My Little Organic Vegetable Patch

Eleven weeks ago, April 10th. Mum and I went to a garden center, bought 4 strawberry plants and a big raspberry plant which we split up and spread along the edge of the vegetable patch. We also bought a small rhubarb plant to go next to the strawberries. Mum had a few old strawberry plants which in previous years the birds had got to before us, unfortunately. So we moved them into our vegetable patch and so far the birds haven't got them. Some of the strawberries have little green strawberries coming from the center of the flowers and others have white flowers and are creating new shoots that will spread out and grow into more strawberry plants.

We also have two types of peas and a sweet pea flower that grows up bamboo sticks. The sweet pea's have very nice white flowers with the exception of a tiny little red flower. The flowers with the green stripes on are the peas and you can see pods starting to grow if you look closely. There are four bamboo sticks  that are secured with gardeners string to form a strong structure that the peas and sweet peas will grow up, they also add some interesting height to the garden as well as saving us some space in our small 6 by 10 foot vegetable patch.

These lovely, "Oriental Spicy Leaves" were gifted to Mum after they were won in a raffle but were not wanted. Same goes with the Cabbage that you can see in the boxes in the picture below this. One of Mum's birthday presents this year was a personalised grow your own salad box. The gift contained all that you needed to grow a variety of different salads; one of them being the oriental spicy leaves. Mum planted them on the 30th May but despite the packets of seeds saying they would .take 3 weeks to grow, well ours haven't. Although they shouldn't be far off as she planted them just about 1 month ago.

Aubergine, Leek, Garlic, Spinach and Sage are the newer additions to the vegetable patch and theylook as if they are doing quite well. The garlic was added because we had found a clove of garlic in the cupboard that had started to grow a shoot. Mum also said it is quite an easy plant to grow. We separated the leeks into a line next to the peas. Aubergine was added a few weeks ago after we had been unsuccessful with 3 courgettes plants that died. Not exactly sure why but if anyone knows feel free to comment. One of the second things we bought was Lemon Balm and Sage. I chose Sage so we could use it in our cooking and Lemon Balm well not for any reason in particular just because it smelt nice at the garden center.

Have you ever grown your own fruit or vegetables?

Joyfully Light

Exploring Hebden Bridge

Saturday 23rd May

I have to say our meal out was lovely on Friday and such a good way to start the holidays after a long week of exams and coursework.

Anyway now they have all finished for a while, we can have fun in the sun this week.

So yesterday, I went to Hebden Bridge with my family for the day. We started the day at around 11:00 am with a scenic car journey through lots of little country roads and cute villages.

As you can see it wasn't the best weather when we set off, but I didn't mind.

When we arrived at Hebden Bridge, it was quite difficult to find a parking spot but Dad ended up finding a free parking space at the top of town. This meant Mum and I got to look in all the nice shops on the way down and Dad didn't have to pay for parking. What a great way to start our adventure in Hebden Bridge.

Walking down into the town we couldn't help but notice the bubbles that were floating around above the shops. As we got closer you could see that the bubbles were coming out of the window, of the Yorkshire Soap Company's shop. It smelt very nice from the outside but we were very hungry so continued down the hill to get some food knowing that we must come back here.

Dad and my sister had fish and chips for lunch but Mum and I found a nice little bakery near by so we had a pasty from there. We both had  a mediterranean vegetable pasty. It was nice but not as good as Friday's pizza. I also got a loaf of sunflower seed bread on the way back to the car to take home.

After dinner we walked back up to the car to go to Hardcastle Crag. We went past a small fruit and veg shop where I saw some strawberries outside that looked good. I had them for my pudding as well as sharing them out. They were only £1.50 for fresh home grown strawberries, such a bargain and the staff were lovely too.

Near to the fruit and veg shop was a flower shop which had some lovely flowers outside on display. We didn't go in but I had a good look and the nice flowers outside the shop. The Marguerite's were my favorite because they look a like big daisies. 

As we got closer to the car we spotted the Yorkshire Soap Company again and went in this time. Two friendly shop assistants welcomed us in and got talking to Mum, whilst the rest of us looked round this cute little shop filled with freshly made soaps, candles, bath bombs and shower butters. I was looking round and could hear one of the girls telling Mum that they have other shops in York and Leeds. They also had music playing from musicals, this made the shop so much better.

The shop in Hebden Bridge is lovely and I can't wait to visit the other shops. Their bags are so nice and I like how you can smell the soaps without opening the neatly wrapped packaging, by smelling the cotton wool that is in the glass bottles next to each soap on the front table.

Once we had finished in the Yorkshire soap Company's shop we got in the car and drove through more country roads with lovely views as we could see down into the valley. After driving for about 15 minutes (as I think we got a bit lost) we arrived in the car park of Hardcastle Crags. We got out of the car, ate some of the bread and chose a route to walk. We chose the green and white, Crags Constitutional walk. The description on the map says you would have views of The Crags, and there is, but we couldn't see them very well because they blended in with all the other plants and greenery that surrounded them.

Though what we could find on the walk was: lots of wild garlic - the pretty white flowers; dandelions, but these ones were not like the ones that you find in your gardens that are all scattered around and look messy, these dandelions were pretty they added different a colour, a burst of yellow into the shades of green and brown you could see around you, in the trees and on the floor. Bluebells were painting our paths with delicate shades of purple and blue, their flowers made you smile - the little hats were flying in the wind. If you looked closely you could see lots of tiny bugs and insects living peacefully in the forrest.

Dad also found a little den further along the route, on a pebble beach of the river that followed our walk. It was just big enough for him and my sister to fit in. Once we spotted the den and had checked it out, we sat on the huge rocks that were next to the river for a while just chatting and soaking in the views of what was around us.

It was such a nice sunny day surrounded by amazing scenery, spent eating lovely food and enjoying the company of some very great people.

Have you had a good bank holiday weekend?

Joyfully Light

Things That Made Me Smile This Week :-)

Being woken up by the birds. I'm not sure everyone will agree with me on this one, but I love hearing the birds in the morning. Especially when I know that I don't have to be anywhere that day.

                                                                    7:15am "The early bird catches the worm" 

                         




James Bay. Listening to his album, Chaos and Calm in the mornings (with my earphones) was such a nice way to start each day. What was even better though was, hearing it playing out loud from downstairs when I was in my room. Such a lovely surprise.

Candles. Although it is spring now and the clocks have gone forward, some evenings were a bit cold and rainy. So this was a great excuse to light the candles, my favorite one at the moment is Thai Lychee. It smells lovely and fruity but not to strong. Perfect for cosy evening in.

Food. This week I had some wonderful meals: some being my homemade porridge which you can see in the picture below; one being a lamb pasta bake that I had last night, others being rice and beans which I had for lunch during the week.

Soft washed hair. I often wash my hair about every 3 days. My hair is thick, long and takes a fair amount of time to wash and to dry. So after taking care to shampoo my hair well, to leave my conditioner on for more than what it says on the bottle, then washing it out with freezing cold water. Air drying it with a towel round my shoulders. To finally brush it and realize that all this was worth the effort because my hair is now soft and smooth. Thank you Lush Cosmetics for, Brazilliant Shampoo Bar and American Cream Conditioner. These products are the ones that make my hair soft and smooth.

What made you smile this week?

Joyfully Light