Plans from the Plot

It’s been a while since I’ve bored you all senseless with my green fingered musings so I thought now that Spring is possibly, finally here it was about time to make some public plans for the 2018 growing season. I woke up rather early this morning after a long (22.5 miles) training run on Dartmoor yesterday with Dad and the first thought that popped into my head wasn’t an assessment on which part of my body hurt the most but rather a bit of a panic that it is approaching mid-April and we have nothing growing up at the plot! Or to be precise, nothing that we have planted growing at the plot…weeds however, there are plenty.

I’ve been buying seeds here and there but with the snow and various other factors, hadn’t got round to actually planting any of them! We stopped at a local garden centre this afternoon in the hopes of picking up some strawberry seedlings (cheating I know but time is of the essence!) and potatoes but were thwarted by their lack of card payment facilities. I had to make do with a vigorous weeding session this afternoon as I mentally penciled in what I was going to start planting, when and where. But now the majority of the beds are ready for planting with hops dug in, I’ve got a big bag of seed compost and half a dozen different types of seeds. So first thing tomorrow, me and the kids are going to get the seeds sown and on windowsills and hopefully before the week is out we’ll start to see the first shoots of green gradually emerging from the dark soil beneath.

In an effort to engage the children more fully with the allotment this year I told them they could choose one fruit or vegetable each to grow and be fully in charge of that. Sophia chose peas, Eli can’t seem to decide between tomatoes or our pear tree (although that’s not really something that requires any work) and Isaac pulled the wild card with watermelons. I told him firmly that they don’t grow in England before spotting some seeds in Lidl and to his delight we’re going to give them a go. I’ve supplemented these choices with cucumbers, spaghetti squash, basil and tomatoes and we’ll be getting the aforementioned potatoes, strawberries and hopefully some carrots, peppers and beans as soon as I have cash in my wallet when I’m passing Plants Galore!

I’m sure my co-worker has even more plans as well so I’m looking forward to seeing what is successful and hopefully having a gloriously abundant season of growing our own this year. We also need to sort out our pond which is still resembling a muddy pool of water rather than a haven for wildlife and we desperately need a new shed as ours is, quite literally, falling down. So lot’s to do but I’m not feeling overwhelmed; more excited by the challenge ahead and spending more time outdoors, especially with the promise of doing so in the sun!

A child’s eye view

I’m not sure exactly what the catchment area for is for Manor, the free glossy magazine for the South-West, but we receive it on a fairly regular basis. I usually flick through it and read anything of interest (most memorably an awesome article on wild swimming) before passing it on to Sophia to peruse. However, when the most recent edition fell through our letterbox a few weeks ago, Sophia nabbed it first before I had the chance to have a look. Fast forward an hour and I’m washing up in the kitchen and Sophia sweeps in demanding I read an article and that apparently we have to help! I was intrigued and a little confused and proceeded to read, under her impatient gaze, the article she was thrusting under my nose. It was about a wonderful nurse from Cornwall, Anna Norona, who set up a charity, Yezidi Emergency Support, to support Yezidi refugees and is working tirelessly to provide emergency aid for these displaced peoples, especially in regards to their medical needs.

I’ll be honest, if I had read the article first there is a chance I would have filtered it. There was mention of some of the horrendous things that have happened to the Yezidi people since the genocide of thousands of this peaceful minority at the hands of ISIS back in 2014. It’s not necessarily something I would have wanted my 8 year old to read. However, it ignited a spark in her to help these people and I have been so proud of her response to discovering this information.

She was absolutely adamant that we had to do something to support them. She said that she would hate to be separated from me and Dan and be hurt and spoke about how lucky we are to be living somewhere safe with food and our family. After a little brain-storming, she decided to raise money by being sponsored to eat just rice, beans and oats for three whole days. For a girl who likes her food, this is a pretty big deal! Anna identified a particular family currently living in a refugee camp in Kurdistan that she could support, we set up a justgiving page and she is preparing herself for her challenge which she’ll be doing on the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th April.

I am so proud of her and her determination help those less fortunate than herself. But more than that, it has kicked me into action. We are surrounded by such a deluge of depressing and bleak news that it is easy to become numb to the horrors of the world around us. It’s easy to slip into inaction and passivity when we should be using our position of privilege to do something. So I’m resolved to do more to help those that need it. I’ll be fundraising for Yezidi Emergency Support myself and will be raising money through my (baby) ultra-marathon for them and am planning to make a conscious effort to donate regularly to the Exeter Food Bank. My time for volunteering may be stretched thin at the moment but I’m going to do what I can to raise awareness of those in need and help wherever possible. If anything, I owe it to Sophia to show her that I support her with more than just words. I want to follow the example she’s set and show love to my fellow humans with more than just platitudes.

And…breathe.

I’m not going to mince my words. Over the last few weeks, the behaviour of my children has been pretty unpleasant. They’ve been bickering constantly, there has been shouting and screaming fits (regularly) and I’ve even been hit whilst trying to help them negotiate a tricky situation. Thus far, I have been fairly successfully fostering a calm facade and have managed to avoid shouting mostly but I am so far past the end of my tether at this point that the veneer is starting to crack. What I’m most puzzled by is what is causing it. Usually I can pinpoint a reason for such a noticeable decline in temperament but this time, I am clueless. If I was going to clutch at straws I’d suggest that maybe it’s the end result of too much time inside after recurrent bouts of illness and a long wet and cold winter. I’m not convinced though. If it was just one of them I’d blame sleep or hormones but for it to be all of them (actually not so much the smallest) is a bit of a mystery.

However, I have long known the best way for me to manage through such a season of discontent. And that is with regular breaks to go somewhere, by myself, and just enjoy the peace. One such opportunity presented itself last weekend when I realised it was time to do a long training run for the upcoming mini ultra. So I laced my (new!) trainers, packed my running belt with snacks and headed out for a blissful 3 hours of running around the Exeter Green Circle. I covered 18 miles and returned with very muddy and slightly bleeding legs (I lost an argument with some brambles) but feeling much more “zen”. It’s amazing what a little bit of exercise and some time outside without the constant refrain of ‘Muuuuuuuum’ can do for your mood!

And whilst I don’t fully blame cabin fever or the upcoming full moon for their moods, it does have to be said that after a consecutive few days of getting them outside to play or walk for several hours they have been a little bit better. Granted, today in Rougemont Gardens the boys and my friend’s son drew the glances of a fair few passers by with their exuberant running, yelling and general mud covered antics. But after that and an afternoon exploring her amazing garden we returned home with everyone feeling a little happier and a little less grouchy.

I refuse to believe scare mongering of a third Beast this Easter and am living naively in the belief that it will be, if not glorious sunshine, at least not too wet or cold. I am hoping to cram in as much outside time as possible to the coming bank holiday weekend in the hopes that I can fully shake the grumps out of my kids and enjoy a few weeks off our normal routine with a little more harmony than we’ve seen of late. And if it is cold and wet, then that’s what raincoats and woolly hats are for! As long as I remember to grab my moments to breathe, then we’ll weather this rough patch and come out the other side with no hard feelings!