Autumn Colours...WI Poem

OK, so here's my attempt at poetry (it had to be 8 lines) for this month's WI meeting competition...any criticism gratefully received!

Autumn's slowing sun arises, calling off the early morning fog
Last Winter's fallen, deep green ivy covered tress are carved into this year's warming logs
The rumbling tractor transforms dusty yellow stubs to rich brown fertile earth
While pirouetting leaves in crimson finery reflect the dancing flames seen in the hearth
Resplendant purple blackberries, plucked ripe by children's eager hands
Too soon devoured, existance only evident by smeared and sticky ruby mouths, and small amounts of jam
Our myriad fair-weather feathered friends prepare to leave, a southern paradise in far off sight
While, here at home, emerging into ever dwindling light, the burnished russet pheasant is abound - autumn's most prolific sight!

I forgot how difficult it is to put sight and feelings down onto paper as a poem, it was a great mind stretcher though, I hope there are more reasons to write poetry in the coming months...the WI is good at making you try out different skills (like the GP craft swap is!). Which reminds me, I must start my Winter GP swap, goodness knows what I'm going to make this year....thinking hat on!

Walking, Walls and Pigs

This wall on the left of the photo is what Ben has been building recently for our neighbour...he'd never attempted a full size dry stone wall before, you'd never guess would you? The gap is a set of steps built into the wall, as the flat area on top is to be part of their garden...the track we're walking on is the road to our house :)

Henry's walking our smallest dog from his Daddy's back...he's been doing this since he was about 18 months, wonderful what you can do from a sling isn't it!

The pigs are growing at a fantastic rate, but then Ben does take incredible care of them, tending to them at least three times a day. The piggy above is having a stratch on her way out to breakfast!

This is the biggest character...she has one ear bigger than the other, and always seems to hear the call to dinner before the others!

Industriousness (is that a word?!)

Now the Samaritans Purse box is done, and I've finished off DH's jumper (which turned out quite well...I foresee me wearing it this winter lol) I can start on the Christmas presents, yey! Whipped this hat up last night, it's cream and brown although the light in the photo makes it look bee-like...really pleased with the ribbing, it's quite advanced for me lol, couldn't find a pattern so just made it up as I went along. It was supposed to be a Christmas present for a male friend of ours, to go with a matching pair of fingerless gloves, however, as usual (for me with hats) I got a bit worried it was getting too big so finished if off too soon...H now has an extra hat for his collection...he has a lot now :) It would easily fit from child to adult in width though, so will keep the number of stitches the same. I'll make another one this weeked, a bit bigger this time though, unless I panic again ;)
In case anyone is wondering, my method for this was to cast on 70 stitches on 6mm needles, k5, p5 for ribbing (alternate on each side - you can soon see the pattern, I like it when that happens, makes it much easier to follow), do this for an deep as you want the band, then just go on using stockinette stich or whatever it's called (knit one side, purl the other) adding stripes if you like (always change colour on a purl row so it looks neat!)...I love stripes so they often feature in things I make. When you think the depth is enough, start narrowing the body of the hat by knitting two stitches together, boths sides the same, a few times each row, until you have it down to a reasonable amount of stitches (I tied up at 22 st), thread through the stitches remaining and pull tight, then sew up (inside out). DH wants a stripy jumper now, so maybe he can have one for Christmas next year...a yellow and black bumble bee one lol!


Ah, the above is Henry's first bed. We finally got his room cleared so it's really his room now, not just a store room. As we've always coslept we had no need for a nursery really, but we thought we should give H his own space for playing and napping now he's a bit bigger. We had a new mattress, but lacked a bed...this one Ben (DH) was given from the local recycling centre for free, they said he was welcome to it if he could make a bed from it! They should know never to doubt Ben's ingenuity with bits of wood! It took him about an hour to form it into a lovely first bed, fitting the mattress perfectly. A good clean up (and clear out of the room) and H has a lovely space now...I have a cosy rocking chair next to the bed for reading stories - perfect. He's had some naps in there so far, and we slept together in there one night, it's up to Henry really, but it is nice having an extra sleeping space ready.

I had this idea for using up some extra knitted squares for a while...and finally got around to putting it into practise! One Christmas card down, a few to go!

I'm going to be using number cutters this weekend to make salt dough numbers for Henry's Advent calender, 1 to 24 of course. I've been working on the calender all year, an and off, so will be very pleased when I can show you the finished result (before December with any luck)! Just for to work out what tiny gifts to hide in all the pockets now...any ideas?

HE trip & some beautiful news!

H & I went to Pecorama in Beer last Friday, to meet up with some other local home educators...as you can see from the photos, one of the most exciting things about the trip was the wonderful little steam train! The track is all done in minature, with a tunnel, bridges and little stations, it's rather magical. Maybe we'll have a go on the train next time...it was very wet on Friday so we just made our way to the playground where the little ones could play under the equipment there. We've decided to organise more regular meetings...once a month in one of our houses, and a couple of outings each month too. Think that strikes the right balance, and gives us more regular outings to look forward to. I really enjoy the meetings; there's something very freeing about socialising with people who you just know have similar ideals to yourself...for example, H likes to do his own thing, so often takes my hand on these outings and we go off on our own for a while...I have no worries about the others thinking bad things about us because of this, mainly because our outings are usually outside so roaming is expected...I can't imagine taking H to a group that's enclosed (where the parents are encouraged to socliaise and leave the little ones to it) with no freedom to explore, week in week out...he would be climbing the walls! It seems that our culture is all about separating children from their parents these days, and at ever younger ages. It breaks my heart!

Ah, the beautiful news...we are expecting our second child! I feel so blessed. It took four years before H was conceived (at just the right time though, so I trust that this child will also arrive at the right space in time too), and H will be almost 3 in June/July when this little one arrives. I'm reading The Birthkeepers by Veronika Robinson in preparation...it is such a wise book, full of beautiful birth stories and encouragement to own your own birthing...I feel so much more in tune with nature this time. I love being pregnant, and am planning on enjoying ever moment! However, with a toddler to look after this time I'm not sure how many relaxing moments I will get lol! Still, I fully intend to enjoy the busy times as much as the still ones. My lovely Mother in Law is coming round for dinner tonight, and we're planning on telling her the good news then. My Father in Law passed away in July, so hopefully this news will give her something to look forward to. We're visiting my parents tomorrow to tell them..we'll visit my Nan while we're there, she was hinting last month that she needs another Great Grandchild (she isn't very subtle bless her), so this news will send her over the moon I'm sure! My Mum will be ecstatic toom as H is her only Grandchild and she lives to spoil children!

So, I guess my new sustainable venture is one of pregnancy and birth...at least we need not buy many things this time, as, even though I recently passed on a lot of our baby things to a friend who was expecting, I made sure we kept back enough for ourselves :) Seeing as so much marketing is pushed at new parents now, I am glad I am a bit wiser to it all...after all, you don't need many 'things' for a baby really do you?

Service is resumed...

Well, our broadband was down for almost all of last week. Seems that BT treat their 'wholesale' clients, ie anyone using the service and not paying them directly, as second to anyone else. I conclude this as we had line problems twice last year, when we were with BT, which were fixed with 48 hours maximum, and this fault took 6 days. Hmmm. I do however appreciate the service now; we really do take these modern facilites for granted at times...after all, if it wasn't for broadband I wouldn't be able to work from home, so I won't knock it too much.

We've had a bit of a quiet week on the harvest front. The main job we have completed was a list of the produce we want to grow in the next year; the last year has given us good experience as to what we really use, as opposed to trying to grow everything possible. The garlic has been cut and dried, and the mud shaken off, so now we have a nice bucket of it in the kitchen, ready to be thrown in with roast potatoes (amongst other things...we're garlic lovers here, lucky we don't socialise much).

Talking of socialising, last week was October's WI meeting, and I've paid my subs (£29.50 for the year) so am now a fully paid up member. Also the current youngest lady in our branch, so I got the dubious honour of choosing the winner of the competition this month...we could all bring in something that was made in Devon. There's no prize, but it's a bit of fun. I couldn't find anything at home, other than Henry, but I couldn't guarantee he'd sit still long enough to be judged lol. Anyway, the winner was a pretty little pottery plate depicting a carthorse ploughing a field, with a bottle of Devon wine as runner up. We have some great vineyards down here. Next month's competition is a poem of 8 lines entitled 'Autumn Colours'...I'll run my entry past you guys before I put it in! This month's meeting was the AGM, so lots of speeches and voting, and we were served a nice ploughman's supper by the commitee, and cake. I've a feeling there's going to be lots of cake at these meetings, which is just fine by me. Next month we have a visit from a bird of prey expert, including the birds themselves, that should be wonderful...although I'm always slightly uneasy about such birds being in captivity, I'm sure the lady knows what she's doing!

You can tell the cooler months are here as I'm baking comfort food...this weekend it was dense chocolate loaf and gingerbread, and I also tried out a carrot cake cupcake recipe with orange flavoured cream cheese icing (not strictly wintery) which was very tasty - DH isn't a huge fan of very sweet things so the cupcakes were right up his street. Also made rice pudding, why hadn't I done this before?? It was so easy and absolutely delicious! Something that I can see myself cooking up on top of the woodburner in the coming months. The burner is all ready for it's starring role as our only heating source this year; we've had it on a few times in the last week and it's been lovely and toasty...there's nothing like sitting reading in front of a glowing fire on a cold evening is there? We've been looking out for a kettle to go on the woodburner, and a frying pan too, although they are quite expensive, even on ebay...hmm, we're planning a trip to the recycling shop (http://www.tradeanddonate.com/) soon, so will look there...need a new (to us) chest freezer and some new mixing bowls (the lovely big ceramic type..don't ask for much do I) so we have a little shopping list! Beats the High Street any day lol :)

Oh, and I've almost finished the front and back of DH's new jumper, so just the sleeves to go...there's something incredibly seasonal and comforting about curling up with a bit of knitting, especially for someone you love. Just have to get a grip on the Christmas presents once I'm done with this - will be shamlessly stealing ideas from other people's blogs no doubt, so please do post lots and lots of photos of your wonderful creative makes for me!! Although I guess if all else fails I've heard that the WI Christmas Bazaar has many lovely crafty presents for sale ;)

In the Season

We spent the weekend with my parents, and visited my Nan while we were there - Henry loves playing in his Great Grandma's garden...especially as all the neighbourhood cats seem to flock to her! I think she feeds them secretly, although she swears blind she doesn't ;)

We had a bit of time on Saturday so popped into the garden centre and bought some seeds for the Spring. Peas, because we plan to grow an awful lot next year, a couple of varieties of sunflowers for H to grow, and chamomile, as I want to have a go at growing my own tea. Watch this space! Also picked up the sets of colouring pencils, plain pencils, rubbers, sharpener and drawing pad for this year's Operation Christmas Child box, and just finished off a knitted hat today. I like to get that organised early - can't wait until H is big enough to put together a box of his own. Check our the Samaritan's Purse website here.

The below photo is a 'just because' - the sky looked so beautiful on Sunday evening when I got home, especially framed by the reddening Autumn leaves.

The first harvest from my apple tree! They were so heavy on my little tree it was almost bent double...maybe next year we'll get a bigger crop as the trunk strengthens and grows. Oh, to have our own orchard - the piggies could meander the grass below the trees, gobbling up the windfall apples. I can dream!


And finally, what I've been doing this week (when not working, or being trailed around the garden..who could resist a little boy bringing them their shoes and taking their hand, asking mama to come for a walk!) - making Roasted Sweet Beet Relish and plain old pickled beetroot (with spiced vinegar). That's the harvest of regular beetroot taken care of. Now there's the yellow beetroot yet to come up. Of course I had a mishap with a bottle of relish when bottling up, so the kitchen has random red splashes that I'll be finding for a few months to come. The accident did however show me how much my patience has grown since moving here - where I might previously have sworn a blue streak, I had a good old laugh at myself and just got on with cleaning up. After all, why fight the inevitable! In the woods today DH found a collection of hazelnut trees, so I guess we'll be eating foraged hazelnuts this year! Anyone have a good recipe for them??

Autumnal things & Warm bottoms!

We collected the first of the colourful fallen leaves from the garden to make an impromptu outdoor collage (whilst hanging out the washing, how much longer will we be able to do that for I wonder?) this morning. Then we took them indoors to glue them all to paper. Henry enjoyed seeing how many times he could try and taste the glue stick before I stopped him. Hmmm. Still, he made a lovely collage with the glue he did put on the paper, and we had fun!

Heard on the local news this morning that 100 Devon teachers are being made redundant...and this is before the government make further cuts to public services? The decision to home educate Henry is becoming more and more rational every day. The news does however make me very sad for the children of Devon that do attend school, and the teachers losing their jobs - how can the rulers of our country be respected when they choose investment in the banking sector over investment in our children's futures? And they have the gall to state again and again that safeguarding our children is a priority to them. Pah. They can't be trusted with safeguarding Child Benefit recipients details, let alone our children themselves!



Finished off the hedgerow jelly (mainly blackberries, with a few elderberries added for quantity) and labelled them up ready for Christmas hampers. They've now joined the excess pots of plum jam I made last month. I have a plan to produce as much as I can for the festive period this year...if I start now I might have a chance (help me)!

Lastly (at the 'bottom' of the entry lol) I've just worked out how to spare Henry's shocked 'yoweeees' when I use a icy cold cloth wipe on him on a cold morning - I microwave it for 10 seconds. Of course, all you cloth wipe experts will have known about this a long time ago, but I've only been using them for a couple of weeks (why did I wait so long, they are of course so much better than any disposable wipe!) and this idea has sealed the deal for me - no more disposables ever! How lovely to freshen up you little ones bot with a lovely, soft, warm, camomile scented cloth! And all it costs in a couple of pennies in teabags and olive oil! So, now we have eliminated sanitary wear, nappies, wipes, most tissues and kitchen rolls from the disposables list, where do we go now? Think we'll stick with the (recycled, but none the less, paper disposable) loo roll for the time being, until a satisfactory alternative is found :)