Welcome to a new week, this week is my last one before my birthday and my week off work so I’m very happy, which is in not usual for a Monday!
Best
Gin Club. Tasting the gin is interesting but it’s a great reason to catch up and spend time together, even if the gin is disappointing.
Harvest. It’s wonderful that there is so much stuff growing!
Worst
Weird weather. It’s hot, it’s cold, it’s raining..
Colds. I woke up on Sunday with a cold, I should have realised something was going on when I burst into tears on Saturday afternoon for no discernable reason!
Men who think you owe them. So I got off the bus on Saturday night and this guy followed me up the road, wanting me to know that he liked me and then why I wouldn’t talk to him. He couldn’t have been more than about 20 and eventually he went away. I’m puzzled as to why some men think that women owe them time and attention. I have never been afraid to walk home at night but that did have me reconsidering somewhat…
Honourable mentions to working from home on Monday because the trains were all kinds of messed up, bump watch on the littlest nephew’s head, going to the allotment and collecting over 2kgs of plums after watering, rescuing the week from being out of control, tomato based dinner using my own tomatoes, baby broccoli, Jonny and Jenny’s anniversary party (and Jonny’s perfect gin and tonic!), the return of lipstick to my face.
I’ve stir fried kale and beet leaves. I’ve put spinach in muffins, I’ve eaten salad practically every day. 
I’ve put cucumbers in my water.
I’ve made 
I’ve blitzed 
Say hello to the massive squash. Also say hello to the winter squash plant that is doing really well. The monster butternut squash plant which has seven squash on it and is spreading into the raspberries!
Over the week, I gave Kathy a courgette, a crookneck, a cucumber and a herb. Joe took a cucumber on Thursday, I picked another massive load of french beans, a cucumber and some plums.
I told mum that there probably wouldn’t be much to take home at the weekend. I was wrong. There were no courgettes, but eight crookneck squash, three beetroots, seven cucumbers, six tomatoes (which were eaten straight away and hopefully are a sign of tomatoes to come), four carrots, spinach, salad leaves, spring onions, french beans and loads of plums.
As for actual work on the plot, there was weeding, I finally sorted out the strawberry bed and cut off all the runners. I’ve planted a load of them up, for when I extend the bed and for Laura and Georgie, if they want them. I tidied up the crookneck, cutting off all the mildewed leaves and did the same to the cukes. I also tidied and tied up the tomatoes. 
Next week, we need to bring a stepladder to get to the plums, weed and water and collect food!
But I have the creeping fear that it’s all going to go wrong and everything will die. Let’s start with the winter squash. This is probably my fault. The ‘squash in the box’ were I thought both Baby Blue Hubbards. This is not true one is a baby blue, the other is a Boston Squash. Ok, so all was going well, and then the bloody aphids had a go and all the baby squash got brown and died. And then this happened.
Then Ma points out that the carrots are ok, we’ve had over two kilos of beans from three rows of plants (half a bed), that the crookneck plant is doing well, that the butternut squash plant has six squash and is a monster, that we had blight last year and got tomatoes, that we grew beetroot, that the leek and salad beds are fine, that the cucumbers are still producing, there was even kale this week and “really Nic, you just need to stop being so negative”.
Easy for her to say, she ate the first ripe tomato! However, she’s right, she often is, so here are the produce pictures from last week (minus that tomato!)
On Monday, I sent Kathy home with a courgette, a cucumber and a crookneck, some parsley and basil. The plums are almost ready as are the tomatoes and I need to stop being so anxious about it (especially given that yesterday I was just talking about the problem of expecting perfection!)
So last weekend, we weeded, we watered, we picked and we built a new brassica cage.
We also viewed the rain from the shed while having a cup of tea
It’s all ok. Some of it will go wrong and that’s ok too.
I’ve been thinking about this recently in regards to mental health. There has been a lot in the news about the strain on the NHS, the increase in children and young adults dealing with mental health issues. CAMHS is very underfunded as is mental health care generally in the NHS and young people aren’t getting the help they need. At the same time I’ve noticed a whole raft of people posting stuff about having mental health issues most generally anxiety and depression. Also lots of what not to say to a depressed person posts (I get it, don’t tell them to pull themselves together or go for a run!)
I didn’t think that boys would make me feel better, I was well educated about sex and I was lucky that I had a bunch of wise older women to advise me when I wouldn’t listen to my mother. As an adult, I understand that deep down I understood that life was sometimes terrible (and at 17, I truly believed it was grim) but that you just got on with it.
What I’m trying to express, probably very poorly, is that although I don’t wish to tell anyone that they don’t have mental health issues, I think that as a society we have a problem with perfect that is causing a mental health problem for young people.
So we have lots of young people who don’t know how to move through feeling low because they never learnt to regulate their behaviour or emotions. They don’t know how to deal with the pressure from social media and how to cope with their lives not being instagram perfect.
Nic Dempsey 