Admitting defeat

So, the time has finally come when I have to admit defeat on my allotment. It’s all rather sad.

Things got so hectic with my course that I couldn’t get down there for three weeks and the weeds are up past my waist. I put a pot of lavender down last time I was there and when I went back this morning I couldn’t find it – I kid you not. I struggled to get from one side to the other. This was the final straw which broke my back as I had been thinking about quitting the allotment for a couple of months. I have collected my tools, brought them home and I need to arrange how I will get the shed home and flat-packed down the side of our home shed.

Part of me is really sad about this, but part of me is much more pragmatic – everyone down on the allotment is either: retired, doesn’t work, only works part-time, or they have spent hundreds on their allotment. The person behind me has spent over £700 on their little patch, a sum which seems completely absurd to me. It requires an awful lot of time to look after an allotment, which I currently would prefer to spend on other aspects of my life. There was also a big mental block to going there – I would be GOING TO THE ALLOTMENT, which meant old jeans, three hours and a lot of aching afterwards. As a result I would only go there if I could spare three hours, rather than popping along for an hour, which I think is what is needed on a daily basis as a minimum, along with a good few hours each day at the weekend.

I also am rather sad that my somewhat idealistic aspect of the community spirit of an allotment didn’t arise. It was a new allotment, so things are being build from scratch, but I really wanted everyone to work together. I think it is far too large for that and possibly because everyone had their patch it didn’t work. I was so upset when I saw people start to fence their bit off – especially when they used the flourescent orange builders netting. It really divided the place up and made it all very individualistic. One day I will work on creating a community in the real world. This is not my first disappointment with community, I lived in one made up of 17 people in a rather strange, rambling abode above a leather shop at the top of Brick Lane in London. A topic for another post.

So, what I am doing with the tools and bits that lots of people gave me for my birthday last year? Well, I have gotten the gardening bug and so I am investing time and energy transforming our garden. When I first moved in with my OH just before I got the allotment I wasn’t comfortable doing things in his garden. Now I feel it is very much our garden and our home, so I am happy to start putting my stamp on the garden! His mum and dad put in some amazing raised beds with a lot of structured (I think the proper word is architectural) plants and so I am making flower beds around the side. I will also be doing a lot of pots as we have a large concreted over bit (nice). I have really got the gardening bug now, something which I must have inherited from my mum, and so I will be continuing to learn and grow. I will be focusing mainly on flowers and herb, especially those which can be used in herbalism.

As for food; I have signed up to Abel and Cole, who deliver local, fresh food to me once a week. This is good as it means I can pretty much avoid going to the supermarket and it will force us to eat better as the food is relatively pricey and I will feel even more guilty about throwing it  away.

The end of a rather small experience for me in allotmenteering, but it has definitely made me into a gardener. Are there any other allotmenteers out there? How do you cope with it?

Meadering, bimbling thoughts

Hello there.

I don’t actually have a topic for this post, I normally set out with a specific idea on which to post; even if it changes as I write – something which has happened several times now. I do have lots of things on my mind and so I am writing to see if anything worthwhile comes out. Apologies if it doesn’t!

First up – bimbling – it’s not a real word, yet one which I like and use quite a lot. Hopefully you understand what I mean my it. I normally use it in the context of bimbling along when walking somewhere – no pace, no strong sense of direction. My other half is away on business at the moment (which is happening quite a lot of late, he has lots of big projects on the go) which tends to result in my brain whirring away with no particular focus.

I got the job which I mentioned before – so I am now a teacher in a secondary school – teaching 11-16 year olds English Literature and Language. I am very pleased to have got this job and I am really excited about starting. My first day is the 21 June – just after I complete my University course. Once that is finished I will be qualified to teach in further education and sixth form colleges: so, not in a school. As such there will be more training to do. At this stage I am not entirely sure what what this will be as I will already have a teaching qualification; its all very complicated and confusing. However I am not worried about it – just excited. I am a very good student and I love studying, so I will just do what I need to do and the school is really supportive, which is excellent.

Last weekend I went on a basic herbalism course at the fantastic Assington Mill. There are so many courses I want to do there and having been there I want to do even more of them now! Anne the owner is incredibly friendly and helpful and with her partner cooks the most amazing lunches. I was taught by Jude and Vanessa from Of People and Plants who were very kind and knowledgeable people. I have been interested in herbalism for a really long time, for example when I was Uni over ten years ago I made lots of herbal teas, but always from bought herbs.  Although I make my lotions and potions now I have never been confident enough to start picking my own herbs.

This course has really boosted my confidence and I have already been down to my allotment and picked a load of plants which were weeds before and I now see as medicine. I now have two oils being created and a spring tincture. I am hoping they will be running another course soon this was spring focused and I really would like one for each season to help me identify the plants who are ripe for harvesting. There really is something about doing things in person with a real teacher, as opposed to a book, which has given me great confidence to get out and start practising.

A few of you said you were interested in some of my recipes I mentioned in my last post. I am going to start off nice and simple with creations you can probably make from your kitchen cupboards, or after a quick trip to the chemist and I will get going on those shortly.

Hmmm, this is getting rather long now and so I will call a halt to my written bimbling. Hopefully there will soon be a post with more focus and something concrete to communicate.

Spring has truly sprung

I made it down my allotment today – hurrah!

Oh dear – spring has really gotten underway. And how do I know this? Because of the WEEDS! So many of them. Everywhere!

All I could do was to get my trusty hoe and start hacking and then raking. I managed to make a lot of head way in a small amount of time. I decided I wouldn’t do more than a couple of hours, otherwise I would be really sore and stiff tomorrow.

I got my allotment last May and I really didn’t (and don’t) want to spend a lot of money – making it look all ordered and neat. A lot of my neighbours down there seem to have spent a fortune in wood for making boxes, which is great – I love raised beds, they are so neat and tidy, but expensive to make. For me that defeats the object of allotments!

I was really pleased as I moved away all of the weeds – the soil underneath was really rich and well dug. All of the time I spent last summer digging over the disused and rock hard land filled with rubbish and lots of stones was worth it. I was lucky enough to get my hands on some extremely well-rotted horse manure which I dug in last year and it has paid off with some fertile looking soil this year.

I have used some old scaffolding planks to start to put some structure to my beds, I used broken up bits of pallet last year, which looked messy, took HOURS to break up and the soil pushed them back up again.

Using some old logs and a trough of some description I have started to create a wildlife sanctuary – all of the other allotments are quite sterile and totally focused on food production, so I am going to have a log pile, small pond and lots of flowers which are good for bees and other  beneficial  insects. I also plan to grow some flowers to fulfill my love of fresh-cut flowers in the house. This way I don’t need to worry about ‘flower miles’!

In an endeavour to add some extra oompf to my lotions and potions (hmm, I haven’t told you about them, have I? I guess I should do a post on my homemade beauty products) I am going on an introduction to herbal medicine next Saturday, which I am really looking forward to. As such I am leaving space on my allotment for growing some herbs too – I have got seeds for the top 10 herbs James Wong recommends in his book Grow your own drugs and these will be going in as soon as possible.

My allotment for me makes me feel slightly conflicted. I am such a control freak in everyday life and extremely organised and a very strong part of me wants to make it very neat and tidy. But another part of me wants it to be messy and chaotic, so working down there is a real change from the rest of my life. Whatever happens I must get down there more often, working outdoors is such a fantastic feeling and really energises me. Although I have to say now, having had a swim, done some baking and it being eight hours later I am not feeling very energetic. Oh well, I should sleep well tonight!

For those of you who are in spring how are you doing with the weeds?

And….relax

Hello, thanks for all the further thoughts on Pagan priesthood. It’s all very interesting and lots of think about!

I should be:

• Studying for my last PGCE assignment
• Marking a set of English essays
• Making a cot quilt
• Making my niece’s birthday present
• Making some more lotions and potions
• Going to the allotment
• Preparing for a really important and scary job interview

But do you know what? I just can not be bothered right now. I have done a lot so far over my holidays, most of it all rather dull and errand based. I have less time for doing day-to-day things now than I did when I was working full-time, I could easily do some internet shopping, or deal with car MOTs, getting presents etc while I was at work and no-one would be any the wiser. It’s not possible to do that when teaching – I can’t make a sneaky phone call to the garage when teaching a lesson on the historical context of comedy or how to do budgeting for a theatre company!

I haven’t been to my allotment for ages – I have either been really busy or ill – I have heard there is a ‘teachers’ immune system’ which I will get at some point -  I would really like it to kick in now, I seem to get every bug going and I’m rather bored of it to be honest.

So, what have I been doing? Well aside from all the silly little time-consuming errands I have managed to plant all my spring seeds, write a whole assignment, do one set of marking and most importantly spend time with friends and relax! I know that doesn’t sound like much but I really am rubbish at relaxing, spending most of my time at a full on pelt, either collapsing into bed at the end of the day, or being wide awake with my mind racing.

I have been writing, meditating, exercising and very much being in the moment. It is wonderful and really reminds me that I do not spend enough time doing this on a day-to-day basis, and quite frankly I should know better. In my last holiday (half term) I worked all of it, sitting at my computer, writing assignments, marking and preparing for the next half term. I felt totally unrefreshed when I went back to college and I really needed to make sure I didn’t do the same for this one.

So, I haven’t. I have had two days this week out and about, Monday at a Pagan festival event, with Damh the Bard playing and Ancient Music, which was lovely to hear. Yesterday I went to a craft type place, which also has a small farm for children too. I was convinced by my friend to do some ceramic painting, so I have created a rather lairy green, orange and purple massive mug for me to drink my vast quantities of redbush tea out of, while she created a rather beautiful and refined graduated goblet. I’m looking forward to picking them up some point next week.

I frequently forget that it is so important to take time out to relax and refresh so I can bring lots of energy to the things I do. I think I need to implement a routine or timetable to make sure I relax during term time as well. Or is that just my control freak side trying to regiment relaxing – which should be the very opposite to timetabled!

What do you do to ensure you relax, or do you not find it an issue?

Autumn is coming

This week it has felt like the seasons have changed from summer to autumn. Of course the end of August is officially the end of autumn, however it is never normally so clearly delineated.

There has been a tang in the air, a certain smell which differs from that of summer. And I love it. I joyfully announced to my OH that it was nearly time for gloves and scarves and hats, thick jumpers and stews. He looked at me as if I was some what mad.

One of the main reasons I love living in England (and I am not at all patriotic) is the seasons and the clear distinctions between them. I enjoy the contrasts, seeing the difference in the landscape around us and the way we as humans respond to them.

The changing of the seasons always makes me stop and appreciate the nature that surrounds us, even in our towns.

It means the manic production of my allotment is going to slow down and give me to time to think a bit about what I am actually doing with it all (I will share my ideas soon), try and get some spring crops as well as plan for next years main season. As I got my plot so late in the season I didn’t really get a chance to plan – I didn’t have the space to plant things anyway, but as I have nearly finished digging half of my plot I am in a better position.

A major thing for me is that I go to University next week, which I am very excited about. I graduated 9 years ago, so it is good to be going back to study, especially as it is enabling me to do what I have always wanted to do (teach). So the changing of seasons is allowing change in my life to.

What does the change of seasons mean for you?