Identified flying objects

Happy New Year!
I noticed recently how busy the sky can be over the Green Patch. Private planes, helicopters, international airliners(high up and late at night), but also seagulls, pigeons, birds of prey and flocks of little birds.

In the news

Last week we had a visit from an "Evening Telegraph" team who later published an article about Groundwork. They took several photos of volunteers. Some students were painting fences and making an ingenious greenhouse out of plastic bottles.
Next Tuesday at 6 30 we are having a Christmas drop-in and hope to see some friends.

ploughing on

The main plot is looking very tidy as it has been ploughed over. Of course the plants which have been ploughed in including comfrey will act as"green manure". Leaves from the trees are useful too, many people put them in their broad bean trenches at this time. but there are plenty of leaves still on, due to the mild weather.

Free for all

The hedges at the Green Patch are full of birds helping themselves to the berries and the insects. They like the spindle tree berries ( poisonous to humans). The bees continue to visit the nasturtiums. A few days ago we had an evening party when lots of children dressed up and carved pumpkins.

New residents

Last week we obtained some more hens, ten battery hens from a refuge and ten point-of-lay pullets.
The battery hens tend to be a little aggressive with the young ones, but they are settling down and are growing new feathers where they were very bare. The point-of-lay have no combs yet, but one laid a tiny egg today, so they're getting the idea.
On Saturday we had a lecture and demo about poultry by a lady from Bedfordshire. She talked about diet and disease in poultry and showed us how to make nutritious treats for the hens.Then we inspected the pen and practised holding them.

Summer events

We had some nice community events in this area in the Summer, carnivals, scarecrow festivals, band recitals and cream teas.
In a few days we shall have an Autumn celebration at the Green Patch.

The paddocks

There are paddocks with horses across the river, and one year we had some manure from there. The resulting compost grew some lovely blewits, they were very tasty fried. As you will see, the nasturtiums have been a picture and we've grown lots of purslane, which some folk like for soup. I have pickled nasturtium seeds and made some grape jam.
Our volunteers are continuing with the great tidy-up.

Drought

Well, the dry weather was good for the harvest, but it's been weeks since we had a good shower of rain. Rain always seems to miss this part of the country. Still, volunteers have had a chance to move the compost heaps, we hope to have bins in a shed next year.
The raspberries have been very good and the hedges are full of haws and elderberries.

September sun

Our sunflowers have flourished this year and I'm sure will attract the birds( if the humans don't get there first! I am concentrating on elderberries this year and am making elderberry ketchup (Pontack Sauce), supposed to be at its best after 7 years!
We held a barbecue last week and 40-50 friends attended. we had a hot sunny afternoon for it

Stone Moses

There is a local celebrity in the fields near here, a very old statue of Moses which used to be at Boughton House. He stands on a pedestal in a spinney and has been said to move at around 2am, but I'm not curious enough to check!
Here he is this afternoon in his watery hollow.

Still picking

The grapes, tomatoes and beans keep ripening, and, of course, the blackberries! As you drive through the country lanes you see people with basins picking them.

There is an old North Country recipe where you sandwich the blackberries between two discs of pastry or shortbread so I'm going to try it.
The autumn raspberries are ready too.
I think grease-banding the fruit trees in the Spring has helped as, apart from the ancient apple-tree, there is very little blight.

Fruit galore

The blackberries are now ripe on the western hedge. There are plenty to pick every day, and plenty of pickers. Also the vines have done very well, there are bunches of green grapes ready to eat.
The wildflower meadow has been mown and raked, and some flowers such as stitchwort and eggs-and-bacon are coming through again.

Whether the weather?

An important member of the team got married on the 8th so thank goodness the everlasting rain held off!
The rainfall has caused massive leaf growth in tomatoes, blueberries and fuchsias, I notice it in the church garden and at home as well as at the G P. Still, I expect insects enjoy wet weatherHere is a friendly tortoiseshell.

Goodbye, swifts

Well, the swifts are off to Africa for another few months. They seem to arrive in this area around 10th May each year and migrate back in early August. It seems to vary up to two weeks according to weather.
Whilst they are here the swifts are tremendously useful to devour insects over the gardens. They work in groups and their call confuses the insects. Also as a weather forecast, when it is going to rain they fly lower!

It's amazing to think how far these little birds migrate and that they sleep on the wing. this is avideo of the swifts flying very high the night before they left(in case you wondered!)

CSAs together

Last Tuesday we had visitors from some Leicestershire CSA's and someone from the Soil Association came and gave ussome hints and shared info with us about tools, crop rotation, use of time etc.
I was pleased to hear that too much weeding is counterproductive! Soil preparation seems to be important(I knew that!)

Green children?

I visited Avondale Infants, one of the three primary schools near the Patch. I wanted to see their raised beds, which were put in by our volunteers three years ago.
They had used the beds and still had beans and beetroot growing.
The children had just harvested and cooked a crop of potatoes and by chance were eating them in the classroom when I arrived!
The school has also added an impressive mini-orchard with three sorts of fruit tree and four sorts of berries. The children are very enthusiastic.

Explorers

I have a photo of the spindle tree, not very impressive now but great in Autumn.
The planters look good, and the raised beds are full(watch this space.)

A group of young people, the Green Patch Explorers, are helping a lot with the poultry etc. on Saturdays.

Bee city and the spindle tree

The beehives stand in the north-east corner of the Patch in their own enclosure. After a hard time last year when they had to be given sugar to keep them going we hope that there are four colonies there now.

The tree which the botanist found in our hedgerow is the spindle tree(Euonymus europaeus) which is a native evergreen. People used to make spindles with it.At present it has symmetrical white flowers on it but later it will be a mass of red capsules and leaves.

It has been horribly hot this last week and anyone who has been on their allotment deserves a pat on the back!

Open evening

On Tuesday 16th of June we had our open evening. It was a fine evening luckily The paths were looking spick and span after a volunteer tidy-up. 35 people came along.

The Mayor came and she stayed an hour. In the Green Shed we had refreshments and a tombola
and some children won prizes by solving vegetable anagrams,
We sold a number of plants too, apart from all the produce sold at Grange school fair.

At 7 15 people gathered for a bee talk by Martin, complete with a model hive and young helper. Bees are making a comeback! In the last few weeks Martin has been called to several swarms, even on the wing of an aircraft, and has transferred three swarms into empty hives at the Green Patch. So we hope they feel at home.

All welcome!

Next Tuesday evening we are having a friends evening 6 30-8-30 when people can visit the Patch There will be a tombola and children's quiz, and a talk about bees. Oh, and refreshments of course!
A local naturalist has visited to look at our flora and fauna and has found an interesting tree in our hedgerow. More details when I get his report!

Rainbows and grass

A team of volunteers was busy the other evening and at the same time some Rainbows came to visit the Patch. They visited our wildflower meadow which is suddenly full of beautiful grasses, pricked out some seedlings and did a word puzzle. Some Scouts have also been tidying up, because we're having an open evening in two weeks.

Visit us

Now the weather is so warm we hope people will be visiting us and enjoying our produce

Emily Cat

Emily is a friendly cat who adopted us eighteen months ago. By her size I would say she has two homes! I don't think she likes large rodents!

We have now lost three ducks, which seems ironic in a week when we hear that someone in politics claimed for a duck island to protect their ducks from predators. Wish we had one...and a lake to put it on!

duck's luck

One of the ducks has been killed by rats. Not only that, but someone on a neighbouring allotment has found a pile of hen's eggshells in the lane with tiny teethmarks on them! It was known many years ago that there is an old rat-run down this road and a relative's hens were killed by them. So we are busy reinforcing the pens where possible.

planting out

One family of volunteers have been planting out lots of seedlings We also have plants for sale now.
We had a break-in last week but they can't stop the Spring from growing!
A sick duck had to be taken to the vet, but after some TLC and medicine in someone's home she is recovering fast.

wildflower meadow

There is a wildflower meadow next to the Green Patch. It was set up by Groundworks last year. It seems that the secret with wildflowers is to remove the topsoil and after that to keep the soil really poor, raking off the cuttings after a few days before they can rot.

The lower half of the meadow is prone to flooding but it doesn't do it any harm.
I pop down periodically to se what is coming up, plants in flower this week were: daisy, dandelion, buttercup, ground elder, bugle, red campion and may, and along the hedge self-heal and white dead nettle.
In the GP garlic mustard is coming up along the hedge, the hens love it and it is quite nice in a salad sandwich.

visiting wildlife

It has been very wet down at the Green Patch this week but not too cold, -good grower's weather! There are two pheasants that strut around, the cock disappeared when he saw me on Monday.
In the Autumn one day when I went down there was a flock of baby partridges in a polytunnel, probably from the Boughton estate though it's nearly 3 miles to the breeding pens.
Some grass-snakes have also been seen at the large pond.
I hope we get plenty of insects in the hedges, because they attract birds and spiders which will kill the pests. We are growing some companion plants for insects too, marigolds, nasturtiums, buddleia and cosmos.

fairies, owls and pumpkins

The Green Shed is a mobile we use for meetings, storage etc. It has just got a new floor and new kitchen units. Before Christmas young people from the Prince's Trust came several times and decorated the walls.

Scarecrows

We had some scarecrow competitions in 2008. There's still a very fat individual in a checked shirt sitting in a polytunnel.The Fuller Guides came down one evening for a tour and a quiz and we asked them to christen a scarecow. These were the suggestions:-

Freddo, Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, Google,Greenfingers, Sparkey, Baggy Jack, Green-eyed Bob.

The ponds

I went down to water the tunnels on Monday and Tuesday and the small pond was a mass of tadpoles looking for shade behind a log. The goldfish in the other pond have also survived the cold. Beets and broad beans looking good.

volunteers and views

The plants in the polytunnels are getting on well, though they're needing plenty of water. We have begun to sell bags of salad leaves.

Here are some volunteers from 2008

The villages near the Green Patch are very attractive.

The patio

A lovely day and 25-30 people at the GP including the workmen. Patio being laid.

ducks and hens