Notes from the week

Edition 16

A beautiful sedum-roofed bug hotel at the local botanical gardens

We are deep into Renovation Mode right now, the entire house is being rewired and we've retreated to a combo of the garden (when the sun shines) and the in-laws (when it rains). It's such a privilege to be able to both own and renovate a home, but it is also simultaneously very stressful! It's definitely sapping my creative energy - my drafts are overflowing with ideas but the bandwidth to write them is flagging. I know that energy will return in time, like the tides or birds migrating, but it's a strange feeling in the interim.

I don't have a huge amount of energy for many words today (a shock to those who know me in the real world) so here is more of a photo journal.

I attended a plant sale at Inverness Botanics, to raise money for their charitable work. I bought a selection of annuals I'm hoping will self-seed in my newly created woodland border. I chopped up the trunks from the plum tree I sadly had to remove (I talk about it in a previous podcast episode) to create a stumpery, I've got topsoil arriving next week before the planting finally begins.

A work in progress shot of the new border, running alongside that very shiny, brand new fence. The bare posts will be a trellis in time. I'm currently cutting out the grass along a line, raking over the soil, removing any stones (SO MANY stones), laying down cardboard, then finally a layer of green mulch (shredded plant material, moss or lawn clippings). I've got a topsoil delivery coming next week, then the planting can finally begin! You can see my plum tree ‘stumpery’, I'm excited to see it decompose over time and hopefully grow mushrooms and encourage beetles. I'm planning to grow ferns and hostas and other shade-loving friends around and through them.

It was my birthday recently, and in amongst all the chaos we managed a lovely day of dog walking, gardening, take-out-eating, and the Chelsea Flower Show. I can't ask for anything more, it was perfect (well, maybe a lie-in, the contractors are here early every morning).

In preparation for the rewire, I've been running down the freezer, in case we lost power and simultaneously all our stored food. I found some grape juice I processed from some grapes given to me last autumn by a family friend. He grew the vines in a poly tunnel in the Scottish Highlands, without power or heat. That's one for my mum, who told me in worried tones that “you can't grow apples up north”, when we announced we were moving to Inverness. I used this BBC Good Food recipe, using the grape to sugar ratio and applying it to the volume of grape juice I had defrosted. It produced 2 jars, and a tester pot, of very pleasant jam. I’m not particularly experienced at making jam, so I was delighted this came out well. I kept a jar, gifted the second jar back to the person who gave me the grapes, and gave the tester pot to my in-laws.

Keeping it real, this is the current state of our downstairs; no room left untouched. Only another 2 weeks to go…

I’ll hopefully be back soon with a podcast, I’ve got it recorded but need the brain space to be able to process and write it up. Thanks for bearing with me!