About the weather

The last couple of days, rain has been lashing down, heavy and wintery, and the forecast for the next few days doesn't look good either which may scupper my plans for lots of Easter weekend gardening. At least it's not snowing though, unlike in Scotland and Ireland last night. The weather is totally beyond our control, but has such a big effect on what we can do in our gardens, allotments and farmsteads. The last couple of summers here in the North West of England have been pretty atrocious with weeks and weeks of rain throughout summer. The slugs loved it, the plants didn't, the slugs ate the plants!

It's interesting whenever I read blogs from other people around the world to see what the weather is like for them. I can't help sometimes feeling a bit envious, especially when I hear this week that the pecan trees are in flower. How wonderful. I remember visiting Greece too, and seeing the orange and lemon groves, and olive bushes. Not possible here, but we must make do with what we are given!

At least those of us with poor weather can start off crops indoors in our warm, centrally heated houses to give them a good start. It makes me wonder what people did hundreds of years ago. Did those gardeners and smallholders start off their vegetables and herbs inside in pots? Did these have to be in the main room with the fire? It would be interesting to read a historic gardening/farming journal someday. Maybe the monks from some of Britain's monasteries kept a diary. Will have to have a look.

This year, I am going to try and keep a log of the weather, along with my record of garden developments and visiting birds.

A good weekend of gardening, crafts and cooking...

Some weekends you feel like the time has passed you by and you got nothing done, other weekends feel like you got loads done. This was the latter. We visited my parents yesterday (Saturday) which took most of the day, and it was good to see them as always, plus my older sister dropped by as an added bonus. Yesterday evening however, all the essential chores were done and Rachel, our daughter was asleep in her cot. So I took the opportunity to make some notebooks. I make handmade notebooks out of old books, board games, maps, and anything else of interest I can get my hands on. The term is 'upcycling' - reusing old materials that might otherwise be thrown away, and put them to a new use. I'm currently binding them with a metal wire binding, but am intending to hand stitch some soon, and at some point do proper, leather bound notebooks in the tradtional way they've been making them for many hundreds of years. For now though, I'm doing the relatively easy wire binding. I sell them online through a website called folksy.com, a sort of ebay but for hand-crafted products (a UK version of etsy). Some of my early notebooks can be found on our shop, which I share with my wife. Am intending to launch my own separate shop soon though, and am trying to make enough to sell at a craft fair in a couple of months. Anyway, Saturday evening I made seven notebooks, which I thought was quite a good effort.

We've been busy cooking today to put food in the freezer so on the days when we come back from work too tired to be bothered cooking, we can get lovely home cooked meals out of the freezer rather than paying lots of money for frankly not very nice takeaway. My contribution to this was a large pan full of chilli, a bit spicier than I'd intended but nice all the same. Kate did a beef casserole and two different types of sausage casserole. All told it should do a good six or seven meals for us both at least.

Next was gardening. Sunday seems to be my gardening day of late, and today was no exeption, although hopefully will be able to do some in the weekday evenings now, as the clocks have gone forward an hour this weekend and it's light until 8pm now. Anyway this morning Rachel had a sleep late morning for more than 2 hours, a rare treat. So I tackled the front garden again, finishing digging over and clearing up all of the stringy roots and bits of twigs from digging out the bushes last week. What's left is now a nice dug over bed of about 120cm by 140cm. I added some soil from our compost bin (a new experiment last year, putting all our left over food in a compost bin at the end of the garden. It's amazing but we have compost now - not perfect as there's some bits of eggshells and onion in the bottom in the compost, but still pretty good). In one corner by the front door there are some daffodils and crocuses in flower, and there's a perennial flower plant growing on the next corner. When the spring flowers have finished flowering, I will dig them up, leaving the bulbs in the soil for next year, and plant something else in their place. For today, I've planted the curly parsley plant in the ground, and planted a couple of rows of flower plants (Aubretia), and sown a row of garlic bulbs. Next weekend is Easter weekend, 4 days off work, so plan on planting more then. I may draw a plan of the front bed to put on here, and update as I plant more things.

I haven't done anything in the back garden as of yet, though did an inspection today, The blueberry and blackcurrent bushes have loads of buds, and some of the raspberry canes have buds too (As recently as last week I thought we weren't going to see any raspberry action this year). The strawberry planter needs some attention, but there are a few strawberry plants with new growth in it. In one of our 'L-shaped' (raised) beds I found to my delight that there are a few garlic plants growing. I planted these last year and they didn't do much, but have only now realised that garlic is a perennial so has come back stronger this year (there's almost as much growth already as there was all year last year). Also, for Christmas my wife bought me a 'veg box' with soil and loads of seeds in different compartments. The idea is you plant the box in the ground and things grow. I planted around 31st Jan, and nothing was growing, but now there is a couple of shoots. Accidentally threw away the paper that says what everything is, so will have to wait and see what comes up. Anyway, lots of work to do in the garden over Easter next weekend. May plant some things in pots mid-week too.

Incredible Edible Todmorden

Watched an episode of Michael Portillo's 'Great British Railway Journeys' today. Lots of good stuff in there, but was particularly interested in his visit to Todmorden in East Lancashire. The town and surrounding area have a big project going on to become more self-sufficient, and produce as much food as possible locally.

There's an egg list on their website where you can find a map with all the people selling eggs on from the chickens they are keeping in their garden, along with phone numbers. There's herb gardens at the station and carrots growing in the car park and you can help yourself. Looking at the website http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/ - I can see there is also lots of orchards planted, a lot on public land, which people can help themselves to. The project has involved asking schools, public bodies, businesses, local council etc to allow use of some land to grow things. I think this is a brilliant idea, and would love it if we could do something like it in Lancashire.

Gardening plan

Have done some more gardening this weekend, mainly digging out all the bushes in the front garden. There is now quite a decent size bed there to work with. Also went to garden centre, Barton Grange near Preston. Great coffee and cake! Picked up a few seed packets but is a bit early to buy plants. We did see an apricot bush which was tempting however.

Decided to come up with a plan for what to grow. Don't want to have lots of useless plants in pots this year. So I am definitely going to grow:

1) Potatoes - essential. Easy to grow and we eat a lot of them. Got some maincrop (Arran pilot) and new potatoes (Charlotte) chitting on windowsill. Purple sprouts growing out of them! Going to grow in potato bags, probably at back of the garden.

2) Salads - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber. Kate's mum is starting some off for me, but we may start some off ourselves. Maybe have some lettuce and rocket in the front garden.

3) Garlic - will grow a row in the front garden I think.

4) Herbs - some Basil on windowsill. Parsley, sage, coriander, thyme, mint, rosemary and oregano. Maybe some marjoram and tarragon too. Oh and chives. Some in front, some in back garden. Sounds a lot, but already have some established plants growing already, and some more just planted.

5) Flowers- in front garden and hanging baskets. A mix of bright, colourful flowers.

6) Runner beans and possibly peas. Against fences in back garden.

7) Sweetcorn - fancy giving it a go. Will start off planting in a pot indoors and see how it goes.

8) Carrots - chanteney. Have had success in the past but not in the last couple of years. Slugs and birds keep eating seedlings.

We may grow other stuff, onions being one possibility, but don't want to take on too much. Oh forgot to mention fruit - we have a strawberry planter, blueberry bush and blackcurrent bush. Also raspberry canes but they don't look like they are sprouting this year.

The challenge is maintaining the plants, and in particular seeing off the threat of slugs and birds. For the former I am investing in some copper 'slug rings'. For the latter, may try some nets though. First need to finish clearing and tidying the garden, then get planting. I think Easter weekend, in 2 weeks will be a big planting weekend.



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Wonders of the Garden...and Solar System

Have now seen goldfinches and bullfinches in the back garden. Also yesterday did some more gardening - we re-potted the blueberry bush, and I chopped down the bush in the front garden, ready for digging it out. Planted some heather and a thyme plant in the front garden, and am going to plant flowers and herbs in the rest of the front garden. I've been given the task of looking after the front garden by Kate (my wife) and although mostly doing flowers (because that makes more sense for the front garden), like the idea of doing herbs too. I like growing useful things, things you can eat, or at a stretch herbs that are useful in other ways like medicinal herbs.

Will also be helping sort out the back, may get onto that at the weekend.

Watched first episode of 'Wonders of the Solar System' yesterday with Professor Brian Cox, the rockstar physicist (he was the keyboard player for D:Ream in the early 90s...Things Can Only Get Better etc.). Very good, the footage of sunrise/sunset on other planets was amazing. I think if a programme like that gives you one good, interesting piece of information for you to remember then it has done its job. In this episode it was the fact that there are 142 moons in the solar system in total, but only one of the moons can produce a total solar eclipse and that is our moon. On no other planet can you see a total solar eclipse. This is because the diameter of the moon is 400 times smaller than that of the sun, but it is 400 times further away than the moon is from the Earth. It really gets you thinking, and makes me at any rate wonder about whether there is an intelligent design behind creation... Have got a book by physicist Paul Davies which I think is about this which I should read soon.

Early morning, birds in the garden

Up at 6.30am this morning with my daughter who, despite being up till 9 last night and waking up and wanting milk at 4am, decided it was time to get up.

When I came down this morning there were two long tailed tits feeding on the fat and since then we've had a blue tit and a great tit. Just the usual visitors really.

Today will probably pop into town for a bit and hope to get some plants for the front garden. If Rachel sleeps this evening, I might even get some notebooks made.

Edit: Two goldfinches in the trees just over the fence from the back of the garden.

Gardening

I did a little bit of gardening today, as it's getting warmer and more like planting weather. Just tidying up, weeding and a bit of digging at the moment, although have left potatoes on the windowsill in a shallow cardboard box lid to chit (sprout). Haven't done this before, but am told it is the way to go to get the best out of them. This year am growing Arran Pilot maincrop potatoes and Charlotte salad potatoes. Haven't grown Arran Pilot before (recommendation from my mother-in-law), but we've grown Charlottes a couple of times in the past - they are very resistant to slugs which works well in our garden, and taste very nice although the skins do tend to flake off when you boil them. Am going to be growing them in large potato bags this year - tried one last year with good results.

Also today have planted herb seeds on the kitchen windowsill - basil, thyme and sage.

I'd love to have a big garden and grow lots of things - vegetables, herbs, fruit mainly. Unfortunately, working full time with lots of hobbies and a 10 month old baby doesn't lend itself to spending lots of time to do gardening. It's probably a good thing therefore that we have the smallest garden going - well almost I'm sure. One day I hope to have lots more time and a bigger garden. I'd love to grow most of my own vegetables, I love to make my own fences and raised beds out of fallen trees, all the old fashioned, natural things that they did hundreds of years ago.

I will aim to post on here anything of significance happening in the garden. Maybe I'll even put on some photos at some point.

Civilisation - Episode 2

This episode centred around the 10-12th centuries and the rise of the church. Clark started off in England, showing some of the great English cathedrals and telling us that the abbeys and priories were repositories of art and learning, with many of the most intelligent becoming monks.

The rest of the episode was then spent in France. First at Cluny Abbey in the Loire region. The land and money to build the cathedral was given by William I of Aquitaine, who unlike other reigious donors, gave the abbey and abbot free reign over all the lands and income, requesting only that prayers were said for him and his family.

Cluny Abbey became very rich and powerful and had dependant priories in France, Spain, England, Scotland and Italy which were ruled over by its Abbot. It focused more on prayer, learning and looking after the poor. It could afford workers for the Abbey and lands, giving the monks more time for prayer. Three successful abbey buildings were constructed, and Cluny was a major influence on Western European architecture. It's most enduring legacy however was probably the major role in causing Christianity to permeate and solidify in the core of Central Western Europe.

The episode went on to talk about St Denis and Chartres (the latter originally built in the Romanesque style and rebuilt after fire in the Gothic style after change in tastes, brought about by the former). St Denis was the trendsetter for Gothic style and its architect kept a detailed diary about the building of the cathedral.

Civilisation by Kenneth Clark

Just watched the first episode of 'Civilisation' by Kenneth Clark, a 13 part documentary series made by the BBC in 1966/67, a landmark first for its scope and magnificent scenes from all round the world, it set the tone for many documentaries to come. The DVD sound and picture are surprisingly good on my widescreen HD TV! My wife wouldn't like it, she called 'America' by Alistair Cooke 'man talking' as she said it was just a man talking with some pictures/video backdrop. This is similar, but the scenes are breathtaking, and the talking very interesting, so I love it.

The first episode is called 'The Skin of Our Teeth' and the basic premise is we got through the dark ages through the skin of our teeth, and it could easily have been different and western civilisation not reasserted itself.

The episode starts by examining why the Roman Empire, and thus the whole Greco-Roman world, fell. Clark's view was that it was fear and boredom. Fear of invading barbarians which stopped people planning and building for the future or planting the next year's crops. And boredom as people grow bored of the stagnant culture, some almost wishing the barbarians would invade, as a change would be better than the same old, same old.

Once the Roman Empire fell, there was an island of civilisation in Constantinople but this shut itself off and wanted nothing to do with Western Europe. Early Christians sought the far reaches of the world to escape the barbarians and keep the tiny flame of Christianity alive. These early missionaries found various remote rocky outcrops, including Iona and one literal rock in the Atlantic which they clung to for 400 years and built huts out of the rock, and crude crosses with stone and white crystal found on the outcrop (too small to be called an island). They also carved a stone causeway up to the top of the island. The thought of these early Christians stubbornly clinging to this outpost for so long is quite awe inspiring. Christians later found their way to Iona and this was a safe haven where they could settle as a base from which to spread Christianity. They wrote and decorated fabulous gospels, some of which survive today. I've been to Iona when quite young with my mum and dad and recognised the place, especially the stone Ionian Cross. At the time I wasn't really interested though. Shame.

For civilisation to reassert itself, someone needed to create stability (through fighting to assert peace). This first occured in France, the Kingdom of the Franks, and Charlemagne was the most important of these early rulers. As well as establising and controlling a large empire, he believed in art and books, and had many classic books copied. As nearly all the originals of Greek & Roman books no longer survive, it is thanks to Charlemagne that we know them at all. The other important thing that Charlemagne did was reconnect with what remained of Roman civilisation in Rome, and the pope made him Holy Roman Emperor. He also visited Constantinople, and was so impressed with the stone built mosaic decorated Hagia Sophia that he built a replica himself at home (the first significant building made of stone in centuries). As an aside, the Hagia Sophia was first built in 360 AD on the orders of the Emperor Justinian, served as cathedral of Constantinople until 1453, and then became a mosque until 1934, opening as a museum in 1935.

The Vikings also made an appearance - for they had culture, if not civilisation, with their magnificently carved boats, and poems, runic alphabet and Islandic sagas.

The reason the Dark Ages were called the Dark Ages was because there was no art, writing, great buildings or other culture, except for the remains of the Roman Empire. By the skin of our teeth though, we made it through.

A Young Theodore Roosevelt

This is based mainly on 'Mornings on Horseback' by David McCullough, which I am currently listening to the audiobook of. It covers Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt's young life and formative years. Will edit as I get through more of the book.

Teddy (pronounced tea-dee in the audiobook) was the son of Theodore Roosevelt Snr and Mittie Bullock. Theodore Senior was from a long line of Roosevelts in New York, dating back to the 1600's when it was New Amsterdam. He worked in the family firm (glass manufacture/importing) but was more interested in family and his various charitable works. The Roosevelts were very wealthy and had considerable standing in New York society. Mittie Bullock was from Savannah, Georgia, and later Roswell, Georgia (at first a summer home, later permanent), from a family of wealthy southern (slave owning) planters. Theodore Snr heard of Mittie and her sister from friends in New York who were from Georgia, and having heard of their beauty resolved to pay them a visit. They fell in love, but only got together and were betrothed some three years later. Mittie Bullock was the sister of James D Bullock and Irvine Bullock, both Confederate Civil War heroes in the south (this was later, when Teddy was a few years old).

Teddy was born in 1858. He had an older sister Anna 'Bamie' (b. 1855), a younger brother Elliott (b. 1860) and a younger sister Corinne 'Conie' (b. 1861)

Teddy suffered from asthma from a young age, and was often held by his father in the night, or taken to the country for the weekend for some fresh country air. He liked animals, and loved his mother's stories about his southern ancestors/relatives and their heroic exploits.

The American Civil War was a difficult time for the family, as Mittie was a southerner, and most of the male members of her family were fighting in the war. In contrast the Roosevelts, although northern patriots, did not fight. Like many of their wealth and class, they escaped the draft by paying the several hundred dollars each for a substitute to fight in their place. Theodore Snr did play his part though, and set up a scheme for soldiers to send some of their pay home to the wives and families struggling to survive without their income and labour. Mittie's brothers James D Bullock and Irvine Bullock were southern heroes in the Confederate Navy, Irvine as a sailor, and James for planning and arranging the secret building of the commercial raider 'Alabama' which some think lengthened the war by a matter of years. After the war they lived in exile in Liverpool, England.

After the war, the Roosevelts went on a year long grand tour of Europe, starting with England (Liverpool, and stayed with James and Irvine Bullock) and moving on to the continent. 10 year old Teddy kept a diary every day, and the trip was to have a huge influence on him.

His health was not great throughout the trip abroad and afterwards, so his father placed him with a renowned fitness expert to toughen him up, fill him out and generally improve his health and fitness. Teddy worked hard at it, but how much help it was it debatable. Later his mother arranged for a fully equipped gym to be set up at home! His eyesight was also quite poor.

One of the things that had a big effect on his health and well-being was when his father bought him a shotgun and a pair of spectacles. Suddenly he could see so much he couldn't before, and was especially impressed with all of the birds in the sky. He took to shooting them, and he would then stuff them for his collection (he had a museum in the attic at home). Not long after the Natural History Museum opened in New York, the records show a number of animals donated by a 14 year old 'Theodore Roosevelt Jnr'.

As well as fitness training, Teddy and his brother Elliot were trained by a young tutor, a Harvard Graduate. At first they were on a par academically, but after a while Teddy started pulling ahead. It was decided that Teddy, and not his brother, would go to college, and his tutor started preparing him for the Harvard entrance exam, which in time he passed and left for university. It was decided that he wouldn't live in dorms with the other students, but would have his own house in town. Bami was sent up earlier that summer to prepare things. He lived alone, but had a manservant and a maid. While academically very bright it took him a while to adjust to academic discipline and getting on with fellow students (heretofore he hadn't even been to a proper school, being educated at home). Socially he wasn't very good, but did find one or two close friends, one in particular he used to go hunting with. His exam grades were good and he even published his first pamphlet about birds in the local Massachusetts area. He generally really enjoyed his early years at Harvard, and his health was the best it ever had been. He never entirely got rid of his asthma, but attacks became much milder and more infrequent from Harvard days onwards. It is considered that being away from home and the associated pressures, and having his own place probably contributed to this improvement in health.

Meanwhile back in New York his father was becoming active in Republican politics, in particular part of a reform group that was opposed to career politics and those who served as politicians to line their own pockets and build up their own power. He played a part in getting Rutherford B Hayes elected President. The Custom House governor (correct title?)in New York was one of the most lucrative jobs in politics, as in it you could choose your staff and take a cut of all customs fees and penalties collected, and distribute that how you saw that. It was also a magnet for corruption, and there was a lot of corruption at the time. It was decided to oust Chester A Arthur from the position, and install Theodore Roosevelt Snr. He said he would take the job without pay, and his experience in business and importing would have made him an excellent choice. However political opponents hated Roosevelt and were able to stop him getting confirmed by the Senate. He was personally relieved but 'sad for the country' as the corrution could carry on. Soon after this episode he became ill and died within a few months. Young Teddy was not told of how serious it was until the day before Theodore's death. He caught the night boat from Boston to New York, but when he arrived the next day, his father was already dead.

His father's death had a profound effect on Teddy, and he couldn't help but link his failure in politics with his death soon afterwards, and came to the decision that he wouldn't fail.

River Lune walk - part 1

Just done part one of walk along the River Lune from source to mouth, with my dad. For anyone that is reading this, the River Lune is a river in the North West of England which passes through Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Sedbergh and a few smaller places. Total length is 44 miles, but did about 4 miles today, from Glasson Dock (Condor Green) to Lancaster. I got to the starting point by bus, which took less than 15 minutes, and met my dad there. The walk took about an hour and a half, plus 10 minute break midway. Weather was quite nice, cloudy with the odd bit of sun poking through the clouds, and warmer than it has been recently. The scenery wasn't up to much, mostly muddy sand dunes, but from the next leg of our journey onwards the scenery should be a lot better, with clear waters, trees and fields, birds and so on. Just read that further up the river the path passes an old Roman Fort which should be good. Anyway next leg is Lancaster to Caton, which is about 5 miles, and we are hoping to do that over Easter if we get chance.


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History of the World in 100 Objects (Part 3)

Flood Tablet – One of the tablets that makes up the surviving fragments of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated in the 19th century, it tells the story of a great flood, pre-dating the biblical flood by 500 years. The similarities are remarkable. Did the writers of the biblical story copy from the Mesopotamian stone tablets, or are they both based on an earlier mythic or historic event?

Rhind Mathematical Papyrus – large papyrus with over 100 everyday mathematical puzzles, such as how to calculate the amount of grain needed to feed 500 workers for a month. The narrator called it ‘an entrance exam for the Egyptian Civil service’. It was certainly the revision handbook at least. This is also one of the few examples of Egyptian mathematics that survives, and not by mathematicians, so the question of whether the Egyptians made many of the important mathematical discoveries rather than the Greeks (i.e. did the Greeks get what they know from the Egyptians) is still unknown.

Mold Gold Cape – This was a gold cape made from a single ingot of gold (about the size of a ping pong ball) about 1900-1600 B.C., and beaten incredibly thin. This was found in a grave by a group of workmen in the early 1800’s. The gold was divided up amongst the workers and the farmer whose land it was found on. It probably would have been forgotten to history but for a local vicar who wrote about the find, attracting the attention of the British museum, which over the following 150 years sought out the different pieces and found most, but not all, of them. The cape was unique in all of Europe, and was of immense value, obviously worn by someone very important, though the size of it indicates it was for a small woman or a child. It is likely the owners of the cape were connected with the Great Orme Copper mine nearby, the largest bronze age copper mine in north west Europe.

Indus Seal – Series of small stone seals with pictures and symbols/writing on, dating back 4,500 years old. These were probably used in trade. The Indus Valley civilisations were only rediscovered in the early 20th century, despite being one of the world’s first civilisations, and one without evidence of violence in their culture. They built over 150 cities, one of the largest of which was Harappa, where these seals were found. Some cities had advanced sanitation systems, large scale architecture and even a modern grid layout of their cities. What is amazing is that it was so recently discovered, there’s so much still to be learned, including the language of the Indus civilisation, which has yet to be deciphered. It’s just waiting for someone to crack the code.

Gold Coin of Croesus – (550 B.C). One of the first gold coins, made in the city state of Lydia, in modern day Turkey. Lydia was a trading centre, renowned for its wealth. Its last King, Croesus, invented money. This was probably because before then people used gold and other precious metals but when trading, the gold had to be tested for weight and purity which was time consuming and difficult. So Croesus had the idea of minting coins that had a standard weight and purity, thus taking the responsibility for ensuring weight and purity away from merchants and to the hands of the government. This was a very successful move and made Croesus and Lydia incredibly rich. Even today there exists the phrase, ‘as rich as Croesus’.

Eventually Lydia was invaded and conquered by the Persians, and Croesus was taken by the Persian king as his advisor, and he helped develop money throughout the Persian empire.

Sphinx of Taharqo – Sphinx showing a black pharaoh. This is because for a period around 680 B.C.. the neighbouring Kingdom of Kush, in modern day Sudan, successfully invaded Egypt and took over, but maintained Egyptian customs and government etc. They created a hybrid identity combining Kushite and Egyptian customs. The Kushite reign ended after less than 100 years, when they were invaded by the Assyrians.