A cheery thought for New Year! But the fact is many of the devices we use to access the internet, and read this blog, contain materials that are mined on some of the planet’s worst conflict zones. Continue reading
We didn’t just grow vegetables in our first year at The Secret Acre, we took time out to get married too. In our own field, at our own boutique, indie style festival for family and friends. But that’s a whole other story!
However, like many modern marriages these days, we met later in life. Which got us thinking about how we would celebrate our anniversaries. Continue reading
Last month our dog, Ruby, emerged from the darkness of her usual night time patrol round the garden with a stick in her mouth.
Bringing us little presents is a relatively rare event, usually confined to the odd rotting fermenting windfall apple, presented with a slightly drunken look on her face as if to say ‘you should try these fermented apples they are really great!’
Ruby’s stick face however had an altogether different look of smug satisfaction. And rightly so. Continue reading
No, not a Channel 5 programme pitch, but a fierce, yet silent, night time battle to the death, fought out recently at The Secret Acre.
There are apparently over 110 species of digger wasp in Britain, who’d have thought it, one of which decided to nest near our greenhouse earlier this year. Out of the way doing no harm we decided to leave them to their own devices. Continue reading
Twice a year, I put on my coat, pull on my wellies, and climb out of the bedroom window… to go gardening!
Yes, last month was time (if slightly overdue as usual), for the bi-annual weeding our lovely green roof. Continue reading
“A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself” – May Sarton.
Personally I like to think my life so far has fortunately been a series of triumphs set against a few disasters. But the jury is definitely still out when it comes to our new veg beds!
Certainly in this first year, there have been more triumphs than losses, which is nice. But this is probably mostly because we are still easily pleased! Continue reading
Last month didn’t just mark our anniversary of moving to The Secret Acre, it was of course also harvest time.
The UK’s national Apple Day (yes, there is one) is actually on 21st October.
And so during October community groups up and down the country hold a range of apple pressing and harvest celebration events. Continue reading
And another year goes by. So last month I put up two curtain poles and a washing line at The Secret Acre. Because October marked our first year anniversary of moving in. And rather embarrassingly these were the last of the ‘quick’ jobs still undone from that very first month!
But missing curtain poles aside, October was a chance for us to reflect on the good and bad points of our first year. Fortunately, perhaps, our positives and negatives were remarkably similar. Continue reading
The Secret Acre used to have three ponds. Continue reading
Another quick update from the veg patch. Our onion and potato harvests were in recently.
The onions were most satisfying, because they are another of those vegetables that we never bothered growing before, when we were container growing in a small city backyard.
The potatoes were more of a relief. We had always grown a sack or two of potatoes in the backyard. A regular and reliable staple. But now, properly in the soil for the first time, they looked decidedly less healthy, and we were worried they had failed. Continue reading
The Secret Acre 