Day 139 - I am being stalked.

Sunday 19th May

Lots of flowers on my strawberry plants means lots of strawberries.

Not such a lazy Sunday today as I see we have a dry week ahead and that has to mean 'painting house' week.  It is not often we get a whole week dry and our house is a 5 bedroom farmhouse and takes some painting.  So, today has been about the final prep at least as far as I can reach.  Pete can tackle the ladder later! 

Thankfully, I am up to date in the polytunnel having potted on my mints this morning that have grown lovely strong roots while in water.  Cuttings are never easy and many fail despite what they show you on gardening programmes so we shall have to wait and see.  All I really need to do is plant my strawberries, tomatoes and courgettes into their grow bags this week and the tunnel should run itself apart from the evening watering. 

Neighbour's cat stalking me!

As soon as the painting is done we can get back on with planting out into new beds.  My cosmos and dwarf sunflowers all need to get into the open ground as does my next lot of snapdragons.  Everything will push on with the sunshine that is due so next weekend it could all look very different.

I am not a fan of painting but it will get done between Chelsea Flower Show programmes at lunchtime and in the evening.  My favourite bit of the show is the small gardens as they are closer to what we all do with our gardens.  The large gardens are beyond most of us and costs thousands to put on.  Home school will have to fit round all of it as well so I am thinking a busy week ahead. 

I have retreated to my bedroom to write a couple of pieces that have been promised and then to work on One soul, many hearts.  I am quietly working away at the structure and the different pages.  I have a small but perfectly formed team emerging but there is room for more people if you fancy it.  I am especially looking for short articles with photos from small corners of the world that you might have visited.  I want to avoid the more commercial destinations and focus on places where people have been truly touched by the place.  If you have been anywhere that has moved you in some way and would like to share it do get in touch.  I am also looking for young people who have positive stories to tell.  It may involve them but it doesn't have to.  I want to ensure that young voices have a platform on this site so any art work, photographs or short films would also be of interest. 

For those of you Chelsea bonkers like me don't forget the preview show at 5pm today. One of the areas on my new site will be dedicated to soulful gardening as I share ways to connect with your outside spaces and the Earth more generally.  I am hoping to be moved by at least one Chelsea garden this year and then to try and extract the essence to be used on Hazelbank.  We shall see...

There is still time to enter my little quiz for my 10,000 page views - see Fridays post. 

Until tomorrow. xx

Day 138 - How many mosquito nets can we buy so far?

Saturday 18th May

We appear to had our sunshine stolen and it has been replaced by lots and lots of rain.  So plans to work outside were rather abandoned in favour of jobs in the house.  Yesterday was, however, absolutely glorious and, for the first time this year, I was driven out of the tunnel as it was too hot! 

My first picture shows what happens when you give  your chives a regular hair cut.  They reward you with stronger growth and glorious purple flowers.  These ones just outside my backdoor are just about to burst.  I had a little word and told  them to hang on a few days and then they will put the ones at Chelsea to shame! 

The boys and I completed our second nature walk of the season yesterday and recorded lots off new growth.  The walk across the field was rewarded with the first of the bluebells in the woods.  Much of our 10 acres is woodland and these are the areas that get less sunshine.  The wild garlic is finishing up for the year and the bluebells are replacing them.












When the weather is this lovely there is not else to do.....

Home school was therefore relocated outside!






Later that day I managed a quick visit to photograph the Butterfly Tree crafts in situ in Bay News in the village. 


 All we need now is some lovely people to start buying.  If anyone reading this knows of any little shops who would be willing to help we can post out a little box of butterfly crafts complete with a little tree for display. 

Finally, we found time to count the money although I think Pete will have to do it again because I am not confident!  It would appear we are over £260 already and I make that 52 mosquito nets!  How utterly marvellous is that?  Thank you so much to all who are helping push this total onwards.  The little vintage cups to collect the pennies are doing a wonderful job all by themselves!  People don't miss 2ps and 1ps and I don't know anyone who likes those awful 5ps so it is all coming our way.  Can I possibly ask everyone to do what I just did?  I emptied pockets and handbags (won't confess to how many handbags) and found £2.56 lurking in the little recesses.  I obviously don't need it if it is not in my purse so it has gone in our little vintage cup.  That is half way towards another mosquito net.  This is how it is done, me thinks.  When I started this campaign I said that, given the current economic climate, I wanted lots of people to pledge small amounts rather than few people pledging large amounts and I think this is working. 

You can, of course, donate using my big blue button at the top of my blog and that would be wonderful as well. 

I am still taking orders for our little tulle butterflies.  They are just £1.00 each so if you donate £5.00 online I can send you your five by post.  You can then give them out to family friends.  Each one comes with a thank you message from the Butterfly Tree. 

We have a thank you dinner party tonight to thank four people who have supported our little campaign from the beginning.  It is so important to say thank you because we really are grateful.  I am not cooking as Pete is doing one of his wonderful Thai curries and George is currently working on the chocolate cake to end all chocolate cakes. 

My day has been one of those days when you just know the rain is on for thee day so you flit (in my case plod) around doing lots of little jobs that should have been done ages ago. 

Some of you have already emailed me answers to my little quiz but there is plenty of time as entries close on Friday.  See yesterdays post.

I do hope the rest of you are not getting rain like us and that you are having a lovely weekend.  A heads up to all of you who love gardens and  flowers.  The Chelsea Flower show preview show is tomorrow at 5pm on BBC1 - bottoms on sofas time complete with very large mug of tea and dunking biscuits.  Expect the blog posts to be completely dominated by Chelsea and I will warn you that I have an opinion on everything!  For those plant bonkers people like me do message or comment your views and let's see if we agree!

Until tomorrow.  xx

Day 137 - Giveaway quiz....grab a coffee!

Friday 17th May

Here it is!  This is the quiz that will help mark 10,000 page views.  I am keeping this simple.  If you can make yourself a nice cup or coffee or tea and have a go before emailing me the answers that would be fantastic!  I will jump around the house before randomly selecting a winner to be announced next Friday.

The winner will then nominate a special person in their life to receive a box full of handmade gifts made by us on our smallholding under the label 'With Love from Arran'.  I might even manage a small gift to the winner as well.  This, I hope, is in the spirit of our new venture 'One soul, many hearts. '

Good luck!

10,000 giveaway quiz.

 

10 questions, 1 for each thousand page views.

 

1.      What is the name of the plant that Fiona grows to feed the bees in her garden?

2.      What exhibition did Fiona rave about in January which featured a new book?

3.      What is the name of Fiona's new studio?

4.      What material do we use to make the wings of the butterflies that we sell for our    charity this year?

5.      What did Fiona' Grandma teach her to do?

6.      Who is Fiona's favourite artist based on Arran?

7.      How much money did we make on the Butterfly Tree raffle?

8.      What is the name of my guest blogger who is also an old school friend?

9.      How does Fiona suggest you condition cornflowers so they have a better vase life?

10.  What is Fiona's favourite colour purple or turquoise?

I lied.....one for luck.....

11.  Does Fiona prefer writing or teaching?

I couldn't have done it without you.....until tomorrow. xx