Allotment Update

Now March is here (coming to an end actually) it's time for me to get planting if I want to make the most of this year and get my family some fresh, home grown veggies to eat this summer.  It is difficult getting down to the allotment with a one year old, he isn't walking yet so has to either sit in the car or his pushchair which he doesn't like much, so I usually only get half an hour or so there at a time.  Luckily I got a few bits into the ground in the winter so I feel that has put me ahead a little.  So far I have perpetual spinach, broad beans, onions, garlic, rhubarb and last week I planted by first peas of the year.  I am excited because things are happening, but also worried I am not going to be able to keep on top of it.  My motto is "little and often" with the allotment so I am hoping it serves me well.  Take a look:

Here you can see the broad beans coming up

Here is the garlic and beyond that is where I planted the peas

The compost box I put together myself from 4 large pallets

The perpetual spinach

The rhubarb

What are you planting?  Next I am going to do spring onions, hopefully some more peas and broad beans and I am keen to get beetroot in so I can make this chutney again.
Hope you are having a good week.

New Years resolutions

What I love most about new years is not the drinking and partying (although that can be good too), but the feeling of starting a fresh.  For some reason the transition of one number to another on the calendar gives us a feeling of having another chance, a new start to life.  And this year is no different.  I have many many hopes for the year ahead, I am so excited about it but I didn't want to over do it with the ol' New Years Resolutions so have just come up with 10 (maybe that seems like a lot).  I have tried to be really specific with them rather than making sweeping generalisations and grand gestures:

1.     Read the bible in a year - following my new "Read the Bible in a year" book,

2.   2. Buy nothing new for a year – Only buy new if I can’t make what I need or find it second hand, I am not going to beat myself up if I do buy something, but I am going to try to keep this in mind before making purchases,

3.   3. Exercise – at least 3 times per week, workout videos and walking/jogging, I want to get fit, but also want to enjoy myself, not torture myself,

4.       Eat more healthily - don't buy something ready made when I could make it for myself, eat at least 5 piece of fruit and veg per day,

5.   5.Finish wedding scrapbook before 2^nd anniversary in July.

6.   6. Grow more veg – Tidy allotment and plant over the whole of it, spend at least 1hr per week, (don't get eviction letter), eat what I grow,

7.   7.Make £400 per month through photography, art and craft by August, this is the amount I will be losing by going part time at teaching,

8.   8.Pay off overdraft, be at least at 0 at the end of every month,

9.       Watch less TV -  it is no secret that I am a telly addict so I am going to try to only watch the TV for specific programs and not just put it on because it is the default entertainment activity,

10      Have 100 followers of blog by May,

Le    Let's see how I get on shall we...
          (All photos from weheartit)

Allotment update

Take a look at this letter I received from the council last week:

Uncultivated and weedy indeed?!?  Pah, what a cheek!

Hmm well maybe they were right, it is pretty weedy.  (Even though I did plant two beds of broad beans and onions two weeks ago!)

So the hubby and I spent an hour in the rain, I put my fork through my welly and hubby pulled a muscle in his leg, but we ended up with this:

I think you will agree it is much better, still a bit of digging to go though.  Needless to say afterwards we were wet and exhausted.

My "Studio"

When I am not teaching, taking photographs, working on my allotment, scrapbooking or making stuff for my Etsy shop I like to do the one thing that really brings me joy, the thing I am trained for and the thing that I most want to do in the future, and that is my art. Sadly my darling husband and I do not have a lot of money and thus no space for a permanent studio. To get by I have a sort of "get-it-out-when-you-want-it" studio that normally lives in the corner of our living room come dining room, and when it is out it resides on our dining room table. Like today for instance. I am currently working on some artwork for a friend of mine's partner who is a musician; he has commissioned me to produce some mixed media paintings that might work well on the cover of his next catalogue of sheet music. The music is all about different types of flowers with the lyrics to famous floral poems, so I am trying to make the artworks flower related. Anyhow, here is what my "get-it-out-when-you-want-it" studio looks like today, followed by some photos of the artworks:

I like to have my laptop with me when I am working so I can look online at different techniques and styles for inspiration.  I am fairly pleased with the artworks although I felt the second one was too pink, and the first one could have had a larger group of flowers in the middle.

Now what to do for the rest of the day?  It's a lovely summer day here in Berkshire, and I am being draw outside, maybe I will go for a walk.  Only two more days of my summer holiday left after today, and i am trying to live each one as if it were my last day on earth, thinking, "what would I want to do today if I was going to die tomorrow"  and not in a crazy kind of "I am going to do a bungee jump" sort of thing, but in a "living each day to the full" sort of way.
What are you doing today?

Hels
x

Caravans

My husband Paul and I were having a conversation in the car when we were on our way to our holiday in Cornwall.  We were observing the number of ugly caravans that people own and how they all have the most inappropriate names.  We decided that there were basically three styles of caravan names out there, firstly those that make the caravan seem grand, second, those that make the caravan seem fast and third, those that make the caravan seem adventurous.  Take the following for example:

THE SWIFT CHARISMA 220

Personally I don't  find this caravan to have much charisma, nor do I imagine it to be swift!

Or how about:

THE CRUSADER STORM

Hmmm not sure this model could withstand a shower let alone a storm.

So we decided to come up with our own names for caravans, check these out:

The Home from Home,

The Cosy 200,

The Comfy Slipper,

The Take It Easy,

Do you think they would catch on?

I then lamented that there are no nice looking caravans out there and that I should design one myself, but then I found these beauties on weheartit:

 

Gorgeous or what?  Now I really want a caravan.  I would like one on my allotment instead of a shed.

I have been on holiday!!

Finally my hubby and I got away to Cornwall this week on our summer holiday, a well deserved break for us both I think, we work damn hard! We had a wonderful time seeing all the sights and sounds of the eastern side of the county including vitising a couple of beautiful National Trust properties, two bike rides alon the Camel Valley bike trail, a wine tasting evening and a visit to the Gardens Of Heligan.  Here are some of my favorite pics of the week:

What are you doing for your holidays?  Anyone else been to/going to Cornwall?