Hi everybody here I am at last, lots of things have happened since my last post so today we will commence with the weather.
We have had all sorts of conditions, since the start of June the temperature has bounced from 5c to 36c it even dropped to -2c in the mountains during the second week of July, we have had loads of storms some were amazing with incredible rainfall and stunning rainbows like this.
Other times it was so hot and humid that it was only comfortable indoors, then on Friday 17th July we had a really bad storm with high winds and hail, the hailstones were, to coin a phrase, the size of golfballs, it lasted for about 15minutes and it devasted the garden, dented our metal roof and it was very demoralizing to see all our hard work smashed into the ground in such a short time, most of the veg garden we either had to cut down or take out, it is amazing how nature can bounce back though, quite a bit has already started to sprout again and we were lucky not to have been out in it so there is always next year….
We have definitely got plenty of things done, our woodstore is full ready for the winter, we cut loads of hay and learned how to stack it the Slovak way on Ostrava’s which are sections of pine trees pushed into the ground then carefully wrapped with hay which can be left for long periods to dry or for storage, most of ours is now in our barn, the scything is very good exercise and makes you get up early while the dew is still on the grass.
Other things we were involved in, Marias bees are doing very well and she managed to catch two swarms one of which you can see her with in the photos, she had to be quite quick as they were just about to move on, she now has five hives with very healthy colonies, you can read more on her blog.
Animal wise, the sheep are looking very good and enjoying the lush grass from all the rain and sun, we were blessed with the presence of a feral cat who I named Herpes because no matter how often she went away she always came back, then she had four kittens and kept them in someones barn, one morning they all arrived on our patio and kept us amused for several weeks, we tried not to interact with them if possible so they will return to the wild, they were away all last week and then back on Sunday, they will go soon we reckon, but they were a joy to have around, just take a look.
As for the garden and us, we are doing very well and have gathered loads of fruit for jams and bottling, soon be off to collect mushrooms, the garden has been a treat until the storm and it will always please us and our visitors whatever its condition, thats all for today, hope it finds you all in the best of health.
