December 2022
'Your health is your Wealth'
Same message, just search for foods with vitamin C, D and Zinc. Choose the fruits and vegetables etc that suit you and incorporate them in your weekly meals.
Check health sites for recommended amounts and increase them if you are being very physical.
Review what nobel prize winner Linus Pauling had to say about Vitamin C and the common cold and flu too.
The Milky way is a galaxy which includes our solar system and is estimated by some to have 100 – 400 billion stars. There are more galaxies in the Universe besides ours!
According to the Bible
‘And he brought him forth abroad, and said, look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. KJV Genesis 15:5
A Point for consideration
It is estimated that there are 8 billion people in the earth. We have some way to go before reaching 100 – 400 billion if that is even possible! Therefore, providing everything is done in moderation i.e what is sown and reaped in terms of crops and minerals for a start, there is hope for all.
This adaptation of the ‘milky way’ is drawn on black umbrella fabric.
Now eight years of this blog and the ideas are still flowing!
Having viewed some decommissioned aeroplane sites on line, (and the sites are huge!) perhaps the use of space could be optimised further. Some of these aeroplanes are on the ground for up to 50 years so better use could be made of them whilst they are idle. My initial thoughts include:
Simply search the internet for examples of how the above methods are used elsewhere.
PS: The design on the tail of the Aero Tree is taken from a broken umbrella fabric!
Autumn Leaves = Gardener’s Gold
Thinking ahead, it is useful now in autumn to store enough of the fallen tree leaves in order to:
Both of the above will be useful, particularly if there are periods of high temperature as happened during July in the UK this year. Putting compost / leaf mulch around your plants before the weather heats up will help to retain moisture.
Brolly Fruit Revisited
To help heal the planet, people can compost, compost and compost some more! People can use their vegetable and fruit peelings along with leaves and grass clippings to improve the soil. Plants 'help to regulate the temperature by using energy, reflecting solar energy and providing shade', (see onlinesoil.co.uk for further information).
I recently used much of the contents from our compost bin to spread around the plant roots before the 40 degree celsius temperature arrived in the UK in July 2022. This has made me increasingly aware that more can be done on a wider level.
In particular all open mining projects across the world must include backfilling areas dug up!
The staff working in these areas eat and drink right? Therefore it would make sense that they compost what they use, (from onsite staff to all areas of office administration, management and even shareholders). They can then be responsible for replanting what they open up. Perhaps even have inter-company competitions to backfill and recreate lovely gardens, orchards, vegetable plots etc for the locals whose land they have disrupted.
St John's Wort - Hypericum
The image is drawn on royal blue brolly fabric. The green background is also from a broken umbrella.
There are numerous varieties of this deciduous shrub.
Historically, parts of the plant has been used in medicine.
As per 2020, the small upright variety in our garden had finished blooming by early middle July.
"11 July 1906 …I gathered …Small Upright St John’s Wort, Perforated St John’s Wort…”
Edith Holden, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady
Iris Sketch Revisited in June 2022
The image is drawn green brolly fabric. The yellow background shown is also from a broken brolly.
Point to note, as of 26th April 2020 the garlic in the ancient woodland was in bloom. As of 24th May 2020 most of the petals from the garlic had fallen.
According to Edith’s diary, 19th May 1906, ‘…and the garlic, the latter just breaking through it’s green sheathe.’
This suggests that the common garlic was blooming earlier in 2020 (possibly up to 3 weeks), than in 1906!
The photo taken 19May22 shows that the garlic had already bloomed and had started going to seed.
April 2020 revisited
According to Edith’s diary, 17th April 1906, ‘The blackthorn bushes are a wonderful sight just now, their masses of snowy blossom making a striking contrast with the deep gold of the gorse’
Edith mentions over ten plants and trees including daffodils and periwinkles in her March 1906 diary entries. It is encouraging that to see these plants still grow in our garden in March 2022!
‘10 March …I went a little out of my way, down the lane to Kingswood to visit the steep banks where the blue periwinkle grows. There were numbers of flowers just opening; I only found one blossom fully expanded.
31 March Cycled to Bushwood …I found quantities of primroses and sweet violets, (both blue and white ) on the banks of the fields and roadside.’
Edith Holden, A Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, 1906
I consider it reassuring to know that in February 2022, snow drops still grow in our garden!
'24 February 1906
Cycled to Packwood through Solihull and Bentley Heath…In the garden of Packwood Hall adjoining the church yard the borders were full of large clumps of single snow drops. I brought away a great bunch….Rode home seven miles in a storm of sleet and snow.'
Edith Holden, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.
January 2020 revisited
Edith Holden dedicated most of her January 1905 Nature Notes to observations about birds.
Her 1906 Country diary includes entries of what she did on certain days, for example,
"Jan 23 ...The mild winter has brought out the hazel catkins, wonderfully early, the small green flowers are fully expanded on some of the catkins, and the pretty little red stars of the female flowers are appearing."
Some people will today celebrate Burns night.
