Tag Archives: BBQ

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Had a good morning in the garden this morning helping Julia out. The group put up a shade shelter yesterday using the existing posts and a bit of camo netting. They will now be able to eat their lunch without the fear of sunburn or aerial reconnaissance.

Julia attaching shade netting
Safe from aerial reconnaissance

A few final touches were required, and that’s where I came in. It’s good to feel useful, even if it was my height rather than my design skills that were needed – as you can see from the photos, it’s a bit of a stretch for one of us.

Julia did some painting and other bits while I took photos and swept the tearoom floor. That’s my place in this marriage.

Bean flowers
Bean flowers
Assorted beans
Young salad

One of the ongoing jobs is to make the entrance to the garden a bit more colourful and inviting. There was a decrepit barbecue in one of the sheds, with lots of rust and a selection of holes in the bottom. With a bit of vision (think “drainage” holes) and some surplus paint it is now a bright and cheerful herb planter.

Upcycled herb planter.
Decrepit bbq transformation

The morning was, apart from the company, a bit dull. This was an impression that was further reinforced when I drove past Trent Bridge at 12.15 – they had the lights on for the Test Match. I’d hate to think of the bill for that lot.

A blog in need of a smart title

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Even if I cut out all the boring bits (I do cut out the boring bits don’t I?), and cut out details of my personal life there’s still a lot happening. Even after I cut out the lives of our clients, the majority of my moaning and, intriguing as they may be to me, the workings of my bowels, there is still too much happening. Without spending all night writing about it I just couldn’t cover it.

So this is a quick digest of some things that happened in the week.

(1) Got some good butterfly and moth sightings – Julia got the best ones this morning whilst taking round a class of 4-year-olds. Included Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood and a Painted Lady.

(2) I got a good photo of a Silver Y in the polytunnel – hanging on the roof to make the photo look weird.

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(3) One of the kids got stuck in the toilet seat – too big for the adaptor and too small…well, you get the picture. Actually, and I cannot tell a lie just to appear more interesting, this is a lie. But a couple were afraid of falling in. And someone’s hat once fell in. I remember it well as I had to get it out. The kids didn’t want it back, as you may imagine, but it’s not compostable. Then one of the teachers told us how her daughter got wedged down the toilet whilst potty-training. The daughter is now 19 and hates the story. Well, you would, wouldn’t you.

(4) The scarecrows came home from the Hampton Court Garden Show.

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(5) We hosted an evening BBQ, a long bread session, yoga (twice this week) and a group of 4-year-olds. This is a restful week compared to next week.

(6) i reached over 900 followers on Twitter after a surge I can’t explain. I did wonder if I’d inadvertently used some sexual code word, like Coventry Bears Rugby League when they launched their first website without realising that “bear” was a slang term on the gay scene. Oh, how we laughed at Nottingham Outlaws.

 

 

The tumult and the shouting dies

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Last night was the peak of our current workload, with just two more weeks to go before the school holidays create a lull. All the other groups that are coming are well within the boundaries of what our equipment can cope with (we ran out of forks last night for some reason – I know we used to have over 40 but don’t know whey we only have 32 now) and we’re quite looking forward to it.

It’s just after lunch and, having done part of the clearing last night, I’m still waiting for the assistance I was promised. That’s about par for the course, and that, if only you knew it, is a very appropriate expression. In case you are confused, the farmer has gone to play golf (hence the “par”), and when he does that the farm staff all regard it as an excuse to have a holiday. Seems like me and Julia are the only idiots left working.

So I’m relaxing with a bit of Kipling, refusing to do the old music hall joke, and contemplating the next hour of washing up.

It’s amazing how much debris a BBQ generates, and how much greasy dirt lurks in corners. I’m also surprised (aghast may be better) at the various places people leave their discarded plates, cans and glasses. At least the water butts were full after a stiffish cloudburst earlier on in the day. That means people don’t tend to treat them as rubbish bins, which has happened at previous events.

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Banana, sugar, Mars bar = calorie overload and horrendous time washing up!

We used compostable paper plates so we could show off our green credentials. I’m not sure whether this is better than using our clapped out selection of second hand plates (or “upcycled crockery” as we also call it) but it did save on washing up. One of our helpers (and I use the term loosely) decided to also hand out non-compostable ones then made herself scarce when it came time to sort through the used plates and separate the two sorts.

It’s been an active morning (apart from one of the community gardeners who appeared to be impersonating a scarecrow) with egg collecting, pig visiting and upcycling milk containers. You can see some of this on our Twitter page (@QuercusCommy) or have a look at these photos.

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Upcycled milk carton

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Pigs are happier now it’s cooler

Talking of Twitter , we now have just over 900 followers – it was 902 but now it’s 901. Someone unfollowed me, but when you think I accumulated around 100 followers last week (no I don’t know how) it’s hardly surprising that some go. Many of them are about music, youth or “love” so I’m torn by indecisiveness now. Ddo I take the easy way out and keep pressing on to the magic 1,000? Or do I start paring my followers back until I only have ones that I consider to be a good fit?

Tuesday night on Tuesday night

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If this was a hard-hitting and controversial blog I’d probably write about how we’d hosted a group tonight where few of the kids had any manners (as in a complete lack of “please” and “thank you”). but as it isn’t, I’d probably have to go on to say that it probably wasn’t their fault, but that of their parents.

Yes, I’m nice. This isn’t natural, I’ve have been using relaxation techniques and such stuff and I can now look at them with a fond smile and think “I really hope this karma stuff works because you’re coming back as a pustule, young man.”

Don’t get me wrong, the majority were nice affable people you’d be happy to meet at any time and one or two were so pleasant and friendly it was a true pleasure to meet them. But, as with rotten apples, it only takes one to spoil things. They are the ones you remember. I will say no more, but as part of my mellowing process I am growing more Wodehousian, and there were one or two tonight who were absolute blisters.

On the plus side, we’re getting better with the wood-fired oven and one of the pigs has had eight piglets. We’ve normally managed more, but eight is still good.

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