Monday 24th December 07

I got up quite early as I had agreed with Rashda that I would go and process her pile of trimmings... not the Christmas lunch type but the pile in her front garden!

So I took my 'quiet shredder' down in the trailer and by 9am was feeding sticks and pruned-off vegetation into the machine. I did about 2 hour's worth, and produced 5 sacks of shreddings, although didn't actually finish the job. I did all the bigger bits which are easy to poke into the shredder, but there was a lot of smaller bits which firstly dont go into the slot easily and secondly don't need shredding as much as the larger pieces. They will get bagged up and I'll put them onto one of the allotment compost heaps. The sacks of shredded stuff will help the fruit and veg I bring back rot down better, as they will help keep the wads of moist putrescibles apart...

I had a coffee and a chat with Rashda and then loaded up the trailer with as much as I could and came home. The boys were very excited... cannot think why.... and I think Gill was happy to get out and go to town and do some last-minute purchases. Actually she's taking something back which she decided wasn't right... a watch for our eldest, which looks a bit too military.

I did some housework and then went outside to build another logpile... the recent cold weather has meant we've been through a lot and so I built a large stack on the left of the front door (when looking out) whilst the kids helped (yes they actually helped me bring dry logs for me to stavk!!!) and cycled up and down the drive, they also used the 'flying turtle' thing we have.

Gill came back at 4ish and I zoomed off to see Richard at Martin's Country Fresh to collect the last of the compostables before they close for Xmas. I got several sacks worth plus a load of seconds bananas and slightly sprouting potatoes, not green but just starting to sprout, so still edible!

During the evening I had an hour's bed rest which felt like a luxury, then later made a large nutloaf using local chestnuts (Poppleton Road 2006), local carrots, a home-grown onion, cheap bread from Thomas's 'Yesterbake', 2 free range eggs, home-made sweet paprika and home-produced pumpkin seeds. Should be good!