The Idler

Country Diary 90

11 January 2010

WE HAVE NOW been snowed in for a week. A few days ago, we all walked down to the local pub, about a mile and half away down a steep hill, with our neighbour Peter. We treated ourselves to a fine lunch and I had a brandy. With luck we bumped into Cliff at the pub, and he kindly gave us a lift back in his Land Rover, a great relief as we were dreading the cold walk home. Our other sojourn to the outside world was to the B&B at nearby Woody Bay Statin, to collect our fruit and vegetable delivery. Our plan was to make the three miles round trip into a family day out, but we quickly realised that two or three hours of walking in the snow with small children with a temperatrure of minus three would not be much fun, so in the end I dragged Henry’s excellent plastic sledge there on my own. The idea was to drag the three boxes back on the sledge, but by great good fortune the landlord of our local pub drove past me and I cadged a lift back home. Now, I won’t be the first to say it, but it does bear repeating: the snow brings out our innate neighbourliness. In fact, it is a great boon to idlers in many ways. Firstly, there is the suspension of work. Secondly, being stuck at home means that you do not have to drive anywhere and therefore you save a lot of money. You can indulge in sitting around doing nothing and experience no guilt whatsoever. Thirdly, everything is slowed down. Fourthly, it makes everything look beautiful, thus feeding the soul with riches. Truly, snow is romantic, medieval, magical.

NOW HERE IS a report on our various husbandry activities. In the vegetable patch, we have been eating the kale and cabbages that I planted in late summer. These were from plants we bought in the nursery and at the market. The cabbages were definitely superior to the ones form Riverford. A delicious meal was a baked potatao with fried cabbage and a bit of good olive oil.I only wish I had planted more, as we have eaten nearly all of the kale already, and it will take a while to grow back. The purple sprouting plkants are still alive. Last night Victoria and I sat by the fire and ordered a load of seeds from the Real Seed Company. We are going to concentrate on beans, peas, courgettes, carrots, beetroot, parsnips, lettuce, rocket, parsley, basil and coriander. We are not going to bother with tomatoes, onions or chard, and I am considering not bothering with potatoes, although one bed of first earlies is a real treat. Certainly there will be no runner beans this year for the simple reason that no one likes them.

MY HARD WORK over the summer as far as the wood supply goes has been a great success, and we have a good supply of dry wood which has kept us toasty warm. I probably have though only two months’ worth of wood left, so I need to order new loads now. The problem is in getting dry wood: all too often, the log merchant will deliver wood that is not properly seasoned, particularly around now when demand shoots up because everyone is running out, having under-estimated how much wood they would need. I have moved all our logs into the wood barn, and now we move them from there into the porch, then pile them up next to the fire for a last drying out before they are burned.

THE CHICKENS ARE giving us one or two eggs a day, which is useful. We are still undecided as to the gender of the fine white chicken that was born here in the summer. It seems to be developing a hint of a cockerel look, but has not yet crowed. They hate the snow: they sit inside their barn all day and will only run across the snow if they are very hungry and we throw food out into the yard. The ferrets seem unconcerned by the snow. Their water has frozen a few times, but apart from that, they have continued as normal. I have seen a rat hanging about, and one night he chewed right through the plastic bin in which I had stored the chicken feed. Now I have moved it indoors. I hung around in the yard with the air rifle in an effort to shoot him, and did manage a pot shot but compltely missed. It was the same with the pheasants: a little group sometimes walk past the house, but when I shoot at them, they just waddle off. I think I am too far away. But it has been fun, wandering around in the snow with gun, fancying myself some sort of hunter. The pony is eating a lot of hay and living in her stable. I suggested to Victoria that we use her to get around in the snow. Perhaps the pony could pull a sleigh. But I was told that horses slip over in the ice as well. This means that I still scratching my head trying to think of a purpose for this animal. The chickens provide eggs and meat. The ferrets—in theory—can be used to hunt rabbits. The bees will one day provide honey. The cats deter and catch mice. The dog can be used on shoots and we could even get paid as beaters. But the pony? It is never ridden and so is not much use, although I concede that it is quite a pretty ornament.

ENDS