THE IRON GRIP OF WINTER Ground is like iron out on the plot. We’ll not be lifting roots for a while yet, save pot-grown carrots which are in the greenhouse to keep off the worst of the frost. I walked down the allotment field to the tinker-chime of feeding goldfinches in charming flocks. They love [...]
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Posts Tagged ‘december’
21 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE IRON GRIP OF WINTER
Monday, December 21st, 200920 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman TIME OUT ON OLD TOWN STREET
Sunday, December 20th, 2009TIME OUT ON OLD TOWN STREET Sitting with a soya latte, Old Town Street-side, the centre of Plymouth, last day of On The Plot On Tour. “It’s lovely in the sun,” I say to a whistling early riser at a table t’other side of the door. He nods agreement. “Tis low this time of year,” [...]
Read More »19 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ALMOST HIT A HARE
Saturday, December 19th, 2009ALMOST HIT A HARE In the frozen ice-land, driving the A30 back from Ansty Pick-Your-Own Farm Shop this afternoon in the dark. Not going too fast. Leading a tail of three or four cars. Suddenly in the lights, out of the proverbial blue, a brown-bodied, blunt-nosed, long-eared hare illuminated on the other side but perilously [...]
Read More »18 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman DORSET TO SUSSEX BY TRAIN
Friday, December 18th, 2009DORSET TO SUSSEX BY TRAIN Less than half a dozen hardy souls braved arctic weather on the platform at Gillingham Station to catch the 05.37 to London Waterloo. With blanket coverage on last nights media about heavy expected snowfall in the South and East, I wonder how many took this opportunity for family time at [...]
Read More »17 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman PREPARING FOR SHALLOTS
Thursday, December 17th, 2009PREPARING FOR SHALLOTS 8.26am. I love how sunshine illuminates The Hangings behind St James Street an hour or so after this deep-winter day awakes. As the silver ball tentatively rises above our houses so wooded and scrubby slopes glow golden-brown. Mums and kids en route to school on top, gurgle of free-range chooks over the [...]
Read More »16 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BATTLE COMMENCES
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009BATTLE COMMENCES Pigeons have made a start on my brassicas. On this steely morning, with the promice of snow in the air, they sit a-plump and ever watchful in the lime above the veg patch. They, I’m sure, are eye-balling me and my spring cabbages in a line below. The hearts have been almost pecked out [...]
Read More »15 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman WOODING IN THE BLACKMORE VALE
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009WOODING IN THE BLACKMORE VALE I took the ridge road seven miles south of Sherborne through Holm Bushes on a numbingly cold and filthy mid mid December afternoon. I travelled slowly, heater on full whack and window down, elbow resting, eyes focussed simultaneously ahead and to the sides. Outside the van, the sound of rain [...]
Read More »14 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman LAST BEETS IN A HURRY
Monday, December 14th, 2009LAST BEETS IN A HURRY I ate the last fresh beetroot of this season last night. I was out all day so Mrs Nails boiled them for when I got home. We had a rare visit from my In-Laws so on return I put the cylidrical roots in a bowl, grabbed a hunk of Tiger bread and [...]
Read More »13 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman WHILST DRIVING HOME FROM YEOVIL
Sunday, December 13th, 2009WHILST DRIVING HOME FROM YEOVIL The mid-afternoon sun shines bright and low over sodden pasture east of Milborne Port. Standing water in the dips shines like silver and twinkles with the ripples caused by the movement of feeding gulls feet. The main road here sweeps along in sinuous bends and curves. Some are deceptively sharp. But [...]
Read More »12 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN BERKHAMSTED
Saturday, December 12th, 2009SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN BERKHAMSTED “Apples and pears! Nectar-eens!” This is the cry I remember from the street market at Berkhamsted in the mid 1990′s, heard whilst doing fund-raising stalls for the anti-hunting campaign. It was cold then in winter, too. We’d shuffle from one foot to another and stand on flattened cardboard boxes to keep our feet [...]
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