Good morning from the
balmy-coastal-summer-town that I seem to have woken up in this morning...
Forget Spring, by the coast here, we have just launched frock, hat and thongs {those being footwear thongs!} into Summer!
Although I've felt
that niggling unwell, sore throat, aching body sickness again for the last few days, this weather has made me want to get out and into all the things I love about being by the sea.
For those of you that have been here with me for a
loooong time, you're well aware of our story...
For those who are just
falling into my little beach house corner of the world, we are almost into our second Summer home from four years living abroad, three kids in tow- in a big old country house in the English countryside.
I still
catch myself being slightly humbled by moments of being home.
I still
see our coast, where our children are blessed to call home, as a visitor does at times- how can anything be quite so perfect!
I adored so many things about our life abroad- and have bought many
a normal English pass time back home with us.
One of my favourites being gardening.
In both country and seaside English towns, in huge cities and in small wee villages, to have a vegetable garden, or central town *allotment* is not at all unusual!
Most people we knew in our village grew something- and many of them shared hours together in a village allotment verging onto the pastures, and countryside, behind our high street.
Summers really did for many, involve bikes and kids in wagons pulled up to pick strawberries.
For others it was pots on front door steps laden with herbs and flowers.
For others, such as my B.B (British Bestie) - it was a series of garden beds, reminiscent of a story book, built at the back of her garden against an old stone wall climbing with roses.
She didn't see it as anything particularly
clever, or make-do-and-mend on her part- but I sure did!
I returned with thoughts of my own little allotment - *COASTAL FARMING* .
So when we returned to our lovely big garden, on the coast, with not a piece of food growing on it but two wonderful old lemon and lime trees, planted decades ago by some other owner- I needed to continue this English tradition.
I remember falling in love with the plot we live on.
I recall seeing it as more than grass and trees.
I'm sure my mother always told me I would.
I saw our little corner by the sea as a place to nurture and grow plants, fruit, vegetables, flowers...
A place to teach our kids the rewarding feeling of planting something from seed, and watching it take in the sun, and the care we give it...and then eventually picking it and creating something for our table from it.
Our first year home, for my birthday, we built a decent sized *plot* in a corner of our back garden.
With the help of my brother and his family, we collected enormous pre-used wooden sleepers and good soil, fencing from past projects and sandstone from the many paths our garden seems to have hidden... and we worked hard for a day...together...making something that I hope will last a long time, and create a love of gardening, and producing, for our children.
We had a successful first Summer- a learning curve, as the soil is sandier, and the summer weather harsher here in Australia.
In England, I had watched for frost, and watered sparingly in the summer months.
Here, I water every second day, and I stand for quite a few cups of tea to let it soak to the roots.
There is nothing quite as satisfying!
We're just coming into Spring here- and our youngest has little pots of seeds sprouting in the full, warm sun of our front balcony.
She waters them religiously and will soon plant them into our plot out the back.
Nothing makes her quite so happy before school as checking for "the green bits" sprouting from the tiny paper pots...it makes me happy to see her care for something with hope and excitement.
So...this is a moment of our life that makes me want to remember our home in England, it's a moment of our life that makes me feel I am doing *good* for my family and their health...and it's a moment of our life, that for me, is just so simple and pleasurable and rewarding- that even if I reaped nothing I'd not give it up for anything.
*COASTAL FARMING* at it's simplest!
Do you have a hobby that just makes you feel like you're really making good life decisions?
Do you have any tips on something I really really
should be growing?
I'll try anything and everything...I'll even grow rhubarb for my husband!
Enjoy your weekend...it's Friday y'all....!
Melissa x
