The delights of early April

So good to be well enough to go out in the garden again :)  I've been up to see the animals, taking the dog with me; checked the greenhouse to see how things are after last week's first of the seed sowing - the beans are  on the move already lol, and the kiwi vine is looking in great health. Lots of tomato seedlings as usual, and I'll do some more seeds this week. It's lovely and warm in there, I could sit for hours just watching things and listening to the birds. The blossom on the fruit trees is stupendous here this spring; I thought the Merryweather damson was on its last legs last spring, with only a handful of blossom and half a dozen fruit - it's smothered in creamy white flowers right now, as are the other plums and the blackthorn. It's really pretty against the blue of an early spring sky. My little cherry tree is covered too, in a delicate pink - I might even get a coule of cherries this year! I picked the first of the rhubarb, and I'll have that tonight,  simply stewed with the juice of an orange and some real custard - the best way to serve such a delicate first picking. I picked a few tiny flowers too, to sit on the table by me as I work - epimedium, oxlip, a tiny spike of damson blossom and the beautiful viola labradorics - an exquisite little plant with almost black leaves, one of my spring favourites. This plant is actually still in a pot from when I bought it last year, down at the tip - how could anyone get rid of such a beauty? The colours of spring :)

Powerful piece of writing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/31/mothers-stop-moaning-about-motherhood Well worth the read, powerful stuff.

Earth Hour 2012

http://www.earthhour.org/

Happy birthday..............

............... to my baby lol  Creative Living forum is 7 years old :)  That's quite an achievement in internet forum terms, I've seen so many bite the dust for lots of reasons over the years. People have come and gone, and some have been run out of town for being completely unpleasant and downright rude, but apart from those very few, the members are wonderful, very supportive, funny, wise, informed, talented, and willing to have a go. So I'd just like to say a huge thankyou to those who have contributed in a good and positive way over the years to make the forum what it is today - a wonderful online community for friendship and inspiration. This is us, have a look : http://creativeliving.10.forumer.com/index.php

Grandmothers and eggs..................

I was talking earlier to a friend about my maternal grandmother and what a formidable woman she was. It reminded me that I was going to write a short post about my granny and eggs. A good while back now I was reading a book, American, about cooking/homesteading/baking type things, during the Great Depression. In it, it described how the woman, when cooking, would wipe around inside both halves of a broken eggshell to extract very last drop of egg white from it so as not to waste any of  it. Immediately into my  mind's eye came an image of my granny doing the exact same thing; could picture her in her wee, long kitchen in her cottage, pinny on and tied around, her crooked forefinger wiping out the egg white into the baking bowl. Have never forgotten that, although it seems to have been buried for a while. I now do the same :)

Getting back in the swing of it............

I spent this afternoon out in my garden; it's been a long, long time since I did this because of illness. I think a few hours in the sunshine did more for my health and general demeanour than anything over the previous months. I played with the goats and talked to chickens and ducks; watched the bees busily flying in welcome warm sunshine; inspected all teh spring flowers, miraculously unmauled by chicken depridations over the ast few weeks - oxlips, celandine, daffodils, violets, cowlsips, fritillaries, pulmonaria, winter box, all sorts of hellebores; my little cherry tree is covered in blossom, looking very healthy and pretty; lots of blackthorn blossom too, and a good covering on the old damson in the orchard; the other trees have promising spring green leaf buds, and everywhere there are leaves pushing up through the ground. I cleared and sorted the first greenhouse, so now have somewhere to put the first trays of seeds I sowed last week; stacks of pots and trays are ready, and the kiwi vine in there is bursting with furry little leaves on branches that seem to be making for the next village over the hill..........it won;t be long until that greenhouse will be full of cucumber vines and tomato plants, emerging beans and baby flowers. I cant wait. I have missed my garden so much while I've been ill and was thrilled to bits to get as much accomplished as I did, a great boost for me. Welcome back to the garden :)

Some days..............

Some days are better than others. This was not one of them :(