Well the New Year is here and all sorts of new ideas keep popping into my head.I find it always helps keep me on my toes to find new challenges and goals and it's the best part of home education too as no two days are every the same.
On the walking front I may have found myself a walking partner to help me with my walking practice for the C2B this year.As with many things in this house,it sort of happened by accident. In my walks round the village I've often bumped into a lady who is probably my nearest neighbour from the next hamlet, in that she lives two fields away from my house and I walk along a public footpath which runs behind her house when I take the dogs out. Her vegetable plot lies adjacent to the path and it is a great gathering spot for discussion and passing the time of day.
Some time ago I was speaking to her and said that instead of all the villagers walking alone we should have a designated day when, if you felt like company, we should meet up at an appointed place and time each week and anyone who happened to be there , whether elderly, young , fit or frail could walk together (a sort of community walk).
A few weeks later we met at a Ceilidh and she said, " I was thinking about the walking idea, perhaps we should give it a try" .So for now it's the two of us.We had our first walk last Thursday, chatting and getting to know one another and we found we had a lot in common. She is even thinking of doing the C2B! We are walking again next week and I'll report back and let you know how we're getting on.
I've also plucked up the courage to offer a neighbour a patch of our garden to grow vegetables. I've been toying with the idea of a community garden for a while now as we have so much land and there is'nt enough time in the day for me to keep it all well tended.She would like to grow vegetables and I would benefit from someone tending a patch in my garden. Again,although I had been mulling over the idea for a while, it wasn't planned. Our neighbours had run out of wood for their wood burner, and whilst we have lots of wood, we have no wood burner so my husband offered them some seasoned wood that we had piled up in the garden. In return we got a lovely bag of home made scones and my neighbour chopped up a fallen tree with his chain saw and took it away for burning next year. It turns out that he has various chain saw certificates and can help us cut some trees down so he is going to do some work with my husband in the garden and use the space we have to store some wood for next year.
The idea of becoming self sufficient really appeals to me.It is happening gradually as the children become more independent and I have more free time. Having the hens means I am able to give the surplus eggs to neighbours in return for a donation to our local National Autistic society. I didn't buy them to make money,I love them clucking round the garden when I'm out in the sunshine and this year we took our first batch of battery hens which are all doing really well and looking plump and happy in their new homes!
I've decided to have a cut flower patch too. I am clearing some land to help my neighbours get started with their vegetables. I will just extend it to add a flower border which will give me pleasure and hopefully lots of flowers for our cottage!
So it looks as though I'm going to be busy.Hopefully in the summer I'll be able to post some photos of the flowers I've grown!
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