This year we have had a lot of Honesty appear in the woodland area of our garden. This was one of my mother’s favourite wild flowers. Honesty is popular with insects and is often planted under fruit trees to encourage bees and fruiting bushes. In the US it is known as the “silver dollar” plant […]
Blog
Gooseberries and sawfly
After being reasonably successful last year with our gooseberries – we sheet mulched under the plants to stop sawfly – we are going to experiment with Poached Egg Plant this year. I came across this as a recommendation a few years ago and we now have enough plants to try them out under the gooseberries. […]
Spring Blossom
Defence
We need to defend the Earth with the same ferocity we would evoke if it were our home, because it is. We need to defend its inhabitants with the same passion as if they were our family members, because they are. We need to defend our lands, communities and cultures as if our lives depended […]
New wood store
Our old wood store has seen better days, is in the wrong place and looks ugly so the challenge was to build a new one close to the back door where it is easily accessible, gets the morning sun to help keep the wood dry, is more pleasing on the eye and has a smaller […]
Grey Dagger Moth Caterpillar
I was pruning back some of the lower branches of an oak tree in our hedge this morning in order to let in a bit more light and to provide some more firewood. When I took a break for a cup of tea I found this little fellow on my arm: It is a […]
Community belonging
We have “had to leave places where belonging was most valued, and move to a place where belongings were most valued” Mark Boyle – Drinking Molotov Cocktails With Ghandi
Community and needs
Land as community
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” Aldo Leopold in the foreword to “A Sand County Almanac”
Root and Branch
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods