Cracking hazel nuts
Ranch: Scudding clouds. Warm winds. Lots of sunny spells. A few showers. That's been the weather recipe this week here in [...]
May corona?
Ranch: Sitting quietly, I watch a pair of long-tailed tits hanging upside down under the lean-to, picking off little corner pockets [...]
Turnip
The Ranch: Spring hurtles in, full throttle, thwarted by snowy East-Beast snaps. It's been a funny old winter. Blue Monday [...]
Earth, water, fire and air
Ranch: Summer went, giving way to a musky autumn with the first frost already delivered a couple of weeks ago on [...]
The Chattering of Sparrows
The heady, exotic, musky, smutty scent of valerian flowering from mid-May heralds summer full-steam-ahead. The plants grow as tall as 8 [...]
Beltane and The Vulgarians
Ranch: May has always been my favourite month and I'm sure it's no coincidence that its beginning is marked with celebrations [...]
Springtime
Nothing compares to the shimmering light bright green of spring as it rapidly coats the bare brown branches of the hedges. [...]
Another reset
Ranch: I have an impressive 4cm double-furrowed cut across the top of my forehead, courtesy of barbed wire – an inevitable [...]
Intellectual curiosity and the spirit of critical thinking
Ranch: For the benefit of my new readers, 'The Ranch' is the name I jokingly gave to my allotment many years [...]
Back to Rossendale
Ranch: The weather broke into our characteristic Northern blustery drizzle, and I psychologically hunkered down for winter but then it broke [...]
Unsubscribing and a new beginning
The Ranch: I’m on the ranch in demi-shed A. It’s raining. The long late run of balmy September sunshine has come [...]
Sagefest 2
The Ranch: I’m on the ranch, living a dream come true. I’m sitting at the bar of demi-shed-A, writing at my [...]
How to grow your own food during a pandemic – anyone can do it – 10 tips GalleryHow to grow your own food during a pandemic – anyone can do it – 10 tips
Common ground, coronavirus, Emergency Medicine, Friends and family, NHS, older post, organic gardening, Science, self-sufficiency, tree planting, wellness, work life balance
How to grow your own food during a pandemic – anyone can do it – 10 tips
Earth, water, air, fire: That's it. That's the secret. That's the answer. That's how to do it. The four [...]
Fenny
The Ranch: ... is a clay one-and-a-half acre hillside organic plot in the North of England. At the moment it's [...]
How do you fit a square peg into a round hole?
The Ranch: What's that? Er it's a construction. What's it for? It's for putting stuff in. So it's yet [...]
Tip-toeing, tapestry and The Law
The Ranch: It's me and the trees. I walk through the park and they are putting on their annual autumn [...]
Medicine and Rock & Roll
The Ranch: Once again, the weather catches me out. I'm all psyched up for settling into my curmudgeonly Autumn and Winter [...]
The Common Ground project
Birthday to birthday: I thought that the 21st of Sept was going to be our last warm sunny day of [...]
How to start a revolution with just six people GalleryHow to start a revolution with just six people
100% DIY, Common ground, coronavirus, Derry Girls, Emergency Medicine, End of an era, Food, Friends and family, Irish, Making a film, NHS, older post, organic gardening, permaculture, Revolution, self-sufficiency
How to start a revolution with just six people
A perfect sunny day: Monday (the 21st of Sept) was a perfect Indian summer day. It started cool and crystal blue [...]
Ergot of rye, blues and Rock & Roll.
Ranch: The mild, muggy, rainy, northern summery weather is breaking into autumnal gales and horizontal rain and the harvest is [...]
Farter’s day
The Ranch - is a routine of comfort in a sea of madness and rising darkness. Planting; weeding; tidying; concrete [...]
The best, the worst. Corvus corone!
I'm sitting in the green plastic chair, capturing a transient moment of March sunshine. A bee lands close by [...]
Digging trenches
The primroses, in their exquisite pastel yellows are out on the shady lane, which leads past the ancient 17th [...]
Food?
It's wet. Again. I'm repeating myself. Reporting the same old things every week. It's just that it's wetter than ever ever [...]
Letterpress and woodblock printing
Louise read me a Ted Hughes poem last night - Stubbing Wharfe. He's talking about his time with Sylvia Plath and it [...]
Back on the road
Ranch: The beginning of November is the arbitrary time when I start pruning the hedge. Fencing is a big consideration when [...]
Fig fiend, potato blight, emergency medicine and science.
Ranch: Summer has tumbled into autumn, with a brief late-summer hot and sunny reprieve which has given way to North-west lashing [...]
In which the bees arrive and Sagefest finally happens GalleryIn which the bees arrive and Sagefest finally happens
Digging a well, drainage, Ferguson tractor, Festival, Irrigation, NOTSENSIBLES, organic gardening, permaculture, Punk rock, Rock & Roll, self-sufficiency, soak-hose, The first ever Sagefest, VW split screen
In which the bees arrive and Sagefest finally happens
Ranch: Summer has catapulted along and August is here. North-west English weather remains my favourite: blustery; often grey; patchy rain and [...]
Talking to the bees
Ranch: 7 am. Friday 10th May - computer at home. I have that Friday feeling for a very good reason. I'm [...]
Me and the trees
Ranch: Whenever I arrive at the ranch, I wander round, having a look at everything. I jokingly call it a ward [...]
Transcending the apocalypse
Ranch: I’m cold and wet. I’ve just walked through the park and the blustery March gales delivered a dose of HHWDR [...]
A new chapter and relinquishing control.
Ranch Christmas, New Year, Winter, Summer and so on. Do the trees celebrate? Do the foxes and tawny owls have an [...]