{ Mu'Mu }

Winding Down

Are we at the end of August, really? Can it really have flown by THAT quickly? Yes, I guess the chill in the air says it's a quarter to Autumn; the gardening year is winding down somewhat. Plans being made for food growing are being made for 2011 (!). No more sowing this year.

Plans for next year and beyond? Well, Mama is keen on a beekeeping course in the spring. I have grand plans for polytunnels and raised beds. Chickens? I do hope so - depending on the patience of DH.

The babes are keen to get started on their guerrilla war on terra after scouring the web for red clay powder and wild flower seeds; I hate to break their heart and tell them they'll have to wait til spring.

As we slowly wind down from the summer rhythm, I am hoping and praying for good weather for an Autumn agricultural Show this year - and maybe even a few last runs up to the PYO farm for plums and the last of the late summer raspberries.

And aren't the blackberries late this year? A long walk in the forest for some free food and a long weekend of canning, and I think I can safely say plans for the next few weeks are all pencilled in.

And you? What are your plans for this late summer period?

Introducing

Yes, raspberries, late varieties still available at our local pick your own farm. Destined to become cake filling and jam, if I can manage to salvage any from hungry foragers.

And an apt time to introduce my new blog:: Urban Homesteading. Don't give me that look. Yes, I know how many blogs I have had; just grin a bear it OK?

Here's what it's all about. Don't panic; this one's still here for all the other stuff.

I Dig Therefore, I am

Well, growing season is in full swing. Having an allotment is like having another child, except if you take your eyes off this baby he doesn't stick his fingers in an electrical socket, he just bolts all your vegetables and does a dastardly deed with the lord of the weedy underworld and turns your beautifully dug field into a jungle of nightmarish proportions.

The up-side to all this high maintenance diva-like demand for attention is that when you get it right you really do see the fruits of your labour. Or indeed vegetables of your labour.

Highlight of this week has been the gooseberry harvest, frog spotting, bug investigation and some take home salad. We have been pleased to find that we have raspberries on our first canes in their first year and the blackberries we planted last year are in full flower. We are thinking fruit farming might be the way we want go.

And if I could just find some hayfever pills that *worked* and didn't space me out? That would be good...

Season Opener :: First Picnic of the Year!

Oh we have waited a long, cold winter for this moment. We have endured Crazyville Central to get to this sweet spot. The first picnic of the year. The first crazy warm day eating outdoors. It just doesn't get better than that in my book.

The picnic blanket I made years ago had been washed in advance of the coming season, and stands at the ready at the back door for more adventures insha'allah; and what better way to kick off the season than down at the allotment after a roasting morning's hard work?

Bliss.

The Long Weekend :: Inside & Out

New yarn, new pattern, new needles, new fabric, new ideas. Inside has been quite productive these last few days. But it has been outside where most of the work has been going on...

Planting, tending, and digging, oh my - the digging. The allotment is taking all our energies this week. And it is a satisfying work, working together, working in this season and preparing for the next, planning for a harvest which is months away.

There is something very meaningful and dignified about working the land.

And you? What games did you play this weekend?

Weekending :: Potting & Planning

Time to get those bulbs in. Think I've left it too late for getting trees planted? What do you reckon? Think I could wangle a tree-planting in time?

This year our garden was, for the want of a better word, crap. Really crap. Instead of leaving it to it's own devices or (horror!) to the aesthetics of others, I hope that a bit of planning and a lot of container gardening can add some beauty to our garden in 2010 - think: colour; think: flowers; think; overhaul.

Last of the (non-alcoholic) Summer Wine

Last week we were given a welcomed treat :: for a few sweet days Summer returned, game on, and we didn't need to be asked twice to join the fun.

It's been a heavy week full of allotment, picnics, park, pool-side and garden play. And now it has returned to normal September weather, I can't but secretly hope that we can eek out a few more days of Summer before the Autumn.

A few more fun filled outdoor adventures??  A few more picnics? A bit more fruit picking? A little more poolside play?? Oh yes please!

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

Seize the moment, people.

Bringing home a harvest

Well, the allotment didn't really go the way I would have liked it to this year; due to one thing after another we started quite late in the season, and it was a huge learning curve for me on top of that. And I still have so much to learn (and SO much to dig). We aren't even halfway close to where we should be, and to be perfectly honest I feel a little overwhemed at times.

The thing that keeps me going? Well, medication? A firm streak of incurable insanity? Stubborness bordering on the pathological? Yeah. But more than that - these kids of mine.

The need to be in tune with Nature, to be close to the earth, to show my boys how to feed themselves good wholesome food, that NEED to show them how to be human on every level drives me on. As it does in all spheres of our lives together.

So we battle on. We'll keep on tilling the soil, sowing and reaping, picnicing and exploring, planning and working. And maybe one day we'll have a full harvest.

That would be nice.

Hit and run summerdays...

I don't really want to moan about the sucky weather, but it's getting hard to avoid - constant rain? Thunder and lightening daily? For FOUR weeks?? Come on - by any standards that sucks.

We have spent a lot of time indoors, or garden-based ready to run for cover when the deluge hits. Summer activities have made way for Autumn and Winter-time pursuits : games, drawing, dressing up, whilst Mama reacquaints herself with slow crafting in the easy chair.

So when the forecasts predicts something crazy like a whole morning with no rain (sun optional but oh so good) we hit the ground running.

And *because* of all the rain, we usually make it to the allotment to do mortal battle with the damn weeds. It works out great -  I get digging practice and the babes watch and catch bugs, paint in their nature journals and eat what they find. Bugs optional.

And s l o w l y I y I can see the tide turning a little our way. Bit by bit, patch by patch from jungle to farm.

And bug hotel - very important...

 And whilst wondering just why the hell I went for an allotment and made all this work for ourselves I overheard the youngest say to his brother as they sat in some long grass catching crickets::

"Brother: I LOVE our allotment"

And as the sweat dripped down my back, for that one sweet moment I really loved it too. And so what if the weather sucks. When it rocks, it really rocks.