Welcome to the SRT blog No. 63
6th August 2021 – Welcome to our blog post No. 63
Two weeks to catch up on so here goes.
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The market stall at Berkhamsted yesterday – selling our lovely produce and perennial plants.
The ever popular cooking activity producing lunch for everyone – chicken noodle soup this time.
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The latest parish council and community work at The Iron Room in Aldbury – hedge cutting and strimming by the Northchurch team.
At Northchurch Cinnabar moth caterpillars have been found on ragwort, whilst weeding the perennial bed. The cats were also playing a bit of hide and seek in there as well – spotted?.
Weeding the pigs space – they have moved out for the summer, and a new stone path will be lain for easier access.
Nigel on the tractor turning the ‘hot’ compost to help the decomposition by microbes in double quick time for the mulching used in our ‘no dig’ growing.
When the sun was out on of the goats was spotted on top of an ant hill – soft but ouch!
Cayenne chilli peppers developing well.
Flower from the rocoto manzano chilli plant that we were gifted last winter. They survived well and hopefully we shall get some nice Peruvian chillis soon.
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First blueberry harvest and red currants as well.
Diane had an excellent day weeding, sweeping and general tidying at the SANDS garden in Gadebridge Park.
The chickens have had their wings clipped as there have been a few ‘on the run’ in the allotment space. Try to catch a chicken and not step on the plants….difficult!
A marigold border has been planted on the carrot bed to try to deter carrot fly after a savage attack on the big carrots.
Onion harvest and planting out more beetroots. ‘carrot-man’ tasting some just harvested beetroot.
Recycling tidy up by the orange team – Mark shows his dedication to the task in hand. Yes that’s him in the box.
Poly tunnels 3 & 4 undergoing a makeover. Out with the old and in with the new – mypex in this case.
New beekeeper on board at Hemel Food Garden – spotted who it is?
If you hadn’t noticed the Olympics are on from Japan and the GB team are doing rather well. For the opening ceremony – the big screen was made available in the tranquility area.
In celebration last Monday was Olympics day with Joe commentating for all the activities.
Egg & spoon races – difficult but fun – they’ve now run out of eggs at the shop (just yolking!)
Obstacle relay.
The Olympic quiz master…Ashley. The green team one this one and Marc lifted the torch.
The pink team were helped by our newest staff member – Sam – welcome!
And ladder Olympics – courtesy of Zoe at Northchurch who introduced it there the other week. Gemma was the high score winner with 200 points! Well done Gemma.
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Olympic facts
The first Olympic Games took place in the 8th century B.C. in Olympia, Greece. They were held every four years for 12 centuries. Then, in the 4th century A.D., all pagan festivals were banned by Emperor Theodosius I and the Olympics were no more. However, the athletic tradition was resurrected about 1500 years later: The first modern Olympics were held in 1896 in Greece.
In ancient Greece, athletes didn’t worry about sponsorship, protection, or fashion – they competed naked. Back then, the games lasted five or six months.
Women have been allowed to compete in the Olympics since 1900. The 2012 London Games were the first Olympics in which all participating countries sent female athletes.
The five rings of the Olympic symbol – designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, co-founder of the modern Olympic Games – represent the five inhabited continents of the world. The six colors – blue, yellow, black, green, red, and the white background – were chosen because every nation’s flag contains at least one of them.
From 1924-1992, the Winter and the Summer Olympics took place in the same year. Now, they’re on separate cycles and alternate every two years. Only four athletes have won medals in both the Winter and the Summer Olympics. Only one of them, Christa Ludinger-Rothenburger, won medals in the same year as a speed skater and track cyclist.
During the 2012 London Games, the Olympic Village required 165,000 towels for a bit more than two weeks of activity.
The official languages of the games are English and French, complemented by the official language of the host country.
Tarzan competed in the Olympics: Johnny Weissmuller, an athlete-turned-actor who played Tarzan in 12 movies, won five gold medals in swimming in the 1920s.
During the 1936 Berlin Games, two Japanese pole-vaulters tied for second place. Instead of competing again, they cut the silver and bronze medals in half and fused the two different halves together so that each of them had a half-silver and half-bronze medal.
The Olympic torch is lit the old-fashioned way in an ancient ceremony at the temple of Hera, in Greece: Actresses, wearing costumes of Greek priestesses, use a parabolic mirror and sun rays to kindle the torch. From there, the torch starts its relay to the host city: It is usually carried by runners, but it has traveled on a boat, on an airplane (and the Concorde), on horseback, on the back of a camel, via radio signal, underwater, and in a canoe. The unlit Olympic torch has also been taken to space several times.