I wore an Irish rugby shirt so that the cottage burners would not make the mistake of thinking that I was English as the folks on the march for independence did not hide their views on the largest ethnic minority in Wales. Their xenophobia was only matched by their economic illiteracy. We were graced with a video message from blood soaked, IRA Sinn Fein and I ask a few questions about that, about Ukraine and its speakers of a minority language. Natch, I still hope Wales goes independent to lance the boil of economic dependency and a greivance culture. The folks at the March for Independence have passion on their side but not any fact based arguments, however much they pretend otherwise. The march and my two Welsh kids are pictured below.

Those folks attending ShareStock in September, will enjoy a full range of home made jams whither the breakfast croissants and tea-time scone. First up is the gooseberry jam made, lergely, with dessert gooseberries. There might be one more pot in the bushes but for now that is it. Next up blackcurrant and strawberry jams, after Greece I shall hope to make plum jam and damson jam. And possibly rhubarb jam though the crop, this year, is modest. The Mrs ands I had rhubarb and custard last night and it was awesome and has left me with some shocking pink liquid which I shall try to turn into a rhubarb and ginger ice cream overnight. 

Okay, not a cracking yield but when your potatoes start to flower you are, I am told, meant to have a look beneath the soil. So I did. What you see below is from two plants and was enough to eat roasted with a chicken last night, along with home grown broad beans, courgettes and a lettuce salad. Fear not of you worry abut us running out. This is rwo plants from the 25 in tranche one. Tranche two is about to be hilled for the second time and should be ready in August. Tranche three was planted last week.

Much to my great suprise, all 12 of the tomato seeds I planted with Joshua in small pots have taken. And thus two days ago I worked late into the night on a small extra patch of what was once the jungle, bringing it into life as a tomato bed. With the ten plants I was given by a friend on the assumption that me seeds would fail, I hope to be drowning in tomatoes by the autumn. We shall see. It was about nine when I finished and I leant on my rake pondering the last roped off patch I needed to prepare.

That I have to stress that I am not a Putin apologist is a sign of the Group Think at play here. But I walk through the rewriting of history from World War Two to 2014 and the catalogue of lies we are being fed by the political and media classes as they pursue an unwinnable war, backing a losing side. extending the agony and adding to the bloodshed while further impoversishing their own people.  It is not in my name. And we should all consider the facts and stand up and say no. Just as we should all have challenged what has been shown to be a false Group Think on the covid scandemic. Those of us who did challenge that Group Think from early on were told we had blood on our hands. We are now vindicated - it is the Group Think leaders who should be in jail.  Before you slate me on Ukraine listen to this podcast and consider the facts I present, not the lies you are being told.

I have not enjoyed a gooseberry fool since my mum made them almost fifty years ago. But the dessert gooseberries are now ready, red not green and sweeter than ordinary gooseberries. So I thought I might tempt Joshua to try them in a fool with a bit less sugar than the traditional recipe.

The 1973 Supreme Court ruling of Roe vs Wade has been overturned in the US which, according to the liberal media and “progressives” elsewhere, is a bad thing and is a tantamount to a ban on abortion. Of course, it is not. In honour of the almost 64 million lives ended by abortion since Roe vs Wade 49 years ago here are the awful facts.

Okay, not entirely homegrown but a triumph, not least in that Joshua – a picky eater – decided he loved marrow ( aka a very big courgette cooked like a marrow with minced meat and cheese) – after whining that he hated it. Pretty soon he was raving about it. Then…