The yurt is up, and the sun is shining! As we didn't have the instructions for folding the roof canvas when we dismantled the yurt last time, it took rather longer, and was a more unconventional assembly than it might otherwise have been. But there were no rows! The wood-burning stove is fitted and working - it's recycled from old hub caps and other assorted metal, and looks both rustic and oddly elegant at the same time. And with the cold nights we had over the summer solstice, the stove proved its worth in heating the inside really effectively. I think we might just leave it up for the summer...
I have to get the plant identification book out in order to be sure, but I think this is an orchid, growing under one of the apple trees in the orchard. And once I've identified it, I need to work out how to encourage more. We've had great fun over the spring and summer, identifying various flowers that have emerged, as well as mushrooms and assorted fungi. They love the compost heap, and I've put a whole load in a box full of the best local manure and tucked it away in the dark of the tool shed, hoping for a bumper crop. We've had some St George's mushrooms, and last year we enjoyed horse mushrooms, and it looked like a good crop of field mushrooms growing on the compost heap. It would be great to have someone with local knowledge on tap for some of the more exotic looking ones; our Collins guide is useful, but sometimes it feels as though bravery is required
This is the first of many bonfires. We're getting rid of the various cuttings from last autumn, when we stacked them up to provide habitats for hibernating and then nesting creatures, very successfully in some cases; the mallard found our big heap of brambles a secure site for a nest. Friends Sarah, Laura and Alicia helped cut down some of the cherry tree saplings in the Goose Paddock, and once the fire was going well, they piled them on and we spent a happy Sunday morning poking and adding on whatever we could find, including an old horsehair mattress.
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I have to get the plant identification book out in order to be sure, but I think this is an orchid, growing under one of the apple trees in the orchard. And once I've identified it, I need to work out how to encourage more. We've had great fun over the spring and summer, identifying various flowers that have emerged, as well as mushrooms and assorted fungi. They love the compost heap, and I've put a whole load in a box full of the best local manure and tucked it away in the dark of the tool shed, hoping for a bumper crop. We've had some St George's mushrooms, and last year we enjoyed horse mushrooms, and it looked like a good crop of field mushrooms growing on the compost heap. It would be great to have someone with local knowledge on tap for some of the more exotic looking ones; our Collins guide is useful, but sometimes it feels as though bravery is required
This is the first of many bonfires. We're getting rid of the various cuttings from last autumn, when we stacked them up to provide habitats for hibernating and then nesting creatures, very successfully in some cases; the mallard found our big heap of brambles a secure site for a nest. Friends Sarah, Laura and Alicia helped cut down some of the cherry tree saplings in the Goose Paddock, and once the fire was going well, they piled them on and we spent a happy Sunday morning poking and adding on whatever we could find, including an old horsehair mattress. 
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