I still didn't manage to pick all the crab apples but this was a pretty good result - forty-four jars! Still a fully paid up member of insomniacs anonymous I was making it at 5.00am - very 'farmers wife'!!
We have been looking at wood burning boilers as an environmentally friendly (and cheaper) way of heating the house -once the initial costs have been covered in five years or so we should be able to heat the whole house and provide hot water for a few hundred pounds a year - less if we can collect a fair amount of the wood ourselves, which is pretty good. Today I bought a log splitting mawl and may see tomorrow if I can wield it effectively without taking my leg off - watch this space.
We will retain the gas boiler to give an option for Richards Mum and Dad in the unlikely event that there is no-one here to feed the boiler. We had a demonstration from a chap in Grantown who took us into his shed where the boiler was housed and we were met by a strong smell of whisky - not from him I hasten to add but from the discarded whisky barrels that he was chopping up to burn - oak I suspect - sacrilege.
While we were in Grantown we took Rhema to the vet - she had developed a limp the night after I got here and was finding it difficult to get up and lay down and almost impossible to go downstairs . The problem seemed to be in her front leg and we had set a deadline for it resolving on its own before making the appointment. Like many children she had largely recovered by the time she was seen although was limping again after being examined. Fortunately its' nothing too serious and after a couple of doses of anti-inflammatories and rest she is pretty much back to normal. She is only allowed to walk on the lead for a week or so but as she is the most indolent dog and infinitely prefers snoozing in front of a log fire it hasn't been any great hardship!
The weather has been very windy and intermitently wet with snow on the hills so activities have largely been based indoors and I have managed to get the embroidery machine going for the first time since we moved here. It has suffered a little from the transportation - not helped by being dropped on the way into the house although Richard nobly put his head in the way to break its fall!! The scars have faded now though and I have managed to sort out the glitches on the machine so hopefully will be able to start production once my work hours are reduced in the New Year.
Richard is in Sutton at the moment and flies back here on Saturday accompanied by Rutton and Kate while Sarah and Joe drive down South on Friday for ten days visiting friends and family - the first time Joe has been back down since March. With Richards Mum and Dad having just left after another week here and already booked in for a week in February there is plenty of 'coming and going' here!
The seeds are ordered for next years veg although the veg garden won't be fully operational for a while but we have enough areas to grow a fair amount anyway. The existing plots with the veg I planted in the summer are looking great and we are looking forward to eating the produce in due course. We still have a constant supply of salad leaves and the cabbages will be ready shortly. I am hoping to install a polytunnel next year which will extend the growing season considerably but am waiting out a winter to see if the prevailingwinds are likely to demolish it and deposit it in the field. Seeing our garden furniture blown into the middle of the lawn this morning made me think that the secure siting of a polytunnel could be a challenge!
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