Getting Ready For The Weekend

It's my last week. On Sunday I will be driving south through Wales, across the Severn Bridge and down through south-west England to Pilsdon Community to spend another winter with them as a residential volunteer. I'm looking forward to the daily Tea and Toast at 4:30pm by the roaring hearth, oh and to seeing all my friends down there again! 

Where has this year gone? Can it really be nine months ago that I returned to my plot of land to start the growing season off again? Did summer happen?

There's a lot to do before I go. Not only does the veg garden and polytunnel need to be cleared (apart from some kale and brussel sprouts which I'll leave standing) and covered in garden lime that hasn't arrived yet, I have to pack everything up that I'm taking with me and store the rest in the polytunnel and at Anna's house. I'm also doing the last veg delivery today to the veg bag scheme - lots of Jerusalem artichokes, butternut squash and salad, and my last firewood delivery of the year.

My firewood business picked up a bit right at the end. Despite putting adverts around in various places a few months ago, I was only selling the occasional trailer-load to friends until I decided to stick in a little ad in the weekly “Swapshop” email last week, that local people use here mostly to trade unwanted things. 

That has resulted in some more trips, including one at Dynyn Cooperative, a house way up in the mountains accessible only by a long, narrow, steep and bumpy track. I got lost trying to find it but eventually arrived and unloaded the firewood. It was only the next day I discovered the trailer's right wheel was flat, it must have been punctured by the evil track. Thankfully I had a spare wheel otherwise I'd be in trouble - I need the trailer to take stuff back to Pilsdon!

Sadly Anna won't be able to join me on my winter retreat, as she has this thing called a permanent job. She will however be coming for a short break in December. And I will be returning to Wales a month earlier than usual, at the beginning of February. So this blog will only have less than three months hiatus, and in the meantime if you like you can follow my Pilsdon Progress at mattswanindorset. Thanks for reading!

p.s. Did you think you could get through a whole article today without hearing about Trump? Sorry.