My first home ed graduate :-)

I am pleased to say that the stress of exams (IGCSE's) is now a distant memory. My darling daughter has survived and more to the point, so have her siblings and I!
It struck me the other day that actually the completion of these exams marks the end of our Home ed journey. My first guinea pig has crossed the line and survived unscathed (I like to think), the experiment of an education far from the norm. In September my beautiful and talented daughter will take her next step in the world towards her future career. As yet she is still undecided as to exactly what that next step will be (A levels or a vocational course at college). She is excited about the freedom and new skills she will gain and the fresh opportunities that she will be faced with.

Eleven years of home education has been a huge amount of fun. Of course there have been some ups and downs (more ups than downs thankfully!) it has been an amazing journey and one that in hindsight, I am eternally grateful that I took. It was a path unknown, a path barely trodden that over the past decade has become a true lifesaver and real option to so many. The home ed community is more than just a gathering of add balls, it's a family of people who share similar values and many differences. It's a real choice for those who for whatever reason decide that 'the system' is not for them. It's a fun existence, an existence of real courage and determination.

We were sitting out having a picnic along side a gated road earlier this week; a gathering of five families. We sheltered under the shade of the trees chatting, laughing and making merry whilst our young people happily created their own adventures of life in the wilds of the British countryside; paddling in the stream, catching crayfish, smothering each other in mud whilst reinforcing friendships and socialising. Two children came back that night to stay over; a house full of children, just how it should be. Sometimes sleepovers can be riots but this one worked well, it was peaceful and joyous. The boys took to the sofas whilst the girls slept out under the stars on the trampoline. They're so lucky to be able to live as children have in years gone by.

So as summer rolls into being we are enjoying the long lazy days. Work seems to rapidly be grinding to a halt; it seems silly not to take full advantage of the glorious weather that we have seen this week. Plans for short camping trips are in the pot. No long expeditions this year!

With talk of guinea pigs, I should finish with an introduction to our latest family addition. Meet April....



The little Lady has wanted piggies for the past two years or so and finally we have one. Little April is just 8 weeks old and came from a litter of three. Piggies are sociable creatures so we are hoping to find her a friend really soon but for now she is enjoying cuddles all around!

Spring foraging

It struck me this last week, what an amazing spring we are having this year. The beautiful array of flowers has been staggering and very much in abundance. For the likes of us foragers, this has meant more delicious pickings :-) So, I thought I would share some of the FREE pickings available to us all to nibble and share.

I have been foraging for many years now, I'm not entirely sure when it started or how exactly but thinking back was probably about twelve or so years ago when I began to experiment with hedgerow jams. When you become enthused with things you naturally want to absorb all the information surrounding that area of interest. So I'm guessing it started with berries and then spread to leaves and other tasty hedgerow finds. Yum!
There's a lot out there and it can be very daunting when you first start out. My advice is (and this is what I practise myself) just get out there and have a wander around. Look at the verges when you go out walking and see how many species of plant you can already identify. You may surprise yourself. What I used to believe to be a mass of weeds now has become a collection of nourishing pickings and as well as the nutritional value, when you explore wild plants further, there are many medicinal qualities about them and much interesting folklore to be intrigued by too.
My ability to take in vast amounts of information; and remember it at any one time, has never been great. Therefore, the way that I have learnt so much over the years is to add about three different species to my repertoire a year.
This year my best new discovery has been Hogweed. Now Hogweed comes in two varieties (I'm sure there are more but these are the two that you need to know). Standard Hogweed and Giant Hogweed. Standard, is the stuff that you are most likely to see out and about and now that I have identified it I realise that it really is everywhere.

Giant Hogweed is enormous! Apparently it was brought over to the UK as an ornamental plant and grows mainly by water. If you need to familiarise yourself do look it up.
When I googled Hogweed; just to confirm that it is safe to eat, I discovered that top British chefs are trying to establish it on the menus of some of the top London restaurants!
You do need to pick this stuff with gloves, not because it stings but because there is something within it that can cause skin irritation especially if the sun reacts with it. This is not a problem for everyone and once cooked is not a reason for alarm, it's merely a precaution.



I fried up some young shoots in a little butter (choose the young over the old as they will be more succulent) and they are rather tasty!

The next plants that you may find in abundance are dandelions. We used to feed these to our bunnies when I was a child. They have quite a bitter taste but if you pick the young shoots and combine them in a salad they are pretty tasty. You can eat the flowers too! Apparently the sap of the plant is good for ridding one of warts ( a poultice of cider vinegar works well for warts too).

Another plant that is quite new to my repertoire this year is Cow Parsley. It's a member of the celery family and can be found growing virtually everywhere at this time of the year. There are some similar poisonous plant varieties so best familiarise yourself before tucking in. The trick I have discovered is that if you pick the plant, the stem is C shaped. The leaves also smell very much like celery if you rub them.

 

 

Do you see the nettle in the foreground? They are amazingly nutritious and are particularly tasty made up into a soup :-)

Hmmm, one of my springtime faves....'Jack by the Hedge' or 'Garlic mustard' as it is often referred. 

I've noticed in the last few days that this plant is currently in flowering mode. Again, look it up if you want to be sure.

This is a picture of one of the flower beds in my front garden. Hmmm pretty weedy hey! Well, right in the centre there you can see quite a lot of Ground Elder. For many gardeners it is seen as a real pain but it is in fact edible and can be used much in the same way as spinach.

A close up :-)

Here's another garden weed right on my doorstep. Clevers/Sticky Willy/Goose Grass. It's the stuff that sticks to you and was the inspiration behind Velcro....useless information!

Small shoots chopped up and added to a salad are tasty but the thinker, older plants...well, they just get stuck in your throat!

One more......

Hawthorn. Right now the blossom is just opening too. The flowers are really tasty and together with the leaves they used to be considered the 'bread and cheese' of the hedgerow.

Okay.....another one slipped in!

Primroses....pretty aren't they. The flowers are fully edible and look lovely added to salads. You can dip them in egg white and then sugar to crystallise them too for cake decorations.

So here it is, my lovely Spring foraged salad. Yummy!

Really scrumptious when accompanied by some stuffed pasta, beetroot and apple bread, halloumi cheese and a little pesto (garlic if you've been lucky enough to find some!). XX

Sunshine loveliness

Valentine's week....another excuse to remind ourselves to wrap the world in LOVE....arrrr!
What better love can I ask for then to be in the company of my delightful children enveloped within the British countryside; sheer delight.
Last Wednesday the light was particularly brilliant for snapping away and it actually felt warm. Mmmmm warm sun rays are the perfect antidote to ward off the Winter blues reminding me that Spring is really just around the corner.

What a beautiful sight. I love the texture of the reeds.

It wasn't long before someone was hooking oysters out.......

Water is one of my favourite mediums to photograph. The reflections are truly enchanting.

Snowdrops have been out in flower since early January, they're so delicate and pretty.

Love these girlie's :-)

There's always one who fancies a dip regardless of the time of year!

Bull rushes 

So much love and life in this beautiful world. The sun's smile helps to highlight and magnify it :-)

January offerings

January....it's seemed quite a long month; the build up to Christmas and over indigence of rich foods now a distant memory.

I've not posted on here recently. Life has just meandered along at a rather relaxed pace, it's been so lovely that I haven't wanted to 'pop' my little bubble.

Small Boy and the Little Lady thought they'd embrace fitness for the New Year in pursuit of a six-pack. One sessions was enough!

Look closely. Can you spot him??

Rather sad really. Two beautiful big beech trees blown over in the wind. Great for climbing on though :-)

I haven't had any particularly wild adventures of late but what I  have been able to do is have time to think and do my own things - it's been lovely, truly it has. I've slept in when I've wanted, pottered about at home and enjoyed my immediate surroundings. The children and I have had time to sit and read and play games, plus I've actually had the opportunity to finish a few creative projects.

I'm most proud of this one...

When it comes to following patterns, I'm not great - it's the same with recipes, I just like to find my own way and put my signature on my work. So when Lucy at attic 24 inspired the crochet nation with her harmony blanket, I decided it might be a rather 'jolly Winter project'.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed creating this blanket. It's made up of a total of 126 squares all in rather scrumptiously harmonising colours. The pack arrived from the Wool Warehouse in one large  see-through bag - how exciting to have a bag filled with beautiful colours and a new project to start.

I started way back in October when the children and I took off for a few days in Yorkshire. What was handy about this project was how easy it was to transport around. I worked just one colour at a time so at most I had to carry around nine little squares, a ball of yarn and my crochet hook.  I completed each square one teeny section at a time - so all the centres, all the second row and so forth. That way I didn't have to keep track of too many different stitch combinations and could literally whip my little squares out and hook them together at speed. When you're working on the larger stripy blankets, you have to carry the whole darn thing around. It's not too much of a problem in the early stages but later on, it does become pretty heavy!
So here it is, my finished blanket and mostly all completed according to the pattern. I did re-arrange the squares just a tad when I sewed them together :-) and I omitted the final row of the border - the final colour brings the blanket together and I rather fell for the sage green.
Unlike the ripple blanket I made last year, this one has turned out well and is symmetrical! :-)

We've spent quite a considerable amount of time messing around outdoors. Hasn't the weather been mild! The snowdrops are already in full bloom in the garden and a few daffodils are dancing in the wind too!

These guys were thrilled to have their remote controlled speed boat returned after dad had taken it off to 'check it out' some four years ago. Poor dad was rather fed up with the constant pestering in the finish so gave in and returned it. Small Boy was convinced he had taken it to play with it himself! (he probably had!)...anyway, despite being told he was too young for such a super powerful toy, Small Boy made it his mission to prove everyone wrong and like a duck to water sailed and controlled that boat perfectly both on the flood on the field and in the stream :-)

Early in January Miss P had to attend a workshop at the Science Museum in London. It's hard working going to London with three children in tow and it I'm being honest I didn't really look forwards to the journey. However, in true positive spirit I made it my mission to prepare for the event and enjoy it at all costs. We took the Oxford Tube up and leisurely strolled across Hyde park instead of using the city transport system. What a pleasant decision that was.

The Princess Diana memorial fountain

The mild temperatures have also seen us venture outside for some Spring garden clearing. Firstly the wood shed needed a little re-organising in order to get to the dry wood that was stacked at the back. Then it was all change and the wet stuff (that remains wet) was stacked at the back for next Winter. You have to think ahead when you live a simple life :-)

Small boy took it upon himself to chop up some kindling. He's quite capable in his use of axes and saws and happily told be (when I reminded him to be careful when using the bill hook), that he's fine and has been using one since his was in my belly! That explains a lot!

The water meadow in Wootton

Loving the light for taking photos.

Hope your January has been filled with love and laughter too XXX

Contemplating

Hello!

I've not had the desire to blog much recently. That usually means that I actually haven't had time to leave the ho hum of daily life to do so.
I've been very much reminded recently of the need to make the most of life, to be kind and thoughtful towards others, to savour time with friends and family and to really appreciate the little things. I've also been trying to remind myself to slow down a little. Life is not a race, there's no prize for reaching the pearly gates first!

Apple days seem to be really popular these days. This one was at our community orchard. Twice a year they host a shared lunch, singing, apple pressing, live music, games for the children and an opportunity to socialise.

Hanging strips of toast soaked in apple juice from the branches of an apple tree was an unusual activity!

December- How did we arrive back here so fast? It feels like Christmas but it certainly doesn't feel like December! Some of the trees on my regular little drives haven't even shed their autumn leaves yet. What is going on?
Wasn't Autumn beautiful this year! I sooo loved the colours and the way the light presented itself. I took quite a few lovely photos back in October that I haven't got around to sharing as yet. I do hope they look as beautiful on here as they do on my little phone camera!

The Little Lady and her friend.....babies!

We finally found a sweet chestnut tree!

The fungi this Autumn were stunning. We found so many different varieties.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend a permaculture course in November. I have to admit that 'permaculture' kept cropping up and although I thought it was something I should know about, I had never really looked into it. Not until now that is.....As always, I was probably the only student on the course that didn't really know what I was about to learn....but that makes it all the more exciting!
For those who are not in the know, as I wasn't, permaculture can be summarised by me as the interconnectedness and working together of 'things' to produce greater effects. An easy example to understand would be a garden setting where by you would plant in sunny positions against south facing walls and make the most of your growing space by 'stacking' crops. You could also grow your own salad near to your kitchen in a sunny spot and encourage insects into your garden to pollinate and aid production. A wormery or compost converter could make use of kitchen/garden scraps which when well rotted could then be added to the beds to improve soil quality.
That's a pretty brief summary but this idea of permaculture can be applied to all areas of life. It was pretty interesting!
What I realised though was that what I learnt was really stuff that I already know and do, I just hadn't thought about all things as being interconnected (not sure why as it was something I also learned during my Montessori training 10 years ago!) and hadn't given my way of life a label of 'permaculture'. So, lovely garden field space...next year will be your year!

The children gathered essential items and gifts for their Christmas Child boxes to be sent to children in need.

Miss P turned 15.......

.......and gained her Baden Powell award!

Other than that I've been very busy in the sewing room. I realise it is now two years since that moment of thought that I should indeed try and make a living out of the (mainly) self taught sewing skills I somehow acquired. If I look back, I am not quite sure how such a decision came into being other than at a moment of despair at having become 'without work' unexpectedly. I drafted a little note and popped it in a local newsagents window and 'the rest' as they say 'is history!' I feel very fortunate that I have managed to continue to make 'just enough' and remain at a steady pace. I've met some lovely people along the way too. Always a bonus!

Sissy dear painted our nails. Not sure that red is really my colour neither is nail polish my thing for that matter! It was rather a novelty in the beginning and to say I 'chipped a nail' on day one, felt somewhat vain. It wasn't long before they began to annoy me. Said sister took five weeks to visit again and these gel things don't come off with regular NP remover. I managed to chip the damn things off with some force and perseverance.  Never again!

November marked the fourth anniversary of my soul mate's passing. It seems, in so many ways like yesterday yet at the same time I have come so far on my journey. Grief is a strange thing. I still miss him greatly but this year the anxiety of that anniversary was so much less painful than previous years. I'm ready to write my story now and have been gathering thoughts and notes in order to do so. It's going to be a story of my survival....Early on I was told that we are not victims any longer but 'survivors'. I like that!

Have a peaceful December :-)