A bunch of flowers for you today, brought home by the lovely Mr S after his volunteering morning at Community Roots. He also brought home lots of wonderful just-picked salad leaves. 
Tag Archives: community roots
Yellow, Green and Red
Poly Tunnel, Volunteers and Pooh Bear
After my writing workshop this morning, I called in at Community Roots to say hello and was amazed at the progress made – seedlings up, new herb garden prepped and some wonderful hanging trays for seedlings to keep them off the workbench.
A photo was taken of the happy gang of volunteers after lunch of a wonderful soup made of vegetable harvested this morning. You can see the new herb beds behind the people on both sides.
Thanks to Matty for the photo
I love this quotation from Hans Christian Andersen and, of course, the wonderful E H Shephard drawing.
Salad Leaves, Snowdrops and Azalea
A lovely collection of fresh and tasty mixed salad leaves came home from Community Roots yesterday and we had them for lunch.
The sun shone today and we went for a walk in the woodland at a local garden centre in hopes that the Magnolias might be in flower. The buds are almost ready. There were lots of Snowdrops, Daffodils, Primroses, Camellias and Azaleas so there was plenty of Spring colour to enjoy.
Love, Working and Dessert
It’s Valentine’s Day and I send all my readers love.
We’ve been up at Community Roots again, pricking out and mulching. Enjoy the gallery.
Onion seedlings with their seeds as tiny caps
Pricking out into the modules tray
Biscuits made yesterday went down a treat…….
Mulching trees on the bund
Fabulous growth in the poly tunnels
Eric and his grandson making useful things
We had a lovely Valentine’s dinner tonight and Pears Poached in Red Wine with Star Anise and Cinnamon were our scrumptious dessert.
Sage, Tie Dye and Sunset
At Community Roots today we prepared Willow whips for planting and then I worked with P and G to take cuttings from the rather tired sage plant while the lovely Mr S worked on other jobs.
In November we put elastic bands on the veg bags so that they could be tie dyed. Today we undid them and this is the one I worked on.
We caught the sunset, the new moon and Venus in one shot this evening.
Cake, Tree and Supper
I made a Beetroot and Chocolate cake for the Volunteers at Community Roots today. It went so quickly I hardly had time to get a photo. 
I love the way almost every house through the village of Chacewater has a small Christmas tree outside.
I served our Pork Balls in Tarragon Sauce with some Tree Cabbage harvested from Roots this morning. Find out more about Tree Cabbage here.
A Cat, A Dog and A Cake
We called at the station this morning to check on an upcoming journey and found Hector, the station cat, sitting all alone in the lounge. There’s a notice on the door asking passengers not to let him in as he has a kennel on the platform but I wasn’t about to sprag on him on such a bitter morning – if ever!
We only lasted at Roots for a couple of hours today as it was bone chillingly cold. We worked together on clearing old nasturtiums from the poly tunnels and generally tidying up in there. At coffee time, a charming little dog sat looking longingly at the cake that the lovely Mr S was consuming.
M had made a most delicious Orange and Almond cake and shared the recipe so, of course, I just had to try it this afternoon. It’s a really quick and truly scrumptious recipe.
Cards, New Plot and Steps
We’ve had a really good laugh at Roots today, titivating the beetroot prints done last week.What an array of delightful ideas for making the prints more festive! Thanks to N for the photos of the cards. Click on any photo for an enlarged view..
Enjoying our work and lots of our cards
Barbara’s desin
Jool’s design
Gwen’s design
Barbara’s Christmas pudding topper of holly
While we were being creative in the warmth of the poly tunnel, the lovely Mr S and others were busy outside, preparing a new plot and digging out some steps.
New planting plot
Logan’s steps
Cards, Angels and A Carrot
One of our jobs at Community Roots today was starting to make Christmas cards by printing using beetroot. These ‘designs’ will be enhanced by one of our younger volunteers who did art at A level. Here is one of the initial prints. Next week, I’ll show you a finished card.
I sold two more angels today (two at choir yesterday too) Â one, I discovered, Â with a shell of Paua which is regarded as something special in New Zealand and I discovered the following by googling –
“It is believed that all varieties of abalone (including paua) strengthen the body as well as the heart. If a person wears jewelry made from paua shells, it is said that he can express his feelings to others articulately. They are believed to bring sensitivity, harmony, and connectivity in relationships. As this shell is found in a number of colours, it represents the beauty of life, which is ‘change’ that we experience every day.
It is a common Maori practice to gift paua shells to one another. According to them, this shell brings good luck, prosperity, and peace to the wearer.”
With a piece of Paua shell
With Cornish seaglass
Volunteers always leave with some of the day’s harvest. This is one of the carrots we chose because it made me smile. 
Cake, Squirrel and Skyline
I made an ‘I love Beetroot” cake, to take to Community Roots this morning (made with beetroot  collected last week)  but for a couple of reasons, we couldn’t go. 
I’ve been working on angels all day today and watching the squirrels in the garden..
On our way back from posting the little hat this afternoon, I caught the skyline on camera. I love the two finials and the weeds in the middle. 
