January has been rather snowy around here. Not in a disruptive way, as it's mostly just been a light dusting, but it's been pretty cold, often windy, and the ground has been so hard that doing anything in the garden feels unappealing. I feel like I'm still recovering from the work-related onslaught of the autumn, and while I've been doing quite a bit of DIY, I've been starting weekend mornings slowly, knitting and watching YouTube videos about growing a preserving food. This month's knitting has used wool from The Inkpot. Hannah hand shears her own sheep, and is extremely cheerful. I made socks with this wool at the end of last year (I've already worn them so much I've put a hole in one of the heels), and now I've adapted a cushion pattern from this 1948 knitting book to make a hot water bottle cover with a ridiculous fringe. I've not shaped the top, because I usually sit with one hand inside the cover, and I'd only end up stretching the neck. I've been using this for a week or so now and it's perfect. The other thing I've made in January is calendula salve. Back in the autumn I finally got round to dehydrating some of the abundance of calendula flowers from our garden, which I'd been meaning to do all summer. They sat in the dehydrator for several weeks, until finally I got throwing them into a jar of sweet almond oil which had been under the sink for about five years. There were still a few flowers in the garden at this point, so I threw them, fresh, into olive oil. I turned both jars daily for a few weeks - they both turned a rich golden colour, but the fresh flowers went slightly mouldy, which I'm told is always a risk when there might be moisture left. So that jar sadly went in the bin, but the rest I strained and mixed with beeswax (which had also been under the sink for about five years), to make several tiny jars of calendula salve. I've read it's a miracle cure for all kinds of skin complaints, from chicken pox to sunburn. I don't know about that, but I can confirm it works wonders on dry skin, and on hands sore from the cold.
I've got a lot of plans for the garden this year, and one of them is to learn more about the things that are growing (whether I've planted them or not) and what they can be used for, so there might be a little bit more experimenting from me in the coming months.
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Poor, long-neglected blog. But we won't dwell on that, instead we'll have a little poke around what's been happening in the garden over the last couple of months. March started with frogspawn - not technically in the 'garden' as we don't have a pond (yet), but just outside the garden in a field. However I'm afraid it came to a not-too-happy end, as the sunshine was swiftly followed by frost, and then snow. Since then though, the garden has been progressing nicely. In mid-April it started to feel like spring and arrived, and I got to work on the raised beds. We found a giant pile of old printer paper in the loft, slightly damp around the edges, and put it to work keeping the weeds down. Our lovely neighbouring farmer brought us a pile of cow manure, so that got dumped on top, and then the chickens had a lovely time mixing it all around. The plum blossom came out, and then was blown away again a few days later so I'm not sure how that will work out. I moved the raspberries that I stupidly planted in the top of a field last year, and I finally got round to planting out the apple tree that I grafted about ten years ago, and that has been sitting in a pot ever since. Poor Mildred managed to get herself into the leaf mould pile and then couldn't get out - I shouldn't laugh but there was no harm done and it was rather amusing. She wasn't impressed. A friend helped me put up the plastic greenhouse (it blew down in October and I'd just thrown it into a shed). I planted a load of seeds, and then went away for a week with work. Sadly, the wind picked up and the whole thing blew down again. I liked that little greenhouse, and it was great while we were waiting to acquire a more permanent solution, but they really are more suited to sheltered urban gardens than windy hilltops. I've now put the shelves from that up inside the glass greenhouse (which had no shelves), and we'll repurpose the plastic (which is now quite ripped) for something else. So the seeds are all planted (again), the beds are prepared, the apple is now in blossom too, I've planted a load of bedding plants, and the compost bin still hasn't been fixed. Getting there... (slowly).
We've had some good weather round here lately, and while it's tempting to stay at home and tackle the endless round of Things To Do, I have managed to sneak off for a couple of little bike rides on our local trails. I confess they haven't been very speedy bike rides, as I often seem to find myself off my bike, taking photographs of flowers. I just don't know how it happens. I don't always know what they are, and I keep meaning to find out, but then something else distracts me and I forget again. These are old railway trails, and I love the way they cut through the hills and look out over the countryside. On one of my recent forays, I came across preparations for a local bicycling festival - it all looked very exciting and on the way home I saw someone driving with a penny farthing on a bike rack on the back of their car. Occasionally there's an old station, or a dry stone hut, or even another cyclist, but mostly it's just me and the flowers and the weather.
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Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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February 2024
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