Rural idle

I like to think that the children look forward to these little outings as much as I do. But the look on their faces as I prize the Nintedo’s from their hands seems to say: "Some holiday this is. Send us back to school."

With the ground still too cold to risk any sort of outdoor sowing there is not much more than preparation that can be done.

Children make their own amusement. Watch in horror as they discover a lump of ice remaining in the precious water bin and promptly tip out the entire contents to break it up with sticks.

My rainwater collection of four months disappears but the children are happy and I can get on.

Have read that this is a good time to force rhubarb but have never attempted it.

Worry that I am going against nature and that I will produce the vegetable equivalent of veal.

Forcing things is not really in my nature. I’m more of a cajoling sort of person.

But as there is not much else to do I am willing to give it a try. I am sure that there exists a fancy purpose-made forcer but I am using a black upturned bucket.

Look forward to my first rhubarb crumble.

Holidays are proving to be expensive and I realise how much money we save by having the children at school.

It’s not the expensive days out that are the problem as they have been firmly off the agenda this week. It is the consumption of food that breaks the bank.

The fruit bowl is constantly under siege and as son reaches for his third apple within an hour I have to stop myself from shouting "they don’t grow on trees you know"

Instead I mumble something about the credit crunch but son only hears ‘crunch’ and thinks I have bought a new type of apple.