-10T21:57:27.838+01:00

Once more, Death stalks the Hollow Garden. Whooo.The Death of Chickens, to be precise. And he doesn't exactly need to stalk... in fact he's around here so much I've had to get him a key cut.To begin with, there was the Box'o'Cockerels™, so called because the four of them came home with me in one very small, very quiet cardboard box one day. The Allotment Doctor had been sold some birds by a local

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-51623886432256823212010-06-05T11:17:00.002+01:002010-06-05T11:26:39.112+01:00

"Give a man a fish, you feed him for the day; Teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." - Lao Tzu, c. 4th century BC"Give a man a fish, you feed him for the day; Give everyone a fish, the fish population will collapse in a decade." - Hedgewizard, just after breakfast

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-91171520775845587802010-04-17T10:59:00.003+01:002010-04-17T12:22:46.606+01:00

If you live in the UK, or anywhere in much of northern Europe for that matter, chances are you're enjoying a fine and unusually quiet morning today. The reason for this is the closure of your airspace to civilian air traffic, leaving the sky empty for the first time since KLM commenced operations in 1920. Thanks to an Icelandic volcano, we have our first glimpse of a world without air

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-84059698032247188972010-04-15T20:30:00.002+01:002010-04-15T21:05:16.770+01:00

Between now and the onset of edits, my theme is trying to get a grip on things that have slipped. As always, that includes the Hollow garden, which I spoke to a few days ago. I told it that this was its point of maximum chaos, and from here on things were going to be different.How familiar that sounds...Anyway, a quick round of weeding is in session, which takes a considerable time. Hard-edged

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-4664813705400615932010-04-02T15:37:00.002+01:002010-04-02T16:17:04.945+01:00

Aiding carbon sequestration, providing a valuable growing medium and reducing landfill all in one, compost making is the original Black Art and local councils are very keen that more of us should be doing it. But what makes the difference between two hundred litres of dark crumbly goodness and a bin full of smelly old muck? Nicky Scott breaks it down for us. I'm terrible at making compost -

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-12771474851653460982010-04-01T20:23:00.002+01:002010-04-01T20:37:30.281+01:00

... I think.So! More than a year of work comes to a close - the second book is finished. It's been retitled - it's now How to Grow Food in your Polytunnel, which is hardly going to tempt the Booker, methinks (although at least it won't attract the attention of the bods who give out the Diagram Prize). I don't mind, really - I think the title and cover of non-fiction books are really the territory

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-36424192745468675032010-01-17T14:26:00.003Z2010-01-17T14:43:27.040Z

In a quick response to an e-mail from one of the regular readers, the answer to this question is 'right here'. Since I'm actively working on the new book though, I'm hunched over the keyboard throughout the working day and when I take a break I want to get as far away from it as I possibly can... so not many posts until things move on a bit, although there'll be a book review up in a bit.So,

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-51139312996692279162010-01-02T12:24:00.004Z2010-01-02T12:55:50.396Z

Ahh.The children will shortly be trundling back to skool during the daytime, making it possible for me to do Other Things again which will be very welcome. Just so you know, I'm currently battling with the entertainingly-named bumblefoot in one of the small chickens, who got shut out of the coop one frosty night by Number One Son's minimalist approach to animal husbandry. I'm assuming it's a bit

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-38077648018164984832009-12-03T20:11:00.006Z2009-12-03T22:30:48.095Z

Firstly, apologies to anyone who has a career in sports. I'm just getting the widest of brushes out of my paintbox and I may end up accidentally painting a few unintended targets with it. It's nothing personal, you understand.I'm sitting in a rather posh bar perched on top of a local sports centre which I shan't name, in case they find me and throw me out. Number Two Son's in his weekly

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-36323257527688912092009-11-26T19:23:00.003Z2009-11-26T19:29:52.732Z

It's a bit rubbish really.We've been having a storm here in the England's West Country - home of scrumpy cider, clotted cream and people who say arrr without having to dress as pirates first - for the last fifteen days. It's not much of a storm as things go really, but the sheer duration of it is wearing people down. The Hollow garden is partially drowned and partially blown to bits and generally

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-68415353020382012282009-11-25T23:42:00.002Z2009-11-26T00:28:10.609Z

Okay, so. The fiction piece I'm putting together has crows in it. I've spoken about the crow family before, you might remember, and since then I've been doing a bit of research and things just keep getting weirder. It's all good stuff. For instance, a friend's grandfather used to split the tongue of magpies - I don't condone this but apparently it enabled them to make some additional sounds -

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-17154932403233324892009-11-17T11:56:00.005Z2009-11-17T12:38:20.369Z

Huzzah, I've managed to depress myself. Over the course of a weekend away I have read - no, devoured - The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger*. Unfortunately (for me) it blows a fiction concept I was considering out of the water because it is so similar to my storyline. There was no time travel in my version, but the emotional landscape was exactly the same. The depressing bit isn't the

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-71039021559118924752009-11-12T23:29:00.005Z2009-11-13T00:08:34.481Z

A few weeks ago I agreed to take four cockerels off The Allotment Doctor's hands. He'd been sold ten day-old chicks by a local rogue who promised faithfully that they were all hens, and who was lying through his teeth; twelve weeks later these four were bouncing around, squaring up to each other and all but shouting 'cock-a-doodle-do'. They had to go, but there was one problem; Mrs Doctor

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-30995215408692235362009-11-03T11:26:00.001Z2009-11-03T11:28:26.305Z

I first tried this product when I spent a few days helping at a friend's smallholding in Wales last year, and it kept this moderately large hairy man smelling sweet all weekend despite a fair amount of exertion. I was aware of the link between aluminium exposure and Alzheimer's, so when I got home I checked the Essential catalogue and was pleased to find it in there. Tom's of Maine stick

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-25946496323880854482009-10-28T08:37:00.004Z2009-10-28T09:18:27.281Z

I've been near Colchester for the last few days, renewing old friendships and scuffling about in the undergrowth looking for mushrooms. Essex is beautiful but a much more densely populated area than Dorset, and I'd forgotten just how much interest foraging arouses in passing members of the public. On this occasion I was briefly followed by a persistant French lady, who wanted to regale me with

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-76628506743264440942009-10-19T23:41:00.001+01:002009-10-21T10:04:25.975+01:00

I've not been keeping the 'what's cropping' sidebar up to date this year at all, and so far no-one's noticed. I think I'll quietly retire it soon, but I couldn't resist updating it one last time since the polytunnel's been such a show-off this year. Actually I have to strip quite a bit of it out tomorrow to make space for the hungry gap plants to be planted out, as the seedlings are beginning to

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-53463143260698776062009-10-19T23:17:00.003+01:002009-10-19T23:29:45.452+01:00

When it comes to productivity, working from home is a minefield. There are a hundred little things that can pop up as you sit down at the desk. The phone rings; the cat wants in/out/shake it all about; a neighbour pops by; the washing machine finishes and it's such a good drying day. When I'm researching these things are welcome distractions, but once it's time to sit down and actually write then

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-46566069076942809702009-10-18T08:47:00.001+01:002009-10-18T08:48:47.387+01:00

The current dire warnings of our continued unreadiness for reaching peak oil, how can we begin to rebuild local food networks that will allow us to reduce our dependence on the global food market? Tamzin Pinkerton and Rob Hopkins provide the Transition take on how grassroots action could save our bacon (review previously appeared in The Ecologist)When I pick up a new non-fiction book I can tell

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-9442208808318882822009-10-12T12:46:00.003+01:002009-10-12T13:11:55.376+01:00

This Sunday was the annual 'harvest supper' and trading day of our local LETS scheme, and I was pleased to get an e-mail inviting me to be one of three judges of the produce competition. The day was great fun and Witchypoo made a ton of LETS points on her craft stand, and we met some new and interesting people. We bought some very crafty-looking physalis wreaths, some herbal toothpaste and we

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-3073755518003682732009-09-28T23:01:00.003+01:002009-09-28T23:47:10.747+01:00

We accidentally grew rather a lot of hot chillis this year. Having said that, it strikes me that growing one or two hot chilli plants by mistake could quite happily be called an accident, but that fifteen of them might be more accurately called a biohazard. Gardening without due care and attention, sort of thing. It's just the last time I grew them was 2007 - the worst summer in these parts in

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-11844646190464832002009-09-22T20:09:00.005+01:002009-09-22T21:07:49.340+01:00

For behold, I have eggs!During this year Chicken For A Hat* went broody twice, causing me to fork out for fertilized eggs on which she could sit - for lo, we have no cockerel. It turns out though that this incarnation of C4aH is a crap mother, because each time she gave up a few days before the eggs were due to hatch - something that made me quite annoyed, and not just because we were counting on

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-41398698827263381492009-09-18T21:49:00.003+01:002009-09-18T22:09:52.881+01:00

So. I was debating whether to post about how satisfying it was to harvest the corn yesterday; all those tight little packets of golden goodness wrapped daintily in their silken pyjamas. Or should I tell you all about my mushroom forays up into the woods, scouring amongst the ferns for gorgeous ceps, looking for all the world like abandoned brioche buns? Or perhaps I should talk about how excited

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-37126991490973581342009-09-15T14:28:00.003+01:002009-09-15T14:32:53.535+01:00

Cauliflowers, purple sprouting, corn salad, mooli, chinese veg, coriander, chard, garlic, japanese onions, early potatoes, spinach, winter peas, winter broads, carrots, lettuce, rocket, beets, spring onions and radishes. All in the tunnel......I wonder how many of them I'll be able to fit in?

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-81211561367792006052009-09-14T10:16:00.002+01:002009-09-14T11:08:52.828+01:00

Hallo there internets, how the devil have you been?It's been an interesting summer down in Dorset, I can tell you. But listen... can you hear that? That's the sound of no Number Two Son, that's what that is. Isn't it lovely? Isn't it glorious? Excuse me, I must just sit and listen to it for a while.Aahhhh.Don't get me wrong, I loved having the Sons around - well, N2S anyway. Number One Son might

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-33354687918107482392009-08-05T20:33:00.001+01:002009-08-05T20:35:54.462+01:00

... on September 14th.Does anyone want some children? Fully chipped, they come with their own box and a year's worth of food.No-one warned me about the holidays.

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-49508166804048690512009-06-04T20:53:00.003+01:002009-06-04T21:07:02.329+01:00

No, nothing to do with the popular coconut-based chocolate bar*, but a demonstration of how one can have too much of a good thing.Early cropping has started in the Hollow Garden, with young broad beans and kohlrabi on the go and peas just around the corner. The early strawberries are yielding a frankly embarrassing 750g (just over 1½lb) per day, and the early raspberries are almost ripe despite a

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-4312887333155220062009-05-24T21:37:00.003+01:002009-05-24T21:47:31.317+01:00

So here I am on the train to Southampton, journeying to pick up the Agéd Parents (fresh from the Isle of Man) and bear them home for a week's holiday. It's a year since I've seen them, and it'll be interesting to see how long it takes us all to start bickering.Wow, but there are some blank-eyed shambling morons in Poole. Whoops, getting distracted.I'm hoping that this parental visit will be a

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-49594077359596151152009-05-18T23:32:00.004+01:002009-05-18T23:59:36.203+01:00

So; The sloppy drafting of regulations can lead to playing a game called 'unintended consequences'. But for truly idiotic results you need another ingredient.For better or for worse the UK is part of the European Union, which means we have to have a whole second raft of MPs for the European Parliament (known as MEPs), on salaries which make the boys in the domestic parliament in Westminster look

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-20877415593531845132009-05-13T11:59:00.003+01:002009-05-13T12:09:28.295+01:00

As a title, it's not bad. (Assumes gravelly movie-trailer voice) 'Prepare yourself for pain. Prepare yourself for horror. Prepare yourself for...' (crashing chords from orchestra to set your teeth on edge) 'Month of the Flea!' But when it comes down to it, it's just a shabby attempt to move people onto more expensive forms of flea control than the scabby old flea collars you can get at the

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-4287937467438353492009-05-10T08:21:00.000+01:002009-05-10T08:21:00.657+01:00

Chair, ass; ass, chair. There. Now that the introductions are complete – for it's been so long that you've seen each other I thought I ought to reintroduce you – I thought I'd have a bit of a rant about regulations. This rant will take several days, I fear, so here's Part One.We Brits are fond of regulations, it seems. Very, very fond. At least, a certain subsection of the population are. I

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-4405292822163218692009-05-08T22:51:00.002+01:002009-05-08T22:57:29.394+01:00

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-60053323141731649372009-05-07T20:48:00.004+01:002009-05-07T21:09:49.245+01:00

Baby carrots. Fresh from the garden, you've got to love them. But bought frozen they have a peculiar texture and lack of sweetness about them. Ever wondered why?On the face of it, a frozen baby carrot looks like just that. But unless you buy them fresh with a visible 'shoulder' on them, the likelihood is that they're actually carved out of a full-sized market-reject carrot using an industrial

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-21198900611078689082009-05-06T12:49:00.003+01:002009-05-06T13:12:49.387+01:00

I seem to have spent more time down the bottom of the garden setting up sheet mulch than anything else this week, but more of that anon. We also had two trainers for the Transition Network to stay for the weekend, and it was something of a relief to find that they weren't Greener Than Thous - they watched a DVD and ate meat and took a drive to the seaside just like anyone else. In fact, in good

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-57132586074649852342009-05-01T22:18:00.002+01:002009-05-01T23:20:50.653+01:00

As if it wasn't tough enough already, what with the public's attitude towards cheap cuts, feedstock prices, red tape, and the supermarkets perpetually using you for bum floss, now there's 'swine flu'. The name comes from the fact that the strain has some similar markers to one known to be present in pigs, but there's nothing porcine about it now. Until the media get involved, of course."H1N1"

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-81242787043078585912009-04-24T21:53:00.002+01:002009-04-24T21:58:35.657+01:00

I spoke recently of the wonderful word 'prannet', and yesterday I gave Witchypoo cause to use it.I woke up with a frontal headache which didn't respond to a pint of water, or to rosemary oil, or to ibuprofen and a spell in the veg patch. I felt oddly out of it, and when the vision began to flicker in my right eye I started to worry it might be a migraine coming on (which shows what I know; when

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-26929211474706676212009-04-22T10:29:00.002+01:002009-04-22T10:34:40.098+01:00

Sheet mulching 8m x 8m area of old weedy twaddle for (late) early potatoes. Sowing carrots and leeks. Tunnel sowing carrots, coriander, rocket, cos lettuce, romaine lettuce, kohl rabi, heritage carrots for seed saving, radish, spring onion, melon, watermelon, celery, oh and all sorts. Potting up peppers and tomatoes. Ordering eco-balls. PC behaving v oddly. Virus possible. Just found out disabled

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-79522473335433087682009-04-15T15:49:00.003+01:002009-04-15T16:34:52.927+01:00

Since I was on the subject of gloves and why I hate 'em, I might as well have my rant. I've banged on about entry-level products at various points of the years; these are the cheaper end of any product line and, sadly, seldom worth even the pittance that the makers ask for them."There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper", as John

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-89287261493882571972009-04-14T10:25:00.003+01:002009-04-14T10:43:11.857+01:00

Supermarket chain Sainsbury is renaming a local fish, the pollack, in an effort to boost sales. You see we Brits are extremely fond of a bit of cod, which up until recent years was cheap and plentiful from the North Sea. Now, however, some serial stupidity concerning fishing methods and quotas, courtesy of the EU, has seen cod stocks plummetting to the point where they may never recover. We need

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-21864376528701977972009-04-14T09:55:00.004+01:002009-04-14T10:58:24.597+01:00

I'm not quite boring enough, apparently, so Green Books have asked Mark and myself to push on with Polytunnel Handbook II - The Musical. Without talking too much about it - and I'm told this is punishable by death - we need a few victims volunteers in specific areas of the UK for data for the new work, and for taking part in a small experiment which is kicking off in about ten days. Contributors

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-30154674642231375732009-04-10T14:22:00.004+01:002009-04-10T14:38:25.732+01:00

I have my summer hands on now. Anyone who doesn't garden in gloves* will know what I mean. A week's worth of spring weeding has left my skin tough and covered in tiny scratches, and a late-night jamming session yesterday** allowed the assorted juices to etch my hands in an entertaining manner, so that I look like a homage to Ray Bradbury's Tattooed Man. These hands don't come clean with anything

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-61025888492868365892009-04-07T22:06:00.002+01:002009-04-07T22:14:58.585+01:00

Excellent, another world's oldest person. I love these. This time it's the turn of one Gertrude Baines in LA, California. One hundred and fifteen years old, and according to her doctor said "...that she owes her longevity to the Lord, that she never did drink, she never did smoke and she never did fool around."Well. That was a hundred and fifteen long years.

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-29687785514368949702009-03-31T10:37:00.004+01:002009-03-31T11:35:49.429+01:00

More often, but not for so long at a time. That's the key to this blogging lark.* Slap me on the wrists, I'd be useless at Twitter. And in any case, who wants to know 'Oh good, the Everbearing Strawberries have arrived - now I need to plant them'?As I mentioned some time ago in the Growing Audit, setting out to be self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables has had an unexpectedly potent influence on

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-78354639488912502842009-03-29T19:51:00.003+01:002009-03-29T22:48:00.209+01:00

I've been quiet for a few days, I know, which has prompted a concerned comment or two in case I had managed to poison the whole clan with roadkill venison; not the case, let me assure you. No, what's been keeping me quiet is one simple thing. You call it spring. I have a few other names for it, largely due to the sudden increase in garden work that it requires.One year soon I'm going to be on top

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-31681665775049687592009-03-18T20:05:00.005Z2009-03-18T20:34:39.823Z

"Allow about three hours," George said, explaining why he wouldn't be coming, "and use a five-gallon bucket to catch the guts."That was the sum total of the good advice I'd been given when I went to work on my roadkill deer. Sadly, I'd also been given a couple of pieces of bad advice (not from George), including 'don't bleed it', 'don't gut it yet' and 'cross the hind legs to hang it, like a

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-77005353001437037652009-03-18T10:12:00.002Z2009-03-18T10:37:29.966Z

Hmm. A little while ago I ventured that I was intending to experiment with the eating of roadkill. This turns the stomach of most people, but I'm pretty sure that it's all down to our very visceral experiences encountering dead animals that have been there for a while, and got a bit lively. A fresh kill, on the other hand, where there's a very obvious cause of death and a known time window (in

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-58886546370513948862009-03-11T12:45:00.003Z2009-03-11T12:57:02.778Z

Thanks for the eggbox blurb efforts on the previous posts, chaps. Keep them coming!No time to stop today - again - as I've missed the deadline for an article and really should know better. As a peace offering, have a clip from an e-mail I can't quite believe I just sent..."...as a member of the public, if I was given the choice of attending the (insert worthy cause here) AGM or watching a duck

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-47287273876580106942009-03-07T09:38:00.004Z2009-03-07T10:22:04.725Z

(clears throat)Blingle Farm Large barn eggs Blingle Farm hens live in spacious barns where they are free to roam, perch and dust bathe as part of their natural behaviour. They are fed a cereal based diet enriched with corn and wheat.That's the blurb off the top of an egg box which a neighbour gave me to put his eggs in, and that's exactly how it reads except that I've changed the farm name.

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-81521062889216798542009-03-04T10:26:00.002Z2009-03-04T11:06:26.376Z

I still have nothing even remotely resembling a routine, unless you can call being horrified each morning by the time it takes me to answer e-mails. Yesterday was eaten by a succession of minor but important tasks, such as getting the drains unblocked, drinking a vital pint at an excellent local pub in support of the food co-operative, reorganising my sock drawer and taking lots of photographs in

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-89472928973544389642009-02-16T14:03:00.004Z2009-02-16T14:29:57.728Z

Here's a dilemma. We were given a second-hand Tassimo 'hot beverage system' by some well-meaning but misguided relatives. If you're not a member of the Tassimoscenti, the idea of this beast is that you keep a selection of Tassimo capsules to hand. When you stick a capsule in the machine it reads the barcode to determine what to do with it and then Fssssh skblorp blup blup blup it processes the

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-47771052653196238292009-02-12T01:16:00.003Z2009-02-12T01:28:37.857Z

Well, thank god for that. I've been nosing a plot concept for a fiction project around for a while now, like a small child negotiating having to eat a brussel sprout. It's technically tricky, but if it works it'll be a real treat to write. And then along comes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I think Fuck! Is that my novel?Thankfully, no it's not. I've read the plot synopsis and it has

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-6198079618446596462009-02-09T09:42:00.004Z2009-02-09T10:38:31.083Z

So. Spring is just around the corner (all evidence to the contrary) and I've just taken delivery of a truckload of compost which is currently hiding under a tarpaulin on the driveway, awaiting my pleasure. Compost isn't cheap to buy in, largely because of haulage charges, but I've got no choice this year; I have an area of about 20' (7m) square to bring into cultivation in a hurry and various

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-12299563959046604532009-02-02T20:17:00.004Z2009-02-02T20:34:41.709Z

I've been role-playing this weekend. Nothing sordid, you understand, more the sort of beardy-weirdy stuff and nonsense that looks utterly mad to outsiders, but nevertheless keeps five hundred grown adults busy for five days. Straight.The formula is this: arrive and sign up for games, in groups of around six; get a swift pint of beer in; play for three stretches a day, separated by an hour for

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-9648701531058582172009-01-22T23:53:00.003Z2009-01-23T00:16:30.771Z

As from this year, I'm going to have an accountant. Up until now I've done my own tax returns, largely because on the one and only year I paid an accountancy firm which 'specialized' in pharmacists to do my books, they cost me a small fortune to hire - and nearly cost me several hundred pounds in unnecessary taxes through a couple of elementary data entry errors that took me twenty seconds to

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-14545096430318448092009-01-21T21:00:00.004Z2009-01-21T21:09:25.823Z

I found myself trying to explain what I'm on about to a local gent this evening, and thought I might share it with you all too in lieu of witty banter. I'm off now for a glass of Hedgewizard's Old Peculiar (or should that be Old and Peculiar?) and a warm in front of the wood burner. Slainte."I'm not selling the Sustainable Communities Act as such - it may become a useful tool in time, and I'm

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-6742562774757047222009-01-19T21:07:00.002Z2009-01-19T21:16:54.817Z

Dealing with rodents in the home is part and parcel of life. Way back when Ceres first popped a handful of grains into her satchel, there was a mouse watching her from the shadows and thinking 'A-ha.'* Ever since then, mice and rats have kept us company everywhere we've gone (except perhaps to Marks and Spencers, where they don't encourage that sort ofthing).You might think that having a cat

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-72178472853101292952009-01-17T21:21:00.004Z2009-01-18T11:36:35.344Z

Okay, so. It's odd, but since I've had more time to write I actually seem to be doing less of it than previously - instead I find myself trying to undo the evils wrought by five years of not having time to finish anything, ever. I'm answering e-mails, filing paperwork, posting seeds to people, and generally Catching Up. This can by definition only be a temporary state of affairs, unless I move

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-48321288977853035782009-01-07T23:43:00.003Z2009-01-08T00:14:45.797Z

Ah. This will be New Year, then - my first few official Writery Working Days disappearing in a welter of emergencies, backlogged jobs which now decide that they are urgent, and being unable to find things for Lo, they are On The Desk. I did manage a couple of articles to support the book, but none of the jobs that I am bursting to get on with. No matter.Earthenwitch has started the New Year in

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-2787171759323788082008-12-30T22:42:00.000Z2008-12-30T22:45:59.287Z

This is partly because Hedgewizard has a splendid new camera* which he cannot - cannot, I say - get to release its bounty to the internet, but also partly because Hedgewizard has officially Done His Back In Lifting Inadvisedly Heavy Objects. Normal service will be resumed as soon as he can press *this* button without......ow! Crap!*All right, a splendid pre-owned camera****All right, a splendid

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-27774644610885989362008-12-21T18:08:00.002Z2008-12-21T19:55:33.565Z

Deck the halls with bats and besomsFa la la la la, la la la la We're the witches for all seasonsFa la la la la, la la la la Don we now our black apparelFa la la la la, la la la laFetch the ale and crack the barrelFa la la la la, la la la laHave a cool Yule, everyone!

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-68217028975358831952008-12-17T23:38:00.003Z2008-12-17T23:53:20.174Z

Ah, dammit - the last cucumber has gone mouldy. Harvested from the polytunnel in mid-November, I was really hoping I could get the last one to hang on until Christmas day because it would have made a lovely claim in an article - but never mind. I could have got it to last a little longer if I'd wrapped it, but frankly refrigerated storage feels like enough of a cheat to me. 'Early December' it

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-90016516931182274012008-12-14T11:21:00.001Z2008-12-14T11:25:19.392Z

It was a big night on Thursday, for me at least. Regular readers might remember that I first tried to start a food co-operative about a year and a half ago. The concept of going straight to a wholesaler to buy (mainly) dry goods really appealed to me, since five minutes' research convinced me that I could convert more of the family shop to organic produce and save a little money in one swell foop

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-24069683096728932492008-12-08T22:48:00.003Z2008-12-08T23:45:35.925Z

At last, the Youtube video for The Polytunnel Handbook, featuring yours truly and some mad beardy bloke who wandered into the garden, is up. The book's available to pre-order too (there's a link in the sidebar) - but now that's out of the way, what the hell am I going to do until 1.30 every morning? And why does the Receding Hairline Fairy insist on sneaking into my bedroom every night with a big

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-73132411633045074012008-12-04T23:16:00.003Z2008-12-04T23:28:33.612Z

Ah, Christmas shopping; a fine institution, guaranteed to blow even the cheeriest of individuals out of the doldrums of early winter, and into the choppy straits of full-blown Seasonal Affective Disorder.The trouble with Christmas shopping is that I don't do it - at least not in the sense that most 21st century people understand the concept. During the year I don't 'go shopping' and buy whatever

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-60910101868175935892008-11-29T16:46:00.004Z2008-11-29T17:53:30.516Z

As the sage once said, “Nobody can be un-cheered with a balloon.” I feel more or less the same about peppers. In the supermarket they're not much to look at really, since they're so uniform they look (and taste) characterless and cloned, as if someone has been using Photoshop and got a bit carried away with the 'capsicum stamp' tool. Even more depressing are 'traffic light' (or 'stoplight') packs

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-30638457304966658142008-11-21T20:30:00.004Z2008-11-21T21:04:52.964Z

Writers often complain about the loneliness of the writing desk, and I can quite see why; anyone who spends as much time as I do alone in a darkened office has to really like their own company. Thankfully, I do. I find myself witty, urbane and modest too, not to mention a delightful dancer. This doesn't necessarily mean that I don't need to get out from time to time though, which is why I have a

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-80714542814932380852008-11-16T10:02:00.004Z2008-11-16T11:24:22.298Z

Well, it's happened again - later than it should have done because I've been poorly, but it had to come; the garden has been put into winter mode. The second half of the summer planting has been stripped out of the tunnel* and the bare soil mulched; the stewing carrots (donkey carrots, Witchypoo calls them) have been lifted and stored in straw, and the parsnips will follow them shortly; and the

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-27578149125888623352008-11-08T16:47:00.002Z2008-11-08T18:03:27.540Z

A few things you didn't know abou the dreaded 'man flu'.This silent killer is caused by a nasty but so far unidentified virus which first appeared in the 1970s and has been growing in virulence ever since. It specifically targets the Y chromosome, so only men can catch it. This nasty bug typically disguises itself by spreading within populations already affected by outbreaks of the common cold,

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-16357816363012498082008-10-30T21:04:00.003Z2008-10-30T21:17:22.110Z

I've been holding my breath for a couple of months now, but it's finally happened; this week is the last in which I will be primarily working as a pharmacist (druggist). Barring an unfortunate few weeks in December which were booked several centuries ago, from now on I can truthfully put 'writer' into the occupation box on survey forms since that, primarily, is what I'll be doing.I've spoken

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-20002108621211861052008-10-23T22:02:00.002+01:002008-10-23T22:05:57.636+01:00

Once upon a time in some woods, there was a little mushroom. (Actually he wasn't a little mushroom at all but just the overground part of a vast and incredibly long-lived organism weighing more than an elephant, but that's not important right now.) For most of the year he was on holiday (...never mind) but if the summer was nice and the autumn was wet, up he would pop and all his friends would be

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-65825200852071684712008-10-17T00:06:00.003+01:002008-10-17T00:59:42.297+01:00

Ahh, chickens. If I've been relatively quiet lately it's because this blog depends on two factors in my life; the Hollow Garden, and my rather odd sense of humour. The sad truth is that for the last few weeks I've been working so hard I've seen very little of either of them. Until, of course, I try to change anything to do with the chickens.Problem; the 'chicks'* are now sexually mature, and have

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-8802319145475988232008-10-10T21:31:00.005+01:002008-10-12T23:44:44.467+01:00

What's this, what's this? Twenty minutes to spare; twenty glorious, golden minutes where no-one is asking me to do anything, check anything, talk to anyone, read anything, or do the monkey dance again. For the last week, the only such moments have been the ones I've spent hiding in the toilet.I should explain.Regular readers may remember that Witchypoo has recently returned to full-time work at

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-70232751574624493862008-10-06T23:23:00.008+01:002008-10-06T23:57:54.861+01:00

I should like to thank our prospective Conservative candidate, the splendidly-named Richard Drax, for his recent intervention in our relentless slide towards 'fuel poverty' (which, after all, is where we're all going to end up in a few years). This kind man has supplied us with paper, with which I can light the woodburner, for the last three days running. Admittedly he has stuck a picture of

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-28531281345348108712008-10-02T21:16:00.007+01:002008-10-02T21:46:22.773+01:00

Oh, my aching wallet! The price of organic chicken feed has gone up - again. Since I changed away from Scats chicken feed last year (they now only call their feed 'GM free' rather than organic), there has been a big increase every time I buy a bag of it. The matter is - well, hardly chickenfeed!The title of this yarn, by the way, is not intended to trivialize the suffering of people in countries

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-42933472123848013312008-09-28T08:49:00.002+01:002008-09-28T09:16:09.025+01:00

There really ought to be a trophy for being the World's Oldest Person - a set of golden false teeth, perhaps - but for obvious reasons it tends to be a post that nobody holds for very long. I love reading stories about these folks, however, because they always have theories about why they've managed to live so long.'No alcohol,' said Tomoji Tanabe, the latest incumbent, in southern Japan on his

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-84247747118702856062008-09-24T21:36:00.003+01:002008-09-24T21:45:57.589+01:00

I may not have got most of the infrastructure work I'd hoped to done in the garden this year, owing to crappy weather and too much work, but at least I haven't fallen behind on my planting. On Sunday I finally managed to get the winter planting done for the polytunnel (high tunnel), which will be crucial for the cold weather and for next year's hungry gap (that's the name given to the period

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-66678594956692022882008-09-19T18:34:00.003+01:002008-09-19T18:41:46.936+01:00

I wish I knew why, but making a train journey on my own always panics me. Perhaps it's the smell of train stations - a dry, sour smell that speaks of despair and separation; or perhaps it's the slight whiff of timetabling panic that's always in the air as passengers arrive and check their watches. Then again, perhaps it's just the fact that even at the best of times I'm only peripherally aware of

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-3243113869708377812008-09-16T21:49:00.004+01:002008-09-16T22:26:14.664+01:00

There's been a nasty outbreak of Pirate's Disease at the Hollow. The symptoms aren't always easy to spot, but this morning Number One Son went off to school with a sore throat, a runny nose, and a stuffed parrot on one shoulder. The first two are just down to a cold but the last one is a dead giveaway, and a quick search of his schoolbag turned up a contraband eyepatch. Pirate's Disease for sure.

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-78119670562263497112008-09-10T10:19:00.003+01:002008-09-10T10:30:49.337+01:00

As I manoeuvred my punt down the garden this morning, and moored it at the top of the waterfall beyond which lies the polytunnel, I reflected sadly on the weather this year. I gave it my best shot at optimism this year, I really did. The spring was dull, blustery and cool, but while all the doomsayers were preaching a rerun of 2007 I just shook my head and said that it was too early to tell. It

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-65235299891697253552008-09-07T13:08:00.002+01:002008-09-07T13:26:48.798+01:00

It's official; the countryside is no longer emptying into the cities. For the first time in generations there are more people moving into the countryside from the cities than are going the other way, according to the Government's own report State of the Countryside 2007. This, as you'll notice, predates the real weight of the credit crunch and the coming recession; this probably has more to do

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-62758106847370386582008-09-05T13:17:00.002+01:002008-09-05T13:17:00.601+01:00

Step 1: Grow embarrassing quantities of cucumbers and tomatoes. Keep bringing more of them from garden to kitchen until family beg you to stop.Step 2: Resolve to make relish and chutney. Spend at least two hours peeling, chopping etc until trance state is achieved.Step 3: Consume large amount of filter coffee to negate trance state.Step 4: Have brief conversation with personal assistant of

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-82327084048909083352008-09-04T13:36:00.000+01:002008-09-04T13:38:34.828+01:00

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/vdunet/20080904/ttc-canadian-woman-in-tech-support-hosta-6315470.html

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-45464855825148872282008-09-03T09:48:00.001+01:002008-09-03T09:48:00.667+01:00

Whenever the internet is withdrawn it's fairly serious for me, being as it's the medium of choice for communicating with my publishers, colleagues, Transition group, insurers, banks and, cursed be their name, the supermarket. My connection has been up and down more often than a tart's knickers lately, so when it went down again yesterday I gave them eight hours to sort themselves out and picked

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-3575598731465070972008-09-02T10:25:00.004+01:002008-09-02T10:48:29.234+01:00

It's the feeling of impending doom. You know the one. Everybody gets it when a really big storm is coming. I get it when a migraine is threatening, but yesterday I got it because I was tackling the Wall of Thorns in a high wind.The Wall of Thorns is the Strangler Vine that I (no doubt foolishly) cultivate in the fruit cage. Spurred on by the difficulties of the annual blackberry forage, this is a

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-38656316414846859572008-08-30T10:38:00.002+01:002008-08-30T10:46:38.620+01:00

My big buzz this week is that Witchypoo has managed to secure a job working with the Youth Service. I'm very proud of her, because this is a bit of a career change for her - quite fitting really, since it means I can knock locum work on the head and concentrate more on writing*. It'll be nice not to have to squeeze my scribblings into the arse end of the day - oh, and of course I'll have more

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-50414183613354838102008-08-25T13:48:00.003+01:002008-08-25T13:53:32.718+01:00

For the amateur archaeologists among you, here's a link to Digiveg's description of finding the coin hoard. For any professionals out there - back off, man, back off! If we find anything else out there you'll get your chance...

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-64715099797410938592008-08-24T10:13:00.003+01:002008-08-24T10:57:29.010+01:00

We all have friends who, no matter how valued, are bafflingly and infuriatingly blind when it comes to the environment. How to open their eyes can be a tricky subject, for we live in a society with no etiquette for environmental behaviour. Passing comment on a friend’s huge butane-guzzling patio heater might be regrettably unavoidable, but harping on about carbon emissions every five minutes soon

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-84327042705213035622008-08-22T18:31:00.003+01:002008-08-22T18:41:43.121+01:00

I can tell it's autumn because the sloes are ripening in the hedgerows. I can tell it's autumn because the mushrooms have already started in the woods. But mostly, I can tell it's autumn because the woman in the flat over the shop has started to use her tumble drier, which is located on a joist right above me as I write this. When it runs, and it runs all the time because she has a young family,

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21387750.post-17690347758743779792008-08-16T23:04:00.003+01:002008-08-16T23:47:57.329+01:00

(or Holidays, And The Cost Thereof)We've been back from holiday for a week now, and I think we're just about on top of things again. We were in the Isle of Man visiting my sister and parents - thanks for the hospitality, folks - and left the place in the care of our lovely neighbours, the Smileys. Witchypoo left them a list of instructions - fairly detailed instructions, it has to be said - and

Hedgewizardnoreply@blogger.com5