Royal Welsh Show 2024

Alex Rowe of Gittisham Forge returned to stay with us while stewarding at the 2024 Royal Welsh Show. Alex is a fifth-generation blacksmith working alongside his father, Julian, at their forge just outside Honiton, Devon. He lodged with us while a student at the Holme Lacy Campus doing his blacksmithing course. Alex very kindly gave us two free tickets for this year's show; having also given us tickets for the 2023 Show. In 2023, we went on a Tuesday; this year it was a Thursday - the last day of the show. If you are interested in the show animals, there is an 8-hour video here.

Video 1: Alex & Julian Rowe (aka Gittisham Forge), Royal Welsh Show, 2024

We always find ourselves drawn to the wood-chopping arena with different events occurring throughout the day. I'm sure the various categories have special names - but all are based on the use of aces and saws to chop/slice wood. This one has two men taking turns to chop through a trunk of wood

Video 2: Axe-Chopping Competition (RWS, 2024)

Photo 1: Two-man Chopping Competition

Video 3: More Chopping

Video 4: The Final Cut

We made our way over to the blacksmithing area to see Alex and family and to admire the work of the artist blacksmiths.

Photo 2: The Art of the Blacksmith

Photo 3: Gate

Our attention was drawn to the nearby show ring where a team of dancing JCBs were entertaining the crowds ...

Video 5: Dancing JCBs #I

                                                           Video 6: Dancing JCBs #II

Video 7: Dancing JCBs #III

There were the usual farm animal competitions for sheep, pig, goat, cattle, poultry, etc.

Photo 4: Customary pose for the pigs

Photo 5: Modern Hairstyles?

We stopped briefly to watch the pole climbing competition ...

Photo 6: Pole Climbing

Video 8: Pole Climbing

... and the magnificent shire horses ...

Photo 7: Shire Horses in the Main Show Ring

... before heading back to the coaches waiting to take us to our car.

As with the 2023 show, everything was efficiently organised and there was plenty to do and see. A full day's entertainment. We even left with some free fresh corn on the cobs courtesy of Aldi - they had clearly overestimated the quantity they would sell. We enjoyed them once we got home - not as sweet as the maize I grow in the kitchen garden, but nice enough. Will we go to the 2025 show? Who knows ...

Fruit/Vegetable Anomalies #6 Swiss Chard

 

Photo 1: Swiss Chard 'Giant'

Continuing this occasional series about odd looking fruit and vegetables grown in the kitchen garden, today's feature vegetable is Swiss Chard. Previous posts have featured strawberries, carrots, potatoes, garlic and courgettes/zucchinis.

It is not unusual for my Swiss Chard to grow to 4 - 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 metres) but this specimen is over eight-foot tall (>2.4 metres). The leaves are still tender, edible and sweet but the stem is a little on the tough side. When Swiss Chard bolts like this, the leaves can become bitter.

My normal practice would be to take out the growing tip at 3 foot (0.9 metres) to encourage more growth from the base. Not quite sure how this excessive growth crept up on me, if it is, indeed, possible for a giant to creep up.

I've seen a few other reports of very tall Swiss Chard plants; e.g. here. I like to think it is the fertility and living complex organic structure of my soil that enables such supersonic growth. Apart from digging in my homemade garden compost and the very occasional watering when establishing the small plants, these vegetables are left to their own devices.

Chard has been grown in England since at least 1596 and is known by a number of alternative names: silver beet, beet spinach, seakale beet and leaf beat. Its origins can be traced back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 7th Century China, and 4th Century Greece. It is chock full of vitamins and minerals which explains its widespread use as a medicinal plant. Plenty of scientific papers have been written about Swiss Chard.

As noted above, Swiss Chard is an excellent addition to anyone's diet and is, fortunately, very easy to grow as an all-year-round vegetable. Chard is particularly rich in Vitamin A, β-carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Iron, Manganese, Magnesium and Potassium. It is also an excellent source of dietary fibre. There are lots of ways to add it to your diet; I add it all and any savoury dish including soup, curries, stews, pasta/tomato sauces, salads, cauliflower and macaroni cheese - or simply steam as a side vegetable.

That's a bit cheeky!

 

On our return from a short holiday, we found this business card slipped behind the rear windscreen wiper of our camper van. Mary was (mildly) offended though we both agreed the car looked far from pristine and clean. While I just chuckled at the cheekiness of it all, Mary went for a sponge and bucket of water to clean the rear of the van! So now it looked well cared for provided you didn't look at the sides, front, or roof of the van! An example of the idiom, sweeping something under the carpet (or rug, if you are American).

As a general rule, I don't see the necessity for spending time and/or money cleaning the outside of a vehicle. There are probably a few reasons why you would want to wash the car: e.g. if it was being used for a special occasion such as a wedding, to remove bird faeces that corrode the paintwork, or as a paid task for a child to earn pocket/sponsor money (bob-a-job).

On the negative side, it wastes a valuable resource (potable water), pollutes the environment (detergents, waxes), and, on a personal note, I can think of many things I would rather spend my time on (such as writing this blog!!). Somewhere in the region of 100 - 300 litres of water will be used to wash one car. According to this study, the combined carbon footprint for drinking water production (0.5 kgCO2eq per 1000 litres; range: 0.18 to 0.79) and wastewater disposal (0.8 kgCO2eq per 1000 litres; range: 0.51 to 1.14) is around 1.3 kgCO2eq per 1000 litres. A carwash, therefore, has a carbon footprint of between 0.1 and 0.4 kgCO2eq provided you didn't drive to the car wash. In itself, not a big deal unless you are doing it week-in and week-out.