New Life

Last Friday morning we had new life at Gaudin Gardens.  One of our sheep gave birth to a beautiful lamb, not sure if its male or female, mum is still very protective and stamps her foot if anything goes near her baby.

He/she is strong and healthy following mum everywhere.

I do process the some of the sheep's fleeces and spin the wool to knit Jumpers, cardigans and socks.  It takes time to do  but very worth while. 
I will do a separate blog post in the future, on how I turn a grubby fleece into wearable hand knitted clothing.

More signs of spring in the gardens with tiny violets and daffodils coming into flower.

Until next time
Blessings to all 
Vanessa.

Food for all

On Saturday I decided it was time to tidy up my greenhouse ready for spring sowing.  I'll use the word greenhouse lightly as its handmade from recycled windows which my neighbour donated and reject concrete blocks.

Unorganized mess

Space to walk, work and sit

Never the less it does the job really well, and has withstood some very strong winds in the last few years since Mr O constructed it for me.

Spring 2016

Spring 2016

On Tuesday I sowed my broad beans in recycled loo roll middles, placed into recycled plastic containers.  I prefer to sow them in the greenhouse and plant them out in the garden when they are strong and healthy. That way the seeds aren't eaten by rodents or anything else that might fancy eating them before they get a chance to germinate

Broad beans 13/02/2018

I have just soaked some Sweet Pea seeds ready to sow tomorrow.  I did sow sweet pea seeds in the autumn but not all of them germinated so I do need to sow more to ensure to have enough blooms to keep the bees happy again this year

July 2017

Until next time

Blessings to all

Vanessa

What a difference a day makes

Yesterday it was a beautiful cold sunny day and I was out in the gardens doing a bit of pruning and chopping back.

The birds were singing and feasting on the nuts and fat balls put out for them.

At the beginning of winter Mr O made a bird feeder as we wanted another one closer to the farmhouse. Its made from a branch of coppiced Willow with a square piece of recuperated wood attached to the top and some hooks he had left over from another project. It does the job, blends into the garden perfectly and didn't cost a centime.

Today we woke up to snow, quite a surprise as the forecast was for sleet and rain in our area of Brittany.

 

I've put more food out for the birds this morning, we don't want them going hungry. 

 

No work getting done in the garden today, so I went out with my camera this morning 

Here's a few photos taken of the Gardens and the surrounding area

Dew pond

Gaudin Farmhouse

Jean-Marc's horse

View north from balcony

Until next time

Blessings to All

Vanessa

Imbolc

Today is first day of Imbolc the 1st day of spring in the Celtic calender, which is half way between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. 

A time of returning light and renewal

Buds on the Ribes are beginning to come to life and there is lots of new growth in the gardens.

The rhubarb is starting to grow back 

    

 

Primroses starting to peek through and a Hyacinth has come into flower

 Some of the wallflowers are in flower which is quite early

We've had a lot of rain and its been quite mild in January.

So the dew pond is full which is lovely to see.

Until next time 
Blessings to All
Vanessa

The Wheel Turns

Its the 1st of August, the start of Lughnasadh, the first day of Autumn, marking the begining of the harvest season.  Lughnasadh is one of the Celtic festivals which splits the year into four. 

1st August - 31st October  -   Lughnasadh - Autumn

1st November  - 31st January  -  Samhain - Winter

1st February  -  31st April  -   Imbolc - Spring

1st May - 31 July  -   Beltaine - Summer 

As the wheel of the year turns we see the real season cycles of mother earth
These are the true seasons, if you watch mother earth closely you will see this for yourselves.  

That's why mid winter 21st of December the shortest day falls in the middle of Samhain and mid summer 21st of June the longest day falls in the middle of Beltaine

A Lughnasadh Blessing

May your harvest be bountiful and sustain you through the cold winter months ahead Maythe love of friends, family and the goddess warm you always.

Until next time, Blessings to all

Vanessa

Ever evolving circle

Brittany is steeped in Celtic myths, mysteries and monuments.  Mr O also has his roots in another well known green Celtic country and has learned a thing or two from ancient  knowledge over the years.
Gaudin Gardens itself is in close proximity to the sites of some ancient hill forts, and has a ley line along one of its boundaries, that runs between these ancient hill forts and beyond.
So using ancient Irish technology of grazing sheep on the land and observing their preferred places before erecting a dwelling  plus a little help from his trusty pendulum, Mr O selected a site to create a simple quartz and granite stone circle set to the cardinal points.

October 2015

The stone circle has not only enhanced the vibrational energies and harmonised certain magnetic abnormalities with the land and inside the farmhouse, it is also a great place to sit and chill in the shade of the willows

July 2017

The circle is an ever evolving project which grows as we find suitable materials to recuperate like the stone table and the unfinished benches.  This year we added the small fire pit for those chilly evenings or a small "grillade" for two

 

Until next time, Blessings to all



Vanessa

I love Wallflowers in the spring, the scent reminds me of my childhood garden, so at the end of June I decided to collect and dry some wallflower seeds from a couple of plants I have in the garden

The seeds were dry enough to take out of their pods by the middle of July.  Its quite a time consuming job but rewarding watching all the little brown seeds fall into the paper bag

I sowed rather a lot of the seeds into a recycled plastic container, and two weeks later they had all germinated



Using my homemade compost

I spent sometime yesterday pricking the seedlings out into individual pots

 All being well next spring we should have a colourful scented display of wallflowers at Gaudin Gardens

Its been windy and raining here today in Brittany more like October than the end of July so I'll leave you with a couple of photos taken earlier this week when the sun was shining.

Until next time, Blessing to all

Vanessa

The Old Dew Pond

On one of the wild edges of the land we have an old dew pond, which was full of all sorts of unimaginable rubbish which Mr O and myself have cleared out and recreated an attractive wild pond

 Unfortunately like all dew ponds, in prolonged dry spells the water level drops.

So we add water from our well to keep the pond life happy



Freddy frog is a happy Frog

Another wild edge just beyond the pond for the bee's and butterflies

Until next time, Blessings to all
Vanessa 

Busy week

Myself and Mr O have been busy in the garden this last week

We've taken out the old pea plants and collected the pea's we left to go to seed.  We did the same thing with the broad beans.  We've also harvested all our garlic and the rest of the new potatoes,

as well as our daily harvest of green beans, carrots, turnips, courgettes and cucumbers for our daily meals.  The rest we freeze or store for the winter

This has freed up some of the beds which we have now covered with brown paper and hay

 





Our local bakery saves their brown paper flour sacks for us and we have recuperated several big bails of hay, which were no longer any use for animal feed.



Dia,Brilla and Inca being well behaved as Mr O is just out of view giving instructions





Using the same technique we extended one of the beds so I can plant more shrubs and flowers

I never would have imagined that a no dig, no chemical permaculture garden could be so productive. 

Mother nature knows best

Until next time, Blessings to all
Vanessa