Summer is here at last, and not a moment too soon. This was a very cold very wet winter, and if it wasn't for my faithful hot water bottle, I would have been frozen stiff weeks ago.
The poor onions are one big disaster! After the pig got in and ruined almost a third of the crop, and with Bush not here to weed and look after it, the chances of making even a small bit of my outlay back is just about nil. Specially after Sheila's two old nasty cows, Jessy and Cassy flattened the fence, and made a feast of everything they could curl their tongues around.
I have decided to plant some sweetcorn, so weaponed with all the necessary tools and seeds, I manfully started on the mammoth job of getting the soil ready. Not easy, as the sun is hot and the soil where I want to plant, quite hard. The previous day I had Nickey, a man from the village to help clear the requiered piece of soil, but he only touched the surface, and now I still have to dig, and get all the weeds out. Sometimes it is just better to do things yourselve , that way you save a lot of money, and a lot of angry thoughts!
Nickey is one of the village's hardest drinkers, and he is badly ridden with gout or whatever it is that cheap wine causes, Whenever he is drunk, he, according to his wife Grietjie, chases her with knives and hammers, and all kind of harmful stuff, threatening to kill all of his family. But, when sober, she said, he is the best husband ever! he walks with a stick, his toes and ankles too sore to put too much weight on them, and whenever I told him to stop drinking so that his joints can heal, he just gives a kind of sinister giggle, and looks away into the distance.
My beetroot is a huge success, and I will have a bumper crop. Trienkie's mother in law makes the most wonderful spicy beetroot, and I am waiting for the recipe to make my own. I was kept well in stock of this, as Trienkie always gave me some when she got her share. However, Stephan's parents have now sold their sheep farm, and live in town, so I think I planted my crop just in time, as there will be no more bottles coming.
My strawberries are the best ever! Now that the peacocks and other beasties, like the chickens and snails are contained, My catapult however is always lying ready, and it is so funny when the one remaining peacock makes its way very slowly, and very carefully towards my veggie beds, just to be confronted with me and the catapult! That poor thing can really outfly any bird when he takes to the sky to get away from me! The chickens are also very wary, and when they see me coming, scatter in all directions. I have long ago stopped trying to co-erce the snails to become beer drinkers, and then drown while a bitty high, and now feed them snail bait that works perfectly.