Tales from a down-shifted family
- Making the most of modest means
I think the most notable thing about the weekend was the rain on Saturday. When I got up early, the little raindrop on our home info panel that I built was already full to the brim. The Borth & Ynyslas weather station in our garden had already recorded more than 25 mm of rain. At...
I like to keep our garden as wildlife-friendly as possible, but it’s always a bit of a balancing act. In some ways, making it wildlife-friendly is easy — I could simply leave more of it to grow wild and give myself fewer chores. But then it looks messy, gets out of control, and… well, I...
It’s been our best year yet for honey production. We haven’t finished harvesting, but from three hives we should end up with around 80 lbs of honey—mostly from two hives, as the third wasn’t really a production hive this season. The weather has clearly been kind to bees, judging by the sheer amount of fruit...
Having taken the plunge and upgraded our trusty, boundary-wire-guided Flymo robot mower to a GPS-guided Mammotion Yuka Mini 500, I thought I’d share some first impressions. Scepticism, Satellites, and Software To be honest, I was a little sceptical about GPS-guided mowers. I’ve used GPS in various ways for years, so I know both its strengths and...
Going All-In on Robot Mowers (Again) You may remember that we went all in on robots during the Covid lockdown, adding robot mowers to our collection of robot vacuum cleaners. Since then, Hector (who mows the back garden) and Harriet (in the front) have done a great job. It started as a fun lockdown project...
Summer is back and temperatures are soaring. Yesterday was lovely here at Ynyslas with a gorgeous quiet morning. I spent most of the day in the garden, doing a few chores, catching up with things, and generally tidying up. It’s become a lovely, peaceful place to sit these days. Not that I’m very good at just...
It’s been the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures at the Borth and Ynyslas Weather Station reaching 28.8°C, and it could get hotter yet. The long days are really helping our solar production too — it’s been a record-breaking year on that front so far, so let’s hope it continues. The bees...
And so the amazing weather continues — sunshine, more sunshine, and then yet more sunshine. I heard on the news the other day that we’ve had more sunshine this spring than we had throughout the entire summer last year. That’s been reflected (well, absorbed actually) in our solar panel stats, too, with record-breaking months throughout...
I’ve been growing this juniper for about 20 years. It started off as a tiny little plant with no real place to call home. Over the years, I moved it a couple of times to temporary spots—always with the intention of giving it a proper location, but somehow never quite getting around to it. Now...
There’s something quietly magical about miniature worlds — little scenes frozen in time, tucked away on a shelf, inviting your imagination to step inside. This Christmas, Anna gave me the perfect excuse to dive into that magic with a thoughtful and rather brilliant gift: a ‘Book Nook’ model kit. I finally finished it today. For...
Fitness / Technology / Triathlon
Fixing the Altimeter on my Garmin Forerunner 910XT
Monday, March 17th, 2014
 |
 |
More live data from Ynyslas
Subscribe for full access.
Weather trends, weather extremes and historic data. See what you get here.
Surf Ski, Kayaking and Canoeing
Bringing Two Surf Skis Back from the Dead (Maybe)
Tuesday, June 16th, 2026
Beekeeping / Family / Gardening / Recipes & Cooking / Windsurfing
Monday, June 8th, 2026
