Poppy M - My World This Week

Gap

2011-08-02T22:29:00.001+01:00

Blimey - it's been a long time since the last entry.
I think it is time my blog had an up-date in more ways than one. So that's what I'll do shortly...

Summer & Irises

2011-05-05T23:06:00.009+01:00

Where has the time flown to....

Finally things have quietened down and my mind has space to think of new things, irises for example. When I was young we had a sunny corner of the garden full of tall blue irises, I loved them. Then one day they were gone. For a reason still unknow to me this very day, my dad removed them & threw them away - what a waste if only he had realized how much they were worth! When I was a student I came upon a display of irises in a botanic garden and was amazed to discover that blue was not their only colour - in fact they were named after iris - the goddess of the rainbow - what a wonderful discovery. Plus they come in a whole range of sizes & live in all trypes of environment - an iris for every place ! Now that I have the space, I shall create my own rainbow-bed/s out of the wildness at our Ruins. A summer centre piece in the baking sunshine they so love, a patch by the pond, a stand of spring beauties under the trees.... It will take several seasons to get the soil right but it will be worth the wait. In the meantime I'll pour over the catalogues, watch out for iris-related articles & plan & dream the beds into existence.

We have had scarcely more than a sprinkling of rain in 2 months now but around here, May seems greener & lusher than ever. The only hints that all is not as it should be are the leafless ash trees. I passed a large parkland the other day and was amazed at the exuberance of the mature trees, especially those in blossom. I guess anything with deep roots, that hasn't been killed by the harsh winter, is tapping into abundant ground water. It's not good for shallow-rooted plants & seedlings so I'm longing for a long period of gentle rain to soak into the dry ground & gently percolate down through the layers, safely & calmly topping up the underground reserves.

(photos - sissinghurst irises - Batik)

spring is officially here

2011-03-21T21:05:00.009Z

It's now officially spring & today I saw trees in full blossom - a truely uplifting sight. I'm really looking forward to our standard hawthorns coming into flower.

Last night I watched frogs swimmming about a pond by torch-light accompanied by croaks & chirrups. I had not heard either sound until I moved here & now, every time I hear them I think how diminshed my world would be without those sounds. For sometime now the big dog & myself have been on frog/toad patrol as part of our nightly walk. I have perfected a scooping technique for getting the small creatures into a bucket from the road. They go into the nearest of 3 ponds - I'm guessing that is where they were headed.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the Spring Equinox is a time when the fairy folk move between homes. Yesterday I moved my horse to what will hopefully be her final home. It marks a major change for her & us & is one I am still unsure about. I had always envisenged her living in a large herd in a large field - out 24hrs a day all year round. That has happened but, every home move has taken her further & further away from what I see as an ideal. I can only conclude that for this horse, that ideal is not ideal! As I get older I am more & more convinced that it does not do to have too set an idea about the optimum of anything - options, continums and change seem to be more realistic. Time will tell if the current living arrangements for my beloved horse are working well - if not - more change!

Change continues at the church site - more of an evolution really. As we spend increasing amounts of time there and read more about these sorts of ancient sites, the way forward slowly unfolds. Sometimes the next step is small e.g. planting a particular tree in a particular place, to revolutionary e.g. the plans for turning the ruins or part of them into a home. It is a steep learning curve full of ironies. I have never been partcularly interested in building as homes or in owning land or property. And yet I am becoming part of the history of a complex building on an even more complex plot of land that requires extensive knowledge of obscure and/or specialist legislation to work on & with. Life can indeed takes some strange turns.

It is the empty part of the year for our garden produce and I have been forced into buying veggies. Sadly it is true - home grown food does taste so much better than mass produced stuff. Roll on a productive garden.

Serendipity

2011-02-21T18:34:00.009Z

Every now and again I come across a book or author that is truly fabulous. Usually it has been a book or author in print for ages & often other people have had the same feelings. At the moment it is two works by the Irish writer John O'Donohue (1956-2008). Genius.

I am also really enjoying a totally different type of read - fiction by Julia Stuart. I picked it up from the mobile library on an impulse - attracted by the unusual title "Balthazar Jones & the Tower of London Zoo". Its intriguing subject matter & characters are keeping me up late & I've even skimmed the end few pages - a sure sign of a good read. Without giving much away - I'm sure I've learnt almost all my history from well written & researched novels.

It's that time of year in the gardening calender which is very frustrating. The urge to get out there & "do something" in the fresh air & with the soil grows in direct relationship to day length. Unfortunately the weather does not always slip neatly into the equation. That one glorious day we've had since November saw me out there in the sunshine doing stuff! The cane fruits got planted & a bonfire made & today - well it's raining again!

Not much you can do about rain except to live with it & catch it in butts for the later dry (!!) part of the year. So we've been out visiting, it's been very instructive. Working & visiting our church site regularly it is easy to over-look just how much we have changed it. We visited 2 ancient & beautiful small churches in the region & went on to visit ours - what a contrast. I was struck by how very much alive our place felt - even on a gloomy February day. The vibrant energy of growth & living seemed to permeate the site. In contrast the small C12th church on the hill top was beautifully maintained with some magnificent & nationally important features but it felt dark & sad & heavy. The larger church, also beautifully maintained & clearly well used felt even heavier & more somber - despite the stunning display of purple crocus & magnificent hornbeams next door. Perhaps it is the on-going burials & grieving relations that contribute to the heaviness or the preponderance of evergreens in the church yard? We have had a policy of planting no big evergreens at our site - just deciduous trees - letting in as much light & circulating air as possible - perhaps too much as the bird-hide blew down as did a dead tree in the recent strong winds! I've plans for some wind-break trees.

In-my-bones I feel we are set for a very mediocre summer with a wonderful autumn & have been choosing vegetables & plants accordingly. This year I ordered the new varieties of blight-resistant potato - Sarpo. I was feeling pretty pleased with this choice until I discovered that they are a GM plant - not sure how I feel about them now: though they are GM within potato varieties. As for tomatoes & cucumbers - I'll be trying them in containers protected from the rain . The big experiments this year are celery ( I sorely missed it all last year), melons & Hamburg parsnip/parsley. I am not sure why I have a hankering to grow melons as I don't particularly like the fruit - it's probably for the same reasons I like pumpkins & marrows - they are massively attractive to grow!

Following last fortnight's hectic activity, this week has been a very quiet administrative week regarding the site - I wonder what next week/month will bring!

Trees

2011-02-01T21:46:00.009Z

The last few days have been filled with trees.

Firstly the big national issue of "selling off our forests" Madness. I participated in the campaign against this being organized by "38 Degrees" - "Save Our Forests". Just follow the link & send an e-mail to your MP: http://38degress.org.uk/

The temperature outside has increased a bit, the ground thawed in most places, so I've been able to plant a few saplings. In a range of temporary pots I have a mix of saplings that I've grown from nuts or cuttings all patiently waiting to get established in a permanent home. I have put a fair number in the sparse hedgerow around the vegetable garden at the church. That part of the hedge is very odd - consisting of huge coppiced hazels -perhaps it is the remnant of a coppice wood? Not far from them are thickets of nutling that I'm guessing reveal the buried horded left by squirrels & jays. In amongst my saplings I was very excited to find a blackthorn, I have no recollection of planting that at all! I've put it where others are growing as they seem very healthy trees - no mean feat in a part of the garden that is known to flood. I'm very undecided as to where to plant the silver birch I acquired free, worried about planting out the horse chestnut as they seem to be prey to nasty diseases at the moment, and have several willows to find space for though far enough away from the buildings to not cause for problems. The ash saplings I know where to plant but worry about their safety - so many decisions - though I strongly believe "listen & the answer will come".

The lane leading from the main road to the church is special place - lined on either side by old trees. Each side is different, one a traditional mix of local trees the other, mainly coppiced hazel. Later on this month CPRE is coming to survey it, I am eagerly awaiting the findings. I'm guessing that one side is possibly 400 years old & the other perhaps 200 years old. More on this topic later. (CPRE - Campaign to Protect Rural England).

Opposite the church is footpath that until today I have had no real cause (or time) to investigate. Due to a minor car accident & no mobile phone (two at home!) I walked the footpath up to the farm it leads to in search of a phone: thanks to the lady who let me use her to call the tow truck). This footpath passed through a newly planted wood (approx 10 years of ash & oak) & came out by an off shoot of the Frome & here were some magnificent pollarded willows. The trees must have been at least 4 arm widths in circumference and stood with their feet in water. I wonder how many more there must have been up & down the Frome - ow there just seem to be youngish Alders - where have all the willow gone? We I'm going to make it a mission to plant more willows - one of my all time favourite trees - all types. According to my newly acquired "The Biodynamic Sowing & Planting Calendar 2011" there are a number of "best days"for taking willow cuttings this month - though they should not be planted til March. I'm going to be busy. For a while now I've envisaged a living willow bower - maybe this is the year I'll start it.

I have just acquired an anthology of tree poems from the library "Trees Be Company" - part of the Common Ground library of publications. One has taken my immediate fancy

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree,

Poems are made by fools like me

But only God can make a tree

Alfred (Joyce) Kilmer

And finally, I keep dropping hints to Mr PoppyM that I'd like a tree for my up & coming "significant birthday" - I wonder if I'll get one??

picture - Vincent Van Gogh - Pollarded Willows & Setting Sun 1888

Thoughts for the start of 2011

2011-01-07T21:33:00.007Z

I notice that a number of my friends have arrived at some wonderful intentions for the New Year, which has set me thinking about finding some to. But I must confess to not being in quite the right frame of mind to do this yet - too many things carried over from 2010. The time will come - soon no doubt & I too will have list of things for 2011.

Until then I resolve to write to everyone who sent me a Christmas card - a new year Thank You & Best Wishes. To neatly put away the decorations for use next Christmas season. To sort through 3 boxes of misc paper/cards/articles/seed catalogues etc.

Two new things for 2011 have already settled themselves - 4 geese & a cockeral to be accommodated (my Christmas present) and a strawbale shelter at the church site to be built. The latter is a break-through as Mr PoppyM is very traditional but this option, in theory, should not upset any Planners or Heritage Depts! (picture from CAT).

I'm looking forward to the arrival of the bean seeds I've ordered - all part of my plan to improve the garden soil at the site, which I think is a little low in nitrogen.

The Environmenty Agency's site is full of valuable information & from it I've learnt that part of the church site is officially prone to flood - no real surprise as the adjacent field is a water-meadow. But it's good to see the formal extent of the flood area and it does explain why water dowsing at the site is a rather odd experience!

So onwards into the second week of January 2011 eagerly awaiting the books I've ordered from the Mobile Library - mainly from the Common Ground website ( http://www.commonground.org.uk/) - well worth a visit.

Things to do in 2011 - busy busy

2010-12-27T19:30:00.009Z

Christmas has come & gone. The rain is washing away the snow & ice. 2011 is here. Time to take stock & plan for the coming months & years.
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The church project has reached another very busy phase that I anticipate continuing into the next 6 months or so:
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* An action with the Local Goverment Ombudsman re: the appalling behaviour of a local Councillor.
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* Continuing clarification of our Rights of Way (hopefully avoiding the need for recourse to the law).
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* Continuing clarifiation of boundary issues (ditto).
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* Management of the English Heritage Grant & resolution of issue with the scaffolders (ditto).
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* Establishing a "hut" to drink tea in (no mean achievement on a Scheduled & Listed site).
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* and of course - the REALLY important, hands-on work on the site itself! Tree planting, hedge & wall repairing, setting-up the wildlife zones, general tidying up & getting ready for work on the monument itself.
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I joked to Mr PoppyM that we should try & resolve all these issues by 2012 as I dont want to have to deal with these and, the impending revelation of the truth about aliens Aliens & big domestic dramas in one year is just TOO MUCH!
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Then there are new pieces of legislation to keep track of:
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* Draft Bill on Easements & Covenants - matters very relevant to our ownership of an ex-church property.
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* Changes to the Listing & Scheduling of monuments.
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* Changes to Planning Rules nationally & locally.

* Changes within the Land Registry
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Moral - Owning an ancient monument is not an easy option!
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One task I am really looking forward to, is getting the boundary hedges along the lane leading to the church surveyed & dated. I'm hoping that Herefordshire CPRE can help here. I am sure the hedges are hundreds of year old.
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Happy 2011 to one and all. May you encounter kindnesses & fairness in your daily lifes and end the year in high spirits ready for 2012.

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Suburbia

2010-11-22T20:40:00.005Z

Every now and again I came across an article that answers a question I had not realized I was asking. I often walk around where I live & wonder what motivates people to do the things they do to their gardens & houses, things that neither my self or husband would dream of doing. And are these actions and decisions indicative of how other parts of their lives are lived. I am talking about privet hedges, washing cars on Sundays, neat tidy gardens and clean windows with net curtians. This seems to go with small pretty dogs, paving slabs or gravel on the drive, regular trips to the supermarket & of course regular visits to the garden centre. I realize now, after reading the article, that I am describing suburbia.

I have good friends who live happily in some form of suburbia but I have always know that it is not where I can comfortably reside & even less so my husband. Why is this - it is where a majority of the UK's residents live. Just one reading of the key features of suburbia, as described in the Independent's article (8th Oct 2009), explain this easily. Now I list these not to criticize as they are fine values but they are values for some reason I do not have even though they are things my family hold dear. There's the privet hedge, social uniformity, safety, security, comfort, fitting-in, have something "in reserve", living within your means. A sense that safety, suspicion & survelliance are the valued norm. My parents did have a big thing about "drawing the curtains" when the lights were on & having nets at all the windows, locking doors & having no valuables on show - not that there was anything or value that I can particularly recall.

I am currently living in one of most socially uniform counties in England which starkly contrasts with the cities, towna & villages I have previously worked & lived in. And I miss the colour & variety that more soxially & ethnically mixed places have. I am fully aware that I am extremely fortunate to live in this county with it's chocolate box black & white market towns & orchard-rich, truely beautiful country-side. Sometimes it seems like I've been transported back to the 1940's! I've recently acquired from the library several of Monty Don's books. Dipping into the "Ivington Diaries" (Bloomsbury) I came upon a piece about cities (and moles) and felt it resonnate:

..."Most Britons live in towns or suburbs and most get their countryside from a car window, Emmerdale or The Archers. I am out of kilter, unrepresentative snd hopelessly marginalized.

This does not bother me in the least. But I do have to restrain myself from time to time from writing about things that have a major impact on me & my garden but which probably have no relevance to the majority of people's lives".

So I feel good knowing for sure where I do not belong (with suburbia), the tribe I dont belong to. And the tribe I do belong to - well I'm sure that to will name itself when I least expect it.

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Sunny November Day

2010-11-13T22:54:00.007Z

What a difference the sun makes. After a week of grey stormy weather the sun appeared & the PoppyM household "went out to play":

* The hens sun-bathed

* I took the horse's coat off & she rolled & rolled in the mud. A very relaxed horses greeted me this evening.

* The dogs both had leisurely walks.

* Mr PoppyM did something important up on the scaffolding at the church

* I put up the temporary cloches for the lettuces & dug up root veggies

And we've all gone/are going to bed tired & happy. Marvellous.

On ephemeral things. One of the architects involved with our ruin made an interesting observation about ruins in general . Discussing our ruins he was saying how much we had changed the environment that they are now set in. I commented that some people had bemoaned the fact that they are no longer "romantic ruins" and are on their way to being preserved & eventually incorporated into another building. The architect's comment was that "ruins are moments in time". I'd not thought of that - a ruin come into being from a "whole building" & then degrades into nothing. So our ruin's moment is passing - what a poignant thought - well not for us but certainly for some. Our covenant states that it should be kept as a monument - which is "anything intended to preserve the remembrance of a person, event, action" - the opposite of a ruin. It is also Scheduled & Listed - so definitely not a ear-marked as a "moment in time".

I'm a fan of BBC's Autumn (and Spring Watch). Yesterday's programme contained an astonishing passing event. They had an amazing piece about hungry waxwings sitting on the arms of a person and eating apples. That must count as a "once in a life-time" experience. ( fair-isle.blogspot.com)

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday. I find it a confusing day as I am naturally a peaceful person - vegetarian, liberal, Green etc etc. But the truth I have arrived at is the humans, like most other mammals, have an in-built ability to fight & kill. There is no use in denying this aspect of human nature - it is no different to cats & dogs that will kill small- furries if the opportunity presents itself - we dont love our pets any the less for this part of their nature. Most mammals will also kill members of their own species if circumstances force them to behave this way. Now I have accepted this aspect of human nature I can mourn & honour those who have died & suffered as a result of conflict. I can also admire those, who in these conflict situations, display the best aspects of humanity and hope that if I ever find myself in such a situation I can behave in this manner to.

2010-10-27T18:27:00.006+01:00

What a busy few months. This week scaffolding is going up around the chancel of our ruined church - so far so good. Much to my surprise it does not look that intrusive. The protective fencing goes up in the next few days then the real work can begin on stabilizing the structure.

It is a pity that other changes at the site have not gone so well. Various formal complaints to official bodies & help from the police have just about kept things under control. It's strange how normally sane people can behave so oddly about something that does not really concern them when roused by untruths dispersed by a person in authority (in this case a local counsellor) - it must be a weakness in the human condition. Maybe the blessing ceremony scheduled this weekend will spread calm & truth amongst the villagers. It is All Hallows this w/e - I feel that it is going to take a full compliment of saints to achieve this.

I have recently been re-reading the No 1 Ladies Detective series (Macall Smith) and some books by the children's author Jacqueline Wilson. A parallel struck me between the poverty experienced by those in Africa and those homeless families living in bed & breakfast accommodation. Both live in cramped conditions, often insanitary, with no or heavily shared access to basic utilities such as water & cooking conditions. Yet those Africans living in this manner have dignity & an understanding that poverty is just the card they have been handed in this life - those in this country are stigmatized and blamed for their condition . It's food for thought.

I'm looking forward to Halloween - I've managed to grow 2 pumpkins this year & they are ready for carving & eating. Then there is bonfire night with fireworks, then there is the Longest Night celebration & Christmas. These Autumn Winter celebrations are amongst my favourites.

Change

2010-09-06T22:43:00.011+01:00

Tonight I stepped out of the door into a dark night of wind & rain. It was quiet - not a soul moving about. Doors & windows shut, curtains drawn with light shining through cracks & thin fabrics. On the road were slugs & snails & a few frogs/toads and I thought to myself "I've stepped into another world". Tove Jansson captured that feeling of different-ness in some of her books - especially the "Moominland Midwinter". The warm cosy world of family & friends, are contrasted with coldness of the weather & the emptiness left by the sleeping family. Of course comfortable order is returned, just as it is when I walked back through the front door into light & the wagging tail of the small dog.

Familiarity can equal reassurance. Matters relating to our "great church project" have been very very fraught over the last few weeks. I fully expect the turmoil to spill over into the next few months. What was comfortably familiar is all set to change & we are meeting resistance. The church was once linked to the Cistercian Abbey Dore (Holy Trinity & St Mary) which I gather from various articles has had a chequered history. From it's creation in 1147 to it's dissolution by Henry VIIIth in 1537, it's decline to a roofless ruins (just like our church) in 1630 to it's restoration & reconsecration in 1634 & then various repairs & restorations - then threatened again with closure in 1993 but saved again and is now a much used & loved Grade 1 listed parish church. The history of this mother church make the history of our ruins seems positively tranquil. According the list of services St Mary (the church patron) is celebrated on 12th September - I wonder if that will be a date for us to remember?

Picture - wikipedia

2010-07-30T22:10:00.005+01:00

Occassionally an everyday object shows itself as something other than everyday. I had just such an occurence with a white wild rose. It suddenly became The Tudor Rose & I finally understood the stylized heraldic rose associated with this royal house. Previously I had thought "what an odd depiction of a rose" the Tudor rose was, having in my mind the multi-petalled garden rose. It seems a small thing but this new knowledge has changed my view of the rose - taken it from being an exotic import to an integral part of the English country and locked it firmly into English history. So now when I look at wild roses in the hedgerows I wonder if this is the type of rose a woman in the C15th would stop & admire. Perhaps she would pick a few blooms & seperate the heart-shaped petals & dry them to scatter amongst her clothes or collect a small posy for her beloved. A romantic rose indeed and one of peace representing the joining of two warring Houses.

Recent activities on the church restoration project has also plunged me back in time, it's not everyday that I get an epistal or use the word "terrier" in it's non-canine way. The Epistal was an instruction from the Bishop regarding the tombstones. A terrier is "a book or roll in which the lands of private persons are described by their site, boundaries, umber of acres etc" (The "King's English Dictionary"- this edition has a picture of H.M. King George V as it's front plate). I suppose that makes those ho work in modern day Land Registery "a pack of terriers" - how apt is the phrase "let sleeping dogs lie"! Land disputes are one of those areas that go from petty to deadly in one stride.

I've had good views of three fast moving things this week:

* a Red Admiral butterfly obligingly sat still with open wings - what gorgeous colours
* a green woodpecker flew straight in front of the car - startling green, yellow & red.
* a bright green cricket found it's way into the car - it's the bright-greenest creature I have ever seen.

Finally - this week we managed to upload our own photos. Until e do thanks Wikipedia for the images.

Home Produced Food & the Pumpkin Patch

2010-07-01T22:57:00.009+01:00

Today I feel like awarding myself (and Mr PoppyM) a 1st level badge in Self- Sufficiency. All our food today was NOT home produced but a majority of it was - onwards & upwards. Today there was: home-made bread, eggs from our own hens, home-grown potatoes, Swiss chard, baby turnips, mint & rosemary.

The Swiss-chard has been a revelation - I struggle to find leafy greens I like eating & I like chard - hurrah. An easy to grow crop,with a very long season & very versatile, plus, if grown from seed - very very cheap. Shame I just cant get to like turnips - on the plus side Mr PoppyM does & so do the hens (the main reason I am growing them).

I still get a real thrill from watching seeds turn into plants. At the present I am extremely proud of the parsnip & cabbage youngsters that have emerged from seeds. Today there is great excitement at the arrival of my new radish & spring onion seeds (plus some climbing nasturtiums) from Moles Seeds - I can barely wait to get them planted. The weather has obliged this small wish by producing rain - it is gently falling as I write.

A number of years ago, when I travelled to work by bus, I passed a Pumpkin Patch. In the late summer orange fruits sat proudly amongst large chaotic leaves. As the days shortened, some of the leaves were removed to expose the pumpkins to the sun. By the time of harvest, large fruits sat boldly in a clear patch of soil soaking up the last rays of sun. It created a lasting image & now to me this typifies Autumn - perhaps my favourite season of the year. Well this year I have one of my own - it has cucumbers, courgettes, marrows & 5 squashes that could be either mini pumpkin, butternut squash or a mixture - I forgot to label them! The early squashes already have magnificent leaves & small fruits that I anticipate picking from next week. Another one of life's wishes fulfilled!
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Pumpkin Patch photo from: Flickr- the fiends photostream.

Geese & parenthhod

2010-06-19T15:38:00.007+01:00

Where I currently live there is just one domesticated goose who wanders about "free-range". Last year, through a series of misfortunes this male goose lost his companions & there was doubt how long he would survive. But he is very robust, this combined with lots of feeding through the long harsh winter has seen him through. In the spring some Canada geese arrived to breed on the very large pond - last year two set of goslings were successfully raised. The domesticated goose made a determined wooing of one of the females but lost out to one of the Canada Geese. Now an extraordinary thing has taken place. Instead of wandering off to look for an available female he has joined up with the breeding pair & helped raise the brood of 8 goslings. All three adults move about as a unit watching over the youngster, often with the big white goose sat next to the goslings. All three adults are fiercely protective and not surprisingly perhaps all 8 youngster are now large birds just starting to showing adult plumage.

Ver sadly - since the post was written George the goose has been killed in a RTA.

goslings: Hakoar flickr

June at the church site

2010-06-05T23:25:00.028+01:00

On my almost daily water-collecting trips at a gravelly shallow on the Froome, I have seen damselflies. Some as delicate as needles others relatively substantial, in small & large numbers. They are also found on the now magnificently large butterbur leaves in the church yard. What has struck me most strongly is the vivid metallic-ness of their bodies. Colours & textures not seen in mammals, emphasising their difference & alieness to us warm-bloods. To my mind the organism that comes closest in these qualities is the buttercup (excluding of course other insects). A field of buttercups seen close-up or at small remove reflect sunlight off their petals as a hard, shiny gold. A regular peacock visitor is currently sporting breeding plumage that reflects the light & has a "sheen" but it lacks the metal-ness of the damselflies - the feathers looks warm not cold, soft not hard - though the klaxon screech of the male does certainly have a metallic edge to it!

The church site is beautiful at the present - the hawthorns are in full blossom, petals drift down like a summer snow. On a sunny day, walking past the butterbur sends up a cloud of damselflies & in the warm afternoon air, mayflies bob up & down - destined to eventually rain on the ground at the end of their brief lives.

Haiku - a Sunny June day

Sunshine, big green leaves,

iridescent wings alight,

moments of joy,

I'm currently dipping into the excellent "Notes from Walnut Tree Farm" by Roger Deakin & was delighted to find that he has an explanation of why familiar British flora & fauna often trigger a comparison with an exotic counterpart. His entry for 23rd April reads "..as I looked up at the hawthorn all covered in ivy that grows on the common just outside the house, I thought of a date palm and of how we often project the identities of exotic plants or animals on our own native species as a way of expressing their newness & magic." I like that explanation.

It's still peak vegetable planting season at the church site & a rabbit/badger-proof fence it in the process of being built around the plot. I'm beginning to feel very earthed & routed to the site - perhaps this is what the Benedictines mean by their vow of Stability (to remain in the same monastery). An odd feeling for someone who has moved a lot - perhaps the move to the church site will be my last major move - what an odd thought.

Flickr stas1963 (butterbur) : dragonflysoc.org.uk for Beautiful Damoiselle.

Herefordshire & Australia

2010-05-08T22:44:00.012+01:00

A piece of writing has been rattling about in my head for a few days now. It's May, the heating is on, it cold, windy & raining outside & hot custard featured as part of the evening meal. And yet, at the forefront of my mind are eucalyptus trees & parrots!
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My mind insists on creating parallels between Australia & Herefordshire. It may be because recently I have noticed a small number of magnificent gum trees growing in my area - tall, slender trees with pale trunks & delicate leaves making a distinctive open, grey-green canopy. There are several species of eucalptys sufficiently hardy to thrive in the UK - the only one I recall seeing for sale in garden centres is the Cider Gum (Eucalyptus gunnii). I am not sure what variety the elegant ones are that I see as we drive about our business. I have been trying to decide whether one would grow well at our church site, whether it would look right & whether it was really appropriate - perhaps a good companion to a unidentified redwood- that creaks & groans in the wind and looks unbalanced missing it's partner, long since dead.
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As is often the way when themes occur, I opened at random the book I am currently reading (Wildwood) to a chapter entitled "Cockatoos". In it the author describes being awaken by screeching cockatoos "as they barrelled through the gum trees" and later he describes the ghost gum as having the "fluidity of a dancer" - all very exotic. Then quite surprisingly he says "it reminded me of the ash tree at home in Suffolk: smooth and pale skinned, with the graceful sinews of a dancer in the wind". So I am not alone in travelling so far, to a place with an alien flora & fauna, and yet finding an unexpected link with a familiar friend - an ash. At the entrance to our ruined church stands a magnificent ash & within the church yard itself we have preserved a 30 foot ash; through some expert crown reduction. Although we don't have cockatoos & galahs calling us to wakefulness, there are flashy raucous jays, yammering woodpeckers &, quarrelsome jackdaws nesting in the ruined church tower. Just once I have been to Australia & I find it odd that like the author of the book - the magnificent Roger Deakin (Wildwood A journey Through Trees) - I seem to have formed an emotional link between the two countries. To me the call of the jay always makes the word "parrot" appear before the word "jay" & similarly with a yammering woodpecker, the word "kookaburra" forms first.

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Perhaps the link is to do with movement, freedom, adventure & surprise - our church site certainly provides all those. Or perhaps it is to do with still feeling a newcomer to this lush, tree-filled county of Herefordshire - my birthplace is a dry part of the UK that according to some definitions could be classified as a desert - in fact rather like parts of Australia!
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Ghost Gum picture Flickr aussi-gals' photostream.
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May Bank Holiday.

2010-05-01T22:50:00.009+01:00

Sometimes it feels good to be busy, with a long list waiting to be done. Other times it is not so good - when your natural rhythm at that point in time says "nice & steady", "take time to sit & watch". Before I met-up with Mr PoppyM it was easier to follow my natural rhythm. Now of course there are two natural rhythms to get into synchronicity - sometimes this is easier to achieve than others.

The April rain has finally arrived so it's time for a "breather". The ground has been rotavated & the potatoes, parsnips & first batch of chard are planted. The mini-greenhouses are filling well with brassicas, lettuces, some annuals and, the summer bulbs are planted & shooting. There are still packets & packets of seeds to plant, gates to install, fences to build, but tomorrow will be a rest day, one for planning & dreaming.

I've just started to read "Wildwood" by Richard Deakin - what a brilliant nature writer. In it he describes the joyful & restorative nature of nights spent in his shepherd's hut or railway sleeper, both positioned in fields away from his house. They resonate deeply with the experiences I had when I lived for a while on a small boat. The closeness to nature, candles illuminating the darkness, the leaving-behind of the clutter of a house, happy days that I think about most days.

The next big phase of our church restoration project involves the building of a workshop-cum-over-night accommodation. I am so looking forward to spending at least a few nights there listening to the owls & night sounds & waking-up to birdsong and the sound of the wind in the trees. One of the many advantages of owning a piece of land is being able to grow your own woodland. It's next to impossible to get any form of permission to live in a wood - the only way around the planning restrictions I have found is to grow the wood around your home & that is essentially what we are doing.

It's May Day - time for the Maypole Dance. Photo from Jane Williams photostream Flickr

Time for sleep - time to visualize my sleepy parsnips seeds waking & putting forth shoots, time to remind the potatoes & chard that frosts are still possible for another fortnight. I fully expect to have the fire going tomorrow morning - a real British May Bank Holiday weekend.

Buttons

2010-03-09T22:17:00.009Z

Time & space at last to sit & think & write.

Buttons

Over the last few months I have tried to buy some basic buttons and been unsuccessful. When Mr PoppyM asked for some for his trousers I thought it would be a simple case of vi sting a wool-shop - and sure enough, they sold a variety of buttons but for exorbitant prices. I turned to supermarkets - all they sold were pre-packs of tiny buttons probably aimed at shirts. Oh to have a John Lewis on the door-step. It set me thinking about why I hadn't suitable buttons, I used to have a tin-full of them, all sorts of sizes & shapes. These were gleaned from clothing that had come to the end of their life & some came from charity shops, where occasionally big, mixed bags could be had for around a pound. My mother, her mother, my aunts and friends all had tins of buttons too. The tins were usually biscuit or cake tins with a pretty picture on the front. Inside were buttons from a variety of clothes along with zips & clasps snappers and safety pins, often there'd be part-skeins of embroidery silk & empty cotton-reels. They were fascinating to a small child, almost as much fun as a jewellery box. Looking back I can see that they held clues to family life - I guess my tins have become lost during my many moves. Back to the search for the trouser buttons- I found a great site on the Internet - The One Stop Button Shop. Here are buttons as I remembered them - 35 ordinary buttons for around £3.50. Of course they also sell pretty buttons. The moral - don't put -up with the paltry offerings that some shops offer!

I've had a quick look at the history of this everyday item. Purely decorative, functional, status symbols, objects of legislation, highly collectibles, humble and valuable.

The fabulous picture is by Rima Staines - thehermitage.estsy.com

The snow has gone

2010-01-18T23:14:00.010Z

What a difference a day makes. Today I took the big dog for a walk, taking in a visit to the chicken pen. The hens were out & about scratching & strutting in the sunshine, for most of the previous snowy week they had been huddled in their houses just coming out when a person appeared to see if anything tasty was on offer. Today I looked back at the view & all was green & full of bird song. Last week, after a slow & slippery walk up the hills & footpaths to this same spot outside the hen pen, I looked and saw white and heard muffled distance sounds.

Normally I stride-out, walking fast to a view-point & then stop and look and listen. The big dog trots along beside me or out front when it is possible to use the full-length of the long lead. For the last few days, with snow & ice on all walking surfaces this has not been possible, we've both carefully picked a non-slippery way up to the end point of a shortened outing. The big dog is designed for snow with a thick coat, large body size & decent-sized paws &, a nose that can pick up an interesting molecule at at thousand paces. The snow has brought so many exciting smells for her - I wonder if they are new scents or familiar scents emphasised in some way by the weather. The ability to scent a pile of horse-poo under inches of snow has been a wonder to behold, the following game of toss-the-poo a great laugh. I'm going to miss the snow ploughing with the nose followed by rolling in the snow & chasing round in circles leaving great pock marks on the pristine snowy surface. Life is one big change!

We visited out ruined-church site 2 days ago, no flooding there. The Froome, that runs just a few meters away from the boundary wall, had risen about 2 metres and was racing along, especially as passed under the nearby bridge. At this site there is about a metre to go before the banks are burst - it did that in 2007, moving large bales of hay & straw around the adjacent fields like footballs. I read today that the TS Eliot poetry prize has been awarded to a work that focuses on the River Severn - I'm being to appreciate why one river could provide sufficient material for such an enormous achievement (Philip Gross).

Horse Power

2010-01-11T21:31:00.011Z

Yesterday, for the first time in months I watched some dressage-to-music on TV. The sound quality of the music was awful but the horses & some of the riders were magnificent. I have seen exquisite thoroughbreds & Arabs, coats gleaming, beautifully turned-out, moving with grace & confidence. I have watched countless cowboy movies with the cowboys cantering & galloping horses of various shapes & hues, & the Native American's head-tossing, spirited,bare-back mounts. Innumerable beloved ponies, hacks, cobs & riding-school mounts have passed before me. Without doubt, the only ridden horses that make me stop-in-my-tracks to watch them are beautifully schooled dressage horses, of any level.

Dressage horses at the top of their art, at Prix-St.George level & above, are truly the elite athletes of the horse world. Those trained to this level with sensitivity, care, patience & real knowledge are a joy to watch, happy in their work. Partner this with a skilled, sensitive & courageous rider & the potential to see the magnificence of the horse shine through is there. It is possible to indirectly sense the power of a movement, as a breeze accompanying the passing horse. It is possible to visually witness the grace of a well-executed manoeuvre, a pirouette, a piaffe, even a high-school jump. But only when the horse & rider are working as one joyful, moving partnership is it possible to feel, as a spectator, the essence of horse. It's heart, it's purpose, it's life-force, it's power. All the sensory components may be there, but these alone do not reveal what a horse is - witness the near-impossibility of finding a horse portrait, sculpture or artistic representation that has "life". Horses are creatures of movement - as a car only comes to life when it moves, it's soul is released & revealed in motion, so it is with the horse. The colours, nuances, range, limitations, magnificence's are teased-out & predictably displayed by a master driver & rider under precise, testing conditions. My own personal make-up attunes me to certain aspects of physical & "spiritual" power", it's grace, poetry, scale. A top-flight race-horse is no less an athlete than a top-flight dressage horse but explosively-released power travelling directly from A to B, this revelation of power does not affect me in the same way as a balletically-moving horse. I love dance & music and in these too I respond to grace, elegance, order and that most elusive of virtues - beauty. I can appreciate most types of dance but only get pleasure if beauty is there whether it be in the interpretation of the music or the story, revealed in the lines made by the dancers, or more rarely & magnificently, when the essence of the whole performance becomes known. Like that moment when a poem stops being words & leaps out as "thing" - the word, sound, smell, person, place, object that IS the poem. And so back to the dancing horse & rider - my own little grey mare is now semi-retired but I know that inside her will always be that essence-of-horse all horses share but only some can reveal to us limited humans.

(I've lost track of who owns the photo of Goldstern)

Listening

2010-01-02T18:36:00.015Z

While I was taking the large dog for a walk yesterday I stopped to listen to a bird song. It was a song that I haven't heard since moving here - the distinctive pee-wit pee-wit of the lapwing. Sure enough in the distance I could see a small flock of the birds -distinctive with their black & white wings & odd flight. I associate these birds with Nottinghamshire farmland - great flocks of them whirring in the sky filling the air with their shrill, whooping-whistle call. I checked out details about the bird and was surprised to discover his huge range over the UK - I thought it was a bird of the South & midlands - it's like finding an old friend that you left in a previous home (http://www.rspb.org.uk ).
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Today I went to look for the lapwings but they had moved on. instead I was treated to two great sights. I threw a piece of left-over Christmas pudding into the hen pen. Only Alfie the cockerel expressed any interest in it, the hens wandered off pecking at the grass & other bits I had thrown in. Alfie stood by the pudding and on the other side of it stood a crow. Three crows regularly patrol the strip of land the hen-pen sits on, they normally only fly into the pen after scraps when humans leave the area. The pudding must have been a great prize as not only did the bird stay put whilst I was just a few feet away with the small dog but, it marked it's prize while Alfie hovered about beside it undecided what to do. Then the bird pecked at the lump & tried to fly away with it but as it must have weighed at least 3x as much as it did, satisfied itself with a small piece. Such bravery inspired by a left over piece of Christmas pud!

Half an hour or so later I was out walking the large dog when I stopped and looked around - I could hear the raucous racket only a groups of corvids can make. I spotted a small group at the top of a tall hawthorn. As I watched a buzzard lifted up off a near-by tree into the air & the crows mobbed it until it flew away. As it did so 2 other buzzards & another large bird appeared. The 3 buzzards circled in the air like vultures in a cowboy movie, lifting higher on a spiral & then disappearing from view. The 4th birds was not a buzzard, it's lower body appeared snowy white in comparison to the creamy/buff of the buzzards. While the buzzards soared in the thermals this bird dived away at amazing speed with broad, black-tipped wings and vanished amongst a stand of alders lining the brook. Seeing the two types of birds together in the sky clearly showed the difference between their movement, energy & shape. I am surer than ever that it was the goshawk I've caught glimpses of before. I know they are in the area as a few week back a local farmer reported seeing a dead one by the road-side. To think, if I hadn't stopped to look at the crows making a racket, I'd have missed that wonderful sight.

Mr PoppyM is a local man & has a pronounced local accent & use of dialect. I'm trying to record some of his colourful life as part of a book-project I'm working on. I have no illusions that I am a writer of stories and certainly not a writer of plays. So it has been quite an experience turning someone else's tales into a written form. The first two stories have been a disappointment as whilst I can capture the plot everything else gets left behind - they become a soulless catalogue of events! The latest plan is write the tales out verbatim & to go from there - it can only be an improvement.

The final listening thread - over the Christmas period I have listened to two radio plays - what a treat "The No1 Ladies Detective Agency" in Radio 4 & the "Wizard of Earthsea" on Radio 7. It brought back to me the simple joy of being read to! I'm now onto the "Adventures of Tin Tin" via the wonder of BBCi player - I can't recommend that facility highly enough.

Be prepared for the unexpected!

2009-12-30T21:40:00.008Z

I know the big wide world is out there, and I've even been to some parts of it. At the moment I am trying to semi-hibernating - spend as much time indoors as possible. This is almost impossible with animals & birds to care for! Sat indoors, watching the rain or out walking dog in a familiar landscape it is easy to forget what different places feel like. This was suddenly brought home to me one morning when I read a short piece sent to my in-box. I read the short piece and thought - wow - I have no idea how I would feel in that landscape it. In that one moment, with that one thought, my whole world expanded. I was catapulted out of the familiar into the fresh & new. All that from these few lines of text....

I live near Kilauea - a very active volcano. The other night we went to the end of the road and sat at the edge of the lava field.The only light for miles was created by the glow of molten lava.There was a crescent moon and millions of stars. The scene was magical.

Every so often the vent would send up an intense orange shower of light. Then many miles away the lava would light up the sky as it flowed into the ocean. The moon set directly over the vent to and it looked like Kilauea had swallowed the moon.

The wind was incessant, constantly changing direction while simultaneously feeling balmy, restless and at ease. We sat for along time and I was deeply moved by the incredible power of creation.

Last night the land moved. There were two earthquakes a short time apart. The mantel of the earth shifted as the undersea volcano Loihi expanded.

Mother Earth is doing just fine. She's busy expanding and twirling and living with passion. We can learn much from her if we simply take the time to observe, listen and get in alignment with her power and beauty. We live as guest of Mother Earth. Enjoy your sojourn on this magnificent planet.--

With love and aloha,

Susan

Dr Susan Gregg LLC po Box 1006kurtistown, Hawaii96760US

photo from http://www.glosmorrismen.org/

Wintery Reflections

2009-12-29T23:09:00.012Z

I'm not sure if it is to do with having lived in the Herefordshire-stix for a while, where there is no or minimal street lighting, but this year I've really appreciated outdoor Christmas lights. Walking home, up the dark hill, catching a glimpse of a tall, fully-lit conifer has lifted my spirits enormously. Resources permitting, we have plans to string lights around the 3oo year old yew we have in our church yard, what a wonderfully up-lifting sight that will be. One of our neighbours has a small globular shrub covered in blinking blue lights that I admire as I walk the dog late at night. Through some neighbour's windows, fairy lights glimmer & trees sparkle in a homely, domestic & comforting way. Up in the sky, between the clouds, shines the moon & constellations of stars. Without all these points of light, long dark winter days & darker winter nights could easily make me believe that the sun, & it's comforting light & warmth are gone forever. The warm summer days trapped in the memory, are never to come again. Indoors I have strung fairy lights around the sitting room. Over the Christmas & New Year period they stay on all night. Their soft light & reflections off baubles & tinsel creates a warming, cheering, comfortable space it's a pleasure to walk-into early in the morning, even before the heating kicks in.

For a number of years I've disconnected from celebrations on the 25th December. I don't think this was a conscious thing but a year or so ago I noticed that I had no emotional links left to Christmas at all. It's great that 50% of the world stops to celebrate the 25th, or at least do something different on that day. The specialness starts on the 24th, late in the afternoon - the traffic sounds fade away & then pauses and eventually stops - for me that is Christmas -a special stillness & quietness. I think a final parts of the "Christmas effect" ended when I came face-to-face with the awfulness this day presents for some. I can see those children's eyes as they tried to hide themselves from our innocent questions about Christmas dinners & presents. For them these things didn't exist, they stayed out of the home for as long as possible, becoming as invisible as possible. If I'd have realized in advance, I could perhaps have given them a different day....

I had a truly up-lifting mid-winter's day. Nothing exceptional happened, I walked the dogs, tended the horse & chickens, did all the usual domestic things. For whatever reason it was a day I spent particularly connected to the turning of the seasons, more "at-one" with nature than usual. At peace even though chaos was swirling all around. I quietly opened my Christmas presents & drank-in the next phase of the year.

Signs of the year's next phase are clear to see, the buds on the trees & the shoots from the spring bulbs. I'm so looking forward to the hundreds of snowdrops that we've inherited at our church site. I've planted several hundred bulbs myself, they were an unlabelled bargin batch at an auction so it's going to be a real surprise to see what comes up.

Happy New Year

Geese and other birds I know

2009-12-14T21:52:00.009Z

Imagine this - I'm sat quietly, half-watching Morse on the TV, the rest of my attention on typing at the PC. The fire's on & bread is rising under a tea-towel - it's just a few moments away from going into the oven. Then the dogs leap up & erupt into barking & snarling - it's in response to the tap-tap-tapping of the resident site goose at the door - he's demanding food! I cautiously peer-out through the door glass to check, Mr PoppyM has heard spectral-music at the church site & friend's have recently taken photos with ghostly apparitions in them - but there is just the goose on the top step, looking at me through the glass with his blue eye. I throw him a few handfuls of oats, he eats & wanders off.

Earlier today I saw the same goose on the pond, which is his home, swimming about with a group of young Canada Geese. I think they are some of the grown youngsters that hatched there earlier in the year. It was good to see him in a group, a single goose is a sad sight. He was originally part of a small mixed flock of domestic geese. Last year the Chinese geese were re-homed after pecking & knocking over someone. That left 3 white farm geese & one buff goose. The two females built two big nests side by side & laid about 20 eggs in them. A few days before they were due to hatch two men smashed all the eggs. The geese were obviously distressed, the RSPCA's view on the incident indifferent. A few weeks later the two white geese were found dead, Shortly afterwards the buff goose vanished without trace. There was much concern that the remaining goose would not survive but it has. I had hoped that the young Canada geese would spend the nights on the pond with our domestic goose but they don't. This evening as dusk fell, I saw them rise up over the trees around the pond, honking. He doesn't seem to spend nights on the pond, even though there are two mallards, youngsters from this years hatchings, and several moor hens who do. He prefers to walk about the site peeking at friendly doors for food & "roosting" next to a car.

It has been a bird sort of day today. As I was walking up the hill this morning a buzzard passed a few meters in front of me at head height. It was a mixed-up range of browns & buffs - scruffy looking. Later in the day I think I caught sight of the same bird swooping across a field, disturbed again by my approach, this time with a large dog. A bold male robin landed on the field gate as I fastened it behind my horse. There are one or two bold robins at our church-site who appear unperturbed by our presence - watching close by as we dig, or burn twigs, eat our lunch and generally potter about. And at home a male robins sits on the bird table dominating it like a lord, or picking-up left overs from the duck & goose food.

I took the large dog with me to feed the hens today & was delighted to see that the one small Black Rock, who has remained tatty & bald in patches for ages, has finally grown a new set of feathers. She's the last to "feather-up" after the moult. For months the flock has looked tatty. I have consoled myself with the realization that at least these hens have lived long-enough for a moult - they really do look magnificent with their new clothes on. Alfie the cockerel must be feeling as good as he looks as I've heard him crowing again - he has been a bit subdued while his feathers have been coming-through. We are still getting about 5 eggs a day from the girls, which we are very pleased with & put down to good feeding & a comfortable home. I think of brussel sprouts as "the devil's vegetable" & refuse to eat them. I grew quite a few this year and much to my extreme pleasure hardly any have made it into our home! We agreed to leave the plants in the ground for the hens to peck at. Over about a month the plants have been reduced by the hens to stalks with leaf ribs! I hear-by up-grade brussel sprouts from "devils' food" to a "hen friendly" vegetable.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cariboub/

A Christmas verse of dubious merit!

2009-12-08T20:57:00.008Z

Christmas is coming & I'm wearing my hat

Put out some peanuts to keep the birds fat

If you haven't any peanuts, breadcrumbs will do,

If you've no breadcrumbs, may Santa bless you.

Merry Christmas To You All.

Great photo from Flickr http://www.simbird.com/

Mud & Orchards

2009-12-07T21:05:00.017Z

Today has been one of low grey clouds, a total absence of the sun,with rain. It has made for a totally miserable day - even the afternoon walk with the dog failed to raise my spirits. And more mud has been created through- out the day. I feel engaged in a battle with mud - mud on the dogs paws, on the kitchen floor, on all our coats, on the chicken's feet, mud mud everywhere. It brings to mind Jacqueline Winspear's books that talk of life in WW1 trenches & on battle fields - I find it utterly astonishing that anyone survived anytime at all in those trenches http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/maisie_dobbs_world.htm. Mud saps my life-force even at a"once remove"- it is out-doors & off my skin. Perhaps it is to do with an excess of earthiness - an attempt by some hostile force to subdue by envelopment - like a mammoth in tar or a wild pig in quick sand.

In contrast this evening's walk with the dog was uplifting - i found even the puddles on the road reflecting street light pretty. I walked with the dog in a small orchard, braving the mud, looking up at the stars - meeting up again with friends. It seems ages since I have felt inclined to stand still & look up at the stars. For too long it has been a case of hat on, head-down & keep moving - get the walk done as quickly as possible, get back inside by the fire. Small ponies wander amongst the apple trees, they move quietly - a warm, solid presence. I've noticed that in the dark a horse's muzzle feels softer, more velvety than by daylight - ultra-sensitive, like cat's whiskers. Tonight the trees are awake - perhaps it is the twinkling starlight. Last night I saw a partial moon, a huge silvery shape hanging in the darkness surrounded by grey shifting clouds - no moon tonight. Some days & nights the orchard is just an orchard, a small stand of trees that grow blossom, leaves & fruit. On other occasions, the air is thicker amongst the trees, sounds muffled, the night darker. Then I feel no inclination to linger or make my presence know - I act as a respectful visitor just passing through. It's a few weeks away from the longest night, the winter equinox, & a little further from Wassailing time, perhaps the seasonal spirits are gathering in readiness for celebrations. C. S. Lewis created a memorable "heavy" atmosphere in the "wood between worlds" that always comes to mind when I walk through orchards: never when a in wood though, these are never heavy or sleepy. The "The Magicians Nephew" is one of my favourites in the Narnia series.

Image from http://narnia.wikia.com/wiki/Wood_between_the_Worlds)

Rained off - dreams of a shed

2009-11-29T23:14:00.016Z

Mr PoppyM woke me up with a cup of tea and a suggestion for the morning - tree & bulb planting at our ruined-church site. The sun shone & our part of the world stayed dry as we completed the morning's duties & then set off to the church. Perhaps predictably it started to rain & sleet, so we changed our plans - to top-up the bird feeder & save the planting for a better day.
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With the feeder re-filled with peanuts & seed we sat and watch the birds. We have 2 old chairs kept stashed behind a piece of hedge & we sat on these with our backs to one of the crumbling chancel walls under an umbrella drinking flask-tea. We talked of our plans for a work-shop with a stove & comfy old chairs. It's "in production" so who knows, maybe it will there in time for Christmas - now that would be a great present.
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Now that a majority of the leaves have fallen from the tall hazel hedge the landscape behind is on view - sloping fields, a strip of oak wood, a barn conversion & sheep. It's quiet today, this first real winter Sunday, just the dripping of the rain from the ivy & trees and the chirruping of the small birds on the feeder.
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It's wet underfoot, in places the ground sinks. A reminder of decades of accumulated leaf mould laying on a more solid surface feet below, and below that, the dead of the 12th century. But there's no flooding here at the church despite it's proximity to the Frome. There is a deep ditch around part of the site & in places this is holding water. The Frome has risen several meters in a few days and is flowing fast, what will it leave when the level drops? I saw on the TV today a Cumbrian farmer standing in a recently flooded cereal field. As the flood waters had drawn back into the river it left behind a covering of cobbles, pebbles, gravel & boulders, all dropped in a few days but how long will it take to remove them? Last time the Frome rose & fell it left behind a body, we don't need anymore of those, our grave yard is closed - full, complete, at peace.

photo from www.flickr.com/photos/stefan-szczelkun/3254245930/

Bird Songs

2009-11-25T22:06:00.010Z

Mr PoppyM is a real countryman and a treasure-trove of information obtained first hand though-out his life - from boyhood through to adult-hood. It must be rubbing off on me as I have just begun to realize that I can identify quite a large number of birds just from their calls. Before I came to live here in the Welsh Marches I could probably identify a blackbird, crow, robin, seagull (I come from the seaside) & an "owl" - non-specific! Now, a few years of being with Mr Poppy M, I can proudly boast that I know all of the crow family by call, several owl species, quite a few tits, some thrushes, woodpeckers & the ever present buzzard. And by sight I can identify even more. At first this additional knowledge seems a simple thing of little consequence, a pleasant collection of information to use in family competitions & of no direct effect to the quality of my life. However,I have noticed a curious thing - as I become familiar with a bird's call, it becomes part of my sound-scape & the call stands out as a familiar human voice does. Not only that, other bird calls, that I was previously unaware of, stand out as "unknown" - like a new voice in a room of familiar people. All bird's voices seem to become differentiated, no longer a background blend, almost as if the invisible becomes visible. The changes do not stop there, the voices then become part of my world and in this manner my world has expanded. This is of course not new, part of the "to know is to love" experience - but for me this is no longer just a phrase but a physical reality.

The RSPB has a great web site with information about individual birds including calls & videos- it's well worth a visit http://www.rspb.org.uk/.
My favourite call - a raven,
The most surprising calls - the jay - I always think of parrots when I hear them & the green woodpecker - it makes me think of a kookaburra. Odd how until recently I was more familiar with exotic birds than out native ones - TV nature documentaries perhaps?
The happiest - redwings
The most unnerving - barn owl

The following site has some good sound bites of British birds http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/home.shtml (the Jay feather at the top of the page is from this site).

The Goshawk

2009-11-17T17:48:00.004Z

From Flickr CrazyM's photostream

There's something about a goshawk - a proud energy quite unlike that of buzzard. I hadn't quite realized the difference until today when, for a few seconds, I caught sight of a large bird of prey gliding low across an alder-lined brook into an apple orchard. There was a tight grace that shouted goshawk.

The Goshawk

An exercise modelled on Mary Oliver’s “The Hawk”

This morning
The goshawk
Rose up
Out of the stubble field

And swung through blueness -
It settled
On the tarry crest
Of a telephone pole.

Captivating as a queen,
In silhouette, arrogant.
Her ermine breast
Etched with stripes,

And I said: remember
This is not just something
Of the cool air, this is
God’s earthly agent

Of control & deliverance.
And the goshawk
Turned in grace,
To re-focus the stare,

To see further
Across the hedgerows,
Along the tree-margins
And I said: remember,

All live to die,
Experiments in perfection.
And that’s when she lifted in purity
Her miraculous wings and floated

Into the wind, eyes first,
And cruised along the tree-line,
All the time eyes clasped
Tighter than need on some

Whispered disturbance in the
Trees & litter & then
It swerved & moulded into the air
Becoming a perfectly loosed arrow.

Poppy Morgan

Pears - drops of sunshine

2009-11-02T21:47:00.016Z

Real autumnal weather has finally arrive on a bluster of wind & rain. The clocks have changed & the days feel significantly shorter. The horse is brought in from the field as light falls. I can feel my winter-pace setting in - lovely long evenings to make plans for future & reflect on the past.

I'm still busy "locking away the summer" by poaching wind-fall pears & making preserves. This is only my second season at jam-making & I've just finished a batch of mint jelly (apple jelly base with fresh mint leaves & a hint of lemon rind) of which I'm immensely proud. There's a pot of onion chutney hidden in the fridge for Christmas. As Mr PoppyM is diabetic I've promised to have a go at making some pickles including piccalilli - what an odd word.

In the local town is a whole food shop that stocks a large range of herbs & spices - sold loose. Even better than that, you can select whatever quantity you wish - no minimums. I spent a happy few minutes selecting & bagging up my Christmas list of herbs & spices. I brought 7 items and the total came to under £4! I love the smell of spices & couldn't imagine a life without them. In complete contrast my husband was indifferent to the experience which I find perplexing as he is the real food-lover. Perhaps it is due to his lack of success in the kitchen? Whereas I'd almost rather create the food then eat it & without a palate of these small essence how reduced my options would be? If I were on Dessert Island discs my luxury item would be a casket of herbs & spices.

Back to pears. Until I moved to one of the orchard counties of England, pears were "just another fruit". There are 2 particularly beautiful pear trees growing here that I have now watched through all the seasons & this experience has changed how I view the fruit. These tall shapely trees are pleasing through the winter as bare skeletons. As winter moves into spring they grow green & soften in outline. Blossom appears - often briefly & modestly, surprisingly so for a member of the rose family. Then the fruits appear - golden drops hung like ornaments amongst the leaves. They swell & become more defined & then the waiting begins, a waiting for the first ones to fall. Those first golden fruits to leave the tree are semi-ripe but I gather these anyway & ripen them at home. Then as whole clusters ripen they fall & the real gathering begins. I gather the perfect ones in a small cloth bag, usually accompanied by a dog & return homes with them full of glee. I place these trophies on a large dish in the window & admire them as I walk past. They are trophies as I "compete" with the birds & insects for them & other gatherers - especially those who "cheat" & put ladders to pluck them directly from the branches. And then when all the fruit has fallen & all the perfect or nearly perfect fruit has been gathered, those left on the ground lay there. Some rot away, feeding the soil. Some are eaten by late insects & rodents. And still some are left for the winter when flocks of redwings & fieldfares visit for a sweet winter feed. And in the mid-winter I eat my pears & think back to summers past & imagines those to come.

(images from Flickr)

October - so far

2009-10-16T23:36:00.013+01:00

Goodness time flies unless you are a yew tree.

So far my prediction for a wet & gloomy October has been totally WRONG. To date it has been beautiful & there is the autumn colour to prove it. I have witnessed some spectacular sunsets - masterpieces in pink & blue. I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning as it may well be the first real frost of the season.

I've gathered in the tomatoes - a both happy & sad event. Happy, as it provides a moment to revel in the abundance that a small number of seedlings have provided. Happy as the green tomatoes sit & ripen. Happy as I eat the red fruits remembering that trapped inside them is summer sunshine. Sad as each individual plant's life comes to an end. I'm not as good at endings as startings!

The late turnips & carrots are growing really well & the hens are thoroughly enjoying the thinnings & luscious leaves. I've started to develop a taste for turnips - provided that they are grated raw. I've always found the idea of turnip soup totally hilarious - probably something to do with the childhood tale about the giant turnip!

Much work has been accomplished on our "little piece of paradise" & it is almost ready to receive the tree surgeon's team. Again I am faced with endings. A number of saplings have established themselves in the stone work of the church ruins so have to be removed. One substantial ash is knocking against the tower & causing significant damage. One poor tree is a lightening strike & unsafe. All these, and a few others, are scheduled for felling or canopy reduction. I'll probably stay at home while the felling takes place - it will be upsetting to see them fall. The church site will be a totally different place with them gone. It is hoped that we'll use at least some of the timber in the church's restoration so their lives will be remembered in the building.

The next phase is the relocation of the damaged grave-markers. This is a delicate process & we are awaiting direction from relevant organisations on how best to achieve this. Cutting back the nettles & brambles we've uncovered a grave-marker for a man who died in action during WW1 - I wonder if this needs reporting to the War Graves Commission?

I'm looking forward to designing & creating for real gardens for the graveyard area - it's a bit intimidating to- a responsibility to remember with dignity those who have ended their days there.

Finally there is a large yew tree on the site, by no means ancient, but a beautiful specimen. The tree is now on the data-base of the Ancient Yew Society - trees of 500 years old plus are featured in their gazetteer. Mr PoppyM & myself visited the oldest one in the county -1000 years old - how amazing is that- and it was still a beautiful, vibrant tree wearing the years lightly. (Stanford Bishop, picture from Ancient Yew Group http://www.ancient-yew.org/home.shtml ).

2009-09-08T13:33:00.010+01:00

It's well & truly AUTUMN.

Generally I love this season but this year I feel that it will not be one of the most colourful or abundant ones. I am anticipating a lovely sunny spell followed by wet & cold weather with fog & penetrating dampness right up until Christmas. Gloomy but I'd rather be prepared.

A review of the veggie garden has lead me to declare it a success. Admittedly the brassicas have been hammered by the slugs & caterpillars but most are still growing well & I've harvested some greyhound cabbages & a cauliflower - the 1st I've ever grown. The brussel sprouts are coming along well. The purple sprouting has been left to seed - the hens can have those greens. The pak choi were brilliant but the lesson for next year is grow early & start of in pots - they are such a delicious plant every free-roaming creature in the universe seems to love them. The tomatoes are still ripening - the trusses are not very abundant but the toms on them are a good size & taste great. I expect the abundance has more to do with my less than diligent feeding than any vagaries of the weather.

I still find it amazing putting a seed in the ground & hey prestso a whole plant with flowers/fruit - a miracle indeed. I've been collecting seeds for a while now & I still get a thrill from it - today I collected my first sunflowers seeds from plants I've grown this year. When I first looked I thought there were no seeds but I poked a bout a bit & they started to fall out - I was expecting the striped ones available in pet food but these are tiny little black ones. Only one way to find out if they are fertile - plant them!

Today (10th sept) has been glorious - clear-blue sky, bright sunshine & a bit of breeze. I took the small dog with me as I did my jobs - collected windfall apples & took them down to the horse-yard, walked through the fields on the way to the chickens looking for interesting things. Found lots of sloes but didn't pick them as haven't planned out a use for them & don't want to waste them. Spent a while under the huge coppiced hazel tree looking for nuts - as usual the squirrels had beaten me to it - the ground was littered with opened & discarded shells. I've brought a few home & started to open them - so far only 2 have a kernel suitable for planting.

Next to the chicken pen is the veggie patch - optimistically, a few days a ago I planted some rows of turnips & radishes with a few other odds & ends - they are sprouting - hurrah. It's so dry (nice to say that in September) so I've just watered them. I have high hope of a good crop now they've germinated well - I just hope the hens will enjoy the turnips/tops as I'm not a great fan!

Blackberries don't seem to be very abundant this year but on this outing I've managed to find enough for tonight - a real autumn treat.

Recently I've added some newsletters to my in basket & I'm really enjoying them so in case anyone out there in blog land hasn't found these - here they are:

Barefoot Doctor (welcome@barefootdoctorworld.com)

semi-dailyquote@aweber.com on behalf of Susan Gregg (susan@susangregg.com)

Horse Hero (noreply@horsehero.com) - great videos on horse matters

Umhh - I can smell the brioche so it must be nearly baked - that will go really well with the blackberry & apples & yoghurt - cant wait til tea-time!

boots

2009-08-25T21:55:00.009+01:00

One of my favourite poems is about socks. Inspired by this poem (by Pablo Neruda) I have written my own version about a pair of boots . I mention is now as a week or so ago I ceremoniously burnt the boots - a moment of sadness & great gratitude.

Ode to a Pair of Boots

A friend gave me
A pair of boots
That she had brought for herself
But were not hers.
Two comfortable boots.
I slipped my feet into them
As if they were two cases
Made with pieces of adventure & fortitude.
Audacious boots,
My feet were two birds made of hide,
Two giant eagles
Cliff brown, shot through
With golden laces.
Two immense turtles,
Two wolves.
My feet were honoured in this way
By these heavenly boots.
They were so handsome,
For the first time
My feet seemed to me as unacceptable
Like two decrepit toads
Not worthy of the magical hide
Of those peerless boots.
Nevertheless, I resisted the temptation
To save them somewhere as schoolboys
Keep fireflies,
As learned men collect
Sacred texts,

I resisted the mad impulse to put them
In a gilded cage & each day give them
Finest nuggets & armfuls of fresh greens.
Like explorers in the forest
Who hand over the impossible unicorn
To scientists who coldly sacrifice it,
I stretched out my feet & pulled on
Thick socks & then the magnificent boots.

A shameless modification of Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to a Pair of Socks”.

My news boots (pictured above - Shires Stroud riding boot) are wonderfully comfortable & water-proof but they are new & it will take a while for them to become part of me like the old pair!

A mellow moment

2009-07-21T15:28:00.022+01:00

I'm having one of those lovely mellow pauses in the day:

I've just taken both dogs for their main walk - short ones today because of the horrible weather. On route checked the hens & feed them great armfuls of goose grass & veggie. The dogs have been feed & are now lying in their beds washing their paws getting ready for along snooze. (This is a tip I got from a Cesar Milan book - feed directly after a good walk & the dogs fall into a deep sleep - yes it works every time). http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/

I'm listening to some chilling snippets of music sent to my in-box via dailyom.com - today it is Guitar Meditations, Volume IISoulfood, featuring Billy McLaughlin 2005.

Sat here with sleeping dogs & Mr Poppy M out drilling a hole in some thing, I'm reflecting on the fascinating things that have occurred over the last few days..

* While I was hacking my way to the brook to get some water for the horse I saw a kingfisher - a piece of brilliant blue travelling at an incredible speed along the water's surface. My first siting at this location. (picture from Flickr Rosa Gambóias)

* Mr PoppyM came back from tending the hens with a great tale. He drew-up to the pen & noticed 3 rooks in the veggie patch adjacent to the hen pen. He watched them for a bit to see what they were doing - they are normally trying to steal grain from the hens. They were picking caterpillars from the cabbages!! Those crows can stay as long a they like if they'll keep on doing that!

* As I walked along the margin's of an un-cut hay field I disturbed lots of butterflies - dusky brown ones. I stood still to see if I could identify what they were feeding on - it was the grasses. Now that sight will remind me that grasses have flowers to - it's odd how I'd forgotten that as I'm a hay-fever suffer (tho tree-pollen & moulds are my big problems)!

* Buddleia- the butterfly bush - I don't think I've ever seen so many or such large flower heads as I've seen this year. Their very strong, sweet honey-scent has made my evening walks to the horse a real pleasure. And during the day, the bushes have been covered with butterflies - including Red Admirals - one of my favourites. And outside my home - the little cuttings I planted out this year are looking really healthy & the ailing bushes from last year are just about to flower - success!! (picture from Flickr doc.holiday41's photostream).

* The pumpkin & courgette plants have outgrown their bed are are now making their way across the grass! I knew they'd get big - but I didn't expect them to be this monstrous & it's only mid-July -opps.

Right - that's the mellow moment over. It's wet & windy out there, still, so time to think of something nice & warm for tea - yes it is the middle of an English summer!

A coffee morning

2009-07-12T22:37:00.015+01:00

Earlier this week I had a morning out with a friend. Nothing odd in that you may think - I didn't think so either until I realized that this is something I have not done for nearly 2 years! I've had plenty of "outings" & plenty of cake & coffee but not WITHOUT Mr PoppyM.

We visited Hereford Museum & the Cathedral. The Museum is well worth a visit - right in the centre of the shopping area & free. It's a wonderful old "black & white" building that was moved to it's present location on rollers - a process Mr PoppyM had a hand-in. One of the exhibits was of particular interest - a huge iron-banded box that used to reside in the ruined church that we have just brought.When the church was closed one of it's medieval bells was sent to a church in London - it's name is Gabriel. According to "The Bell"by Iris Murdock this is a traditional name for a bell, as a bell is the voice of God!

And onto another series of links - we also visited the Cathedral (of St Mary the Virgin & Ethelbert the King) - what a magnificent building. For me the high-light of the visit was the Audley chapel housing the new stained glass windows by Tom Denny. It is a series of 4 windows dedicated to the 17th century poet Thomas Traherne. (Picture above from RJE Foster - Flickr). It's a while since I have looked at a piece of art & just known that the creator was truly inspired & totally at one with his subject. I was speechless for quite a while - go see them for yourself. The link is ...when my grandmother died my aunt, who is a Deacon, had commissioned a stained glass window. And of course, our ruined church had one - how wonderful it would be to replace it.... And for the next visit - there's the Mappa Mundi & the chained library, and the secret gardens.
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This week seems to have been about change. What you take for granted now as normal, fixed or even boring may be rare, fleeting & exceptional in the future. So live very much " in the now" & appreciate as much as possible! I must be getting old & mellow!

Our normal English summer is back!

2009-07-07T15:33:00.015+01:00

Good news - for a number of years a solitary Pyramidal Orchid has grown on a grassy verge - this year there are three! According to a local, the original plant has been growing there for about 7 years. From a bit of research, I gather that 7 years is not a particularly long maturing time, the Common Twaybane can take 15 years to set seed! The Pyramidal Orchid is such a pleasing plant - an elegant over-all shape, a rich even pink colour & intriguing individual flowers. What a beauty!

The Pyramidal Orchid is pollinated by moths & butterflies & I was thinking that this year I have seen lots of butterflies - brown ones in particular. I've checked a few web-sites & I think that they are Ringlets, Meadow Browns , Tortoiseshells & Gatekeepers. In lesser numbers I've seen Orange Tips, Peacocks, Painted Ladies & Brimstones. A few days ago Mr PoppyM saw a Red Admiral. I've noticed that a nearby allotment has been visited by the Cabbage Whites - lovely big plants full of holes. I'm on "butterfly alert" - they are not getting my plants this year! (Visit this web-site for some great photos & info http://www.britishbutterflies.co.uk/index.asp ).

Moles - until this year I've not really given them much thought. I've seen the occasional dead one & read Duncton Wood - but that's it. Well that's all going to change! My garden & vegetable plot have become a home to a mole or moles - new hills every morning, hills everywhere. As I walk across the grass between the beds my feet sink - the other day I planted out some brassicas & hit a tunnel a few inches below the surface, & I've had to prop-up a big container as it is about to subside. Little blighters. The beautiful straight rows of seeds now have great empty patches where moles have thrown-up hills & we have smoothed them out. I've re=planted those with radishes. There must be some humane way of encouraging them to move elsewhere!! More in this in a later post.

It's pouring with rain on & off with thunder threatening & the plants are so happy - some of the leaves on my pumpkins have reached 2' across. I have high hopes for bumpers crops!!

Gosh isn't it hot!!

2009-06-29T11:56:00.010+01:00

Yesterday I took the small dog out for a short walk (too hot for a long one) - down to a little pond. It was beautiful:

*pristine white lilies & glossy deep-green lily pads,

* a small "flock" of the tiniest blue damselflies - "flying sewing needles"

* & in stark contrast, a whopper of a dragonfly - I can see why the big ones are called hawkers - just like a Hawker Sidley plane!

At home the leeks I have let go to seed are looking magnificent - one of them has burst open & the pom-pom is getting ready to come into full flower. I helped it along a little by removing the papery cap - it is the 1st time I've seen a leek do this & I am struck by how like a pixie cap the covering is! Is this where the pixie & fairy artists artists got there inspiration from? (picture from the flower fairy website http://www.flowerfairiesprints.com/)

Onto more prosaic matters - the time has come to "deep-clean" the kitchen & give it a lick of paint. Groan - it has to be done & I know we'll all feel much better walking into a sparking clean the kitchen. The "comfortable chair" & sofa need to go to - it must be the "solstice effect" - that or the fact that bright sunshine shows up all that's lain hidden in the relative-gloom of the rest of the year!

Happy Mid-Summer's Day

2009-06-23T23:15:00.007+01:00

Gosh, hasn't time flown - half way through the year already.

It's been a busy few day between the summer solstice & mid-summer's day - the utterly improbable has actually happened. We now own our "little piece of England". It's taken about 18 months but it's ours!!! It's a long term project so I'm thinking about setting up a separate blog to chart the changes - from overgrown ruin to restored building/s with lovely gardens.

The hens are laying well but we are regularly selling out of eggs. So after much debate an order has been placed for 6 more pullets - all being well, they will be available at the end of July. In the mean-time our properly broody hen has been sitting for just over two weeks. I cant quite remember why, but she only has two eggs. Luck may be with us & we'll have 2 hens but to be honest I'd be glad if one healthy cockerel arrived!

Still on the theme of time passing - my little grey mare is soon to be 10 years old. I remember her as a spindly-legged bay filly - ahh. The poor girl has developed summer mud-fever again but it's well under control so should be gone in the next few days. The irony is we got through the whole winter without a hint of mud-fever - well I suppose it was a very dry one.

Plants, plants, plants every where!! The beans have made it to the tops of the poles, the sweet peas are in full magnificent bloom, the squashes are in flower & the pineapple lily has a very promising bud. The veggie patch is planted up & as the new potatoes (just being harvested) come out there is a waiting list of plants to go in! I'm experimenting with sweetcorn this year as I'm sure we are in for a long HOT HOT HOT summer. A combination of growing seeds in pots & being given some trays of plants means we have nearly a 100 brassica plants growing - not bad for someone who dislike a vast majority of the brassica family! But the hens love them as does Mr PoppyM - I'm way too soft.

The No Space Garden

2009-05-31T23:02:00.003+01:00

Proving that for gardeners "where there is a will there is a way" !!

Late Spring Bank Holiday

2009-05-24T15:33:00.021+01:00

It's that rare thing - a sunny hot Bank Holiday weekend! And nature is celebrating to.

* This morning I walked across a field full of buttercups. Buttercups as far as the eye could see (a bit of poetic license). Boots coated with bright yellow pollen. From the top of the hill - a shimmering haze of gold.
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* Through the buttercups - dragonflies darting. I think they were Brown Hawkers (see picture above). I checked on the British Dragonfly society page - well worth a visit - it has great photos & descriptions (http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/aegra.html).
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* Me & Mr PoppyM spent the morning digging over a patch we have been loaned. It is/was covered in nettles & couch grass so requires a fair bit of work to change it into a veggie patch. The soil is really good quality tho - the early potatoes we put in a while back are looking brilliant. A row - perfectly straight as "he who must be obeyed in digging matters" insisted - of early carrots.

* I've found a great place to buy our veggie seeds - the old fashioned way - by weight (http://www.molesseeds.co.uk/index.html). So it's just a matter of choosing the varieties & getting them planted in the lovely new plots.

* The hens - one in particular - really enjoyed scratching out almost everything we put in the wheelbarrow. She was joined by a few friends & we didn't have the heart to stop them - such simple pleasures..

* Many hens spent the post-laying part of the morning sun-bathing & dust-bathing. Even Alfie the "I'm very important" cockerel sun-bathed for a bit. And the broody hen popped out from her nest to partake of the rays for a few moments. Great contentment in the hen-pen.

* Mr PoppyM & me are divided on how to increase our flock. I want to give a home to a dozen hens that are due to be culled from a commercial, free-range flock not far from here (12 for £5.00 - what a heart-breakingly small sum for hard-working hens). Mr PoppyM would rather buy day-old chicks & raise them. There are pro & cons for both routes...time will tell which path we take. And of course in the mean-time out broody hen may raise a few her self.

* Back home - the "Heath Robinson" cold frames I have "constructed"from old sheets of plastic roofing, string, bits of wood & plastic sheeting are holding together surprisingly well: no nails involved. The veggies growing in them seem to be appreciating them & look great - the 1st lettuces will be ready any day now. I have high hopes for pumpkins, squashes & courgettes & a bumper crop of tomatoes.

* Yesterday the California poppies burst into flower giving the pots & containers a much needed boost. The spring bulbs are almost over & I can barely wait to get the summer bedding flowers etc that I have GROWN FROM SEED (very proud I am to) into the pots. Mini-sunflowers, asters, black-eyed suzies, lupins, nasturtiums, evening primrose.......

Lovely wallflowers

2009-05-18T18:15:00.006+01:00

In praise of WALLFLOWERS

The early ones will soon be over - just rustling sticks with seed pods. What pleasure they have given - green shoots & leaves through the winter months, abundant scented-flowers in arange of soft bright colours through the spring and now, lots of lovely seeds for the next flowering season.

Last autumn I sowed wallflowers seeds, they are now in full leaf, so I have another batch to look forward to.

Go out & buy a packet today!!!

Summer has arrived at last

2009-05-11T18:13:00.009+01:00

It's SUMMER

* Yesterday I heard the first cuckoo of the year - a lot later than last year.

* Today I saw the first dragonfly of the year

* And the first swan family to - cob, penn & 5 cygnets.

I passed another apple orchard - lots of blossom so that's a good sign for the grower
The hops are well on their way up the poles and
The OAK is definitely out before the ASH - it confirms my feeling that we are in for a hot dry summer.

* At last our injured chicken is out in her new pen with a nice quiet companion

* The dog has her pen back

* And the horse is finally living out 24/7 0 hurrah - no more mucking out till the Autumn.

Happy May Day.

2009-05-04T12:38:00.009+01:00

Hello Blog Land- doesn't time fly.

It's now the start of May & nature is approaching one of it's best displays of the year.

Yesterday I took the small dog for a walk along country lanes- a very traditional thing to do on a sunny Bank Holiday Sunday. I passed a pretty little church that had dedicated one part of the church yard to wild flowers. Against a back drop of the old brick church with stained glass windows all around, a wisteria just coming into flower, was a small "meadow" of buttery yellow cowslips. The bench in the church yard looked very inviting in the sunshine but it was cold & the small dog impatient so I carried on with the walk. In the hedgerows I found another yellow flower (I think of April & May as the "yellow flower" time of year) - Mr PoppyM had talked of this plant a lot, but not coming from around here I wasn't quite sure I knew what the plant looked like. Well I do now, a nettle-type plant with hooded yellow flowers that produce seed pods that rattle - which gives it it's common name "rattle". Later on it the walk we came to one of the main reasons for picking that route - an apple orchard. It wasn't in full blossom but still quite a sight & scent - epecially so as it contrasted vividly with a flourescent yellow field of oil seed.

There is a little wood near here that is a delight. At the moment it is sporting a display of bluebells - they are not yet at their best - I reckon they will be in a day or two- then I shall visit it at dusk to look for that unique, etheral bluebell haze. It is a wood that for me sums up much of what is England - a small wood (less than an acre) with abundant wild flowers - snowdrops, primroses, cowslips, lesser celandine & now bluebells (the English ones). Up above is a noisy rookery. And in true idiosyncratic fashion, come summer there will be Long Horn cattle sheltering from the sun - they are quite a sight - huge animals peering over the fence with handbar horns!

Onto things traditional - once again I didn't manage to see the May Day Morris Dancers...one day...

A fine late winter's day

2009-03-18T21:58:00.014Z

Today's weather was memorable - a bit misty & cold until midday with just a promise of sun, and then the sun came out in all it's glory. Through the misty sun I walked with the large dog & looked for patches of blue violets & buttery primroses under the trees. Patches of white violets have been in flowers for about a week as they all seem to be growing on sunny banks & verges. The blue violets are less abundant perhaps because they grow in the fields & get trampled by the horses. Down by the brook that runs along the bottom of the field I spotted some coltsfoot - how apt for a field with about 25 horses & ponies in it. I heard a woodpecker in a stand of old trees that grow by one of the deep pools along the brook.

The mild bright weather & lengthening days are suiting the hens. They are laying well, which is very good as today there are no fresh eggs left to sell as we have sold the lot! Word spreads about a good egg! As it is now light quite early (around 6:50am) we are leaving the pop-hole open & the electric fencing on. The fencing has served us & the hens well for about 6 months now so I guess it's time to trust it at night to. Even so Mr PoppyM has gone to sleep tonight dreaming up schemes to keep the hen's safe.

Talking of keeping things safe, one of the 4 geese on this site has been killed. Today we found the geese's nest - 2 of the girls seem to be laying in the nest - there are 20 eggs. All 3 geese came hot legging it over to us when we were checking the nest - it is in fairly safe place & well camouflaged & it good to see them so alert. It's a sad fact that there is very little we can do to keep the eggs & any goslings safe, the geese will have to do it all themselves even in this very human environment.

Caring for young things seems to be a feature at the moment - the place is over-flowing with pots & tray of seeds in varying stages of germination & growth. When they are ready I'll be moving some to the outdoor plastic mini-greenhouse & set another lot of seeds. Mr PoppyM, aided by the hens has prepared a bed for the early potatoes. If the weather holds up tomorrow, I plan to plant out the sweet peas I sowed in the autumn - they are healthy vigorous plants now that need more space. I have just the situation for them, right outside the kitchen window. I'll be able to check that the peacocks don't get to them & more importantly, I'll be able to see & smell them for most of the day. I have grown a mix of varieties for flower colour & shape & scent & one just for it's name "Gwendoline"! I'm really looking forward to having bunches of sweet peas in the house throughout the summer.
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Amazing seeds

2009-03-14T22:11:00.018Z

I've started my seed planting in earnest. A few days ago I planted some Morning Glory, put them above the fire with a cover & like magic they have sprouted & are already substantial shoots.

Last year I squirreled away lots of seeds from the Butternut Squashes I brought. I was unsure if they would be viable so I put 2 batches on some wet kitchen towel, covered them with a plastic bag & put them somewhere warm. Hey presto, 3 days later they have lovely long shoots just calling out to be planted - how amazing is that. I have many batches & don't really need hundreds of plants so I'll grow on a few from each batch & give the remainder to the hens - no waste & all seeds appreciated.

It was a mildish sunny day today so I was pottering outside tiding-up pots & straggly over-winterers. While I was planting out the larkspur & pulling up some dead stuff I noticed some nasturtium shoots. It was down to -9C this winter for days on end, those seedlings have come from last years plants -I decided to let the seeds fall where they would. So here are some tender plants that have survived the rigors of a British winter- incredible.

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Earlier in the week I spent a happy few hours in a garden centre selecting seeds - my belated birthday present. This was followed by frothy cappuccino & cake - what a blissful few hours. And of course the pleasure continues with all the planting, the growing, the admiring, the harvesting & more collecting - perfect.

All images from Flickr

Surprising Things Come in Orange

2009-03-09T21:55:00.013Z

>
Well I never thought I'd say it - but I actually like swedes - and all because of a recipe from VegBox Give it a go. http://www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk/recipes/recipes-index.php

Swede Soup
Ingredients
Serves 6
1 swede
2 parsnips
2-3 medium carrots
1 litre vegetable stock
1 onion

Method
Peel the swede with a potato peeler. Chop it into 1/2 in cubes.
Scrub the carrots and chop.
Peel the onion and chop.
Scrub the parsnip and chop.
Bring the stock to the boil and add the vegetables. Simmer for 20 minutes until the swede chunks are soft.
Add any herbs and spices of your choice.
Liquidise (if desired) and serve with crusty bread.

For a more filling version, top each bowl with about 30g grated hard cheese (such as Cheddar) and some toasted seeds and nuts.

And I've tried for the first time - Pumpkin Pie (actually Butternut Squash) - so give it a try .

Pumpkin Pie
ingredients

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin (or butternut squash)
1 cup brown sugar (I used 1 tablespoon as there is a diabetic in the house)
2 beaten eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each of ginger, ground cloves and nutmeg
1 1/2 cups cream (I used milk)
1 8 inch pre-prepared pastry case or 250g shortcrust pastry lining an 8 inch pie tin

Method
Cook the pumpkin
Cut the pumpkin into quarters
Remove the seeds
Cut the flesh from the skin
Cut the flesh into chunks
Steam (or boil in a little water in a covered pan) for about 10 minutes until soft
Allow to cool slightly
Mash the pumpkin and mix together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, salt and spices.
Gradually stir in milk or cream.
Pour into prepared pie shell.
Bake in preheated 210 C oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 190 C and continue baking for about 40 minutes.
Serve warm or cold with cream/yoghurt

And in a bright orange book I've rediscovered a very very funny poem by Wendy Cope;

Strugnel's Haiku- here's the 1st haiku of the 3:

The cherry blossom
In my neighbour's garden - Oh!
It looks really nice.

Go get the book out of the library or buy a copy & read all her wonderful poems: "Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis" Faber & Faber ISBN 0-571-13747-4

Non-Orange things

It's wild & blowy out there - a real March Day. Finally the daffodils are opening & I've seen lambs in the field - bleating & gamboling - aah.

Spring Cleaning must be "in the air". In the last 10 days the chicken house has been scrubbed & disinfected. The horse's stable has been completely emptied of bedding & disinfected. The kitchen has been blitzed twice - due to a blockage - fixed this morning. And because it has been too cold to work out doors for long spells, today Mr PoppyM "mucked-out" the sitting room, hoovered it AND washed the kitchen floor. He has retired to bed early complaining of feeling ill - let that be a warning -too much cleaning is bad for you!

It's been a busy few days with the chickens. We now have our own egg-boxes - sourced from a great place selling all manner of things for a small-holding. I have designed & printed off labels for the boxes. Mr PoppyM has made a "Eggs for Sale" sign - which has already generated a sale. The hens are laying really well considering it is a cold March & Alfie has settled in & is being a cockerel! The aim is to sell our surplus eggs to cover the cost of feed etc - the hens are our pets who happen to generate a few pounds a week. It would be lovely to have chicks but we are not set-up for them & don't have a broody hen - but who knows what the future will bring!

Today is the 1st day of my planting season - hurrah!

Have a Laugh

2009-03-03T22:54:00.013Z

This made me laugh! It's from the excellent blog of illustrator/artist/writer Keri Smith. Go visit the site & be entertained & inspired - apparently there are 10,000 people who do!

March has ARRIVED. Following the wind & rain yesterday, all the plants & flowers look washed & refreshed. I have a long tub (actually an old horse storage box) filled with approx 100 small crocuses in 2 colours & a gnome buried in the middle. A majority of the simple white crocuses are open &, looking down on them, they look like tiny lilies.

Walking up the hill I stopped to watch as a flock of rooks & jackdaws rose together up out of a stubble field. As I watched I saw why- a very large bird of prey was flying through the flock. There are several resident large birds here, buzzards & I am 95% sure 1 or more goshawk. The rookery is in occupation now, and I see numerous birds with twigs in their bills. I guess there are eggs in the nests & eggs will soon mean chicks & chicks mean food for raptors.

The bird table is being well visited, there was a surprise visitor yesterday, a jackdaw.

Still on a bird theme, we have finally collected the Light Sussex cockerel. What a magnificent specimen he is & very nice natured. We have named him Alfred - Alfie. It's taken a few days for him to settle but he now has the measure of the place & yesterday managed to "bags" for hi self a big piece of boiled potato - those hens are no respecter of status!

I've finished reading "The Little White Horse", a book of such simplicity & innocence - a world that I don't think ever really existed & certainly does not exist now. In total contrast I read straight afterward the last in the Malorie Blackman Noughts & Crosses series "Double Cross". What a fabulous book & sadly a much truer depiction of life today for children & young adults. There are common themes i both books - the redemptive power of love & kindness, choice of good & bad, the young being a match for the older. I love children's books, they are frequently full of a vigour, creativity & clarity that sometimes gets lost in the "cleverness" that adult authors sometimes strive for.

The week the sun came out

2009-02-20T22:23:00.018Z

What a busy & wonderfully clement week

The Hens
At long last the weather has allowed us to move the hens to their new site. They have an upgraded hen-house & a big run with lots of greenery. It wont be long before they have scratched-up & eaten everything possible within the run but NO PROBLEM. We have masses of expansion room now - bliss!
Ages ago we were offered a Light Sussex cockerel - he is still available but Mr PoppyM is wavering about having him. We have now also been offered 2 Guinea Fowl from the same source. Of course I want the cockerel & the GF - I love GF. I wonder how this will all turn out - tune in & see!

Spring

The snowdrops are open & it is quite clear that they are not all the same variety.
In my troughs & pots are hosts of exciting shoot: the 3 rhubarb seedlings I grew last year have fiery red, tough-looking shoots that gave me a huge thrill when I found them quite unexpectedly: the delphiniums have frondy green shoot - I saw the roving peacocks eyeing them up; and there are shoots & shoots of bulbs I had forgotten planting - so many pleasant surprises waiting to reveal themselves.
Talking of peacocks - the local long-standing pair are still together & the tail, along with the rattling, was on display yesterday.
In the hedgerows I have seen a few early celandines open - little bursts of sunshine laying on the ground.
So many birds busy & singing & pairing-up. Spring is well & truly on it's way.

BOOKS
It was my birthday this week & I have had some great presents from friends. One I am particulary enjoying reading is a children's book that has somehow escaped me. Go out & buy it now ..... "The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge - such an innocent magical story.

2009-02-13T21:51:00.007Z

It's nearly Spring!!

A few days ago my first crocuses opened.

And today I saw my first catkins in the hedgerows.

I have been eagerly awaiting the opening of snowdrops. There is a little wood near here with a floor of snowdrops & clumps & clumps of them under a sweet chestnuts & stand of beautiful beech trees. Then I found an on-line article by Monty Don (in the Mail) that indicates we haven't had a warm enough day yet. The weather forecast for the next few days looks promising so perhaps they'll be open for my birthday!
(http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/home/gardening/article-1118062/All-things-white-beautiful-Why-climate-change-good-thing-case-snowdrop.html#

A snowy week

2009-02-08T14:50:00.039Z

What to do when you get snowed in!

Read a good book or two.
The image above is from a fantastic book "Birds Britannica" by Mark Cocker & Richard Mabey.

It is full of amazing facts & pictures -in Tudor times "the London population of kites was protected by statues for its valuable refuse-disposal services.." and "together with penguins and owls, puffins are the birds most often found in the baby's cot"-toy ones that is!!

Or ....

I've opened it at random to give a flavour -"Herefordshire Orchards" & "Strid Woods" (in Yorkshire) & in the chapter about Formby Point (a man-made landscape to stablise a dune system) "From the beginning of the twentieth century, there were around 200 acres of ground among the dunes, divided up into small "pieces", where local growers cultivated splendid crops of asparagus"!

I've just baked a brilliant chocolate cake...can't wait to try it with custard. It's a really dark colour & very moist.

CHOCOLATE BEETROOT CAKE

Serves 6 (in your dreams!!!)
Prep: 20 min Cook: 50 min

75g cocoa powder or powdered drinking chocolate
180g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
250g caster sugar (I used 200g)
250g cooked beetroot
3 large eggs
200ml corn oil
1tsp vanilla extract (I replaced this with ginger)
Icing sugar for dusting

METHOD
Heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and lightly butter a 20cm (8in) round or square cake tin.
Sift the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in the sugar, and set these dry ingredients aside. Purée the beetroot in a food processor. Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and oil, and whiz until it is smooth. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the beetroot mixture and mix it all lightly. Pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean (cover with a loose sheet of foil if it starts to brown at about 30 minutes). This cake will not rise a great deal, and the top will crack. After removing from the oven, leave it for 15 minutes before taking it out of the the pan. Cool on a wiore rack and dust with icing sugar before serving.

Jill.dupleix@thetimes.co.uk Very Simple Food by Jill Dupleix is published by Quadrille at £20. Order from Times Books First for £16, plus £2.25 p&p. 0870-160 8080

Some more serious stuff

The above cake is apparently an Australian favourite. My heart & healing thoughts go out to those who have suffered as a result of the bush fires. Especially those who have had to watch others suffer & die &, those who are being treated for burns & related injuries. Truely horrific.

An old work colleague sent me an e-mail that caused me some thought. In this age & back through the ages, in every country & amongst every race, so many families have been unwillingly seperated. The pain this causes is carried through the generations -so remember this little girl - she must be somewhere & someone must know something - Madeleine McCann http://www.findmadeleine.com/2008/

Imbole & Poetry Day

2009-02-02T23:56:00.007Z

2nd February - poetry day

Here's my own contribution:

Naughty chocolate
.

Forbidden chocolates.

Such melting, sweet delights

Are worth regrets!

And here's a great poem by Mary Oliver:

Why I Wake early

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello , you who makethe morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the window of, even, the

miserable and the crotchety -

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light -

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in happiness.

Happy Imbolc to everyone.

New Shoots & Buds

2009-01-29T22:20:00.014Z

I thought today might be "the day" when I saw the first spring buds open into flowers - not so - they just need a few rays of encouragement from the sun. Today was grey, gloomy with a biting wind - nothing soft to tempt them there. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to celebrate the start of a new growing cycle along with the snowdrops & crocuses.
In a number of my tubs are dense masses of vibrant stocks that have developed from the undistinguished plantlets I planted out in late autumn. Through great temperature changes, heavy frost, winds & limited sunlight they have continued to grow. Yesterday I noticed that they were producing buds - how amazing is that. I just hope the peacocks don't get them - I found a full grown male, complete with long tail, sitting on my window box pecking at the pansys & the following day he was perched on our rather delicate bird table stealing the peanuts!
In the human world I see "new shoots" to - we have moved our hen-house to a new site, one friend has started a course in tarot another has her own radio show. I have restarted my own writing projects with fresh vigor & direction & I have experimented with dying & decorating eggs. Even in at this gloomy part of the year amid depressing world news confidence, optimism & defiance are thriving.
So if winter is giving you the blues tune into Boundary sound (Saturday 31st 10am-noon UK time) & listen to "Girls on Top". Watch "Lark Rise to Candleford" on the TV Sunday, bake a cake, go out looking for buds & flowers, then get warm & comfortable & read a good book!
.http://www.boundarysound.co.uk/shows/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/larkrise/
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/saturday-carrot-cake,874,RC.html
http://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/lda/MiracleAtSpeedy.aspx

Poetry Day 2nd Feb

2009-01-21T17:51:00.000Z

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Invitation to The Fourth Annual Brigid in the Blogosphere Poetry Slam

Feel free to copy the following to your blog and spread the word. Let poetry bless the blogosphere once again!

WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading

WHEN: Anytime February 2, 2009

WHERE: Your blog

WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day

HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd.

RSVP: If you plan to publish, feel free to leave a comment and link on this post. Last year when the call went out there was more poetry in cyberspace than I could keep track of. So, link to whoever you hear about this from and a mighty web of poetry will be spun. Feel free to pass this invitation on to any and all bloggers.Thank you, Reya, for beginning what is now an annual event.
Posted by d. oak at 8:02 P

The Seed Packet

2009-01-18T19:32:00.031Z

I recently went to the local garden centre & found myself in the seed section. There was quite a cluster of people around the beautifully presented seed packets. All present had a serious air of deliberate selection and anticipation. There was no frivolity, nothing remotely light & fluffy about this cluster of gardeners, more of an earthy, deep focus, like growing roots.
.
I bought 4 packets of seeds that instructed the gardener to plant them indoors in February. It's only a few weeks away but I am so impatient, impatient for the smell of damp soil hugging the dry sleeping seeds. Impatient to make those anxious, excited visits, many times a day to check the precious pots. Eager to feel the anticipation of those first probing shoots, then the unfurling soft leaves. To have the simple pleasure of reading & re-reading the the seed packets & envisaging the fully grown plants in glorious leaf & flower. With all this comes some anxiety, has all been done as instructed by the packet, and what should be done to avert mishaps or illness to the courageous protoplant on it's phenomenal journey from unremarkable seed to voluptuous bloom.
.
Those unremarkable seeds are magical things sustaining gardeners through the cold winter chill that lies ahead after all the glitter of the mid-winter festivities have passed & been put away in boxes - their seed packets - ready to sprout & bloom next December.
.
I wonder, are we - the planters -helping the seeds grow the way they grow, because we so strongly hold their final images in our heads. What a responsibility. Are we seed growers the 21st century's elementals - the fairies & gnomes so loved of fairy tales & myths. What happens when the wrong seeds are put in the wrong packet? Nature must have a back-up plan, after all a majority of seeds grow quite happily without an anxious garden present.

Not long now til February. To curb my impatience I'll plant up a winter hanging basket & keep checking my outdoor bulbs.

Impressions Around New Years Day

2009-01-01T22:15:00.016Z

.
* Walking the dog on New Year's Eve up to the towering redwood on the hill. Looking up at it's sparse branches through the swirling mist.

* Making Thank You cards whilst watching Father Ted & drinking the New Year in with a glass of WhiskyMac (a present).

* All day a heavy frost covering everything with a white rime. Makes the world look like a Christmas card. Still air, grey skies a muted, muffled day.

* The big dog infected by the sparkling air running round & round throwing pieces of frozen horse poo in the air!

* Problems with the gas supply (run out) - sitting under duvets with 2 pairs of trouser, two jumpers and a body warmer. Feet cold.

* Catching all 25 hens and dusting them with mite powder.

* Watching the hens taking a dust bath in their temporary home. Hearing their purr calls.

* Watching a flock of twittering long-tailed tits at the bird table. The robin chasing off all comers.

* Problems with gas (see above) so no proper cooking facilities. Having tinned soup, onion bajis & Christmas pudding for tea.

* Waking up on the 2nd January to SNOW

* Walking the horse out through the snow & noticing a hoof print in a hoof print! Great rejoicing - as "tracking-up" combined with high spirits yesterday equals a comfortable & sound horse. Hurrah maybe last years list of injuries is ALL OVER.

* Taking the dogs for a walk in the crisp sunshine to check out the hens' new home.

* Reading a seriously up-lifting story about a rescued horse - he made it & is living a happy, healthy & very useful life. Thank goodness for people who care & dont just "walk/drive by".

* Great rejoicing - our GAS delivery is coming tomorrow. It's going to be -5C tonight - getting up could be an event to be delayed for as long as possible!!

Happy New Year

ANSWERS TO QUIZZ NOW ADDED TO THE POST

Things to look forward to in January

2008-12-29T20:21:00.009Z

The Longest Night has passed,

Santa has been & gone,

All seasonal sparkles are put away

So what's left to bring cheer,

In the gloomy months ahead?

Flowers of course!!!

So if you have not planted any - go out & buy a pot of Spring bulbs or Orchids or any lovely flowering plant to take your thoughts to easier days ahead.

(Pictures from Kew Gardens - one of my "favourite places")

2008-12-27T15:14:00.008Z

A seasonal something!

A Christmas Quiz
Clue: Chilean Christmas Tree? (3 words)

* The three wise men (MAGI)
* A brand of lift/elevator & the 1st name of a famous rhythm & blues singer (OTIS)
* The 1st name of an actress that had a child named “Sunday Rose” in July 2008 (NICOLE KIDMAN)
* A fruit brandy made from the double distillation of morellos (KIRSCH)
* Austin Healey’s kiwi dance partner (first name) (ERIN BOAG)
* A fermented dairy product (YOGHURT)
………
>>>>> (New word)

* The bull fighting dance (PASA DOBLE)
* An item made famous by a “Singing in the Rain” routine & by Rhianna singing “you can stand under my ………” (UMBRELLA)
* An American Heavy Rock Band noted for their beards & sunglasses & “Gimme All Your Lovin”
(ZZ TOP)
* Biblical character (a fisherman) & springy cartoon character (ZEBEDEE)
* The title of Sir Cliff’s first chart-topper (LIVING DOLL)
* The birthplace of D H Lawrence (EASTWOOD)
……..
>>>>> (new word)

* An excitable Strictly Come Dancing judge (surname) (BRUNO TONIOLI)
* A type of deer with a shiny nose & balletic name (REINBEER)
* An old-fashioned & now rude term to use for the Inuit peoples of Canada & Greenland (ESKIMO)
* The first name of the man who sang “Eye-to-Eye (Contact)” & “H.A.P.P.Y. Radio” - he has a seasonal surname! (EDWIN STARR)

Another clue if you are struggling!
The national tree of Chile - an evergreen pine!

MONKEY PUZZLE TREE

seasons greetings

Birds and Books

2008-12-11T22:18:00.024Z

Birds are featuring large in my world at the moment.

The hens are causing us a lot of concern. After extensive reading, experimenting, observing & asking a local egg producer we have come to the conclusion that the hens are BORED. Their supply of grass has run out and at the moment we are not in a position to move the run. So I guess we are going to have to be creative- boxes of soil with stuff buried in it, hanging up bunches of greenery, logs to sit on etc etc - so much for hens being low maintenance!

So far I haven't come upon a chapter in a hen book entitled "Boredom". I guess it is still a relatively new concept in the population at large that poultry warrant attention to their mental health. Yet again it is the caring "amateur" & welfare charities that are bringing about the positive changes to animal welfare - not the "professional" egg & meat producers. Long live the great British (& other nationality) amateur!

We have a simple bird table & feeders, attached to our run of bean poles. This year the local bird population has "found us". It is such a "simple pleasure" to watch the comings & goings of the little visitors. Supplying peanuts (whole & in a feeder), a "wild bird mixture" & bits of bread has so far attracted blue, great, coal, willow/marsh & long-tailed tits, a blackbirds, a robin & a nuthatch.

We are also the nominated geese-feeders on the park & this regular feeding pattern attracts more than just geese - there are ducks, moorhens, peacocks, crows, magpies & jackdaws & I bet there are other quieter birds watching & waiting for all the fuss to die down. I'd love to see the local ravens come down to eat!

Not far away is a rookery. Once the youngsters left the nest this summer the rookery became empty. In the last month or so huge numbers of rooks have been congregating at the rookery then flying off to roost somewhere nearby. As coincidence would have it, a few nights ago I picked up a book & started reading a chapter at random only to discover that the book is all about rooks & jackdaws. It's a beautifully written book so if you are still searching for a Christmas present for a bird-lover then this is worth a consideration - "Crow Country" by Mark Crocker (ISBN 978 0 224 07601). I borrowed my copy from the local mobile library - so here's plug for them - "USE THEM OR LOOSE THEM".

Also from the library, I have borrowed, read & can recommend the latest in the Maise Dobbs series "An Incomplete Revenge" by Jacqueline Winspear. So get down to your local library & see what you can find & don't forget that the staff are usually only too happy to help! On that note, it's time for me to log onto the library catalogue & order some books ready to dive- into over the Christmas break.

2008-11-27T21:18:00.023Z

Great Ideas in Action

Making my world a more harmonious place.

Carpinus betulus - hornbeam

I found this fantastic picture at the following site - http://apps.kew.org/trees/?page_id=1. It's from the "people's arboretum" - what a fantastic idea. It's a great web site to - well worth a tour around.

It reminded me of how much I have always loved Kew Gardens. When I first visited this magnificent place it cost 1p to get in! Years later I lived in London & visited it frequently - still very cheap- it was in the days before the sparkly new visitors centre. What a gem.

Wish I could get to the Eden Project..one day

What a pretty seasonal picture!

Eden has submitted plans for a wind turbine and has some very accessible information on this subject.http://www.edenproject.com/whats-at-eden/index.php

Come that great day when we have our own piece of land a wind turbine will proudly feature as one of our energy sources. We could have done with one this week as for two days in a row we were left with no electricity or a severely restricted supply. The reason why - the supply to this site is being exceeded & we are at the end of the chain so when there is too much use we don't get any - a dramatic demonstration of growing energy use & the need to be self-sufficient!

Onto another great development - BBCI - it may well have saved my marriage- OK that's a bit bold! Poor Mr PoppyM missed his much anticipated viewing of the Survivors (see above!) so I set-to exploring BBCi & found it there. So for the 1st time in his life Mr PoppyM watched a programme on a computer screen with headphone - he was really impressed. And of course as a spin-off from this I know that I can watch Strictly Come Dancing Results on Monday avoiding any clashed & squabbles about Sunday viewing - marvellous!

A week of wise words

2008-11-09T22:57:00.022Z

Photo - from the "War Horse" production of the book by the same name by the brilliant Michael Morpurgo. A book I have been unable to bring myself to read as I have a horse & one of my biggest fears for her, has been that she would be requisitioned for war service. Yes I know it's totally irrational but that doesn't make it any the less real - perhaps it happened to me in an "earlier life".

"Living in Devon, listening to Mozart, and working with children have provided most of the stimulae Michael needs to discover and write his stories. He spends about half his life mucking out sheds with the children, feeding sheep or milking cows; the other half he spends dreaming up and writing stories. "For me, the greater part of writing is daydreaming, dreaming the dream of my story until it hatches out - the writing down of it I always find hard. But I love finishing it, then holding the book in my hand and sharing my dream with my readers."http://www.michaelmorpurgo.org/

Still on the theme of the bravery of people & animals in war, I have now read all but the latest Maise Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. Lessons at school put me off history so regrettably I have great gaps in my knowledge - gaps I have discovered that I can fill through reading a certain type of fiction! This series of books has opened my eyes to some of the realities of the 1st world war whilst seemly engaging my brain in some complex investigative plots. Perhaps because of these books, I watched the Remembrance Day service with even greater sadness than usual. At the service was a 112 year old veteran who had fought in both wars - the angels must have been with him as I wonder what the odds were for his survival.

"As I grew up my curiosity about the "war to end all wars" deepened, so that I always seemed to be reading something about the war. However, my interest was not in the politics of the time so much as rooted in the experiences of ordinary men and women, boys and girls, not only on the battlefield, but on the home front. And though I never set out to write a "war" novel, it came as no surprise that this part of history formed the backdrop of Maisie Dobbs and other books in the series". http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/

Now onto the jolly fun stuff!

"My work is the result of a need to follow my creative spirit, to develop it and use it, fearlessly at times, to bring a sense of energy, depth and joy to my life and to those around me. In doing so I am constantly finding the same need in others. That is why I do what I do, and love what I do. I invite you to join me in this great adventure called life...squeeze the juice out of it!" http://www.violettesfolkart.com/aboutme.html

http://www.sarkjournal.com/2008/09/index.html

I've included the above two sites to celebrate being asked by a small local magazine for a poem to include in their January edition. I had one published there last year - it's brilliant to be asked for another. OK it's not a Faber & Faber publication - but people I don't know are going to read my poems - it's back to that need to be heard!

Change & Movement

2008-11-04T20:28:00.030Z

What a week that was:

A week of sudden hard frosts and an earthquake - I bet this why the hens are currently laying only the occasional egg.
(Latest Headlines Earthquake is centred on Bromyard 3:54pm Tuesday 28th October 2008 TREMORS were felt from Malvern to Hereford when a minor earthquake struck the outskirts of Bromyard on Sunday evening. West Mercia Police received up to 20 calls from concerned members of the public as the quake, measuring 3.6 on the Richter Scale, rattled crockery and shook windows. )

Making mashed potatoes for the hen's evening feed. What a curious sight, a row of perching hens with mashed potatoes on their beaks! (Our current hen bible is "The Right Way to Keep Chickens" by Virginia Shirt, ISBN 978-0-7160-3018-8)

Walking out of the front door to see rows of frost-blackened, collapsed plants - the real start of winter. Time to get the remaining bulbs in for a bold display in the darkest days of the year.

Carving a pumpkin - I used a cat template this year & had a bit of slip with the knife. Very resourcefully (well I thought so) I fixed the tail back on with sewing pins -an invisible fix - marvellous! I'll take that as a "good omen" for the next phase of the year - easy fixes for all life's problems- it should be a great Christmas.

My usually very sensible mare has been behaving like a creature possessed. On a day that was freezing (literally), sleeting & blowing a gale - would she come in off the hill side into a nice comfortable stable, would she stand still & have a rug put on - of course not! Bet the earthquake has had something to do with this.

Visiting a "promising" piece of land for sale to find it's access blocked by 2 vans (one broken down). There were two young mares grazing on the land - they weren't so much grazing as trying to play with us - not a good experience on a hill side. All that was missing was a snarling dog (well there was one but locked up) & a man pointing a gun at us. We wont be making a bid.

I received a very touching letter from a friend describing a surprising reunion with a long lost brother. Letter's like that confirm my belief that something good always comes after something bad. I wish that reunited family every happiness for the future. It's easier to weather life's buffets when you have support.

I surprised myself at how cross I became at a sign we passed on the road - "Stop the XXXX Wind farm". I haven't lived near a wind farm but I have been up close to a generating windmill & been through a huge wind farm in the States. What made me cross was the comparison between the human & environmental cost of producing wind energy with "traditional" sources eg coal & nuclear: I have worked at a nuclear power plant & spent over 11 years living & working in mining communities. How can you compare the cost of human illness & death that coal/oil/gas extraction in this country & in other countries where life (human & otherwise) is cheaper with the minimal impact of a wind farm. As for nuclear power -don't get me started on that one. As a "first world" society we have so far to go it's disheartening. Here's a link to a summary of the wind farm arguments. http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4610000/newsid_4614700/4614743.stm

On a happy note - my home made tomato chutney tastes great & that's after only a few weeks "maturing".http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/greentomatochutney_8201.shtml

At long last a "spring in the step" has returned to my large dog & her fur is as soft & glossy as it was before she was spayed. She is currently eating a dog food formulated by Debbie Connelly, a Dog Behaviourist so if your dog is not as perky as they should be or perhaps is too excitable or eats too fast why not give Debbie's food a go: the price includes delivery. ( http://www.intelligentfeeding.com/ )

So who is going to be the next leader of America? What will it really mean for us in the UK?

Woodlands & weather (Saturday 25th October)

2008-10-21T22:40:00.038+01:00

This week has been dominated by woodlands & weather.

On a gloriously autumnal Wednesday I sat on one of my favourite trees, an alder with a curved branch that slightly overhangs a strongly flowing brook, and listened to the water move & watched leaves falling. I sat there and thought about the flowing water, things fall in it and get carried along for a way, then their journey stops, but the water flows on. It flows on, over things, under them, round and through things, fast & slow, smooth, turbulent. Water flows on as a wide mass, a narrow trickle, as creeping beads, then a stationary, independent droplet that vanishes. Similar in many respects to emotions, thoughts & ideas. Sometimes ideas feel sparklingly clear then become sullied by eddies or intrusions, from this they can recover, drop the load, and return to a singing perfection or of course, become turgid & slow with the weight of additional material. I doubt these are original thoughts to the world, but they are new to me & I have enjoyed them & feel they may be useful.

On the same walk with the large dog, I stopped to look into the sky, it was overcast but bright & breezy. For most of the walk I had been hearing the shriek of buzzards & the deep throated call of ravens & wanted to see if I could spot them. I stopped by a small stand of trees & a few moments later was treated to a buzzard swooping by only a few dozen metres away - I could clearly see it creamy underside. A few minutes later I saw a bird wheeling high in the sky, just hanging there without wing flapping. It is a familiar sight around here but for me, it's familiarity does not diminish it's beauty & impact. There it is suspended in nothingness, but that cannot be, so here is a bird demonstrating to the land-bound, the presence of an invisible force as potent as the invisible & incompletely understood charge that runs through our power lines. A power we simply call wind that can make us smile at a bobbing kite, cause wonder at a plane & swan taking-off, & rant & rail when it knocks out a phone line!

My Significant Other & I went off to look at a woodland- part of our on-going search to buy a piece of land. The estate agent's blurb included enticing words such as "wonderful avenue", "beautiful cover of bluebells" - hard to resist a look on a beautiful sunny day. Almost predictably is was a disappointment - an oak plantation with no undergrowth on a steep hill side with several dwellings close by! So the search goes on & I try to sustain my flagging optimism by reading books such as the ones below:
I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the following book on the mobile library van “Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees” by Roger Deakin . Woodlands.co (a site that sells woodlands) have a really interesting blog site full of useful woodland-related articles including a review of this book: http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/. On their site I've also spotted this one- Badgers, Beeches and Blisters - Getting started in your own wood . It was written by Professor Julian Evans and sponsored by Woodlands.co.uk. & is available as a free download.

If it does not prove possible to buy a small reasonable woodland at a small reasonable price then I guess we'll have to "grow our own"! To this end, last year I started gathering seeds & seedlings of native & a few ornamental trees. A healthy number have survived & thrived. This year I have started gathering earlier & have high hopes of a thicket at the least, from my acorns, beech nuts, crab apples and sweet & horse chestnuts: mice & squirrels keep out!

Evolution

2008-10-13T23:30:00.039+01:00

The Thursday Thank You has evolved......

In tune with the changing season I feel that it is time for the Thursday Thank You to became My World This Week.

The need for change & the new name came as I was was walking the small dog. The banner sounds grand as if it belongs to a celebrity reporter or a newspaper editorial. But then I reasoned that most BLOGS are at least a bit self indulgent. And all BLOGS are essentially a means to meeting that most human need to communicate with and be heard by others.

Some memorable experiences this beautiful autumn week:

Sunday - the late-evening dog walk - a cool crisp night - hearing ripe apples fall from the trees.(Laughter).

Monday - late afternoon - seeing an apricot glow over a newly plowed field. Sitting under a mature beech tree & listening to the wind rustle the widely spread canopy. Looking up & seeing a fleeting view of the shining full moon before it disappeared behind the clouds. (Wonderment).

Tuesday - mid morning - sitting on a fallen willow tree & looking at the collection of coloured leaves floating on a deep fool. A loud "plop" but no ripples - the dog looked & so did I- what caused that? A falling twig, a surfacing fish, the elusive otter or something else entirely. (Puzzlement).

Wednesday- afternoon - walking the small dog in the breeze with dry leaves filling the air, falling like rustling rain. Kicking aside great leathery poplar leaves: reminding myself to bring a bag to collect up the rich coppery bronze beech leaves to cover my winter bulbs. (Participation).

Thursday - mid morning - sitting on a roman battelement high on a hillside watching & hearing two squabbling ravens & a buzzard in the cool clear blue sky. (Peace).

Friday - mid morning -walking quietly through a dozing herd of horses & ponies - warming up in the bright sun after a cold night. (Stillness).

There has been a lot of beauty & abundance in this week. I have continued to gather windfalls for the horses, hens & for food. There are now jars of apple & rose hip jelly & pear jam in the cupboards, apples & blackberries in the freezer & cooking, as I write, is a vat of green tomato chutney. This is the first year I have been in a position to make the most of hedgerow, orchard, garden fruits so I am making the most of it- who knows what next year may bring.

In amongst all the activity I have been trying to fit all this happiness with the sadness in the world. Difficulties both close to home, affecting people I know & further afield, affecting people I have no personal knowledge of but feel linked to nether the less. I have been reading a book that a few years ago I would have scoffed at - one of life's lesson - it is never wise to totally dismiss any source of information! I found this thought comforting..

"If you remove tears of sorrow from one mourner; if you heal one sick person who has heard the dread verdict that he or she cannot be cured; if you have enabled one soul to find itself; if you have given direction to someone who believed he or she was in a morass or a maze from which there was no escape, then whole of your earthly life will have been worth while" Silver Birch

From the sublime to the the mundane - back to the washing-up, the cooking & the cleaning - so much to do.

Have a good week.

poppym

Recipes:

www.cottagesmallholder.com
www.overthegardengate.net
www.allotment.org.uk
www.selfsufficientish.com

Interesting stuff

www.williambloom.com
www.myss.com
www.tinasdivadiary.blogspot.com
www.anna-world.blogspot.com
newsletter@forbetterlife.org
www.silverbirchpublishing.co.uk
www.actsofkindness.org

Autumn Contemplations

2008-10-09T21:18:00.044+01:00

Good Evening on what has been a truely beautiful Autumn day . Autumn has as usual moved me into a contemplative mood.

Spiders - 4 moments
1. I took the small dog for a walk this morning, one thick with mist. We walked along a footpath between fields, every section of fence post was festooned with glittering spiders webs: complete webs, fragments of webs, single strands. I could have counted them but on this occassion I felt it would have diminshed the organic abundance of the experience. That the invisible has been made visible - briefly.
2. I was collecting ripe seed pods from my Morning Glory screen & wondering who would like to have/be able to use some of these. I reached out to pluck a brown pod & withdrew my hand at the last moment when I realized it was a fat-bodied, short legged spider.
3. My significant other was rumaging amongst some old farm hardware & called me over to look at something. "There" he said, "don't touch it, watch out, it's a hole-in-the-wall spider, they bite". It was on the wall by now, disturbed from it's home, a dark brown, exotic looking spider unlike anything I have previously seen in this country. I looked it up on the internet when I got home - a bet it's a False Black Widow Spider & they do bite http://www.britishspiders.org.uk/
4. A friend directed me a lovely site - give it a go http://www.poweranimal.com/. I got a spider.

Ripples
I stood and watched a snatch of wind make a leaf quiver - just like an idea, an inspirational thought, an idea. One that hovers & makes a tiny ripple in everyday awareness, so small a movement that it may be missed by a preoccupied or trammeled mind. Fortunately today I had a quietish mind that welcomed the poetic, the inspirational the new.

Emmerdale
My Significant other is an Emmerdale fan so we watch it every weekday evening. I have been following the battered wife story-line & wondered where it would fit on the realism-TV gloss continuum. It appears that they are going for a dose of realism. Unlike Jo, many women do not find close friends & family who believe them: they chose to side with the man -who lies to cover his tracks, not prepared to question his story or character. Jo is an intelligent, accomplished woman with low self confidence. She is able to realise that by beating her & mentally & emotionally degrading her, her husband is pushing her along the road of brutalisation & thus acceptance of the way things are (the way he wants things to be). It will be interesting to see how the story continues to unfolds. I applaud the writers & producers who have chosen to deal with an unglamourous but wide-spread issue.

So my Thursday Thank You this week is to a quivering leaf that has enabled me to understand that, the time, when I chose to believe an unpalatable truth & take action, was a gift to that person. To the spiders who have reminded me that there are hidden things revealed at the special moments. To the good things TV soaps can chose to do, and actually do..

An Autumn Patchwork

2008-10-02T14:40:00.014+01:00

Hello again on a beautiful autumn day - blustery, showery & sunny often all at once

Autumn is perhaps, just by a sliver, my favourite season. This week has been really autumnal & busy, so I thought today I would put together a patchwork of seasonal images:

A young raven sat on top of a spindly, redwood on a hilltop, cawing away as I gathered windfall pears in the sunshine.
The first real "autumn blow" sending golden leaves & fruit tumbling.
A butterfly feeding on a windfall pear in the sunshine: a Comma butterfly I think.
Buzzards gliding high in the clear blue sky.
Collecting a pound of rose hips for rose hip & apple jelly.
Discovering a crop of enormous blackberries whilst walking the dog around a stubble field.
A butterfly eating a ripe blackberry: another Comma I think.
Cutting a posy of pink roses from our wedding roses in time for our anniversary.
Pulling up exhausted & dead annuals - making room for spring bulbs.
Leaving the Autumn Festival tent at a show, exhausted & bewildered: the giant vegetables were magnificent, weird & grotesque.
Having an impromptu picnic under a huge umbrella watching the weather change from showers, t0 gusts to sunshine & back again.
Collecting the last flowers of dandelions, clover, yarrow & flea bane for the hens.
Turning on the central heating.

So my THANK YOU this week are for having a warm dry home (however imperfect), for being able to gather abundant hedgerow/orchard fruit and for the colour & energy provided by the late autumn flowers still growing in my tubs.

Birds, Bees & Bananas

2008-09-25T20:07:00.020+01:00

Some interesting thoughts for the week......

Birds

Couple backed over bird feeding

pa.press.net

A couple who were warned by council bosses to stop feeding birds in their own back garden have won the backing of wildlife charity the RSPB.
Mick and June Dunny, from Belford, Northumberland, were told to stop leaving food on a bird table for birds by Berwick-upon-Tweed Council.
But the RSPB said it was vital that birds were given a helping hand - even in the middle of summer - and said responsible feeding was to be encouraged.
The council acted after a neighbour complained that the Dunny's nature-loving ways were attracting birds, and therefore mess to their pretty rural village.
An official wrote: "Birds cause some considerable problem in forms of noise and dirt. Not only do their droppings damage and contaminate property, the birds also carry various diseases such as salmonella."
The warning letter said nesting birds can block chimneys and gutters, adding: "Food put out for the birds will also attract rats and vermin. If we establish that a nuisance or pest problem does exist, we may have to reconsider further action."
Mr Dunny told the North East-based Sunday Sun newspaper: "Let them put me in jail... It's just crazy. What do they mean by noise? I'd hardly describe the dawn chorus as noise."
An RSPB spokeswoman said: "We would encourage people to feed their garden birds throughout the year. This is an important time when a lot of adolescent birds are putting down fat to see them through the winter, and they need to feed up."
She said responsible feeders made sure their tables were regularly cleaned and no food was allowed to spill onto the ground.
"Over half of adults in the UK feed birds in their garden," she said. "Providing birds with supplementary food brings them closer so that we can marvel at their exciting behaviour and wonderful colours."

Bees

http://www.britishbee.org.uk/bees4kids/index.php

Throughout the ages, bees have been used as weapons. Beehives were dropped or thrown at opposing soldiers. As recently as 1915 in Africa, the German army used bees to delay the advance of British troops.

For centuries, bees have been used to guard valuables. In India bandits used the large Asian honeybee Apis Dorsata to guard loot near mountain caves.

Bees are pollinators vital to our food chain. One third of the food we eat would not be available but for bees.

Bananas

pa.press.net
Sunday, 07 September 2008

Deadly spider found in fruit bunch

A cashier felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end after discovering a deadly South American banana spider nestling in a bunch of bananas.
The highly-venomous arachnid was spotted by Kate Whitmore, 25, as she unpacked a box of fruit to put on display at the Co-Op store in Wayfield Road, Chatham, Kent.
The palm-sized eight-legged creature, otherwise known as Phoneutria nigriventer, ranks alongside the black widow and funnel-web as one of the most dangerous spiders.
Recalling the close encounter during her Monday night shift, Ms Whitmore said: "I lifted the lid off the box, ripped the bag open and in the very first bunch I noticed something.
"I picked the bunch up, held it close to my face and thought, 'What is that?' It wasn't a very nice spider."
After alerting her supervisor, the shop was promptly closed while the RSPCA was called out. They were advised to keep the spider contained and not approach it until the animal collection officer arrived.
Mother-of-two Ms Whitmore said: "He lifted the separate bunch off with leather gloves and put it in a box which had a separate container. He asked to borrow a pen and as he nudged it to try to move it into the container, the spider reared up, hissing and put its fangs out.
"It made us all jump."
RSPCA officer Anthony Pulfer said: "It was very aggressive and trying to go for me when I was putting it in the box. It was really jumping around and trying to attack me."
Ms Whitmore added: "We had customers coming in saying, 'We'll kill it for you, it's only a spider'. We thought, 'If you knew exactly what it was like you wouldn't'."

This week's Thursday Thank You goes to MSN for directing me to these fascinating facts & news items. The couple who had problems with bird feeding are not alone, I seem to be surrounded by people who feel birds have no right to exist along side people. All summer I have watched bees visit our trees, vegetables & flowers & have benefited directly from their activities.Visit the bee site & see what can be done to benefit threatened bees. I thought the "spider in the bananas" story was an Urban Myth - it would appear not!

2008-09-18T15:33:00.013+01:00

Autumn, Fruits & Words

Hello on this beautiful Autumn Thursday (18th September)

This morning was calm & misty with a sharpness that says winter is well on it's way. For me it was the first real day of autumn & to celebrate I took the little dog for a walk & watched the sun break through the mist. We collected rosehips, hawthorn berries & elderberries from the hedgerows for the hens. The trees & bushes are profusely covered in fruits, does that mean we are in for a severe winter - what I believe is referred to as a "blackberry winter"?

All week I have been gathering fruits for the pets and, for me & the significant other. Whilst the gathering of food for the bleak months ahead is an ancient ritual the searching of the Internet for recipes & storage advice is not! It feels to me like an excellent juxtaposition (what a fabulous word) of the oldest & newest of human technologies. It also set me reflecting on serendipity (another wonderful word) - lucky chance. Many years ago whilst I was at university I went out with a chap who was at Cambridge doing research on how to get the world's computers to talk to each other - yes - that now indispensable Internet. He went off to Silicon Valley & I expect he is now earning a 6 figure salary or has dropped-out & is trekking in the Himalayas searching for yetis!

In my fruit gathering I have discovered that :
* one flimsy supermarket plastic bag is totally inadequate for collecting blackberries - the thorns just rip holes in it - smugly returning the berries to the ground!
* the green husks of walnuts really do stain your hands brown & it doesn't come off easily.
* the same husks can be used for dying things - I now have a soft-brown cloth bag (much better for fruit gathering).
* that chickens love shiny berries & run round excitedly with them in their beaks.
* too much fruit gathering gives you sore feet, sore hands & a bad back,
* but the aforementioned complaints are ameliorated (a lovely soothing word) by eating puddings made with them, accompanied by lots of custard: with the side-effect of a warm lingering virtuous feeling!

On leaving the army my significant other took a course in furniture making -little did he think that those skills would be used to build a "Poultry Palace" or "Cluckingham Palace" as someone has labelled it. All the wood is reclaimed, the floor was bought at an auction for few pounds, the nails & roofing materials are new but bought as great prices. Even so - I estimate that labour costs alone would price the Palace at £1,200!! That doesn't include the flasks of coffee & moral support that a perfectionist, master craftsman requires!

So my Thank You's this week are to the wonderful words in the English language (my favourite word is lozenge- what's yours?), the abundance of the hedgerows & a husband who loves his hens so much he builds them a Palace.

2008-09-05T21:51:00.027+01:00

Pears, Poultry and Pets

Hello again on an overcast September Thursday (11th September)

Pears - Today I was gathering windfall apples for my horse when I was delighted to discover pears. They were small conical pears with a slight blush, very beautiful little fruits. I have walked passed that pear tree for a year now & had thought that it was an apple tree like the others in the little orchard. When I really looked at the tree it was clearly a pear - I've taken it as a little reminder about making assumption & jumping to conclusions!

Poultry -For ages we have wanted hens for eggs & are at last in a position to have some. After extensive research we decided to start out with about 10 rescue hens & some Light Sussex. At the weekend we bought 30 hens of different breeds - so much for sticking to a plan! Once my impulsive husband saw the hens on offer he said yes to them all! So we are now the proud owners of 5 Calder Rangers (brown), 5 Black Rock, 9 Bluebelles (smokey grey) & 11 Light Sussex (mainly white). And the final touch - we have been offered free a Light Sussex cockerel - fate! The hen house (aka Poultry Palace) is not quite complete so the horse has been evicted & the girls are squatting in there for a few more days. More on hens in another post....

Pets (& Domestic Animals) - I believe that there are people in the world who don't have them, don't want them & cant see the point of them! I can remember a time in my young adult years when I didn't have any & those were definitely days with less colour, action & responsibility. It's very hard to explain to non-pet wanters the expansion, even a tiny, low maintenance pet can bring to a life.

There's the research into what makes them happy & comfortable & then finding the suppliers that can provide their material needs: whether is be the familiar supermarket, locating a specialist store or talking a local greengrocer into giving you unwanted veggies!

Then there is the activation & accessing of latent wells of care, love & commitment - these often "gushing" when the pet is not well or has presented the owner with a challenge: eating through the phone cable, trashing a door, standing on a foot, knocking over the spouse, biting and so forth!

And for those pets that require regular exercise, there are safe routes to find, leadership & socializing processes to get to grips with & fitness development - on both sides!

Then there is the sadness & grief we feel on discovering those pets who don't have caring owners, who suffer abuse & neglect & outright violence & malice. This part of pet ownership can change people's lives for good & bad. Think of all those animal shelters, welfare workers & veterinary staff, they all involve individuals who have been profoundly moved to take action to directly alleviate the suffer & misfortune of unfortunate & sick animals.

And then there are those who are prompted to question the wider relationship between pets & animals & people & who lead us all to insights about compassion, about relationships & about what it is to be human.

So this is a Thank You to those countless animals who have directly enhanced individual people's lives. It is a Thank You to all those animals who by living, dying, suffering & interacting with people have helped the evolution of compassion in society at large - everyone & everything has benefited from that.

Some interesting Links
http://www.cesarmillaninc.com
http://www.safepets.co.uk/index.html
http://www.trallwmfarm.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.dog-training.com/springer.htm
http://www.animalaid.org.uk
http://www.janfennellthedoglistener.com
http://www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk
www.montyroberts.com

2008-08-30T15:35:00.014+01:00

Fungi, Frills & Fun

Hello again on this wet & windy Autumn Thursday (4th Sept)

Puffballs
For the last few week I have been gathering giant puffballs - to quote "Mushrooms - River Cottage Handbook (no 1)" by John Wright :
"If there is one edible fungus that cannot possibly be mixed up with anything inedible, it just has to be the wonderful Giant Puffball."
I found them on an old muck heap amongst the nettles & burdock - softly glowing. Now I'm not one for eating mushrooms of any sort - they just don't agree with me- but I am reliably told but my "significant other" that a puffball omlette is a culinary delight. So if it's "safe & legal" get out there & try one -even better share one with friends!

Bread Making (more fungi)
After years of complaining to those around me that commercial bread was horrible I went out & brought a bread-maker. With a bit of experimentation I have found it possible to produce - REAL BREAD. Not only has this stopped me moaning I have discovered how pleasurable it can be. I know all the books go on about how satisfying it is but it really is. Call it alchemy or science - it is fascinating mixing the wet & dry ingredients, adding the yeast (more fungus), letting the mixture sit & voile la - a frothy mass. I recently tried a new recipe that required a very wet mixture, I let it over rise & it became a creeping mass that nearly fell off the work surface! Then from this bubbly mass comes bread - with that wonderful aroma matched by taste, especially when spread with butter!!!

Gladioli (the frill)
Gladioli- no wonder the word "glad" is in there - they always make me smile: yes I know it's derived from word for a the roman sword. I have some at home at the moment, great spears of outrageous ruffled pink. They rise from the slim vase like an effervescent fountain or a placket of frills on a summer blouse! Absolutely no restraint - a most un-English flower- hurrah.

Fun on the TV
Still on a theme of fun, this week I watched an old episode of the "Good Life", I'd forgotten how good that series was. Of course the best part was given to Margo Leadbetter perfectly played by Penelope Keith. Later on in the week I managed to catch "Bride & Prejudice" - a Bollywood version of "pride & Prejudice" The music is infectious, the costumes jewel-like, the tone up-beat & the storyline comfortably close to the original. Get a pizza, frothy coffee & some friends round & get dancing to this movie!

So this week it's a "Thursday Thank You" to the wonders of nature (& science) and to the script writers/film makers/actors who have made me laugh.

Happy quotes, plants & dogs

2008-08-17T13:06:00.025+01:00

Hi again on this windy, gloomy end of August day

Foundation For a Better Life.
I was directed to this site by a friend - what a great site. There is so much gloom in the news & so many people far & near in need, that is sometimes becomes difficult to remain positive & thankful. Get a quote sent your inbox each day & be uplifted!

Seeds
Imagine it is late winter & you have just put some great big seeds in pots, then you have put them to one side (in the greenhouse, on the window sill, in the spare room etc) and waited. Soon you excitedly see lovely shoots emerging & watch these grow into lushious leaves - time to pot on. Then one beautiful day you lovingly put them in the warm, nutritious ground & wish them well with a good watering. Jump to late July. Those seeds are now 8 foot monsters, leaves 6inches across, red flowers humming with bees & festooned with long green beans. Beans, beans everywhere!! However many times this pattern of seed - plant - fruit/flower/vegetable - seed occurs I am always thrilled & it is as if I am watching it for the first time. So Thank You to "nature"/nature spirits/God/the divine spark - whatever it is that makes it happen - Thank You.

Butterflies/moths.
Until this year, when I began growing brassicas for the first time, I had really looked forward to seeing butterflies. It has come as a bit of a shock to realize that those pretty, almost weightless fragile dots of life are MONSTERS!!! I find it hard to describe the mixed emotions I felt seeing my baby broccoli plants, with their rapidly expandly, dark-green healthy leaves, covered in eggs & holes! I have searched to strike a balance between the needs of the butterflies & my need for food!!!So this is it - fine netting over the brassicas except for one large unidentifed wild sown brassica & no attempt to save my nasturtiums. I now have a large leafy plant with great holes in it's leaves & lots & lots of leaf stalk but few leaves on some of the nasturiums. I don't eat the latter & have really enjoyed them for months so the loss of them seems a small price to pay for my peace of mind. (More on battles with invading creatures on another post).

Monday Moments
It gives me pleasure to tell you all out there that a good friend has re-started her Monday Moments slot. I really enjoyed that first batch so I'll be eagerly visiting the new site of these thoughts http://www.tinasdivadiary.blogspot.com/.

Dogs
just a few words on another of my enthusiams - dogs. Those hairy creatures that are always there for you with:
* paws that have stomped in fox poo,
* a back caked in horse-pat,
* a lick after they have just eaten a bowl of smellie dog food,
and not forgetting
* the unforgettable "arome de pond water" now all over the car!!!

The First real "Thursday Thank You"

2008-08-13T15:17:00.008+01:00

This is a big

THANK YOU

to lots of medical personnel!

One week ago my much love, but very naughty dog, was spayed. I had been rather appreensive but these misgivings have thankfully all come to nothing. One week on & the scar is almost healed & she has managed a normal, if rather gently-paced walk on the lead. The biggest problem has been a nasty bit of razor rash but that's looking much less angry & sore.
So it's a big thank you to the staff at the Marches vet centre for doing an excellent job. The thank you is for my dog & for my horse who had a very nasty accident a few months ago).
I'm also grateful for Rescue Remedy, homeopathic remedies, aromatherapy oils & Reiki - all of which I put to good use to.

On Tuesday,the 90 year lady who owns the park where I currently live had a heart attack & fall which severly damaged her arm. The medical team spent an hour stabilizing her heart then she was air-lifted to hospital. The next morning she was reportedly sitting up in bed - marvellous news. I'll be visiting her later in the week.
Events such as this act trigger in me immense gratitute, gratitude to the large number of people directly & indirectly getting this lady safely to a hospital bed. From the people who put in-place the procedures for airlifting patients, the designers of the helicopters & ambulances, the producers of medical products to the more obvious medical personnel & concerned friends. What a huge interconnected web of people & materials & ideas all working positivly together to bring about help, support & healing.

I believe that healing energy is all around us if we choose to tap into it: it sometimes uses surprising vehicles. I've grown lots of plants from seeds this year & some of them I planted specifically to use for cut flowers e.g my dwarf sunflowers. But I have only been able to bring myself to cut one sunflower bloom, why? Well I have watched the bees feed from them & feel they need the flowers more than I do (bees are under serious threat globally). Every time I see the sunflower's bold, vibrant faces they make me smile, to me that means they are generating healing energy - an energy that I want to share with everyone who walks or drives past. Flowers are truely "spiritual food" & really do lift the heart & soul - so much from a £2 packet of seed- what amazing value.

The Thursday Thank You

2008-08-10T12:21:00.008+01:00

This is my first real post so "hi" to the blog community.

I've been reading friend's blogs for a long while now & finally feel ready to have a go myself. I love the idea of a regular blog slot (Wellness Wednesday by Anna's World comes to mind) - making it a discipline/commitment rather than a random event, which I feel sure will not happen. So I'm going for a day of the week but not a necessarily weekly posting. Thursday feels good- The Thursday Thank You- to emphasize the positives in life.

poppy m

2008-05-24T17:19:00.001+01:00