Slow Worms

We found slow worms in our garden last year, and they're turned up again this year. We found one dead on the drive a couple of weeks ago, and 2 days ago we found some live ones under some bark. We must have a breeding population which is fantastic news as they eat those pesky slugs. Now we've finally got some rain the slug population has started breeding, and don't the plants know it!

Experimenting

I'm having real fun at the moment experimenting with natural dyes. We've always made home made wines and to a certain extent it's Chemistry, which of course I love!
You do have to take care with things, some people seem to get very scared by using chemicals, but I handled chemicals on a daily basis for the last few years, a lot of which were more dangerous than the ones I'm using now. Whats interesting is how many dye plants are also ones we use for wines.
Speaking of wines, here was my first experiment, we had some blackcurrant wine which had turned to vinegar in the bottles, I mordanted the fibre in alum and then simmered it in the wine for a while. The resulting colour is a lovely dusky pink, somewhere between the colours in these pictures. It will stand up to gentle washing just like any other dye job, and seems light fast. I've had it in full sunshine for a week and haven't noticed any colour loss. People seem to get their knickers in a twist about natural dyes fading, but all dyes will fade if left in bright sunlight for long enough, natural dyes are probably more prone to fading, but that doesn't mean they don't have their place.




Emboldened by that success I've also been playing with the Birch leaves from the Birch tree that grows by our pond. I also tried out modifying the colours with iron solution.




The kitchen and the utility room are currently resembling a witch's cave according to my Dad with various pans bubbling away with various leaves and fibres, and several jars filled with bark soaking.
I'm about to start marking GCSE and A-Level exam papers and will be rather busy for a while so am indulging while I can!

Doing what you love

I uploaded things to my Etsy shop for the first time tonight. I've been beavering away for a couple of days now blending up fibres.
Within minutes of posting on Ravelry some fantastic people had made purchases.
I feel so very lucky, I am happier now than I've been in ages, I'm getting to be creative designing things, blending colours, and the scientist in me is being kept happy by trying natural dyeing. More on the dyeing later, I'm waiting for things to dry... a bit tricky now the rain has finally started falling in Wales!

Being able to go out for walks where I get to see the Bluebells underneath the Beech leaves is wonderful.


It's pretty inspirational as well.

This is Bluebell Wood, it's still in the shop if you like it.

In the oaks

How has a week gone by already?
Much busy-ness here in Wales, I've been busy varnishing floors, painting doors, making cakes, cutting grass, preparing to mark exam papers and trying to get a new business started!
However I do have pictures for you, yesterday we went for a walk through some disused gold mines above Barmouth. Seemed fitting as all royal wedding rings are made from Welsh Gold, all the mines are now closed, and the Queen has some of the last of the reserves, maybe by the time she runs out the mines will have become economical to work again, after all, there is a finite amount of gold in the world.
These mines are now owned by the RSPB and are run as a reserve, it made a really nice change to walk through open deciduous woodland, rather than the more common conifer plantations.



The dogs were rather happy we found them a river to swim in, the hot weather here is continuing. A bit of rain would be rather useful, the garden needs water, and our water supply comes off a spring.





The end of the walk gave us views down in to the Mawddach estuary, with Cadair Idris in the background. The bridge you can just make out is Penmaenpool, where we canoed along to last week, and where I took these photos back in January. The weather's changed a little since then!

A reminder

For now the sun has disappeared from this corner of Wales. Not before time, the garden was starting to look a little parched. However I still have the photos (and the suntan) to remind me that it really did happen.
Any idea what this is?



One thing's for certain, the dogs will be happy that it's cool again, and that their drinking spots on walks have water again.



Particularly as they spend large amounts of time on forest walks doing this!

Mawddach

We seem to be having an early summer (and probably the only summer we'll get) so we've been making the most of it. Today we went kayaking on the Mawddach estuary. It was a beautiful day, and the tides fell right so we could go out in the morning before it got too hot.



The sun was rather bright though, and once we got home I ended up retreating to bed with a headache despite the sunglasses and hat.





It seems like everyone is heading to the coast to enjoy the sunny weather for the Easter weekend. The cars have been going past the house all afternoon, we'll be avoiding the busy spots over the weekend, and in my case staying out of the sun!

Worn out

How can not having a day job be so exhausting?
Today has involved walking the dogs, making Lardy Cake (so bad for you, but tastes fantastic!), chocolate brownies, and tarte tatin.
I've also washed an entire Shetland fleece, and helped Dad start some Nettle Wine, and helped Mum repot some of my pot plants...
The dogs are knackered too, Gwen is snoring next to me on the sofa!

Put's you in mind of The Good Life somehow doesn't it...