Thursday 14 January 2010

Spring starts on January 4th?

We have had about 4 inches of snow overall and it's been quite cold as well, yesterday was our first day above freezing for ages. However with a bit of luck we are over the worst of it and this week will see a gradual thaw. We have had all the usual problems associated with the cold, freezing pipes, all stop on plant work, too many coffee breaks to thaw out fingers and a lack of bodies. Most of our part timers have taken the cosy option to stay at home but the rest of us are busy making preparations for the approaching Spring sales.

Our wooden label production is whizzing along building up a handy stockpile and we have made a load more benches, clip boards & steps to use in our upgraded dispatch area.

Although it can get a bit scary when I think about the losses in efficiency, the backlog of work building up and the knock oneffect a prolonged cold spell could have on the cash-flow, it is stunningly pretty. Even in the dark the amount of extra light bouncing about is amazing.
Despite the extra 'office time' created by the cold weather (no such thing as 'bad weather' just the wrong kit) we are still working from a double set of computers as we continue to iron out the change over problems with the new setup. What fun. It continual surprises me how poorly prepared the makers of new stuff are. I ordered a networked back up drive complete with super easy software to store all our important data in a different building. It looks lovely but they don't include the instructions or drivers for Windows7 or the right software version. After several emails (48hr response time) I have got the right driver and an up to date version of the software only to find out that the software can't back-up from more than one computer which is a bit of a hiccup on a network back-up system! Another email is awaiting a response….

Eco Update
The cold weather has messed up our energy saving plans! After some encouraging savings early on, the extra heating to keep things unfrozen has more than tripled one of our meter readings. It's not as if we are toasting in the here, I am sat here writing this in hats x2, trousers x2, and multiple top layers, although I have taken my gloves off to press the keys more efficiently.

The second meter that reads the larger proportion of our usage is doing better with savings of 15%+ so far (2 months in) due to more thoughtful planning of lighting and heating/cooling regimes in the microprop lab growth rooms.We still have the new hedging in store ready to plant after the thaw.

Our new recycling 'centre' is working well with a few extra bins for some odds and ends. We are saving all incoming packing materials to reuse on outgoing packages, scrap metal bits and bobs, batteries, waxed cartons, as well as all the usual paper, card, plastic etc. Things like printer cartridges and stamps are also collected for a local charity.


Nature notes

This winters introduction of regular feeding has been very popular in this cold spell, we are getting through about 10kg a week on the nursery and the same in our garden next door. It's surprising those birds can get off the floor!  We have had a few extra visitors in the cold, a Brambling is mixing in with the Chaffinches, a female Blackcap regularly feeds on the nuts. Fieldfares are coming in for apples and seed.

Have a good week

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