Smell of Cedar

 A friend of mine who is a teacher was saying he was teaching a year 4 class about descriptive writing but wanted something unique smelling for them to describe. 

He asked if I had any sandelwood but I suggested some cedar instead. The next morning he called by and I split some from a log. The smell was divine! 

He sent me a picture the next day with a list of the words they came up with. I really loved this. Balsamic is particularly good I think! Nice to think its a small thing to make the school day a little more interesting for a few kids. 

How would you describe freshly cut cedar?

Lots Of Scouts Stuff

 Just an hour a week they tell you...

Lots of fun scouting things lately. The summer term is often the best one when it comes to being able to have every meeting outside. 

Pizza From The Earth Oven

 I've built a lot of cool things in my time, but one of my favourite projects is the pizza oven. 

My main love it is how much the children love it. You can tell they adore the fact they built it, know how to repair it and make fires in there about once every few weeks to toast marshmallows. It's just a natural way of cooking but somehow cleverer than that. 

On The Grow Your Own Forum With Terry Walton & Alice Bowerman

 For a number of years now I've been giving a talk at Hellen's Garden Festival. And it always feels like such an honour to be asked back. In fact it was my first talk here in 2016 that got me into public speaking and now through the autumn, winter and spring months I do a garden club talk most weeks. 

This year was a little different. I didn't need to prepare a new talk, instead I was asked if I'd join a "Grow Your Own Forum" with two other gardeners. 

My Sisters Kitchen Upgrade - New Doors, Drawers & Extra units

The weekend before last I took a trip with my dad up to Manchester to visit my sister. 

 It wasn't just a social call though - we were there to upgrade her kitchen!

Garden Progress

 Seems a long time since I dug over all these beds and paths to dig out the bindweed. 

But so far the hard work seems to be paying off. Yes, it keeps coming up but I have a walk around once a day and pick it to keep on top of it and it's so much less than it was before. 

It's really making me happy to see the garden being so fruitful and already looking so green and lush. 

Lawn Edging From Logs - Part 2

 So after my first posts about the lawn edging I then needed to peg them in place and fill the bed with compost.

To do this I used some of the cleft sweet chestnut I had left from building my rose arch. Putting a point on with a side axe is a job that only takes a few seconds. 

Fitting Sweet Chestnut Palings

 I managed to find a bit of time to fit the palings I ordered from Say It With Wood back in the winter. 

I was so impressed with them. Generally I hate buying anything I can make, especially when it's wood, but there's no way I could make these! I don't have the machinery for a start, but when I saw how well these were made, cleft and smoothed up I was so impressed. A lot of hand work goes into these palings.

Large Display Seed Box

 A few months ago I had a commission from Moore & Moore Plants to make a pair of seed boxes they could use at shows to store and display their seeds, after they'd seen the boxes I sell on Etsy. We had a few emails back and forth and ended up with this design.

I hand carved the word "SEEDS" on the front. Dividers all removable.