RAISING APPLE SEEDLINGS Orchards accompanied every farmstead and small holding in the Olden Days. The seasonal pressing of apples for cider and juice was part and parcel of normal life. Back then, leftover ‘mash’ (pulped apples) was fed to pigs or spread in odd field corners to over-winter and, the next spring, see what came [...]
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Posts Tagged ‘shaftesbury’
DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman RAISING APPLE SEEDLINGS
Friday, May 28th, 2010DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE VANISHING OF THE BEES
Friday, May 7th, 2010THE VANISHING OF THE BEES The alarm disturbs my slumbers at first light and I lie there in half-conscious limbo for half an hour or more, pausing the phone each time it rings to urge me on. Outside, birds are welcoming the new morning in their remarkable, dawn-chorus way. Woodpigeons’ lazy snooze breezes in through [...]
Read More »27January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ROADKILL
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010ROADKILL Randy dog foxes are on the move. The lust inside males of this species seems to be as strong as that which grips two-legged mammals. In these long dark months before the spring he’s out and about, hot-footing it through the landscape in search of a mate. I saw three stark signs of sex in [...]
Read More »26 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HAPPY TO CARRY ON
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010HAPPY TO CARRY ON The sun didn’t come out in Shaftesbury until early this afternoon though it remained bitter cold. Shortly before 3pm I moved from raspberries in the shelter of a barn wall onto the big bed, which I’m reclaiming slowly from 18 months of weeds, and into full sun. By then the fire I’d [...]
Read More »7 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ANARCHY IN THE U.K.
Thursday, January 7th, 2010ANARCHY IN THE U.K. Although I’ve had enough of the snow already and look forward to a thaw and emerging signs of spring, I do like the anarchic nature of this frozen beast and the way it brings so many things we take for granted to a grinding halt. In many cases we’ve no choice but [...]
Read More »27 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HUMPING FAGGOTS
Sunday, December 27th, 2009HUMPING FAGGOTS I planned to stroll out to the Foyle Hill Rabbit Warren and watch the sun go down. As it was, I turned short of the footpath stile and into the sunken world of Breech Lane. The top-side hedge has been managed for many years by the same man, a Shastonian and elder statesman [...]
Read More »9 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman A RAVEN FLEW OVER
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009A RAVEN FLEW OVER A raven came over from the south, cronking in the bright but cloudy sky. Two jackdaws flew out to meet it, not with pleasure but as though to see off an enemy. For a minute their cries dominated the midday soundscape, three black birds doing an aggrivated dance. The biggest of [...]
Read More »8 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman LOOKS LIKE A BUILDING SITE
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009LOOKS LIKE A BUILDING SITE Shaftesbury has grown since I last parked up opposite the eastern development adjacent to the A30 and had a proper look. Red brick houses have sprung up like mushrooms within their scaffold-pole shells. Some of the new homes that were “coming soon” are already here. I met an old mate [...]
Read More »17 November 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE APPRENTICE GARDENER
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009Last week I had the pleasure of chatting to 19-year old Nathan Biggs from Shaftesbury. He’s a shining example of positive energy at a time when it would be easy to drag your feet and give up hope. Nathan felt quietly overlooked at school. He left formal education at the earliest opportunity to become a [...]
Read More »26 October 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman NOT QUITE HOT ENOUGH
Monday, October 26th, 2009It was incredibly warm today in Shaftesbury. Tee-shirt weather at the end of October. I had to open extra vents in the greenhouse. Gave a drink of water to revive wilting salads in pots. Also took the hoe to a smattering of weeds that peppered bare soil between Brussels sprouts and recently planted winter onions [...]
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