"Climate is what we expect - weather is what we get." - Mark Twain
More magical visits to the Acre
A highlight of our week was the visit from Natalie with her two sons (Aaron and Jack) together with her mother, 'Nana'. They had a splendid afternoon with both boys getting really stuck in to a spot of weeding and harvesting and leaving with arms laden with produce and a nest box made by our Men in Sheds team. Here's what Aaron thought of his afternoon: “It was my dream place and I can’t wait to go back all the time”. He went home with his ‘treasures’ and went straight to work planting, drying out seeds for sowing next spring and helping to prepare a beetroot for dinner. We also had a celebratory 21st birthday brunch for Jo who helped us greatly in the garden at the start of lockdown - Happy Birthday from us all at S2G!
Outside Broadcast
Coral has been down and with the help of John has just filmed her latest cookery episode on the acre. This week she made mini tarte tatin's, to view previous 'Alfresco Cookery Demonstrations' made on the Acre, visit her site at www.coralscookeryschool.co.uk
Cut! Continuing the film theme a group of us went to John Collins house to help clear his garden. John is a keen supporter of space2grow and a BBC cameraman who has made a number of short films for us over the last couple of years. We had a tremendous time and were so well looked after that we were flabbergasted when we were given a very generous donation! A big thank you from all at space2grow.
Wildlife on the acre August is renowned for bringing in a mixed bag of weather and this year has seen it unleash all it's options on the acre. What is most apparent is the extremes of each new front be it rain, sun or wind - and we've had it all! The garden has coped remarkably well and we've suffered very few casualties - nature is so resilient, let's hope that we humans adapt our ways to help it out in future.
There have been some great wildlife 'spots' over the last week and only this morning I came across slow worms nestling in the warmth of the compost heap. These legless lizards can live to a hearty age of 30 if not predated upon by cats and hedgehogs but can get out of a tight spot by shedding their tails. We also unearthed a couple of shrew nests with the young covered up in a fine soft blanket of shredded plant material. (see if you can spot them in the picture below) The young can often be spotted leaving their nests in a 'caravan', each holding onto the tail of the one in front! The fox has been seen stealthily walking past the maze and a kestrel is often hovering above our border with the Bishop's Meadow. The diversity of the nature to be found around the acre is stunning and I hope to be reporting more ' spots' in upcoming issues.
Enjoy the crop! This time of year is definitely the season for making pies, jams and crumbles and we're overflowing with apples whilst the nearby bushes are laden with blackberries so do come along with a bag and pick some! Our pear trees have limited fruit but they are delicious and our fig trees are providing us with two or three ripe offerings per day. It won't be long before we can also enjoy corn on the cob from the acre whilst courgettes are ready to go. If you do come by be sure to ask me what is ready to be cropped as it changes constantly.
