Why do I garden?

I've just stumbled back in from the garden - it is a bit cold out there now and I am pretty sure I heard the kettle call my name several times. Being on hands and knees and not moving very much whilst weeding (I love weeding, it clears the head and gives me permission to think or not to think, but to just be) however, I found I was clenching my teeth to stop them chattering.

First thing this morning - just after 7am, I pottered out in to the garden to take Moss for her first morning leg stretch and piddle and in the early sunlight I was taken how much my garden has gently moved on. We've been away for a couple of nights (wild camping up in the North Pennines) and in that short space of time - so much and yet so little has happened.

It said on the radio this morning that March had been the wettest on record for 40 years and although I did think it was a 'tad damp' (good northern understated term), I didn't think it had been that wet. I suppose, living in the lea of the Pennines we were bound to get our generous share of rain.

After a morning session in a private garden where I disembowelled a 14 year old compost heap on to very hungry and grateful flowerbeds. When I started here, the compost was an enormous unruly pile which dominated the corner it was residing in. It's taken three years to beat it back into submission and now after today's marathon digging and mulching, I just may have tamed the beast - I still have one more bay to empty but I can see that it is far less of a mountain in comparison - more of a molehill!

Just getting my hands back into the soil and feeling the weak sunlight on my face is such a boost. That combined with the scent of the awakening earth and newly emerging shoots is wonderful. However by mid afternoon the sun has slipped behind thin grey cloud and the temperature has plummeted - brrrrr. Definitely time for a brew. Happy - most definitely.

Recipe for Saturday

 Ingredients:

Take a day with a welcome addition of gentle of sunlight

One over enthusiastic mud attracting dog

One patient husband who will carry said tired dog up an almost vertical stile, 

then back down the other side 

so she does not have to jump down to the very much lower field 

Add generous piles of crunchy leaves strewn through the woodlands

Top up with generous amounts of water - almost any variety will do

Randomly insert drovers tracks, farm lanes, bridle paths and byways

Spice up with a flask of steaming hot curried lentil soup and hunks of bread

Sweeten with a surprise clump of delicate snowdrops in the middle of the moors

Mix well and serve with copious amounts of chilly air, 

long distanced views and empty horizons - simmer for nearly 7 miles.                   

Optional extras:

bring along crochet for a little 'in car entertainment'

Have in generous helpings and repeat as often as you can. 

It does wonders for your soul 💚

small moments in an unsettled world

 

I am very grateful (and extremely lucky) that I work in an environment (pun fully intended) which is healing. There are instants which make me gently hold my breath as I watch or see or notice a small precious moment. This week was no different but I thought that I would share just a few of these gems with you. Like going back to pick up my chilly mug (Jayne) and discover I had plonked it down just moments before in a nest of Erigeron Karvensis (Mexican fleabane) daisies and seeing the combination made my heart sing.

Spotting a very dark ladybird pupae on a richly purple dahlia leaf in the cutting garden, hopefully it will emerge before the frosts so that it will be able to overwinter as an adult. If not, we will carefully put the cut off foliage in one of the sheds so the pupae (there were dozens) can mature in safety.

Sharing my lemon shortbread biscuit with a Robin whilst working in one of the private gardens I maintain.

Ravelling 400gm balls of wool blend into 100gm yarn cakes before starting my next project - my sense of smell is rather random at the moment but I could catch a delicious scent of lanolin when I buried my nose deep into the huge and squishy balls of wool 

This idiot. 

Who drives me both crazy and fills my heart with equal measure - she has not been coming to work regularly recently as she 'looks after' who ever happens to be at home at the moment, so on the odd days that she puts on her 'work clothes', the dog harness, she is beyond excited. Her day is filled with rounding up wheelbarrows, collecting up sticks, herding volunteers and supervising our work - by the time we get home she is ready for her food and a well deserved nap!

And the princess. Pan. Still aloof and occasionally cranky but then who isn't? She has definitely mellowed and decided humans are not that dreadful. She has her favourites (makes that very obvious!) however, she is definitely the hairy heart of our home.

It is little moments like these which keep me grounded. I need to get myself ready for work, another private garden, a moorland wild meadow where Moss can come and play whilst I am there. She will be delighted......!

Thank you every one for your lovely and encouraging comments regarding my attempt at Kaketsugi mending - it is on hold at the moment as I am waiting for a packet of needle threaders to land in the post then I can get on with the final few threads - hardly any left to weave in. Then I will tidy away the remaining threads and hand it back to its owner😊

Enjoy the rest of your week, hope you too find small moments that fill your heart xxxx

Visiting

Whilst waiting for lunch to finish cooking, I am sitting at the table typing to you, dear ones.

We have Eldest and his lovely girl with us for a few days, Youngest and his lovely girl will be landing later as we are getting together to celebrate Youngest's birthday. It is wonderful when they descend - Moss and Pan (the cat) are absolutely delighted and don't know which person to shed their fur on the most!)

Yesterday we visited East Riddlesden Hall again -  where the four of us wandered through the gardens which seemed to have survived the heat and lack of rain surprisingly well despite some of the plants looking a little sunburnt.

There was a wedding reception happening in one of the huge stone barns where brightly dressed and happy folk spilled out of the doors in loud and cheerful voice. The bride and her groom were taken around the gardens for their photos - hope they have a long and loving life together.

The bees and butterflies were making the most of the late summer flowers and the borders were abuzz with activity. Particularly the herb garden where even the non flowering herbs were being used. I remember reading somewhere that bees will chew on herbs to get access to their essential oils and the general agreement was that they could be doing it for medicinal reasons - how wonderful is that?

The house is always open however we usually just enjoy the garden and café. On Saturday we decided that we'd go for an explore. The house is a bit of an enigma as there seems to be a lack of relevant historical records. As with all these places, the experts can only 'suppose' or 'surmise'  to extrapolate stories. The volunteer guides were generous in their information and explanations but most came with the proviso - 'this is what the experts think but it could be open to further investigation'.

The house, when obtained by the NT, was bare bar one item - a grain 'ark' so all the furniture and furnishings, paintings and ornaments have been gradually accumulated over the last 90 years. Some original pieces from the family home as well as others from now long gone homes from the same era.

Every corner had something interesting and I suspect we could have stayed longer - chatting with the guides was very satisfying and we learnt so much.

One of the larger and more ornate rooms - a possible master bedroom had it's curtains drawn to prevent the precious textiles from fading. The 'Black work' embroidery bedspread was fascinating - the work(wo)manship was perfect and each leaf seemed to have a different pattern. I was as fascinated by it as I was the last time I came (some years ago in my capacity as a NT volunteer).

After we'd explored every room and many a photo was taken, we returned outside and sat in the grounds with hot drinks watching the ducks on the pond and the wedding party. We'd been very lucky with the weather - showers had been promised and it was only as we were planning on leaving that the clouds began to look a little menacing.

The rain in the evening was glorious - steady and deep, the garden today (Sunday) is looking quite satisfied!

Hope you all had a good weekend - here is to an excellent week! xxxxxxx

the last hurrah

How could we finish our holiday romance❤️ with the Lake District now that we were home? 

By having a brief fling with our village agricultural show - that's how!

We knew it was going to be warm, so we took iced water for Moss, hats and umbrellas (for shade) for us and walked up to the recreation grounds now transformed to house pens of sheep and cattle, vintage vehicles and tractors, marquees full of arts and crafts, vegetable and flowers, horses and stunt motorcycles.

We sampled locally made ice cream (which was glorious) and drank very welcome chilly drinks, moved from shade to shade to make sure that we and Moss did not melt. A number of the stalls had bowls of water for visiting dogs and Moss of course graciously gave a token lick (as she was happily kept well watered with her own bowl and iced water).

Due to the heat a number of the animal entries wisely did not come, which I totally agree with as did most people although there were a small minority complaining that they came to see the 'pets' and 'funny chickens' and there was nothing to see!!

We did the show in two halves, we came back home for lunch and to leave Moss in the cooler house for an afternoon nap and then went back up for the rest of the show and the grand parade of vintage vehicles.

It was definitely a good way to end our holiday week and set us up for the working week. Now to plan for our next adventure!! 

Thrum of rain

As I type, the thrum of rain, the radio, the cat and dog all keep me company. I should be, at this point, getting ready for work however on a Tuesday I work for a private garden rather than the walled garden so I am able to move my working hours around the weather. 

Oh the deliciousness of getting back into bed with a mug of tea and the laptop and listen to the rain for that extra hour and know I can spend a the rest of the morning quietly with myself as I potter around the house. 

A few days ago, after another much needed band of rather heavy showers, I took my camera and the dog out into the garden and captured raindrops on the foliage and flowers. It was not until I downloaded the images and realised the wonderful refraction qualities of some of the droplets.

Thank you everyone for your generous congratulations for Youngest and his lovely girl - they are having a well deserved break at the moment before they launch off again. 

I remember having that energy (once!!)🤣 

Himself and I have some time off later this month - really looking forward to getting on to the hills and doing lots of walking (and sleeping) and of course taking photos.

Finally after a bit of meandering, a rather fuzzy image of a lovable furry face. We call these snoot shots and strive to 'get that perfectly bulbous schnozzle photo' although it often requires the subject not to wriggle or suddenly get camera shy. 

Unfortunately my mug of tea and that extra hour have gone although the rain is still steadily falling - I might just put the kettle back on ..... ooh what a devil! This unexpected bit of down time is absolutely delicious and I shall make the most of it - enjoy your Tuesday and I hope you have time to savour a moment of 'you-time' with a mug of your favourite brew xxxx

What weekends are for!

It is really early in the morning and I am sitting on tenterhooks whilst Youngest is about to do 'an interview of a life time' - fingers are crossed so tightly that typing could be difficult! **

So - to keep my overactive imagination doing somersaults I thought I would share our weekend adventures. We, Himself, Moss and I drove down to Eldest and his lovely girl and spent some time with them.  They had a couple of place they wanted to share with us and we had a pair of Eldest's shoes to return,  he'd accidently left them behind at their last visit!

On Saturday we popped into a lovely new eco-shop with a glorious range of deli-style foods, a refill station, gifts and locally made jewellery, I could have spent a fortune there! We have a community eco-shop in our village which has won several awards and it was really good to see how others interpret the same brief. Here is to many more popping up!

A selection of plants and fowl from Pot Hamlet

We then went to a little farm style 'retail village' where you can wander around whilst chickens stroll along the lane or be startled out of your skin by a shrieking peacock - brilliant! We had lunch there, tickled goats until they were almost comatose, laughed at ducks and guinea fowl, were amused by the posturing turkey cock and checked out the garden centre. After lunch we walked along the Silkstone Waggonway which started from the village - Moss thought that this was far more fun that 'shopping'! (Despite her being bought a 'doggy ice cream' and her scoffing it in record time!)

Moss says she's a lapdog!

That evening we shared a meal at our van and despite the chilly wind, it was a lovely evening - especially as Eldest and his lovely girl cooked for us and it was super yum!

The Trans Pennine Trail, lots of rain, stepping stones and a fascinating tunnel.

On Sunday, Eldest, Himself, Moss and I went for a walk along part of the Trans Pennine Trail. Although it must have rained for most of the way, the rain was warm and it turned out to be a really good walk (wet but good haha).

The tunnel was amazing, the reverberations and echoes were incredible!

All too soon we had to return home so after a delicious lunch of soup and cheese toasties, we headed home - tired but replete. These are what weekends are for - filling your soul ready to take on the next week!

**I am typing this at the end of the day and Youngest has returned from the interview feeling positive - it is now just a waiting game - fingers crossed!