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Wednesday, January 02, 2013

A Sense to Cleanse

Grapefruit and Beetroot - the first two items I picked up when we went to the grocery this evening. It's only me that eats and likes them. Gaz hates them but apart from the fact that I actually enjoy the taste of them, I also think my body needs them periodically to help detox my system after a period of over indulgence. Yes, it's January and it's detox time!
Berries are also good for detoxing, but not from this plant...

Not that I overindulged that much in the last few weeks anyway. Just a little bit more than usual. But you do get that sense to cleanse every so often, the urge to be that extra conscious of what you eat, hoping that whatever toxin that may have accumulated in your system will be cleansed away, for a better sense of well being. For the detox sceptics out there, it could well be just a placebo effect but if doing so makes you feel better, lose weight, and doesn't harm you then why not?

It looks herbaceous but is actually evergreen, and looking pretty in early January - Polygonatum punctatum
But it's not just the body that needs extra 'cleansing' sometimes, but the garden too. A new year and a new start, and one of the best ways to start a new year is to get rid of rubbish that's been hanging around in the garden. 

We need to get rid of this huge rubbish!
And yes, we have some garden rubbish to get rid off. A huge pile of chalk that we just dumped right at the bottom of the new garden (where a new greenhouse and utility area will be) that we could never recycle somewhere else anymore. This chalk pile was part of the spoil from the hole were the pond is now, most of which was re-used somewhere else and this pile is just the left over. For months we just left it there as we carried on with the pond build. But now that the build is almost over, we need to start paying attention to the area where the chalk pile is. 

Here we go again with the digging...
It will never go anywhere if we just keep looking at it. We'll have to get rid of it eventually so might as well make a start now, early on, so we can also move on with developing this area.

How to save £200 - that's how much it would have cost us to hire a skip. But even with a skip it would still entail us digging and shifting the 
chalk in tubs, it will only make the process a bit quicker. Not quick nor convenient enough to make it a cost effective expense in our 
situation. The recycling centre is only a five minute drive from where we live so might as well shift them bit by bit (and use the £200 on 
something more exciting).
Chalk, messy sticky chalk. Like a nightmare that comes back to haunt you. I will always have memories on how messy chalk is when it gets wet and we were plagued by its sticky presence for months on end whilst digging the pond. And now we have to handle sticky chalk all over again.

The large skip at the recycling centre where we dump our chalk a bucket at a time. Now how many people do you know take photos of a 
recycling skip? Not a lot I bet. But we do. We are bloggers and bloggers take photos of everything, haha!!
But this is it now, the final chalk pile to be tackled. It will take us another weekend or so of digging and several trips to the tip before everything will be gone. But once it's gone it's gone and the thought of finally getting rid of this sticky pile is enough incentive to get you going. To 'cleanse' this garden of this mess, we will be able to plan better and move forward.

The last bits of painting were also done today (standing on a ladder)
And we entered the year by finishing all of the pipework. The filtration is now all fully connected. We just to have install the glass 
and we can start filling the pond with water.
There you go, we finally made a dent on the remaining chalk pile. I just wish digging was as easy as eating grapefruit and beetroot. Mind you, I think digging, grapefruit, and beetroot make a great combination: not only do you eat healthily, you get to exercise too!

Mark :-)

22 comments:

  1. You got a good head start on your spring cleaning! I'm amazed your dump takes soil--not the case here.

    Nothing wrong with grapefruit and beets in my book. I love them both!

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    1. Same here, could snack on both all day :)

      I'm glad the tip is nearby and accepts soil and rubble, very handy! Any further we probably would have hired a skip.

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  2. Winter does expose a lot of things that go at least partially obscured by the lushness of spring and summer. Nobody could accuse you guys of shirking the heavy lifting. You should be squeaky clean by now.

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    1. Hi Ricki, something similar crossed my mind whilst writing this blog. In summer the chalk pile was so swamped with weeds that it virtually disappeared out of sight. We're both squeaky clean at the moment, it rained hard midway digging and it got messy in the end. A good shower was warranted afterwards :)

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  3. Great job Mark & Gaz! That pond is going to look magical; so looking forward to seeing it. I love beetroot too & I love how it stains, the lips. Best wishes to you both for an awesome 2013! :D

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    1. It does doesn't it? Like tinted lipbalm :) Best wishes for 2013 to you too!

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  4. Good for you! I'm impressed that you've gotten rid of your chalk pile and that only the window installation remains on your pond. It will certainly be a momentous occasion when you get to add water and once it's ready for fish, I'll hear your inner cries of joy all the way over here! As for the other kind of cleansing, I just drink another glass of egg nog, fall asleep and hope that magically 100 lbs will melt off in the night.

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    1. Oh how I wish excess can easily melt like that, magically just by wishing it away, sigh! Chalk pile is stll mostly there, only managed to get rid of a quarter of it yesterday by if weather permits this coming weekend all could be gone by the end of it :)

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  5. I love grapefruit but never have tried beet-root. How do you eat it?

    Reading about your ever so slightly over-endulging reminded me of the wine Gaz so nicely sent home with me the day of my visit. It was so good (really was) that we didn't want it to go to waste. Let's just say we weren't feeling our best as we were packing up that last morning to leave London...

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    1. Ooops, sorry for causing some discomfort but I'm glad you guys liked the wine :)

      I usually just buy the pre packed cooked beetroot so I don't have to peel it myself. It can be eaten as it is although I eat mine with a dash of salt.

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  6. I wish I was half as motivated as you. I'm pretty sure if I had a pile of chalk like that I'd just pretend like it wasn't there.

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    1. Hi Tom, just the thought of not having to see that pile of chalk everytime we wander down where it is now is enough incentive. Can't wait for all of it to be gone! :)

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  7. Actually it's kind of nice to have some place to take the buckets to dump. I would be doing the same thing rather than wasting money on the skip. When I have things needing to go that are extra, I take my time doing it also.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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    1. Hi Cher, I'm glad a recycling facility is available and so near from us too, which makes it handy and convenient for us. It'll just take longer but the savings will be worth it :)

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  8. I'm with you on not wanting to spend out on skips - we'd much rather take our time to clear mess ourselves, which is actually what we've been doing too this week. Looking forward to seeing the pond in full flow...

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    1. Hi Martin, so far we've never had to hire a skip all through the project so there's a sense of resistance too, not to hire one when it's almost the end of the project :)

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  9. Mark and Gaz, Happy New Year! I have not gone online during the holidays so i missed many posts. I do some juicing too once-in-a while, but i normally use carrots and cucumber with some celery. Beets are not often found here.

    Mark - do you miss 'buko salad'? We made lots of it for Christmas and added some more for New Year, sana mainggit ka, haha!

    I wonder why there are chalks there? Is this not calcium carbonate or coral deposits? If so, it is a very good remedy for acidic soil, which happens when an area has been farmed for a long time!

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    1. And Happy New Year to you too! :) Yes I do miss Buko (Coconut), meat and juice. I think that's up there as one of the best for detoxing!

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  10. wow that is some taste bit like my mamouth compost heap which I have avoided for two years and am now struggling with. We should pack ourselves on our backs

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    1. Hi Helen, indeed :) So far our backs haven't been complaining (yet) but have to be careful...

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  11. That is a mountain of chalk - good luck shifting it without putting your backs out! And please tell me that the painting photo was posed, and that you don't really manage to paint in a smart jacket without getting covered... I know that in principle paint should just stay on the brush and on the surface being painted, but in practice, in my world, it always ends up wandering...

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    1. Hi Janet, we're halfway through shifting that chalk pile, yay! And that jacket is my scruffy gardening/painting jacket, it doesn't look that smart anymore up close so it's fine to use for chores etc :)

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