Hopping

Over the last few months a blog hop has been making its way around the world, moving from one country to another and from one blog to another.  I have read many such posts and on occasions have been tempted to join in myself when a blog author has passed the baton on to one and all.  I have now been tagged by Leigh who writes over at leighside knits so here we are....

What am I working on...

...now that it is Autumn my focus is on my home and my family preparing ourselves for a time when we will be inside much more.  It is the time of year when I feel the desire to clean my house much more than in the spring, when all I want to do is be outside.  Cleaning away all the dust and cobwebs that have accumulated over the Summer when my home is largely ignored.  In the kitchen I am preserving something that I do every year, more of that in another post.  In the garden we are tidying, pruning and picking the last harvests, getting the garden ready for its dormant period over the Winter. The dew is heavy each morning and it won't be long before the frosts arrive for their stay.  Our learning has taken on a new rhythm with the turning of the season, focusing on being inside a bit more as the temperatures cool.  I am creating many things at the moment, ideas in my head and on paper, gifts for birthdays and Christmas, clothing for myself and my family, items for the home.  Working on each a little bit here, a little bit there as and when time allows.

How does my work differ from others in its genre...

           n. kind of style

                                       Oxford English Dictionary       

My style is my own.  I don't know exactly where it fits in.  I love to cook, sometimes following recipes to the letter,  or exchanging ingredients or making a recipe up from scratch.  I write about this sometimes but I am not a food blogger.  I garden, less than I would like to, I use the biodynamic method as a basis.  I write about my garden occasionally but I am not a gardening blogger.  We home educate, like all home educators, we have our particular way of doing this I can, and sometimes do, tell you what we do but not a how to do it.  Home education is our way of life which I write about but it is not the sole focus of my blog, that I fear would be rather dull.  I make and create things mostly sewing and knitting sometimes I share these but lately less so.  My work is different simply because it is mine.

Why do I create what I do...

...almost everything I create has to have a use be it practical, for warmth, for learning or out of necessity.  I rarely if ever create for decoration except perhaps the odd piece for festivals usually for Christmas.  I wouldn't make something just because I liked the pattern.  I apply the same thought process to my making as I do to purchasing something - do I/we really need it?  We are hugely wasteful as a society throwing things away when have no more use for them.  When I look around our home at the items we have created from bits and pieces that were no longer performing their original function it makes me very happy.  It is what my father does and my grandfather and I suspect many of my forebears did.  It is what happens in the 'poorer' nations of the world, the ones we label as 2nd and 3rd world, I struggle to see the creativity in going out and buying new, throwing the old away.  There is one expression that has been much used in our financially straightened times "make do and mend".  This was a pamphlet produced during the war to provide tips for women on frugality and style during rationing.  Now whilst rationing is what we are doing then and now the basis for it couldn't be more different.  For me it speaks of if we make do now then there will be a time when, in the future, we can go back to how we were.  Or perhaps I am being a little too cynical?

How does my creative process work...

...I have had a bit of an epiphany recently, nothing new really..............I have always known that the more organised I am the more time I actually have.  For years the structure and rhythm in my life came from education and employment, then five years ago I found myself at home all the time and for the first time in my life my rhythm and structure was my own well perhaps not entirely my own as I had a baby..........  As the children have gotten older and they move away from me more, the time I have to call my own has slowly increased but, like a rabbit caught in the headlights, my use of this time was not terribly efficient.  Early on in my time at home I started to plan our food, born out of need to get a meal on the table for a young child whilst also caring for a baby.  I have tried various rhythms and structures to our day with varying degrees of success, what I have come to realise is that any changes I make need to be slow and small, big ones meet with resistance.  By thinking ahead about each day, what we will eat, what we will do, timings, doing the preparation necessary in advance if needed, I actually have more time for other things.  I have cleared my head of the clutter of the important parts of our life and made room and time for me to think about other things.  I now know that if am I working on something there will be time to complete it and I have the head space to think about when.  What I need to ensure now is that I don't have another rabbit in the headlights moment and have too many ideas and not enough time to fulfil them.  Slow and steady is my mantra.

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Thank you Leigh for inviting me to join this blog hop, I would like to invite...

Just Having a Yarn

Marigold Jam

...to keep it moving along and of course anyone else who wishes to take part and share your answers........let me know in the comments and I will add a link.  Enjoy your blog hopping!

Tending....

It is now June and I have been pottering away in my garden for a few months but have yet to share any of my hard work.  I am once again using the biodynamic method as a framework for my gardening, it ensures that the garden does not get neglected as I get distracted by life.  Last year I went away a lot, lots of short trips with the children.  I found it really difficult to get any gardening done as I was either away or preparing to go away.  This year I have reduced the going away to more manageable levels and hope that works, it is all about striving for a balance that I haven't quite found as yet.

My potatoes planted out in April are growing well....

....as is the garlic sown in January.  I thought this would not come up at all as we had such a mild wet winter.  The ground was so waterlogged when I put the cloves in that I thought they would all rot.  It remains to be seen how big they actually grow.

The onions are shooting well and I hope they start swelling soon.  These were sown in seeds trays in April and then planted out in May.  I also sowed some straight into the ground in May too, I wanted to see if the head start made any difference.  It doesn't really look like it has made any difference as the later sown sets appear to have caught up.

Broad and French beans seedlings planted out.  I cleared the last of the leeks to make space for these. A mild winter meant they overwintered well and we will eat those last ones in a soup over the weekend.  It was the best crop of leeks I have ever had.

We seem to have an abundance of strawberry plants in the garden.  They have popped up all over the place, none of the sown.  I assume these are courtesy of the birds, like many plants in my garden.  My youngest has taken over the care of these clump which she checks and weeds daily, reporting back on their progress.  We rarely have enough of a harvest for a meal but they make a great snack, especially for the children.

The chives have now taken up residence in all the cracks on a small patio behind the garage.  They are a mass of flowers at the moment and buzzing with bees.  I rather like their tenacious nature but I might have to keep them in check, just a little, less they try to take over.  You can just make out a marvellous supply of wood in the background, a wood shed full to the brim seasoning for next winter.

The fruit bushes are brimming with supplies for later in the year.  These are enclosed in large cage to keep those pesky birds at bay.

It is not all produce, the lilac is coming to end its beautiful fragrant flowers still filling the garden with their opulence.

The Actinidia kolomitka is starting to display its variegation as the sun catches its leaves.

There is a path through here, the euphorbia and ferns are meeting in the middle....

A blackbird searches for grubs on the green roof, atop our garage/workshop building.

I was delighted to discover two frogs in the garden this week.  A very small one in the polytunnel and this larger one in our wildlife pond, shading itself from the midday sun.  Lets hope they feast on the slugs before they get a chance to rampage through my seedlings!

You can see more pictures from my garden here, on almost the same day last year here when the garden looks a lot less lush, and here.  It is raining here now which means one less job to do today.  I am hoping that the hail forecast for Monday does not materialise!

What are you up to in your garden?  Enjoying the fruits of your labour or relaxing in the sunshine?  That is usually what the children are up to, in a hammock, whilst I am busy tending.....

Moments...

It is the beginning of the month so, once again, I have a slightly different Moments post.  This is a reflection on the month using the goals suggested over on Slow Living Essentials, so here are mine for February and head on over to see what others have been up to.

…nourish some time before Christmas I started to buy raw milk from a local farm to make yogurt.  I had met the farmer at our local farmers market a few years ago but had yet to take the plunge and buy the milk.  I was given a cheese making book and a few items to make cheese with by my mother for Christmas.  It was the perfect present and she was unaware I was already making yogurt.  I have made several different cheeses, including cream cheese, feta, mozzarella and the best, for me, Halloumi.  I am not sure I will make feta that often again it was fiddly and tasted odd, the cream cheese was great but made too big a quantity, the mozzarella I have made several times and is very quick and easy, but the Halloumi is just wonderful.  It tastes nothing like the stuff I buy in the shops but nonetheless it has a wonderful taste.  I suspect that this is down to the milk I am using, it is probably not the same as they use in Cyprus where this cheese is usually made.  Making my own works out so much cheaper and as the milk has only come from five miles down the road the distance it has had to travel is considerably less!

…prepare in the Winter months we love to eat soup.  It makes a welcome addition to our picnics.  Last year I started to batch cook a large amount for freezing with veg I have bought from our local Farmers Market, our market is monthly, this year I have been doing the same.

…reduce early in the month my husband went to our village recycling point with our recycling and returned with a child's bike that had been abandoned there.  He spent a couple of days working on it, buying a few small pieces that he did not have, and we now have a bike that my eldest can ride.  We bought him a bike last year which is a little on the big side, that too was secondhand and a very good price.  For now he will ride the smaller one, until he has grown a little.

…green we have lived in our house for eleven years.  Slowly, over that time, we have been redecorating each room.  The most recent one to be decorated is a bedroom for my youngest.  We finished painting it and building furniture for it a while ago and it is in real need of a new carpet.  Our income has been precarious over the last year so we did not want to make any large expenditure, now that my husband has returned to being an employee we are confident in our income.  We visited a local carpet shop and came home with some samples.  The choice was between 100% wool or a wool and acrylic mix.  We spent some time deciding and researching which was the better of the two.  We knew that we really wanted the 100% wool carpet but had to be sure that this was the best option for the room and not just based on our desire for natural materials.  We have opted for the 100% wool.  The carpet in the room is a very old and worn wool one which has now been cut up and put in the compost bin to assist the decomposition by keeping the contents warm.

…grow I finally got round to buying myself a new calendar for garden planning.  Last year I gave biodynamic gardening a go for the first time.  It was in the main successful.  It was an unusually warm summer for us last year, the hottest in the eleven years I have been at my house.  I would like to give this method a few more years before deciding whether it really does work.  What I really love about it tho is the framework it provides for me to ensure that I make time and spend time in the garden.  As you only do particular tasks on particular days it does not feel onerous and overwhelming.  A gardeners work is never done!  I have spent some time planning, and buying seeds and am all set to go for the this year, here is hoping it will be a good one…..

…create we made a wee felt snowdrop fairy for our seasonal table and lots of birthday cards.  The first part of the month, for me, was taken up with a shawl that I knitted for my mother for her birthday.  This was my first shawl and I was really pleased with how it turned out, my mum loved it too!  The pattern is Guernsey Triangle.  I have also been knitting up two cardigans which are still work in progress.

…discover last month I posted about my quandary regarding the future of my eldest's education.  At the moment he is home educated and I was unsure if I should continue once he reached the age, in the UK, where he as due to start at Secondary School.  I have spent this month reading and researching about education from the age of 11 both at home and in a school.  I have talked to friends, had some wonderful comments from fellow bloggers and talked to my family.  I still have more thinking and reading to do but I feel a little clearer now as to what my options are and how I feel about them.

…enhance regular readers of my blog will now that I occasionally post about home education and what that means to me and my family.  One of my biggest worries about home educating was how I would feel with the adults, the parents of any children my own children made friends with.  I had always considered myself to be someone who finds it hard to be part of a big group, who doesn't make friends easily.  I have come to realise that this is not actually true, yes I am not keen on big groups but I do make friends.  It takes time and effort to build a true friendship.  I now have a small group of people who live near to me who I can truly count on as friends.  I really feel that I am part of something, I am really comfortable with all these people and want to spend time with them.  This last month I have managed to do this, and it has made me realise that if you really value a friendship you have to work hard to make it work but it is worth it.

…enjoy the absolute highlight for me this month has been spending a few days with my whole family.  I have two younger brothers, one lives near my parents, the other nearer to me.  We are spread out, busy people who rarely come together and spend time together so when we do it is really special.  This is the first time we have all actually been together since the birth of my nephews last year.  It was my mums birthday, a special one, her only request was for us all to come and spend a weekend with her, how could we refuse?

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...continuing from my usual moments posts...

...reading these picture books*, with a short review here, 52. Sparkly Shoes and Picnic Parties by Sophie Tilley, 53. Grandma and Grandpa's Garden by Neil Griffiths, 54. When Dragons are Dreaming by James Mayhew, 55. Going Swimming by Frances Lincoln, 56. Bop's Hiccups by Joel Stewart, 57. Friends by Eric Carle, 58. A Big Operation by Richard Scarry, 59. Peepo by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, 60. Oliver and the Noisy Baby by Nick Maland, 61. I am not sleepy and I will not go to bed by Lauren Child, 62. Jack and the FlumFlum Tree by Julia Donaldson.

* Joining in with 300 Picture Book Challenge

Garden

I was reading a post that I wrote a month ago where I shared some pictures of my garden.  Until the last week it has been pretty cold, wet and windy in these parts so I was quite surprised at how my garden has grown and bloomed in the last month.  So without further ado here is my garden now, I attempted to take pictures in the same places but did not quite get all of them this time!

The top bed is a little greener now with left to right, cabbages, kale, onions, beetroot, carrots, turnip and shallots.  The strange looking stick in the middle is a homemade,  highly effective, bird scarer which is amongst the onions to stop the birds digging them up it is working....

The path up to the polytunnel is a mass of greenery, with potatoes and salad leaves on the left, and on the right the pea wigwam, rhubarb, the rosehip hedge in flower and a mass of strawberry plants which we have not planted and I guess were delivered to us by the birds....

The honeysuckle looks like wild hair on the trellis which now has a lovely carpet of creeping thyme underneath which you can just make out, the rest of the bed is a mass of plants, garlic and potatoes interspersed with self seeded salad leaves, red mustard, greens in snow and wild rocket....

The peas and beans are growing very slowly, I think this spot maybe a little too shady for them, although since the weather has warmed in the last week they have more than doubled in size...

I love the plant in this trellis, the leaves change colour in the sun, from green to white to pink in a rather beautiful variegation....

My neglected bed is an abundance of greenery, a Rowan tree, honeysuckle, euphorbia, hawthorn and underneath hundreds of wild strawberry plants, the birds love this part of the garden....

The pots on the patio are nearly ready to flower, above them is a wild and unruly honeysuckle which is also nearly in flower and the mint next to it has revived this year, last year there were a scant few leaves but I dug a lot of them up over the winter and it is back to its usual abundant self...

The green roof on the garage is in bloom...

Seedlings

This week has been all about seedlings in my garden.  I have been hardening off, gardening speak for getting my plants used to cooler temperatures outside as they have been started in the polytunnel, many of my seedling this week and planting them out.  There is very little space left now I have even planted some inside my pea wigwams!

So far, purple sprouting broccoli, white cabbage, kale, chard, spinach and lettuce seedlings have been planted out and I have sown some romanesco cauliflower seeds that I was given.  I have also bought some plants and seeds to restock my depleted herb garden which died of the cold and old age over the last winter.  I have planted rosemary, sage and cotton lavender also known as santolina plants and sown salad burnet, hyssop, borage and caraway seeds.  I would like a few more plants but could not get them from the garden centre I visited today so will keep hunting.

Over the course of the next week I am going to plant out courgette and cucumber seedlings, sow the last of my seed potatoes, plant out leek seedlings and onion sets and sow some more radishes, carrots, turnips and beetroot.

I am not sharing any pictures this week as I shared several last week and my garden has changed very little in the past week!

Garden

So my worst garden pest has visited this week and wrecked havoc amongst my seedlings.  The mice have paid us a visit again, if you are a mouse lover then I advise you not to continue reading!  I had noticed that they had been visiting a while ago as the potatoes that I had chitting in the polytunnel were looking nibbled.  I set some traps and although I did not catch any they stopped visiting.  This week I went for my usual morning visit to the polytunnel and found that they had dug a a whole load of bean and pea seed and eaten them and all the courgette and cucumber seeds, they had also had a ratch through the leek seed tray but I am not sure how many of those they have eaten, if nothing comes up I will know it was all of them.  We have set more traps and put out bait that if they eat it, it will kill them, we have caught one so far.  It is really soul destroying when this happens especially as I had been organised this year and sown my seeds earlier.

Apart from dealing with mice we have emptied a compost bin this week and put the contents on the garden it was beautiful stuff.  As we were emptying it the bin itself started to collapse, we built it about eight years ago out of wood we had lying around so today my husband has been building three new ones.  I have also sown some carrots and beetroot with help from the children, turnips and one set of seed potatoes the rest have yet to chit sufficiently to be planted yet.  The weeding that took me forever last week has paid off as hardly any are growing in the garden now, and there are virtually none now as I weeded again today.  I have also built a wigwam for the peas or beans to grow up provided they are not eat by the mice before they get to that stage.  Ho hum such is the life of a gardener.

The rest of the garden is definitely, finally, budding.  The trees and bushes all have leaf buds and today we were out in the garden in t shirts, whispering quietly, maybe spring has finally arrived?

What have you been doing in your garden?

Garden

Another week has slipped by and my garden is slowing turning green.  There are small green shoots, leaves budding, herbs growing and daffodils making steady progress towards blooming.  I have been busy again this week sowing seeds and weeding, with a little help from my youngest.  Over the weekend I managed to weed the whole garden, I was exhausted by you the end but I am thankful I managed to get it all done.  In the past few years I have struggled to keep on top of the weeds, I am hoping that by doing it now it will be easier as the year goes on I live in hope anyway!

Seed wise we have sown, more salad leaves and lettuce, herbs in pots parsley, dill, coriander and basil, cabbage, kale, chard, spinach, courgette, cucumber, french beans and leek in seed trays all of these for the moment are in the warmth of the polytunnel.  My chitting potatoes have gradually succumbed to rotting or mice and were rather depleted in number, luckily for me I have a small garden centre in the village so I wandered down and bought a few more to bulk the numbers a bit.  I also bought a pack of shallots which I have planted outside.

Using the biodynamic gardening method is definitely helped to keep me focus on the garden this year, apart from the mammoth weeding session most of the work I am doing thus far has been short bursts of activity which is easy to fit into the week.  It remains to be seen how long I can keep it up!

What's going on in your garden at the moment?

Seeds

Spring is a time for new growth and now that the weather is warming my garden is starting to grow as it emerges from the long winter.  My seeds which have sat waiting in the cupboard are finally coming out.  I had wanted to sow in March but I felt it was just too cold, all my sowing at this time of year is in the polytunnel but even in there it was only just above freezing.

I sowed two sets of onion seeds in March one set at the beginning and another at the end, last week the first set started to shoot and now the other set have to.  I really thought that as they has sat in the cool polytunnel for nearly a month they would not germinate but to my amazement they have, now I need to work out what I do with them next and when as I have never grown onion from seed before.

Many other seeds have been sown this week, broccoli and a a packet of mixed wildflowers yesterday and today cabbage, basil, parsley, coriander, lettuce, spinach, kale and chard.  Over the weekend I am planning to sow beans, cucumber, peas and courgettes and tackle the weeds that are also shooting up all over the garden.  My biggest pest, mice have also had a nibble on my chitting potatoes so they are obviously on the hunt for food.  They usually eat all my hard work chomping through the stalks of small seedlings leaving the leaves on the ground, very frustrating!

Garden

The last few days have been warm, warm enough that you can pop outside without four layers of clothing, perhaps spring is now coming it has been slow to arrive this year.  At the beginning of last month I sowed several seeds in my polytunnel, it was not particularly cold at that point but as the month wore on it got colder and colder and the frost and snow kept coming until the last few days.  Every few days I have been to check my seeds, watering them when they got dry wrapping them up in horticultural fleece against the cold and my patience has paid off.

This morning I went to do my usual watering and discovered that everything has germinated, not all the seeds that I planted of every type but enough to make me very happy.  I have lettuce, radishes, perilla, mizuna and onions seedlings very small and fragile but green shoots none the less.  I am now preparing my list for sowing next week, broccoli, cabbage, herbs, more lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, beans, cucumber, peas and courgettes.  I will also be weeding the warm weather will no doubt bring with it an abundance of them soon!  I really hope that the frosts and snow have finished for the year now and we can look forward to the green shoots growing into wonderful food.

Garden

Now that spring is nearly here I have been tuning my attention to my garden once again.  It feels like it is starting to wake up, the snowdrops are in bloom, my primroses are just starting to flower and the daffodils are just starting to poke their way up through the soil.  A visit to my poly tunnel provided me with a wonderful surprise a big bed of land cress which was not there two weeks ago!

I have decided to give biodynamic gardening a go this year. It is focusing my gardening and enabling me to fit it in to my weekly plans. In the last few months I have sowed garlic bulbs and they have all have shoots, I had got later and later with sowing my garlic and last year it was obviously too late as none of the bulbs sprouted shoots at all, and moved two fruit bushes and pruned them and the grape vine.

This last week I have pruned all the flowering plants, sowed some summer flowering bulbs and pruned all the leafy plants mostly in my herb bed.  I also visited the garden centre and bought my seed potatoes, and have chitted the early variety, and many packets of seeds.  I am hoping to grow lettuce, radish, salad onion, cucumber, onion which I am going to try from seeds this year, leek, dwarf bean, peas, courgette, purple sprouting broccoli, kale, cabbage, spinach, chard, carrot, beetroot and turnip.  I have a number of salad leaves that self seed now such as wild rocket, corn salad and mizuna so I only sow these every three or four years or so.

During the next week I am going to sow onion, radish and salad onion on Friday or Saturday and lettuce on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  The onions will be sown in seed trays and others in to a bed in the polytunnel.

What have you or are you going to be doing in your garden?

Knitting

I am joining in with Ginny for this weeks sharing of knitting and reading Tami for this weeks sharing of work in progress.

This week I am busy trying to finish off a dress I am knitting for my youngest for Christmas.  As I am knitting this in the evening only it is progressing in fits and starts.  I would like to complete it soon, as I have a few other smaller projects that I would like to knit for both children for Christmas.  I am on to the second sleeve which has been slow progress.  I got to the end of the increases and realised that I was three stitches short!  I had to frog it back almost to the beginning.  My youngest has grown since I started knitting this so I hope it still fits her by the time I am finished.

My reading this week has been mostly on gardening.  I am planning what I need to do and when using a, new to me, method.  I came across biodynamic gardening as a method from a colleague when I used to work.  At the time I thought it was a tad bizarre but recently have felt that it probably isn't as mad an idea as I first thought.  The little booklet came with this rather colourful year planner.

I have read the booklet and looked at a few websites, there are books on this too but for now I am going to keep it simple.  If it is successful then I may read in to it further in the future.  I have also been looking at apple trees after spending a wonderful day last week with a local apple expert.

What are you knitting and reading?

Garden

This last week I have spent more time planning jobs in the garden than I have actually in it.  I posted last week about biodynamic gardening and that I am going to follow the methods of this type of gardening in my garden next year.  Apart from weeding, there are a few other jobs I need to do during the autumn and winter it is these that I have been looking into to plan when I should be doing them.  I am starting to like this approach to gardening it suggests that you do specific tasks at specific times which I hope will focus my gardening and make it more manageable and achievable.

So the tasks I have identified so far are to divide my rhubarb plant which I shall do in December, move and prune two fruits bushes and prune the grape vine, which I shall also do in December but at a different time to dividing the rhubarb and sew some spring bulbs which I shall do in January.

Today I spent another hour in the garden weeding, I have yet to finish this job as I am limiting myself to one hour at a time so I do not feel overwhelmed by the amount there is to do!  Once the weeding is done I will clean all the pots used for sewing and potting on, there is a big pile waiting in the poly tunnel.  Then I will probably start to plan what I will sew and what seeds I need and get them ordered.

Do you have a garden, what are you doing with it at the moment?