Gardening is more than just sprinkling a few seeds onto a pot of compost and waiting. Sometimes I forget that it's to do with the environment, ours' and the planet's, helping, encouraging and sharing our small patch of earth with animals, insects and birds.
Remembering to do this in the winter isn't hard but come spring my mind becomes focused less on the wildlife and more on my plates and vases as I dream of what I'm going to grow where.
My plans to visit the allotment with the little two were put on hold today thanks to an eight-year-old and a stomach bug so we were confined to base.
Sometimes when you slow down you get ideas or remember something you had planned to do. My mind is full of ideas that never quite make it onto a To Do List but still haunt me. Today one of those actually bubbled to the surface and became a reality.
The poorly girl and her sister sat at the table and cut up lengths of brightly coloured wool to fill an orange net that once held clementines (the two-year-old was too busy in the garden). Toy stuffing was also pulled from a never-ending bag and used too.
Last year we were delighted to watch a thrush build her nest right outside our kitchen, giving us a ring-side seat during meals. We saw her fetch endless twigs and forage for moss on the lawn. We saw her bring food for her brood and we watched them stretch their wings and leave the nest. It was wonderful and compelling.
I strung our colourful ball of nest building materials on a nearby tree, in the hope that she will return. It's a bit of a thank you too, from us to her.
