I honestly hadn’t meant for the blog to go on its summer hiatus this year, but here we are. I even had a post ready to go for plastic free July, but never quite got round to finishing it; and I find that the longer I stay away from the blog, the harder it is to pick the writing back up. With an afternoon of TOIL on my hands, however, I’ve finally been able to start gathering my thoughts and look back over these last few weeks of this oddest of summers. They’ve been spent learning how to pickle and freeze and preserve the bounty from my in-laws’ garden – plums and apples and cabbages so big they’re about to start exerting their own gravitational pull. Best of all, we’ve had a couple of nights camping in their orchard- we obviously aren’t planning on travelling anywhere this summer, but these evenings of reading books under the apple trees and early morning walks through their wildflower meadow have been a balm to this weary soul.
I had no idea that my little green pop up tent (only purchased this time last year) was going to turn into an item of such importance . Getting everything we needed down to the in-laws using only our two bikes has been quite the challenge, but each time we camp gets a little more comfortable (my bungee chord attachment skills are level ninja). We only manage to get out to them every couple of weeks or so, but it’s been really interesting watching the meadow’s flora change as the season progresses. Last weekend the hogweed was beginning to go to seed, and a close look at the any of the patches of ragwort would reveal the mustard yellow and black stripes of the cinnabar moth caterpillars. The first of the migrant hawkers were out and the afternoons had that heavy-aired, late summer vibe. So if you need me, you can find me sitting under the canvas soaking it all in.
