0 comment Monday, September 15, 2014 | admin
A representative for a volunteer charity in the area came round to have a look at the garden and discuss possible ways to help. I will admit that I felt rather discouraged at the end of it - they knew nothing about sensory gardens, or autism, or fibromyalgia or ME. He was interested only in knowing how much it was going to cost and when his eyebrows shot up I pretty much figured that was a "No". I tried to explain that it's not as simple as just putting some raised beds out there; I could do that myself. But it's pointless to put the beds out there if I can't even get to them in the first place. It was dropped that their organisation is on call at the moment for assisting in Haiti, as it seems every charity is doing at the moment, and that they may not have the funds for anything else this year. Hm, housing, food, water vs. garden? No contest - been there, done that personally. Still, it was a bit disheartening; there's people with nothing right now, and I'm fussed about a garden?
Thing is, I've had my own slice of rough living - malnurishment and sleeping rough may be part of the reason for my current issues. In some vaguely anti-self-depreciating way, I've reached a point where I can reap the rewards of surviving without feeling guilty for it. I'm not asking for a mansion; it's a garden that I can tend for the rest of my life. I managed to dig myself out of a case of the guilts and soldiered on through the interview however, and away he went. We'll see what comes of it.
And on top of this was a bit of garden-squee; I've received some seeds in the post from a friend! Overjoyed! Hollyhock and nasturtium and some pinks, with more lovely things on the way! I have onion sets and shallots which are due, and a friend is sending coir blocks for me to plant seeds in, with a view to get some worm casts shipped in sometime in April. And - AND - a Stella cherry tree is on the way! Whoohoo! I best get some pots ready and a HUGE one for the cherry tree. There are indeed Cool People in the World - and I know there's more on the way so thank you thank you! (Actually I've had to hide the seeds as I've no seed soil at the moment and sprog would got completely spare if he knew I had seeds about - he'll have to wait a bit!)
Plots and plans for the next month on getting a growhouse for toms, as I'm on a mission to be able to harvest enough tomatoes to make pizza sauce for sprog and maybe some dried toms if there's any left over.
It has been warming up a treat but I'm trying not to jump the gun too badly - the past few summers in the UK had been rather misleading, with very mild springs and then a sudden frost in May that damn near killed everything I had outside. I'll be a bit more cautious this year, even though it means nearly every single windowsill I have will have something growing on it for a while - but you won't see me weeping about that, I assure you.
The rest of the day was not too bad, actually - I experimented with homemade pizza on a pizza stone I've never used till today, and sprog approved, assembling his own pizza and generally enjoying the process. While that cooked away, I made some giant chocolate-chip fairy cakes for sprog and topped it with chocolate icing, and experimented with achieving a pink colour with buttercream by using cranberries, with some success. Since food colouring is a HUGE no in our house, finding alternatives for cakes is warranted, and we've had some luck with using fruits and veg instead. What I manage to keep out of his main cake and icing, I can allow a bit in sprinkles, and sprog tends to use sprinkle-candies quite liberally on his wee cakes!
I'm enjoying baking again, and while my energy level is starting to pick up a bit, I'm still taking things slow. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to make some soap this month for a change! Once the order shows up, that is...*sigh*
Thing is, I've had my own slice of rough living - malnurishment and sleeping rough may be part of the reason for my current issues. In some vaguely anti-self-depreciating way, I've reached a point where I can reap the rewards of surviving without feeling guilty for it. I'm not asking for a mansion; it's a garden that I can tend for the rest of my life. I managed to dig myself out of a case of the guilts and soldiered on through the interview however, and away he went. We'll see what comes of it.
And on top of this was a bit of garden-squee; I've received some seeds in the post from a friend! Overjoyed! Hollyhock and nasturtium and some pinks, with more lovely things on the way! I have onion sets and shallots which are due, and a friend is sending coir blocks for me to plant seeds in, with a view to get some worm casts shipped in sometime in April. And - AND - a Stella cherry tree is on the way! Whoohoo! I best get some pots ready and a HUGE one for the cherry tree. There are indeed Cool People in the World - and I know there's more on the way so thank you thank you! (Actually I've had to hide the seeds as I've no seed soil at the moment and sprog would got completely spare if he knew I had seeds about - he'll have to wait a bit!)
Plots and plans for the next month on getting a growhouse for toms, as I'm on a mission to be able to harvest enough tomatoes to make pizza sauce for sprog and maybe some dried toms if there's any left over.
It has been warming up a treat but I'm trying not to jump the gun too badly - the past few summers in the UK had been rather misleading, with very mild springs and then a sudden frost in May that damn near killed everything I had outside. I'll be a bit more cautious this year, even though it means nearly every single windowsill I have will have something growing on it for a while - but you won't see me weeping about that, I assure you.
The rest of the day was not too bad, actually - I experimented with homemade pizza on a pizza stone I've never used till today, and sprog approved, assembling his own pizza and generally enjoying the process. While that cooked away, I made some giant chocolate-chip fairy cakes for sprog and topped it with chocolate icing, and experimented with achieving a pink colour with buttercream by using cranberries, with some success. Since food colouring is a HUGE no in our house, finding alternatives for cakes is warranted, and we've had some luck with using fruits and veg instead. What I manage to keep out of his main cake and icing, I can allow a bit in sprinkles, and sprog tends to use sprinkle-candies quite liberally on his wee cakes!
I'm enjoying baking again, and while my energy level is starting to pick up a bit, I'm still taking things slow. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to make some soap this month for a change! Once the order shows up, that is...*sigh*