Dear bitches, hello all, I'm back.
This is Scrap Kitchen.
I was off last week. Not really on purpose, but because I was doing a lot of things last Sunday (which is when I record these) and I just couldn't get around to it.
This week I am getting around to it! Thank goodness. I'm gonna do a bumper update since it's been a while.
This is Episode 8, I think I'm calling it Ostara, which is pagan-ish Easter. To an extent, there are no written records of traditional British celebrations.
And honestly, it was somewhat re-invented in the ‘60s by some random folks who were just trying to string stuff together to kind of recreate a nationalist British Identity. But also to weave back in nature reverence. Because of this, I have complex feelings around it, it's a tangle to unpick.
Who knows? Who knows?
However, you know, when thinking about the seasons and celebrating them, it's a fine framework.
Anyways we celebrated Ostara a couple of weeks ago, which was on the solstice. In all truth, it was a couple of days after the solstice because I didn't have the official date and I was just going off my diary (which was wrong). Trust no one am I right (certainly not myself for getting dates correct).
Moving swiftly on.
My partner and I invited people over to the house. We made a rabbit local rabbit, lots of vegetables and hot ‘cross’ buns (but with a wheel of the year on them instead of a cross). Guests brought all sorts of stuff including something called Cherry Bounce which is an absolutely lethal combination of Grain Alcohol, Sour Terries and Sugar. Delicious but lethal.
Also, someone brought their bassoon and played it to us in the back garden. We had a fire, people danced, we got to teach a card game and it was just truly lovely. It was a great group.
In the past, I've always kept my pagan-ish celebration pretty low-key or personal (mostly solo honestly). Now I’ve got a chance to share and celebrate with others, I'm really grateful that my beloved is so excited to join in. Events and celebrations are so much better with other people. Most things are better with other people!
So yeah that's what we've been up to.
Another life update is we're moving to a new room (you might be able to hear the echo of an empty room on the audio version). We just moved everything in. Now we need to settle. Let the silt settle before we put art up on the walls. I always find it helpful to know where the sunlight comes in, how it hits, and what you want to see most often. All important to know before you put up pictures of my family and friends. To make space for them. To make sure I get the maximum view of their faces each day. For this to be possible the jitters of moving must settle and the sun must return from the overcast sky.
Farm Updates
We’re almost full-time now! I mean, my partner and I are going in most days, but the ‘staff’, the farm team are coming in for four days a week for the next couple of weeks.
Already its been a lot of work. We've started all of our big like Solanaceae; tomatoes, aubergine, peppers. We've started a lot of crops (radishes, turnips, green onions, carrots) that are going to go into our CSA box in May, which is somewhat exciting, but only a month away. Which is so soon, that's actually terrifying. And exciting.
It's a bit of both.
I fluctuate wildly.
The day after we celebrated Ostara, it snowed about a foot, or I think it's a foot, I don't know the measurements over here. It snowed a lot. It was quite a bit, like at least several centimetres.
The snow delayed us a little on planting and prepping beds outside. But thankfully we’ve now been able to work outside. This entails preparing beds, laying down wood chips, and seeding mustard (to try and get rid of a root nematode that has been detected, yikes). Just lots of little things to get the farm started strong.
One of the amazing things this year is that a lot of people who worked last year have returned, meaning there's a lot less training to be done. We’re still around to answer questions for them, but people don't need to be taught how to plant things to the same extent. Work moves a lot quicker. Not only that but everyone's come in with a lot of spring energy and that's just really exciting to be around.
Future Farm Updates
In terms of our future farm, we're currently working on the business plan. It's been two weeks since my last update. In that time my partner and I have been talking through various legalities and all the things we need to get sorted for the farm business. This includes what type of farm ‘entity’ we would be setting up (most likely a Limited Liability Company) and what type of land lease we would be seeking (realistically a Farm Business Tenancy).
We’re about to tackle the finance section. Which sounds daunting but (since he's a Virgo and I'm a Virgo Moon/Mercury) is very exciting. We get to dive into Excel spreadsheets. Our love language. This year’s farm was planned out in minute detail on Excel, meaning we have a lot to go on for our future farm. The spreadsheets we are currently using come from my guy Dan Brisebois and his chef’s kiss Excellent course/book on Farmer Spreadsheets. His seed saving podcast is also not to be sniffed at.
Thats all folks, not many other updates. The current farm has been taking priority as it would in early March, late March.
That's my quick and simple update.
Have a good week.
M
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If you missed the last update, read it here.
Ep.8-Ostara