MIND YOUR ONIONS....

This is simply too beautiful so I had to show it to you...it has nothing to do with my onions story but made my heart sing. It was taken on the 10th 10 10 at 10 past...13 hours (sorry, did not/could not carry on the 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 etc. theme).

This whole 10 10 etc. thing was really amazing because whoever decided it was an important and auspicious date (be it angels, guides or some clever person) was quite right. It turns out that if you decide whatever date is an auspicious one then it becomes auspicious. Spent the day with my Satsang friends going "lovely" this and "lovely" that for no apparent reason but the fact that a) the sun was shining and b) I had been told it was going to be a lovely day being the etc. etc. etc...

So I suggest that we all decide that random days/hours/minutes are going to be lovely and it is garanteed to make them lovely, for sure!

As to the onions...went to my local farm equipment shop to get my early onions set. I plant onions and garlic around my vegetable beds in the autumn and believe that it protects them from pests...funnilly enough, the pests seem to believe it too which means that my crops are usually not eaten by snails and sluggs although my lovely neighbour suggested the first year that was because they "had not found me yet", a lovely image of gossiping sluggs knitting in a corner of the field behind us saying "have you heard that French woman at number 75 has planted her beans" came to my mind then and has never quite left it...

Sorry, keep wondering off the point, back to the onions...as I was walking into the shop, I spotted a huge bag of grown up onions for sale at £3.50. Now my onion set was going to cost me £1.70 for 70 baby onions and I could have a whole lot more for £3.50 with no back breaking work, no tilling, weeding, digging. And I did wonder then, dear reader, why I bother, I did, I really did and nearly bought the grown up onions when I remembered that its not about money, its about love! Its about ritual. In October/November I plant my onions and garlics and then they grow and in the spring they get the sluggs off my plot and then I harvest them and they taste nice and they give me good energy and vibes because, I love my land, I dig it on my knees with all my heart and I can taste it!

There they are, my little baby onions, aren't they cute

I HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW YOU OR IS IT TIME FOR THE ST. JOHN'S WART YET...

Sorry, people but there are not going to be any jolly old photos of an artistic nature today in the blog cause, I am bored with trying to be artistic.

Its funny writing a blog. Its fun to start with and then I got all into pictures and being clever and then after last week's...well I want to get back to basics.

So here are my meanderings for the week...

I feel like its February and have been looking longingly at my stock of St. John's Wort thinking may be I could just start on it a bit early. That was untill I pulled myself severely together and realised that Feb is in...o my Goddess, in 5 months time....so there is no way no way at all we can break into the St.J.W.

But what to do when it is so damp and grey and feels like the Grizzle (drizzle, grrrrr) will never stop. Cannot garden as all damp and looking like the Somme in 1917, no healthy walk to forrage as ditto and bored with knitting shawls that I have to unknit because I cannot count properly.

There is always the Parish Council tonight, I hear you cry on the sidelines...zzzzzzzz

Ok, so no pictures, no St.J.W., lack of Shawl patterns for idiots and have spent the afternoon battling with Direct Debits (DD, the sneeky brigade).

The Beloved wailed as she was doing the accounts that some DDD (Dastardly DD'ers) had put their prices up by 50% for no apparent reason so I got onto my high horse and grabbed the phone (thereby running a huge bill with Cable, those other fiends) and got them all....reduced...some of them substantially ie from £15 a month to £5.00....how does that work then? Apparently they have "leway" said one of the nice people that cut my costs down...

Oh that has cheered me up! I could not break the nice Virging Media girl from India though...she just could not bring our costs down and suggested may be we should stop using the telephone. Which was a fair point since Skyping does not cost a penny...then I contacted BT who are cheaper but the Beloved in turn sobbed and said she could not live without the Virgin Play back thingy so...we are staying put.

On the plus sign, Bedfordshire Libraries (Goddess blessings to them, they are the best) do have a copy of the book on how to live without money in stock and WILL lend it to me for £1.00 and they WILL think about ordering a book that Kestrel recommended on Stoneage skills for today people...so I love them.

I am glad I did not do pictures today because writing all this down has made me put my St.J.W. away in its little February cocoon and realise that it might be grey outside but today has been a GREAT DAY...I have battled with the DD and won some over and I have talked to Kestrel about our weird and wonderful lifestyle( I love the connection and the feeling of not being alone).

Thanks for listening... I am all perked up and smily (but no photo of that either)...life is great and I can may be not beat the system but certainly annoy it and nibble at it!

Good luck with your battles, struggles, whatever they are and do put away the St.J.W. I swear, the sun has just come out for one second and the sky is clearing in front of my eyes, the cats are dancing around the garden and a cup of tea has just materialised by my side (thanks Beloved)...SMILE

THE LAST LESSON....

Marseille Callelongue Calanque Monday 20th September

Went to France last week-end for my mum's 82nd birthday. She has got cancer, its very serious, secondaries and all so was expecting...well was expecting to have it my way...isn't that choking. I was actually wanting my dying mother to have the sort of 82nd birthday that I wanted for her. I can see it now but at the time, I was full of giving her the best time ever, sitting together hugging and telling each other how much we love each other and any number of other strange notions.

Only you see, in my family we do not do things like that, ever, EVER, EVER.... even when mum is dying and its probably her last birthday.

And why o why should we start now? Because, I want to? What right do I have to impose upon someone my ideas about how she should or should not do something?

But see, its too hard...too hard for whom? Too hard for ME... excuse me, says a voice in my head, you could please, ahem, remind me...who is it that's doing the dying here? And who is having a hard time? ME? Pardon, what?

Ok, point taken...so I have to let this happen and be there but watching at a respectful distance. Doing it her way. Because, that's probably her last gift to me, the last gift a parent can give a child...teaching them to accept that they know best how to die.

As I look out of the window, with the rain, practically horizontal, and the north wind blowing a gale, the hum of the central eating, my old friend, in the back groud, I also watch as the year slowly dies and remind myself that I can no more influence that than I can influence my mother's choices.

Last week, I wrote of midpoints, this week, I am watching, not being centre stage and not making it all about me. Strange feeling that. And yet, watching is amazing. Look at her photo, I managed to take it when she was not looking at me...looking at the beautiful rock face above. There she is, my mum, dying her way, as I watch...

MIDPOINT OR THE END OF THE SUMMER?

Autumn light...the end?

I have been thinking...yes, I know, dangerous thing to do, thinking...my heart was heavy you see, when I took that picture, I saw the autumn light and felt the cold winds of winter howling somewhere, ready to pounce and the cold and the damp and the land looking dark and forbidding...and I thought, its the end, the end of summer...

Then I looked on my left. Well you cannot see what is on my left when I write and I did try to take a photo but it did not come out. Its an old yellow bit of A4 paper, three years old or thereabouts that my son drew for me. On it is the plan of a classic script and in this plan...there is no ending. On the edge of the plage, there are the following words : Climax and Rebirth.

And there we are, really at Midpoint. Midpoint between the two solstices, bang around the Autumn Equinox, the point of balance before it all tips down into the second half, not the ending, you see, no, just the second half.

So what if, there were no endings at all, just Climax followed by Rebirth. Therefore there would be no death as such. A beautiful Climax of life, like the one the land is going through at the moment with all the gorgeous berries rioting, the last calendulas, the red tomatoes. Have you noticed, its all red out there, blazing it is! Climax and then, of course, Rebirth.

What a way to think of life...there is no end to summer just a magnificent climax and immediately after that, its starting to be Spring again. It might take time for us to see that but already, as I have said in a previous post, the new growths have arrived. I have tidied up the herbs garden and cut the tarragon down and underneath the long leggy bits, the new baby leaves are already there...

So, I am leaving you with this photo, the great blast Climax of my harvest and from the Midpoint of the year, the beautiful Autum Equinox, I stand and contemplate how I am going to allow everything to Rebirth. O Dear, that would mean me too - Rebirth without constantly checking whether its happening, trusting the process of it, letting it build up, enjoying the slow, gentle, tender, special growing of my very tiny leaves. Having the patience to allow this to happen. No interference. Watching tenderly...till they are ready to unfurl...o around the Spring Equinox...that would be the next Midpoint then, jumping from Midpoint to Midpoint, light of feet and heart. Think about it, its wonderful!

HEARD ON THE RADIO....IT MUST BE TRUE...

ROSEHIPS AND GINGER SYRUP INFUSING IN THE SUN...

Had a bit of a down day on Saturday and Sunday was a bit subdued too...was wondering why and after much pondering realised that I have been listening to the radio and watching the News every night as well. Last week was both the 70th anniversary of the Blitz and the 9th of September 11th. So many programmes dedicated to both events and what with the SPENDING CUTSSSSSS.... screaming at us from all sides, I got myself truly dysphoric, in fact down right unhappy but in that sort of vague blah way that does not allow you to do anything but just feel blah...

But this morning, I heard it on the radio, it must be true....HAPPINESS STARTS WHEN YOU EARN £50,000 A YEAR.

That's it, Radio 3 it is from now on! Although Radio 3 always decides to play some obscure contemporary music when I switch it on, just to annoy me, instead of playing some uplifting Mozart or something. But seriously, I will not listen to this drivel anymore. I like to keep in touch with what's going on in the world, don't get me wrong but, I am officially declaring a boycott of all TV and radio News for a while (well till I get seduced again).

In my lovely fantasy world, we, of course, do not have a television and watch endless repeats of Escape to the Country (my secret vice). No, we sit listening to Mozart, in front of a roaring fire, knitting by candle light and making clever conversation. As it is of course, we watch any amount of rubbish (the knitting and the roaring fire do take place).

I dug the blah out with my spade as well as my potatoes, currently being rinsed on the garden's table by the lovely soft rain and also burnt away all my dysphoria in the back back garden (I am not going to explain the garden to you, if you have been paying attention, you know what the back back garden, also know as the farm yard, is)  along with all the dried up bits that needed burning!

£50 000 a year indeed! The Beloved and I used to earn that sort of money when we both worked for the NHS and we cannot for the life of us remember what we used to do with it...pay other people to do what we do now probably, ah yes, she said, go on holiday and have meals out!

Yes, but....have you seen the Rosehips and |Ginger Syrup, glowing in the sunshine! Have you, Have you!!!! I will drink it and as I drink it will feel the wonderful summer we have just had go into my veins and bannish Blah for ever! I will, I promise you that it will work!

WILD PEARS, POTATOES, BUTTERNUT SQUASH, WILD PLUMS...FORRAGING

The first outing of the Tea Cosies...

Dont' I look proud at my first craft fair...I tell you I am so happy I could burst, which would, lets face it make a bit of a mess...|In case you wish to know, it went well...in unexpected ways and people really liked my stuff and I learnt loads and it was such fun! What I will remember is that people want to learn "how to" nowadays. They do not wish to buy stuff much but are really keen to learn stuff so I'll be organising little workshopettes to teach the skills I am learning by the way I live, the endless gifts I am given.

Its gleaning time, dear friends and the harvest is amazing. Around where I live, after all has been harvested, the farmers don't mind (I have checked) if you go in the fields and help yourself to what is left behind by the machines. My lovely farmer friend Garry says that it all gets ploughed back in anyway so might as well help myself!

And I do...potatoes at the moment, all different shapes, the ones that Mr. Mark & SainsTesAsco does not want because they are not pretty enough or whatever... they end up in my lovely bag and then in my cooking pot. Its good for the muscle tone as well, no need to go to the gym when you can walk around the land collecting kilos of fruits and vegetables and then carry them home. In my world, it is not cricket (O how English I have become) to use the car to go gleaning or indeed wooding, it has got to be done by foot and hand.

And the land at the moment is just amazing. The harvest is in, the wheat is cut down and they have started ploughing. The black earth is being churned for the winter tide and smells beautiful. I had my nose in it this morning and it was warm and delicious. The season is turning. And I want to dance with gratitude. There is so much...so much to harvest!

So much work to pot everything and transform it into delicious "butters" and "cheeses". That is the thing. To collect, gather, make takes patience and time. Its like a prayer really. Slowly picking the sloes, patiently gathering the damsons. Squinting in the sunshine to see the berries. I believe berries hide in the first instance and then when they realise you will only take what you need and not more and leave some for the birds then they de-cloak and there are hundreds of them.

I love "seeing" things I did not even know existed when I moved to the country three years ago. I went for a forage with a friend this morning and was able to point out hazels, brambles, wild apples, crab apples, damsons, within minutes. Where once, I was only seeing a mass of green, I can now see, see all the nuts, the berries, because I have learnt to look. Not look for, not look because, no...just look and then suddenly I see!

May you get to "see" what needs to be seen to make your week a happy one! Oh and there was a skylark too!

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS (CRAFTMAKERS)

The Lovely Claire....

This could be the new business card...what do you think?

That was after Wednesday night at the WiRE meeting (Women in Rural Enterprise). So enthousiastic about our ideas! So positive and interested! Made me feel that yes, we could do it! Spent most of Thursday playing with Mr. Vistaprint and came up with the above.

Then I had this email from BayTree Cottage inviting me to have a stand at their open day next Saturday. To sell the teacosies! Imagine, I am so excited, it feels like the bigest gift and may be I'll sell a few and then I'll be so thrilled!

And this week-end was the great Wrest Park Craft Show near where I live and it again, was amazing!

All these artisans I talked to who patiently explained stuff to me, encouraged me, told me to email them if I needed help and generally were the most generous people in the whole world. I have no money so was not buying much. I was spotted as a "Maker" (by the way isn't it a wonderful job to have...what do you do...I am a Maker...sounds just grand doesn't it), anyway that was  a possible rival you would think but no, oh no...the sharing, the offers, the friendship were amazing.

 I want to mention the  lovely Claire Louise who makes amazing felt bags. Here is her website if you are interested www.clairefairall.co.uk. It is not everyday that you can discuss the joys of Bamboo knitting needles with a total stranger and get excited by their excellence! Also, she has an Etsy Shop. In case you don't know, Etsy is the big forum website on which "Makers" sell their stuff. I registered with them months ago but have never managed to get the courage to open my shop. She was so amazingly encouraging and said I must do it, what could she do to help, etc. etc.... so thanks Lovely Claire and I'll take you up on your offer!

This has made me muse (as I am usually doing of a Sunday evening) on what the world would be like if everybody was as generous and friendly as that, how people could share skills and information freely, without feeling threatened, how we could all be "Makers" and make together, weave and spin a better world. I wonder if this happens when you work with your hands.

Working with your hands is so different from other workings. I have learnt over the months not to blame the flour/the yeast for not causing my bread to rise, not to complain to the wool for the shape of a garnment to be all wrong. I have learnt to accept that sometimes...it just does not turn out right. There are no rhymes nor reasons to it, it just does not happen. The bread does not rise, the tomatoes do no ripen or there is too much/not enough water. Whom to blame... there is no one to blame when you are a Maker. You need to be true to yourself and get on.  If something goes wrong you just have to unmake it and start again.

And there will be dragons....