Peasgood

Cut mine down last week. Was higher than the house.

Neither of my grandfathers went to war. One was a farmer and one was a scientist, both were professions that you didn't get called up from.

Didn’t look pink to me. Big and bright though

Before the modern era of importing food Jan/Feb was always known as the hungry gap because there was limited fresh food at that time of year. We would be harvesting spring cabbage, rhubarb might be making a start depending on the weather. There would be potatoes in store to be graded, carrots still to be lifted and probably swedes still out there. You can store apples until Feb, I still have some that I picked in October but that depends on variety.

Yes, piecework but even on piecework you can’t pay below minimum wage.

The reason UK farmers rely on EU migrants is because they are the only ones that will turn up and actually do the work. Nothing to do with cheap labour, they are not cheap. It is not unusual for good ones to be on £30 an hour or more and the minimum wage also applies to the bad workers. UK workers just don’t want the job, they don’t want to be out in the rain, getting dirty and having to do hard work. There are some that will do it but not enough, if you need a gang of 30 workers and nine times out of ten only five turn up you have to find an alternative. That alternative was Eastern European’s that live on site. With a crop such as strawberries or raspberries you have to pick every day, if you are two days late you have possibly lost the crop for the rest of the season. They won’t wait. There is a very big problem in this country where people have lost sight of the value of food and where it comes from. The immense downward pressure on prices has been great for the consumer (until now) but disastrous for the producer. My family have been fruit and veg growers for three generations, We packed in about 18 months ago because it just didn’t make any sense working our knackers off all year just so some Romanians could have 6 months work and take home more than us. I liked the job, liked the work and carried on in my own right. Since middle of Feb until today I have had sales of about £300 in total, my customers were pubs, restaurants, coffee shops etc. They’ve gone and so has my business. Growers are in very big trouble right now and will not be planting their crops, let’s hope international trade starts moving again or there’s not going to be enough to eat later in the year. Just think on that those cheap crops you were expecting from Spain and Italy also rely on “cheap” labour. From what news I see they are not doing so great right now.

Seen similar ads, I assume they are scams. Didn't think they'd developed an antibody test yet.

Already there, £30 from Germany https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corona-Schnell-Test-Antikorper-Test-Test-Kit-IgG-IgM/153886160202?hash=item23d454754a:g:gXUAAOSwW2tehHU4

Maybe they have ordered them but as they are not ready for distribution while undergoing further testing they have not actually bought them.

Aunt seems to have had it. All the symptoms but not tested. Self isolating on her own at home and got to the stage where she thought she wasn’t going to make it but is getting better now. She called me today so sounds like she is nearly better. Over 70, so you are not automatically done for as Charles also showed.

I think the reason he is "banned" from the media is because he is a bit bonkers. Obviously an intelligent guy and talks a lot of sense but then goes off on a tangent that discredits him. A worldwide conspiracy to do down the over 70's? How many world leaders fall into that bracket?

Goes through the chipper better but needs more than 48 hours for best results. The trouble is the risk of the police turning up before you have chipped and fed to the pigs. Sticking to 48 hours keeps you within the realms of "we don't consider a person missing until 48 hours after last seen" attitude. So I am told ?

A friend of mine sells kindling and has done for decades. I asked him recently if he still did it and he reckoned the wood he got these days were offcuts from the local coffin maker. How topical is that for this forum.

Xtrails are nice to drive and have a ridiculous amount of space in them. Think they tow 2 tons but doesn't matter if he just overloads it anyway. Think the tax is £350 ish.

Talking to my son on the phone recently and was telling him I had a mini digger on hire. I suggested I could dig a hole ready for myself should the virus see me off. Also said the new swag I recently brought back from Oz might make a good body bag. Between us we decided if I got proper ill I would crawl into my swag next to the hole. Then in time I could just be zipped up and rolled in. or I could start making coffins out of a stack of old doors I have.

Yep. That's me. Plenty worse off than me, I am fine with it all so far.

Stockpiling logs is about as good as my plan gets business wise. Not the best of plans but it should give some sales of some sort. The help offered to self employed if taken to the letter would mean me paying them as I set up a Ltd company 18 months ago and have been pouring money into it. Shame really as a bit of free cash right now would be nice, especially as it will likely be me helping pay off all this debt in future. Plenty of funds right now though so in a better position than most even though my sales evaporated mid Feb. Counting my blessings, keeping my head down and have no great need to set foot out the gate. Really do wish the best to you out there fretting, easier said than done but try not to stress too much. You need to keep yourself healthy in mind and body.

Worked on farms my entire life (56) in all weathers harvesting fruit and veg by hand. Mostly paid less than minimum wage, two weeks holiday a year, every third weekend off (was every fourth for a long time), all bank holidays, no time off in summer etc etc. Wouldn't want to swap it with any of you lot, that's for sure. As for this isolation lark, my life hasn't changed as it's what I have always done.

I had all the symptoms in January and was quite rough with it. Unusual because I rarely suffer with much. Would like to think I had it and now immune but if that was the case how come the hospitals weren't packed with folk dying of it then?

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Thanks for the replies, much appreciated ?

MS210, starts and runs fine for 5 minutes or so and then seems to run out of fuel. Doesn't stop, just completely lacks power. If I keep trying to use it it will stall. Starts easy when hot and ticks over fine. Sorry to ask such a boring question but could I have a check list of things to look at. It has fresh fuel and visually the filter in the tank looks fine.

One of the keys to long term storage is to only put good quality, disease free and undamaged stuff into storage in the first place. When it is in storage keep your eye on it and remove anything that starts to look a bit iffy. Use the worst looking stuff first, the good stuff will keep a bit longer. Different veg have different storage regimes but generally speaking root veg need cool, preferably constant temp. Moist but not wet and no frost. Best plan is to research each veg separately and go from there.

Is there no risk of fireblight, silverleaf, canker etc. That would be my concern. No doubt that mulch/compost has a benefit but none of my orchards get it and they do fine. Having said that there is a trend to mulch "modern" orchards.

Fair enough, it's been a while.