Transition Leytonstone Craft Group & tomato seedlings

There were 8 of us in my dining room on Sunday afternoon for an exploratory meeting on setting up a Transition Leytonstone Recycled Craft Group.  One person didn't show up and one person had warned me she might not have been able to make it after a lunch-time meeting in Hackney (and with two main routes blocked locally and the diversion routes full of traffic as a result, even if she had finished her meeting on time, the bus journey likely to have taken ages!). So, instead of a few of us around the dining room table as planned, I had folded the table down and put out an oval of chairs gathered from around the house and out of the conservatory.

We are still feeling our way about we should/can/have the time and energy to do, but we have supported another "Make do and mend" event in September and are thinking of compiling a recycled craft directory for E11. Not sure this will work, but nothing ventured nothing gained. I will be hosting a second meeting at the beginning of June.

It was nice using some of the china I have collected over the years from charity shops and bric a brac shops.  Normally I have only one or two visitors at a time and they just get handed their tea and coffee in the kitchen mugs, and my mother gets the same, very pretty, pink rose tea cup each time she comes because it's nice and large and she likes her tea and doesn't like it in mugs.

My tomato seeds on my office window ledge have germinated and I have 10 seedlings so far.

Parkland Walk

It was a misty, frosty morning this morning which cleared to a sunny, warm day.  After my hoover had been delivered, instead of unpacking it and using it, went to Finsbury Park and walked along the Parkland Walk. This is an old railway line from Finsbury Park to Highgate.  Thirty years ago when I first did this walk it was very obviously an old railway track.  Now, except for it being linear and you pass some platforms, it's like walking along a woodland path.

At the other end I had a snack lunch and popped into the two charity shops (very naughty, I am supposed to be getting rid of stuff not looking for more!). I found a little teapot with an integral strainer, just right for making my herbal tea at work during my herbal course.

I then walked back again.

Herbal tea tasting course

My herbalist is running a herbal tea tasting course which started last night. As well as a small bit of theory, we had various things to taste to categorise as sweet, sour, bitter, salty, bland or pungent. Then we had a tea to taste and comment on. 

We have been given a supply of this tea, to take 3 times a day for the next week. I was able to have some before breakfast this morning as I have had the day of to take in a delivery, but I think breakfast is not going to be possible on workdays (supposed to have it half an hour before meals), but hope to take it twice a day. We have to keep notes for each tasting. We are to try not to "label" the tea and bring in any knowledge, etc, we have of that herb, though I think I recognise the smell. For me there is very little taste, though I would categorise it as sweet. However I am finding it pleasant to drink.

The more I learn about herbs the more amazing I find them.

Gail (the herbalist) had picked 3 plants from over the road, as she is keen on plants in season.  They were chickweed, goosegrass and shepherds purse. You can eat chickweed in soups, so I might try as it is rampant in my garden!

Spring in London

I haven't had a Sunday morning cycle ride for several weeks so nice to be out on the bike today, despite it being overcast and cold.

Cycling along Leadbridge Road (the A104) saw lots of flashes of the white on the wings of finches in the bushes along side the road.

Then into the Lea Valley Park.  The pussy willows are now yellow instead of soft white, the willows are covered in small yellow/green leaves.  The hawthorn have their  fresh green leaves and the blackthorn are just about to burst into flower.

A friend who lives in Sudbury in Suffolk has frogspawn in her pond, but no sign in mine.

Choosing a vacuum cleaner

I changed the bag in my vacuum cleaner at the end of a hoovering session. When I came to use it last weekend I could hardly get any suck out of it at all.  I can't work out why, though my mother suggests the filter, which I can't get at

Although I'm not keen on housework, especially hoovering which makes my back ache, I have the first Transition Leytonstone recycled craft meeting on 13 March and feel I ought to get rid of some of the dust and cat fluff first!

So after work today down to John Lewis looking at vacuum cleaners.  Stood there for ages trying to decide between a John Lewis one and a Miele one.  The John Lewis one was nearly half the price, slightly lighter, bigger capacity. The Miele one was Which Best Buy and used less energy. I went with the Miele one, but don't know I made the right decision.

Fourteen years ago I got a washing machine and choose one that was better energy rated but more expensive, but it only lasted 4 years.... Its less green replacement has already lasted 10. Time will tell with the vacuum cleaner.

tomotoes

I have just spent part of my lunch hour sowing tomato seeds to go on the window cill at work.

When I try to grow them at home there is not enough warmth for them to germinate quickly enough. I am running out to buy plants from the local DIY store as they have either not germinated or only an inch or so high!  Last year I sowed them at work, which is well heated, and, because the building is used at weekends, 7 days a week too.  This was very successful.

Had a little panic, as noticed on the seed packed "Tomatoes greenhouse", and I definitely need to be growing them outside. But it does give a time to "Sow under glass", then "plant out" so am hoping it is OK for these to go outside in May.

Buddleia, spring vegetables and cold hands

I had a day off today, and though cold the weather was dry, so I was on a step ladder cutting back  a clematis, which comes over the fence from my neighbours' all over my shed rof.  It blocks the gutter I have round the roof which connects to a water butt.  I cleared as much as I could reach.

I then had another go at my other neighbour's buddleia.  The branches that go up vertically will have to be left but I hope to get all the rest down in one or two more sessions, and there will be so much  more light in both my and her gardens.

I sawed some of the thicker bits of the buddleia to store for wood.  Difficult to know what to do.  If it doesn't burn well I've wasted the time sawing it and the space saving it.  But if it does burn well I will regret not sawing more.

My hands got cold and then, with all the activity, warm again.

I was able to pick a small bunch of swiss chard and a big bunches of chives to have in a vegetable stew.