Wet weather and flooding has been the picture this autumn in the UK and although very damp here at the eco organic micro-holding in the uk midlands, the worse has been escaped. A bit of adverse conditions toughens a body up a bit, though, so maybe it's not all bad -? In spite of all the rain the autumn maintenance programme has had to go ahead, with a fair bit of hedging and lopping done, plus a big hedge lowered a couple of feet or so, then bringing on a couple of 'big burns' to get shut of all the waste trimmings, producing at the same time, useful fertiliser.
Although it was a fairly strange growing season, home grown produce has in the end lasted out pretty well with runner beans, celery, tomatoes, potatoes and beetroot all lasting well into November, providing tasty food, especially the full-of-taste tomatoes. More wood has been sawn up to try to ensure that supplies of dry wood last right through the winter.
Contact with the commercial sector has as usual not been over satisfactory, with some firms not really getting too far past their 'big is best' mindsets, so it's that 'David v. Goliath' feeling over again. A bit of faith was restored, though, on going to buy a tarpaulin to recover the polytunnel storage area, when quite a chunk of money was knocked off the list price. On remarking to the older sales assistant that their pricing was well competitive against one or two other fairly local suppliers, the response was that it was their policy to give customers good value for money and good service, accepting that they might make a bit less profit initially but would win in the longer run getting good levels of repeat business. A firm with its head well scewed on, and this customer will certainly be using this firm in the future.
'Going big' could well be an emotive-led move to allay insecurity, especially in times in which there are strong trends of the same, although for freerangers it may not be a case of total joy, particularly if then the strength and power of 'small', particularly individuals, is weakened in the process, which might also put 'personal salvation/fulfillment' processes at peril - ? As ever, practical stuff here at the micro-holding acts to provide meaningful and satisfying activity - not at all in any 'big' mode, thankfully 'micro small ---- '
