Author Archives: ballsofwool

Everything is growing like mad. I love to see how once unwanted and unloved corners of the garden have become places where plants are able to find their natural form. In these corners you can have a scent bath of … Continue reading →

The rainy season has begun. My chickens have been off the lay ever since a massive thunderstorm last Wednesday. Since then, we’ve been getting used to a daily build up of great, threatening cumulonimbus followed by a thorough drenching and … Continue reading →

The weather has been extraordinarily good. I have been quite diligent in the garden. Nevertheless, my little corner of paradise is not-little, and, head down, bottom up in a nettle patch under the apple trees, or fiddling with little tiny … Continue reading →

Dinner yesterday evening was asparagus straight from the garden and eggs fresh from the henhouse. The above photo is by David Loftus from the book Jamie at Home published in 2007. I loved this recipe book* (I am not big … Continue reading →

These paths made by walking are never quite straight. Lines of desire. The first cut of silage reveals the grass beaten down by walkers’ feet that can’t then be shaved as close. Footsteps in frost and a low, low sun … Continue reading →

I have to take a different route to school these days to avoid all the earthmoving that’s going on in the low fields. Yesterday, as I heaved myself up the hill alongside the woods, I enjoyed seeing the first swifts, … Continue reading →

A morning walk brought me by this old path where garlic mustard, or Jack-by-the-hedge, lives up to its name by growing right up against the centuries-old hedgerow. Its leaning in and not-quite clinging ways made me think of it as … Continue reading →