Just a thought….
Projects:
Felted Soap
Castle Cookies
Lavender soap scrubs
Favourite Projects:
Dollshouse doll 
Princess and the Pea
Heat bag covers
Felt dinosaurs
Melted crayons
Fun with recipes:
Easy meringues
Ice cream
Blueberry Muffins
Fun with felt:
Felted hair ties
Penguin bags
Felted beads
We love walking along our lane to school and back. Maybe I should say that I love it. The children love it some of the times and other times I think they just tolerate it. Not always silently.
I try to point out the changes as they happen. The new flowers opening. A different bird song. The lambs in the field. We spot the differences as the seasons change. Some changes catch their attention more than others and we might discuss it for the rest of the walk. Great! The walk seems shorter and less run of the mill, if there is something to discuss.
A couple of weeks ago, we noticed something completely different. Lemons. Lemons left on the edge of the road or just in the hedgerow. Now bear in mind, we live in the UK. Lemon trees do not thrive outside. These lemons had been placed there. Some sections, lemons have been left every five paces. I counted at least 12 lemons and one orange.
Theories varied from the plausible to the stretching it all too far:
1. Road markers for a treasure hunt, jogging route. They seem a pretty good choice for marking a route. They are bright, remarkable, not attractive to animals. Not even the worms are too keen. They will eventually rot down, so they are not a littering issue. Possible.
2. A scientific experiment. Could be any number of hypothesis being tested with this one. Hmm…maybe
3. They form an interesting line between two fishing lakes. Some kind of deterrent for a fish predator. Unlikely.
4. Lemon tree planting. Our climate may be unsuitable for outside lemon trees, but if we are to believe certain authorities, it will be a lot warmer in a few decades. Are the lemons placed there as some kind of attempt to bring lemons to the UK as Johnny Appleseed spread apple seeds in America. Or Miss Rumphius 
5. Hole in a bag. Reminiscent of the The Sun Egg.
6. A method to make a walk to school more interesting. Hmm… I’m saying nothing!
Most of the lemons have been squashed by cars after a couple of weeks. The one orange has survived. Some still look as fresh as before, although I won’t be rescuing them for the kitchen.
Whatever the reason, they have provided us with lots of fun conversations, scientific debates and counting practise for the youngest! Learning opportunities! So what do you reckon? Why has someone left so many lemons at regular intervals in our hedgerow?
Joining in Ginny’s Yarn Along. A book and what’s on my needles.
Book wise, I’m still in the children’s section. I’ve finished Moominland Midwinter. I can thoroughly recommend it. AJ and I have chatted about it so much that even my husband is tempted to read it. I found another one in the series and am waiting for AJ to finish it. In the mean time, I’m reading another Diana Wynne Jones. I loved Howl’s Moving Castle and was curious about her other books. I found Charmed Life in the library.
Knitting. All three pairs of flip top 
I decided to knit a R and L on each of the flaps for TF. Maybe it will help him to learn his left and right. We’ll see.
More knitting and books to be found at Ginny’s.
I love January. Okay, its cold and wet in the UK. Not as much daylight as I would like, but there is time to catch up and maybe, oh maybe, get ahead. For instance, I have time to make marmalade, especially now that the seville oranges are in season. Later in the year, there are more outside demands. In January, I really don’t mind warming up the kitchen as it cooks. Filling the house with marmalade fragrance really is no hardship.
Last year, I made no marmalade. It just didn’t happen and I sorely missed it. I usually make enough to last us the whole year. Maybe I should say almost the whole year, as marmalade is very popular in our household. I’ve ordered more oranges for this weekend, now that I’m back in the marmalade making swing. Yeh!
I think if I just limited myself to blackberry jelly, strawberry jam and marmalade, there would be no lonely jars left at the back of the cupboard, keeping the dust bunnies company. Still, I do like to experiment. (The less popular experiments end up in cakes and sponge puddings, where the family least expect to find them. Shh!)
The one change I made this year to the marmalade, was that I only put in half the peel. Partly because I reached a point where I just didn’t want to chop up any more peel. The marmalade seems just as good.
Making these preserves, does save money. Thrifty as ever, I’ve done my calculations and it really is much cheaper for me to make. I also find shop bought preserves very sweet. No idea why they are sweeter. My ones set and keep, so it’s not due to me cutting back on the sugar quantity. More likely, that I’m generous with the fruit.
And this little jar is going into school. TF is giving it to his teacher who just so happens to like marmalade.
Joining in the Making Winter bloghop.
The sun was out today and for the first time this year, the children spent all afternoon outside. While I made marmalade in the kitchen, they excavated some garden tools from my shed and started digging the kitchen garden. They collected chicken manure and added it to the soil. They cleared the last of the sweetcorn stalks that I had left for the birds. Now spent. They left the teasels. Goldfinches are still visiting those.
They have decided that they want part of my kitchen garden to grow their own crops, together. They are willing to surrender the little patch I gave them two years ago. They’ve tested the soil and this is the best spot. This is where they want to start their gardening enterprise. They’ve started a list of the veg they want to grow. The children are feeling the call of the growing season already.
Looks like its back to my little farmers leaving their work boots just outside the door again. Oh yes. Muddy boots are back again.
Today, I put aside my flip top mittens. Even though the last one is tantalizingly almost finished. I bundled some crafting materials into my basket and headed to school. To start a crafting project with TF’s class. A class of lovely, enthusiastic 4 and 5 year olds, and a teacher who encourages their creativity. TF was momentarily disappointed that the cake tin held no biscuits, only Fimo. (Note to self, I need to use less confusing containers for craft materials, to avoid confusion.)
I love this current project. It will use clay modelling, sewing and felting skills. It’s going to take several crafting sessions. Today we made the Fimo buttons and started some stitching. I’m glad I brought the printing letters to impress their initials into the buttons. They enjoyed searching for the right letters and printing with them. I was relieved to find that none of them pushed too hard and made extra holes in their buttons. More to follow.
I was, as ever, amazed at how much crafting young children can do. I wish I could show you how well this group can tackle sewing. I think most of all, I love seeing the concentration on the faces of the children.
Oh well, back to the mittens, but I can’t help thinking that all these craft bits would be so good in a rainy day box. Wouldn’t they? Maybe some less lethal scissors, but the rest would work.
Hi. Welcome to our blog. My name is Cheryl and I am a mother of three. We live in the South-West of the UK. This blog includes some of the crafting, gardening and other activities that fill our lifes. We share this place with one dog, lots of chickens, wild rabbits and deer. I hope you enjoy our blog. Brighten up my day by leaving a comment. Thank you for stopping by.Products I like:
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
