This little war

I am, as you may know, a big fan of the Home Front. Not that I think it was nice, getting bombed into the middle of next week, but I love the tales of courage and spirit, the dedication, the patriotism, and the sheer bloody mindedness of the women, children, and few remaining men, who lived through those years.

I'm beginning to see this awful recession as a little war.

For once, my passion for digging for victory and making do and mending is less amusing. Now it's quite fashionable, my little plot, growing all our vegetables, my few hens, providing our eggs, and enough money to pay for their feed and upkeep.

The quiet courage and resourcefulness of ordinary English folk. Oh I do hope we come into our own again.

We're having such glorious spring weather, we've been out in the veg plot, working ourselves up a good backache ;-)

I've constructed a seed bed, and planted leeks, brussels sprouts, and more leeks in it already. I sowed half a row of lettuce, today. Parsnips are sown, with radishes to mark the rows and steal a crop, and a good row of beetroot.

We also cleared a tatty patch by the greenhouse, today, to make into a little decorative flower border. I'm rather sorry we put the greenhouse where we did, and it's on the list to move it. But it's a long list so in the meantime, I'm trying to make it look a little better.

Neil is lambing, long hours away from home, and the girls and I are doing just about everything else, including the milking.

It's exhausting, but we mustn't complain – the unemployment figures came out today, and our area is one of the hardest hit. Work is work, albeit temporary.

Clearing up now, after a long day, girls on their way to bed, I need to pack Neil's lunch for tomorrow, unpick a dress we were given to remake for one of the girls, clean up the kitchen, if there's time, add a few photos here. And fall over.

This little war ..... it won't beat us. We mustn't let it.