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.