Fine, rather cold. Beech nuts are now ripe. Yesterday saw good number of young pheasants, fairly well grown.
Selected two cockerels for market tomorrow, about 10 lb. the two.
Continued clearing out beds & got as far as the shed. Can finish tomorrow, then shall spread manure & leave it for a few days before turning in.
4 eggs.
Made a pound or two of blackberry jam, but it has come rather thick.
Fine but rather chilly. Made another 2 lb. apple jelly. Picked a few blackberries but had not time to go to the good places. Picked some more apples. There are not many large ones left now. Have put about 10-15 lb. on shelf behind a sack to keep the light out, hoping they may keep at any rate for a month or two.
Five eggs.
Fine, still & fairly warm. Continued clearing & got nearly to the trellis. Note that the white rambler rose has layered itself here & there. Gave all the broccoli nitrate of potash. Picked more apples. There is still 10-15 lb. on the tree, but how many will keep I do not know. I am only trying to keep the larger ones.
5 eggs. Sold 15 @ 3/- score. (Also sold 15 on Wed.) Total for week: 47. This must be low record for this year.
Cloudy but not cold. The nights & early mornings are reasonably warm at present. Finished cleaning out main flower bed & cleaned out the one in front of the kitchen. “Smallholder” advises sowing broad beans now & planting shallots, so shall do so if I get time.
6 eggs.
Put apples to soak for apple wine.
Have not been able to keep up the diary, as I have been away[1]. The eggs are, however, entered in the hen book, though I think a certain number were not recorded.
Typical autumn weather, except that of late the mornings have not been very misty. Nights very clear, & the moon, which is a little past full, very fine. A certain amount of leaves yellowing.
Today planted out 60 spring cabbages. Paid 2d score for plants. Continued clearing front flower bed. The chief difficulty is the loganberry against the fence, which is now presumably too old to move. Some of the stems have grown to 15 or 20 feet. Michaelmas daisies in flower, chrysanthemums not yet. The pumpkin is about the size of a football, but I am afraid is going to ripen at that size, as the leaves are turning a little. Most of the young broccoli etc. doing well. E. gave them superphosphate last week. Made another 31/2lb. apple jelly.
Decided after all not to get rid of the older hens. Shall reduce size of the run the young ones are in now & use it for a breeding pen (Leghorn & Rhode) in the spring if we are here. The other part can be dug over for potatoes. If actually here we might also go in for rabbits & bees. Rabbits are not to be rationed. The butcher says that people will not as a rule buy tame rabbits for eating but their ideas change when meat gets short. Titley says he made a lot of money out of rabbits at the end of the last war.
4 eggs! (To date this week, including today, 36).
Field & others are still getting in hay which has only just been cut, & say it still has some nutritive value in it.
[1] It is not known where Orwell was, nor what he had been doing. However, in his letter to Leonard Moore of 6 October 1939, he writes that Eileen has found a job in a government office, but ‘I have so far failed to do so’; see 572. On 9 September he had offered his services (see 571), so perhaps he was away seeking war work. Peter Davison
Windy. Sacked the potatoes, evidently about 300 lb. Gave the sprouting broccoli some wood ash. Arranged to dispose of the goats. Picked about 2 lb. blackberries.
6 eggs.
Chilly & misty in the morning, sunny but not too warm in the day, a shower in the afternoon.
Took up & burnt the final lot of peas, & dug over that patch. Arranged to sell off the 8 March pullets @ 5/6 a bird (paid 4/6 for them).
11 eggs. Sold 1 score @ 3/-. Total this week: 60.
Rainy, with sunny & windy intervals.
Lifted the remainder of the Red King. Very poor. As well as I can estimate, I should say 300lbs at most (10 row-200 plants). Scrapped the tomatoes. Cut down the nearer row of raspberries, which are perhaps worth keeping, very drastically, & shall manure them heavily later, as I think it possible that row may do something. Shall probably scrap the other one. Began digging patch next to the raspberries. Made 2lb. blackberry jelly out of 2lb. blackberries (garden) bought from Mrs Hollingsworth for 6d. Forgot to mention that I picked the apples off the grenadier, which is I think 5 years old. 22[1] apples, weighing 71/2lb. The apples on the big tree are mostly rotting but some will be all right.
8 eggs.
[1] Orwell originally wrote ‘23’. Peter Davison
Overcast, a little drizzling rain, but fairly warm. Finished digging the patch next the tomatoes. Lifted the first row of Red King as the whole of that patch needs liming & it is simpler to lift the potatoes at once. They are poor but a little better than the K. Edwards, & only one or two rotten ones among them. Am going to scrap the tomatoes as they will come to nothing. Arranged to sell off all the fowls, as it is evident we shall only be able to come down here at weekends & it is impossible to continue with any livestock. Shall probably make Mr N.[1] a present of the goats.
8 eggs.
[1] Perhaps Mr. Nicholls, the owner of the ‘broken-down old wreck’ of a male goat referred to by Orwell in a letter to Jack Common; see 29.5.39. Peter Davison
Overcast in the morning, a sunny patch in the afternoon, then some drizzle. Finished cleaning out potato patch, began digging the bit next to the tomatoes. One or two cockerels almost big enough for market.
7 eggs. Sold 30 @ 3/- score.
Orwell Diaries 1938-1942 