Ruminations

I'm just writing this afternoon really to put a few thoughts down 'on paper' or something of that sort!!

Steve and I have been through some very trying and difficult times over the last few years - and that is no exaggeration. If it could happen - it's happened to us! One big wrench for us has been to leave our beautiful home and life that we had in Ynys Mon ( Anglesey for you anglophiles!!) to move to Oxfordshire - this was a work thing. Behind us we left our very eco-lifestyle and lots of friends and fellow eco-warriors. It has been a very difficult thing to find our motivation to pick up and move on and create that same feel in our new place.

However, the Great Spirit knows better and knows when to twang that web and push you to get off your bum and do something!!

All of a sudden, in the space of a year, we are now allotment holders (replaced our previous veg garden with avengeance!!), we are beekeepers and chicken keepers again. We recycle, re-use and think hard about out footprint on the land. We support charities that are beloved to us (WSPA, FoE, CAT, bumblebee conservation, etc). We shop where possible in local farm shops (http://www.foxburyfarm.co.uk/). I have been to my first local Parish council meeting - there is nothing quite like it to really embed you into the community, warts and all!!

Why is this important?

It's given us back out real identity.

It is hard sometimes just to stop and just be.... not to worry about belongings and the current financial crisis, property prices and energy bills. Earn enough if you can to pay the bills but then really really enjoy Life ......up until now, I don't think I have done that in some time.

I can now have the internal peace to sit here in my garden - or should I say on that bit of earth that I am borrowing at the moment - and simply be here. I don't need anything more fancy than that. I never fail to look out across the fields in wonder and feel a glow at seeing that scruffy new great Tit or Robin, or lately a brand new Spotted Fly-catcher! This wonderment comes also from knowing that we are trying to 'do our bit'.

I feel very strongly about the countryside and particularly about animal welfare and I can finally say that loudly and without embarassment - it is my passion in life. I count myself very lucky that I have found a partner in Life who feels similarly. Also that we have friends, old and new, who are also of the same mind.

This brings me rambling back around Life's web again and how we are now suddenly on the edge of something new and even better than before, by meeting our new and good friends Tim and Julie (http://www.fiddlesticks.uk.net/) and now setting up the Longworth Allotment Apiary. We have lots of ideas on setting up a mini ecosystem there and using it potentially as a local school education facility as well as an asset to the local environment. I am total blown away by the possibilities!

Julie and Tim, I thank you both from the bottom of my heart - you are both fantastic people and I hope that we remain friends for many years.

So what was the point of this Blog?

Well it is a "Thankyou" really to the Universe for giving me a purpose again. I have whispered it on the wind and chanted it over my altar and now it is on another web!

Blessed Be xxxx

Lotty meanderings

This season is our first full one on the allotment. Although I have tried veg growing in the past, it has never been on such a scale as this. I have to confide that I am still nervous about it. The planting and cultivation from seed through to the finished vegetable goodness fills me with both wonder and fear. I never tire of seeing those first seedlings pushing through and relish potting on plants until they are ready to go out into the big wide world. However, once in the ground I cluck around them like a mother hen and feel devastated when something goes wrong. I take it very personally and feel like an allotment failure.

Now, horror of horrors, I am faced with task of successive planting!! If I have gaps after harvesting I must fill them or be faced with the charge of not utilising my plot effectively. Bare ground is wasted ground!!!!

Today, I proudly unearthed the rest of our garlic - this was a big success. The garlic has been in the ground since November and today the beautiful luscious bulbs saw the light of day. Between you and me I think I have produced enough to last a lifetime - but I guess I can always barter with some of it. However, to get back to my original train of thought, I now have a 19 ft x 4 ft bed to fill!!!!! What can I possibly put in that bed??? If I was any good at all as an allotmenteer, I would now produce several trays of green and burgeoning plants that would perfectly fill the space!!! Not me, oh no - I am going to get out the books tonight - when it is far too late - and come up with some half-arsed scheme that will end up with me just covering the bed over and forgetting about it! ...........but then again there is always green manure!!!!!! I think that will have to be a different blog topic for another day.

By the way, the photo is of our recycled trailer tent which has been magically transformed with one of those cheap plastic greenhouse covers into our very own tomato and salad house - nifty, eh?!

Our Allotment last year

A few photos to remind us how much work we have put in on the allotment over the last year.
This is how it was - just a big overgrown area that had not been cultivated for at least 20 years.
We strimmed, raked, strimmed again!! Put a shed up and dug in some veg beds..................

It has been hard work - but worth it!!

Sunday morning

Well , had a lovely day yesterday.
Spent a few hours down at the lotty putting in some brassicas that had been growing in wooden wine boxes for the last few weeks. The plot is looking ok but lots and lots of weeding to do as always.
Plans for today are to move some more sweetcorn, squashes and tomatoes down there from our garden coldframe and basically weed until my hands bleed and my back gives up!!! Oh the life of an allotmenteer!!
Went to the Blue Boar yesterday evening with Tim and Julie and had a very lovely evening. Good company, good conversation, good food and good wine - perfect.

Lots of things!!

Well, too much to tell really...............
Went to Blue Boar barbecue and had a good time.
Boring week in work after the bank holiday.
Then ........went to the Wychwood festival!!!!!!!
IT WAS FAB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saw some fantastic bands; met some lovely people; bought lots of ethnic trinkets; ate lots of scrumptious food and the sun shone down on us all weekend!!!
Life does not get any better then last weekend!!!
Watch out for further updates on this - we do have a couple of great video clips, unprofessionally shot by me on my phone! I will let Steve upload those.
Now today I have to go and do a LOT of weeding down at the allotment. Steve went and strimmed yesterday so that we could see where the beds are!!! So, I will go and do some more retrieval today!!