April

Another month quickly coming to an end, seemingly faster as the light nights get lighter at their equinox peak.
Mixed weather with quite a bit of snow at the start of the month, I was expecting a river flood, but the extreme snow in North Wales thawed so slowly that it wasn't a concern. In fact the ground has taken on its spring dryness and now the fruit trees are finally coming to life a couple of weeks later than last year, some additional watering may be necessary (hopefully Dalefoot Composts sheepwool & bracken mix will keep things going.

A few anti-social things going on in the village - some feral teenagers causing damage getting mentioned in the Parish Council minutes and on the Cheshire Police Western Rural web-page.
A couple of neighbours mentioned some odd goings on. One morning I noticed a quantity of loose hay & straw across the access track - turns out someone was trying to mask fly-tipping of other debris out of the back of a horse-box trailer, but got spotted and despite attempts to obscure their registration plates an incident was able to be recorded.

A couple more pear trees added to the orchard, varieties Uvedale St. Germain and Maxstoke Nibbler from Bernwode Fruit Trees - a slower than normal task due to a hiatus hernia making digging problematic.

The grass and herbage is starting to go well after a wet previous twelve months, quite a bit of meadowsweet through too, so hopefully some interesting brewing options from it this year.