Cordial,cupcakes and Kathryn Jenkins!

This week promised to be the perfect week for me and luckily I was not disappointed. My sister and I bought tickets to see the open air Kathryn Jenkins concert at Wisley Gardens, as a birthday gift to each other. We packed up our fold up chairs and our picnic and joined the queue!

The weather was amazing, the singing fantastic and we topped it all off with a tasty cupcake in the interval!!

We talked ourselves out of buying a hot chocolate to go with it because the one disappointing part of the evening was the usual enormous queue for the loo!! Which led me to explain to my sister the wonders of the new product we have in the shop called the shewee, a product that once you have one in your handbag you would not want to be with out, it enables us less versatile ladies become much better equipped to pee whilst standing without any of those sprinkling accidents! I will say no more but definitely worth investigating if you have a holiday planned to any country that tends to have unsavoury toilet facilities.

I popped into the shop this week also and the oilcloth holdalls were a hit, I was so inspired by the teams response I promptly came home and made two large rectangular toilet roll holders or bathroom tidies. Oh dear! I do seem to have a problem with trying to lead myself away from lavatory talk.

I had a lovely lunch with Susie and Issy and we had a great session of bouncing ideas around that could be taken forward into new products. Whilst at the shop my sister texted me to order 3 kiss letterpress necklaces and a friend one.

She had given a kiss necklace to her daughter Harriet's nursery school teacher because Harriet is now going to 'big school' and she absolutely loved it, as well as all the other mums who saw it and then asked her to place an order for some more. My sister stated" you must tell everyone what a fantastic idea they are as teacher gifts", and so I am doing exactly that.

Another great gift are the momijji products, these dolls all come with a little note in the base that can be used to send a little personal message, they really are very cute. My sister also became very popular when all her friends saw the yummy cupcakes she made for Harriet's birthday using the momijii cupcake set with the little flags in each one. Consequently she was volunteered in her absence to provide all the cupcakes for the children's end of term leaving party, oops maybe she won't thank treehouseblue for that one!

For my sisters birthday, my girls decided they were going to make some elderflower cordial to give to Auntie Nikki. Since we moved to our house we have wanted to have a go at making elderflower cordial but have missed the ideal time in which to pick the elder flowers. This year we managed to pick armfuls on a walk we did after school and with the help of dad who stopped at the chemist on his way home from work to pick up the citric acid, we proceeded to make elderflower cordial.

It was so easy to make and smelt and tasted absolutely divine, I think we might have to make some more before the flowers start to drop, now is definitely the perfect time to do this. If you would like to give it a go yourselves, this is the recipe we used:

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

1 lemon, grate the rind and slice the fruit

25g(10z) citric acid

1kg (2lb) sugar

10 elderflower heads

750ml water

Pour boiling water onto sugar in a bowl.

Stir to dissolve, add the lemon rind,slices citric acid and flowerheads (wash through in a colander first)

Leave for 24 hours, stirring occassionally.

Sieve through a muslin pour into clean bottles and seal with screw top caps.

Keeps for 6 months unless you have kids!!!

Dilute with ice cold water or sparkling water for a beautifully refreshing summer drink.

Floral Inspiration

It is amazing how in just a few weeks our gardens and the countryside have blossomed into beautiful palettes of colour. My next door neighbours have the most amazing country borders full of foxgloves,delphiniums, aquilegia and sweet william, my garden is not quite so wonderful but I use theirs to provide me with enthusiasm and inspiration. Taking this inspiration the theme for flower club this week was a summer basket, which Margaret our teacher thinks we should all enter into the local Country Show competition in September. I think we will need another one or two of the white wine spritzers we had last night to convince ourselves we are worthy of entering a competition but once we had all finished our creations and our spritzers! we did feel slightly more confident about the whole concept.

I had a theory that if I tidied and beautified my working space it would help with my creativity and production, so I set to work to do this and was very pleased with my definite floral themed working area.

I have since made some of these oilcloth holdalls, that I discovered whilst trying to come up with a lunch bag design. My initial one had some definite design flaws and so whilst I was waiting to buy the extra bits in order to rectify these flaws I put all my sewing bits and bobs related to the project inside the said failed bag. Hey presto! this has now become an incredibly handy tidyall for my sewing room. Thus I digressed from lunch bags and moved onto reversible oilcloth holdalls and set my imagination going as to what they could be used for around the home, below are some of my ideas. As you can see the little pencil pot looks great with the twig pencils that we sell at TreeHouseBlue, they really jazz up any workspace and are so great to hold. I think I will take these up to the shop next week and see whether Susie and Sam like them.

I have become stuck on my lunch bag design and so am now thinking along the lines of painting overalls! In between though I have had to make a white pair of trousers for Toby , as it will be his first Whitsun festival on Friday. I realised I may have made them a little wide in the leg , when Toby burst into an Elvis impression the minute he tried them on!! He seemed happy enough with them despite this, I now have visions of him at school amidst a very reverent and beautiful assembly becoming the king!

Looking out the window I see that my plan at the start of the Spring to make my veg plot equally inspiring and chintzy is coming together a little slower. The sweetpeas in the flour tin are doing great, I think what would help the effect along even more would be the really gorgeous windbreak and matching deckchair!! as featured in this months Country living. The screening we put up to hide nextdoors rubbish and discourage rabbits from entering my plot has not faired at all well through the Winter, maybe the solution would be to use the windbreak to add colour to the garden through the Summer but it can be safely put away for the Winter months and brought out again the next year. Equally my deckchairs are a disgrace, I have attempted to cover them in a different fabric and for now I think that will have to be my solution but really the whole effect would be completed by some new ones to match. Maybe my husband would like one for Fathers Day, what better way to relax, than in the garden, in a deckchair with a good book!

To bring things back around to flowers and Spring, I have taken a photo of our current nature table, every family who goes to a Steiner Waldorf school will have a nature table somewhere in their house. It helps to demonstrate to the children the Seasons and the rhythm that the year brings as well as allowing them space to put any of the treasures they have found whilst out and about. Some of them can be incredibly beautiful and elaborate with lots of handmade as well as bought items to help set the scene for the time of year. Our table tends to be busy with all 3 children contributing. Soon the whitsun doves will appear and some of the other items will go.

Sending the children to The Steiner school means that they are aware of events in the calendar such as Whitsun but at the same time are aware of the slightly more commercial events such as fathers day also which are just as important in a child's life.

Jam and Jerusalem!

Every time I attend one of our village hall committee meetings, I have to giggle to myself. The whole scenario is like something from an episode of Jam and Jerusalem. I live in a lovely village with a pond, pub, village green and beautiful church. Additionally we have a Village Memorial Hall which from the outside appears to be an old scout hut, but once inside you realise it really is a quaint old village hall with ancient china kept in an antique wall cupboard in a kitchen shared with mice and ivy that has grown through the wall into the kitchen!

We are trying desperately hard to raise £100,000 in order to rebuild the Hall in the same position and also enlarge it. Thus every other month or so we meet to discuss how we are going to do this, where we can go to get grants and at what stage the planning permission and build are at. The committee consists of the 'ladies', of which I am one, whom bake the cakes and organise social events to help raise money, and then there are the big guys who ask for considerably larger amounts of money from various organisations and draw up plans etc. for the build. The captain at the helm is the owner of the villages' beautiful mansion house, who seems to have contacts all over the place and tries his darnedest to keep everyone happy but in the process upsets many!!

Invariably the meetings start off following a true agenda but soon somewhere along the line comments about various inhabitants of the village are made and so a true picture of life at Beech Hill starts to unfold. I joined the committee when we first moved to the village to meet local people and become part of the village and this portal has proved the best way to do this and more! I would thoroughly recommend anyone wishing to embark in village life to attend a meeting of their local village hall or parish councillors. Beware though because once you are drawn in, your life will never be the same, needless to say you will almost certainly need to acquire a mothers manager. The beautiful chintzy diary we stock that not only gives you room to write in all these new meetings and events, it also has a brilliant pocket in which to store all the necessary bits of paper that come along with it.

I will endeavour to keep you updated of the events that occur in the meetings and impart any juicy gossip I am privy to hearing!

The farrier visited us this week, which I know Moon and Sunbeam appreciated because their hooves were looking a little long in the tooth. They have now had their french manicure and look so much better for it. Next month we have a visit from the equine dentist booked in, which I am not looking forward to, Moon does not do dentists, much like Molly and so sedation is a necessary element of this process. Hmm maybe this should be the approach to use for Molly!!

I myself visited the dentist today and managed to get away with a quick check up and no work required. Two hours later I receive a call from the school to say can I come and collect Toby he is unwell and has a toothache!! Once I had collected Toby I realised he really was not at all well, he was feverish and in alot of pain, so off we go back to the dentist!!!! It transpires that our poor little man has in fact got an abscess on his tooth and will require antibiotic treatment, apparently the next line of treatment is tooth extraction but our wonderful dentist does not believe in children undergoing this procedure for baby teeth and instead made a deal with Toby saying that if it became infected again we would have to take it out but in the meantime he can do the best he can to wobble it and lose the tooth by himself. Thank goodness!

Toby thinks the problem started at the weekend when he had a toffee bon bon as a treat, my new tactic will be to buy goodies that are not only soft but also organic, such as the moreish motezumas chocolate bars we sell at the shop and then we can indulge in a little bit of pleasure for alot less pain!

Moving on from chocolate to chocolate puddles! we took shadow for a walk at the weekend to the Englefield Estates woods, it was lovely and as you can see from the pictures the chosen activity for the walk was' who could find the deepest chocolatey puddle'. I wonder!!!!

Beautiful Homes and mini gardens

Note to self do not make jokey comments about bodyparts and losing them!!!

Toby had to be taken to A and E on the afternoon of our May Fayre because he managed to run into a deckchair and split his ear! No sooner did we get that mended with glue did he then lose his tooth whilst digging into his lunch and proceed to swallow it!

I have spent this week clearing out and reorganising my workspace in order to achieve some sort of inspiration for new products to sell at the shop. I am sure this has been aided by my avid viewing of Kirsty Allsops homemade home! I love it and especially loved it when she furnished her children's playroom with a wooden toy carousel that we sell, it is made by a local craftsman. It is as bright and colourful, as it looks on the programme, a real toddler pleaser!

I then realised that we actually sell a few of Kirsty Allsops products, her style whilst doing up her Devon cottage is definitely in keeping with the THB teamstyle. We have her lovely retro sewing kits, picture hanging kits and tool kits which are full of useful but beautiful items essential for any new homeowner or refurbisher. The candles are divine they make my workroom smell gorgeous and I haven't even lit one yet, they come in a box with a matching set of matches an absolutely perfect gift or treat to self!

For the younger aspiring house owners, of which my children definitely are, I think I may have biased their TV viewing so that now they avidly watch Kirsty, Grand designs and Jamie Oliver!

The Moulin Roty sewing kit is a must, it is another one of those products that is just so beautiful and nostalgic to look at but also usable.

The children spent a busy weekend making mini gardens because they want to enter the Cath Kidston competition to win £100 of products. Ellen said she would give me half the prize and Molly spotted the tee pee tent that sleeps 6 and has decided she would buy this. It does look very lovely, it is almost a grown up, mummy version of our children's tee pees. I think it would be great to have the large version surrounded by a little camp of kids ones in the garden for the Summer.

Poor daddy was also being creative but he instead was creating a penthouse run for the ducks, I declared that I would not be able to sleep the night we move the ducks out of the house and into their own house in the garden due to the fear of the dreaded fox! So we (that is the royal we!) set forth to make a run that would include the new pond that Toby dug out for the ducks, as well as their house and thus be completely predator safe. It is nearly complete and will be quite plush when finished but I have to say it does look a little like the house that jack built at the moment. I am sure the ducks are going to absolutely love it and I will be able to sleep soundly knowing they are safe. The ducks are now grown up and have the purest of white feathers, they waddle into their run in the morning, skipping underneath the ponies legs on the way, much to Ellen's horror and then in the evening they come and stand by the back door ready to be let in for the night.

My veg patch is doing well, I was joined in it by the ducks at the weekend and puddle proceeded to play in and out the dusty bluebells with the canes I had just put up for the peas I had planted. It was hilarious! I will endeavour to take some photos of this event next time it occurs!

A week for working with wood

Whilst pondering what to write for my next blog I was starting to think I was suffering from writers block when I realised there had definitely been a theme to my past week and that was working with wood!

The children and I visited Burlesdon windmill on their last day before starting back at school last week and we had a wonderful day. It was gorgeously sunny and the staff had arranged a windmill workshop which meant the children were able to make these fantastic windmillls out of willow and the traditional paper ones too.

We did this all in a beautiful old barn and then we sat on the lawn next to the pond for our picnic and once we were full up on chocolate brownies and strawberries we were able to climb the windmill and be told the story of how flour is milled. Every single child soaked in the information and then returned to the barn to grind with a large hand stone their own flour and sieve it into different grades and take it home. The whole day cost £5 per child including materials, I would recommend it to anyone with children from the age of about 5-12 years.

The girls then went off to school and their weekend project was to strip the bark from 12 various sized sticks in order to make a set of wind chimes. They immediately enlisted the help of their little brother and his wonderful much loved and cherished Tree House Blue Moulin Roty tool box. Molly and Toby then set to work sawing off the knobbly bits!

The toolbox came in useful again when at the weekend we decided that as the ducklings are now getting quite large and frankly starting to make our back cloakroom smell of a farmyard! they needed to spend some time outside but as well as needing to make their run foxproof they would need a shelter whilst outside. Molly volunteered for the job and designed and built a superb shelter with minimal help from dad, which the ducks nestled down into almost straight away.

Moon our pony came over to inspect and cant quite work out what all the fuss is all about.

This week is also the week the bluebells have blossomed in our nearby woods, so we have been visiting them daily on our dog walks, they are just wonderful to look at and marvel at the beauty of nature. I think Ellen did a good job of photographing the woods in order to appreciate how amazing they are.

We are looking forward and preparing now for our school May Fayre, which if anyone has ever visited a Steiner School Fayre is a really lovely event full of handmade ideas, products and activities. My brother has been roped in to teach fly tying and casting so watch out anyone who may be in the vicinity of Aldermaston's Alderbridge school on Saturday 7th May at 11:30. He assures me he will be removing anything remotely sharp from the hooks, so that all visitors leave with body parts intact!!

Happy Days !

Happy Days!

What a glorious day we had last week, the sun shone and the whole family set to work in the garden.
Dad moved and repaired the hen house that had been abandoned by the previous house owners in the paddock next to our house.

I spent an incredibly satisfying couple of hours digging over my veg patch , adding manure ( made for us by our two ponies moon and sunbeam!) and then finally planting the potatoes. I am really hopeful of a bumper crop this year because my friend whose family have a biodynamic farm assures me that this was the best day this year to plant potatoes!

I could not have done this job without my great leather gardening gloves, they appear to fit all members of our family, as I spend much of my time retrieving them from whomever has borrowed! them for the particular job they are tackling at that moment.

I am feeling the need to turn my vegetable patch and greenhouse into a bijou chic working space that is not only full of wonderful homegrown vegetables but also looks really cool. I will keep you updated on how I get on but I have a feeling alot of it will be sourced from all the great gardening products we sell at the shop, as well as other vintage finds. I am starting some sweetpeas off in an old enamel flour tin and I of course have all my seeds stuffed into my seed tin!

Meanwhile Toby and Molly have started to transform the old hen house into the ducklings very own bijou residence. Ellen is busy keeping the little ones happy, they think she is their mum and follow her or Molly around the garden, it is so sweet to watch.

Following our happy day in the garden, I had a lovely evening joining the ladies in our village at the village hall for our flower arranging night. The girls asked to come this week as it was the easter holidays and they didnt have school the next day. So we all went off together to do a really nice creative girlie thing together and I am sure you will agree they did a great job, in fact I think they actually achieved better results than I did!

Molly's Display

The hand felted egg cosies on either side of my display were also made by the girls in handwork class at the Waldorf Steiner School they attend, I've a feeling I am going to be regularly outshone by their crafting talents from now on.

Ellens Display

Sam's Display

Puppy Love

My muttley mutt Mij has been helping with product photography today, as the sun was shining on us.

She was particularly enthusiastic about some new organic doggy treats from East of India, oddly enough...

Just as well, as I've just bought my son a hamster, and Mij will need a distraction...!