Thursday 26/2/26 Fred made an incinerator from an oil drum for us, so we loaded it on the Gator truck which Fred has repaired as we had starting problems. We saw swans in the river on the way to the mill, Eddie took the incinerator and I went on the mower.
Mole hills have brought large stones to the surface which will cause damage or injury if caught in the mower blades. Eddie does litter picking in Swaffham so he borrowed two litter picking sticks which we used today to clear two buckets of stones from our lawns.
Eddie mowed the large lawn then fitted a hook and eye on the timber store door so it stays open when getting wood out, as the catch we fitted was not strong enough.
Anne Marie joined us and weeded the gardens, there are signs of life with lupin leaves beside the tunnel exit and primroses around the cherry tree. Anne Marie and I crossed our bridge to view snowdrops on our bank and daffodils flowering in the grindstones. We pulled ivy off the trees with bird nest boxes so they don’t get overgrown.
Squirrels had damaged a peanut feeder which Eddie repaired by patching the hole using thin pliers to sew it with garden wire. Eddie then filled the bird food and we saw a great tit come down for peanuts, a robin on the back of a bench and long tailed tits in the trees. I heard a lapwing calling and saw it fly down into the field behind the mill.
I took the incinerator over to the rubble heap and unloaded it, then put it up on bricks from the rubble. I burnt cuttings from the area we cleared for the compound and added fallen branches from our river bank which all burnt well. Anne Marie walked back while Eddie and I had hot sausage rolls for lunch in the wagon with the fire alight.
Our wildflower meadow was partly cut and sown last Autumn, but the rest needed cutting so Eddie mowed the grass there. We moved the picnic bench and I mowed the area where it stands and the lawn next to the meadow over the covered brick floor.
Thursday 5/3/26 Molehills have made the track to the mill very bumpy, so I took the tractor and roller down to flatten the track ready for the open days on 9 & 10 May. At the mill I went down the slope which is the only way to turn round, then flattened mole hills at the far end of the mill.
I planned to go back and roll the track again but the tractor would not get back up the slope, I tried reversing, using higher gears, going up the gentle slope of the wildflower meadow at an angle, we also tried towing the roller with the Gator which is 4 wheel drive (the tractor is not), but we couldn’t get up the slope.
We then chained the Gator to the tractor and roller, using power from both gave six wheel drive, this got us up the slope, but then the track rod broke under the tractor which we put the chain around and the front wheels splayed apart. I should have put the chain around a stronger part of the tractor, we had to leave it to be repaired.
Anne Marie brought bluebells and planted them on the river bank which she also weeded, anemones are in flower and foxgloves are coming up there. Eddie emptied the ashpan on the gardens, but we didn’t have the fire alight as it was a warm sunny day. Daffodils are now flowering around the cherry tree as well as in the grindstones.
Eddie filled the bird food, then we all had lunch outside, Anne Marie brought home made Norfolk shortbread for us which we enjoyed. We saw blue tits and great tits feeding and a buzzard flying overhead. Long tailed tits were in the trees again.
In the afternoon we made hooks from thick garden wire to hang bird feeders in the trees which makes them much easier to fill. We then collected more fallen branches from the ditch the other side of the river, brought them back and cut them up for our stove.
We saw a squirrel run along the track, we think it was eating fallen peanuts from the feeders. On our way back we saw a little egret flying which landed beside the river.
Fred repaired the tractor in the evening by welding the broken track rod, he was then able to drive the tractor and roller away.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Previous Projects Workers Review 2025
