The Need for Fleece

I'm getting the itch to spin again. I haven't spun anything for a couple months now - other crafts have taken over, but oh I do so miss spinning. And it's shearing time, right? Maybe it's time to learn to dye as well... that would be good. To be able to call the whole process, from shearing to knitting, a total handmade endeavour would be very satisfying...

Busy

When my two get busy I sometimes have to check on them to see why they are so quiet. I can tip toe in, take a picture and tip toe out, and they're none the wiser.

I love mornings like this.

Garden Notes

However much I think I'll remember, by the time harvest comes I've always forgotten the most basics of when I've started seeds, when I've hardened off, how many crops I planted and how many came to the table. Not that it matters, but I do like to think I'm learning as I go along with this growing gig. So this year I made a note book - watercolour paper, folded and sewed and an ink and watercolour front cover. Simple.

It will be interested to compare with other years and a nice little keepsake.

That Was The Week That Was

This week has been made up with a whole lot of nothingness and really I'm here at the end of this week wondering a) where time goes and b)if I will ever get organised about anything.

Anyway, to your right you will notice I've changed the link love list. I come across some interesting things on the internet but rarely share. Will try to change that at least once a fortnight. And I'm playing with the idea of adding more tutorials and having some giveaways. You lot are so quiet, it would be nice to see you once in a while! What types of giveaways do you like?

And apparently this is the weekend. So. I'd better plan lessons for next week and do some laundry. I am so rock n roll like that.

{this moment}

And finally...

I think these are the last of the DIY paint blog posts. I think. I might get the urge to do some more, but for now, I'm all painted out.

This lamp base was green faux marble, thrifted with the intention of painting. At last it is done. All that remains is to buy a proper lampshade and add doilies (yes, why not?). Because this lamp is a bit of a granny chic lamp, I think. She needs doilies to finish her off and make her feel special. (Apologies again for Orla overload).

And this little beauty was calling for a spruce up... a drop spindle who has laid dormant and forgotten since the wheel has been put to use. But a lick of paint, some lipstick and eyeshadow and she's all ready to bat her eyelashes at me and call me over to the dark side of spindling once again. Who could resist the allure of a spruced up spindle?

A Bluebell Nature Walk

As a family, we mark our years in seasons; we acknowledge the season by noticing it fully and living in it as much as we can. Two spring seasons ago this time of year was unbearably hot. Last spring season it was unusually wet. This season is late, but just about right in its sun-to-rain ratio. And we'll remember it not by the date on the calendar, but in how blue the bluebells were (darker than two years ago, not as blue as last year's), and in how many snails and bugs we found.

Another bluebell nature walk. Another chance to catch our breath at the sight of a carpet of blue throughout the woods. Another chance to be the first to spot the white one. Another chance to listen for the cuckoo (not today).

As we hurtle around the sun, dates and times and calendars zipping by we know deep in our bones where we are on this journey by listening to what nature is saying, where the shadows lie, how the air feels. I know my babes are imbibing these small cues, inheriting their human instincts and mixing them with day-to-day experience out there, in the woods, in nature. They already know so much. And it was never from a book. We don't try to imbibe the meal by reading the recipe; we actually eat from it everyday. We taste it first-hand. We learn by doing until we know, deep in our bones.

And today I was so, so grateful for that.

Undercover

Undercover, sneaky, armed, dangerous and stealthy. You will never see him coming. His hands are lethal. He carries handcuffs and martial arts moves. He is a cross between Inspector Gadget and the CIA. A policeman of the most terrifying. Don't cross him if you want to stay free.

Now you see him. Now you don't.

He was never here.

Allotment Notes

The ground on our allotment is evil. Pure evil. A clay soil that just keeps on breaking your back season after season. We're more than sure that this must have been a river bed thousands of years ago. There is no way it could not have been. And what we battle with is soil too heavy to work when wet and absolutely impossible to break when sun baked. If we don't keep on top of it we will cry later.

We're making plans on how we hope to change our soil, over time, on this land of ours. There will be hard work initially and hopefully some pay-off further down the line.

For now we do what we can. The garlic is in, and we'll do our official garlic for over-wintering with the leeks and onions, but we'll see what we can get until then. Beans in, although to be fair the ground might be a bit too cold... we're experimenting here. The wild area is going to be seeded next week insha'allah. For now, we've added a tub for a pond and hopefully something will spawn there when the rainwater fills it up. This is the boys nature reserve really. I know the eldest will plant himself there at some point and fill his boots with what he learns.

Potatoes - in! Cabbage and kale and brassicas - in!. Gooseberries have flowered a little and behind a big lump of bramble on our new patch of allotment the boys discovered a fox run and rhubarb. A nice little spring bonus.

Still so much to do. Because it never really ends. It's a circle of life kinda thing... I feel a song coming on...