Constant source of irritation picking off stripy hard shelled beetles from the potato crop leaves and squashing their little heads as a yellowy orange paste squirts out. Even worse to exterminate are the pre-shelled babies and over-fed teenagers with their slimy exteriors.
On the contrary the strawberry transplanting from last year has given us a scrumptious quantity this time round. Having almost got tired of eating so many, jam making was back on the agenda. A rich, flavoursome, dark-coloured mixture which will only be used for emergency special treats in the darkest months of the winter.
And as temperatures swell so do the weeds. Less work can be done without a dripping perspiration requiring a bucket to collect the precious drops of lost energy. Controlling the jungle garden a lost task until the heat drops. We love our poppy collection though.
With thunderstorms back on the horizon it is not a good time to have two broken front wheels on the mower. A trip to a hardware shop and then some pretense to think I can fix it. Otherwise there is the broken handled scythe to relive my nightmares from the first year at Havran..
Nice to read about updates on the cottage.
ReplyDeleteDaresay, it's a great work of perseverance, romancing (and romanticising, along the way)the nature; and a will to evolve a friendly way of sustenance - the way it was intended in the first place.
Extermination by drowning, wasn't that a better option?
Strawberries and the excesses; we immensely desire to be there.
Sad to hear about the loss to Mici - RIP the unnamed one.
Relish and cherish the jam.....