“I loved this. It's subtitled ‘a sketchbook from the wilder
side of the garden’ It's the very best in observation and his
observations are pithy and succinct.
“There is nothing twee about this book. It is earthy through
and through. You can feel the garden, the weather, watch the wildlife
and smell the seasons through its pages. Did I tell you I loved it?
Oh I did. His description of gardening with hens is so accurate ‘I
try my best to protect the veg beds but what can I do?!! Hens are descended
from dinosaurs. They've mastered flight.What chance have I got?’
I think that the working smallholder would smile wryly at some of this
book and learn about nature from much of it, identifying strongly with
world in its pages while the person who loves the countryside, even
if sitting an urban garden, would be transported to this busy, almost
invisible world of a productive vegetable garden where more creatures
than just your veg, are growing. And it has an excellent recipe for
Nettle Soup in 30 minutes, even telling you how it tastes - back to
our theme of wild food. Enjoy.”
Liz Wright, Editor, Smallholder
You can order Rough Patch online, see link below.
A Year in the Meadow
Towards
the end of Rough Patch I include drawings of the ponies in
the meadow just over our garden hedge. I miss the ponies; the owner
took them out of the field because of the danger of ragwort poisoning.
The three ponies used to congregate at this lower end of the meadow
which is where they were fed and consequently much of the area became
trampled mud. It's good to see it greening up again with grasses, cow
parsley, buttercup and docks.
My Career in Shreds
This
mini paper shredder which Helen presented us with has
proved so useful. You're not supposed to put shredded paper in the council
recycling bin, so I've been throwing away the narrow offcuts that I
have left over when I've been printing booklets in the studio. Now I
shred them and add them to the compost bin where they should help aerate
the grass clippings that get piled up in there at this time of year.
Window envelopes (also banned from the council recycling scheme) also
go in the mini shredder, but I tear out the plastic windows before I
shred them. Odd bits of wrapping paper are also finding their way in
and I suppose when I do my accounts I should put the invoice and receipts
from 5 years ago in there.
Link
This
review of my book Rough Patch appears in an article on Summer
Books for Smallholders in July's Smallholder.