Morning all,

A lovely bright morning and the robins are singing away out there sorting out their territories. It’s still pretty cool but much more like gardening weather than the past week or two, hurrah. Hopefully the economic gloom doesn’t hit us all too hard and the recognition of what a positive and healthy lifestyle choice gardening is continues to gather momentum.
We are still very positive about the coming season and the years to follow, despite everything, and I think part of that is down to addressing some of the potential future issues in advance rather than sweeping them under the carpet and hoping they don’t happen. The sharp rise in oil prices this week highlights vulnerabilities in our whole way of life, with our dependence on the current transport systems for personal mobility and delivery of goods, and general energy use. If we are all to keep costs down to maintain sales over the coming years, we are going to have to look even closer at efficiencies as well as looking to source more locally where possible, when prices will increasingly reflect the delivery costs. This is potentially good news for the smaller suppliers as small and local becomes a more viable option to becoming big and national. Every cloud has a silver lining.

I must admit I’m not seeing anything terribly clearly today having suffered a small injury yesterday, although at least this one wasn’t through hockey (scabs nicely healed thanks). Watching a film last night, lying on the sofa resting my head on a combination of cushion and hand after a hard day. I must have closed my eyes for a second during the shooting crescendo of ‘Hot Fuzz’, and was rudely awoken by a loud shot. My arm flinched away from my head, my head dropped and the arm returned planting my thumb firmly in my eye. Luckily no-one there to witness it, I know Caroline’s concerned loving response would have been to burst out laughing. Retired to relative safety of bed.

We got lots done this week, most of the plastic sheeting found its way to the recycling man, just a few odds and ends to go. Recycled a pallet of glass as well which has been hanging around for years after we dismantled an old greenhouse. A load more pallets went down to the farm for reuse and we sorted out the last few rubbish ones for cutting up for the wood burner. Not only are we tidier and greener but we have created so much useful space which we hadn’t notice disappearing during years of gradually accumulating piles of stuff. Still not quite there, but looking good and feeling virtuous.

Our NBIS (Nursery Business Improvement Scheme) group met here last week, for a quick tour and review of figures, oh yes and the best bit, lunch in the pub. It’s an inspirational group with lots of open, frank and sometimes sensitive discussion (which could also be described as insensitive!). At times over the years it is potentially embarrassing with some poor performance figures from all parties, but with a positive approach from everyone we have all recognised that some freely given external input from knowledgeable and experienced peers can help enormously. If nothing else it can be a great therapy session if you need a lift, a sounding board for ideas, and a great source of nursery economic guidelines. Sharing your failings can be a great source of strength and support, rather than a show of weakness, and I know we have benefited greatly from their support.

Eco news
Minor but exciting first step in wind turbine installation earlier in the week when we used a combination of GPS devices and a measuring wheel to mark the actual positions of the foundations. Might be some movement this week on further developments, we’ll see.

Nature ramblings

Still no frogspawn, but I did see two newts swimming about and the pigeons have started egg-laying already. Evidence of eggshell on the path, I suspect from a Magpie raid.

Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries