I’d arranged to meet Julie at PYO this afternoon. Somewhere along the way I managed to invite lots of other people and collect Tasha, Toby and Vinnie to bring with us. In the end we only had one other attendee – Bid & boys who cycled there and arrived pretty much simultaneously to us.
We caught the tractor up to the furthest picking for today which was strawberries, apparently 1/2 mile from the entrance or as Bid christened it ‘weigh out shack’ which pleased me 🙂
Davies, Scarlett, Archie, Eliot and Toby all get one well knowing each other all from various places as well as as a group. Vinnie hung out with Tasha, Bid and I and we set up camp amid the strawberries. Tasha and Bid loosely know each other too, both from Home Ed contacts and Circus Skills and because Bid is doing some art work for the Empty Shops Initiative that Tasha is involved in. We had very interesting and diverse conversations and did some weaving as Bid had brought some hemp strong, cardboard blocks and scissors so we created woven tablets of random things we could collect from strawberry fields. Tasha and I had left our lunch in my car so we caught the tractor back to the car park, realised I’d left my car keys back up at the field so stayed on and I jumped off the tractor, ran ahead of it to the next stop, grabbing my keys as I went and jumped back on. This inspired a ‘jumping on the moving tractor game’ for the children which enjoyed at length before the tractor driver told them off.
Tasha and I walked back to the others with lunch and carried on sitting in the sunshine eating our fill of strawberries. Tasha had come over all Domestic Goddess and made bread rolls, coleslaw and hummous all before we came out which was rather impressive. The kids had just been told off for playing in a wheat field when Julie, Jack, Maisie and Lorna arrived.
Julie and I had a good catch up and then Tarly needed the loo. It’s quite a walk to the toilets – they have some over by a field used for car boots sales at the weekend and some more in a cafe by the farm shop, both a good 10 minute walk. Tarly and I chose the car boot sale field loos and walked briskly there and then back through the irrigation spray which was very refreshing :).
The others had moved on to pea picking by then so I hung out with Julie to pick peas. It was getting on for 4pm by then: Julie had to get Jack to the dentist, Bid and boys needed to tackle their cycle ride home and Tasha and I were all fruit & veg picked out. I walked back with Bid chatting about Scotland, camping and plans for the rest of the summer. We’d been there for 5 hours, eaten our fill of strawberries and I just bought £1.50 worth of peas – I don’t feel bad as we have often spent loads of money there and last time we visited I bought a sack of potatoes in the farm shop that were all rotten so they owed me those free strawberries ;).
Scarlett pressganged Tasha into inviting us in to see their kittens – four weeks old and very, very cute. So we had half an hour of kitten worship for Tarly and me. Then home.
I’d taken braised mince out of the freezer for dinner tonight knowing it would force me into pasta making when we got home. So we checked the quails – still just 3 eggs hatched, checked the chicks – 2 hatched, one still not, washed our hands and made batches of pasta dough. I read out the recipe and Davies and Scarlett each made a 100g flour / 1 normal egg (so 2 of our bantam eggs) amounts – I made double ready for Ady and I later. While that was resting they both made a batch of bread dough – one for pizza /garlic bread base (garlic bread to go with Ady and my dinner tonight, pizza for the kids’ tea tomorrow night) and one for a loaf of bread which I cooked later for everyone’s lunch tomorrow.
Then we rolled the pasta out and cut it up. Scarlett went for fairly random shapes, Davies copied me and went for long and thin. Ady arrived home while we were at this stage. The kids both cooked their pasta, checked to see when it was done and I drained it for them. Davies had just butter on his, Tarly had grated cheese and they both emptied their bowls and proclaimed it ‘best pasta ever!’. They both recited the recipe for me and said they could make it again :). They are learning so much from this cooking exercise. I have learnt we need a second rolling pin ;). I read a couple of chapters of Alone… to them while they ate.
We transfered the quails into a brooder, Ady had brought home chick crumb for them so they are installed under a heat lamp and are Very Rowdy Indeed. We’ll give the other four eggs in the ‘bator til the end of tomorrow before turning it off and throwing them out. The third egg under the hens now contained a dead chick 🙁 Scarlett broke it open and it had not managed to take in the egg yolk properly so it’s stomach was a big bubble but it seemed otherwise fully formed. Frankly if an egg doesn’t hatch under a hen it has no chance as they are far more able at intervening than a human will ever be so that was just a life not meant to be. Scarlett and Ady buried it in the garden. The other two chicks are doing really well out there so far though and the three quail seem to be thriving.
I finished sewing waistcoats, tails and gumdrop buttons onto various costumes so they are all ready for tomorrow night, had a bath, made garlic bread and cooked dinner for Ady and I and baked the loaf the kids had made earlier. Ady watered the garden, painted Davies’ walking stick with white paint ready for Davies to paint a red stripe on tomorrow to be a candy cane and put the bins out. Suddenly it was 1030pm, so a Nic o’clock dinner again.
We watched Up In the Air – a George Clooney film which I really enjoyed and thanks to yet more fresh air and exercise D&S seemed to get to sleep pretty quick once again.