Category Archives: Wildlife

Polytunnel business

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The polytunnel is now up and we are in business! There’s nowt much in there now apart from some assorted chillies, a few different types of tomatoes and some freshly sown spinach but we’re sure that’ll change in a week or so.

It took us a good morning and a bit of “That isn’t the right piece, where’s 5B?”, the thing falling apart and it looking like a skeleton of a whale on the lawn, and parts moving when they weren’t supposed to but we got there in the end. After a good tighten up, the frame was put into place (above). Thanks to Alan C for lots of tips, especially this great one: “I put a layer of woodchip under mine but some use wood strips or gravel/stones. This gives a nice evenly flat base and slows the frame rusting – the woodchip quickly dries out and separates the poles from the soil.”

As soon as we put the cover on we dug a little trench and tucked the excess of the cover into the ground and put broken concrete slabs, bricks and whathaveyou to weigh it down and then backfilled with soil and more woodchip so it is hopefully stays put in the wind.

As we said there’s not much in there at the moment but we’ll update you. Cheers to Alan C again for his tips and advice. Big up all Polytunnel crew!

 

 

Trees and pears in north London

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Thanks to Debby H for sending us some pictures yesterday. The first is a council planted hibiscus tree (as Debby said, it was common practice for councils to plant London Planes in the capital and not much else, years ago). The tree seemed to be surviving well during this prolonged drought we are going through this year. Sadly, her plant at home (below) is not doing as good as the above example and “has shed its leaves in favour of producing a flower.” That is so sad but what a wonderful flower.

We were told recently by a chap who cultivates and sells plants for a living, that it will be next year where we may see what damage has been caused to the plants through the stress of this drought. Some good news though, as Debby picked her pears and herethey are in (below). She is now waiting for them to soften up and ripen. Thanks for the pictures and for keeping us updated.

Preparation, preparation, preparation

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This afternoon we cleared an area (which once housed a greenhouse many moons ago) in preparation for a polytunnel which will arrive sometime this week. Thanks to Alan C who gave us some great advice about purchasing one, as we didn’t know much about what was on offer out there.

We weren’t the only ones that were excited today, there were a Blackbird and a Robin who swooped down a few times even when we walked a little way away, we must’ve disturbed some food in the area or someting.

Harvest time in a Skybird Radio International style

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Cheers to our good friend in Cincinnati, Justin Patrick Moore for the pictures of his harvest from the other day, some brilliant eggplants (aubergines) there and is that a small cucumber? Brilliant stuff Justin.

And from Spike from Morschen43 in Le Puy-en-Velay some great Haricot Beurre (butter beans) which he said “has a nice taste and are delicious with tomatoes” and talking of tomatoes, here’s his first Black Crimea beefsteak (below)

And below a Beefheart (also known as Coeur de Bœuf or oxheart tomato). Wow they look great! Cheers for sending them on Spike as they look great.

And talking of the great captain himself:

 

Please don’t take our sunlight away

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Thanks to Debby H for this great (inverted) image of the partial eclipse last night taken in north London at the maximum at 7.13 pm. What an excellent photograph!

And here’s two eclipse related tracks, the first from the The Eclipse Band with a very aptly titled Daylight Robbery. And another, from DNN called Eclipse Dub.

We didn’t see the eclipse as it went dark

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Strange lighting was the order of the day when we witnessed the partial eclipse of the sun in SE23 around 7.16 pm this evening. The colander was out and reflected said phenomenon onto the fence. Crazy stuff!

The earth didn’t stand still and the birds didn’t stop singing but it was an interesting evening all the same and it was nice when the light went back to normal again.

Here’s an eclipse-related (originally for shortwave) mix from a few years ago called “Can you see Baily’s beads?”

Tracklistings:
A Man called Adam – Moon
Cosmos – Summer in space (Mark’s Harmonic 33 mix)
Cedric Im Brooks – Blackness of Darkness
Cornell Campbell – Stars

The colander is now back in the cupboard until the next eclipse in 2056 or whenever it is, the birds have gone to sleep for the evening and the world continues turning…

Referencing Manuel Göttsching

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An excellent rework/re-referencing by Alex Kassian of the excellent E2-E4 by Manuel Göttsching with the Mad Professor’s Qantas Crazy remix heard on the excellent Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room show the other week on IDA Radio here.

Tune into IDA Radio in Tallinn here every Monday from 9am for an great show featuring ambient, dub, reggae, funk, house and whathaveyou from The Rhythm Doctor.

We do love Sueño Latino of course but we also love the original version by Manuel Göttsching over two sides of an LP!

Road sign of the week

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Thanks to Debby H for sending us this great “geese crossing” road sign from her locality in north London. “The geese used to live by the pond in North London Business Park. That area has been (and is still being) redeveloped. We don’t know if the pond is still there, or if the contract work has frightened the geese away. We haven’t seen them lately.”

“When we first moved here, the geese would cross the road to go to a grassed area, then cross back again later, to go back to their pond in the business park. There would be a small procession of them crossing the road, and the cars would all stop for them. They didn’t hurry either!”

Brilliant stuff Debby!