Year: 2020

A sneaky peak inside the ‘Cottage in the Sky’ at the chaos caused by juggling quite a few jobs at this busy time of year.

I have recently received a whole lot of vintage linens, beautiful pieces which deserve a second life. Today I am talking about how I care for them; stain removal, washing, pressing and storing. There is a lot of work involved but I feel it’s well worth it to preserve such lovely items. Grab a cuppa and join me for a pressing session.

Part two: the late afternoon and evening. Come and hang out with me for the day. This is a typical day when I am not gardening but when I am dealing with the harvests and preserving.

Come and hang out with me for the day. This is a typical day when I am not gardening but when I am dealing with the harvests and preserving. Part one: the morning and early afternoon.

I’ve had a busy morning with a couple of hiccups…….but they didn’t spoil my joy; a day for meeting new people, browsing old books, random bus conversations…..and, ultimately, the return of my much missed sewing machine!

The weather is definitely on the change and although it’s still mild I decide to get on with harvesting some of the more tender things. Today I go through my peppers. The varieties I grow are all sweet peppers and are all suitable for growing outdoors, they are: ‘Orange Bell’, ‘Feher Ozen’ and ‘Doux Long des Landes’.

We are deep into autumn now and though some things are fading there are still some beautiful colours and signs of life in the garden…..and still plenty of food to harvest.

The harvests are still coming in thick and fast……they need preserving! Most days are filled up already so the only time I have for preserving is often after midnight….like today. Join me for a midnight preserving session and a bit of a natter.

It’s the end of month 41 and I’m a bit taken aback by how long it has been now. There have been many changes in my life in the last 20 years……but some of the biggest ones have come in the last 5. I have always been afraid of change……or so I thought.

On a very blowy day I have a quick visit to the garden……there’s some more harvesting to be done and previous harvests still in the shed which I need to bring home. I show the best stage to harvest Calendula seed and show how my ‘new’ rare bean seeds look at the pod stage.