It's been a quiet (and rainy) week here at Occombe Farm, with very few people tempted to come out in the bad weather. The weather continues to be remarkably mild for this time of year, although one day this week did bring quite a crisp frost with it.
The main task of the week has actually been prompted by the bad weather, as the Anderson shelter in our wartime garden has been continuously flooding in the heavy rain. With anywhere up to 2 feet of water inside it has remained off limits to the public for quite some time, and so the decision was made to install a drainage system.
With the shelter already being buried half way into the ground there was a lot of digging involved to simply reach the base of the shelter where the pipe would be installed, followed by an even deeper trench that the pipe would then run off into. Finally even more digging would then create a soak away at the end of the pipe to take away all the water. The largest issue came in the form of the ground already being saturated, making the heavy clay soil here even heavier.
With the rain continually falling while we were digging the trench began to fill up around us, with our bailing out efforts not keeping pace with the water coming in! After 4 days of battling the elements we had to accept that the weather would have to improve and the water subside before we can finish the job. At the time of writing the water level is still an inch or so above the top of the trench, so finishing the job tomorrow is not looking likely!
Despite the bad weather, the birds have still been out in force with flocks of redwings, several herons and woodpeckers all being spotted on the farm.
The frosted details on the leaves looked amazing!
The main task of the week has actually been prompted by the bad weather, as the Anderson shelter in our wartime garden has been continuously flooding in the heavy rain. With anywhere up to 2 feet of water inside it has remained off limits to the public for quite some time, and so the decision was made to install a drainage system.
With the shelter already being buried half way into the ground there was a lot of digging involved to simply reach the base of the shelter where the pipe would be installed, followed by an even deeper trench that the pipe would then run off into. Finally even more digging would then create a soak away at the end of the pipe to take away all the water. The largest issue came in the form of the ground already being saturated, making the heavy clay soil here even heavier.
The start of the great dig, before the monsoon that followed around an hour later!
With the rain continually falling while we were digging the trench began to fill up around us, with our bailing out efforts not keeping pace with the water coming in! After 4 days of battling the elements we had to accept that the weather would have to improve and the water subside before we can finish the job. At the time of writing the water level is still an inch or so above the top of the trench, so finishing the job tomorrow is not looking likely!
Despite the bad weather, the birds have still been out in force with flocks of redwings, several herons and woodpeckers all being spotted on the farm.
Great Spotted Woodpecker hiding in the tree
Green Woodpecker down on the ground searching for ants
While the squirrels may be a nuisance eating all of the bird food they are still pretty cute!
Our application to work on the Calf of Man has unfortunately been unsuccessful. After making the shortlist we were not selected for an interview, but it is good to know that we are not falling at the first hurdle for these types of job now. We still have a couple more irons in the fire so to speak, and we will wait and see what comes of them.
This weeks odd news story comes from Japan, and highlights an old tradition for bridegrooms that I am glad we do not have in this country!
See you next time!
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