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July 10 2010
Silmarils
Listening to an audiobook of The Silmarillion just now while browsing the Atlas of Middle Earth. This follows on from our epic watching of the extended versions of all three Lord of the Rings films in preparation and inspiration for our own mountain quest. Nice to be back in Middle Earth 
other jewels: smoothie and brambles. Todays smoothie consisted of LOTS of kale and leaves from the overwintered cabbages which are now huge, LOTS of borage flowers, cleavers, a few black and red currants that are just starting to ripen, bananas, brazil nuts and an apple.
a contrived pic of a smoothie with bramble flowers and honeysuckle
The brambles (blackberries) are growing all through the honeysuckle and produce wonderful big juicy berries in autumn so there is no thought of ‘weeding’… the flowers are very beautiful:
bramble flowers and buds
pink
Related posts:
July 04 2010
rhubarb, tweets and elderflowers
rhubarb and ginger jam
We have a veritable forest of rhubarb so into jam some of it went yesterday! recipe over on frugal where there is also a twitter competition detailed on the front page to win my copy of The Moneyless Man (who is vegan by the way, don’t think I mentioned that before)
Gathered some elderflowers in the wood yesterday too and made some cordial sort of from this recipe though I made much less as I know it doesn’t keep for long even in the fridge, even with citric acid which I didn’t use this time… the taste of summer in it is amazing…
Related posts:
June 24 2010
fruitful flowers and summer reading
pea
It’s wonderfully warm here just now. In between all the cycling, walking, climbing and meeting badgers in the woods were loving the cool of the pool and reading in the sun 
Fiction being perused: Mariana, a gentle tale of reincarnation and time slipping and the latest Sophie Hannah, A Room Swept White – very impressed with this author’s progression. Non fiction-wise: The Moneyless Man, a guy who lived without money for a year (and continues to do so – see his blog), quite mind blowing, lots of info about the financial system as he was an economist and The Age of Absurdity, a great antidote to, well, total nonsense and status quo worship and it’s very funny too!
Jodie Picoult’s House Rules is also well worth a mention, though I read it a while back, as the main character has aspergers syndrome. He may have been given almost every trait going but he does come over as an authentic aspergian person and Picoult makes so many good points and references much current research, I feel it’s a valuable title to have in the mainstream.
borage
grapes
toms
red peppers, just watered
parsley, getting ready to self seed
melon
Related posts:
June 12 2010
trees for life
Four of us girls (Charlotte, me and Lucy and Eleanor from moonrabbits) are doing a sponsored climb to raise money for trees for life, the wonderful charity that is replanting the Caledonian Forest. We intend climbing Bennachie 3 times in one day, taking all three routes to the Mither Tap in about a months time. Trees for life is not a member of just giving or any such online fundraiser but please feel free to donate directly on link above if you wish For every £5 raised a tree will be planted.
A favourite of our kids years ago, the lorax speaks for the trees. Richard St. Barbe Baker “the man of the trees“ who inspired Trees for Life, was sometimes fondly known as the lorax
(lorax on amazon) Buy UK or Buy US
A nice tree filled place we cycled round recently, thanks to a neighbour telling us the best way to get in there:
rhododendron way into the woods
more rhoddies
a little loch
June 06 2010
mellow
iris by pond, cleavers among
a very mellow listen: Deltadream - based on the ancient lost Solfeggio frequency “Ut”, a tone linked with releasing guilt and fear, the shorter track there is a free download.
mellow and cooling eat: minted noodle soup
books weve been mellowing out to in the sun: Named of the Dragon, a gentle mystery, writers, Arthurian and Tudor themes; The Other Half Lives, from Sophie Hannah, the best of her psychological thrillers I’ve read so far and Ask Mother Nature, another nature spirity book responsible for me feeling happy about all the chickweed growing in with the lettuce now
chickweed helps retain water in the soil and is a nice inclusion in salads
bridge over totally calm waters
Had a nice time with some more pilgrims to the house, this time the grandson of the man who built it. We all learned much from each other – apparently the roof used to be covered in solar panels, was the first house up here to have them… no trace of them now… hopefully one day we’ll have them again
borage buds, soon time for blue stars and berries in the smoothies
fully open
May 28 2010
a mouse and relaxation
mouse on peanuts - what a beautiful tail
off he goes
peanut acquired
We bought some Relax Kids CDs at Findhorn years ago and they have been used to great effect for relaxation and self esteem boosting ever since. They now have many new titles for children and teens and a wonderful website where you can listen to excerpts
Nature meditations being our most used
May 26 2010
Bring on the Learning Revolution!
The title of Ken Robinson’s new follow up talk to his wonderful Schools Kill Creativity one from 2006.
His book, The Element is also excellent
May 25 2010
faeryland
the borders
highly perfumed bluebells, wild garlic in back
on the faery path
path
flowers
These cards remind me of the woods – a lovely story telling tool
story telling cards
Other faery places:
gorse blooms
pink snow is falling in the garden
CD of ROC’s lectures UK and US, there is deep wisdom within, much before it’s time as concerns the environment.
May 24 2010
herbish
sage
dill
thyme
golden oregano and marjoram
self seeded borage
wild garlic in flower
blackcurrant leaves drying
fruitish:
red currants and apples
apple blossom
and finally some more plantings of lettuce and salad leaves:
salad station
a favourite book being perused just now – the complete book of herbs
May 10 2010
a spot of sun
Fantine and Toby - not the best of friends but they will share a sunspot
and some ballet feet pics:
in parallel
rise
must learn to pull socks up
April 25 2010
wood sorrel
wood sorrel on forest floor
beautiful plant – edible too
in a tree stump
Perfect book for this time of year if interested in wild foods and foraging: Richard Mabey’s Food for Free
April 15 2010
growth
colour
Planted my berry bushes from Suttons yesterday, well protected there from the rabbits Potatoes are going in today… Dipping into the Anastasia series again to get truly inspired again with growing, so different from anything else I’ve ever read.
honey berry bush, in beside goji and blue
Made wonderful leek, potato and wild garlic soup from the recipe on Cat’s blog
pond flowers
fairy all springlike now beside the Archangel dead nettles
rabbit bones
daff
new leaves on sweet chestnut
flowering currant - is full of bees, lovely noise
new mint
March 06 2010
polytunnels and taps
Weve had a few spring-like days now, causing me to dig over some ground for the little polytunnel and clean and set up the coldframe to let the ground warm up for salad seeds. Browsing Suttons trying to decide what to plant this year – will have more room with extra raised beds… this really does feel like waking up after winter! The pond is finally unfrozen today so I expect frogly activity soon It’s been like this in varying thickness of ice and pattern for months:
Dance mania continues with ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary being studied :)
Books and films amany dug out to accompany this in fine home educating fashion. The Ballet Companion is a gorgeous book, it’s been to good for me to read that things have come on with problems such as eating disorders and painful pointework (ouch pouches – love them!) being dealt with much more compassionately in general. High quality vegan ballet shoes are even available As for films… oh so many, from White Nights to A Chorus Line, loving them all, also deeply appreciative of friends sharing the enthusiasm and cost of DVD purchase… Had a nice time reading over T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and then watching Cats and boring delighting others with tales of cast members I knew/was taught by or with… same goes for Billy Elliot… ah to be an old “when I was young — fill in with unbelievable sounding fact–” person – it’s great fun!!
February 06 2010
swan lake
There were swans on the loch yesterday
Had a lovely day with friends morphing into a very balletic afternoon which was great fun. It’s been wonderful rediscovering ballet being for enjoyment, rather than an eternal striving (not to mention starving) for perfection. Looked out the old class music etc. I have but it’s all on cassettes – technology moved on a bit fast for me there 
Watched Fast Food Nation (quite good trailer there on amazon), fictional film based on the non-fiction book – strong stuff, a round of exploitation to go with the fries… good cast, making it very watchable though gradually more horrifying.
February 02 2010
cheap
a frugal recipe again, basic pasties :)
and bargains to be had – the book people are offering 10% off all orders until midnight tomorrow (Wed. 3rd Feb) – just enter WIN10 at checkout for offer.
January 30 2010
among the snowdrops
more snow… some little bits I’ve been meaning to mention spread among the lovely signs of spring to come
Wayne Dyer’s new program: Excuses Begone! – been enjoying listening to that – he is always so motivational and uplifting.
The Bristol Dyslexia Centre has some interesting stuff on it’s site including some free educational games taken from the Nessy learning program.
Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome: Different Sensory Experiences, Different Perceptual Worlds
Olga Bogdashina has written a wonderful book here – helpful in very practical ways and quite refreshingly non-patronising in it’s manner of looking at autism and the associated sensory and perceptual issues. There is evidence that these may be at the core of ASDs and what is actually physiological has been treated as purely psychological for far too long by the so called experts. A fascinating read
Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
January 23 2010
blog, Illich and broth
Have finally got the blog how I want it – a terrible tale of databases, installations of wordpress and corrupted (by me) css files ensued but I’ve now uploaded the archives (see drop down on sidebar) and cleaned up dead links too
Reading a book lent by my mum. She found it while scouring her shelves during the snow time (unable to get to a library) and thought it might actually be mine… can’t imagine why
Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society is full of wonderful radical thoughts on education, reminds me a lot of Holt and Gatto. The previous owner has hardly left a page untouched, with highlighting and notes everywhere, which somehow makes reading it more interesting, an extra dimension, what someone else finds of import. I think he went a bit too far in sometimes underlining whole pages of text, but there we are
Enjoying Scotch Broth, not the most photogenic of soups but it tastes good:
January 12 2010
a casserole and a cookbook
We will have been married 20 years this year… which causes me to reflect how far weve come, how much the world has changed in that time and to note the two items above. They were given to us as a wedding present by friends who I used to babysit for and here they are still with us, I don’t think any other dish we own has survived that long! The Cranks Recipe Book sparked my interest at once, as I had eaten in their restaurant in London while a student, and it called to mind lovely brick walls and earthenware plates of hearty soup (they now have one restaurant in Devon).
It really taught me to cook, being the only cookery title I had at the time (bit of a change there then) in our first flat that we loved so much. I was fairly clueless when it came to the culinary arts. I remember phoning my mum at times with questions such as ‘how do you cook a neep? I can’t even seem to cut it up’. With the book I learned to bake bread, make cakes and the wonderfully frugal crecy plate pie, prepare soups and casseroles got put in the dish It influenced me in more subtle ways too. Being the one and only it got thoroughly read and I absorbed the health oriented nature of the pages, reading for example, how much adding fresh herbs enhanced the nutritional value of the food. I remember the excitement of planting up a small herb garden and reading more deeply into these subjects. Looking at it now I notice all the cheesy recipes but you could just use any one of the many vegan cheeses available now or leave it out altogether.
Bit different when we first went vegan - a vegan cookbook obtained from the library that shall remain nameless (mainly as I can’t remember it’s name, I think it was somewhat generic, but also I do not want to slander it as it may have had other redeeming recipes) was responsible for me making a vegan cheese out of marg and yeast extract 13 years ago - absolutely disgusting, totally foul!!
So, my cranks book, heavily marked with food, water and childrens crayons. It is now available in a swanky new asparagus covered edition but you can still pick up the original for a penny
As for the dish, it still gets used though not as much anymore. The odd apple/rhubarb crumble is popped in it. I now favour my big Le Creuset that you can cook on the hob and in the oven with - very handy for making a sheperdess/red dragon pie base in and just putting mashed tatties on top and then into the oven it goes. I am very lucky to also have two similar cast iron AGA pans/casseroles given to us by another friend who had them sitting unwanted and unused in his garage, and these are my 3 usual dinner cooking pans now.
Weve always been blessed with friendship I am currently reading Walking to Greenham sent to me by a wonderful woman and friend… a fascinating book and I find myself contemplating the larger worldwide changing of the times. What will the next 20 years bring?
January 08 2010
Porridge - Breakfast of Champions!
Cooked Porridge
1 cup pinhead oats
11/2 cups water
1 cup soya or other dairyfree milk
pinch of salt
You will also need: wooden spoon and strong wrist(!)
Serve hot with cold dairyfree milk and your choice of sweeteners and add-ins.
My kids love theirs with maple syrup, sliced banana, cinnamon and ground flaxseed.
In Other News: I recieved my copy of 'Come In Spinner' through the post from Abe books. To my joy, not only was it a second-hand book but the cover illustration is just awesome!
Hope you all have a good day!
January 05 2010
edinburgh xmas
they're fieldfares, and had made their way into j's mum's garden to eat the last of her pink rowan berries during the hard frost that accompanied the snow we've been having for the past few weeks.we'd gone for the handmade xmas approach and so didn't really have much to offer in return for our epic treatfest, which included a new teapot and some pekoetea to go with it, an alessi jar with some dried beans to fill it, two sets of whisky glasses (j and i love our single malt!), a tweed flatcap for j and some awesome books:
so, left to right, that's veganomicon (unbelievable book! super-highly recommended), vegan cupcakes take over the world (perfect for the sweet tooth in everyone, not just vegans), jekka's complete herb book (how to grow, harvest and prepare herbs for cooking, medicinal and cosmetic uses), and the twisted sisters sock workbook (beautiful handspun, beautiful socks, inventive approaches and inspiring ideas), phew!we just gave folk homemade truffles and knitted items...
apparently, this is the coldest winter for 30 years. really, it couldn't have come at a worse time. just as it seemed the tide was turning on public opinion of climate change science, this year has really put a spanner in those works. a feeble summer, dodgy scientific practices, failed UN summits, and now more snow than there has ever been in my lifetime. as much as this is actually evidence for rather than against climate change, it rarely gets interpreted that way - least of all by the deniers. so, it really feels stacked against at the moment...listening: most of the day, to j's sister's will young cd
reading: too many brilliant books!
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