July

July really went by in a flash and ended in a heatwave. It’s always such a busy month. Here is a little roundup of what we enjoyed this month.

In Cambridgeshire July is Open studio month. Every weekend in July artists open their studio’s to the public. Each one is unique there is so much variety . Its a real privileged to be able talk to so many talented local artists about their work. One studio we NEVER miss is that of local watercolour artist Susan Eddy. I have known Sue all my life and it’s a real thrill to visit her studio each year and see how her work has evolved year on year. Her studio is idilically situated at her beautiful home and her garden i pretty wonderful too as are in her chickens. A highlight for the children.

I always find the end of term emotional, it never fails to make me reflective. This year was significant as my eldest daughter left primary school and will begin at secondary school in September. She has loved her primary school from reception right through. Made a very special best friend who I think will remain a friend for life. Her 7 years at our village primary have been turbulent to say the least my daughter has had no less than 5 headteachers during this time. The changes have been many and not always for the best. However her school and some fantastic teachers along the way has given her the incredible gift of a love and passion for learning that I know will last a lifetime.

On the allotment we had a good crop of both blackcurrants and rhubarb this year. I have successfully made delicious cordials of them. The blackcurrant is particularly good for making ice lollies with but the rhubarb is my favourite with its slightly more complex flavour and subtle hints of ginger and lemon. Here are the recipies I used rhubarb cordial and blackcurrant cordial.

Last month I recommended My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell that I am reading with my daughter the budding naturalist. This month I though it would be nice to include a book review from our resident bookworm who we shall call Freckles. Here is her review of the Skylarks War by Hilary McKay.

I would recommended The Skylarks War to anyone who likes novels set in the wartime aged 9 to 100+. It’s descriptions of Cornwall in the summers between 1908 – 1913 make for perfect summer reading

I liked how the story focuses on 3 main characters not one. Clarry is a brave femanist girl who wants to be just like her older brother Peter. Peter wants to be like his cousin Rupert. Every summer they spend in carefree Cornwall with their Grandparents but everything changes when World War One breaks out and Rupert joins up.

The war changes all the characters and it seems their carefree “skylark summers” are lost for now. A beautifully written book that’s transports you into its world of excitment and fear.

I enjoyed this book Hillary Mckay’s style and beautiful descriptions of England in the early 1900’s drew me in gently to this story before it became a gripping tale of survival and the passage of time.

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June 2019

It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.

Maud Hart Lovelace

Oh June, be still my heart. My very favourite month. The garden looks wonderful and the roses this year are particularly floriferous after a cool spring. Here is my little round up of what has bought us joy this June.

My daughter and I have been reading Gerald Durrels book My family and other animals. We are thoroughly enjoying it! My daughter is a keen naturalist and has been from tiny so I’ve been wanting to read this with her for a long time. I’m glad I waited until now. At 9 she is enjoying it imensly. Soaking up the wonderful stories about the insects and wild animals on corfu, laughing at the chaos of the Durrell family life and is thoroughly scandalised by the occasional swear word. This gives her the sense she is reading something very grown up and naughty.

I believe that all children should be surrounded by books and animals.

Gerald Durrell

If you enjoyed the recent tv series you’ll enjoy the book even more.

Some people take part in 30 days wild during June. With our aforementioned naturalist in the house every day is wild and we are never far from wildlife in one form or another. My daughter has been keen to have a pond for a long time. Our garden is no more than a postage stamp so accommodating a pond has been challenging. we have tried various forms of container pond. The first one was a large terracotta pot painted inside with waterproof paint. It lasted quite well until one particularly cold winter when it froze several inches deep and cracked open. This meant an emergency re homing of her goldfish which miraculously survived. So last year we experimented with submerging a small plastic bucket into the ground. It worked well, survived the winter and before the summer was out we had a resident frog. Recently we found a large plastic half barrel container in a charity shop and hatched a plan for a pond epansion.

After much grumpiness from Daddy about having to dig the hole the new pond looks good and we are looking forward to planting it up. I hope this encourages you all to take a walk on the wild side with a pond however small your garden.

If a pond feels a little ambitious how about capturing the esennce of June and making some strawberry and elderflower jam. Recipe by Lavender and Leeks. I used my own homemade elderflower cordial, the recipe can be found in a previous post.

We have enjoyed some spectacular open gardens in June. I am always so grateful to those who open their garden to the public and never fail to be inspired.Above is a picture from one of my favourite gardens we visited. Aren’t those pots beautiful? What inspired me about this garden was the attention to detail. Every inch of it felt nurtured and carefully considered. Nothing was left ungardened. It certainly got me thinking about my own garden at home. You can find open gardens near you through the National Open Gardens Scheme (NGS). You might just be amazed at what’s on your doorstep.

April favourites

April was not as warm as it sometimes is but neither was it wet. Easter was gloriously hot and sunny but after that the sunshine seemed to allude us.

Every moment we could spare we spent at the allotment and our efforts were rewarded with the first crop of rhubarb. We have weeded and mulched the whole plot. Planted summer fruiting raspberries and a second blue berry bush.

At home we have sown sweetcorn, zinnias, white cosmos, dhalia’s. Pumpkins, carrots, sunflowers, courgettes, a cucumber and tomatoes and will transplant them out at the allotment when they are bigger and the water is finally switched on down there.

We visited Sir Issac Newton’s birth place at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire. The children enjoyed the excellent science centre very much and I was inspired by the display of snakes head fritillary that had been naturalised under the tree’s in the famous apple orchard. In the autumn I think i will get some bulbs and do the same under our walnut tree.

Every April this beautiful rambling rose flowers against the old houses at the top of the High Street in our village. It puts on quite a display. Rosa Banksia Lutea is a prolific rambler with very little scent that only flowers once but it puts on such a show when it does flower. Every year it stops me in my tracks. I am delighted to say I have successfully managed to take a cutting from it which is now 2 years old and growing healthily.

September favourites

September is a funny month I like to keep telling myself it’s still summer for as long as possible (summer is my favourite season) but as the nights draw in and the mornings become chillier it becomes harder and harder to keep kidding myself. By the end of the month autumn has properly arrived and there is no denying it.

This September was a blur of frenzied activity. My daughters returned to school and one short week later their brother (my baby) joined them.

He and I made the most of this last week just the two of us and visited Wimpole hall and garden. My son adores gardening and has developed a real enthusiasm for walled gardens so that’s what we checked out first. I won’t lie my heart felt heavy at the prospect of sending him to school just 1 week later. It marks the end of an era for me of having a small person at home with me for over a decade. It’s been hard work, always busy, never a moment to myself but genuinely some of the best years of my life. I always feel like I’ve lost a limb when I send one of them off to school for the first time.

As the weather cools it always sends me into a frenzy of squirreling away winter provisions. This month I made Dumpsy Dearie jam a lovely jam made of Victoria plums, pears and apples that’s proven very popular over the years. We’ve been baking too and made our first batch of pumpkin spiced doghnuts and this trusty peanut butter cookie recipe that’s quick easy and gluten free.

• 150g sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 200g peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 50g chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180’C and line your trays with baking paper.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl to form a sticky dough.

Drop 1 tbsp of the mixture into your prepared baking trays and press down with the back of a fork. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the trays and allow to cool on a wire baking rack.

Not the most elegant or pretty cookies in my repetorire but tasty, satisfying and very easy to make.

Next month I have plans to begin to make our own natural cleaning products in a bid to have less nasty chemicals in the house and reduce our plastic use too. I hope to be able to share some successes with you in October.