Blow the wind Southerly, Easterly, Northerly and Westerly!

The UK has been blasted by South Westerly gale force winds, except for Grandpa Southwellski's Garden that is.

A bit of ventilation!

Here, upon reaching the garden some of the gusts took a sharp right turn (South East) after the bungalow,  took down our poly tunnel and  then rejoined their South Westerly buddies and went on towards Feltwell.

It was a bit of a blow (excuse the pun) because everything was looking lovely in there yesterday and was the source of much pride for Coco and I.

But hey ho, it will be again once we have fixed it, and if the wind drops overnight that will be our job for tomorrow.

Trevor and the boys!

Our tomatoes are at last starting to turn and I sampled the first ripe one today in a sandwich with our own cucumber and home-made bread, it was delicious and needed nothing else!

Remember Trevor and the boys? Well here they are in out of the wind and safe and well, for now anyway haha haha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

We are still busy preparing and preserving our produce and the next batch of fruit for preserving arrived in the kitchen earlier in the shape of a huge basketful of pears.

It always amazes me how much fruit you end up with once it's actually off the tree.  There never seems to be that much when its growing.

Moon rising over Hawthorns

We also made our fist batch of Hawthorn Syrup which is good for circulation, heart problems, hardened arteries and anxiety and restlessness.  So if I suddenly fall asleep on the keyboar.........
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...d you will know why.

This will go alongside our Rosehip Syrup which has already proven its worth with a cold circulating at the moment, it certainly makes a difference.

A peck of purple peppers

In the poly tunnel we have (had?) a good crop of peppers and chilli's coming on and one plant has peppers that are a beautiful purple colour.

I've not seen these before so whether they will turn red at some point I am not sure.

Now as for the melons, well I am not sure if its was a cruel joke on the part of Focus or if it was the mix up in labelling when I was being ably assisted by my small partner in grime but the melons we planted are now sporting some really healthy looking Cucumbers!  Not a melon in sight!

Never mind, peeled, chopped and put in a bowl with some grapes, cherries and a splash of cream and no one will know!

One of the chicks

The chicks are doing exceptionally well and we have 6 of Brutus's offspring along with 3 Buff Orpington's which are about 5 days younger that the first brood.

Blossom is beside herself and is waiting for the chance to get in the cage with them.

We moved the chicks into the utility room and when I put the dogs to bed Blossom sat there staring into the cage, she was still there the next morning in the very same spot!

She was exhausted all day and didn't even bark at passing dog walkers.

Well that's it for tonight, hopefully tomorrow will see the poly tunnel rebuilt, plants retied and everything back to being good in the garden.  Now for some more Hawthorn syrup!