Very cold out but there is new life.
[#]rhubarb #gardening
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@lionelb Very nice! Mine is not looking like that yet! I'm trying to force it for the first time this year. Will see how that goes
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@JimmyB @lionelb I found some rhubarb coming up. Wondered about forcing it, then promptly forgot again! Is it too late to start now?
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@lionelb @helenclayton have you gut a forcing pot? Got one on spesh last year at Trebah gardens. It’s all terracotta and Monty Don… and surprisingly didn’t break on the way home…
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@JimmyB @lionelb I don’t know…quite possible there’s one knocking about in the garden (I’m finding all sorts of things now that the foliage has died back). How tall are they?
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@lionelb @helenclayton mines about thigh height I think? I’ve no idea how they are supposed to be used tbh. I just put it over my rhubarb crown in about November hoping that might do it!
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@JimmyB @lionelb hmm don’t recall seeing anything like that but will double check.
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@lionelb @helenclayton well otherwise an old box or something might do it? I have no idea how special this forced rhubarb is sposed to be. I mean the emperor might be naked here 😀😀😀
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@JimmyB @helenclayton
A black plastic bin liner and some sticks would keep the light out.
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@lionelb @JimmyB I’ve just looked at the special pots…super fancy! I’m pretty sure I can find something knocking around in the garden this time. I’ll try and do that tomorrow lunchtime if I can.
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@helenclayton @lionelb just got the weekly email from the local auction house and was looking to see if they’ve got one as an eg - they sometimes do - but not this week.
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@JimmyB @lionelb I have just rigged up something that is so Heath Robinson my dad would have been proud 😂. I found an old iron frame - maybe a plant stand - put that over the rhubarb crowns then covered it in a double layer of bin bags. The bin bags didn’t reach to the ground though so I’ve wrapped some thick agricultural fabric (spare from log store cover) around the sides and put a bit of slate on the top for good measure 😂. Monty Don it isn’t. A couple of crowns wouldn’t fit inside either.
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@helenclayton @JimmyB
It will work a treat. The rhubarb will taste just the same.
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@lionelb @JimmyB but how long before I can take a peek?! I haven’t put any mulch down either. Should I have?
The crowns outside the ‘tent’ can be my control I guess.
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@helenclayton
They are hungry I think. If you've got anything to feed them with, I believe they respond well... And love the idea of a control!!!
@lionelb
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@JimmyB @helenclayton
My grandfather used to sprinkle chimney soot around them. I am absolutely not advocating that. Horribly toxic. But interesting.
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@lionelb @JimmyB I’ve got plenty of wood ash.
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@helenclayton
Soft fruit can use it, I think. I have added it to my gooseberries but that wouldn't be an advert...they're rubbish and the bull finches get the flowerbuds most years...
@lionelb
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@JimmyB @lionelb we have soft fruit bushes of some sort. I don’t know what yet.
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@helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb
This whole thread is fascinating to me because my rhubarb won't make an appearance for months (April) and I have no idea what the forcing is about? Longer stems?
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@IcooIey @helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb Forced rhubarb is earlier, a delicate pink and far less acidic than later rhubarb. I used to use it to make a lovely tart a bit like a Bakewell but with rhubarb. My sister used forced rhubarb to make rhubarb gin. Don’t mistake me for any kind of expert though. My mum had a lovely old terracotta rhubarb forcing pot.
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@IcooIey @lionelb @Sarah111well @helenclayton I got one of those terracotta forcing pots last year - trying it now for the first time. Like so much in my garden I have absolutely no idea what it’s going to do…
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@JimmyB @IcooIey @lionelb @Sarah111well I did read that you shouldn’t force it two years running, so hoping the previous owners didn’t do it last year.
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@helenclayton @Sarah111well @IcooIey @lionelb oh! We’re all education here today! I love this: Mastodon can be ace sometimes. We’ve got a fella who clearly knows all about it, some folks who’ve sort of heard of it (I’m in that group) some ‘what is it - never heard of it’ here in this thread. And all except the first (sorry @Lionelb ) are going to learn some useful stuff!
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@JimmyB @Sarah111well @IcooIey @lionelb great isn’t it.
So blueberries, discuss…
Just kidding, but I do know that I have blueberries! We came here in time for their harvesting.
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@helenclayton @IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb only question with blueberries: are they worth it???? I eat them by the billion when I’m fishing in #Norway (they grow wild by the kilo). But in a garden?
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@JimmyB @IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb these are kind of no bother, space wise. They are in a large planter alongside the house - about four bushes - and they’re in a cage to stop the birds getting at them. Quite nice to go out and pick a handful to go with a bowl of yogurt and muesli…or pancakes.
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@IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb @helenclayton well quite! Ok. I’ll think about it! 😀😀
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@JimmyB @IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb shop bought blueberries here are huge and have no flavour. These are more like the wild variety.
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@IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb @helenclayton I discovered - the hard way - that flavouring porridge with wild blueberries, is really underwhelming. Needs honey or something too!
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@JimmyB @IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb blueberries, maple syrup, and sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
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@Sarah111well @helenclayton @lionelb @IcooIey that’s quite the recipe in a tent in the mountains!!! Pretty much tomorrow’s breakfast if I go and shop! 😀😀
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@JimmyB @Sarah111well @lionelb @IcooIey there’s porridge in there too ofc.
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@helenclayton @lionelb @IcooIey @Sarah111well so I have this funny mix of oats and milk powder in a big bag in the cupboard (periodically the moths get in and…hmmm..start again time) which I take away to the hills when I go. But the question is always: what else? In Norway or the Scottish isles from late August, then blueberries are abundant. But it turns out… you need a bit more! Like honey or a banana.
Shame.
But true.
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@JimmyB @helenclayton @IcooIey @Sarah111well
If you are adventurous you can use the waxy outer of ripe mountain ash berries. Similar to marzipan.
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@lionelb @JimmyB @IcooIey @Sarah111well I’d have never have guessed they’d be edible!
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@Sarah111well @lionelb @helenclayton @IcooIey me neither!
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@helenclayton @JimmyB @IcooIey @Sarah111well
Along with honey, one of the few paleo sweets.
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@lionelb @JimmyB @helenclayton @Sarah111well wow! Nice!
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@JimmyB @lionelb @IcooIey @Sarah111well you could pack a bit of honey 🍯. Wouldn’t recommend raiding a wild bee hive!
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@helenclayton @lionelb @IcooIey @Sarah111well I’ve been know to! 😀😀😀. I love the hills but I’m not addicted to discomfort. I feel if I’m schlepping for miles and kipping in a tent in a gale then decent grub (and maybe a dram) is ok…
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@helenclayton @Sarah111well @IcooIey @lionelb ok good people: it’s an hour on here and I’m working tomorrow.
Night all…
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@JimmyB @Sarah111well @IcooIey @lionelb don’t forget to go foraging for breakfast. Night all.
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@helenclayton @JimmyB @Sarah111well @lionelb
Good night all! Had to go in to teach and missed all the fun. I’ve got one relict blueberry that’s an incredible producer and two I planted two years ago that haven’t don’t anything but are very compact. May move to more sun.
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@IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb @helenclayton I’ve got into ‘overnight oats’ and birscher muesli with local Swiss influences and blueberries are great there. But it feels like you have a great bit bush and get 3. That might be a bit exaggerated…
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@JimmyB @IcooIey @Sarah111well @lionelb I’ll let you know how I get on now that I am responsible for keeping them going 😂
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@JimmyB @Sarah111well @lionelb @helenclayton I’ve had great luck with raspberries, blackberries and black currents. Took a bit to get established, but all summer for the raspberries. Windberries are an Asian exotic that just comes in and can take the shade. I love them but it’s a week or so then done for the year and they are brutally thorny.
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@IcooIey @JimmyB @Sarah111well @lionelb I’ve got Japanese wineberries that look similar. Very hairy bristles on the stem. Pretty though.
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@helenclayton @IcooIey @JimmyB @Sarah111well
I am a big fan of white currants. They are basically albino redcurrants rather than translucent blackcurrants.
They mostly lack the big redcurrant pips that stick between your teeth and they are counterintuitively quite sweet.
Blackcurrants are particularly good on heavy clay soil. White currants like redcurrants do well in light, sandy soil.
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@lionelb
I'm going to have to get some currants aren't I? Light sandy soil for us - though improving each year.
@helenclayton @IcooIey @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @lionelb @IcooIey @Sarah111well blackcurrants are my favourite. Have a good cake recipe ofc.
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@lionelb @IcooIey @JimmyB @Sarah111well many years ago we rented a house with a fabulous fruit garden. It had all the currents. I remember making a fruit tart with all different types piled on top. Very pretty.
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@helenclayton
Sounds magical!
Grew up with that. Dad was a rural primary school head and the job came with a rambling old house and massive garden. Being skint, they grew lots and had an epic fruit cage. Don't think we had white currants but had the rest. Idyllic in hind sight. But space needed!
@lionelb @IcooIey @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @lionelb @IcooIey @Sarah111well that does sound idyllic. I’m sure there are clever ways of growing them in smaller spaces.
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@helenclayton
Yes - fair. I bet there are... I do have a mad collection of pots. Maybe? They are so difficult to keep watered and fed though
@lionelb @IcooIey @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
I’ve only got currents because someone brought several to the free plant exchange and I haphazardly shoved them in the ground, then moved one to the community plot 2 years ago for more sun. Last year it produced well. Will move a 2nd one this spring as the third seems well established.
It’s 3 am for me (can’t sleep and accidentally read news so filled with dread). V. glad to read about fruit filled futures.
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@JimmyB @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
Tell me about hazelnuts? We have several native varieties here but I’ve not got them in my garden. Are they worth trying to establish on an edge? I think they would be a challenge here with the deer.
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@IcooIey
I've got a 3 year old hazelnut (I assume this is the same as a cobnut??) and it's lovely (copper leaves) but does not fruit (hopefully yet)
We don't have any deer on the island (or foxes, badgers - or any large wild mammals in fact) so can't help with that one.
Hilariously (for those of us who don't have them next door), we do have a sizeable population of feral chickens, released by farmers to avoid slaughter costs. Not so funny for neighbours
@helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
Chickens are brutal! We had rogue Guinea fowl when I was a kid in our area that were kind of nice but when the neighbors chickens got out even the dog hid. And can be wildly destructive to a garden.
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@IcooIey @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well I was chatting to the wife of the egg man up the path and she said the cockerel they adopted is tame but fearless and pecks at their heels. She tells it ‘No!’ very firmly and it goes off in a huff.
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@helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well
Hahaha! The kitten has taken to lying in wait on the table around the corner from the stairs and takes a swat at the unsuspecting. Telling her no is likely effective as trying to discourage an aggressive chicken.
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@IcooIey @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well that’s a great game!
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@helenclayton
Trainable chickens! Love it.
We always had 12 when I was a kid - and they did have distinct personalities, for sure. Feeding them was a good job (among a list of rubbish ones 😀) because they were so funny.
@IcooIey @lionelb @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
They are entertaining! But I must say I’ve never wanted personally to raise them. Something about their relentlessness is unnerving.
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@IcooIey @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well I have a contorted hazelnut in a pot. Have had it nearly 20 years but it doesn’t ‘nut’. At our last house though we had a couple in our hedge and they did well although we never benefited as the squirrels got there first. We’d regularly find little hazel trees popping up in random places.
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@helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well
So hazelnuts sound pretty but for actual nut production, maybe need coddling and will be competing with every other nut eater out there.
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@IcooIey @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well the trees were lovely in a hedge with other native species. I have no idea how we’d keep the squirrels off them if we tried getting a proper crop. We have walnut trees grown from the ‘family tree’ that was in the garden of my parents’ first house in the 1960s. They’re in large pots atm. I was hoping to have space to plant them out here but not unless another tree goes first. I’ll repot them (they need very deep pots apparently) and maybe one day…
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@helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well
That’s so nice! I have a number of family plants. My favorite are columbines from my parents and before that, grandparents garden. They self seed all over and come up in a variety of colors. I’ve also got pink, orange, yellow and white.
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@IcooIey @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well beautiful!
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@IcooIey @helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well We call these granny’s bonnets and they self seed round the garden very nicely.
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@Janet_52square @IcooIey @helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well
Two things which are allowed absolute freedom to self-seed: foxgloves and aquilegias. Not so much the red campion, as it has no manners at all.
We have a couple of hazels, intended more for coppicing than fruiting. They’re pretty hardy in the wind, which is our major challenge.
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@Badgardener
Ditto - aquilegias and fox gloves can fill their boots. My thug is valerian who's seedlings need heavy culling each year. I love the parent - and try to cut the seeds before they drop. But still...
@Janet_52square @IcooIey @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @Janet_52square @IcooIey @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
Our big issue with valerian is that it’s adapted in Cornwall to spread through the Cornish hedges (which are stone walls packed with earth) - so the root system is impossible to eradicate by natural means. They literally pile up around the boundaries and constantly throw new shoots into the garden - it’s a Sisyphean task, keeping it out (but then, so is most of gardening…).
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@Badgardener
I'm in Jersey - we have exactly the same though I have ugly breeze block walls where they can't establish. The original invader must have been wind blown - they are everywhere around us in the hedges and walls. Same across the water in Normandy and Brittany in fact. Beautiful but one can have too much of a good thing...
@Janet_52square @IcooIey @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB
What’s galling is that over the course of a few years, I spent a lot of time restoring the garden boundaries, and largely freed them of invaders. But they’re all back with a vengeance, as we border open countryside (and non-gardener neighbours)
@Janet_52square @IcooIey @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
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@Badgardener @JimmyB @Janet_52square @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
Had no idea valerian was such a problem. Planted it on purpose last summer for the first time hadn’t seen it in garden shops before. Bees love it, it looks great in flower arrangements.
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@Badgardener @JimmyB @Janet_52square @IcooIey @lionelb @Sarah111well it was the same in Devon. I left them on the banks (to my neighbour’s annoyance) as the hummingbird hawk moth loves the flowers.
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@helenclayton
oooh! I didn't know that! I might let a few more grow then. We get Hummingbird Hawk Moths in the greenhouse sometimes and I try hard to get them out of the spiders webs. It's always a bit gutting to find a dea one. They are so ace.
@Badgardener @Janet_52square @IcooIey @lionelb @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @helenclayton @Badgardener @Janet_52square @lionelb @Sarah111well
Had a few last summer! Love them.
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@helenclayton @JimmyB @Janet_52square @IcooIey @lionelb @Sarah111well
We have some friends (thankfully they’re not next door) who have convinced themselves that bindweed is both beautiful and wildlife-friendly, and must be encouraged. Their poor neighbours…
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@Badgardener @helenclayton @JimmyB @Janet_52square @IcooIey @Sarah111well
😮
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@Janet_52square @helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well love that name! We have a truly lovely alpine one in the Rockies.
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@IcooIey @helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well Hello again - is it ‘uptime’ now? Sorry you didn’t sleep so well.
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@Janet_52square @helenclayton @JimmyB @lionelb @Sarah111well well the cats need attending by 5:30 so that’s about the length of sleeping in. Got a bit of morning chores out of the way and now have time for a coffee.
I just checked and it’s -19 °C so maybe crawling back under the covers isn’t a terrible idea!
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@IcooIey
How lovely is that!?!
I've seen them grow wild - in great carpets - in Swedish forests. I love aquilegias - and especially the simpler wild ones
@Janet_52square @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
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@JimmyB @Janet_52square @helenclayton @lionelb @Sarah111well
Always a treat to stumble across them. Like seeing an old friend or a new baby.
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