Wishbone Soup Cures Everything

Holidays for us are usually little days here and there; a few nights of camping, a walk around a historical garden, a stopover with grandchildren. This year Mr began to receive his pension, so we saved up the money and launched into a full week in Tromso, Northern Norway. We last went abroad in 2009: luckily we had help with organising the trip because the choice was overwhelming (should you be based in the UK, Adventure With Me Abbey Lee is a fledgling small business; please support). We picked Tromso because Mr has always wished to see the Aurora Borealis, somewhere snowy. There is no guarantee to see it, of course, wherever you go. Nature is under no obligation. Still, we would be gathering memories, we would know that we tried. Also, back in March, we lost someone precious to us- so this quest of ours was powered by honouring a commitment to the joyfulness of life. Here is how our Northern Lights Chase went: ‘Tuesday December 3rd As I type this, we are on a minibus heading out on ...

September is all but done. Our fingers are purple from plucking berries, scored by thorns, sore and satisfied. How lucky we are, and how grateful! Through the cold spring, and the soggy summer, we have worked to make this place more and more beautiful. We are charming sustenance from the soil with our toiling; using the present to craft a kinder path- a tree-lined, fruit-bearing way.  And so here we are, in autumn, a time of harvest, glut, and storage. A time to plant trees, a time of festival. Our lives are seasonal, tidal, temperate, held in repetitions that are never the same; variations of repeating patterns, a common uniqueness. How lucky we are, and how grateful! Pollinator friendly saplings added to  the firepit hedge, lower field.

It has been a while since I wrote a blog post - I have been writing books, and keeping a diary, the days and the work aren’t lost, just ticking quietly in a corner. [There’s a little dust in that corner but the shelf is made of strong oak planks, and the light is enchanting. A plant grows in a pot, it spouts leaves. A half candle stands in a china holder.] At Paddock Garden (properly titled Paddock Garden Orchards, I am a lazy typer) a tree corral has been constructed. It contains persimmons which may not have survived the recent cold blasts and heavy rain, along with some happy pepper trees, bladdernuts, and plum yews. We plan to underplant and interplant extensively in this concentrated area. Around the grounds also we have begun some windbreak hedges, mostly of elaeagnus and hazel. We have a line of sapling native oaks edging the spinney. The first of our camping bay areas is growing emerald grass that was seeded last autumn; the second has recently been seeded; the last three need ...