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...!