little green fingers

Radioactive nuts and lunch for 17

We hosted three of my old school friends and their families for lunch on Sunday.  This slightly rash invitation followed one of our regular girls' nights out in London. The next morning, I woke up, did some fairly basic maths and announced to Reuben that I hope he didn't mind too much but I'd just volunteered him to cook lunch for 17.

Thankfully he is an optimistic soul and muttered something about it being just like a normal Sunday roast "but, with a bit more food".

Along with many small children, interesting conversation, chocolates, a few bottles of wine and some champagne, one of our guests also brought us the object photographed above.

As Rolf Harris might say "Can you tell what it is yet?".

It is in fact a Brazil Nut, bought over (some might say "smuggled" but let's not dwell on that) direct from its namesake. Yes, what we call Brazil nuts are actually the seeds which you find, arranged like segments of an orange, when you crack open the nut itself.

It is now, officially, my favourite present ever given by a guest (and need I remind you that, as they also bought champagne, this is praise indeed).

It is also a brilliant "horticultural show off" item which is going to seriously up our ante at the school show and tell session (this is not hard - Oscar's most recent item was a trophy won two years ago for the village three-legged race).

Here are just some of the incredible things about Brazil nuts:

They are pollinated by long-tongued orchid bees

Brazil nut trees can grow 50 metres tall and, given these nuts are both very hard and quite heavy, walking underneath them can prove fatal

The nuts are radioactive (I'm not making this up, I promise)

But most interesting of all is watching your slipper-clad husband try to open them with a block hammer and chisel whilst guests look on and give amazingly ineffective advice.

  

 

Chicken poison, white lines and David Archer

It has been a week of ups and downs here. Admittedly, not of roller coaster proportions but more akin to driving slightly too fast over a hump-backed bridge.

The down has to do with chickens. 

This, some of you may recall, was one of the many failed resolutions from last year that I was planning to atone for this month by, at last, getting a chicken house and starting work on my WIR (walk in run - thanks to Jane Perrone for my new favourite three letter acronym).  Then a friend pointed out that I might want to double check on the toxicity of yew to chickens, as a hedge of it would border the entire run.

Pah! I thought. No problem! Birds are OK with yew - in fact it's their penchant to eating the berries which help the plant spread. Of course, I do know it's poisonous to humans - and much livestock for that matter. I'll admit, I only know about that second group because of an episode of The Archers where some of David Archer's cows were killed after eating dumped hedge clippings. As an aside, this was a typical Archers storyline because it gave David the chance to do what he does best - sound both world-weary and exasperated whilst at the same time adopting the role of rural vigilante - a kind of Charles Bronson in wellies. Indeed, in my head he will always be "David Archer: Badger Killer!".  But I digress...

Sadly, it turns out yew is poisonous to chickens and, although they would probably avoid it and other harmful plants whilst roaming free, having it constantly at their disposal may well be pushing my luck.  As my son has already been reduced to a blubbering wreck by the death of his Triops and Stanley the Sea Snail, if I also manage to poison his chickens it might be the final straw.

On a happier note, I have, this week, been spraying a lot of white lines. This is more exciting than it sounds (not a hard feat) as the purpose was to layout the 300 metres of path about to be added to our village playground as well as deciding on the spots for the hard surface playing area, BMX track, double slide, climbing wall, picnic tables and bird nest swing. Yes, this week sees work begin on the final £45,000 stage of this redevelopment, made possible by a grant from WREN.

Being me, I'm more excited about plans to leave some small sections of the field unmown to encourage  wildlife and gain a more interesting looking site, but I have a feeling the children will prefer the play equipment. Tsk, kids these days!

The work should take about four weeks so I will update you on progress as it goes.  So far, we're on Day 2. Sadly Day 1 was mostly taken up with the site manager carefully respraying somebody's very shoddy white lines...

Broken resolutions, essay extensions and tractor tyres

Source: Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning

I was somewhat depressed this week by the realisation that of my five new year's resolutions last year, I only managed to tick off one (and, in the spirit of full disclosure, my father actually completed this on my behalf).

I still don't keep chickens, there is no Pete Beale style market stall for the kid's to flog their produce, the school has singularly failed to take up my offer of helping with Gardening Club, and most pathetic of all, I can't seem to blog on even a weekly basis.

So I've decided to treat my resolutions on the same basis as I treated every single weekly essay in college.  I shall ask for an extension.

I shall also... hmmm, how shall I put this? Cheat. A bit. Just, you know, to make sure I keep this blog a little less sporadic.

Yes, much in the same way I always borrowed Jen's revision notes because they were more thorough than mine, better thought through and best of all, legible, I shall, on occasion, use a blog post to point you towards superior content online. This will hopefully mean you see interesting things, whilst I can bathe in the reflected glory of someone else's genius.

This week, a sandpit caught my eye.  I spotted it on the Studio 'g' blog but the original idea was actually from Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning - an Australian blog. Very simple, very cheap (provided you can find a tyre to recycle) and incredibly effective.  The long bamboo poles can be covered with sailcloth or a similar outdoor material but you could just use an old sheet and simply accept it will have a shorter lifespan.

For anyone offended by the black rubber exterior, it would be easy enough to plant around the edges and soften the look.  In a sunny spot, something like Stipa tenuissima would give movement and is a very tactile plant for kids.

Making bird feeders - the kid's cut

This is a very good time to feed any birds who've decided against vacationing in warmer climes.  What's more, it's so easy to make treats for them that I thought I would let my three-year-old, chicken-pox-ridden son explain.

 

In case you didn't get all the details, there is more information (but fewer "kissy hearts") here.

Pinterest, pies and playhouses

Source: A Place Imagined

My four, yes four, Christmas trees are still fully decorated, the kitchen cupboards remain stubbornly coated in paper snowflakes and I'm about to bake a batch of mince pies.  It would be an understatement to say I'm a bit of a fan of Christmas and, quite frankly, I'm going to milk my full 12 days worth.

Sadly though, I will have to think about moving on tomorrow and, for me, this is going to involve a little garden planning.  I usually ruminate on ideas in January in the hope that I can have come to some conclusions and pulled my finger out before we're well into spring.  This year I have more pressure than usual as I'm due to open my garden in six months time as part of the National Gardens Scheme and I want to add a few more areas of interest, especially for children.

If you're looking for a little design inspiration, I would recommend stopping by Pinterest.  This is a kind of virtual pin board where you can collect and organise images.  Although you can apply for an invite to be a 'pinner' there is still a lot to find by browsing other people's boards. 

Of course it covers everything under the sun, not just gardens, but there are plenty of pinned images with a horticultural flavour.  Rochelle Greyer, editor of the new online Leaf Magazine and the woman behind Studio G blog always has brilliant boards to browse - you can check them out here.  For more specific kids garden ideas I've put together this board (which includes the playhouse image above) but there are plenty more out there - just put in your search terms and then look at either pins or boards that use those keywords.

Happy pinning.  I'm off to roll some pastry and hum a few carols.