Hairy New Year to all

Happy New Year to all.

Just a quick update to send best wishes to everyone for a bright and breezy New Year. We are certainly looking forward to an exciting year as we press on with lots of new improvements on the nursery coming into effect. From an injector to reduce the alkalinity levels in the irrigation water, which will further improve foliage quality and reduce fertiliser use, to the new perennial plant labels which add new levels of practicality and a fresh new but subtle plant presentation.We are still busy preparing for the new labels to arrive (just a few days to go) and getting the data compiled to produce our own versions on our printers here to cover those lines which don’t yet warrant a full proper print run. It has all been a bit more work than I originally envisaged hence the delay in the printing of the new 2015 catalogue but it is on the way very soon. I will email out an abridged version during this coming week to bring out the highlights, new stuff and prices etc so that you can get a taster for the exciting opportunities ahead.
I hope everyone had a good festive break. We certainly did, despite the onset of a slight cold for Caroline and severe Man Flu for me. As the weather chilled and we were expecting guests over the break we did push the boat out and put the central heating on, it was Christmas after all, so everyone was super cosy. We were very lucky to get invited again to the farm for Christmas lunch with loads of family and merriment, a perfect day. Then we followed that up with our annual multigenerational family and friends hockey game on the 29th followed by a chilli and jacket potato lunch and afternoon games for 30 people, another great day.
It’s always rewarding to feel more educated with the passing of each day, there is so much to learn. We played Balderdash on Boxing Day, again as guests down on the farm. It’s a really good game to get the inventive juices flowing as you have to make up definitions of words, or describe an event or plot around a given name, date or initials. You score well by producing, either definitions that others find believable, or getting close to the truth. I must admit I never really got close to the truth but did ok on the more inventive side. As the evening progressed a certain hunger welled inside but being a guest I felt a little guilty at expressing my desire so I thought perhaps a subtle hint might just save the evening. The word to be defined was ‘Sniggles’ and my definition when read out by the dealer did the job. ‘ Sniggles – a collection of small turkey sandwiches traditionally served on Boxing Day’. (it is actually a baiting technique used when fishing for eels). I didn’t win the game but did win my traditional Boxing Day supper, and a thick ear.
Nice breeze over the last few days has got the turbines off to an energetic start to the year. The output figures so far are ok, slightly down on the original annual predictions in kWhrs but returns are a little higher which has balanced this out. We are nearly 3 ½ years into production and the returns have covered just over half the cost, so not too far to go before we can hopefully see a profit. Almost forgotten what that word sounds like. Roll on 2015.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries