Wednesday 30 September 2009

Shorter Days

Today was the first day that I mounted lights on my bike to cycle to work since the beginning of summer. The days seem to be getting shorter so quickly (which indeed they do - as the rate of change of day length is quickest around the equinox). But the reward of setting of before dawn is to see the sun rising, and today was a cracker of a sunrise.

The weather forecast suggests that the first frosts can be expected soon. I have just planted out my cabbages and spring greens and sown some broad beans, so am hoping that they manage to get a hold before the weather turns to colder. If I am lucky, the frost will come just in time to wipe out the catapillars that I know are just startng to feed on the cabbage.

I have always been keen on growing my own veg. It'snot a financial thing, or even really a taste thing (though they do taste better - most of the time), I think it's mainly a 'feelgood' thing. Watching something grow from seed, nurturing its development, seeing it ripen and mature, then eating it: There is something complete and 'wholesome' about the whole cycle. This year has been a courgette bonanza, and Debbie and I have been experimenting with ways to cope with the deluge. Much courgette cake has been eaten, and the freezer if full of courgette curry (interesting - but probably not to be repeated...)

And after several years of missing the opportunity, this year I managed to catch the elderberries in time. After many hours of labour on Sunday I have six small jars of elderberry relish. Just need to try and leave them long enough to mature. (The first time I tried this recipe in 2003 I knocked over a 4 pint jug full of elderberries. I was surrounded by thousands of little black berries and could not move from the spot without crushing them underfoot - Debbie had to come and rescue me with a dustpan and brush...)

Saturday 26 September 2009

Our Fourth Birthday...

Lund Gallery has recently celebrated its fourth birthday, and Debbie and I are starting to settle into our new life here at the Lund. In February, following several years of planning and building, we finally moved out to the gallery and now live in a small cottage on site with our nine month old son Finn. The time seemed right to keep a record of our Life at the Lund...

One of the most exciting recent events has been our first creative course to be run at the gallery. Dominic Hopkinson, a sculptor with over 20 years experience working in stone, hosted two weekends of 'Sculpture in Stone' in a cattle shed at the Lund.

Since opening the Gallery we have been keen to host creative events in the space here at the gallery, and so it was wonderful to see this finally kick off and listen to the tapping of metal into stone for hour after hour... I'm sure we'll try and lure Dominic back for some events next year.

Lund Gallery is currently featuring ceramics by Kate Wickham at Gallery. Kate came up from London to be present at the opening, which gave many people a chance to have a chat about her work and career... which was much appreciated.

The other big news is that, with the weather starting to cool off, I have re-lit the boiler. It's a 40kW woodchip and log boiler imported from Denmark, and it caused months of teething problems when we first sparked it up in January. So far this week, it seems to be burning well. Actually, the colder the weather the better the boiler runs; it has most problems when it is trying to 'tick-over'... tending to burn back up into the fuel hopper which causes the whole system to flood itself. Fingers crossed for the next few weeks!