so I have reluctantly ordered mega bird food supplies
On the plus side if you buy bird food in quantities of over 12.5kg then you don't have to pay the VAT so you make some good savings. Don't forget GW magazine has extra 10% discount codes for 2 on-line suppliers too.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Good point @chicky as I was thinking along the lines of repurposed drivers. It's hard to know what is the right thing to do, or even if it's still possible, but without my garden I would go stir crazy ( especially as the hubby is working from home 😈) 😁
Good advice @wild edges but it has become more difficult to find big bags of the 'good' stuff. One of the GW suppliers has stopped taking orders now but in any case I use a family farm in Beds who are reliable and the birds can't get enough of the stuff.
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
I was having the same dilemma about ordering plants online, do I order as normal to support the nursery business? In my case I would be taking the risk of receiving dead plants as my nearest decent online supplier is Brittany and local couriers are at saturation point here. OR, not order for the sake of freeing up French and Spanish transport/couriers for more essential deliveries? Many medical supplies, PPE, dry/tinned foodstuff, toiletries etc., don’t need refrigeration and there has been a fair amount of repurposing here in many areas.
In the end I decided not to order. Was I right? I don’t know. I keep changing my mind, but still haven’t pressed the ‘place your order’ button...
On another note:
Sadly, no one is allowed to leave their house (alone, by car) to tend to their huertos even though they are private plots of land and big enough for an individual to be half a mile away from anyone else as they hoe their beans. No need for contact with anyone else. I fully support the lockdown, self-isolation and sanitation measures, but preventing people safely producing much-needed food for their families seems crazy. If there is one area the locals will get rebellious over it is this!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I have ordered live mealworms for the birds, and a load of manure from our friendly farmer. I plan on no contact . The money for the manure I will put in an envelope and leave it to one side for him to pick up without contact. He still has people coming for the horses he has stabled with him.
I am wondering if it is OK to go down to one of the water meadows to collect comfrey leaves. Maybe tomorrow. Yesterday we cleared a space for the manure to be dropped. Today is lovely, I intend to how off everything on the veg patch ready for planting.
I wonder if I can just add a bit about deliveries, just had son on the phone again, asking to put this about. Can you think again when you order something, he said he’s never delivered so many tins of paint, books , dvd’s Plastic tat to ‘cheer people up’ because they are bored with being at home. Please spare of thought for the courier drivers, he has medical supplies for pharmacies , care homes etc, they are working flat out to deliver essential orders, can you please think twice about ordering plants or stuff that can wait, or even be done without. Thank you.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Difficult situation though, because if people stop ordering online, that affects a lot of people, particularly small businesses trying to stay afloat. What might be considered unnecessary could be vital income to the person selling it.
Well Lyn and Omori have equally valid, if different perspectives and each summed up my plant ordering dilemma to a tee! At least stocks of plastic tat and paint will still be valid stock to sell on in future, so I am totally with Lyn on that one. Nursery stock and other perishables, on the other hand...
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Thank you @Nollie, it’s not only that, but half of the drivers are out isolating at home, the rest are flat out, essential items should take priority but I’ve still seen people moaning because their goods were promised yesterday, the country has been in financial difficulties in the past, it will recover, eventually, we need to praise these delivery drivers who are putting themselves at risk to delivery all you stuff.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
In the end I decided not to order. Was I right? I don’t know. I keep changing my mind, but still haven’t pressed the ‘place your order’ button...
On another note:
Sadly, no one is allowed to leave their house (alone, by car) to tend to their huertos even though they are private plots of land and big enough for an individual to be half a mile away from anyone else as they hoe their beans. No need for contact with anyone else. I fully support the lockdown, self-isolation and sanitation measures, but preventing people safely producing much-needed food for their families seems crazy. If there is one area the locals will get rebellious over it is this!
Horses definitely need their carers so I hope they're all being sensible about keeping their distance from each other.
Can you think again when you order something, he said he’s never delivered so many tins of paint, books , dvd’s Plastic tat to ‘cheer people up’ because they are bored with being at home.
Please spare of thought for the courier drivers, he has medical supplies for pharmacies , care homes etc, they are working flat out to deliver essential orders, can you please think twice about ordering plants or stuff that can wait, or even be done without.
Thank you.