The Foragers Harvest begins in Earnest

The hedgerows are more thickly laden with fruit this autumn than I have seen for years. We wander around the field edges, purple stained and greedy, tiptoeing through nettles and gingerly reaching through the brambles. Rowan and haws, hips and blackberries, sloes and elderberries, all are growing in abundance, jumbled together and weighting slender stems earthwards. All these and more, we have been gathering. The jewel like colours inspired me to rummage amongst my yarn collection and collect my wool ends in glorious berry shades. Now I need a nice pattern for a jerkin if anyone has one?

Hazel tries her best to eat our blackberries as fast as we gather them.

While Sandpiper does her best " I'm the boss in this field" display. ( This is for Hazel's benefit, not ours - Hazel being the latest addition to our herd - Sandpiper is deeply annoyed at her sharing our blackberries, despite not liking them herself!)

The Last Swim of The Summer

I took the children down for their last swim in Chagford pool this year. It closes today, and it was lovely to sit on the poolside in a rare sunny moment and chew the fat with friends and neighbours for an hour or so.

This is one of the best outdoor, unheated pools in the country. ( Well, I guess I am biased, but it IS mentioned in Kate Rew's book, Wild Swim). The river Teign flows along one side, and the old mill leat flows along the other side.

The temperature was 16 degrees - definately wetsuit swimming! Luckily there are plenty of wetsuits to hire if you don't have your own, and the tea shack does a great hot chocolate or mug of tea to warm you up afterwards!

A perfect way to spend an afternoon!

The Ice Bear Project

Sadly the summer holidays are over and all the children went back to school yesterday. It does mean that I can return to working properly, and to blogging in a slightly more regular fashion! It was my birthday last week, and I got this fabulous set of watercolours as a gift from my father. They are beautiful quality, and after a week of gazing at them in their pristine unwrapped state, I am looking forward to breaking them open on Monday morning, and setting to work! Is that sad, to be feeling excited about new paints? I can't wait to get to work again!

In the meantime, I want to show you a film, and direct you to a really amazing project, that a friend of mine, William Todd Jones, is behind. It is called the Ice Bear Project, and is finally coming to fruition. It's aim is to create a powerful environmental message about the need to halt climate change, in a way that connects with as many people as possible. The sculptor, Mark Coreth, has created a life size sculpture of a Polar Bear, out of ice. As the ice bear melts, it leaves a skeleton, and a stark warning about the results of doing nothing to prevent climate change. This is a truly beautiful, and emotive piece of artwork!
The first Ice Bear arrives in Trafalgar Square, London in December this year, but the team aim to raise funds and repeat this in cities around the world.

The Garden Tour!

Ok, so I finally managed to upload the video. I hope it doesn't make the blog impossibly slow to load for you!

There are Fairies in these Woods and Meadows

The year has gone round already, and once again it was time for Chagford Filmmaking Group to begin work on another project. To see more about how this fun project evolved, do check out their website. Elizabeth Jane Baldry , celebrated harpist, is the driving force behind these films, and this year's fairytale was 'The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heugh'.

All three children were involved this year - even my small son, who was bribed with ice cream to dress up as a Puck - like imp and dance around with the girls. They had great fun doing it, and I got to sit in the shade of the ferns by the pool while they filmed. We can't wait to see the finished film.

The fairy photos were taken, not by me, but by my friend Carol Amos, whose daughter Ely filmed my daughter doing a hilarious 'Vegetable Tour' of our garden! I have been struggling all evening to upload it here, but so far no luck. I'll have another go tomorrow!