Wondering..

Miles - Why do daddy lions wear wigs?

Hermione – How would I know if I’d spotted a Nazi?

Claire – Why do my children always ask questions when I’m a) driving round the roundabout for the second time still trying to find the exit, b) attempting for the fourth time to hear the message left on my answering machine, c) asleep?

Garden planning

Prompted by a conversation about quinoa today I decided to get my seed stash out. I bought some rainbow quinoa seeds late last year ready for this years growing season. Well, I have now found almost every seed known to man (perhaps not quite) except for the rainbow quinoa. Very frustrating. I'm going to summon the energy to rake through the drawers again after this.

Anyway, now I have my seeds stash to hand I'm starting to plan the beds in my head. Some of the seeds are from last year but they have been stored well. I suspect the germination rate may be slightly lower but I'm going to try them all the same. Some are new ones that I have picked up as I've seen them over autumn and winter.

Now that I have two veg patches I feel I have so much more scope and hopefully will be able to more than double last years productivity by maximising both plots. I'm aiming to bring food not just to our table but also to our friends who have very generously offered their garden. I know I won't manage to grow all of the veg we eat but I hope to make a big impact on the shopping bill and have fun in the process.

We'll be foraging again too and after watching a few Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall programmes recently I think I'll have more success with my elderflower cordial, elderflower champagne and elderberry cordial this year. I know now that the champagne is supposed to go mouldy! I shouldn't have thrown mine away last year at that point.

I'm going to do more research about hawthorn before the blossoms come. We really enjoy the hawthorn blossom tea so I'm now wondering about collecting and drying it for use later in the year.

Also wondering if it's possible to preserve the wild garlic leaves in some way too. I love that flavour. It's different to ordinary garlic. It reminds me of messing in the woods as a child.

I've not made any final decisions but I think this is what I'll be growing this year.

Low maintenance patch - Potatoes, jerusalem artichokes and beetroot. Some other odds and ends too but I think these will be the main crops here. There's a potential rabbit issue here so it may be wisest to stick with hardy roots.

Salad beds and cut and come leaves - Rocket, radishes, spring onions, chard bright lights, parsley, basil, pak choi and perpetual spinach.

Bean and pea beds - Runner Bean, Dwarf French Beans, Broad Beans and Peas. I've an extra early type of broad bean this year and some are already started in pots outside.

Greenhouse - Goji berries, peppers, aubergine, melon and cucumbers. The goji won't produce anything this year. I think they need a few years to mature. Possibly a couple of tomatoes but after big tomato gluts the last couple of years I think we'll stick to one or two - probably the Tumbling Tom variety.

Main bed - Sprouting broccoli, Courgette, Onions and Leeks.

I'm not going to bother with mooli, carrots or parsnips this year unless I get round to preparing a special bed for them. It's a bit of a waste of time in our soil as it is. I think I'm going to concentrate on making a pumpkin and squash bed instead. I really want to grow more pumpkins this year but they take up so much space. Need to ponder this one.

Off now to carry on hunting for the rest of my seeds.

United Kingdom

Today has passed in a bit of a blur. I've been ever so tired as I stayed up way past my bedtime last night. I'd like to say it was because I went out for dinner and then onto a club for a dance but that would be a downright lie.

I watched the update on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Chicken Out Campaign and then set to making some map cards for the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately Southern Ireland isn't there and I haven't differentiated between Northern and Southern Ireland. That's what happens when you watch telly and do your home work late! Never mind, I've made lots and I'm hoping they will be good for playing snap and memory games.

Looking at the picture I'm wondering if I should have spent the evening scrubbing the floor instead!

Fire bowls

Hermione thoroughly enjoys making small garden fires. She discovered this last autumn and has spent many an hour stoking smouldering leaves, gathering sticks and attempting to toast anything form rice cakes to chocolate ever since.

I spotted this fire bowl and cooking stand while browsing Myriad online.

I'm not sure what to do. I'm a little worried about the safety issues - but then she messes with fire anyway. I'm also a little alarmed at the cost - perhaps a bucket style barbecue would be a cheaper and reasonable option.

Hmmm, pondering. I think it's great for children to explore the elements but it's not always easy to know how and when. Still pondering.

F words

Hermione and I made our first attempt at felt faeries yesterday. Long way to go there - they were trickier than we expected.

I messed online and found some great reading and comprehension exercises based on fables at the CurrClick site. It's certainly worth a look at that site. There are some good free downloads for home ed.

Feeling exceptionally fat and alarmingly unfit. It's payoff time for spending the last few weeks crafting by the open fire, munching cake and sipping ginger cordial. Craig said last night that these things have greater impact once you're closer to forty than thirty but I refuse to think about that.

I'm starting to feel fuddled and need to get out in the fresh air. I want the frost to pass so that I can start on my veg patch. I've had my fill of winter for this year. I want the wheel to turn.

Water - Drop

Reflecting on this weeks 'lessons' I think one of the things Hermione (and I) have found most enjoyable was realising the physical reality of ten litres of water and translating this into how much water is actually used in everyday tasks such as flushing the toilet, taking a bath etc. We were shocked when we started to really envisage just how much water we actually use. There are details, guides and suggestions for this activity on the water link I gave earlier in the week.

We also enjoyed bringing the water cycle to life in the form of a story. I felt that all of the exercises and discussions we had around the diagrammatic images of the water cycle weren't quite hitting the mark. I googled for inspiration and found a computer game (which I hated) in which a drop of rain was personified. This gave us the idea for writing the story - and here it is.

Drop

High above the earth, fluffy white clouds floated along. In the clouds lived a little Drop of water, round and content with life. For as long as he could remember, he spent his days chilling out and soaking up the sun's warm rays. One day, he took his usual place in the sun but the light didn't seem to be as bright. In fact, as the day went on, it grew darker and darker, loud claps of thunder shook the cloud, and the Drop felt as if he were getting so heavy he could hardly move.

Suddenly, the Drop felt himself falling from the cloud. He was starting to condense and turn into rain. Down, down, down he fell, farther and father from home.

At last he landed on the earth, in the dark green rain forest. There were tall trees and huge leaves for as far as he could see. Multicolored insects of every shape and size crawled and flew around him. Strange creatures surrounded him, and the sounds and sights were like nothing he had ever seen or heard before. All he was sure of was that he wanted to go back home. But how?

So began the adventure of Drop, the water molecule, as he enters the great water cycle. He needs to get safely through the forest, into the river, and out to sea so that the sun can warm him once again and help him get back to the clouds. He needs to reach a place where he can evaporate back to his cloud home.

It’s not going to be easy. All living things need water. What if he soaks into the soil and is absorbed by a tree or plants roots? What if an animal or insect drinks him? What if he makes it to the river but is taken out at a water treatment centre and sent to someone’s home for them to use to flush the toilet, have a bath or cook their dinner?

Drop may not know it as his memory isn’t that good but he’s already been in all of these situations – and still always eventually made it back to his cloud home. There’s no more water on earth than there was when earth began. It’s the same water just going around and round and round in the huge water cycle.

I'm hoping Hermione may feel inclined to draw a few illustrations for Drop this coming week.

Hearts to share

I'm having a day time blog break to recover from the mornings celebrations, (Craig is twenty one again today). I am seriously not a morning person and try to hide under the duvet for as long as possible but the children were wild this morning.

He's working long hours over the weekend on something that couldn't be postponed so we had to do our celebrating early.

When I helped them wrap up prizes for pass the parcel, musical bumps and so on yesterday I hadn't imagined the party would be kicking off at 7.30am. I'm glad I was just in charge of the music - I suspect Craig will be asleep at his desk by now after all of his dancing, bumping and parcel passing.

I gave him a beautiful fabric artwork and some of those ever so sickly love heart sweets.

I also bought a pair of gloves with rubber strips on - especially for erecting greenhouses - but decided to say they were from the children *tut tut*.

Here is a beautiful crochet book mark that Nana has made and it's up for grabs. We've hearts to spare! Email me (in profile) if you would like one and I'll pull names from the hat next week.