A New Pony!

We have a new addition to our equine family!
She is the reason I haven't had time to blog for a couple of days - that and the hay coming in the last two evenings. I was a bit shocked by just how unfit I am - stacking bales in the hot hay loft was exhausting!
Anyway, I'll tell you more about her in the next couple of days - she is still settling in, and a little bit stressed by her new location.

The Harvest Begins!

I bought a bag of mixed chilli pepper seeds to sow this year, so I am not sure what any of these varieties are, but I have about 8 pots of peppers in my greenhouse, all which a rich crop of chillies! There are fat, lime green upright peppers, like the ones above, and long green curly fingers, which I suspect will be fiery!

And many sorts in between. None of them are ready to ripen yet, but I don't expect it will be long before the first ones begin to change colour.

We have masses of beans. The large purple ones shown here are the best ever! Prolific, large, and completely stringless, they are a variety called 'Cosse Violette'. This is the third year I have been growing them ( still from the one original pack of seed!). This year I have grown one tripod of them in the greenhouse, and so I am hoping I can save seeds from these as they should be isolated enough from the other varieties. The other ones here are 'Cherokee Trail of Tears', but I am a bit disappointed with them. They haven't been nearly as heavy cropping, and they are a bit stringy and tough, even when picked small.

I dropped one on the way into the house - Beetle is sure it is a small wiggly snake!

Disater struck in the fruit garden, probably because of the sheer volume of water everywhere. One of my young apple trees was so weighed down by the apples, that a bough snapped off, and it broke much of the tayberry bush on it's way down. Luckily the tayberry was nearly over, so we stripped all the berries off it, but I am sad about the apple tree.

It is a variety called 'James Grieve', and we did manage to rescue the apples from the broken branch. They are very nearly ripe, and I will keep them for cooking.

Illustration Friday "Idle"

The school holidays are well and truly here! My house seems to be bursting with children, my sofa's are in danger of collapsing from the amount of jumping on them that occurred while it pours with rain, and my studio has been commandeered by my middle daughter - I can barely get through the door because of her creative explosion. So I huddled myself on a stool in the kitchen, between the phone and the washing up, and got out my smallest set of paints. There wasn't space to work on anything but miniatures, so here are a pair of ACEO's. They are my submission for this week's illustration Friday topic : "Idle"
A rather loose association, I admit, but the wish to avoid being idle is what prompted it!

If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle.
Albrecht Durer

It feels as though it has done nothing but rain for a fortnight. I seem to have spent most of that time soaked to the skin, dealing with ponies, or garden, or walking the dog, or simply dancing in and out of the house putting washing out, and rushing in with it when the rain comes, then spreading it round the house, on the backs of chairs, in the vain hope it might dry before it gets knocked onto the grubby floor. It is at times like these that I feel a small moment of weakness, and wonder whether I should go and borrow my mother's tumble dryer! I haven't yet succumbed - I think tumble dryers are horribly extravagant, and I have a great washing pulley in my lean - to porch, and if I leave the washing long enough - even on dark rainy days, it eventually dries.

We walked up Nattadon, the smaller of the two hills beside the village this evening, and stood on top. I never fail to be overwhelmed by the magnificent views from here, so I thought I'd share them with you!

These pictures are all taken from the top of the hill, as I turned a full 360 degrees around.

This is the view back down, over the village of Chagford.

This looks out across Meldon, the larger of the two hills that overshadow the village.

nestling between the two hills are half a dozen farms and cottages.

Looking out towards Easdon and Green Combe in the distance

Looking down the valley towards Bovey Tracey. On a really clear day you can see the sea in this direction.

Looking over Weeke Down

The hills on the furthest horizon here are those of Exmoor, roughly 40 miles away.

And here is Castle Drogo, high above the Teign Gorge, looking out over Chagford towards the moors.

A Jam Packed Week

Jam, Jam and more Jam this week! Blackcurrants, Tayberries, Gooseberries and other assorted berries. There has been no time for anything else, so here are some pics instead!

Perfect peas

A birthday cake for my aunt( created by my aunt and my daughter)

Parsley and Shallots coming on nicely

Jack