Its the Good Life

Feeling that we should make a lot more effort into going green and doing our bit for the planet, Tree persuaded me to turn the front garden over to vegetable growing a la Good Life style. Seeing as it is Beltane it only seemed appropriate to agree and work has already begun with the removal of most of the lawn in readiness for sowing. Our aim is to maintain at least half of our vegetable intake from home grown stock. Plants grown will include tomatoes, carrots, parsnips, shallots, peas, courgettes, french climbing beans, runner beans, beetroot, aubergines, peppers, lettuce and a selection of herbs and salad veg. To make sure they get the best to drink I have fitted a rain trap to a large barrel to collect rainwater from our roof as well. So fingers crossed and a small blessing, or two, from The Great Mother and we will be going great guns!!

Beltane blessings.

The Green Man has won over the Ice queen and all the buds are bursting with the vigour of Spring. Now is the moment when all the seeds sown start to show themselves.

Celebrate with fire, passion and a new fervour for the year ahead.

Beltane Blessings!!

And so the sap rises. The Crone turns to stone and the maiden is reborn. Fire cleanses and warms the soil to be fertile and ready for the sowing of seed.

Tree and I took time to Spring clean throughout and set our goals for the coming Summer. Sadly, ill health and pouring rain meant we were unable to do the Tiddesley Wood Spring Open Day this year but I more than made up for it by selling all of the old junk, we had sorted out, on Ebay. I am well on target with the bike fund and went as far as booking my test the other day. It is amazing what people will buy. I even sold a book for double what I paid for it!! We now have an almost empty shed again as most of the stock has been sold as well. It is good to tie up all the loose ends and look ahead to new horizons.

So get planting those seeds, light a fire and make plans.

Tiddesley Wood and the rain.

Hoorah! I can relax, sort of, now we have done the show. We arrived on Saturday evening and nearly went straight back home. The wood was well boggy and, even with wood chips down, the ground was like a huge sponge oozing mud. We set to putting up the tent and Tree thought it would be easier if the van was nearer to the pitch. At this point I must say that I knew this was a bad idea, but left her to it. Minutes later and the van was stuck in huge ruts of mud. I dug out the wheels but we couldn't get any traction. Lucky for us there was the man, with his Romany caravan, who had a tractor. This made light work of pulling us out and we resumed pitching up, saying no more about it. It was now getting dark and we just finished before the last edge of light sank below the horizon. We were the only people staying in the wood overnight apart from the caravan guy, and his two friends, who were pitched in the field outside. We settled down for the night, listening to music, played by the guys in the field. One was playing the fiddle and the other a mandolin. In the background, a Vixen howled every once in a while. It was quite magical.
I awoke early to hear my first cuckoo of Spring and the call of a rookery sounding out around the woods. By now it was raining and we had doubts about the whole show. As other stallholders arrived the consensus was that we would only take money from each other, as no-one else would show up. 10 a.m came and went with no sign of a rush. 11 a.m and the rain eased a bit but we hadn't taken more than £20. But we had underestimated the wellie brigade and all of a sudden we were busy with people everywhere. By the end of the day we had taken more than last year!!! Result.
In view of this, Tree and I may go back to doing the festies full time instead of the shop, but time will tell.

Beltane blessings !!

Just a quick one to wish everyone a Merry Beltane.

Plant some seeds and jump those fires!!!

The earth is yielding and the sap rises.

Tiddesley Wood, Spring Open Day

It was only two days ago and yet it seems like a week! The weekend started out with a freaky coincidence on Saturday. I was sitting in the shop reading about orthimancy, (the belief that one can divine the future by watching birds) when a blackbird swooped into the shop and sat next to me. It looked around and then, without distress or panic, flew out again. Now, you might say that was coincidence but I had just read that a blackbird indoors is an omen of bad luck. Just then the phone rang and Tree told me that the van was at a garage and wouldn't start! Freaky or what!!
Anyway, to cut out a long story, we got to the wood, with the help of a lump hammer to hit the starter motor each time the van stopped, and set up the tent with, literally, minutes of daylight to spare. We took a walk, later on, into the wood in the dark, which was cool! I slept at the foot of the doorway to the tent and during the night we had a visit from an inquisitive badger trying to get to our food. All I could see was his nose poking under the flap!
It was better that we set up the night before as this meant we were a lot more chilled before the off. The weather was cool, yet dry, and we set up an altar, to mark Beltane, next to the Haj tent.
Lots of people we knew came to visit us including Dave and Nathalie, Dan and Sarah, Linda and Emma. I also got to meet with Sam and Vicki ,from the Pagan Association, who made the effort to come from Birmingham to see us and the fayre.
All round it was a good day and the mirrors went down well. We were too tired when we got home to do anything and I spent Monday doing absolutely nothing. We had hoped to go to The Green Man at Clun, Fayre but Tree had to do some paperwork and the van had a flat tyre, so we gave it a miss.

Beltane blessings

Just a quick one, to wish everyone a merry Beltane. The moon is full and the sap is rising! So get planting those seeds and jumping the fire!

A change is as good as a rest!!

Needing a break from everything mundane, Tree and I spent a few days down in Glastonbury to revive our flagging senses and celebrate her birthday. We stayed at Heaphy's, right in the middle of town, which gave us a good view of the monument and hill. We had our usual, fantastic, lunch at The Rainbows End and spent some time in the bookshops. Needless to say, we also spent a lot of time finding new suppliers, talking to Terry at Dillaways, etc, etc.

I was mightily impressed by a new mural that has been painted in the passageway leading to the assembly rooms. The more one looks at it, the more one sees. I recommend you click on the photo to enlarge it and see what I mean.

Monday started out quite drab, as it had been raining all night. We had breakfast at The Blue Note Cafe, which was pretty good, and chilled reading the papers for a while. Not to be put off by the weather, we went to Wookey hole and took a walk through the caverns. It was nice and quiet, as there weren't any children there, and we spent some time going round the place. However, I wouldn't want to go there in season as it is plain to see how busy they can get. As usual, the people who were there in the caves with us marched off to the cafe as soon as they got out of the caverns and failed to notice the 1000 year old Yew trees nearby or the calming sound of trickling water, coming out of the hillside! Tree and I were quite pleased, as this meant we had the place to ourselves.
Now we are back, I will be concentrating on creating stuff, ready for Tiddesley wood at the end of the month. Not forgetting that we also have the Beltane celebration this weekend to look forward to.

Spring has sprung

Spring has sprung indeed! I love this time of year when every day brings something new to see and hear. Every morning now, we hear blackbirds calling for mates and see another one of the plants burst into life. The Sycamore tree, at the back of our garden, has just opened it's buds and is nearly in leaf. Meanwhile the bluebells and wood hyacinths are in full bloom, giving a burst of sweet fragrance as we walk down the path. This spring has been particularly warm as well !! With Beltane just around the corner, we should get busy with planting seeds. I am sure we will make an extra effort to celebrate this one!!

That Monday morning feeling

This morning I did indeed wake up with that Monday morning feeling.Tree and I didn't get out yesterday, as we hoped, mainly due to the weather being so horrid and I wasn't too well stomach wise. Instead I slouched on the sofa for most of the day, apart from the odd dash to the loo. However, the plus side of the day for me was that Herbie shocked us both by sitting on my lap. Now you might not think this strange but, if you knew him you'd know, he NEVER does that.He'd rather chew your face off. I have been working for months now trying to get closer to him and bit by bit he has warmed to the idea. Over the past couple of months he has sat between me and Tree, but never on our laps. He may be mellowing at last !! It's only taken 5 years!!!
Anyway, as i say, I wasn't feeling good this morning either and was 50/50 whether I should open the shop or stay at home. In the end I thought what the heck and came anyway. A good decision, as on the way we saw the Malvern Hills capped in snow from last night. We stopped to get a photo (which doesn't do them justice) and watched as everyone else rushed by with anxious expressions, oblivious to the beauty that lies all around them. Life is too short to get stressed to the extent that some do. This made me feel a lot better and I look forward to Beltane even more.