January
I made marmalade
and learned to knit
February
I planned the garden
and was delighted by early signs of spring colour
I picked wild food
and did lots of digging
I got the hang of knooking (with dirty fingers)
and saw burnt gorse seen on a coastal walk
March
More digging
Experiments with home made soap (very successful)
and laundry gloop (less so)
Attempting to tap a birch tree for sap
A wonky baby blanket
Many seedlings
Starting to make a camera bag.
Um... must get back to that project at some point
April
I made baked beans
and picked many dandelions, most of which subsequently went mouldy
Things grew, slowly
and the cherry blossom was very pretty.
May
The first major work of the heating project:
Opening up the fireplace and laying a hearth.
Mushrooms - probably morels - in the store room
I found sorrel, but not wild garlic
I collected oak leaves to make wine and cordial
did battle with monster slugs
made wild green pies
and showed you around the village
June
I made elderflower champagne
and brown bread ice cream
The blackcurrant harvest began
I learnt to make socks!
(People have found this blog with an image search for
Mature women wearing socks.Do you find that a bit disturbing?)
I cleared space for my tomatoes in the conservatory
I took a class in spinning
and knitted the wool with broom handles
July
I made blackcurrant ice cream
and insect repellant (from a plant that I thought was wormwood,
but turns out to be southernwood)
and soap (from lard rendered from bacon rinds)
and cakes, with more blackcurrants.
The potatoes got blight
but nonetheless yielded a good harvest (this is just a small part of the total crop)
The store room shelves collapsed
and I started harvesting the peas.
August
Slugs ate my cabbages
as well as pumpkins, carrots, and even onions.
My dad came to stay and we converted my sewing machine
to run on treadle power
I made baguettes
started harvesting runner beans
and saw a fabulous caterpillar on the crocosmia.
September
I made a party dress with my treadle powered sewing machine
picked bilberries
and field mushrooms.
I made chips
and fruit leather
and admired the sunrise.
October
I made sponge pudding
and considered the merits of different types of light bulbs.
In fact, I was very busy laying new floors during October, which is why not many blog posts were written.
November
I attempted to declutter
and wrote about the planning stage of the heating project.
December
Some of this month's blogging was catch-up on the heating project.
We replaced most of the floors in the house with underfloor heating panels
removed (suspected) asbestos tiles from the garage ceiling
and had the rest of the heating system installed professionally.
I made sloe wine
and croissants
which we enjoyed in front of our newly-installed stove on Christmas morning
(the croissants, that is. The wine was for later)
and the gardening year has already started, far too soon, as my seeds got wet and needed urgent attention.
