Happy St George's Day!

I hope you enjoy this green and pleasant land today. We will be in the garden, doing our bit to make it it a little greener and more pleasant.

Good busy

I’ve been busy. Actually, we have been busy.

I first saw these videos months ago. Incredible Edible Todmorden came on my radar years ago and I was inspired to do something. And like most of the things that catch my attention and inspire me to do something, my brain filed it neatly away out of sight and mind, lest I actually have to DO something. Introverted me is not a starter of things in public forums.

I saw Incredible Edible mentioned a few more times. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall visited Todmorden, as did Alys Fowler and a few news crews. Other similar projects cropped up around the country and I heard about those. And then a few weeks ago, we saw another video. And my extroverted Dearly Beloved one’s brain tripped a switch. 'We should do that here' said he; and off he toddled to B&Q to buy some currant bushes.
We bought more fruit bushes, grubbed up herbs from an allotment, bought even more bushes. And we went out under cover of darkness and planted out a public bed.

This was all just 3 weeks ago and since then things have escalated to the point of meetings with the council, talk of creating a community garden - and my living room being completely overrun with seed trays. I am delighted that Nick now chews my ear off as much as I do his regarding all things horticultural.

This is an idea whose time has come in my city. Flower beds are being turfed over as part of cost cutting exercises. The allotment waiting list is still growing from a ridiculous national high. The food bank is serving ever more people. This year there are national and international portents of crop failure and another bad year for agriculture across the world. And of course we have the small matter of the financial apocalypse that we have teetered on the edge of for half a decade now. Half a decade. Wow.

So, this post is a plug - not for Pompey’s project, though if you are local, please get involved. Rather, it is a plug for the Incredible Edible idea in general. It is a plug for your local council beds, your communities, your plates and local food culture, for bees and butterflies, for those who really want to grow healthy, tasty food - and of course, for a world that is waking up to some uncomfortable limits. You don’t have to go big, you don’t have to go it alone. You can find out more at The Incredible Edible Network. It is now an international movement, so no excuse if you are not in Blighty ;)

Also, please forgive the flurry of gardening related posts that are likely to follow this - I am a woman obsessed, which is handy, because I have a lot to learn in a quite a short amount of time. 

Snow falling on toddlers

It was someone's first snow day today...

I expected our 18 month old daughter to appreciate the white stuff a little. She did, babbling inquisitive but accepting noises from her warm windowside seat. Then we decided to take her for a walk. Wrapped in many layers we set out for less slushy pavements and white spaces. She didn't smile through any of it. We set her down on the ground and she fell forward into deep snow. Turns out snow is cold and wet and she really doesn't like cold and wet. We carried her around for half an hour in an ever increasing state of grump until it was time to collect her brother from preschool. The magic was lost on this one.

We the parents had fun though. We met a few new local residents:

 

My beloved nearly fell down a fox hole, taking Elsa with him:

I took lots of photos of pretty snow covered trees:

We also lamented the loss of childhood. Where were all the ruddy faced munchkins who should have been out building snowmen and throwing snowballs at passing strangers (us)? We saw a handful on our short trek, though the local school was closed, and many a vast expanse of snow lay pristine where it fell.

After picking Gus up from preschool, we stopped to build a snowman and to have a snowball fight of our own. And then it was business as usual - time to settle down inside to thaw out slowly, time for lunch and time for me to go to work.

Today was a good day and once again the fresh air did me good and sharpened my mind. But the snow, the snow added something magical. It was impossible not to be mindful - of every step lest I slipped, of every branch and roof and car in a landscape that had been made new by a covering of white snow and every crisp breath of air that I drew. And whilst it made the urban landscape beautiful, it reiterated that I really was made for wide open spaces and a slower, rural pace of life. One day. 

I hope you also enjoyed your day, whatever the weather!

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Welcome Sam and louisemeiklem, thank you for following!

Let it...

The longest month

Every winter I am melancholy, usually more intensely so after the winter solstice. My rational mind tells me that the darkest days are now behind, but by that point the damage is done and the dull wet landscape particularly dispiriting. I find myself wanting to sleep for 14 hours a day (if only!) and to lock myself away for the rest of the time. My brain slows down and everything is a little fuzzy until well into February. By March, I am quite content again.

This year I resolved to get outside more. Every day I need to get outside and see sunlight; not just on my way to someplace, but to really get out and see. A walk, a good long potter around the yard, sitting in the park. Not just to soak up the light but to find something in this grey urban landscape to be inspired by.

I 'borrowed' my neighbour's dog a couple of days ago and headed out for a walk around the grounds of the mental hospital. This is one of the most beautiful corners of my neighbourhood, sprawling Victorian landscaping, no flower beds, just trees and shrubs and lawns. Everything is a little wild and overgrown and if you stray from the main road, you could be in the countryside.  I ran with her through the muddy grounds, she was happy, as was I when I dropped her home. 

On Monday I didn't make it anywhere, but made up for it yesterday.  I spent 15 minutes pottering in the garden an hour after the sun rose. The yard is a mess - less pottering and photography and more tidying next time!

Spring comes early to our patio yard. It hasn't seen a killing frost yet. The annual geraniums have stood through the winter, the chard is looking majestic as opposed to standing-but-battered. There are random bulb plantings left over from previous occupants that spring up every year and this year they have started particularly early. Most  importantly of all, the rhubarb is on its way.

Later we took an afternoon stroll to the beach. We sat and had a cup of tea from The Coffee Cup and then wandered along the prom, then back through the gardens, which is a whole other post, because we found yet more nooks and crannies of Portsmouth that we never knew existed, hidden in plain view.

Fresh air and greenery are the very best medicine for a funk; add a little exercise in and I feel a thousand times better. I had a solid seven hours of unbroken sleep, a rarity these days.

Dogs are also good medicine. Have I ever mentioned how much I wish I had a dog of my own? A huge, shaggy house-bear of a dog, like a Newfoundland. A house bear that could drag me out of the house in the depths of winter. Oh for a bigger house and a large garden. One day, one day.

Restocking the pantry - and the food bank.

One of the most popular posts I ever wrote at The Simple Green Frugal Co-op, or at least one that generated the most discussion, was this one about the reasons I keep a well stocked pantry. My definition of well stocked changes with circumstance - I had about six months worth of stores when I went on maternity leave in late 2008 and it saved us a fortune as food prices rose. It also made me feel nicely nested and meant that I didn't have to trawl around shops with a small baby.

The Guardian recently ran a series about 'Breadline Britain'. Food banks are on the rise in the UK after 4 years of rising unemployment and benefit cuts. As well as 'the working poor', the professional classes - teachers, nurses, middle management - are finding themselves with no cash flow and bare cupboards.
Now, I doubt that both of us would lose our jobs at the same time and at the moment we have modest savings to fall back on - but never say never. Nobody can say for sure where things are headed in the next few years; and so it is better to prepare as well as you can with the resources you have. So, it is time to stock up for autumn and winter and anything that might come our way. And as we buy food for our own cupboards, we will begin to buy a little extra for our food bank too. The Trussel Trust is one of the biggest food bank charities in the UK and there website will list your local bank, as well as ways to get involved.

But I think the best way we can support those support systems is to do everything we can not to have to fall back on them. Put as much distance between us and the need for a food bank voucher as possible. I know that there are people for whom this is too late, or who were never in a position to live anything other than hand to mouth.  There are also lots of people in a position now to cushion themselves who think that that kind of thing doesn't happen to people like them. I have a suspicion that during this long recession, a lot of folk are going to surprised at just what can happen to folk like them.

I think the best cushion is actual food in the cupboard, because it is then also a cushion against food chain disruption and other causes of barren pantries. Our stocking up strategy follows a several pronged approach:

• Every few months, using a £10-£15 money off voucher that the supermarkets send out to lure us in, we do an online shop costing around £60 - £90 after deducting the voucher. This buys us cat food, coffee and tea, flour, pasta, pulses, grains,oils and fats and sometimes frozen fruit and veg. A well stocked cupboard to me is now about three months worth. That money creeps up, or stretches a shorter distance with every month that passes. Higher food prices might well be here to stay. 

• In addition to this we frequent our local Chinese and Asian supermarkets for more unusual grains and pulses, tofu, spices and condiments. Most small cities and large towns now have such shops and they provide better value than the big four.

• If I see something on offer that I know we use frequently - say tinned tomatoes - we will buy a few months worth. I will take money from the savings account to do this, although technically £20 of our monthly food budget goes to restocking the pantry anyway.

• Finally, of course, we make sure we actually eat the food we buy and cook from the pantry and try to minimise our kitchen waste as much as possible. There is always a good meal to be made even if there is no fresh produce in the house, which really is better than money in the bank.

This week I will finally be getting to grips with meal planning. It is something I have never done, but cooking for a fussy preschooler on top of shift work is taking it out of us. Our kitchen waste has crept up. Planning isn't something I really like to do, being happy go lucky most of the time about most things, but this is something I am actually looking forward to, given the pay off in peace come supper time. 

Soon, my pretties...soon

I am hoping that it is going to be a good year for my favourite fruit. I love blackberries. Even in this city they grow rampantly and huge areas of common land are thick with accessible brambles. I have fond memories of blackberrying in woods and country lanes back in the motherland and on our holiday there last year we blackberried some, foraging for them along with damsons, apples and sloes. The stained fingers and clothes, the thorn scratched arms and occasional deeply cut finger are all worth it for the basket that never quite fills as every other berry makes its way into your mouth.

If there is one fruit I know how to handle in the kitchen, it is these. It is such a shame that they are so underused in this country. They are a rare sight in grocers (why, why, WHY do people choose watery imported blueberries and raspberries over these fat little gems?) usually sold in tiny overpriced cartons as if they are an exotic fruit. They are not; and if you are yet to experience a days blackberrying, now is the time to scout out some brambles. 

Another week or so and they will be mine.

Waiting

I am three weeks from my due date and mental and physical energy really is escaping me now. I have to confess I haven't done much of anything this last week. I have pottered about, I have tried to keep on top of all the things that need to be done - but mostly I have done an awful lot of lazing around. The nesting instinct is still strong and housework is getting done in short bursts of activity. Walking anywhere seems to take three times as long and sap my strength 3 times as fast.  Mostly I don't feel much like leaving home, or the sofa for that matter.

I have taken the chance to socialize a little the last few weeks, forcing myself even, when necessary. I regret that in the past I have been reluctant to socialize regularly, partly out of shyness, partly laziness, partly that my house was too messy to have people round - even close friends. A barbecue, a few evenings with friends, a visit to the local community arts cafe today, even dinner out with Nick - a once a year occurrence these days - have all been enjoyed, even if they have left me shattered. New babies don't leave much time, will or energy over for socializing, so we might as well make the most of it whilst we can. I am naturally a bit of a homebody, but once I am out of the house and amongst good company I am as happy as the next person - something I will miss out on perhaps for the rest of the summer.

One of my focuses for the next year will be to become more involved with my local community. I am quite reserved and find it hard to just turn up to things where there are big groups of people, but it would be good for me to involve myself a little more. We have good friends, we know a few of our neighbours, but I can't describe us as being embedded in a community. I am yet to take The Boy to any form of structured toddler group and know very few people with children locally - and as a result have probably made this parenting lark a lot harder for myself than I needed to. Now I want to go out and make connections with people and better late than never.

On Saturday we went to a healthy living picnic event at a local park. Considering my lack of energy I surpassed myself and we took along a bean salad, vegetable sticks, sweet potato wedges with homemade smoked paprika mayonnaise, homemade bread and some fruit and ate a leisurely picnic amongst all the other families, surrounded by trees, healthy living stalls and children tearing about in sack races, making the most of all the sunshine. The Boy had his first go on a bouncy castle; a terrifying ten minutes for me; thankfully he just giggled every time he came close to being flattened by the overly energetic seven year olds sharing it with him.

This week has been a good one, for which I am very grateful.

A productive week

When I began to refine my life goals a few months ago, the biggest thing for me was that I wanted to stop damaging and start repairing the world and the people around me. Beyond mindful consumption, that means actually working to repair damage already wrought.

The book Trees and How to Grow Them is a brilliant (though not a field) guide to our native and common trees. I bought it as a gift from Gus to his dad when Gus was just a month old. Finally this autumn, it has come down from the shelf and been put to use. It gives plenty of instruction on collecting and preparing different seeds for planting; as well as planting trees out where they will be only beneficial and not a nuisance.

So far we have collected wild plum and cherry stones, hazelnuts, horse chestnut, bird cherry and rowan. There will be more as we find them locally over the next few weeks. I would like some more edibles, such as sweet chestnuts and apples. After a few sessions looking for seeds and edible treats, we here can highly recommend an afternoon spent in the friendly company of your local trees. They filter out the noise of the city, they welcome inquisitive children (and adults), they sometimes offer up a little food or a place to shelter and watch the world go by; and they lift your spirits after a few hours of walking amongst them. Which is why in a city of 200,000 people, there should be more than 30,000 trees.

In a year or two, with a little TLC, we will hopefully have some strong saplings, ready to be planted out around the city. In a world where I consume so much, including many, many trees, many habitats and many foraged fruits, I know that I have actually put something (small) back with my own two hands. Which is a start.

The beach

Today we went to the beach for an impromptu picnic, with last nights leftovers and a freshly made salad. We love this beach. It is a rarity in that it is vegetated shingle - there are very few parts of the world where shingle beach is stable enough to allow the few specially adapted plants that can live on it to thrive. The photos are ones that I took a few weeks ago and I will probably post plenty more, because the beach changes with the seasons and looks beautiful all year round.

 A year or so ago a letter turned up in the local paper from a woman suggesting that the council should have gone out and cleared all the 'weeds' because it would encourage more tourists to use it, that the beach was somehow a disgrace to Portsmouth. This woman could not see the beach for the beauty of the stately pale green sea kale bending with the breeze. The mauves, the greens, the blues, the pinks and yellows of the vegetation against an ever changing sky. The birds that this habitat supports. She couldn't even see that the vegetation provided a further layer of sea defence for a city that sits barely above sea level. Apparently the tens of people scattered along the beach enjoying the relative tranquilty (to the 'tourist' beach a mile down the coast) were not enough for this woman; she would not be happy until the entire beach looked like Brighton on a bank holiday weekend.

 

 I think that that woman was wrong.

So did someone else:

Memorial benches line the promenade, as they do in most seaside towns. They are poignant reminders on sunny days of the brevity of life and what really matters. Someone took a lot of time to decorate this bench with knitted panels (looped through and stitched at the back). At first I thought it was a totally awesome bit of random knit graffiti, until I saw the top middle panel, which had 'Isobel' stitched in pearl beading, the name the bench is dedicated to.

I think that when I go, I would like a bench overlooking the sea someplace; and I would like some good crafty friends to come and embellish it once in a while, to remind others to stop and look at the flowers and feel the breeze on their skin; and be filled with thanks that they are alive.

Now the nights are drawing in...

It must be a week now since the solstice? I can feel a nip in the air, I swear...

This is the jumper I have been planning to make for my darling OH for the last 12 months and today I managed to find the perfect yarn. I am not unfortunately of unlimited funds when it comes to yarn and aran can be pricey, but this was 40% off and so I jumped at it. It has brightly coloured 'nebs' spun into the charcoal grey yarn and is a beautifully soft wool/alpaca/synthetic mix.

Today I visited my local yarn shop. This weekend it closes its doors for the last time and my local community becomes a little less complete. I am sad, not least because an independent shop has closed, but also because in those early lonely months with a new baby, the odd visit to that shop kept me sane. I think it can only be a good sign that it is closing for personal reasons and not due to the recession that is killing off so many other retailers. It must mean that people are relearning old skills and spending their money accordingly, which can only be a good thing. In an age of passive consumption, the sense of satisfaction and security that being able to make something for yourself gives is priceless.

This month I have visited the shop a couple of times to stock up and take advantage of some of the clearance offers. In  addition to the aran, I purchased ten balls of Sublime extra fine merino DK in various colours (so soft and richly coloured, it is wonderful to knit with) and some 4-ply cotton to crochet and knit some more dishcloths, which are unfortunately far too addictive.

I now regret buying some purely synthetic yarn to make a jumper for my son. Whilst its quite good quality as synthetics go, I know that when knitted into a garment it will pill and stretch too readily. I read an interesting article (whilst chopping up my magazines) about 'Precycling', which basically means to avoid waste altogether by thinking long and hard about what you consume before you even consume it; and making wise choices (along the lines of reduce, reuse, recycle) after you take possession of it. In future I will make sure that I buy as hard wearing and classic a yarn as I can afford so that when the original garment is worn out after many years of use I can frog it or felt it and turn it into something else. The gift of yarn that just keeps on giving!

The community orchard

This morning we went to the community orchard. I will post pictures soon because I cannot convey just how beautiful a space the orchard is. It is still a work in progress and has only been running for a couple of months, but it is glorious.

It is open to everyone and provides a lush green space in a very crowded city for green fingered people to get their hands dirty. There are numerous fruit trees, fruit bushes, vines, herbs, wild flowers and raised vegetable beds. There is an arbour, plenty of benches and patches of grass to lay down a picnic rug.

I am looking forward to spending time there. Whilst I am very grateful to have a small paved yard at home, I have stuffed that as full as is physically possible with pots. There are new and unusual plants at the orchard that I want to get to know as friends. I want my son to grow up with an appreciation of where his food comes from (unfortunately the hose and loose bricks of the unfinished paths are much more interesting to a 20 month old!). I also hope that a wonderful community grows up around the garden as more and more people realise what a wonderful resource it is and volunteer their time.