Day 13: Make a herb cocktail

Day 13 and the first day back at work after my hols. The weather matched my mood: it rained most of the day and was starting again as I arrived home. Alcohol was required.

As I turned the key in the front door, I glanced to the side at my rosemary bush. Yes, a herb cocktail!

Mix together in a jug some: rosemary and mint leaves, coconut rum (ours is Cocobay from Aldi), lime juice and 1 teaspoon sugar. Muddle (ie bash) the leaves with a pestle to release the flavour. Add a couple of ice cubes to chill. Pour.

Chickpea pronounced it 'a great success'. As I settled down, glass in hand, to watch Springwatch, I couldn't help but agree. How brilliant is 30 Days Wild! x

Day 12: What's new in the garden

When I come back from holiday, one of the first things I want to do is check what has changed in the garden while I've been away. Everything is looking a lot lusher and many of the flowers are in full bloom. The peony, in particular, had tight buds when we waved goodbye 7 days ago: now, they are bowed down with the weight of the petals - so beautiful.

These sweetpeas are pink in reality

The gooseberries are coming along nicely. Not as large a crop as last year but definitely enough for a crumble :)

The other thing I couldn't wait to catch up on was the progress of the great-crested grebe.

And there she is, still on the nest. Relief and excitement all round :)

Days 4-11

Hello! Just a quick post to update you on my progress with 30 Days Wild and also to give you a taster of our holidays. Yes, we're just back from a week in a cottage in Alnwick in Northumberland. We had the most brilliant time and totally fell in love with this beautiful part of the country. Lots more photos to follow but here's some of what we got up to.

Day 4: Visit a Roman fort. Even better if that Roman fort is in the middle of the glorious Northumberland countryside. This is Vindolanda, one of the many Roman sites along Hadrian's Wall.

Day 5: Visit a formal garden. Our first full day in Alnwick and a visit to The Alnwick Garden.

Day 6: Take a walk along the shore. One of my favourite days as we walked from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle.

Day 7: Meander with a river. A stroll along the river Aln with Alnwick Castle as a backdrop :)

Day 8: Eat your lunch outside. The view across Tumbleton Lake from the visitor centre at Cragside.

Day 9: Observe a lighthouse. This is the lighthouse on Inner Farne taken from the beach at Bamburgh.

Day 10: Watch fledglings in the garden. The cottage where we stayed backed onto the 15th century city walls. There were lots of holes in the wall, perfect for nesting coal tits who entertained us every day with their antics.

Day 11: Make friends with a local. The day we travelled home so not many opportunities for acts of wildness especially as it rained all day. Still, we did have time to meet this very friendly cat in Forum Books in Corbridge.

Hope you enjoyed the taster. Back soon with more from 30 Days Wild and our holidays :)

Day 3: Mow a meadow

Day 3 of 30 Days Wild and it's time to tackle the lawn. One of my favourite activities from last year was the polka dots I grew on the lawn. It was so interesting to see what appeared when it was left to nature. I have to say though that it was a bit of a pain to mow around circles so, this year, it's a far easier rectangle.

I marked it out with canes and then carefully mowed around.

The twist is that I've also raked in some wildflower seeds to see if I can grow a mini-meadow. This packet was on sale and therefore the bargain price of 50p! It might not work but it's worth a try.

The teepees mark the spot!

Elsewhere in the garden, my oriental poppy has started to flower. I just love its dark interior.

And a yellow iris has appeared as if by magic. Can't wait for the spikes to unfurl to see what's hidden inside! x

Day 2: Make a twig teepee

This morning I was browsing through the blogs of other people taking part in 30 Days Wild and came across Craft Invaders written by Sarah. That led me to her Pinterest board and out into the wide world of nature crafting. So many gorgeous ideas that I'm going to try. The one which caught my eye today though was making a mini-teepee out of twigs and found objects.

First though, a refreshment stop: a twister for Chickpea and a bunny ears for me. It's hot work playing with twigs in the sunshine.

Assemble your twigs and tie at the top. Make a circle of card with 6 notches cut at regular intervals. This will help keep your frame spaced out as you weave strands of coloured wool around your twigs.

Decorate with flowers and found objects.

Ta-dah! I can't believe I actually got Chickpea to spend an afternoon in the garden but she loved doing this :) Roll on Day 3!

30 Days Wild 2016

1st June marks the start of 30 Days Wild, organised by the Wildlife Trusts. After taking part last year, I wasn't sure whether to join in again. Mostly it was great fun but it was also pretty tough to fit in when you work full-time. However, I've been feeling like life and nature have been whizzing me by lately and it seems an ideal opportunity to slow down and savour the moments.

So, with my pack at the ready and the app downloaded, here's my random act of wildness for the first day of the challenge.

Day one: Grebe watch. For the first time, a pair of great-crested grebes have decided to nest on our local pond and I can't tell you how excited I am! They've been on the nest for over a week now and I'm down there every day to check on progress. This is partly excitement but also concern. A coot tried to nest in a similar spot a couple of years ago and kids managed to get to the nest and destroy it. Fingers (and everything else) crossed that we do end up with some little greblings. It might be a while though as, when I checked today, the incubation period is - 27-29 days! With any luck, they might emerge just before 30 Days Wild ends :)

(Note on the quilt: I made this journal quilt to commemorate taking part in the challenge last year. All of the silhouettes were taken from the logos which were used for each day.)

May kirigami

Well, it's been a while since I've updated you on progress with the kirigami. I'm still going strong though I've settled into a routine of completing the projects at the weekend rather than each day. My favourites continue to be the snowflake-style designs and there have been some real beauties this month. I've photographed all of them for my own records but, to save your sanity, here are just some of the highlights.

 

I'd meant to blog more in May. Maybe June will be better - see you tomorrow. x