Anti-clockwise

Finally after last weeks wet weather and frosts, the weather held for a few days, enough for the wet to subside, the wind to dry out the clods and the earth to be vaguely workable - spent the afternoon, planting the last of the garlic, the onions and shallots, and prepping for the new term whilst listening to the Old Firm slug out the CIS final...

Whilst much revolves around the seasonal cycle, there are varying degees of investment required:

Long-term - Rebuilt the compost heap after last fortnight's slow overnight burn from emptying out the BBQ ashes (oops!) which had melted the compost bin.  And prepared the carrot bins having finally collected them from David. The bins should hopefully lift them above the 18" required that put them out of the carrots fly's reach, and produce my first proper carrot crop... Check the hosepipe rim safety feature!

Medium-term - Most crops are spent in the year, and some take years to establish themselves, such as the boy's apple trees - however last week I unearthed one of the great inbetweeners - horseradish, which takes a couple of seasons to establish itself and then crops regularly - whilst I had forgotten all about it, it has been busy sending down long tapers, which brought tears to the eyes back in the kitchen, making a great accompaniment to a roast beef at the in laws last sunday.

Short-term - And whilst at the in laws, I was presented with one of the first wind-up radios (Thank you Denis!) which can only be described as a relic from another era.  An investment of 2 mins winding gets you full capacity of 30mins listening.  In this age of smartphones, a 12" box which, you wind up and um you can get FM radio on, seems rudimentary.  But for far off places with limited access to mainline power and the outside world it provides a lifeline...
Such as rangers v celtic scoreline! They'll be dancin on the streets of Govan/Gabon tonight!  You do get the distinct impression that the killajoules produced winding it are directly converted as you watch the cranking shaft rotate slowly anticlockwise...

Best go - there's three images in this post - I better get cranking!