Spice: a final goodbye

Yesterday morning we had to say a final goodbye to Spice at the vet. We knew since last Summer this day would come after some diagnostic tests then, but the initial symptoms abated and she maintained her lively disposition over the Winter. But some symptoms recently returned and her ever-present vitality began to ebb away.  

Spice spent all of her eleven plus years almost entirely on the smallholding and the surrounding fields - an idyllic life for her. A gentle soul who rarely barked and who adored, and was adored by, visitors.

Her close comapnion of the last two years has been little Zelda who, for the moment, appears mystified by Spice's absence and has searched everywhere for her and has been looking out for her.

It was a sombre start to Ash Wednesday.

Planting garlic

I'm a little bit later than usual in planting out garlic. This should be okay as I have a soft-necked variety this year, Ashmoor White. Unlike the hardier hard-necked varieties, which benefit from a period of cold and so are ideal for planting in November to over-winter, soft-necked varieties of garlic prefer a milder climates. They also keep longer.

I bought three bulbs of Ashmoor White which, when split into individual cloves, was more than enough for a twenty foot row.

We regularly use garlic in our cooking all year round so for us it is more or less a staple. 

Planting for the future

As a sign of our commitment to the future I planted three new fruit trees today, each barely three feet tall above the ground. A fair old wait before we are able to enjoy any fruit. The feeling of optimism was encouraged by the bright sunshine on an albeit cold day. A change from the gloomy, grey and rainy days of late.

The trees were planted on a patch of ground where some fallen tree trunks had for some time been piled up. These have now been used as an edging at the back and reclaimed telegraph poles used at the front. 

Two of the trees are apples: Spartan and Pixie. They are both pollinators for each other. The third tree is a self-fertile Conference pear. We have not had much success with pear trees that we have planted elsewhere on the smallholding. So we decided against any fancy varieties and chose an established variety which is usually relaible.

I used some lengths of gutter downpipes cut long ways as rabbit guards.

Some years hence I will report back on the quality of the fruit from these trees!

Oak tree in winter

My attempt during 2025 at making a regular post 'Following a tree' lost momentum, overtaken by life events. I had chosen a willow tree which looks good in different ways throughout the year. Anyhow, here is a, possibly one-off, post on another impressive tree.

I took some photographs of our recently re-freshed driveway to share with our daughters. When I looked at one of the photos it captured the large oak tree by our main gate and it effectively became the unintended prinicipal subject of the photograph. Its leafless branches form an evenly arrayed crown and it looks quite majestic.

The cable detracts a bit from the image. That is our electricity supply.