Gardening

You would think that in the fourth year of gardening here I would not be finding any more rubbish-but this morning I took another load of old iron sheets to be recycled!!
I have cleared and dug by the old back fence, ready to take it down and put up the new one, made from old pallets. Very smart it is too!
The greenhouse awaits the Carpenter's assistance. It needs to be bolted to its anchors as it can get very windy here.
I am preparing all the jobs so that it will work like a row of dominoes-do the first, key job, and all the others fall in line smoothly....well, that's the theory!!

Now the baking, washing and ironing are done I can return to the garden again.

Gardening

They don't get called allotments in this village-they are the Gardens.
So for two days I have been in the garden, gently gardening!!
You think that you have it all dug over, then another corner comes in view!!
I don't work fast, with an officially creaking back I couldn't if I tried-but it is surprising how much you can do when you keep steadily going and occasionally stop to listen to the resident robin!

The Compost has arrived at The Shed today! I couldn't help carry, but I could slide them off the pallets on the lorry for others-no heavy lifting allowed!
I asked how heavy they were and got the reply "80 litres"...

writing

Mountain Man has agreed we should write down what we think to say to each other, as it isn't often enough in the Winter and during lambing, and we forget when we DO meet...

It is not as easy as it sounds-blogging is difficult enough!

How can you put the colour and intensity of a feeling into words?

How can you describe what the sound of a bird or the sight of a new spring shoot has made you feel, especially if it has just made you sit in silence?

More lovely days

Two more fine days and too much work to do indoors!

Even the moss is flowering too
The path up to Rhyswg Fawr. Halfway up the mountain was enough for today, enough to be away from the traffic noise and up in the sun
Looking down Cwm 'Fapi
Digging done, I must resist the urge to plant and sow too much-it is only February and the valley is cold once the sun sets...

Still spring

Friday's sunset
Thursday's sunset

The weather is holding well, more gardeners have emerged on the allotments to start digging.
I am glad that I use raised beds and never walk on them as my soil is ready and warming instead of claggy and still waiting.
Why make life hard for yourself and the plants?!
Although not freezing, the nights are still chilly, no outdoor sowings for a while yet.
The sun hides behind the mountain from us in the valley soon after 4pm. so it's off to walk home then.

Now I am waiting again-for a different person!
I am Freecycling, clearing out the clutter, making thinking and doing easier. Now I am waiting for someone to collect what I no longer need and they do need.

Spring

Today I have done three hours of gardening in my allotments- weeding and feeding the autumn sown onion sets and the strawberry beds. More have survived than I dared to hope!

Today on the Mountain, lambing began.

socks

Trying for size
turning the heel
This has been called "the ninja sock of doom"...do this, and the doorbell or phone will be bound to ring!
Sock #1 done, sock #2 started....

socks

socks

Baking day

The bread is getting better. As the starter gets older, it is improving every bake, and I can use less white and more wholemeal flour-and not end up with a 'brick'. All I do is keep back about 250 to 350 grammes of dough put it in a floured plastic lidded tub. Each time I make a new batch of dough, this gets added in before the first kneading. It is nothing new, it is similar to sourdough baking and apparently there are starters out there over 200 years old- well mature!
So far today I have made a hazelnut savoury, a Victoria sponge with my blueberry jam, sultana, cranberry and almond tea cake and a nice solid parkin for mountain walks.

It has been a fine but breezy day. Mountain Man has been on the mountain, checking the ponies that are up there. One he found and she is fine. Others he saw and they saw him coming-and went!
So they look well enough. If they wanted him they would soon be at the mountain gate waiting for him.

Still Spring

The weather is still mild today, but raise your eyes to the hills...
The lower fields are delineated by a shadow of snow along the hedges.
Above them the snow is only very gradually thinning.
I must resist the urge to sow outdoors, the soil has yet to warm.

Spring

Clear out the old stuff!! I am busy sorting and tidying, recycling and freecycling.
Clearing out the clutter so that I am able to do things properly !
The Oily One seems to be turning over a new leaf too - bedroom almost clean and tidy, washing done, even making coffee for me!!
The Carpenter is...getting oily. You can't win them all, as they say.

Plants are beginning to grow, and the ground is starting to smell a little earthy.
Yet...yesterday on the mountain it was lightly snowing.

Knitting

The sock progresses...

Escape!

I went away!
I met new friends and saw even more snow! I decided to stay IN the car to take photos...
Then to Aberystwyth to see the sunset

I had hoped for a return refreshed and eager to resume life back home...but no welcome, no-one had lifted a finger in the house.
Perhaps I should go for longer next time.....

snow walk

The snow retreats slowly
It depends upon how much sun and footfall
In the canal the ice still lies beneath the surface as it rains

trees in the snow

snow walk

As you walk up from the village the salt and grit
gets spread thinner
so this is what I mean when I say mountain....going up,,,
and up. Now just the tracks of snow chains, a 4x4 and walking boots are here.
coming into the light, and going further up...
up round the bends...
and up...
view across Cwm Gwyddon
coming up to the last, steepest, incline
snowy fields
Here you can see the difference that altitude makes

forest road
going back down the path to the village

a busy week

A sky warning of weather to come
and it began, so more knitting was done at last..I need more socks!

No digging yet...

Not that much in the village but enough for people of all ages to play with!

A break in the clouds yesterday



The difference that snow makes..

More snow..walk curtailed.

Instead of complaining, make the best of what you have. One can get on with what is needed
when the weather changes