Hello all,

Not going to be posting for a bit as I am not very well here,  have had a bad reaction to a couple of recent Blandford Fly bites and now have a bad case of CFS related stuff and joint flare up as well, so am feeling pretty poorly. Am only just about able to stagger around and have been in/on bed a fair bit for the last couple of days.

Have been feeling increasingly unwell for weeks and just kept going but now Compostman has ordered me to rest, which I am doing and actually it is about all I am up to doing.

Looking back at my diary, I have done quite a lot of stuff in the last few weeks despite not feeling so great. It was all excellent and really enjoyable but if I do extra activities, outside of the normal day -to -day stuff, I find I rapidly lose energy and become prone to catching infections etc. Which is what has happened to me this time.

Still, I have done several Master Gardener and Master Composter mentoring sessions, went off to Ryton and met up with lots of people, have re accreditied my First Aid at Work and First Aid in theOutdoors qualifications all of which is good.

Hopefully will be feeling better, soon and able to post more about hens, wood and garden stuff.

A dose of reality for a New Year and the idea of One Big Chore a day

So. A New Year. 2011.

I don't do resolutions and all that stuff...if I want to do something I do it and I do it when *I* want, not on a certain date dictated to by the calendar/the media etc....

BUT this year I have decided to try to be a little more balanced in the way I work during 2011, so as to spread out my work load. Several friends have commented that I seem to do "a lot" and that maybe , sometimes, just sometimes, I overdo it a bit..(Moi? Overdo it? Surely not?)

Well, actually, yes I do. So much of what I do seems like fun, not work, so I don't notice how shattered I am until I have finished. I am not good at doing nothing and never have been!

But, I am aware that as I get older my health gets worse. My immune system is still pretty poor. I still have CFS/ME and although I am so much better than I EVER thought I would be, if I overdo things I suffer the consequences of days and days of fatigue and I seem to catch the weirdest illnesess...like the viral labyrinthitis. The fact that I am a Type "A" hyperachiever doesn't make resting up any easier, either. Lol.

So. I have to recognise these facts. I have to start pacing myself and factoring in some rest time during the day, so as to be able to keep on, keeping on.

So I am going to try to only do "One Big Chore" (OBC) a day, either outside or inside, depending on the weather. Obviously I have a family, a house and business to run and animals to feed etc and they need doing everyday, but apart from that I will try to do only do one chore which is the sort of thing that takes a couple of hours to do. Things like spring cleaning one room, or washing all the windows, or mucking out the MegaHenPen or digging out a number of compost bins and spreading the compost. BIG CHORES. You know the sort of thing.

Previously I would do One Big Chore (OBC)and then think "ooo still time to do ..." and get stuck in to another OBC, even though really I needed to go and sit down with a cup of tea for half an hour and rest. I also want, need to make time to do some of the craft things I so love.


Today my OBC was mucking out the Mega Hen Pen, composting all the stuff and refilling up the floor with bark. I also put down a couple more pallet patios for the feathery ladies and generally cleaned and primped the hen run. I had help from Compostgirl and later on Compostman , so it only took 3 hours rather than the usual 5.

And then I had a sit down, and a cup of tea and I wrote this post.

See, I CAN "do" resting and pacing, honest! :-))

I hope you had a very good 1st Jan

A very wet Monday, with pears to be picked and things to be done.

Managed to get up and get dressed, (eventually) after a very long lie in and breakfast in bed, thanks to lovely CM.

I wandered outside and collected eggs and let out the feathery ladies, have picked 17 lb of assorted beans in the sunshine, scrubbed out a few buckets and trod washed a load of horticultural fleece sheet.

Came in, scrubbed the kitchen bench and prepped some tomatos for drying later. I have also put on a load of washing and tidied up several rooms of assorted "stuff"

All this took 5 hours, as opposed to the normal about 1. Not operating at full efficiency, I think

Am now lying down again (3 pm) , having exhausted all energy for the moment.

Hmm dark thundery clouds are appearing, I want to pick the Beth pears but they are not quite ready to be picked BUT may get knocked off by the storm if I don't pick them...bother, what to do for the best?

5 pm update. Answered my own question and have just picked over 50 lb of pears. Obviously not yet quite ripe but ready to pick ( come off easily with stalk intact when raised up horizontal) and would have been knocked off by any wind/heavy rain.  About as many left which are not ready to pick, yet. Hope they can stand the gales/rain etc!

Pouring with rain here, has been since 11 pm Sunday. Did right thing with pear picking! BUT sadly looks like the Blaisdon Red plums will be ruined by the rain ( they go mouldy on the tree if it stays too wet/humid )

Have to take Peter Rabbit to the vets for his Mixy jab and to possibly collect an abandoned rescue cat later today. Fingers crossed it all works out...!

Stiffening up and shutting down

Been a bit absent for the last few days as I have had a CFS flare up and slowly stiffened up and shut down. Don't think it is a virus, I recognise the signs and have been getting them for a couple of days now...aches, confusion, extreme tiredness, dislike of bright lights and loud noise etc.

I have found it hard to even type this, so am going to sit on sofa under blanket with CG and watch HP and the half blood prince dvd. I have been resting a lot and sleeping a lot. Compostman has been wonderful ( as always) and has just let me rest

I have allowed myself to be fooled by the fact I have felt really pretty good, for me, lately and have overdone it a bit I suspect...I find it very hard to pace myself, always have and then suffer the result...that is one of the worst things about ailments like this, you can't FORCE yourself to do stuff as there is just no energy there to do it.

Bother! I MUST get on with dealing with produce mountain, gardening etc. I knew I shouldn't have been spending valuable energy on fun stuff like card making, knitting and embroidery, sigh.  But life can't be ALL work, surely?


Anyway, hopefully a lot of rest now will nip this bout in the bud and I will get some energy back, soon.


Hope you are all keeping well?

Ow ow toothache

NOT a good day here...was thinking I had a cold coming Thurs because I had face ache and a sensitive tooth, by yesterday it turned into raging toothache, a loose tooth and then a swollen face and a general feeling of unwellness.

So I stayed at home last night, and missed Compostgirl's Summer Concert at school. I really really couldn't face going, so Compostman went with her and watched and reported back. I must have looked bad because even Compostgirl said she thought I should stay at home!

I had a very poor nights sleep, so was left to lie in by family and only surfaced just before lunchtime today. I feel terrible, tbh, and am debating going down to  local small Hospital or to wait and see if I can fight off the (probable) infection until Monday. As usual with me (due to CFS) my ankles and wrists  all stiffen and swell up when I get anything else wrong with me, so am all aching as well.

Am going to sit and watch "The Meistersingers of Nurunberg" which is the Prom tonight on BBC TV, all 5 hours of it. Wrapped up in a duvet with hot compresses and various things to put on my poorly face and tooth. I am determined to have a good evening!

Back in the land of the living....

Well, I am back in the land of the blog, anyway....

Where do I start? I am still rather weak and poorly but am feeling a little more like my pre July self, and have been able to get on with a few of the million and one things which need doing around here.

So here are some lovely fruit and veg from the garden and polytunnel.



I took the opportunity of my enforced rest to get on with preparation for various workshops I an giving in the autumn and next spring, one is recycled paper making and paper crafts so I have been busy pressing and drying leaves and flowers to add to the paper we will be making.

I have also been collecting and drying Lavender and other flowers to use in dried flower arrangements.



The cats as always watch everything I do. This time they got up on the scaffolding and were peering in through the study window!



When they are not sleeping, that is!