THE INSIDE

Luckily my family a) doesn't notice things and b) is very lovely because every room in our house has been invaded by seeds and all other stages of a plant's life. I found a soggy old cucumber behind the beans, in the veg garden, and was very happy because I thought I had eaten them all and not saved any of this lovely yellow one for seed. For some days it sat on the kitchen bench with a note telling others not to throw it away. Yesterday I cut it open and scooped out the seeds and the 'jelly' they were sitting in and read in the Seedsavers Manual to leave them until the goo has rotted away. Lovely. Now it rests in a little crystal bowl, just the right size, that my mother recently gave me to serve pretty little desserts in, until it is ready. Oh well, we don't have dainty desserts much.Good crystal should be used, I hear her say !
In the kitchen there is also my big bread-making bowl filled with olives soaking (see recipe link), and a pile of pumpkin seeds drying off before being stored. Next to the stove is a little glass jar holding about 10 black bean seeds with a note reminding me to think about what the hell they were from !!
Last night I sat in the lounge and sorted out all my various bean seeds into containers, now they are all dry (I hope). They are still there because the laundry - where I try to keep seeds - is full of other seeds all doing their thing. Even the dining room table has succumbed to the disease as that is where the seedpods are that I assembled to take those photos of the development of a 'Butterfly Bush' seedpod (see photos link). I can't bare to throw them away, they are so gorgeous with their silky beards, still held in the bird-like pods. Does anyone want some ?
In the spare bedroom are all the pumpkins that I didn't sell to Wilson's - it is very cold in there and I hope they will keep well. Over the bath in the main bathroom hang all the garlic I grew and harvested last December - very handy as all the mess falls in the bath and no-one ever has a bath here anyway.
I apologised to Barb about the state of my house the other day but she kindly said it is a home and shows that people live here. (Not many people do live here actually - there is much more plant life.)
On top of the built- in -oven is a shelf which gets some light from a high window and is nice and warm and there I keep my Curry Tree, in winter. I am thinking of putting my newly- acquired Fish Herb there too as it is not looking that happy in the lounge, by the window. Three pots of lemongrass are attempting to overwinter by another window - god, I need a glasshouse. I have drawn up a plan for one - I just need a husband with time !............
It is almost too much. I feel, on the one hand, elated at the connection I have with the earth but, for the first time ever, that maybe I really have gone completely insane !