Carrots and Kids

Bloggy Bits

Whoa! I'm feeling a bit stressed. Not sure why. But I do know that sometimes enough is not enough. I really must exercise my contented muscles a little more methinks.

Anyway, I have spent the morning cutting and pasting. I have made a mood board of my blog. Actually I am quite fond of it and have stuck it above my computer where it keeps distracting me.

It is a visual representation of what I'd like my blog to become. Maybe some elements are there, who knows, it's hard to really see things when you are so close to them.

The board contains my children, a calm space, coffee pots (because I want a visit here to be like we're nattering over a cup of coffee), a tag exhorting people to "Just Do It" (at the risk of sounding like Nike), Alys Fowler (coz I like her), my photos, choc pud (comforting) and is colourful.

Really, I shouldn't be sitting here faffing. I have spent all morning faffing. I should be making beef stew and dumplings for nine. Whoops! Just remembered, no root veg. No, there are no swedes or parsnips in my garden. Let's not go into why.

So, beef casserole it is. With couscous. Anyway, the point is I shouldn't be here. I should be managing my time more. But the trouble with my time is that it is quite irregular and in quite short supply, despite appearances to the contrary. So I add "Get Good At Time Management" to my cerebral To Do list.

Just in case you have time to spare (I know you probably don't either but you might be good at pretending like me) have a look at this list. Yes, I'm on it! But also so are some fabulous, new-to-me gardening blogs too. Happy reading and have a great weekend!

* Edited to add: I should've put my mood board in context (rushing as usual) but it's part of an e-course I'm doing which is making me think a lot....

* Edited again (tsk, so indecisive) to add/change the pics for more close-ups. Think I'm done now....

My Library #2 - Tender

I was lucky enough to receive Nigel Slater's hefty tome Tender v.1 A Cook and His Vegetable Patch at Christmas and I am so thankful that I did. I love this book.

It's not so much a gardening book, more of a "look what I grew in the garden and am now cooking with it" book. I can't wait for harvest time at the plot and the allotment now.

Of course, I may have just put a jinx on my growing season. I may now just harvest a handful of raspberries and a few broad beans.

But ever the optimist, I am going to dream about all the lovely dishes I am going to make with my many aubergines I shall pick. Ho yes. And I shall forget that last time I tried to grow aubergines, it wasn't exactly what you'd call a success.

I am also taking Nigel's advice and generally copying his seed selections. I figure he would go for the tastiest and, well, if it's good enough for him....

This book is more inspirational than Jamie At Home (another favourite of mine) mainly because Nigel's garden is a lot smaller and he appears to do all the work himself.

And he doesn't seem to set himself up as a Veggie Growing Perfectionist (after all, why would you waste precious growing space by edging your veg beds with box hedges?) which makes him easy to relate to. One this non-perfect veggie grower can relate to.

This books accompanies a television series of the same name which I seemed to have been clever enough to have missed but which I'm hoping will come out on DVD. The programmes sound every bit as wonderful as this book is.

Love you, love you not

One of the wonderful things about gardening is that it's so diverse. There are so many different things we can be passionate about. Being greedy, growing food is one of mine.

However, last year on the allotment and at home I started to grow more flowers. Some were for the wildlife (I had a bee bar) and some were what I ambitiously called my "cutting garden". Which was mainly sweet peas and dahlias.

I did also plant some gladioli. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this. The fact that I haven't should be a clue. Yep, I didn't know why I wasted my time. Oh they grew. But my love, or even a vague like, for them didn't.

So, I'm not planting them again. Currently indoors I am enjoying my hyacinths which, I think, is a bit of love or hate flower for some. I'm not sure why but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, thank goodness.

What flowers do you love, or which won't be seeing daylight in your patch?

Today I am....

:: Excited as I sense spring in the air and wait for my new seeds (hurry up postie).

:: Inspired by an obituary of an amazing woman - Vera Rich -  I read in the Times this week. Sounds a bit morbid but I'm going to keep this as the start of an Amazing Women scrapbook for my girls. I want them to know there are truly inspirational women out there, as well as the...um...more visible but possibly less inspiring women out there.

:: Thinking a lot about the school gardening club. What I want to do, whether I need or want help, plans, why I love it so much.

:: Loving my hyacinths. I bought only white, just so my kitchen looks vaguely cohesive. I don't think it makes much difference but I'm enjoying them just the same. 

:: Exasperated by the antics of one three-year-old. I'm trying to put a positive spin on this and think that maybe this is nature's way of making me miss him when he goes to school in September but not be totally inconsolable.

:: Enjoying a new Yogi black chi tea I bought this week. Ah....bliss in a tea cup.

:: Reconnecting with some old, long forgotten parts of me. No, I don't mean my stomach muscles but rather the slightly alternative, creative, home-educating part of me. That doesn't mean I'm going to pull the children out of school either. Sadly.

What are you thinking/enjoying/feeling/doing today?

Bird Feeding The Easy Way

 I really want to encourage more birds into the garden. I have tried, and failed, to entice goldfinches and during the recent snow we made sure the birds had food.

It may be a sign of ageing, but it is fascinating watching them. If funds permitted, I'd treat them to meal worms and things that wriggle but that may have to wait awhile.

Fat balls are easy to make, and I have some lard in the fridge (it's super cheap) so that I can whip up a few flower pot shaped ones if and when the desire strikes.

It's something I wanted to do at gardening club but have been put off, unsurprisingly, by the hot fat element. But last term we did make some bird food -- the easy way.

I toasted some slices of bread at home and made a hole at the top with a straw. At school the children then slathered the bread in peanut butter and pressed birdseed onto it. We then hung it on the branches where it disappeared into, I'm hoping, some feathered tums.

~ Sweet Sweet Pea Dreams ~

Anyone who read my blog last summer will have soon realised that I love sweet peas. I was going to write  that I successfully grew them but.....well, they're really easy to grow so that wouldn't be anything to boast about.

I only wished I had been a tad more adventurous with my colour choices. I can't believe I'm going to write this, but all my flowers seemed to be purple and after a while I got a bit...bored.

Shamefully, despite my urging everyone else, I failed to sow some this autumn. Quite often with gardening, I sabotage or leave things to the last minute so if/when they fail I can shrug and pass it off while nodding sagely that I knew it would never work.

However, I'm determined to stamp this out so this weekend I ordered some sweet pea seeds from Sarah Raven, in good time so I can have my first choice.

Scent is important with these so I steered clear of a scentless acid green one that I loved the look of and bought: deep pink (Prince Edward of York), a brilliant pink (Zorija Rose), a rich, dark mauve (Karen Louise) and a cream (Mrs Collier).

I know lots out there will be tutting that I went for Sarah Raven seeds. I know she's the last person who needs my money, wears silly boots and is possibly quite pretentious but....well, I love her seeds.I don't want to be her best friend, I just want to grow wonderful flowers. I love how they're presented in the brochure so I have a fair idea of what they look like, how easy they are to grow and, well, I just like them. I am shallow like that.

~ Fresh ~

I can't believe we are nearly at the end of January. Sometimes I feel as if I'm sleepwalking through my life which, as we all know, is not a Good Thing.

There is so much I have to do too. Boring but essential stuff which I am, of course, failing to get to grips with. And before you know it, it will be time to sow seeds in earnest.

So really, I have to get my act together. One small, non-essential thing I have managed to do is to freshen up my Nature Window Sill.

Everything was looking a bit withered so I binned most of it and re-potted some hyacinth bulbs I bought in a sale into chipped mugs I couldn't bear to throw out (not because I was attached to them but because it seemed so wasteful, even though I didn't want to drink from them).

Next Christmas (I think I may have my priorities a bit skew-whiff) I aim to buy some non-chipped mugs from a charity shop and plant them up with a hyacinth bulb as presents for friends and teachers. Oh my generosity knows no bounds.

Really, though, I'm hoping my new, fresh nature window sill will rejuvenate my desire to spring clean.

....On Running a School Gardening Club

I've had a few emails about the school gardening club I run so, because it's easier than cutting and pasting lots of emails and because there might be others out there who are also wondering I thought I'd answer the questions here. Hope that's ok.

Q. What do you grow?

A. I tend to grow easy, prolific veg, even if the children tell me they don't like them. Mean? Possibly but I, as yet, have no idea how to grow chocolate and I'm trying to show them that sometimes it's nice to grow things that we may not like but which others do. Because gardeners are generous.

So we currently grow: strawberries, broad beans, runner beans, carrots (easier said than done), potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, redcurrants, radish, salads and sweet peas. Not all of them are successful. Last year was a particularly rubbish year. Which brings me onto....

Q. What do you do about watering?

A. This is hard because, try as I might, I cannot get the children into a watering routine. It's hard because I am not there every day to remind them and while their teachers are I guess they have other things to nag them about. This is the reason why a lot of things died last year but I'm hoping they'll get the message that you get out what you put in.

I have tried pairing children up and getting them to do it on set days. Sending them home with a note in their pocket. I have even got a notice laminated which I would wipe clean each week. I stuck it on the cloakroom door at their eye level so they'd remember. No go. Now it has been turned over and a note to remind them to pick up their stuff from the floor is scrawled on it. Honestly, I have no idea what to do and really, don't want to visit every day to water it. Sigh. Doesn't help that we don't have a hose and that the veg garden is under a huge tree so is very dry anyway. It's quite dispiriting.

Q. What do you do about funding?

A. The school has been very good and will pay for things I want. Quite often though I forget to ask or to put receipts in so last year I funded most of it. We do get tools etc from saving supermarket vouchers. Sometimes parents ask me what I could do with and, really, unless I say seeds they don't seem to remember. So I got a tad fed up and organised a cake and plant sale. That was highly stressful but very lucrative. Now I have £115 which, believe me, is a lot. I may well do another cake sale (but with shed loads more help). I haven't applied for any grants because there is a second garden the school is creating and applying for similar grants which, believe me, is a whole other blog post. Or posts. Anyway, I can't seem to find funding for established school gardens but maybe that's me not looking hard enough....

Q. Do you have help?

A. I never used to but because someone offered, and I knew them, I bit their hand off. I thought it would be great fun, someone to share the load, come up with ideas, even run it if I wasn't able to (in all the time I've been doing it I've only cancelled twice). And it has been all those things but unless you know the person really well it can also be a bit tricky. How much help did they mean? Are they as committed as you? If not you may find yourself still running all of it, which might not be quite what you had in mind.

Q. How many children are in your club?

A. There are 15 members but we started with 17. My ideal number is 12, the school's more. We have three narrow beds and it is amazing how quickly children can sow a few rows of carrots. You do get children who drop out, or forget it's on or who are going to a mate's for tea. I'm afraid I'm quite strict, if they sign up they have to come every week. I'm not giving up my time to garden with just my daughter, I can do that any time.

Q. What activities do you do?

A. I try and vary them but there are some general ones that we have to do like weeding and watering. Weeding is tricky because even if you show them which are weeds there's always one that's not paying attention....I also try and do some "looking after the wildlife" type activities, things to take home like hyacinth bulbs plus seed sowing. I used to post what we'd done here but got out of the habit. Maybe it's something I should start again.

If there are any more questions, feel free to email me. Last year was harder work and not terribly successful. I'm hoping this year will be different. I think I feel a "My Resolutions for the School Gardening Club" post coming on.

Differences

I don't want to come over all worthy but it's quite tricky to post something about feeling all "can't wait for spring" when I've just read that in Haiti 80% of people live on less than £1.22 a day. Such was their life before the devastating earthquake.

Admittedly, I don't get to watch the television news much, if at all, so while I listened to radio reports the reality seemed too.....far away for me.

But reading a newspaper, the words seem to sink into a deeper level. For me - apart from the incredible bad luck of the country and the absolutely horrific and helpless situation the Haitians find themselves in - for me, the most distressing thing I read about related to children.

How there are many just dazed, confused and frightened amid the rubble. Completely alone, their family presumably dead or trapped. They are without shelter, medical aid or food and water. And, worse, they will be prey to being abused.

And I've just watched Kevin McCloud visit the slums of Mumbai where he discovered that despite poor sanitation, health, education not to mention working and living conditions, the people in the slums had "a knack for happiness".

Amazing.

There is a sense of impotency you feel watching and reading all this. Money, of course, helps but my hand-wringing won't. Apart from digging deep, there doesn't seem a lot I can do.

Apart from, that is, perhaps living the best life I can. To develop a Knack For Happiness. To be truly grateful for everything I have. To just suck up the sometimes unpleasant, uncomfortable or inconvenient situations or thoughts that occur.

No doubt, in a month or so, when the images, words and horrors have receded, I will be back to my self-absorbed and, at times, self-pitying, ways.

When I do I shall just have to re-read this post. And work a little harder on my Knack.

At least the children are happy....

Today I'm faced with another day at home with all five children. Part of me doesn't mind, really, but a tiny party, with quite a loud, insistent voice, reminds me often that this will be the third week when I've not had any time to myself. And no, I can't hear those violins.

Still, it's a small price to pay. I suppose. At least they are all happy. Well, except for the little one because he soon gets too cold and, let me tell you, stumbling home carrying him in deep snow is not fun. For either of us. 

Me, attempting to sledge, watched by Fat Dog

Luckily we stopped at a friend's en route who warmed him up with a blanket, hot milk and a chocolate biscuit so we could at least carry on our short, but oh so long, journey with him walking and not whimpering. You have to find the joy where you can some days.

I have to say, I was very excited when we stepped out, en masse, to trudge around in the snow. It was a bit like Christmas only without the presents or lovely food but with snow. Actually, re-reading that it wasn't really like Christmas at all. 

The road outside our house

I mean, we were all home and there were no cars going past. That was odd. We didn't even use a lead for Fat Dog. So we trudged to a gently sloping hill not far away, but might as well have been the moon. And the home-made sledge we had wouldn't work because the snow was too deep.

Every time it snows (which is a bit too often these days for my liking) I think why didn't we buy a proper sledge? Now, of course, they'll be as rare as rocking horse poo.

Still, it's given us all something else to moan about for a while (and yes, I think schools do need to close. It is inconvenient but how, exactly, is everyone supposed to get to and from the places safely? I don't have a 4x4 nor snow chains and I doubt many people do.)

The village shop looks like it's been robbed, all the shelves are empty, the only vehicles going past are tractors and tonight, it's supposed to freeze. I'm sure there's something positive inthere, oh yes...er....at least the children are happy.