Poisson d'avril

The following post was written in April 2016, and published in September the next year!


Well, I knew it was going to be eclectic, but I didn't realise quite how erratic it would be, my only excuse being a total lack of time between school and bring up boys and local council work, oh, and the odd minute to myself,  there are really very few of them!

Over four months later, I find time to sit down and update y'all on the project. I was invigilating the mock exams the other day, and thought I would seize the opportunity to  make a list of subjects to write my next blog entry about. I filled a page and a half of A4.

Some of the difficulties we have come across has been naming the farm. Or is it a project? There are several fields anyway, so it would be useful to find a name for each of them to avoid confusion.

Good news -  Four yes/fruit trees have been planted, three apple (two golden delicious - not my favourite apple, but very popular, and one reine des rainettes - a local apple) and one cherry tree (sunburst variety).
More good news - Two raised beds (hug-le culture) are on their way, thanks to me, Anne, and mainly Salix and Fabien, who have done some major digging. I have been up to the old garden 'stealing' plants, raspberries, strawberries, hazel trees, origano, marjoram, nettle, lemonbalm, comfrey, and poppies.
Seeds have been sown, and are starting to peep through - basil, chives, lettuce, tomatoes.
Cuttings have been taken - yellow buddleia, christmas cactii, red and white varieties, and the aloe vera babies are doing well too.

More excellent news, the chicken palace,  as it is rightfully named has been completed and eight beautiful, happy and free chickens have been duly bought and brought onsite to be loved and cared for as chickens should be, so we can steal and appreciate their eggs, and make cakes and pancakes and endless egg-based recipes.

I truly feel as though we are starting to land and rebuild my dream, food shall be coming from our smallholding, and maybe, just maybe one day self sufficiency can once again be an attainable goal. I remember leaving the UK, in the year 2000, 17 years ago, and someone saying that I was crazy, giving up my corporate life when I had my feet well on the bottom rungs of the ladder, and instead moving my pregnant self into a truck having sold my home in Sydenham. Well, I must still be mad, as I still see society's goals as twisted, and mine as the only way forward for the planet and thus for the human race if we wish to survive.

And yes, I still believe that each and every one of us can change how we live and that will make a difference. Obviously. We must all stop voting for their society by removing our money (read energy) from their system. Don't buy nutella (Nestlé, Monsanto...) - not even on a Sunday.

Alex has been busy as a bee creating and designing a Fibernacci spiral for one part of the garden, I only hope I can do justice to the hours of work she has put in, I must remember to always take the right hand turn :). The Fiberanacci spiral is based on the mathematical series of numbers on which a pine cone, an artichoke, and human heritage dna are based. Alex has created four spirals which interlink coming from a central point where I am hoping to grow a pagoda/picnic area inspired by my Aunty Tessie's outside eating area, where we would sit and eat grapes dripping from above our heads, surrounded by colours and smells and variety provided by plants grown with love.  The spirals will hopefully be themed, colour, genus, time of flowering, One of the ideas is that the garden needs a wild path crossing its entirety - wild hedging - to enable the hedgehogs, and all other necessary animals/bugs/beasties to traverse, so one of the spirals may be made up of 'wild' hedging.

Another important addition to the garden is the compost area, which has been improved immensely.
How important is chocolate?