The Reuse Shop

This morning Jackie worked on clearing the Lawn Bed in readiness for renewed planting. I, in the meantime, jammed as many bags of recyclable garden refuse into the Modus before we drove them to the Efford recycling centre. This is the first time we have visited since before Covid, but Jackie was keen to maintain traditional lore which states that one never visits the facility without making a purchase from the newly named Reuse Shop, from which you can only buy what someone has thrown away with a bank card. Moreover we can only discard our rubbish by appointment which must be made on line. Such is upmarket progress.

She chose a matching pair of what will now be garden plant stands.

I rang the Verderers office later, when, by coincidence, Robert, the Agister was present. He spoke to me at some length, explaining that he knew the foal I had reported a couple of days ago, which was much happier than it had been at first. The large areas around his rump were the result of scouring – a form of diarrhoea brought on by the richness of the mother’s milk. This meant that the liquid excreta adhered to the hair and stripped it off. It is growing back. He wasn’t sure about the lesser blemishes but would see the animal regularly, and wasn’t concerned.

After lunch Jackie continued her weeding and planting while I gathered up compostable material which I transported to the bins, then carried out more dead-heading and weeding, and garnered

a few more photographs, each of which bears a title in the gallery.

This evening we dined on succulent pork chops and sausages; boiled new potatoes; crunchy carrots, cauliflower, and firm broccoli, with meaty gravy. Jackie drank Hoegaarden; Flo, mixed fruit juice cordial; and I, Chianti Rufino 2018.

76 comments

  2. Those plant stands-to-be look perfect for the job. What a range of pretty flowers there are in your garden!

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  3. Incredibly beautiful garden photos as always, you two! I am glad that the foal will be okay, poor baby, that’s got to hurt or at least be very irritating. I had to look up the word Agister, never heard of that here.

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  4. Good news on the foal. I was quite taken with that lemon yellow Antirrhinum. I had no idea what it was, never having heard the word, but it looked familiar. No wonder! It’s our Snapdragon!

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  5. Recycling, upcycling and reusing items are always good things to do. Jackie found some nice plant stands!

    The variety and color of blooms is quite pleasing to look at, and it is uplifting to see such and abundance of life.

    The little foal is being looked at and cared for now, thanks to your diligence!

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  6. Thank you for checking into the foal’s skin condition. The only time I’ve seen “the scours” used in the excreta sense is in the novel Cold Mountain.

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  7. The day lily is a sumptuous colour. FC Metz in the French First Division play in kit of that colour, more or,less, and they call it “grenadine” or “grenat” which is pomegranate or garnet coloured respectively . I’m not sure what garnet coloured is. Something to do with Alf Garnet, I presume!

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  9. Thank you so much for checking on the foal! Thank you for caring! We cared, too. Good to hear the update. 🙂
    Lovely flowers with happy faces! 🙂 Love seeing the butterflies and bees at work and play! 🙂
    What wonderful plant stands! Thank you for giving them a beautiful home! 🙂 YAY for reusing! I was brought up to reuse things…restore things…recycle things!
    (((HUGS))) ❤️

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  16. It’s a relief to know Robert, the Agister, is taking care of the foal. Thanks for letting us know. Beautiful flowers! I love the back drive border and the butterfly on the hebe.

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    1. People with historic residence in the forest, called commoners, have a right to own the animals with free pasturage. Thanks very much, Lakshmi

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  24. For some reason, Snapdragons (Antirrhinum) have been just about my favourite flower since I was a little girl. Maybe I have happy memories of making their little faces “snap”.

    I hope the agister treated your call politely, and didn’t go down the “yeah, yeah, tell me something I don’t know route”. Sometimes in our efforts to do the right thing, it can be misinterpreted as interfering.

    Those plant stands look nearly new and still have their sale sticker barcodes on them. I wonder if they will stand up to external use. So much soft wood around these days. I had some gorgeous bedside cabinets that suddenly developed tiny holes in their feet after eight years. Took me a couple of months to wake up. Wood Beetle! Probably imported in the timber as larvae right from the get go. They can take years to hatch and then come out like a moth. Worst case scenario, they’ll start chewing through all the surrounding wood, such a wall skirting boards. I was in a quandary what to do with the cupboards. Couldn’t burn them because the lacquer would give off toxic fumes. Couldn’t send them to the council tip as some scavenger would think them good and take them home and spread the problem. Definitely not to a recycle centre! Eventually a furniture restorer took them off my hands for safe disposal. Don’t know what he did, but problem then no belong me 🙂

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    1. The Agister volunteered to come to the phone and was thorough and friendly in his explanation. We spoke for quite a while. At £5 each we don’t mind if the plant stands don’t last too many years. Thanks very much, Gwen

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  25. I am happy for your dedicated follow up with the Verderer about the long-legged foal: the mystery of the missing patches on his body has finally been resolved. Excellent floral parade follows!

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  26. Good news about the foal. You must have been relieved to know it is being carefully monitored, Derrick. The garden, as always, looks beautiful 😊

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  27. Glad to hear the foal’s owner knows that others are watching. It will keep him on his toes. Thanks, Derrick, for the update!

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  29. The photos of your garden magic sooth my soul. Magnificent. Here in our small New England towns, we have a similar Reuse place. Once a month there are long lines with people waiting their turn to return and replace with new “old” things. 🙂 Lastly, my guy and I enjoyed a glass of Chianti Rufino last night as well. It’s good.

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  32. My antirrhinums my yellow snapdragons from my pots have reseeded themselves in the middle of a pebbled gravel area, not only that, but a couple of pink/orange ones have sprung up (for the first time) from the ones I had in pots a couple of years ago.

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