Making do

In the early days of our cocoon existence we had some concerns about our supplies, of food particularly groceries. We are fortunate that we both have children who live within a few miles of us, and my partner has a host of nieces who are also close by. I have been a fan of online grocery shopping for some time; I am not a lover of shopping in supermarkets.  Even less so now, I will return to that topic later. I happened to have a couple of orders pre-booked for delivery to my own home. These gave us a buffer zone, a little time to feel our way through this unprecedented health crisis, and make some tentative plans about how we could survive and thrive. We also found several local suppliers of fruit and veg boxes and so on. The fine selection below was from such a supplier.

I was able to add sufficiently to these orders to make sure my youngest son, Jack, still at home; and the two of us in the cocoon household would all be provided for if our online grocer had available stock. The orders would arrive and Jack sorted them into those items staying with him and those which either his brother or sister would bring to the cocoon. In fact we added some items to our order for Jack's sister, Mary Jane, and he had to do a three-way division. 

I had thought from the beginning that shop workers were as much 'on the front line' in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic as were health workers, care workers, refuse collectors and so on. Sadly, later statistics bore this out. 

An early casualty of the restrictions brought in was access to the tip. Lee and I had a few items that had been bound for that destination. 

One such item was this broken down microwave cooker. It occurred to me that turned onto its back it would be very much like a mini-cloche or micro-greenhouse. I had some seeds for quick growing salad crops: red and green lettuce, baby leaf beetroot and kale, and some pea seeds for pea shoots, one of Lee's favourites. We also had ample supplies coming in of single use transparent plastic containers. We even had half a bag of seed compost on the premises. 

Spring 2020 was very fine and there was plenty of sunshine. I raised the door of the microwave to let the light onto the growing plants once they were germinated. I closed the door at night to provide some insulation against the low temperatures.