FRIDAY......ALWAYS A GREAT DAY

When the day starts with a trip to the market you can be sure it has the greatest chance of turning up something to write about and today was no exception. Lately we have had a few people join our seedsavers group after enjoying reading stuff on the blog and this morning I set off for the market ready to have coffee with Tina, who I had never met. In our brief exchange of details I said "Just look for the lady with the blue trolley, at Zuma's at 10.30." So along she came, heading straight for my trolley and by the smile on her face I knew we were going to have a lovely chat. Anyway, she was coming to the market specifically because of my ravings about it on the blog so she couldn't be all bad!

We were still there nearly 2 hours later and I was horrendously late for helping prune Deb's willow house. The funny thing was that we just seemed like reflections in a time warp, she being quite a bit younger than me and with a young child, and I felt very comfortable talking with her about everything from seeds and growing food to bringing up children and making the most of your life. In two hours I swear we covered more ground than a lot of people do after years of knowing each other. She is right into the wicking bed system that Scarecrow writes about and is lucky enough to have a dad who has helped her get a vegetable garden going. I am sure that Tina is going to fit right in with the rest of us and I am looking forward to introducing her to everyone on KGI day August 24th at Deb's.

After racing home and getting changed I went to Deb's for the annual pruning of the willow house. When I arrived they were all finishing lunch - hot soup on the campfire and one of Deb's fabulous bread rolls so of course, being always hungry, I headed straight for the food! Maggie, Bob, Jill, Ting and Chris were there helping Deb and a lot of progress had already been made. Mary had been there earlier and I was sorry to have missed her.

Chris was amazing at taking to the roof like a bird, pruning and weaving the long canes into position.

Maggie was tying some of the prunings into bundles because Deb uses them to weave into baskets and fences and all sorts of lovely things like Ian from A Kitchen Garden in France wrote about recently.

There are lots more photos here.

And here is a link to an idea for using living structures for children to play in at The National Botanic garden in Wales, as recommended by Chaise Longue in the comments below.

I think as a group we should set aside a day next year to get this job completely done for Deb because it is a really lovely way to spend some time together doing something so satisfying and for people so generous as Deb and Quentin.....and I promise I won't be late!

While I was sitting having a cup of tea in front of the fire and uploading the photos from the camera, Roger brought in a huge load of firewood and heated up the dinner....very nice.

Fridays are good. Get them fast and then take them slow....