Can Landlife be easy?

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:02]What a beautiful morning.

[00:00:06]Welcome to another week of May Bake, folks.

[00:00:11]Little bit of rain last night, freshened the air up.

[00:00:16]And as you can hear, the birds are singing.

[00:00:21]Days like this, yeah.

[00:00:25]The world is perfect for me, of course.

[00:00:32]Anyway, got a lot to get on with today, this week, next week, next month.

[00:00:41]Always busy. And as you saw last week, things were a bit hectic.

[00:00:49]So, little moments like this, it makes it all worth it.

[00:00:57]Anyway, the girls are happy, I'm happy, and I hope you're happy.

[00:01:26]One of my little therapy things, getting all the weeds as they come up, even though this is an empty bed.

[00:01:34]Empty being a big word there.

[00:01:37]Uh yeah, little bit of therapy.

[00:01:41]Getting rid of the weeds as they come up, cuz it's easier to pull the whole root up as well, because once they start to establish, they're a lot trickier to get out. So, just a case of keeping on top.

[00:01:59]>> [clears throat] >> Look at that.

[00:02:02]Yeah. Oh, there's another one.

[00:02:05]The never-ending cycle.

[00:02:09]But I feel like this.

[00:02:13]Yes.

[00:02:14]In this alternative land life way I'm fortunate. I can take it easy. I can take it in the slow lane. Um and have little days. It's not all what I It's not always manically busy.

[00:02:32]Um Yeah, I've got a lot on. I've got a lot of projects I want to do. I've got the building to finish.

[00:02:39]And these beds to fill.

[00:02:46]As you can see, I've done some weeding in there. And I'm going to start constructing to try and get a fruit cage up this year.

[00:02:53]That went alluded me last year.

[00:02:56]But uh when I have these quieter moments, as you could say, reflective moments where I realize that having and desiring less is something that is actually more valuable.

[00:03:19]People chase gold, chase snow. They have a champagne lifestyle and yet they've only got a lemonade budget.

[00:03:26]All of that.

[00:03:28]And it's very I can be very eclectic, too.

[00:03:31]But for me, yeah. In this alternative way land life, as I like to term it now getting my produce in, seeing it grow.

[00:03:41]Free healthy food.

[00:03:45]So, we've got the extra beds made. I've got to get some peas in, I've got some more of beans in, I've got to put some brassicas in.

[00:03:52]Seeds in, carrots, lots.

[00:03:55]Along with organizing the next part of my project.

[00:04:01]That'll be a lot of running around, getting up bits and pieces, making phone calls, a lot of researching to get the best value price um structural stuff that I need.

[00:04:13]And yeah, life goes on.

[00:04:17]It never really stops, but we have little moments where life like today, this morning, it's just a lot easier.

[00:04:28]And I can breathe.

[00:04:30]And I can reflect.

[00:04:33]And I can realize just how fortunate I am as fellow alternative livers realize.

[00:04:43]Who needs the hustle and bustle of the outside world?

[00:04:49]Let's get some planting done, shall we?

[00:06:39]>> The reason I'm cutting these is simple.

[00:06:42]These are going to be basically the the the stakes.

[00:06:47]Get some chicken wire between the stakes.

[00:06:50]Nice little trellis.

[00:06:52]Cuz I've got chicken wire flowing around.

[00:06:55]It's a nice little trellis for peas to grow up.

[00:06:58]But where are we going to plant them?

[00:07:02]>> [snorts] >> We're going to put them in with rhubarb.

[00:07:10]Because ideally rhubarb's going to come up and create a screen. So, what you see behind me is slightly less visible, I'm making this area a prettier place.

[00:07:26]But not just for that reason.

[00:07:30]Because I didn't know this, but peas are good companion plant for rhubarb.

[00:07:41]Because peas will sort out the nitrogen levels and the rhubarb will give, because of the big leaves, shade to help keep moisture in to help the peas grow.

[00:07:56]So, yeah, it's a good companion plant.

[00:08:00]Let's see how this year goes because I'm going to give it a try.

[00:08:16]And so as to not waste this stuff, the last little bit, I've just cut little sections off of the trimmings of the chicken wire, purely yeah, to save waste.

[00:08:34]You know? Okay, it might not look brilliant, but it'll do the job. And that is what's important, isn't it?

[00:08:46]I'm damn sure the peas aren't going to refuse to climb here because it's unsightly.

[00:08:53]So, but there we have it.

[00:08:57]One completed panel to grow peas up.

[00:09:08]Using timber from the land.

[00:09:13]Excuse me, some old chicken wire that, ironically, was on the land when I bought the place.

[00:09:22]And a few zip ties.

[00:09:25]And we have a frame ready for the peas.

[00:09:31]Just like that.

[00:09:49]>> Not necessarily the most conventional way of doing beans and uh runner beans.

[00:09:58]And uh but this is something I'm going to give it a try. You don't know unless you try, do you?

[00:10:03]Um I'm really I've got the two young fruit trees here.

[00:10:09]And obviously the ground is good cuz it's got a lot of the black gold in it.

[00:10:15]I thought, well, this trellis will help protect these trees to establish.

[00:10:20]And with a little bit of luck, they'll just get sufficient in here to be able to um give the beans a bit of support, especially because yeah, okay, the wind and all this, I get it. That's why big rams, etc., etc. I fully understand.

[00:10:42]Um but what you see at the bottom of the screen there, I'm just down here, I'll put in like a a stay piece.

[00:10:51]So, it's just to help give it a bit of rigidity.

[00:10:54]And with a little bit of luck, this will all hold.

[00:10:58]And the runner beans will come up.

[00:11:01]You'll find out later in the year, won't you?

[00:11:06]>> [snorts] >> And the next thing, as you've seen, I put a stile up.

[00:11:14]As you can see what I've done, I've put in three seed potatoes in a tire.

[00:11:21]And then covered them with the black stuff.

[00:11:25]>> [clears throat] >> And when I as I head north, they're they're saying about earthing them up, yeah, I'll earth them up by putting another tire on.

[00:11:33]Um those three were they were put in Oh, 3 4 weeks ago.

[00:11:39]So, we're trying to stage them.

[00:11:42]But now we're getting to the point of like main crop potatoes basically.

[00:11:48]So, that stuff there is the best stuff for spuds.

[00:11:55]Let's get them all filled up.

[00:12:08]Just want to tease the roots out so they're not so pot bound.

[00:12:14]Uh you might not be able to see this there. Just help get the root system to grow out and not round and round in circles.

[00:12:23]And then nice little hole.

[00:12:28]Pop them in.

[00:12:33]And then yeah, just try and get them started.

[00:12:38]I'll push them through.

[00:12:41]Just give a little bit of a start on them to help them basically climb.

[00:12:47]So, with a little bit of luck >> [snorts] >> and a little bit of love these are going to come up here and produce lovely spring.

[00:13:03]Time to get some more water in before it's too dry.

[00:13:36]>> We've got beetroot that I started off last autumn and that's on your right hand side.

[00:13:42]Fresh beetroot there on the left hand side.

[00:13:45]Radishes, uh um rainbow chard, beet leaf, broccoli and cauliflower, and we keep going.

[00:13:59]It's food.

[00:14:04]Well, not a sunny day, so that's a good working day cuz I'm not going to get all sweaty.

[00:14:10]Um as you saw last week, yeah, DIY SOS. Well, this is DIY, but not necessarily SOS this time.

[00:14:21]>> [sighs and snorts] >> And all of this is changing.

[00:14:28]Let me explain.

[00:14:32]I already made a start.

[00:14:34]This area here, looking very bold and bleak, will remain that way.

[00:14:40]It's going to be covered by my extension.

[00:14:44]And all of the tins got to come down, my water tanks have got to move, bath, everything All this is going to be cleared out because >> [cough] >> I'm building an extension.

[00:14:58]And this extension I'm hoping to get done extremely quickly.

[00:15:04]I do have help on this one. Um so, it's not these two hands alone.

[00:15:09]But you'll see as we go along. But basically, we're having an extra room, a better veranda, and hopefully, a more pleasing environment for me.

[00:15:25]So, watch this space, folks.

[00:15:28]This is all going to be cleared out.

[00:15:30]Some will say yes, some will say no, but that tree's got to come down. I don't know if you can see it in the picture there, but that's got to come down, and this area is going to be my extension.

[00:16:02]Another bit that kind of makes me momentarily uncomfortable as such, disconnecting my water supply.

[00:16:12]Now, it's not life-threatening, but psychologically I'm thinking, "Ooh."

[00:16:17]>> [snorts] >> Cuz I'm going to have to be moving these IBCs, which means, yeah, I need to stockpile a bit of water, which we got I've got some drums of water.

[00:16:26]Hopefully, they'll be a case of get these moved, get them in position, get the pipe back in, then I'm going to have to temporarily get some hose pipe to reach from one side down to the other side where all my other pipe work is, and it'll get me over the situation until I put in proper pipe work.

[00:16:47]But, uh it's all progress.

[00:16:54]So, yeah, we shall see. And I mean, again, only a short video.

[00:17:00]Um a lot of it's been fetching and carrying again.

[00:17:06]And like I'll say it briefly before the end of the video, you know, having to get building supplies um and other bits and pieces.

[00:17:17]It all time and you know, I'm I'm in a rural location, so yeah.

[00:17:28]Your Screwfix's, your B&Q's and all all of the likes aren't just down the bottom of the road.

[00:17:37]So, yeah, for me, a trip out to get something that you know, like yeah, building supplies is half a day.

[00:17:45]Um you know, so that's then I'm only left with half a day.

[00:17:50]And in that half a day I've got to do my daily chores. So, that can limit down to me what can actually physically be done.

[00:18:01]But then several days of half days getting stuff then not going out, concentrating on the build work and things can then happen quite fast.

[00:18:17]Well, that's the plan.

[00:18:22]>> [snorts] >> Things like get a phone call to say someone's got pallets for me.

[00:18:31]There's another six pallets here. That's another raised bed.

[00:18:35]That little trip, that was local. That only has wasted about 2 hours of my day.

[00:18:41]Wasted, productive, not wasted but not able to do things here.

[00:18:47]And then second-hand reclaimed scaffold boards.

[00:18:54]Got wind of getting a lot of these.

[00:18:59]50 to be precise, really cheap.

[00:19:02]So, had to go.

[00:19:06]Hour and a half drive out, hour and a half drive back.

[00:19:10]There's 3 hours plus my time there.

[00:19:13]Plus the time unloading here.

[00:19:16]Another half a day.

[00:19:19]And then building materials.

[00:19:24]C24 timber. Good treated.

[00:19:28]Um yes, you could tell me, "Oh, it's not off good now. Use timber on the land." I get that. I will be using timber from the land. Um but I don't have commercialized size timber. I don't have a milling machine. So, >> [sighs] >> getting timber to build.

[00:19:47]Uh yeah, that's not a cheap nowadays either, is it?

[00:19:51]But I'm going to get that. Um under the tarp, there's um boards for basically the extension. Um some blocks that I need. And other bits and pieces. Yeah, and this silly thing, I mean, you know, this was half a day gone.

[00:20:06]Screws, that's another I'm figuring out with a shopping trip.

[00:20:10]So, that's another I won't count that one.

[00:20:13]But this is where sometimes progress, physical seeing progress, visual progress, is not fast enough for me, and I get frustrated.

[00:20:29]But the one thing I do have is determination.

[00:20:34]I've got a picture in my head. I've got a dream in my mind.

[00:20:38]And that dream is going to become a reality.

[00:20:42]That picture is going to be for all of you guys to see.

[00:20:48]But you're going to have to wait until next week for that.

[00:20:50]Let's see how far we get. So, we're not usual. If you like, subscribe, and if you've got a facility to do the heart button, very much appreciated.

[00:21:02]Um but more than anything, I hope you're smiling, I hope you're happy, and I hope you've enjoyed another week of me.

[00:21:10]Come in next week, knock on the door, and we'll see what we've got to show you.

[00:21:15]Hopefully, something more visual.

[00:21:19]Anyway, folks, from me to you, please take care of yourself in that mad world out there, and we'll see you next week.