Silage Time Again.

All across the countryside the contractors are out making a second cut of the silage leaving the fields looking yellow before the grass grows once more. We've had some rain in the last few days but it has stayed warm. Looks as if we are having an early summer again. We've still got another 3 weeks at school - plenty of time for miserable weather to set in. This afternoon it was 'shuffle up' time when all the children went to meet their new class teacher and spend the afternoon in their new classrooms. We generally plan fairly relaxed afternoons so the children will look forward to returning to their new classes after the summer holidays.
This evening, before getting down to more school preparation, I had a quiet time catching the sun up in the scree garden. It is good to unwind just listening to the sounds of our valley; the singing of the thrush and the chink-chink of a flock of finches accompanied by the sound of the horses next door being walked through the yards before being turned out in the fields.

A mountain laurel fence

Mountain laurels (Kalmia latifolia) have wonderfully sculpted branches.  They make wonderful fences, gates, hand-railings, and decorative additions to water features.  My colleague Ginny is an expert at creating delightfully-crafted garden elements out of mountain laurel's gnarled branches.

This porch railing, at Elk Knob Farm (on last weekend's Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Family Farm Tour), was a wonderful example of how lovely branches are, and how artfully they can be incorporated.

I'm Back.

At last I've been able to connect to the internet. Someone ! seems to be using up the whole band with constant torrenting. It's not worth arguing about as he'll be in Plymouth from Thursday.Odemera nobilis, a pollen feeder.

It's only Tuesday and I'm feeling so tired. Thank goodness that it's only a few weeks to the summer holiday. After this week I'll be back in the swing of things but right now I'm in school before 7.30 and usually don't leave until 5.30. And more work once I'm home. No wonder I don't relish the thought of full time work.
Peter is now officially retired. From his old job at least. He took his lease car back today and they gave him a send-off at work. He was a bit embarrassed about it but a lot of people turned up to wish him well which was nice. He came home with an engraved tankard and (better still) a lead to work (for me ) in NZ which might turn out to be nothing but might be useful.

Aargh! Only lost one pound last week. Doubly annoying as I had been lower during the week (yes I obsessively weigh myself every day) but I do know where I went wrong. Apart from a few dips into the mixing bowl on Sunday when I made a batch of chocolate muffins to take to work - and one muffin eaten, I have not eaten any extra sugary or fatty foods but I did have more protein than usual. Some cold meats and slices of cheese just made those calories mount up. It's a bit too easy when I come home tired but I'm determined not to give up before I reach my goal. (No wobbly bits!).

The first home-grown tomatoes

I've harvested three nice-looking Cherokee Purple tomatoes this season so far, two yesterday and one today - the first large tomatoes of the season. 

Cherokee Purple tomatoes

The tomato plants in the raised beds are amazingly robust (hmm, it must be that good purchased compost) and the chard just keeps coming.  The beans, eggplants, squash, and tomatillo plants are all doing well, too.

Family Farm Tour (ASAP)

The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Family Farm Tour in Western North Carolina included a diverse mix of small local farms in the counties surrounding Asheville.  The farms range from CSA and market garden producers such as Flying Cloud Farm, small homestead farms like Elk Knob and Sunswept Farm Conservancy, and dairy goat operations (Round Mountain Creamery), which were among the farms that we visited over the weekend (there were 26 on the tour).

Growing fall vegetables for transplant at Flying Cloud Farm in Fairview, North Carolina

These folks are willing to invite us 'farm tourists' to see what they're doing and ask (sometimes) naive questions about raising animals, processing milk, and packing vegetables (but isn't that the point?)

Organic cherries at Elk Knob Farm

Flying Cloud Farm produce packing shed (note washing sinks and cooler)

Produce cart at Flying Cloud Farm

The tour helps interested consumers understand a bit better about local small farms, and encourages us to support them at local farmer's markets and at the farm.

We finished the tour with a fresh awareness of the day-to-day work that it takes to raise livestock and grow fruits and vegetables.

I have an appreciation of the produce side of things, but actually thinking about what's required in a small-scale dairy goat operation to keep sanitation standards required by USDA for commercial operations -- it's definitely more involved.

Oh the joys of full -time teaching. It has been another beautiful day but I've had to spend at least 4 hours with my eyes glued to a pc screen doing my school planning for next week. Yesterday I tried working on the lap top outside but whichever way I sat I couldn't see the screen properly and I kept losing track of the cursor. And I was having to navigate around Windows 7 instead of my old familiar Windows 2003. I don't take too kindly to change. A purple leaved hardy geranium in the scree garden.

I was out in the garden until mid afternoon, mainly weeding and hanging up load after load of washing as mysteriously the laundry basket which I had emptied yesterday had filled itself back up. I was trying to avoid the football but couldn't help coming inside to watch the second half of the England match, until the Germans scored their 4th goal. Much despondency in the house.
The evening sun was casting dappled shadows over the garden.

On the house wall the honeysuckle is starting to flower. We now have a proper flowering progression on the walls. First the wisteria followed by the roses and finally the honeysuckle. The roses do continue to flower through the summer but not in such profusion. off for an early night watching anything but football, probably Glastonbury again though I won't stay up so late as last night.

Max Patch Bald

On the annual Family Farm Tour this afternoon organized by the Applachian Sustainable Agriculture project,  we were close to Max Patch Bald, a site we hadn't visited before.

A historical bald (an open grassy area within an otherwise forested landscape), Max Patch is under the management of the U.S. Forest Service, with mowing and burning used to maintain the landscape. 

It's largely a created meadow of European grasses and forbs, reflecting its pasture past.

The views are extraordinary.  It's a magical landscape.

Glastonbury Time.

The weather has been wonderful today. This morning it was 19C in the shade and 30C out in the sun which would have been too hot for me if there hadn't been a cooling breeze. Perfect Galstonbury weather. I've always hankered to go there but yet again I'm making do with the tv coverage. BBC 3 is very good, You can go interactive and flip between 4 stages. A quick flick through and I've selected on Marina and the Diamonds so I can have my own little festival in the sitting room, sound right up and me dancing around as the mood takes me. I'm not very up on current artists but I like most music. Glastonbury has become too mainstream at times but I did think Shakira was great to watch dancing. I'm waiting for the day Romas' band play Glastonbury and then I'll be along as part of their crew. Meanwhile in rural Devon the hanging baskets around the front door are looking good and should get better as the surfinias cascade down sprinkled with trailing lobelia. They lift my spirits each time I come to the front door. Now that I'm at work full-time I want to spend as much as possible of my week-end in the garden. I was having a leisurely cup of coffee this morning when I realised that it would be hard to find anything better on a holiday at some exotic location. In fact when I tried to think what would make it 100% perfect all I could come up with was maybe a secluded beach a few minutes walk away and perhaps family and friends (as long as I wasn't expected to be cooking).
I took advantage of the heat and kept the washing machine running for most of the day working my way through the pile of Linas' washing that has appeared! While I was hanging yet another load on the washing line (in the hens' run) I noticed one of the hens attempting vertical take off in order to snatch redcurrants from a heavily laden branch that was hanging over the fence. I had thought it was the blackbird stripping off the berries.

But this was the culprit, a fat hen. She's the naughty one who sneaks out of the gate if I don't wedge it with a spade when I'm in the run hanging up washing. The 3 hens are doing well laying 2 or 3 eggs every day. I can feel another baking session coming up, a big batch of chocolate chunk muffins for work and home I think.

Kerala home plan elevation and floor plan - 3236 Sq FT

Kerala home plan elevation and floor plan - 3236 Sq FT

Total area of the house - 3236 sq ft
Total cost of construction - 40 lakhs
Owner - Mr. Kunhali Korakkaam Parambath
Location - Manakkadave, Calicut
Designer - Shukoor C Manapat, Lloyds, Calicut







Shukoor C Manapat
Lloyds
Architecture/Planning/Interiors
Second Floor
Marina Residency, YMCA Cross Raod
Calicut
Mobile # 9847981035

Golf & lodging discounts, Winter Park, Clorado

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Lesson Observation Over.

Today's lesson observation went well. Even if my delivery wasn't perfect I was happy with it because all the children were highly motivated, stayed on task and produced some good football chants while having lots of fun. Just imagine 27 children blowing their home-made vuvuzelas after each chant! but they didn't get out of hand and the feed back was positive. Big sigh of relief. Now I shall be concentrating on my year 1 class, freshening up a few displays etc and doing all the end of year stuff. I'm supposed to be science coordinator as well and I know there are some things I need to do for that also. The weather has been absolutely glorious so once I got home at 6.00 I had a peaceful hour sitting quietly in the garden enjoying the sun and birdsong. Linas went down to Plymouth again and has finally sorted out a place to rent while he is working there. Although he is only renting a (large) room, the rest of the house is currently unoccupied while the landlord redecorates so he is getting the house to himself for the time being. He will be making his move down there next Thursday. I'll be at work so Peter will have to drive down with Linas following on his scooter.

After some time sitting and reading I followed the sun up the hillside and went and talked to the ponies.

Ben and Doris look like a right pair of little monkeys. They are losing their woolly foal coats and their faces are dark and silky with the rest of their bodies being rather fluffy.

Fireflies

The fireflies were flashing this evening.  First, we saw them at ground level, and then as dusk descended, another species (presumably) started flashing higher up in the canopy. 

It reminded us of Maryland, where we spent many pleasant (and full of research work) summers years ago at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center on the Chesapeake Bay in Edgewater.

We were fortunate enough to stay in the house of artists for many of those years. Gifted portrait painters, they spent the summer in Provincetown, Massachusetts painting landscapes.  So we were able to rent their house near the research station for the summer, and enjoyed the fireflies, rural atmosphere, and access to DC and all of its cultural offerings, a respite from the small-town Southeast Georgia college town where we lived at the time.

Weasel Sighting.

Another garden rose.

I had a lucky break today which enabled me to have the afternoon preparing for tomorrow's lesson observation. I shall soon be sitting in bed reading through my lesson plan, oh I wish it as over!

Coming home tonight I startled a weasel on the road. It ran in front of me for a few feet before diving into the long grass at the side of the road. Slightly more brains than the hare I startled a few days ago. As usual with hares it ran in front of the car for quite a while before swerving through a gateway.

Vegetable gardens

 We have a front-yard vegetable garden here in the mountains, carved out of former driveway (it was in full sun, so perfect for raised beds).

But I've been admiring a garden that is not exactly a front yard, but lawn space converted to vegetables.

What's not to like about that?

This garden is on the property of Grace Presbyterian Church on Merrimon Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina. It appeared for the first time this winter, with hardy vegetables such as kale and broccoli.

Now it's full of tomatoes, squash, and chard.

How nice is that!

Too Busy.

This will be the briefest of posts as I am currently preparing for a lesson observation on Friday.It's a serious business, even the lesson plan covers 3 sides of A4 - typed! And I'm unexpectedly working full-time as well. The weather continues to be fantastic but I've had my eyes glued to the PC ever since I got home. Normal service after Friday.

Gardens and images

Time away and then an earlier-than-expected family visit have rearranged my routine over the last few days. But it was a good time, and the raised bed gardens are growing vigorously without my attention.

I'm hopeful of LOTS of tomatoes;  there are many large green fruits, so I'm anticipating a good harvest this summer, but you never know.

Beets and swiss chard continue to be stand-outs and the squash is flowering and the beans are growing rapidly.  I'm looking forward to fall beets;  the young spring beets and their greens have been so delicious, I can't believe that I haven't figured out how to grow them successfully before. (Basically, it's deep fluffy soil in the raised beds and plenty of water and nutrients...not the usual 'tough love' gardening approach that is my usual mode.)

Thankfully, afternoon and evening thunderstorms have brought ample rain, so with added water for seedlings and greens, it has been a good spring (now summer).

We're looking forward to more hiking time in the mountains, too.

This pastel by Carl Peverall, from a recent Toe River Studio tour, provides a wonderfully evocative image of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

An Unexpected Bonus.

I have to admit I wasn't too thrilled at having to leave my cosy home at 9.30 last night to drive into town to pick up Linas from the train station. However I was rewarded with the sight of a blazing sunset, and the pink glow of the sunset reflected on the clouds to the east. Now that I've worked out how to use the manual settings on my camera I have a better chance of capturing the true colours of the sky.

It was still light and warm at this late-ish hour reminding me that we've just passed the summer Solstice. I try not to think about this as now the nights are getting longer. I don't really want to focus on that as it's still another 4 weeks until the school summer holidays. As my life's rhythms have always been dictated by the academic year, ( my school days, uni, the boys' school days and now my work), for me summer starts at the end of July when the school summer holidays start.

Driving into town in this soft light I saw buzzards, rabbits and something that was either a giant hedgehog, small cat or rabbit with short ears sitting on the verge in Shirwell.

On our way back it had finally started to become dark and wisps of mist were streaming over the gaps in the hedges and across the road. This was our valley at about 10.45pm. (Apologies for the blur but it was a hand held 2 second exposure.)
This morning the mist had thickened and one minute I was driving in bright sunshine and the next in swirling mists. That quickly burnt off and the rest of the day has been rather hot.

Lynton Goats.

Valley of the Rocks is famous not only for its rock formations but also for the many feral goats that roam the place. There is always a big furore when the numbers start to increase and the local town council calls in a marksman to cull out some of the goats. There is a section of the townsfolk who dislike the goats because they tend to wander into unprotected gardens and much their way through all the plants. Even though there are notices about asking people not to feed the goats enough people must either ignore the signs or leave their picnic scraps as the goats have a tendency to hang around the parking areas. The coast is more exposed to the sea winds but even there you can see plenty of goats grazing on the almost vertical rock face.

See the dark shape on a rock by the cliff path?

It was a small goat dozing contentedly in the sun.

And from the other side his little furry bottom could be seen.

Eventually he noticed his audience and decided to make a move. After one embarrassed slip while he scratched his cheek on a rock, he scrambled up onto the path and ambled off.

I thought I was only going to manage to lose a pound this week but a couple of days with no carbs managed to take it down to 2 pounds, phew.
Lots of planning to do tonight as I'm teaching full-time for the moment then I've got to haul myself off to the station to pick up Linas from the 10.15 train.

Bull Point.

The good weather is still holding up so we headed out to the coast once more. Not so far this time, just to Mortehoe and round to Bull Point. Just for a change we decided to walk in the opposite direction to our usual walk. From the village we cut down the coombe that runs from the well. There is a group of houses at the top of the coombe with views down to the sea and out to Lundy beyond. I've always said I wouldn't mind living in one of those houses and today one had a 'For Sale' sign up. I checked it out on the web and the guide price is £360,000 for a 3 bed bungalow. It has a garden and a vegetable garden and I could consider living there even though there are other houses close by. But that's a lot of money and as it is going for auction I guess it may well fetch at least £400,000.
A typical well made National Trust stile.

We passed over the top of Rockham Bay but didn't venture down the steep steps that are built clinging onto the side of the cliff.

Our destination was the smaller beach that lies at the head of this coombe (just beyond the left hand edge of the above photo) and then we planned to walk along the small stream before heading back up to the top of the ridge on the right. Walking opposite to our usual route meant we had some steep descents to make. I think they look more scary when you're going down than when you're puffing and panting your way to the top.

This photo was taken from the same spot as the previous one but looking down towards the beach. We plan in the future to continue up the track on the opposite side of the valley and follow the coast path towards Lee Bay.

We gave ourselves a leisurely lunch stop at this beach enjoying the sun and the sound of the waves.

Then it was back inland and up the steeper of 2 tracks to the high ground.

Once home I did some gardening and some work for school sitting out in the sun.
(Lynton goat pics tomorrow.)