sense of place

Reflections

At the end of 2009 moving to HB was still contemplation. I seem to remember posting some rather grand visions for what I hoped 2010 might hold. So what does the year look like with the benefit of hindsight rather than foresight?

Well pretty good really. 

Admittedly lots of things remain on the to do list.

There hasn't been much foraging. We found and ate some wild garlic with some help from Matt. And picked a lot of blackberries. I got some great photos of Wharncliffe fungi but a mix of lack of confidence and lack of time meant we didn't get as far as identifying the garden fungi for edibileness.

There haven't been any chickens either. I'm pretty keen that our own fresh eggs will be on the way by the summer but still a bit nervous about the responsibility and the carnivorous desires of local foxes (and dogs). The bees can definitely wait. 

Oh and asparagus, blueberries, globe artichokes, another row of apple trees, a walnut tree and a hazel coppice may or may not get planted before next winter. Planting anything requiring too permanent a location might have to wait a bit longer as plans to build another barn to add to the house will mean 2012 might be a bit of a building site.  

Lots of things we'll have to call 'learning from experience'.

What should have been an abundance of early planted broccoli and sprouts was, average at best. Tomatoes from the collapsing greenhouses were also pretty poor. And I'm not sure we'll be trying again to get anything through the tough winters we have up on our Yorkshire hillside. We planted up several beds with potatoes, chicory, leeks, kale, cabbages, cauliflowers and various other stuff that might just make it through the darker months. Not when you're up against our local pheasants and night time temperatures in November of -12 you won't. I'm pretty sure the expert digging and pecking pheasants were the worst culprits and the iciness just the finisher. At least someone got fed. 

Oh and we realised the importance of time well spent. Reducing the seven hour lawnmowing marathon on arrival to a more manageable 3 hours meant it was even fun on some summer Saturdays. But there are more productive things to be done. So a ride on mower /speedmachine is now on the wishlist. And we might then spend as much time planning, planting and growing species rhododendrons, magnolias, rambling roses, clematises and anything that can bring vivid colour to the new borders we'll create. Oh and the pond. We'll plant something in the pond.   

But overall lots of things felt like achievements.

After spending the whole first part of the year in limbo waiting to move, then finally getting an overgrown cottage garden to unleash the spade on in May once spring was in full bloom, getting anything growing felt like a success. We had good crops of peas, runner beans, french beans, courgettes (which we sort of forgot to pick so lets call em marrows), lots of varieties of potatoes, some broccoli, loads of good lettuces and rocket. We also had lots of perennial stuff offered up with very little effort. Apples, raspberries, strawberries galore, black and red currants. 

And our store cupboard (and food memories) are testimony to a good harvest. Pickled beans, ice creams, marrow and ginger, blackcurrant, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and rhubarb jams, cassis liqueur, elderflower cordial and, fingers crossed, a small barrel of cider due to be bottled sometime in 2011. With any luck we can have our first few bottles in the company of friends around the campfire. And our lovely new daughter. Thanks and best wishes to all our campfire companions in 2010. And here's a cider tinged toast to many more in 2011. Salut. x  

 

The colour purple

From the loud white notes played by the cow parsley earlier this year purple has become the accent colour round the garden. From beetroots to potato flowers, it's pretty hard to piss off god by not noticing.

it.

Lucky

 

We're lucky living here. It's an amazing place. Today Mrs SenseofPlace found a 4 leaf clover behind the woodshed. Hope, faith, love and luck.

Growing

The reclaimed cottage garden is now a rich landscape of courgettes, sweetcorn, potatoes, bolting rocket, odd shaped lettuces, giant beetroots, rambling peas, tangled beans, florence fennel, celeriac, a flowering leek, lots of marigolds, sunflowers and comfrey, broccoli, onions and a few globe artichokes. Oh and some rocks. And the reclamation continues. The previously head height jungle of raspberries, roses, nettles and bramble run wild is now a near fully dug extension to the cottage garden awaiting some paths, some asparagus, rhubarb, more artichokes and a few other more permanent fixtures. Not to mention a blueberry hill.   

Anthriscus sylvestris

We've not counted, its not a competition and in terms of sheer numbers there are no doubt more blades of grass. Or nettles. But in terms of sheer presence cow parsley is a fairly dominant character round our way right now. And it has character. It adds dashes of white to the swathes of green. Stands tall in the dry and slouches in the rain, drooping sulkily in the pathways with an "if I'm fed up you're gonna need to be fed up too" attitude.  

Peas

The first peas of the season. 

Residents

 

 Not to mention friendly cohabitees. Our friendly pheasants wander past regularly. And their squawks start the day. 

Reclamation

Slowly but surely we are reclaiming the cottage garden as a place for growing stuff we want to eat rather than a place where anything grows. Out of the sixteen beds in the garden, about 8 now have stuff growing in them, 3 are ready to plant and 5 still need weeding / digging. And most of the 5 are little ones! We have unearthed a crop of giant boulders from one of the beds but otherwise generally delighted in the loveliness of the soil and the local fellowship of insects, spiders and general naturalness that give this little corner a sense of fertility and (hopefully) abundance. And we've also delighted to find that there a whole load of strawberries, rocket, chard and even a few potatoes doing there thing already. Joining them we now have an array of runner beans, french beans, peas, courgettes, purple sprouting broccoli, potatoes, rainbow chard, beetroot and squash limbering up to face all the slugs, birds, mice, wind and rain a Yorkshire summer is likely to throw at them. With leeks, carrots, more peas, kale, sprouts, onions, more potatoes and probably a few others still to plant. Ooh and we have a load of tomatoes in the dilapidated greenhouse.

Home sweet home

 

We're there. Hollow Barn has been home since 6th May. And since 11th May when Danny and Bob from Pickfords shifted 7 palettes of stuff out of a van and into the house it has properly felt like home. The last few weeks have featured lots of boxes, lots of wondering what on earth is in the boxes we haven't unpacked now we have most of what we need on hand. And lots of being out of doors and trying to hold back nature so that we may a) grow stuff and b) explore the place on paths and lawns. My first lawn cutting experience was more exhausting than any of the unpacking, and took almost twice as long as this. During the beautiful weather of last weekend the 'wild meadow' grew by about a foot. And we returned to a joyous welcome home from the friendly neighbourhood clematis montana. 

The year ahead

I'm not really one for New Years Resolutions. But the start of the year is nonetheless a good time to reflect on the things it might hold. Particularly as this month should finally (after nearly 6 months of 'conveyancing limbo') see us moving into Hollow Barn. And becoming the stewards of approximately 3.5 acres of meadow, cottage garden, orchard, fruit garden, mixed conifer plantation and moorland views. The anticipation of getting there and starting to explore the place as our own has become almost unbearable. There is a risk that our 'imaginings' of what living there will be like will actually exceed the reality. It's a small risk though. What sticks in J and my's mind the most is the simple 'magic' of the place. An indefinable essence that makes it a truly special place to be. So. In no particular order some thoughts about what our first year might hold:

1. Lots of watching, learning and identifying. We just need to see how the place works. What grows, what different conditions, environments, habitats, soils the place has. We are hoping that the current owners may 'catalogue' some of the many plants and trees and fruit bushes they have established. We somehow need to figure out how to 'manage' this complex new place. What are our responsibillities as stewards or guardians? Which relates to...

2. Lots of worrying that we don't know what we're doing and that nature will 'beat us.' The couple we have bought the place from have designed the gardens to be as 'natural' and light touch as possible. The meadow and woodland are left quite wild. A lawned path is mowed around the whole property to give a sense of 'garden' rather than 'wild place.' The cottage garden, a more formal garden and lawn area just outside the house, another fruit garden area, 2 greenhouses and a small apple orchard are the key areas requiring more time and effort. So their reassurance that 'its actually very easy' to keep the place as beautiful and magical as it was when they were there has some foundation. But there is no escaping the fact that they have lived their for 2 decades, know every detail of the place and have a deep, rich horticultural knowledge. By contrast the largest garden we have owned was a pretty tiny patch of suburban Nottingham. And its been 4 years since we've had any garden at all. We may not be worthy inheritors of their stewardship!

3. Some chickens. Once the weather gets a bit warmer this is a priority project. We occasionally get given eggs from chicken keeping friends. Our desire to eat perfect poached eggs outweighs the frequency of these gifts. So we need to decide where we will site a chicken house and how to keep our feathered arrivals safe from the no doubt vibrant local fox community. And decide on how many and whether to get rescued battery hens or a mix of unusual breeds.

4. Growing stuff. And either eating it. Drinking it. Or preserving it. The cottage garden and fruit garden in some ways feel like the most 'achievable' bits. I think we'll be a long way off having the knowledge that seasoned growers and allotmenteers bring to ensuring year round harvests and a steady flow of hand grown deliciousness. But we'll hopefully manage to get at least a few decent crops of who knows what. And if we don't get at least a few jars of jam, some chutneys, boozy drinks and a few square meals out of 2010 there will be disappointment in the moorland air. 

5. Foraging. We believe that at the very least there are some good supplies of edible mushrooms in the vicinity. I suspect there will be a lot more 'food for free' once we can figure out what is tasty rather than deadly.

6. Planning and plotting.We have a few hazy longer term plans for the place. To gradually shift the woodland to being more of a deciduous mix and to figure out how much we can pursue some of the principles of agro-forestry. To try to incorporate some hazel coppice in this. And possibly some other nutty trees. To extend the orchard so we've got more fruit trees including plums, cherries, pears and quince. To find some areas for more perennial edibles like rhubarb and asparagus. To create a semi-permanent campfire area. To build a clay bread oven. To extend the barn to create more living space. To add some more outbuildings possibly including a polytunnel, a greenhouse or a woodland studio. To acquire or create some garden or woodland sculptures. Oh and maybe get some honey and wax creating machines. Also known as bees. On which:

7. Learning about Bees. I find the idea of beekeping simultaneously highly appealing and absolutely terrifying. They are beautiful, ecological, productive and endangered. And also alien, stingy and apparently prone to bad moods and mistaking friendly human beekepers for arch enemy bears. So some sort of bee education is going to be required before too many hives get bought. Possibly a bee mentor.

8. Inspiration. There is a lot to learn. I hope we still live in this place in many years time. I expect there will still be lots to learn then. This gives a greater sense of purpose to existing pleasures such as visiting inspiring landscapes, allotments and gardens, doing relevant courses, meeting and chatting to knowledgable people, reading our way through big piles of books etc etc.

9. Some campfires, bbqs and garden parties. Places are only really places when they're full of people enjoying and being part of them. On a personal level I wanted any house we purchased to be a fitting replacement for the fabulous flat we had in Portobello in Edinburgh. Which was at its most fabulous when it was full of friends and family having great times. Many of these featured bonfires on Portobello beach. But hopefully there will be even more outdoor occasions in 2010.

10. Sitting, watching, listening, being. Yeah I know. Thats sort of the same as 1. Except 1 felt a bit stressful. There is lots to learn. But there is most to gain from simply becoming a part of this amazing place that we are going to be privileged enough to call our home. Hopefully this blog will capture much of what it means simply to be here.

Happy 2010.