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As one of my jobs I manage about five acres of mixed wood/scrubland and I'm gradually turning it into a super-low effort smallholding, and as my posts elsewhere about it went well I thought I would throw together a thread to show people what I get up to, and eventually sort a blog so I can keep track of progress better.     The land itself isn't mine, but owned by my wife's family- it was bought by my father in law around 20-25 years ago in a group buy of a much larger plot (~100 acres) that several decades before that was a farm, but after digging a pond and basic trenchwork/ fencing he abandoned it to act as a nature reserve. Not much was done with it bar occasional camping and shooting/archery for a long time, till around 4 or 5 years ago I started up cutting some pathways and it all kind of rolled on slowly from there.  The land had an apple and pear tree already, but in the harder to access northern field (almost all pics are southern field side- I should do a map) so I added my own fruit trees- two apple, two pear, two cherry, two plum so far, with more planned. There's a small walnut and a few chestnut trees too. Fruit bushes I planted are up over a dozen now- red and green gooseberry, black, white, yellow and red currants, again, with more planned- I have other bushes waiting to go in including blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. The blackberries on the brambles are incredible tasting but seedy, so very good for jam.       Working over there often requires a lot of work just to set myself up for a day's work- I don't have direct car access to the land, but I can drive down farmtrack and I have parking on neighboring land. This means everything I do still has to be carried in by hand or barrow through woodland. But mid- 2015 a friend needed rid of a caravan and with a lot of swearing and path cutting and then LOTS of swearing and drinking and ropes and hoists and planks and such for a one time pathway:   Best office ever. Was an absolute gamechanger for working down here, I can store low value tools, and if it rains or whatever I have an awesome place to chill and sort myself hot food or drinks.  The shitter is still outdoors though, but offers excellent views. What does some work look like?   These are images from this year, but show the level of some of the growth- Once, all you see was like this. Bramble often comes up higher than my head, and various species of invasive plants and trees will take over any un-tended areas scarily fast- it's gotta be dealt with continually just to preserve the areas I have made. However:  This takes care of grass and weeds really well on the strimmer head, but with a quick switch around   This is now a death machine. It sings misery and pain. And Gwen Stefani.  Before   After. Before I had this beautiful machine, all was misery and suffering. This patch has been cut to allow me to put in another 2 or 4 fruitbushes, then 2 olive trees will be going in where they will have some wind shelter from the north. Tomorrow should be me putting some fencing cages around a bunch of my fruit bushes, maybe putting another 2 bushes in the ground and doing any few of the thousand small jobs. Oh, and maybe continue the hunt for Eunice, international cow of mystery. Yeah. There's a cow on the loose. I guess the format is that I work and I take pictures and I post them and the work I did. I hope you will join me! If you have any questions please do ask away- for now, have some wildlife!        
DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:40 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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May 14, 2018 17:55
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Firos posted:I meant to ask this in the other thread, but what gun is that? It's a BSA Lightning II in .22, had it about 10 years, it's nicely accurate and enough to hunt mostly everything I could need to. I put a scope shroud on and a sling and it gets carried on most visits- best way to keep a gradual toll on squirrel.  Rotten Cookies posted:How many hours of work went into clearing that patch? Also do you mind me asking what general area/region this property is in? I'm in the south east of the UK I timed that patch from first cut at a little over 35 minutes- its reasonably flat ground and that blade will munch reasonably robust saplings once spun up, but that was going about as fast as I felt safe, and I was already set up and ready to rock. Bramble isnt bad with the right kit and strategy- it's invasive but predictable. Periwinkle, a pretty, mildly invasive flower bush thats no problem to cut? Well the sap it spatters you with turns to a skin dissolving chemical weapon on UV exposure. Its gotten me twice this year and I'm forming a chemical weapons company for revenge. Field Trip!  Wave Hicks goodbye  Load up the car during a 7 stop shop and chore bonanza   Wave hello at the other cat who still won't fuss but stalks me till the treats are put down and she will check in on me a few times today. Good catte.  First up was hauling all this drat stuff in and then second was having a refreshment break. The rock will be going towards the reptile habitats, the lizard luxor and *insert witty name*.   Then I did my rounds and spent awhile dealing with some previously pollarded trees- I can use a knife to whip off fresh growth and stop it bushing up too much now and save work later.   Next up was putting some protection around 6 of my fruit bushes- 2 layers weed proof matting on the ground and wire fencing. Not too heavy duty but should be enough to prevent total wipeout while they get established, and let me train them better. The currants can also be affected by too much sun, and this will let me add shielding easily if needed.     Then I did the grape vine with the same process, but made the netting taller. By then it was getting late, so I packed up my wire cutters and such and grabbed some digging implements. In sad news, during some very vigorous activity, my hoe just flew off the handle and needs repair, retirement and replacement with a sturdier than bought from lidl hoe.       Just two more today, the back pair of the 4. Probably both redcurrant but one may be white or black- lost track. No time for fancy fencing or weed proof sheets today, but soon.         Didn't have much time to chase pretty pictures but these kinda found me    Then it was even later and I needed to tidy up and sort things and pack up so things are shipshape for next time. By this point I was tired as all hell and making everything neat was a total chore but it pays off every goddamn time.   I did a terribly out of scale and proportion map for your amusement and I even used colouring pencils too. Next trip is scheduled for thursday/friday, potentially both so I can have all the bushes done and get to work with some tree chopping or ditch clearance and continue prep for my lizard habitats. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:43 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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May 15, 2018 23:32
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Buzzards and Blue Spider Orbs The broken paving slabs have small chunks of neutron star embedded in them, its the only way they can be that loving heavy The lizards and snakes will love em though, so I'm gonna lug out rock each time till there's enough around.   These two bushes really needed to come out of the pots, blueberry and raspberry.     So in they went, with all the standard fittings of a MkII Fruit Bush Emplacement   Some lavender I put in a few weeks ago had the soil weathered down a bit so I used stone and compost to bring it up again. Going to use some broken up stone on it eventually.  Got a picture of one of the birds of prey circling overhead, it's a buzzard. Sounds like a very loud kitten mew/cry.  Working on an ID for the spider, the beautiful blue egg sac it was carrying was what I initially saw.   Not expecting much more than a few handfuls of fruit from the new bushes this year, may freeze them for jam.  Unfortunately after the lavender I got a call and the prospect of paid work had to take over, but I'm back tomorrow possibly doing another few bushes but I'm a bit bored with that and there are about a dozen trees I want attacked. Planning to take the cats a little tunafishy too 
DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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May 17, 2018 23:04
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Had to do other work again so I didn't make it there today but got the time at home to tie up a few behind the scenes elements  The three strawberry plants are from runners from last years plant, and two will form part of the strawberry patch, the other will make a new mother plant. The others are 2 fig saplings and a blackberry variety with no thorns and few seeds. All were long overdue a repot.    I have a few old bits like shovel heads I would like to try restoring, and I'm trying my hand at carving some short handles for them to make them a bit handier for use while hole clearing on my knees e.t.c  Keeping tools nicely sharp and lubed makes me feel good inside  I sinned with this. It was my spare knife and I haven't used it in a year or so- apparently it got wet at some point and rusted the gently caress up, then I overdid the rust treatment and pitted it up more. It's a decade or so old, so it picked up some sentimental value too.  Pennance is found in the whetstone and some soreness   I did my other knives too and bits like this saw, where the mechanism was getting gunked up with sawdust. Having planned days interrupted like this sucks, but the work done instead means chainsaw fund is now looking rosy, and a modest sized but beefy saw from stihl or husqvarna should be on the horizon. Basement of the lizard luxor should be going in tomorrow, probably utilising child labour and cold beer. Better than watching 5 hours of royal bloody wedding footage anyway! DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:48 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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May 18, 2018 20:24
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VERTiG0 posted:I love this thread. Thank you. xcheopis posted:Great stuff! Thanks! Kids wanted to go tomorrow so today I just put in a half day myself and left the lizard hotellin' for the kids to help with. The Continuing Case of Eunice, the Mysterious Missing Cow   Checked out my plants at home and left a ferocious guardian  GODDAMN ROAD  I give her snack. She no attack. One day we fuss, till then gain more trust.   I went for some of the larger scraps of slab today and the weight was stupid but the thermal properties should be excellent.  By then it was lunchtime   Then time to pack a combat handbag (and then go back to the caravan twice because I forgot poo poo)    4 currant bushes brought up to MkII standards, timed well/badly because it was the height of the sun and I spent a lot of time chugging water and basking in the sun. The main entertainment was watching buzzards and crows have aerial battles, seems they really hate the poo poo out of each other. Got some lovely phonecam video that I might try and pull some gifs from, need to take a real camera.         Then I took the air rifle around and dropped two squirrel while taking pictures and basking in the sun. Packed up and was headed out but got flagged down by one of the farmers- there's still a loose cow- Eunice, and they asked me to check out some bits over the next week or so. Mission Accepted Should be headed there tomorrow unless the kids drag me elsewhere but they want to do sausages on a fire so things should be set. Otherwise, early next week I need to mow again if the weather allows and clear some fresh area again. And more. Bloody. Heavy. Slabs. *edit* Kids chose to have a duvet day and I sat around reading, felt great. Tuesday I'm hunting cow, then provided weather allows me on weds/thurs I want to mow and brushcut. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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May 19, 2018 21:28
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Where in the World is Eunice Sandiego? Join me down the track aways   The rock rituals were performed.  Then without delay, time to hunt down some ambulatory hamburger. Water, something to whack brambles down to stomping height, and rope. Rope. Charles Bronson's always got rope.       Spent over an hour smashing around the bits of the north field that are covered in question marks on the lovely map. It was really heavy going through pretty much all of it. No recent signs of Eunice at all, which is better than finding a swarm of flies and a sickly sweet smell. I will be checking a few times more over the next few weeks, just in case.  Ow.    Checked in on the badger/fox sets and they have been busy excavating again      Then it was time for my roundtrip to check on the fruit  The cleared area is now sprouting much new growth, so its definitely mowing time, just have to wait and see if the weather complies.  This is Eunice, stalking me about a week or two ago. Wherever you may roam now, I hope you are mooing most happily! Hoping to mow in the next few days, will see what the weather brings. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:51 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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May 22, 2018 13:49
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dreesemonkey posted:This is an excellent thread. cakesmith handyman posted:This is a fantastic thread and I'm jealous. Thanks, I feel really lucky to be able to do it and wish I could do it full time. endlessmonotony posted:We all know how this will end. You will not win this fight. I pick my battles carefully in accordance with sun tzu's good book and hence engaging 3 quackaz in the quattro and escaping was better than getting boxed in by more of the peckers xcheopis posted:I just love that Eunice has a stealth mode. Cow ninja! I have successfully hunted her down twice now for the grazier and farmers- it was creepy as when she crouches down she doesnt present much size, but both times I got close without realising how close I was at all- then she stood and about 3/4's of a ton of cow stands quite imposing when you have seen it run so fast and the realisation you are out in the wilds with a scared and slowly going feral cow and whoa the lower parts of the brain already started up and im now clutching a tree. Fun! Work and stuff with the family has kept me busy, but I'm down tomorrow for at very least a rock ritual and my rounds and hopefully more. In the meantime I have done a few small bits like putting in more time carving up a handle for the shorty shovel and petting hicks lots   He's really really good at his job as a cat which involves lots of being an adorable lazy arsehole but he's also self appointed guardian and counsellor to the house and more than earns his keep.  This new hoe is a replacement planters hoe- I'm really impressed with it for the price, its beautifully weighted and sharp. Got 4 more bushes picked out on the deck for next week so it should go into action soon. The old planters hoe head will be getting a new handle as soon as I figure out the best option. I have a few bits of oak branch that have been drying 3 years or so in the caravan and I'm hoping to carve from that.    Im no real expert on identifying wood (or ideology) but this old rolling pin is much more dense than the other I have been carving so its the new shovel handle, and I'm probably going to make a mace with the softer wood one. Next up on this is stripping and cleaning rust from the shovel head, removing the pin and finding a suitable paint. And lots of carving and fitting, which I'm finding very calmative. Well its that and/or the weißbiers I just drank sitting in the sun. Meh. Whatever gets me there
DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:52 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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May 26, 2018 17:35
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Oh Deery Me  He seemed somewhat interested in a field trip then went back to guarding the bed. Good lad.  On the road again. Squirrel abound, but I'm not packing the big iron today, otherwise texas grey over there might have met his match.    I'm pretty much ready to rock  on lizard luxor now. The wood stake border things are going to be turned into raised veg beds and a strawberry patch when I get some more done/pick an area. A deer!  About a dozen pixels of white tailed baby deer! My son hasn't seen one on our bit of land or close so I concentrated on getting him a good look than photos, but we saw it frolick and eat for a minute or so before mummy deer (unseen) snorted and it ran off. Shame I didn't bring a proper camera.   My son made a bug hotel so we chucked one up under an oak with good friend paracord, and we plan on making more along a similar design.    He wanted to chop trees, so after taking out a few oak saplings himself we went to town on cutting new pathway on the north field through oaks and dragging the branches off to dry- I like my paths shaded- less growth to cut back. Its the worst time of year to cut labour wise due to the trees sucking water and being extra tough, but if he wants to cut its fine, and at this time of year the sun is nice and high in the sky for judging where shade should be.  We shifted a few more bricks too then set about knocking some old mortar off them. Gets old after awhile, but doing a few each trip isn't much of a chore.  I aim to clear the motherfuckin' poo poo out of this area of the north field the next time I cut.   Just a half day as it was hot and with child labour, but I got time to consider plans for what I'm doing with the north, and it involves a fuckload of digging ditches and ponds, and pounding fence posts and unravelling barbwire. Most is going to be kept as scrub/woodland but I really need to drain the land better and that water needs somewhere to go. Aiming to be down a few times in the next week or so, get on with mowing or cutting or any one of the ten thousand jobs to do
DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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May 27, 2018 17:20
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TheNothingNew posted:Some variety of wolf spider per the wife, who likes such things. Thanks- there's lots of them on my meadow and they seem really happy sunbathing on the loose stone I have around some of the bushes. ain't 'alf hot mum   Sometimes he doesn't even claw the poo poo outta me on belly fusses.   Not Eunice but it was my birthday a few days back and I treated myself- been gradually losing weight for awhile by not doing crap like this but gently caress it, garlic butter soaked rare sirloin is a blissful experience. Eunice remains at large. One day...  Been around a week since I was last down here, and my planned few hours work turned into a quick check up and sit in the shade because I started late and oh gently caress its midday now and the sun exists. As a result of that, no loving rock haul today, but I have two slabs picked at home for a roof, will transport em soon.      Fruit of all varieties develops apace, and I'm looking forward to a mouthful of sunwarmed berries- another week or so.  With about 20 days to summer solstice, at midday this really isnt enough sun to keep the water healthy- some of these poplar gotta go asap.  Something dug on my lavender again. I peed all over the soil and will bring more next time. Of both.       And theres lots of flowers but bugs and such in less activity because only total idiots wander around at noon and exhaust themselves without doing much of anything. I did see a bee swarm over one of the swarm traps the apiarist has out but didn't get close for pics cause I was scaredy.    So what better than to climb into a oven hot caravan to investigate my electricals. Good voltage over the battery/top-up panel which only really gets used for occasional lighting/phone charging at the moment. Light is a custom rig made of the old style bright white but battery draining fluorescent and led's sold for brake lights- nice low draw and astronomy/night vision friendly red. The foil isn't to keep the government from spying on my thoughts (they probably just read ukmt), its radiator backing panel and keeps the heat in very well when it's cold- today it was roasting till I opened the windows. I have a 12V fan ventilation and dehumidifer setup that might get installed at some point, for now I just keep a few water traps going. Many of the thousand jobs involve repairing the caravan a bit.    Really need to mow soon, all sorts emerging in the grass like the oak and bramble pictured- hopefully next week the weather will comply, otherwise the pond blockin' poplar are getting cut to size. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:54 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 3, 2018 17:36
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xcheopis posted:"Is that my cow?  that's loving amazinghome, home and deranged I was intending on a half day, but my son apparently lost two letters home and hence we didnt know school was cancelled, so today I mainly did housework while supervising maths and english work, but I got a half hour or so for some very essential maintenance.   I went way over enthusiastic to the point of blatant abuse last time I cut with this blade- hence it got dinged up heavily. The aim isn't to really sharpen much- more to straighten up the bent parts and have the cutting edge in line with itself.  With some care (like not hitting stone repeatedly with it) over a few use/maintain cycles the blade will look a lot better.   This blade is intended for long grass and will happily take out small amounts of brush too, but lacks the weight/force of the one above for heavy jobs. I also need to maintain and possibly replace some parts of the strimmer reel, but it got left up with the brushcutter.  This elderflower will be going towards some elderflower gin and some cordial. They smell amazing, even just a few heads drying stinks up the house.  Next shot is Wednesday for hopefully a full day, and right now the weather is looking good to let me cut and mow. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 4, 2018 15:13
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mow-town records  So this is the poundland cat, he doesnt live there but operates from there when it's open. Waits at the door with staff in the morning to enter, it's so cute  Local celebrity, and favours the gentle and calm supplicant with a fuss. Then it was off to pick up the brushcutter and accessories so why not check in on the chickens too. This is at my parents in law's place, a short drive from the acres. Best tasting eggs I ever had bar none- want some of my own some day.   After lugging this down here the hashbrowns and cheap beer were nectar from the gods, and they incensed me to some glory     Then I suited up extra to take on some patches of poison periwinkle by making a ninja mask out of a t shirt.   Then I took off the mask because from sweat and breath the shirt was soaked and it was like I was waterboarding myself shittily. Horrid even so, gotta dig out my headscarf for this kinda work.   Then a lot of path maintenance too.  These 4 old bush patches badly need the MkII upgrade package, I bought more supplies for that but left em in the car cause I'm a lazy bastard.   Then as I had the strimming part about 95% done I had to call it a day so I could get back in time to do the school run. I also ran out of strimmer line- went through all my field resupply bags and finished the reel I had. That meant no time today with the metal cutting blades  but I brought em home with me so they can get another touch of the farmers file.It's always unpredictable how fast I run through it, sometimes it just lasts seemingly 30 minutes of careful nurture, other times the same 6-7M will last a full tank of full octane high strength guzzoline action. The spool also needs replacement, it's seen a lot of abuse and if the ridges on the centre spoke get bad enough or chip it tends to cut the wire rather than bump/spin feed as normal. Isn't happening yet but will.       Feel happy with what I got done- spent about 2 hours total mowing with about an hours worth of break/wandering time, wish I could have finished mowing the grassier bits but it's not too much of a chore to swap heads out so it can just happen next time. It was a glorious day for it, and I'm really looking forward to knocking back the recently cleared area again, and making a new clearing on the north field. And drinking beer quietly on my comfy bench
DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 6, 2018 16:57
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The Lesser Liked Parts of Sam Vime's Famous Theory Tried to get a few hours in yesterday afternoon but my worker started feeling unwell so we had to bail early after doing the rounds. We did however get 2 bags of stones, 10 metres of plastic mesh, a roll and a bit of anti-weed fabric and a bag of soil moved over, used the soil to patch over the lavender a bit, and shifted some more bricks over.   Watching the bees on these flowers was particularly fun- the bees outweigh the flower and stem probably by an order of magnitude so when they stop off for a feed, the whole flower bounces down then rebounds hard when the bee moves on so when you have a few bees visiting a patch it looks like all the flowers are doing a dance    Currant bushes doing well in spite of a few hairy weird caterpillar things that got flung into the bushes by my rapid bug relocation expert.    It was a nice afternoon and a shame to leave but better to keep the workers happy and healthy. Back on Sunday, weather permitting, with plans to upgrade bushes. I have sad news too, something that grieves me to the core. After 11 years hard service, my beloved boots (hitec magnum elite II safety version, for the enthusiasts at home) have finally come to their natural end- the soles are coming away, there's a small hole in the leather at the heel and the stitching is starting to let up- and for the last year or two the waterproofing has gone. I'm going to attempt some repairs as the soles have a fair bit left, but they need to come off the frontlines indefinitely. Got some shiny new ones on the way, if they protect and survive in comfort anything like the last set I will be really happy- I got really attached to the old ones. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 9, 2018 11:12
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xcheopis posted:Maybe get some face masks for dealing with the periwinkle? I have to cover my whole face because any spatter will cause burns, I have a headwrap that's much easier to breathe through somewhere. xcheopis posted:Love the pictures, as always. Bees on Wheat posted:Lovely thread though. Just.. maybe fewer/smaller pics in the future, please? Liquid Communism posted:Yup, Chrome on mine just straight up won't load the whole page. I had thought that keeping them as timg would help load times, but I could probably do with just a few less on the updates, and I did have some posts developing about kit/tools, hunting, history and a few other bits that will be a bit less picture intensive. Today was heavy duty with both child labourers and much work and fun- will get an update chucked out tonight or tomorrow once I go through the pics. If a mod could chuck an image heavy warning that would be cool I guess
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Jun 10, 2018 20:50
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endlessmonotony posted:timg will load the whole image these days. This will cause massive slowdown. Linking to imgur albums seems to work best? Yeah, I will probably adjust the image/text ratio a bit on here (especially for the rest of this page) but upload more pics to imgur and link the gallery- lets folks on older devices keep track while still letting people that want to see more supplied with pictures. working  The workforce dragged in stone and compost, then sat around eating fries before doing the rounds- everything generally is doing well, two of the new fruit trees are really thirsty but should survive- will bring up some fresh water for them when I can.   There seems to be a run on bamboo hoops at the moment, I couldn't buy any more and my grand plan to upgrade all 4 remaining bushes turned into me getting the big fat blackcurrant done and then stopping. I have some other straight bamboo and could have made do, but I want all my emplacements to look the same as the good ol' MkII. I did at least clear up the other 3 plots a bit so they didn't get entirely overgrown before I get more hoops in. I'm aiming to add another 4 fruit bushes to this area, and I can probably squish another fruit tree in too- I'm going to slice into the bramble to do so.  I neglected to get many before and after shots of the stuff the kids did, but they went above and beyond their normal kickass standards- between them they cut down around 20 various oak and poplar saplings and hauled em off to dry, collected plenty of deadfall wood, hauled nearly all the remaining bricks into position and put in a bunch of time clearing out the mini-ditchwork (pictured) of wood and soil. And they did it all with teamwork, all I had to do was tell em what needed to be done and they just went hog wild. They really earnt their cash, and even moreso..   Cheap sausages cooked over a ragged old firepit surrounded by undergrowth, eaten on sharpened sticks! It's my secret trick to support worker morale, and the burnt bits add character. Then there was an olive pit spitting contest in which I held my title but came under serious pressure.  I sat around in the sun after that processing some of the deadfall into some general purpose firewood while quietly having a beer and letting the kids go wander and explore. I really need a better firewood storage system, as much of the wood I have been laying down in stacks to dry a little now needs processing.  They found the foxes have been going hogwild on the pigeon population- that or this is where the cats are dragging kills, but its right in the midst of the badger/fox sets- at least 4 or 5 kills in the area.  Now I have the bricks mostly in position at the field, I'm starting the LAD (lego aided design) process to get an idea of how I want my firepit/stove/thing built. I'm gonna have to recount my brick total, because looking at the pictures I seem to have more real bricks than the 68 I thought I had, and that may require me to dig through the lego box again. What comes next is somewhat dependent on deliveries- if my boots come today and the weather is good Tuesday I'm hoping to neaten up all the mowing (I'm now in possession of 261 metres of badass looking squarecut stihl strimmercord) then cut out some brush. If not, more bush upgrades or tree chopping till the boots of doom come.  If people want to go look at my imgur gallery that has a bunch more pictures then that's cool I guess DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 11, 2018 10:51
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vicariously vicious venison vacated vampishly at velocity, victuals vitrified, vizier visibly vexed or, how the deer mussed up my bushes and I looked up scrabble words for v   Late start with a lot of unrelated bullshit in the morning but fuckit, I'm fed up of these ragged beta bushes just shaming me every drat time and this place soothes so lets build and heal together.  Bloody deer ran off as I made my way down but I think this damage is a day or so old by the leaves drying out. First time they have been damaged heavily by deer so I'm glad to get in and finish up some defences today. They left me a ripe redcurrant or three which I instantly snaffled, excellent deep taste. I don't blame the deer, this shits delicious. Damaged branch brought home to attempt rooting, despite having plenty of redcurrant already.  This blackcurrant used to be a double patch of the same size, but I tripped on a cowhole while cutting a month or two back and gave one an aggressive buzzcut. Luckily it survived, and one of the two fallen branches I stuck in the ground rooted too.  The MkII isn't rigged to prevent birds or deer eating a bunch potentially, but it should stop plants from getting wiped entirely and allows easy upgrade to some bird netting if needed.  Bit of a bare lunch but I didn't feel like much- biscuits, fruit are rather moreish and strangely filling beyond mere size.  Got em all done and did the plum tree with matting and stone for good measure. Wanted to do the same for my other recent saplings- hopefully soon- I was nearly out of time and had other stuff to do.  Finished with the bricks. 126 of them in total, which has me wondering how I was so convinced I had 68. Suits me, as it lets me build my stove thingy a bit higher.   Measured up for some replacement floor for the caravan before I left too- it's another overdue job, lets call it #776. Snappy. I like a task with a number. On my way out I had the distinct sense I was being watched to the point the theme from "predator" was on my mind  Lo, a ferocious beast!  ...over here... over here...   Well I got most of the poo poo I wanted done finished, which for a half day is a pretty drat good day. Theres some little frogs swimming in the pond now too- the whole place is teeming with life. More pictures including lots of step by step stuff and flowers and a picture of my leg for some reason are all available here. The place I ordered my boots from lied about stock so I had to go elsewhere- I can't safely cut till my feet are back in badass boots of merciless doom but they are on the way and I'm itching to go- I have another 5 or 6 plants/trees to go in still and a lot of places needing a rotating steel blade at 10k rpm. Soon. ....anytime DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 13, 2018 21:13
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I looked into different hosts but so far imgur is the only one with an android app that will let me easily churn out a url with the filename at the end that awful app will then recognise without a bunch of loving around for each picture. I guess I can use my desktop with flickr or google drive from now on but it means updates will be less frequent. It's annoying but if a bunch of people can't see the pictures there's not much point in me posting them. Moreso annoying is that imgur works fine for me on every device I have tried this thread/the imgur galleries on- I guess its an isp thing. New boots arrived, should be down there at the weekend with one or both the workers then everything is in place to cut and mow next week. Update when I can I suppose.
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Jun 15, 2018 17:08
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Tim Raines IRL posted:I see you're in the UK, looks like that rifle has a suppressor? It does indeed, there's no real regulation on suppressors here at all and they are really useful. Its an air rifle with slightly less than 12ft-lbs/16 joules of energy so I don't have to bother with any licencing for it at the moment, if licensing were brought in for air rifles of that power I would consider moving up to a shotgun- but for the ranges I normally work in and for my quarry an air rifle does the job really well.
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Jun 16, 2018 09:01
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Do  These are from the garden at home, but the strawbs are gonna be planted up this year in my strawb patch. When I make the strawb patch. Like the idea of some sunflowers too, they are pretty and the seeds, roasted and salted, are loving ace.  Off tae the farm again. An emotional ceremony takes place. You. *sniff* You stand relieved. *sniff* You beautiful bastards. *blows into handkerchief* Rest easy now. Your job is done. *sobs* I will carry you into Valhalla myself! Not much time at all today, and I didn't make it down here at the weekend, but had an hour or two between other bits. Time for the rounds.   Gooseberries. Not quite ripe, but the birds are taking a toll on them so I plucked these a bit early just to guarantee some. Bit bitter still, but full of flavour.  I wish I had kept better track of which currants were which variety, but these blackcurrants are naturally tart/sharp and more for jam, while it's neighbor has a much sweeter ripe berry, with not so much flavour.  The grape vine is loving having somewhere to latch onto- not expecting fruit this year but hopeful for next year. It will benefit from a bit more light too- more trees marked for doom.   Hopeful for at least one surviving pear and apple from my new trees this time around.  Probably gonna lose these cherries to birbs unless I get down pronto with some more netting. I swear I had 2 or 3 packs lurking, and will obviously find them as soon as new stuff is bought.  I didn't really intend on doing anything approaching actual work, but this lavender has really been hosed over hard by deer, so rather than surrender it, I padded out the soil, put down weed proof sheeting and covered it with rocks.  Dig on that, ya hoofed bastards! please don't It's annoyingly scrappy, but it will do for now and I can tidy it up a bit later. Will add more large rocks on top to make for a small habitat for... things. Maybe.     Really nice day to pop down and wander about, wish I had more time but I always feel that way. Saw at least 4 deer, a grass snake, various frogs and found some reasonably fresh cowshit, so I guess the hunt for Eunice is back on too. Tomorrow I'm at a vaguely work related conference/exhibition thing, mainly to grab any free swag (mugs, pens, t-shirts etc) because I'm a total cheapskate (apart from boots and tools)- will take any relevant pics. Hosting the images on flickr now, so feel free to whinge about that if it's causing issues- I don't mind finding something else hostwise or changing how I do things. Still planning on a good cut and mow next time- weather looks good towards the end of the week and so does my schedule. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Jun 23, 2018 |
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Jun 18, 2018 17:25
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I apparently have cows. As in at least 3. Wasn't planning a trip today but it seems the bovine comedy continues and I'm gonna have to pop down after work and see if they moooved on
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Jun 21, 2018 10:28
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Miftan posted:Cows are precious, treat them well. I'm gonna have a few as neighbors for a while the owners didn't want Eunice getting lonely so more cows are now here for a long holiday with the hopes they will herd up a bit- fencing has been repaired a bit and a few creature comforts installed so they can hopefully stay happily on the right side of the fence.Got some non cow pics and will try and chuck em up tomorrow
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Jun 21, 2018 22:32
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xcheopis posted:I vote for more pictures of cats and bees. Miftan posted:I only care about cow pics now Yeah? Well if you checked your calendar it's 2018 and you should know voting and caring about stuff doesn't get you far at all   But you can have a super blurry picture of a deer's arse! It was a deer anyway, honest! not even really an update but I like titles they make poo poo neater       Comrade DDan, on Flickr I had more of a post but the forums ate it and it wasn't that good. Pretend you read some floral poo poo about the beauty of the solstice summer sun contrasted with the calm and quiet of everything being asleep. Got my cameras charged and wiped so hopefully next time I won't have an easy excuse to leave them behind- I wanted cow pics too, but they hide well. Work and family stuff have me tied up a bit right now but should be there at the weekend to find out how much more fruit the birbs have made off with and maybe chop some tree.
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Jun 22, 2018 12:43
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Jaded Burnout posted:You're in my neck of the woods... I'm sorry to hear that, but escape is possible Jaded Burnout posted:...and I'm v jealous that you have land like this. I'm really lucky to have access/stewardship, but it's not "mine"- I wouldn't have had a hope in hell of affording something even a tenth of the size when it was bought, let alone after 20 or so years of land price increases. It's part of the reason I want to share what I do, because I love it dearly and because I know that for the majority of people who want to do it, it's largely out of reach financially- I want people to see what goes into working it. endlessmonotony posted:EDIT 2: Go through every image-heavy post, edit every instance of ".jpg" to "h.jpg" and watch the problem go away. Well, that was a really loving boring few minutes clicking and pressing "h", so hopefully it makes a difference
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Jun 23, 2018 12:10
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I have some pics from the last year or two I found on my phone but I'm having issues with my home internet right now so upload is a pain. Tried out the new squarecut trimmercord on the back garden and it was amazing, car (and lunch) is packed to roll tomorrow morning for hopefully an earlyish start on mowing and clearing before the sun kills me entirely. Want to upgrade a sapling as a matter of urgency too, heatwave on the way
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Jun 25, 2018 21:52
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thwocka thwocka thwocka   Brought down 40 bottles of water and then ate my pork bun while cording up the trimmer. Think I'm gonna hit the Chinese supermarket on my way down here more often, that bun was insane Boiling hot weather but luckily I got started before it got too terrible, and I brought two cans of Yorkshire's finest bitter to supplement my hydration          I mowed the entire grass area again and did all the pathways with the kickass squarecut cord, then swapped out to the cutting blade and re-cleared some areas and made some new space for bushes. Jaded Burnout posted:Ooh, I'll look into this when I next do my garden, last time I tried to strim the heavily overgrown grasses it was a huge pain. It really rocks- its much tougher and more effective than regular cord, the only downside so far is I can't get quite as much on the spool at once- it's a lot chunkier than rounded cord.    I then made the choice to stop for the day- I had wanted to clear the new area on the north field, and didn't feel too tired at that point, but it was hitting 30C and I would have no cover whatsoever- it's gonna be great for crops there. With how sore/slightly sunburnt I am today it was probably the right call     A few pictures from last year because its bad luck to go awhile without cat pictures    After the caravan flooring and window replacement I will be simplifying the electrics a bit and installing a solar vent fan. Not falling through the floor is the priority though- downsides of a Bit of a lack of cool new pics but the day was focused on getting the cutting and mowing done- next up I'm aiming on clearing out the area on the north field, its a lot less area but the ground is quite uneven and has a lot of heavy growth- should be a good challenge, and having enough space for a few standard allotment sized plots is one of my main goals.
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Jun 27, 2018 13:33
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Jaded Burnout posted:Yeah, I've been doing a lot of work outside in the sun and bought some gear specific for it, A wide brimmed boonie hat has been my best purchase for that so far, next time I cut I'm gonna use some old formal shirts for the reflective white and the baggy factor- longsleeved anything seems a winner, sweat be damned. lazy sundays     All right, people, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed? Another glorious day    The rounds were uneventful other than finding a line of stones away from bushes- seems like something crawled in and had a dig then hosed off. Oh, something else had a pop at the lavender but the stones deterred it- both might actually survive. I had more planned for today but ended up just ticking a few things off the list as we spent a few hours in the shade shooting arrows and little lumps of lead at things instead.   I did get my new cherry tree sorted out, it should have been a priority as should have another peach tree from this years planting that's probably entirely dead now- they were really cheap saplings but they deserved better, lessons learned, 2/3 survivors ain't bad, stiff upper lip and such. The weed proof matting and stones are going to be mandatory on planting from now, and I'm probably gonna retrofit the other fruit trees I planted too.  There is wood left in this shovel handle, and the paint is all flaky and lovely. This displeases me. And I'm really lazy.    So you burn. I had hoped for more pictures of the process, but I hosed things up a bit- essentially I remembered that the metal needed to be quenched at the last minute so I had no prep- my new fire resistant gloves got a good test as I ran through the woods while juggling a very very hot shovel before throwing it in the pond to a satisfying hiss and cloud of steam. Probably great for flame resistance and handling metal like grills for bbq, but the shovel head had surprising thermal mass and wanted me to know all about it- no wounds though, so they pass. Will show results when I wire wheel it, but it looks pretty good already for something I set on fire for an hour then chucked in a swampy pond. The handle has been whittled to the point where once I get the rivet out I can start fitting it- time to pick paint and varnish out. I could buy one cheaper but gently caress that, I want it to be mine.  She's a better archer than me now for short distance stuff and not ashamed to let me know about it got to dial in the air rifle scope a little closer to true at the same time as putting a bunch of holes in various things, and even better we didn't lose any arrows.Back tomorrow for a flying visit to run some supplies down like some more stone etc, then aiming to cut new areas later in the week- weather and other commitments dependent.  I leave you with spider. I'm no spider expert, but I'm pretty sure the one on the side is a male, and I think he's either made this nest to impress, or is about to try and enter the female's nest in order to try and get laid. Ganbatte spider-san. Write that down in your copybook.... now.
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Jul 1, 2018 17:32
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Heat wise today, out in the open when I sorted the cherry tree out- those 10 minutes or so in direct sun was more than enough to put me off more- got through nearly 3 litres of water in just a couple of hours mainly in the shade. The bit the old firepit is located in is right in the woods, gets no real direct sun to the floor but still has good airflow- it feels like a 15 degree drop coming from the middle of the fields. We were shooting close to there so it was easy to monitor things while staying out of heat/smoke range from the fire. Jaded Burnout posted:That's why I like these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06WGW7P1R They look good, I might grab some- how thick are they? My only concern is with sap spatter soaking through and still giving me chemical burns with it held tight to me.
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Jul 1, 2018 18:36
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Fuel pump on my audi died, so today was spent waiting on a flatbed to show up and then being disappointed the tow truck driver didn't have a dog rather than getting a supply run done. poo poo happens, its just annoying when it does- and like normal it coincided with a bunch of minor bullshit. Jaded Burnout posted:They're fairly thin, think lycra shorts or what have you. They protect me against scratches against brick and splintery wood, but I've not spilled anything on them so I don't know how you're fare there. I might try a close fitting shirt first to see how it leaches- the nasty part of the sap burns is that you don't realise it's happened till 24hrs+ later when the blistering begins DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Jul 2, 2018 |
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Jul 2, 2018 16:55
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Pesky Splinter posted:I said it when you first posted it in the UKMT, but seeing these pictures are great I do the thread and pictures mainly so other people can see so it's great to hear Hope you get a chance to Maugrim posted:I am enjoying this thread but your avatar and red text are annoying the poo poo out of me so I would like to buy you a new one. Any requests or shall I just use the catte That would be touchingly kind- I'm not really picky so a catte would be fine- just please be aware I have grand capacities for pissing people off and it may well be replaced by another
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Jul 3, 2018 22:27
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Mousepractice posted:This is a great thread! Thanks for sharing with us. Thanks Enjoy! They came on in the same old way.. and we defeated them in the same old way...     Today I went out for a quick trip to do the rounds and maybe grab some fruit- had planned on getting a bunch of stones to drag over here as well, but the fuel pump/filter fix has wiped the spare funds for this week. What I didn't plan on was dropping 3 squirrels, a male and 2 female, within minutes of each other, all round the same clump of trees. I could have come down here and spent hours lurking around with the gun and not had a nice clean shot on anything at all, so it's nice to not have to invest much time in doing the necessary. All three were suitable to be left for the foxes (the lead pellets went clean through) this time, but one of them had a good amount of meat and has me thinking of skinning and maybe cooking one again- those skills are rusty for me.   The rose flowers have dropped, and the rosehips, the accessory fruit of the roses are forming. These have multiple uses so I'm happy to encourage a few of the patches I have down here.  This tree had seven apples last time and now I'm down to these two- I think it was probably deer. Sucks, but in a few years it will be big enough to not worry about too much.   The birds have been razing what little fruit the new bushes have been producing, but I found a few treats left. Next year I will just clip some netting onto the fence of a few of them and see how much it helps.   The more established blackcurrants have also taken a hit, but there was a few handfuls of ripe fruit on my main two patches which I picked and I'm either gonna scoff or freeze for jam.  Lots of these curious little fellows on the currant bushes   This grape vine is doing nicely, and I'm glad I got down to train it a bit again today before it gets unruly. The vines need good support or they get really brittle in winter dormancy- the two vines I have potted at home are both ready for transplant this year, and there are two locally growing vines I also have eyes on taking cuttings from- I have homebrewed fruit wine before and have some grand plans.    Seasonal treat- blackberry season proper is approaching, but some kind of fluke happens to about one in every few hundred flowers and they produce an early berry- tiny but sweet- weeks before the bulk of the crop is active.  A quick look at a one of the recently cleared areas shows a good amount of grass growth- one of my favourite mildly invasive plants.     Time was short today but I'm glad I did get down for a bit at least, and I took a few minutes to sit in the woods and just chill.  I bloody love strawberries I do. These are from home, and taste amazing.  Blurry picture of a rusty shovel but with me being bad at before pictures it will just have to suffice.  Put power tools in the hands of kids everyday!  Tomorrow I will probably get the old rivet drilled out so I can start fitting the handle, and then shorty shovel is really starting to come together. Think I'm gonna rock black paint on the metal, and a bright tip to the handle.  I leave you with a pic of one of my favourite bits of my commute, the journey down was powered by some rumours era fleetwood mac, and the soundtrack to hotline miami took me home. Car is solid again, should be back on the acres come the weekend. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Jul 5, 2018 |
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Jul 5, 2018 17:34
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holy gently caress dat avatar oh gawd thankyou
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Jul 5, 2018 17:43
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Maugrim posted:You're welcome. I was born and grew up in the East Sussex countryside, so it's a real treat reading these posts - it's like going home again! It rules and I will name something after you! rocking it     Had a minor foot injury at the weekend so I hosed things off to let it heal a bit. Only main target of the day was bringing down some stone, so I was glad to find some more energy/lack of pain that allowed me to wander about slowly and get some boring stuff done.  By immediately insulating the hash browns and bacon roll they stayed nice and warm by the time 40 kilos of stone had been lugged. The crisp, cold, cheap lager made it perfect      After the rounds I cleared up the most overgrown set of fruit bushes- some had next to no stone over the matting, and lots of unwanted plantlife crawling up the sides. Cleared up all 8 in the patch and laid about a bags worth of stone atop.   Then the lavender got a quick neaten up and some more stone- it really needs some nice wet clay packed down to stop the slabs slipping but that's gonna need rain.   There are large cracks like this in multiple places- haven't seen decent rainfall in a long time  As my now pretty much non existent pond shows. Its a problem and an opportunity- if it holds out awhile longer I can get down in there and dig out a few barrows worth at least to allow more water to settle- the more the better but its gonna be root filled and stinky.   Same deal with this drainage ditch- it needs digging out a bit and a lot of clearance work, but luckily the pipe is surprisingly clear.   Did some pathway maintenance next in a few places.  Blackthorn is really thirsty to lay some hurt on the unwary. I had to get a 3cm bit surgically removed a few years back.   Many big spider webs like this around. Wonder if our friend from a previous episode got his end away...   Lots of mr wiggles type caterpillars around today too, all having a little boogie.  Saw these on the way out- too close to the queen's highway for me to legally have a pop at here, and it seems they know it   A few hours spent well, will see how the weather is later in the week and I might get some new bits cleared or just haul more supplies- if the drought continues then I will start hauling extra water for my saplings too.
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Jul 10, 2018 15:48
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Miftan posted:Please don't hurt the animals even if they're not on the queen's territory. I only hunt grey squirrel on sight- there's really no other way to dent the numbers of them, and if I didn't they would mess up the local wildlife- they have no natural predators, reproduce rapidly, act like locusts on food supply and are invasive to the point they will quite literally turf baby birds/eggs out of a suitable nest. I can probably turf up more reading on it generally if you want but culling them really is the only option available that stops my woods from being overrun with nothing but squirrel. It's not my desire to hurt anything, and when I do things right they never know another thing happened.
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Jul 10, 2018 17:36
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Not much updates at the moment as work is busy and my beloved cat is in the vets and frankly the anxiety from that is draining the crap outta me. Probably gonna whittle a bit while sitting next to the phone.Miftan posted:I know, but it still makes me sad. I feel a little sadness when I do it still, theres a wide range of emotion attached to it all and words dont do most of it well- hunting an animal effectively means doing a lot of observing of the animals habits and learning about them- I find grey squirrels are amazing creatures, and I wish they had a more natural means of control, but my sex ed classes for squirrels really didnt go well, and having pine martens introduced apparently has a long waiting list. I have tried a few times to throw together my thoughts on hunting and it never seems to come out "right" to how I feel on it. I guess the root of it all is being torn to the point of feeling hypocritical- I despise people that hunt anything for fun, and yet some of the times I have felt closest to that place have been the times caught in the sheer intoxication of hunting- it hits a part of the brain that nothing else does, and I really do lack the words for describing how it feels. cakesmith handyman posted:Rats and squirrels are perfectly acceptable to shoot at, I'm even thinking of getting something to tackle the rats who seem immune to our poison traps. I used to hunt rats on neighboring land around some woodpiles, as rat piss/poo poo covered firewood isn't good to deal with. Owner soon moved the wood piles away from good cover/easy water for them, closer to the fox/badger runs. No more rats in the woodpile. If you have rats in the home, then they are there for food/water/shelter and if you can deny them that the problem goes away (also, strong snap traps and varied bait), in the woods its hard to deny a squirrel some trees. xcheopis posted:Pshaw. Sure didn't work for me. You gotta flaunt it more  Crankit posted:do you eat the squirls? I have done previously a few times, I have also given them away to be cooked. Most of the time, provided there's a good exit wound so the lead is gone I leave the remains for the foxes- quite often it's gone within an hour of me leaving it by a set. Tastes like cheap pork with a definite hint of nut, there's not a huge amount of meat but it's almost all around the back legs so it's not too hard to deal with.
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Jul 13, 2018 11:25
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A combo of work stuff and the cat being ill is putting me out of action right now, poor little guy has some kidney issues and the next week or two are gonna be a bit touch and go. Hoping to gather myself up for at least a quick look around and tree watering tomorrow.
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Jul 17, 2018 12:51
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Miftan posted:All the best to your catte Thanks- sadly the prognosis really isn't good, but he's home and very happy/comfortable for now. I'm a total, absolute wreck- little guy has seen me through thick and thin and the thought of saying goodbye so early is devastating. H2whoa this drought sucks  On the road again, just for a bit.   Todays theme is water. It still hasnt rained, and the forecasts don't hold much promise for volume- not good for this years saplings. 40 litres fortunately rolls a lot better than it carries.  Being downhill of some woodland, the grassy areas are greener than most, but still showing the heat.  The newer plum got the weed sheeting and stone treatment long enough ago that it's doing well, but I gave it a good drink anyway.  But this cherry has lost pretty much all its leaves now- the sheeting and stone can't help hold rain when it simply isn't loving raining. gently caress.  It was planted on a slight hillock, so water drains away- check the cracks. No bueno.    I have seen them survive worse and put out leaves again though, so I raided my recycling bag and rigged up some dripper bottles to give it a fighting chance. There was another new plum tree but I have all but given up on that one- will check it come next spring and replace if the roots are dead.  Just another glance at how bad the heat is cracking the soil up.   Went and visited the bees on the neighbouring land- was going to try for some good pics but its heavily overgrown and they were a bit feisty as it was midday so I bailed. Good to visit the hives every now and then though- the bees get used to you being around.   My tended sloe patch is looking at a good crop this year- I have a similar sized clump also with good sunlight I can clear too.  Spot the butterfly they are hard to get a good picture of, but there's a good variety of them down here.  All going a bit pear shaped. These are about head height on me, so it will be interesting to see if the deer get them. A good reminder I need to cut my way down to the big pear tree on north field.  I'm glad I made myself make it down here, not sure how the next few weeks are gonna pan out but I will keep you all posted.
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Jul 19, 2018 13:21
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sickbay review  So first up, staffing news: Meowmaster Hicks has now been home a week, and is doing well. Took him back to the vets for some tests today, and against the odds his kidney numbers are improving quite well- trying not to get too hopeful but as one of the possibilities last week was "he might just slip away in the next few days", seeing him jump around the garden as normal a few days later is wonderful beyond words    No real update yet as I haven't been down there, but in my mini garden at home the first batch of spuds are done- cleared 2 kilos of eaters and plenty of seed spuds from a medium planter, the total cost was a potato I forgot about in a cupboard that sprouted and about £1 in soil/fertilizers- very low effort. Throwing in another lot as I have just about enough time in the year.  I have 4 nice sized tomato plants fruiting up too- hoping to cook some sauces using them to store as well as just scoffing them all this year. Fuckin' love some fresh/fried tomatoes I do.  Left the olives too long and they are fruiting- might get a jars worth this year before taking them to the field to plant.  Planning on a watering run tomorrow AM and will update when I can. Summer holidays for the kids now so should be there often but getting a bit less done- certainly for the heatwave I'm looking at, work is mainly going to be hauling water and trying not to fry/die.
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Jul 23, 2018 20:18
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in the cool of the morning  What up chooks  That'l do girls, stay awesome  Neighbourhood watch, they see me rolling. Slipped em the normal gratuity. Costs of business, y'know.   So I mainly just came down to do this kinda thing and then bail out, but I got down there around 8 and it was still nice and cool but nice and bright so I chilled out awhile enjoying the peace and took a bunch of pictures of nice things. Watering was uneventful other than my dripper bottles collapsing- rethinking things now for a better solution, probably a device to hold the bottle upright and shade it from light rather than the twine solution.   The cleared area is now mainly grass, and still despite the heatwave/drought it's staying quite green- bodes well for growing lots of food down here, especially once water collection/irrigation gets sorted better.    The bees were all over the brambles today- bumbles seem to show in numbers earlier in the day than the honeybees and it was good to see a bunch of them doing the rounds.  I wish I could share the taste of these because they are loving amazing- still not many at all fully ripe, but when you have this much bramble around a handful or two of ripe ones come easy. Over the next week or two I will get the employees on the case and stock up a few keys- I still have some frozen from last year.    Gratuitous blackthorn/sloe pics. I love the patterning the sloes get and I love what steeping them in gin or vodka for 6 months+ does. Also handy in jams etc, a little too tart for eating many.  Don't eat these though- or the fully ripe black/purple ones. Laurel. Probably won't kill you, but the gut ache and shits will make you wish it would.   Butterflies out in force again.      The pond. "Pond". Its more like a kind of bed of damp compost with reeds growing through it surrounded by cracked earth but it's intent that counts here- I want a proper pond that stays wet. So let's go on a field trip to the neighbors-    That's definitely wet that is. Will be interesting to get a winter water level comparison shot, but theres lots in there. If I want mine to be awesome it needs to go a good bit deeper and a touch wider- and I need to cut down on the amount of leaves falling in it. And the best way to do that is dig a bigger, better pond, but I still need to fix up what I have.       Went and stood with the bees awhile on the way out- a few more trust building visits and I should be good for some ace pictures of them chilling out by the entrance to the hive- it's just a bit too overgrown and I don't wanna get stung up. The pond. It calls to me. Weather dependent I'm gonna try and get out earlier in the day to try and clear out some of the pond. And I will take pictures. And then I will post them.
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Jul 24, 2018 14:05
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xcheopis posted:... was the gratuity two eggs and an ear skritch? Meaty treat stick things. Those eggs were mine and they were loving amazing. And I wish I could get close enough to fuss- one day. Got some sardines down there with purpose bubble gum soil  The keen observer will note this picture was taken long after sun up as I was actually leaving, but let's instead pretend I was functional when I first got down here, late, because even in the heat I slept really well and it was hard to drag myself up and out, and the employees had demands like making me empty out the loose change in the car for hash browns. So this is the pond from last time cause I forgot the before picture. Es no bueno, amigos- time to get cracking.  I set the employees to task digging but they quickly bent up a cheap small shovel because-    The consistency of the ground in the pond is about a cm or so of soil/mulch then wet thick clay, strewn with roots. It's loving horrid to dig up, but I don't have choices here other than start swinging my hips and following through.     Kids did a good job of pulling existing reeds and chopping trees and also caretaking various frogs/toads they discovered. Oh and some clay figurines when they weren't off tree climbing for more of a breeze.  Parts of the clay that had cracks tended to have a good bit of salt buildup deep down- nothing worrying, just need to be careful where the soil goes- fruit and veg plants won't like it.   So at the moment it's being used to level up the outside rim of the pond, because I don't want to haul it far. Its salty and too hot but I want to see if any seed holds so it got a quarter key of hardy grass seed.   In all I'm a little disappointed with how far I got today- but the clay was far worse than I feared and I got a later start than I wanted- by about 1030 it felt like I was working in a sauna hence time to quit for the day- gently caress risking heatstroke.  Had several dragonflies around but despite about 2 dozen shots the best I could manage was this. Pretty things, amazing fliers.  Got my arse and legs bit up a bit when I sat on a red wood ant nest, so resorted to very targeted nerve warfare- it's right on a bit I want to be able to sit on next to the pond, otherwise I wouldn't care- ants are cool.     Didn't have much time on the rounds for nice pics, the newer and more sun exposed currants are taking a pounding in the heat and I forgot water supplies but they should be just fine even if they lose all leaves now.  So an attempt was made, and lessons learned for next time, which is looking like another shot at things in the morning- weather dependent- have had multiple storm warnings and each time I have been left with just more pressure and humidity. I want a storm badly but I also want more of a pond. For that, I must suffer. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 16:14 on Jul 26, 2018 |
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Jul 26, 2018 16:11
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Miftan posted:Your kids are really great sports. I would've told my dad to gently caress off with that hard labour poo poo. Again, I applaud you for going out in this weather. 33 in London today. Thanks, they are great kids but they do get paid a fair wage- and if they get bored with the work and don't fancy a different job there's loads of other bits to occupy them down there. The heat really is killer- by the time I was packing away the effort of just tucking tools away had sweat running down me and this was in the shade.
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Jul 26, 2018 17:45
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Rain! And not just a shower or two, some pretty heavy rain, so I haven't gone to dig again yet- it should dry out enough soon, as things are due to go back to another heatwave, but a day or two of rain right now is just perfect. I have worked through heat before, but that was pre-acres when I was younger and stupider, and once or twice I paid hard with heatstroke and learnt my lessons- 33C is too much for anything other than the lightest of duties in shade and there aren't many jobs that fit that right now. Provided I get a few good morning digs in, I should have enough time over the summer to clear the pond nicely without having to suffer too much for it. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Jul 28, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 08:19
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