I've been feeling the electricity of the new season for the past week or so, especially with the blackbirds going so crazy in the evenings! That and the snow remind me strongly of the importance of cycles and seasons. It helps me to reflect on life and death, the beauty of one and the inevitability of the other. The one making the way clear for the other. The one motivating a deep appreciation of the other.
More basketry this weekend. I am so happy with this basket, I really felt it all coming together with this one. I love the handle, but I'm going to change it to a more traditional one as it is for somebody and I'm not sure they would want this handle, sturdy though it is!
I've been so lucky to meet such wonderful people in blog land. Annie had a garden giveaway on her blog Sensible Living and I received some amazing seeds in the post from her! One set of seeds are from the oldest tobacco plant ever. The seeds are from a plant grown from 1000 yr old seeds found in a burial site. After I've checked that the seeds are ok for me to grow in this country I'll be getting on and sowing them!! Can't wait!
Kittyboo over at the Little Slice of Life blog sent me brilliant book on how to crotchet! I have been inspired by her to learn after seeing some of her amazing creations. She also inspired me to give marmalade a go too. Now I've never liked marmalade, but this stuff I can't get enough of! It's delicious!
Finally... I finished my first ever sock. It's amazing how it all comes together! I'll be definitely knitting more!
The snowdrops are out in full force now. Willow had a bad cut on her paw at the beginning of the week so she's been confined to the garden and a few short walks locally.
She was so happy to back on her woodland route doing her away's and being on collie business! I'm not sure if I've ever told you about Willow's away's. If we say 'away' to her she runs off in a massive circle around tree's or the edge of a field. It's very collie behaviour and it's her business and very serious! If she doesn't get to go 'away' on her walks we might as well not bother going!
The light over the weekend was so special. It would only peep through the clouds momentarily, oh, but when it did, *sigh*, the woods were magically transformed. The Sun is certainly moving closer to us. The light was so warm.
There are so many little nuggets of perfect beauty around us.
There are also many tasty nuggets in nature. There were plenty of Ramson leaves out this weekend so I've scoffed some! This is my favourite sandwich ever...
It's a tahini, ramson, tomato, onion and cheese sandwich. Ok, ok, I know, it sounds a bit weird. It is delicious an I wont hear a word said against it, at least until it's been tasted!!
In our local woods I found a patch of wild gooseberries. It's a decent sized patch too.
I know the photo's are hard to make out, but I thought I's share them here anyway!
So, that's pretty much a full summary of my weekend! I'm going to be a bit sporadic over the next couple of weeks. I hope you will all bear with me. I'll be visiting blogs but will not have much time to leave decent comments, which is a real shame. I'll be all back to normal soon though!
My Imbolc poem...
Be warm of heart and warm of nose
Be still, be love,
keep toastie toes.
much love and warm hugs,
hen
xxx
Hello Hen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the mention :) Glad you like the book and are enjoying your marmalade. The pictures of the wood are beautiful - I love snowdrops. Never tried eating ramson leaves but will keep an eye out for them - I do enjoy a good forage!
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I,m very intrigued as to ranson leaves,do they grow in all woods? would I be likely to pick the wrong thing .love your site. if you would care to look I have a web shots page using cottonreel
ReplyDeleteHiya kittyboo! Finally got round to the marmalade!
ReplyDeleteSolomi, hello there! Ramsons don't grow in all woods, they tend to grow in slightly acidy soils, in deciduous woodland. They ultimately have white flowers, but by that stage you'll probably smell them before you see them!
If you keep your eye out in the woods in a few weeks time it'll be a bit easier to spot the leaves. Take a good look at the photo in the post to get an idea of the leaf and then before eating anything you pick, crush a bit of the leaf in your hand, if it honks of garlic you've got ramsons!!
How do you do it? Making those baskets--it looks so damn hard...all of that weaving. I love your pictures on this post. So refreshing Hen. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteCLAY
A great update post! So much to comment on.
ReplyDeleteWillow is a beautiful deeg.
That basket is to die for, I still can't get over the fact that you created it with your own hands.
I'm hopeful that the seeds I sent will all be good in your climate. I was comparing it to Northern BC when choosing the seeds to send.
Do you have a mate for that sock or not yet? It looks very soft!
You live in gorgeous country!
What a lovely post hen, I just love that basket, it's a beautiful shape. We have ramsons in the woods here though not all that many. In parts of the Lake District they grow in great thick swathes in the roadside verges but usually in places where you can't stop very easily!
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