Not in the mood.

Just not feeling the bloggy love right now, so I'll try to comment on these photos... they're from newest to oldest because I cannot be bothered to move them all around right now...

I eventually got round to getting the elderberries we picked weeks ago out of the freezer and used them to make some dye. Worked out pretty well, but don't get excited, I realised just after I took this photo that I had misread the instructions on the fixative, and so once I rinsed these nightdresses properly, they turned a dirty grey. Not so great. Now I have to build up the energy to go pick some more elderberries so I can give it another go. All the ones we can now reach will be further away to walk.... doom, gloom...

Oh, I should point out my new peg bag in that photo! My lovely cousin sewed it for me and brought it when she visited the other month. It's gorgeous and now filled with pegs, which means I can generally hang out 3 loads of washing, which is divine. And the bag is so divine it ALWAYS gets brought in rather than left out like my last few (probably why they didn't last so well) i think she could probably sell them quite easily somewhere like folksy. I should tell her that.

painting with the girls earlier in the week. I suddenly realised we hadn't painted for AGES, and Willow had in fact NEVER done any painting. So that had to be fixed....

As you can see, it was heartily enjoyed and followed up with an immediate bath. Eve loves painting for the double-whammy of the paint followed by the playing, ahem, I mean "washing the equipment" in the sink.

So this is how I guess autonomous Education works... We spot a big FAT caterpillar in the house, and I pick it up to take it outside to find a new home... of course showing Eve on the way out. I don't think I let her hold it as she has a habit of squishing insects... we put it down and she immediately wants to come in and draw a picture of a caterpillar, AND a chrysalis, AND a butterfly... I didn't choose what to draw, I was TOLD. Then she coloured them in :) She then spent a good few hours playing at being a caterpillar, eating lots, building a chrysalis, turning into a butterfly (but wait, I have to let my wings dry!)... and I thought visting the butterfly farm last year was a complete waste of time for her... hahaha... although most of it I suspect is down to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is a favourite for bedtime.


One of our crazy carrots. We've had a surprising amount of very good sized carrots. Especially considering I've never been able to get one to germinate before! These are the ones from the BBC Dig In packets we got for free, and Eve planted in one of the raised beds near her playhouse. Last weekend I think it was, she came in from playing with a massive handful of carrots... which I then had to sort out... Nick went out to see how things were, and came in with the rest of them He's actually really enjoying seeing everything grow and has been making comments about the vegetables, like today "we've had a really good flow of runner beans haven't we?" To which I replied something along the lines of, yeah, they're a really easy crop to grow and they keep coming all summer. That's why I grow them every year. He keeps trying to harvest things for me, which is sweet but not always particularly useful... they stay fresh on the plants most of the time, whereas if picked, I have to do something with them in most cases. I really don't always feel like dealing with vegetables...

The carrot flower. Nick thought better of picking this one since it "looked different". Clever boy. Unfortunately Eve picked it yesterday! I'm hoping it will stilll seed properly - I've got it hung in a brown paper bag to catch the seeds, so fingers crossed. We're trying really hard (well I am) to keep seeds for next years sowing from our current crops. It should save us pennies :) I haven't managed to save any useable squash seeds yet, but I'm excited to save some and plant them, mainly because squash are so promiscuous (aparently) that you never know what you'll end up with if you save seeds -- it depends on which male flower pollinated the female!!



Spider webs! We came out one morning to find the spider webs had all been covered in dew! I couldn't NOT take any photos, so I made Nick a couple of minutes later to work taking these photos... they wouldn't have been there when we got home!!









Nick and the girls playing. Must've been last Sunday as that's the dress Willow wore to church last week.


Eve and her friend playing princess dress-up.

Eve, Willow, and another friend playing in the tent indoors.
The spoiling wild plums. This is why I HAD to make so much plum jam this year, when I'd planned not to make any really. I can't bear to see this sort of wastage... although the insects enjoyed it I expect... and judging from the smell, it might be the reason we had so much roadkill on the roundabout... it smelled at least 10% alcoholic :D

The quince from mums garden before I made it into jelly. I thought I had more photos of the process, but meh... maybe later... it made the most divine smelling beautifully clear jelly ever. Gorgeous.