Harvest Time

Strawberries have come and gone but there's lots more to pick and gorge on.
Now is the time when fruits such as cherries, raspberries, currants are all ready to be picked. We also have two courgettes and I have to say that eating a barbecued one the other night was possibly one of the tastiest experiences of my life. I am really looking forward to harvesting tomatoes, peppers and grapes. The latter is going fine but we are both stressed about all the diseases we have been warned about. We are still using an ecological spray consisting of iodine, soap, milk and water. Fingers crossed ...

There's still lots of work to do especially as temperatures are now in the mid to late 30s. It's just so hard to do any work when it is so scorching hot. The shower in the picture below is a great way to cool down and what could be more natural than washing outdoors?

Watering is the main thing as the earth is extremely dry. We need some rain but not vicious storms. It's amazing how much more I focus on the weather now that plants are dependent on me and on nature.

An Unedited Entry

I am not going to go very deep into certain matters but simply give an overview of what I think. This may perhaps be very simple and not very well thought out but it's what I am feeling at this current moment in time having briefly read through some of the events going on in the world today, mainly the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the shooting down of the MH17 plane in Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists.

You might argue that I have not used my words correctly in describing the above and have a lot to argue against this but this but the main point of this blog entry is to express sadness that these things are happening and have happened. I can also count myself very fortunate to be in a position that is very far removed from such events and cannot imagine how it must be to directly be involved or affected by them.

Of course there are a lot of tragic things going on in the world that are not highlighted in the media that I often turn to such as the BBC, The Guardian and other social media. Often I am desensitised to news reports of the loss of life but sometimes it is too hard to ignore the darkness of human nature and the horrific actions this can lead to.

Right now, I appreciate where I am and consider my problems petty in comparison to others. I also contemplate if it is worthwhile to be informed at times. I know it is important to know what is going on in the world even if it makes me feel that my own existence is quite unimportant in the grander scheme of things. However, I do still believe that little gestures count for something and have to hold on to the idea that we all do make a difference.