dan heaver

busy and not busy

I've taken a summer break. From May 1st I moved from Self-Employment to self-employment. I built this in my new back garden.

2011 is the year of the Wiltshire Patch. 

I'm ready.

it's not black and white. it's red and grey.

I hate squirrels. Rather, I hate grey squirrels. They trick the world with their scampering and nibbling. People think they're cute. Well let me tell you, they alone are responsible for the decimation of their more polite British cousins. And there isn't a vegetable alive that sleeps soundly near the habitat of a nefarious grey squirrel.

So I was pretty upset to hear her majesty's police force flexing their muscles about the disposal of squirrels. You see, they're vermin, and as such, if you catch one, it's illegal to then release them. Good stuff. Only it  turns out , you can't drown them. I have an allotment holder friend - I'll call him Paul (that's his name) - who's been sending them into a peaceful aquatic slumber for years. Now it seems, he's nothing more than a common criminal. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my suspicions.

Luckily, there is help at hand. A great piece in the Observer this week shone a light on the work of the Red Squirrel Protection Partnership. A toll of twenty odd thousand so far, and the filling of fancy London eateries with squirrel meat is the most effective form of direct action I've come across in years. More effective than a million strong march anyway.

It seems, after all, guns can be the answer. Imagine.

2009 vintage

rubbish year for tomatoes

a corker for chutney.