Good Bye 2020

 It's been quite a year. Plenty of time to think about lifestyle and aims and ambitions. Plenty of time to do handy works and enjoy the views. After the outbreak of fear mongering news reports I felt a kind of peace at being obliged to stay at home. I know I am fortunate in my choice of home.  I got used to wearing a mask (more or less, it will never feel normal) when in the shops. My granddaughters missed about 6 months of school. My daughter made life-changing decisions. Dear Johnny died, but not of the deadly virus.

It was a very hot dry summer and autumn but then, finally the rain came! Hooray! The kind of rain that actually makes a difference. Now all the hillsides are green and the slugs and snails are on a wave of indulgence. I've given up trying to grow brassicas until after the winter... 

The guinea pigs are still free and surviving. I got another one from a local lady and then, just before Christmas I saw this tiny little guinea pig running about. Baby Jesus! So now I have four. They are so sweet.

I have started to plaster my kitchen/bedroom as I think, although it works, it's a bit rough. So with a fine mixture of sieved earth and donkey poo I made a beautiful plaster and began to apply it. Now I need the 4m ladder to reach the high spots, so I've put that on hold. It's very tricky above the stairs... but what I have done looks really nice.

After wanting a plate rack for years and struggling with how to buy or build one myself (carpentry not being my forte) I suddenly had a brainwave and built one into the clay shelves.

My seven-year old granddaughter has just learnt to knit so I feel very happy for her. My father knew how to knit and crochet. When we were kids we were always asking him to make dresses for our trolls! It's a great skill for all ages and gender.

I love how my house blends into the landscape. The roof is full of grass and some nasturtium leaves are growing up there, too, so there may be a riot of colourful flowers in the spring.

I had my 63rd birthday and feel grateful for my life so far. Lovely friends and family and good health. I wish the same for everyone over the coming year.

Good bye 2020. Welcome 2021.

Autumn Notes

 I have spent the last few weeks digging out couch grass. Not every day! But there is a LOT of it. I guess it's because I took a year off gardening and tried no-dig as well. No-dig only works if you have perfect compost soil and not invasive weeds like couch which grows deep down and keeps coming back. So anyway, the soil is looking good and I put tons of the stuff, (the couch grass), on the roof. It makes a fine thatch.

We had a day of heavy rain when we got the tail end of storm Barbara, which really perked up the ground, but since then there's been hardly a drop. 

The view from the garden.

All ploughed and ready for rain...

Old Rammed earth wall, maybe 70 years old. It's amazingly resilient stuff.

Bonfire night!

Jotul installed and ready to go but it's not cold enough yet. I love it's simple elegance and efficiency.

Now it's November. Let's hope for health and sanity.

No Computer.

 I haven't written a blog on the phone before, so here goes.

It's been a long hot summer and it's still hot, but now the sun slants in under my hat. I haven't done much due to the heat. Today there's a lovely wind coming from the south  and it feels like...RAIN!

I made a tiny pond just below the house and I sit and stare into the water for hours! I got some lily plants and some little fish that eat mosquito larvae ( I hope). 

I am digging out the couch grass from the vege beds and putting it on the roof.  That always feels satisfactory.  

40 degrees Outside!

Today is one of those days... I did a bit of work outside in the early morning while the air was still fresh. I picked a few ripe tomatoes and earthed up some leeks. Ate a physalis fruit. Gave some to the Guinea pigs. I love the Guinea pigs. They welcome me in the morning with joyful squeals and leap to the underneath of the bench to nibble on the goodies I give them.
Then I came indoors to retreat from the heat. Where I am now in my sitting room .My feet are actually cold and the room is about 25 degrees. Feels like a fridge in comparison to the outside.
I washed my laundry by hand and hung it out to dry. Probably roasted stiff by now.
My garden is a bit of a jungle of grass and tomatoes. The sunflowers and the giant artichokes were fab but now they are over. Birds sit on the dried stems and peck out the seeds. The peach tree that seeded itself from the compost is full of fruit. I will pick them very soon, before they all fall off, full of worms, and make jam. I sowed some French beans, a bit late, but under some straw, and they have come up. They are so much more tasty than the ordinary green beans (sometimes called 'string' because basically that's what they taste like!)

The Millpond

Keeping Cool

Cool Atlantic Breeze

Writing About Oak

This June is Bliss

I've just been wandering in my garden in the freshness of the morning, enjoying the colours and smells of everything. 'Tis bliss.
I picked some oregano to dry. The stuff that wasn't mistakenly mowed down by a certain man! Never mind. I have enough and know where to get more. Now is the time to pick it, just before it flowers.

The potatoes are growing so fast! It must be because we actually had real rain last week. Very strange. In fact, strange is the new normal.
I have been making smelly herbal oils using the petals of rose, calendula and lavendar, individually in jars that sit in the sun. The rose oil is lovely. The calendula I hope to make into a cream, mixed with hypericum which is flowering right now. I love how the oil of that herb goes dark red.
I put up a swing under one of the fig trees, for the grandchildren, but it's strong enough for me and that is where I sat for a while this morning, just enjoying the day. It's good to have moments when you realise you don't have to 'do' stuff.

calendula

The Lawn!

May Is Passing Quickly

May is passing quickly. Rain storms, rainbows and now the heat. Soon all the green grass will dry up and the hiss of summer will be upon us.The fields around us have been cut and turned into silage in those white plastic balls. One field is even being ploughed again!

My lovely friend, and father to two of my children, died. He was very ill and it was surely a relief for him to go, but it was so sad to say good bye. We picked lots of flowers from the hedgerows for his journey.

I finally have chickens! I ordered them from the builder's merchant, of course. Four little chooks. They are probably about a month old or less. They are timid. Bonnie is very curious and goes to look through the netted door every now and then. I have bought some 1'5m netting for the fence which I will put round the hen house. They are fine staying inside for a few days. It's very comfy with wood shavings on the floor and straw in the nesting box, which they nest in.

The garden is doing what they do in May... go berserk. I have peas, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, leeks, beans, beetroot, onions, broccoli, strawberries (not enough of them). The fruit trees are coming along nicely, too. It looks like there will be lots of apples and pears.

The earthen floor up by the windmill is drying VERY slowly. It has cracked but that's alright. I have started to rub it and burnish it and if the cracks persist I will fill them with a different coloured clay just for fun.

Here is a bunch of lentil bushes drying. Nearly ready to thresh them. (Good word 'thresh'.)

 I have waited seven years for this strelitzia to flower! Bird of Paradise flower. Isn't nature amazing?

The guinea pigs have gone wild. They have moved into the huge rose bush and love to hang out under the bench to eat tit-bits that I give them. I am thinking I may get a male one and see what nature does.... I love having them around.

And so life goes on for some of us.

Cool Calm Spring

From a boiling hot and dry end of winter to a cool damp spring, strange times indeed. I am glad for the rain we have had, and the cool days, but the seedlings in the green house feel a bit shocked! Slugs and snails are happy. I try to keep the numbers down by slinging them far over the fence...
Mammoth cauliflowers which I thought were cabbages until I peered inside one.

We are eating the onions straight from the ground. It's not worth letting them dry. They will not store. They are fine and tasty but not the onion crop I was hoping for. Still, I have put some more seeds in a pot. Always the optimist!
The lentils and chickpeas are doing fine. Small seed pods are forming. I am wondering how and when to harvest the lentils as I remember growing one plant years ago and found that all the little lentils has just fallen to the ground! No doubt I will find a way.
The favas are nearly done. We had lots of them.
Peas are flowering, strawberries are ripening, beans everywhere are coming up, climbing and low ones. I've got some called red noodle beans which grow up to half a meter long (the beans!) which are coming up on some canes. Maybe the canes aren't long enough...
Courgettes are beginning to flower. I have put gala melon seeds in an old compost heap and they are sprouting and leafing...
I am eating mostly all my food from the garden.
I have poured the earthen floor in the wine house. It looks lush. Now I have to wait for it to set,then I will go over it to smooth it out.

I had a go at making some clay from the soil near my house. I soaked the earth then strained out all the stones, etc. I made a few things which I haven't fired yet as I am just learning. It's not as easy as it looks to make a pot!

I finished a tapestry weaving of rocks and sea. It felt good to do. It reminded me of the lovely time I had in the Western Isles last year.

The Little Red House On The Hill

I am very happy with how this building has turned out.
Still to finish the floor inside, but the rest is more or less done.
It fits into the landscape beautifully and its shape is like an echo of the windmill just above it.

Strange Times

Strange times indeed.

I have been busy finishing the chicken house. A building I started two years ago but then I got sidetracked. It has worked out quite well and looks quite cute. Now I just need some chickens. I asked my neighbour but now we are all in lockdown because of the virus I think I will have to wait.

The flowers of spring are gorgeous as usual, and the cuckoo has returned along with the swallows. It is such a joyous time in nature. I was walking past this field of lupins with the sun shining on them and a soft breeze blowing towards me. I was enveloped in their sweet, almost soapy smell.
It's just a bit grim for humans at the moment.

The garden is producing food. Brocolli and cabbage and Swiss chard. All the onion sets I planted are not doing their thing because I stuck them too deep in the ground! Darn. I spent today scraping away the earth from around them and hope they will bulb-up. I have carrots in pots because all the ones in the ground got nibbled by a carrot fly worm. I also have lots of tomato and pepper seed, some cotton plants (well, I am a spinner), basil, sweet corn, more cabbage, cucumber and courgette. Let's hope I can keep them all watered. Lots of mulch this year.

 The guinea pigs are doing fine. They've discovered they can get out under the cage. The cats are fascinated and try to scare them but these little piggies lived with a dog and a cat that liked to cuddle up with them so they aren't scared. When they move towards the predatory cat, the cat jumps and runs off! Long may it be so... I love to watch them and they are keeping the grass down.

This is a rather bad photo of the Hunza apricot tree I grew from a stone. It is over 3 meters high. It has lots of flowers tangled in its branches. So exciting. Maybe it will produce Tibetan apricots!

I have been trying to do some artistic weaving, using hand spun wool, based on the colours of the west coast.
I miss spending time with my lovely girls but we are being sensible. Let's hope this will all blow over soon.
Stay safe everyone.