Seventh or eighth largest earthquake ever recorded, largest to hit Japan (according to Sky News).
From United States Geological Surveys (USGS):
The 03/11/2011 earthquake (preliminary magnitude 8.9) near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, occurred as a result of thrust faulting on or near the subduction zone interface plate boundary between the Pacific and North America plates. At the latitude of this earthquake, the Pacific plate moves approximately westwards with respect to the North America plate at a velocity of 83 mm/yr. The Pacific plate thrusts underneath Japan at the Japan Trench, and dips to the west beneath Eurasia. The location, depth, and focal mechanism of the March 11 earthquake are consistent with the event having occurred as thrust faulting associated with subduction along this plate boundary. Note that some authors divide this region into several microplates that together define the relative motions between the larger Pacific, North America and Eurasia plates; these include the Okhotsk and Amur microplates that are respectively part of North America and Eurasia.
The March 11 earthquake was preceded by a series of large foreshocks over the previous two days, beginning on March 9th with an M 7.2 event approximately 40 km from the March 11 earthquake, and continuing with a further 3 earthquakes greater than M 6 on the same day.
The Japan Trench subduction zone has hosted 9 events of magnitude 7 or greater since 1973. The largest of these was an M 7.8 earthquake approximately 260 km to the north of the March 11 event, in December 1994, which caused 3 fatalities and almost 700 injuries. In June of 1978, an M 7.7 earthquake 35 km to the southwest caused 22 fatalities and over 400 injuries.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/usc0001xgp/[/a>
Aftershocks from the Japan Earthquake
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This weekend we’ve dug another three beds… and started planting! Well, a few cabbage seeds went in on the 19th Feb and today we added a third of a bed of parsnips. The rest really need to wait until the risk of frost has passed.
Third of a bed of parsnips sown, 5th March 2011
Our allotment neighbour very kindly gave us a few rhubarb crowns today. Very much appreciated, they went straight into a well manured bed we had previously earmarked for courgettes.
Donated rhubarb crowns, planted 5th March 2011
We’ve also been collecting wood. Both from skips and Freecycle. Last weekend we got it down to the allotment to make edges for the beds. The earliest beds were dug last summer and gradually the grass has been reclaiming them, one was around six inches narrower! These edges should hold the grass at bay.
The end pieces are old beams, 6x3, with planks running along the sides.
A little neater now, the grass should be more manageable.
This weekend we’ve been helping out at Radford Mill Farm with their willow harvest. Willow cuttings had been planted approximately a year ago and had already grown 8-14 feet in height depending on species. There were several thousand trees of around 10 different species, most planted at 1m spacing, some a little tighter. A black plastic mulch had been used, now covered in last years leaves.
1 year old, before cutting.
It was quite a job and took a dozen people the whole day to cut the field. A range of saws and secateurs were used with people taking turns at cutting, collecting, sorting and bundling.
Many hands make light work
The trees are cut right back, with only a few buds of last years growth left above ground. It is from these buds that this years growth, at least as vigorous as last years, will come.
All that remains after harvesting
By mid afternoon two thirds of the field was cleared. They did a good job last year with the uniform planting!
Two thirds of the field cleared
The different species and lengths needed to be sorted and bundled. This willow will be used for basket work, sculpture, living fencing and protecting the banks of a stream that runs through the farm.
Willow is sorted and bundled
To expand the willow plantation all that is needed are cuttings. Approximately a foot long, these cuttings are simply pushed into the ground (the right way up!) leaving a few buds above surface. This is how the willow we were cutting this weekend started a year ago. The simplicity and rate of growth is really amazing.
~1 foot cuttings
New cuttings, ~1m spacing
Finally, with the harvest complete we started on the fence. Long rods of over 10 foot are just pushed six inches into the ground, 3 inches apart and at 45 degrees to each other. They are woven between one another with the tops twisted together. The idea is that each rod will root and new growth can be woven back into the fence. We’ll definitely be back towards the end of the summer to see how it’s grown!
Living willow fence
Living willow fence
It was a really fun weekend, hard work but great to be outside and working towards something so tangible. I’m really impressed at how simple and productive willow growing can be and how versatile the product.
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No more photos of muddy fields today! Last weekend we went to the Somerset Potato Day, in Pylle. It was an amazing event, around a hundred different varieties of potato, sold by the tuber. Rather like a muddy pick ‘n’ mix! It was also extremely busy. The choice was somewhat bewildering so we decided to limit ourselves to ten tubers of just five different varieties, making sure we got a spread from 1st early to late maincrop. Here’s what we ended up with:
Foremost 1st Early
Waxy flesh. When first added to the national list in 1954 it was Suttons Foremost and an instant hit with gardeners who liked its excellent flavour and resistance to disintegration when boiling. Good common scab resistance. Short to oval in shape with white skin and waxy white flesh.
Use: Salad, Bake, Boil, Roast.
Roseval 2nd Early
Salad, smooth, deep red skinned with yellow flesh salad variety, sometimes with a pink flush. The flesh is waxy with a truly suburb flavour. Excellent for salad use, hot or cold. A very pretty variety, good cooking quality. Popular in France, rare in UK.
Sarpo Shona Early Maincrop
Short growing, weed smothering, slightly oval shaped early maincrop with white skin, creamy flesh and shallow eyes, plus a great resistance to blight.
Pink Fir Apple Late Maincrop
Waxy flesh, good flavour. Just brush off under the tap and steam in its skin, don’t worry if bits break off them, cook them all. It does tend to wander so make sure to dig up all the tubers.
Recommend use: Boil, Salad.
Kerrs Pink Late Maincrop
Floury flesh. Raised in Scotland by James Henry, very vigorous foliage, the age shows in the deep eyes and good flavour. Recommend use: Chip, Mash, Roast.
Seed Potatoes, 18th Feb 2011
Before planning potatoes must be chitted. This is just allowing them to sprout before planting and what we started today. It’s recommended to allow around six weeks for chitting. Each potato has one end a little more rounded or blunt with a few ‘eyes’. We stand them, this blunt end uppermost, in egg boxes or similar, in a cool and light place. Our loft with its skylights seems ideal. Once the shoots are 0.5-1 inches long they are ready to plant. This should be around the last week of March.
1st earlies should be ready after around 10 weeks and the maincrop more like 20. Fingers crossed for mid June!
Seed Potatoes, 18th Feb 2011
Seed Potato Catalogue
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More digging on the allotment. Gradually, it’s looking more like an allotment and less like the field we took on last year. The first image is from the front, looking back in a westerly direction. The green grass in the foreground is the stuff we cut throughout the summer.
Looking west, 5th Feb 2011.
The plastic sections in the middle are experimental. We’re wondering what impact four months under cover will have on the grass. The grass left uncut towards the back, is brown.
In total, from front to back we have the following beds:
- Six 2.5 x 1.25 m (one full of onions, one half garlic and half onions)
- Four 1 x 4 m
- Two 5.5 x 2 m
- Three 1.5 x 2 m (one full of onions, one half garlic)
- One 5.5 x 1 m
- Two 2.5 x 1.25 m
- One 5.5 x 1 m
From the other end, these are the more recent beds.
Looking east, 5th Feb 2011.
There’s still quite a bit of room, around 10 m undug. We should manage to finish all the beds over the next month or so. We’re adding manure as we go along, hardly making a dent in the heap!
Seville oranges are in season in January and February as they require cool temperatures to promote the release of the orange pigments. Oranges in the summer come to the UK from the southern hemisphere. Luckily for us the Spanish are not fans of marmalade and as Seville oranges are too bitter to eat most are exported to the UK. Here’s the marmalade recipe we made at the weekend.
Peeling the oranges
1.5 kg of Seville oranges, £1.96
3 kg sugar, £2.01
2 lemons, £0.48
3 litres water
Peel the oranges so they look like the photo below. It’s good to try and get the peel off in long strips, it makes the snipping easier! With scissors snip the peel into the bits you want to see in the marmalade. Halve the oranges and squeeze out all the juice, flesh and pips. Add the juice and flesh to the pan with the peel. Keep the pips separate. Finally pull out all the membranes and add to the pips in a second pan. The pips and membranes can also be tied in a muslin bag and left in the main pan.
Split the water between the two pans, with most going with the peel in a large pan. The pips and membranes in a small pan don’t need so much. Simmer both pans for about 2 hours until the peel has softened and about half the water has evaporated. Don’t skimp on this stage it takes time to soften the peel. Drain the pip and membrane mixture (with all its pectin) through a sieve into the main pan. At this point we split the mixture equally between to pans, adding a table spoon of treacle to one for a darker colour. Finally add the sugar and boil rapidly for around 15 minutes. Test for set on a cold plate, when it wrinkles we’re done. It’s important to leave the mixture to cool for another 15 minutes or so before potting or the peel will rise to the surface.
We prepare the jars by washing thoroughly in hot soapy water, rinsing then placing in the oven at around 120C for 20 minutes.
Juicing
Simmer for a couple of hours to soften peel
Add treacle for a darker colour
Final 15-30 minutes with the sugar
Clean jars
The end result!
We finished up with about 4 kg of marmalade in 12.5 jars. The total cost of ingredients was £4.45, so around 36 pence a jar! 
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Returning to the allotment in January after the seriously cold December we discovered evidence of trespass. Rabbits, we presume, had been at the garlic and remaining carrot tops. The carrots had been chewed to the ground, however, the garlic had only been nibbled. Each plant had lost its top couple of inches. Maybe the garlic isn’t really to the rabbit’s taste and gets stronger further down the plant?
Nibbled garlic, 8th January 2011.
Nibbled carrots, 8th January 2011.
Note the Leporidae evidence in the bottom left. We decided to harvest all the remaining carrots, before the rabbits decided to dig them up! We ended up with ~2.5 kg once topped and washed. The whole bed probably produced around 6 kg in total. What is one to do with 2.5 kg of fresh carrots?
Preparing 2.5 kg of carrots.
Carrots and coriander soup of course!
Carrot and coriander soup.
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The allotment had previously been a grassy meadow, so we thought the soil could do with some improvement. A local organic farmer was offering trailer loads of well rotted cow manure for the bargain price of £20. After one failed attempt (due to a locked gate-top) we took delivery:
Manure arrives, 14th Nov 2010
Unfortunately, the tractor couldn’t get all the way in to our allotment, so the whole four and a half tonne pile needed to be moved approximately 20m:
It all needs moving, 17th Nov 2010
It took a long time and a lot of wheelbarrow loads:
Half done, 21st Nov 2010
After 88 wheelbarrow journeys it was done!
All done! 21st Nov 2010
We put some of it onto the beds already dug (~1 barrow load per square metre), and heaped up the rest in the corner:
Distributed between the beds and a heap in the corner, 21st Nov 2010
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Our first proper harvest from the allotment today. We planted the carrots on 1st August, 13 weeks to the day here’s some of what we have:
Carrots 31st October 2010
The garlic was planted on the 10th October, here it is three weeks on:
Garlic, three weeks old. 31st October 2010
The red onions we planted three weeks ago are just breaking the surface, not as impressive as the garlic yet. Erica meticulously prepared this bed for a second batch of onions which went in today. There were lots of worms!
Preparing the onion bed, 31st October 2010
I dug another two 3m x 1m beds. The turf going into the compost. Here’s the compost heap with its turf walls:
Compost heap, 31st October 2010
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Quick update today, red onions and garlic in.
Onions and Garlic in, 10th October 2010
Also dug two 3m x 1m beds and made walls for the compost heap from the turf.