Tuesday 22 December 2009

December 23rd, 2009


-7DegC this morning! The cold weather continues. To stop my potatoes from freezing in the shed I have resorted to an oil filled radiator. The dogs love it Charlie runs around the garden with her nose to the ground that acts like a snow plough and forms a large snow ball on her head. Going to Buckingham this morning, I'll try to keep out of the second hand bookshops.





December 22nd, 2009


We had a local pheasant shoot today. It is only a small one with drives at a farming friends and one at the vineyard. As you can see from the photo it was a very cold day.

December 21st, 2009



Very cold again. I am sure that it didn't get above freezing all day. Since they are used by all the rescue services in extreme conditions you would expect that a Landrover Defender would have a thermometer. As they don't you'll have to trust my judgement. I am looking to purchase a weather stations at the moment. I should have got one sooner as all the "weather" is happening at the moment. It is certainly on my plan to keep records over the years. If anyone can recommend one then please let me know.


I couldn't resist taking photos of the snow. It somehow makes everything more magical. I am particularly pleased with this one of the clouds over our bottom grass field.



I think that I have solved the problem of the chickens drinking water freezing. It seems that by putting the chickens water at the back of the hen house near the nesting boxes that it does not freeze. It is either more insulated or the warmth generated by the chickens is enough to stop it from freezing. Not mentioned before, but occasionally we have Red Kites over. Today one visited briefly before flying away over the southern end of the village.


Work, yes I did do some! Ii have finished all the end posts at the top end of the vineyard. I also, finished a section at the bottom end that is a little bit soft, took advantage of the frozen ground.
The bad weather caused traffic chaos across the UK.
It was the football clubs end of season curry night. However, due to the bad weather we stayed in the local pub and our fantastic Landlord allowed us to order a takeaway and eat it in his restaurant. He also confirmed a sponsorship deal for next season - details to be confirmed.






Sunday 20 December 2009

December 20th, 2009

Still looking for a solution to keeping the chickens drinking water from freezing. The forecast for the next 10 days is looking cold. The week ahead will have a maximum temperature of 1DegC and a low of -6DegC.



www.chafor.co.uk
info@chafor.co.uk

December 19th, 2009

Day off with the wife and children. Went to MK to do the last of the Xmas shopping.

www.chafor.co.uk
info@chafor.co.uk

December 18th, 2009


Bashing posts again. The ground was frozen solid but the post rammer seemed to cope OK. I have 5 more end posts to do to complete all the top end. I must say that it was very cold. So much so that I had to go and get some dry, lined gloves. The new spirit level is doing the job and has given me extra confidence.
The school closed early because of the weather so I only managed half a day.

Thursday 17 December 2009

December 17th, 2009

Had a morning meeting near Aylesbury then Christmas shopping. All well at the vineyard, chickens' water did not freeze inside. Snow forecast for tomorrow.

www.chafor.co.uk
info@chafor.co.uk

Wednesday 16 December 2009

December 16th, 2009


What a miserable day. First up I had to defrost the chickens' water and the ice has stayed all day. It was cold enough to stick bricks together!

It got very cold as the rain/sleet came down at lunch time. However, I can honestly say that I couldn't think of any where that I would rather be. Continued bashing end posts. Gave up on the template very quickly and managed to do about 14. I would have preferred to do more but my spirit level has lost its accuracy so a trip to the shops was necessary.

Tuesday 15 December 2009

December 15th, 2009




The posts arrived today and yet again the lorry got stuck in the mud and I had to tow it out with the Landrover. As he couldnt get up the track we had to handball the load. Spend the next few Hrs sorting out the mess.

I have now put out the end posts for bashing in the morning.
I noticed today that all the leaves have fallen.

I am experimenting with a template that I have made to try to get the posts in the right position.
And it snowed at about 3pm. Yes only a few small flakes, but it was definitely snow.









Monday 14 December 2009

December 14th, 2009


For the second week running we have increased our family. This time if only for two weeks. We are looking after a gorgeous Champagne, Cocker Spaniel.


We now have a name for the cockerel - Fred


Spent the day sorting and preparing posts


http://www.chafor.co.uk/
info@chafor.co.uk






Sunday 13 December 2009

December 13th, 2009




Took the family up to the vineyard today. I like them to see what I have achieved in a week. We cut some logs for the fire and we had another rainbow.
We are out at freinds this afternoon for a Christmas Dinner - they are flying to the caribbean for christmas!




Saturday 12 December 2009

December 12th, 2009

Had visitors today. Bill and Caroline from Ascot. I think that they enjoyed the visit and were surprised at what we had done.

www.chafor.co.uk
info@chafor.co.uk

Friday 11 December 2009

December 11th, 2009




Continued with my efforts to dig a trench to drain the water from the track. As you can see from the photo It has just about gone. I have decided to put down some irrigation pipe and fillin the hole with some hardcore. I know it will not be a long term solution and when I eventually get around to mending it properly it will be extra work. However, I don't think that I'll be doing that for some time and it is too dangerous to drive the tractor through the hole.

The drainage pipe arrives on Tuesday next week along with the end posts for the vineyard.



I have moved the electric netting so the chickens can have a new area to scratch around.



Then later on I put out some posts for bashing.

http://www.chafor.co.uk/
tim@chafor.co.uk

Thursday 10 December 2009

Wednesday 9 December 2009

December 9th, 2009



Finished Post Bashing to the last row. Are they all straight?






Now need to go back to the start and do the end posts. They will be delivered on Tuesday.

The mist came down tonight. Took some photo's but they did not come out too well.

www.chafor.co.uk
info@chafor.co.uk

Tuesday 8 December 2009

December 8th, 2009







I had to go into Buckingham this morning. I went straight from the school drop off and was parked by 9am When I got to the bank I found out that it did not open until 9:30 With 1/2hr to kill I did some shopping at Waitrose then looked at secondhand books in the charity shops. I guess that I must be a collector of cookbooks and books on wine as I always seem to buy at least one. I would have bought a Rick Stein book but at £7.50 I think that the charity shop is not playing the game. I expect all books in charity shops to be in the 50p (or less) to £2.oo range.












Didn't have time yesterday to mention that the lorry that came to deliver some End Posts got stuck in the mud. The condition of our track in the winter can be best described as muddy. The thing is the solid track dissapeared along time ago leaving a muddy mess. Luckly the Landrover was able to pull it out with ease. However, this incident motivated me to dig some channels to relieve some of the water and hopefully allow it to dry out.

You can see from the photos how much water has drained away.

I am back on the post bashing. Yesterday I finished putting up the wires on the post that I hammered into the ground a the end of November.

The picture shows me completing the smaller post of the box type end post system. I managed to do 18 rows this afternoon.






I play football on a Monday night in the Buckingham 6aside league. We are a team of "Old Men" playing against teams of "youngsters". Last night was the end of season cup competition. We managed to reach the semi final and lost to Buckingham Blues 4-0.

Monday 7 December 2009

December 7th, 2009



December 7th





The latest addition to the vineyard is a rather stunning cockerel given to us by a friend in the village. He was on death row so how could I say no!. In fact he hatched this summer at my daughters school as part of a science project. I am also happy to report that he is a hit with the girls and it is my intention to hatch some eggs next year with my incubator (that I last used about 25 years ago)




My main focus at the moment is putting up the trellising. This involves about bashing 1,300 8' and 9' posts about 3' into the ground. to date I have 23 rows complete - ie at least one wire and all canes in the row attached. Much more on trellising later.



The photo showes me attaching the canes to the wire with a twist tie.


www.chafor.co.uk

























Friday 4 December 2009

Starting Tonight



























So these are the first letters of the first words of my first blog. It probably not the best time to start blogging as I only have 5 mins before I get ready to go out. However, I am Tim Chafor and it is my intention to diarise (if that is a word) my work in establishing a vineyard in North Buckinghamshire. Today was the sort of day that inspires positive and progressive action so I am taking the plunge into a totally allien world for me - blogging. I have just realised that I have not even looked at any other blogs! For thoes of you that are interested this is the Chafor Vineyard, Gawcott, Bucks and it is my intention to chronicle the activities on a regular, maybe weekly basis.

No time to work the picture formatting out