The Sundial....and a Herefordshire sunset.....

In my last post I showed you a side view of our sundial...but I suddenly thought
"you need to see what it looks like on top!!" so here it is!! it says " Let others talk of stormy showers, I only count your sunny hours"

Also a view from my kitchen window at this time of year.....


And as we are marking the passage of time, some photos of a fabulous Herefordshire sunset for you to enjoy....

I took these, leaning on my rake, at the end of a VERY long, hard day of work...somehow it made them feel EVEN more special to me because I had worked hard..I appreciated the pause in my life to stop, look and enjoy the sunset....

I am lucky, my life allows me to experience this sort of moment as a natural part of my day...but EVERYONE could stop, pause and just ENJOY the moment...and just BE....

Try it!! You may find it VERY addictive!!

;) ;)

Yet more hard work in the Garden

Haven't we had some beautiful weather in the last few days!!
This beautiful sunshine!! It has dried up the ground enough for us to get out into the garden and do more digging, tree felling, weeding and clearing up. We have lots of perenial boarders which I leave over the Winter for the insects and birds to enjoy the shelter and the seed heads.



BUT it is now time to clear the old stuff out and put it on the compost bins, before all the new growth REALLY gets going.

So here are some before and after pictures of some of the boarders. I still have to dig them over and mulch them, but at least I can fill up the compost bins with all the lovely stuff I have chopped down! :)

Oh and have a bonfire of all the bitty bits I can't shred, compost or twig pile.
Compostman adding a rotten old pallet to the bonfire....I shall add the ashes to the compost bins when they are cold.



And just for fun a picture of our sundial :)

A trip to Bishops Wood Environment Center

I spent a very enjoyable day last Sunday at a Master Composter course held at Bishops Wood Environment Center, near Kidderminster.

We had a morning of lectures on how to improve our composting advice giving skills, then a very scrummy lunch, then some practical "making up potting compost" from scratch and then finally a tour of the Center. It was a really good day, although I had an early start and I got home very late!

Below are a few pictures I took from my day out.

The Environment centre




The lake , which is rainwater runoff from the building, cleaned and used to flush the loos, and the waste water is cleaned by the reedbeds and used again.



One of the rain water run off funnels into the lake, The building is on legs to help with the passive ventilation system. In the summer hot air rises out through the glass cupola and cool air is drawn up into the building from under the floor via vents.


How many Master Composters does it take to mix up some potting compost??


Some of my fellow Master Composters in action!


Me with my planted up pot.

Our guide showing us the lovely Tree Bogs...!


An authenticly designed and hand made Saxon Hall...it was very cosy inside as well!


Anyone remember these?? Designed by Roger Dean ( of Yes album covers fame!) They were buried in the ground up to the bottom of the windows. Think they were called Eco Pods??

One of the many Living Willow structures on the site. Bishops Wood runs courses on all sorts of environmental themes.

Lots of work in the Garden this week...

This Beautiful sunshine!!I have managed to get lots of work done in the flower gardens this week...we have lots of perenial boarders which I leave over the Winter for the insects and birds to enjoy the shelter and the seed heads.





BUT it is now time to clear the old stuff out and put it on the compost bins, before all the new growth REALLY gets going.

So here are some pictures of the boarders BEFORE I cleared them I will post some pictures later showing what they looked like AFTER.I still have to dig them over and mulch them, but at least I can fill up the compost bins with all the lovely stuff I have chopped down.




















Oh...and have a bonfire of all the weedy ,twiggy bits!


Oh and a Blessed Imbolc to you all!

Brilliant Compost song!!

Turn down my compostbin music BEFORE you play this!!!




A sillimation for a DogHorse tune, animated by Eclectech.co.uk, with the added delight of decay and disintegration from GrandmaOfShoes

plus a few other YouTube delights which I can't seem to get rid of.......but they ARE about compost as well, so never mind....