The Romany Rest B&B Blog

I’ve been busy alternating between planting and painting. 

This time of year can be tricky for planting, since we can still get frosts way into June.  The general rule of thumb seems to be not to plant out anything tender until 10th June but that things can be started indoors or hardier things can go outside once the soil is workable.

Polytunnel

I started the polytunnel a few weeks ago, once the ground had unfrozen in there and it’s now fairly safe from freezing.  The first crop of peas, spinach and chives is growing nicely in there and I’ve planted melons, mangetout peas and marigolds directly into the ground.  We also have lots of seed trays going with celery, leeks, broccoli, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, celeriac & pumpkins.

Vegetable Patch

In the last two weeks I’ve planted things outdoors that I hope can withstand the odd frosty night: Peas, kale, yukon gold potatoes, russet potatoes, red & yellow onions (500 sets so far!!), summer savory, winter savory, shallots, bunching onions, carrots and broad beans.  We also risked the bean roots from last year.  This is an experiment I’ve been wanting to try for years, i.e. to dig up the pole bean roots, store them in sand over winter and re-plant them in the spring (I’ll report back on whether they grow again).  I’ve started another rhubarb patch here (not that we really need more rhubarb!) interplanted with walking stick kale (for sheep fodder and just for fun).

Mandala Garden

2 & 5 year-old asparagus crowns, parsley, parcel (cross between parsley and celery), carrot seeds (red, purple and white!), chives, garlic chives, japenese bunching onions, welsh bunching onions, first lot of outdoor leeks, lavender, violas, asiatic lilies, bee balm, sweet williams, hollyhocks, foxgloves, catnip, lemon-scented catnip, echinacea, yarrow, st. John’s wort, spiderwort, penstemons, gladioli, lovage, marigolds, alyssum, cosmos, maximillia, blackberries and climbing red spinach (with reindeer supports!).

Forest Garden

The garlic has popped up from the soil, interplanted with the strawberries and raspberries, as have the daffodils and bluebells which I planted around the fruit trees.  The idea of that is the soil is rather too rich in nitrogen in the spring for the good of the trees so the bulbs remove some of the nitrogen.  As the bulbs come into bloom (hopefully to co-incide with the fruit blossoms) they also attract pollinators to the fruit trees.  Later, when the trees need a little more nitrogen, this is supplied by the lupins (nitrogen-fixers) planted at the base of each tree.  The trees are then protected (from borers and such) by a clump of chives planted at the base of each.  Well, that’s the theory anyway!!

We’ve added a different type of raspberry cane, one which bears fruit later than the usual raspberry, has a larger fruit which is dark purple in colour (sounds more like a loganberry, but we’ll see when they fruit). 

Yesterday I had a very lucky find and managed to get a hold of two Jostaberries.  These are a cross between blackcurrants and gooseberries and provide wonderful berries which we used to have in our garden back in Wales. 

Also planted in the forest garden this week: garden sorrel, true french sorrel, feverfew, welch red bunching onions, one highbush blueberry (I don’t think one on it’s own will do well though) and another gooseberry.

For colour and beauty we’ve planted a very hardy and (claimed to be) vigorous rose called ‘Polar Star’ which is hardy to zone 3 and should thrive here.

Perennials

The following were planted last year (throughout the garden) and seem to have survived the winter and started growing again:

32 Rhubarb plants, 100 currant bushes (with another 100 or so cuttings looking like they’ve taken), approximately 250 strawberry plants (which came from the initial 75 planted last spring), 50+ raspberry canes, highbush cranberries, service berries, pear & apple & plum & cherry & chokecherry trees (about 2 of each), gooseberry bushes, wild roses, silver maple, red maple, red osier dogwood, elder, hawthorn, grape, wild grapes, spearmint, peppermint, lemon balm, bee balm, chives & pineapple mint.

Home produce so far

Coriander, parsley, baby spinach, chives & Mizuna (not a lot, but not bad for May!)

In between planting I’ve been painting the verandah, the new front steps that Fred made and the verandah deck.

Fred has been working furiously to complete the solar pool heating installation, replace the screens in the verandah and rear screen room and prepare the shed in readiness for the sheep.

(Click on the first picture to see Fred at work!)

Last Wednesday morning we noticed that one of the bantams had disappeared (counting them is tricky as they keep on moving!).  We searched around and didn’t notice any feathers (which probably ruled out a fox or coyote) so everyone came to the conclusion that it had been snatched and carried away, possibly by an eagle.  It’s sad, but it happens.  Even owls have been seen to snatch fowl and carry them off.  Anyway, this morning Fred told me, “here’s one for the blog, guess who was waiting for me this morning when I went to open the hen house?”.  So our little friend had decided to come home after a five day absence!

May 1st and everything has suddenly got busy!  The fishermen have gone out for lobster, cafes and B&Bs are opening up for the season and the Caribou ferry from Nova Scotia starts running again today.  Today the air seems full of flashes of bright red and yellow as the finches have returned after the winter.  Tomorrow our friends the “cottagers” will start to come back to the island to spend their summer weekends, we’ve missed them popping in to collect some eggs for their breakfasts.

Speaking of eggs, it seems one of the hens has taken the busy season a bit too seriously!!

   Click to enlarge (as if it wasn’t large enough!) 

Spring is really here!  The swallows are back nesting above the hen house again and the song of the frogs drifts up from the river after dusk. 

It has been a fabulous April and things in the garden are much further on than this time last year.  Already there are crocuses and tulips out and daffodils look set to follow in the next few days.  The sunshine has triggered a rash of activity and we are already browned by the sun from working out in the fresh air.

The snow has melted away from the Mandala Garden and Fred was working on the roof, so took the opportunity to get an ‘aerial’ view.

We’ve relocated the reindeer into the Mandala to provide some unusual growing supports for climbing red spinach.  If it works they will become ‘living sculptures’.  One of them is in summer mode already, check out the sun specs! 

  Click for more on the Mandala Garden

  This structure suddenly sprang up this week.  It’s the frame for the solar panels to heat the swimming pool.

     I’ve been busy digging my vegetable plot and putting some pathways in place.

And for a break it’s always nice to spend a little time on the swing.   

What more could a girl want?

It was with much sadness and reluctance that we finally decided to remove one of the two old oak trees, and not a decision that either of us took lightly.  The main problem with the tree was that it the trunk was splitting in two and it appeared to be rotting at the bottom.  Each time there was a storm it would be swaying ominously, and considering it’s proximity to the house and drive, it posed quite a serious threat to the home, ourselves and visitors.  It was making us more and more nervous as time went on.

Last summer we did some remedial work on the tree in an effort to save it, but were advised then that it was dangerous, especially being so close to the house.  The contractors felt that it might be possible to support it with guy wires, although long-term there didn’t seem to be anything that would save the tree.  We took a second opinion this year, and sadly agreed with the experts that the tree was dangerous and had to go.

We’ve planted hundreds of new trees and bushes since our arrival here, but it doesn’t stop us feeling very sad that we had to cut down a tree planted in 1882 by the family of one of our neighbours.  

To make matters worse, it was an expensive job which could only be undertaken by the experts.  We needed the wood for future heating, so Fred decided he could manage to do all the cutting of the branches and trunk himself in order to keep the costs down.  Well the day finally came and the tree came down relatively easily until they got to the bottom of the trunk.   

As each layer of the trunk came away a story began to unfold about the tree and some mysteries remain.  There were some rotten areas within the trunk that simply crumble away when touched.  We hope we may be able to use this as compost.   Some areas of the tree were thoroughly infested with huge ants.  My friend tells me that ants will only colonise a diseased tree but we were also told that it may be the ants that did the damage in the first place.

Towards the bottom of the trunk we started to notice a black, tar-like substance within the layers and can’t explain this at all.  Then contractors were finding that their chainsaws were coming up against what seemed like metal in the centre of the tree!  We didn’t know how this could be possible. 

Eventually, we discovered a huge metal spike.  It was embedded horizontally right inside the trunk (see picture below).  Perhaps it was once used as an attempt to try to keep the splitting trunk together?  I don’t know if we’ll ever know which of the factors caused the tree to become unstable, perhaps a combination of them all.

We are wondering if any new side shoots might spring up, since we haven’t killed the roots as it would be marvellous if new life could come from the oak tree.

Only when the tree was down did Fred realise the extent of the work ahead of him.  It seemed like the entire lawn was littered with branches and huge pieces of trunk.

We won’t waste a single part of the tree, so the smaller branches will be shredded to make pathways and for mulch, the thinner branches chopped and seasoned for the inside cookstove and the larger pieces seasoned for the outdoor furnace.  Anyone who knows Fred will know that he is a very hard worker with a huge capacity for sticking at a job until it’s done, but it was quite obvious that this was one huge, overwhelming job which was, simply, too much.  I couldn’t be as much help as I would have liked because I am still recuperating from my recent surgery.  Shifting the smaller branches was all I could manage and I too was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of them.

We were wondering what on earth we were going to do when the “cavalry” arrived in the form of two neighbours and a truck.  With four of us and a truck we started to make progress, although it was extremely hard work for all.  After an hour, I had to give up and was relegated to kitchen duties to get the coffee on and cook a much-needed brunch!  The others gamely soldiered on for hours.

Where we had been using a wheelbarrow for transport, we now had a truck, plus we now had two chainsaws instead of one and an extra two pairs of hands too.  The job didn’t get completed, despite their heroic efforts, but a massive amount was completed and cleared away, and what’s left seems much more manageable for Fred.

A huge thankyou to our good friends and neighbours (we owe you one!!).

As for the oak tree, a sad farewell. 

We had to let our hens go (to an excellent home) over the winter.  They were like live barameters and would only come out of their house when it was above freezing and/or there was no snow.  Their house is like a little hen palace for sleeping quarters, but too small for 24 hour living and they were getting on each other’s nerves.  We thought it was kinder for them to go to a nice big barn with other hens, where they would have lots of space to wander and go outside whenever they liked.  Oh how much we’ve missed them and their delicious eggs.

This week a dozen bantams and half a dozen Rhode Island Reds came to live with us, and it feels like ‘normality’ is restored to our lives.  It’s soothing to spend time with the hens, or to have them pecking and scratching around in the background as we work and we’ve always considered them to be a lot more intelligent and affectionate than they are usually given credit for.

We will be adapting the shed to turn it into a mini-barn so that we can keep them happy for the next and future winters and will be adding other breeds and ducks as time goes on. 

Rhode Island Reds are great for providing lovely brown eggs and are very affectionate and always pleased to see us.  The bantams are smaller and have much livelier personalities and a bit more aloof (so far) and they lay various colours of smaller eggs including brown, white and blue-green.

So, spring is here, the ‘girls’ are back and the fridge is full of eggs.  Happy Days.

The Georgetown Kaylee (or Ceilidh) takes place every Tuesday night at the MacIans Hall in Georgetown from 8pm, but get there earlier to get the best seats.

It symbolises for us probably the most profound changes in our lives since we came to live here.  Firstly we learned to dance (well sort of!) and enjoy having a go at a waltz or box-step, but mainly it’s the spirit of community, friendship and fun which is promoted by the tireless efforts of “The Kaylee Girls” (two sisters and two friends) who do anything in their power to make the evenings a success. 

The Kaylee Girls like nothing better than to dream up a theme night where they and the Kaylee-goers get dressed up, they then add ingenious decor to the hall to ensure that the night is a huge success.  Or they will spend the week practising a dance and making costumes for themselves to do a ‘turn’ at the Kaylee - Anything to spread a little happiness, that’s them!

The ‘girls’ don’t allow anyones birthday, anniversary or other special occasion to pass by unnoticed.  They are always there for anyone who is going through a difficult patch or illness with unfailing support and kindness.

Their catering is second to none with the “lunch” being the highlight of the evening.  (I’m still getting used to the maritime expression of “lunch” when it is during an interval in the evening.)   All this food, fun, friendship and entertainment comes for just a $4 entrance fee.

The Georgetown Kaylee is very special indeed and it makes our world a better place to be.  Our sincere thanks to the girls, musicians and singers who give their time and talents so willingly.

Fascinated by the idea of generating human-powered electricity, we set up my bicycle in the lounge and attached it to a generator.  The generator is then connected to a battery and we can create enough power to run some of the lighting in the evening.  It also doubles up as an exercise bike.

The set up is just a standard cycle fitted into a specially adapted stand with a generator attached to a battery.  The adapted stand is called a ‘Pedal-A-Watt” Human Power Generator and we purchased it from Ecoconvergence at http://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm

It is only possible to generate small amounts of electricity this way.  I believe that the average person must pedal for an hour to produce 100W.  But then, a 15 minute workout produces approximately 25W, enough to run a 13W compact flourescent bulb for nearly two hours.  More people = more power! 

In order to capture the electricity we needed a battery and used a Motormaster Power Box of the type you can purchase at Canadian Tire.  This can be charged up by a variety of means including solar, wind, from the electricity supply and, of course, by pedal power.  It has a built-in inverter and an electrical outlet, so you can then plug into it and use up those precious Watts generated by hard toil on the cycle.  Biggest problem so far is that stationary cycling is terribly boring without plugging in the TV or stereo to pass the time and thus defeating the objective.

Using pedal power was inspired by the folks at Rinky Dink (mobile cycle-powered sound system).  The Rinky Dink tours festivals and demonstrates just what can be achieved in a such a beautiful and creative way.

http://www.baka.co.uk/rinky/story.htm

http://www.baka.co.uk/rinky/works.htm

The Rinky Dink system is a wonderful thing to behold.

I’ve seen people lining up to take a turn at cycling to power up the Rinky Dink, so we were hoping that if we put our cycle set-up on the deck in Summer, our guests might use it as an exercise bike and create power at the same time.  If we were clever enough (and please feel free to help anyone out there) we could set it up to an electric light bulb to demonstrate how pedal power can be collected and used as energy.

I’ve been crocheting items from strips of fabric, with the hope of selling a few during the Summer.  It’s become strangely addictive and I spend a lot of time cutting fabric into strips and matching up colours in order to create a rag rug or basket.

  This is a set of three baskets that nest inside one another.

  Here’s a heart-shaped box with lid.  I used a smaller crochet hook so it was hard to crochet, but the net result is that it is very rigid and can be used as a trinket box.

  Another heart-shaped item (I’m an old romantic!), this time a pot-holder.

  Here’s an example of the type of rag rug I make.  They can be circular, rectangular or oval, but I love these circular ones.

  This one I used some fabric left over from the romany wagon and teamed it with cream and sage to create a very shabby-chic cottage design.

 I either use old sheets which have been laundered on the sanitary wash cycle and then prepared into strips, or use new fabric from ‘mill-ends’.  Mill ends are the ends of rolls that manufacturers cut off large rolls of fabric when they make sheets or duvet covers.  They are ideal for cutting into thinner strips ready for crocheting.

  Dear Fred saw me struggling with cutting fabric into strips from the rolls and made me this handy little gadget!!  Thank you Fred!!

  This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time and now I’ve finally got around to it.    I wish I was milking my own goat and bringing the fresh milk into the kitchen to make the cheese instead of relying on store-bought milk.  Nevertheless, it’s been a wonderfully enjoyable (and tasty experience), a valuable new skill learned and a step in the right direction.

I make the cheese in the winter months when my trusty wood cookstove is lit and this gives much more control over maintaining the correct temperature for the cheese-making process.  It takes most of the day until the cheese is ready for the press and it stays in the press for the remains of that day and two more nights.  Then it comes out and is allowed to air-dry for a few days before getting a coating of wax.  It can then be left for a couple of months onwards depending on the maturity of the cheese required.  You’ve guessed it, though, we can’t leave it alone for too long!

The first cheese didn’t last more that two weeks before I couldn’t resist cutting into it.  I suppose I never really believed it would actually look and taste like real cheese but I needn’t have worried because it tastes wonderful.  The farmhouse cheese comes out soft and crumbly, a bit like Caerphilly and the cheddar is, well, cheddary!

I will experiment with other cheeses as and when I get the chance and let you know how I get on.  Some friends up the road milk sheep in the summer, so I might try my hand at sheep’s cheese too.

Here’s another thing I forgot to mention. Another small step on the road to self-sufficiency and off-grid living took place in the late Fall when we had a solar hot water system installed.

Stephen and James from ‘Renewable Lifestyles’ came along and installed the system on the roof of the pool house (since all other roof space was shaded by the huge Oaks and Lindens at the front of the house).

The two larger panels are for heating the hot water and the smaller panel at the top is a PV panel to run the solar pump.