Getting down to gardening

It's taken us a few days to settle in to being back in the house, and we've had a few jobs to do to make it feel like home again (ish!), but this afternoon I got down to doing some gardening. Everything has grown amazingly, and it all looks wonderful, albeit rather ill-disciplined. Tomorrow I'll get out the electric hedge-trimmer, but I started the pruning job today with secateurs and loppers. I've never been much of a gardener really, but I'd love to be, and, if we hadn't moved onto Kantara, I think I'd probably have been doing lots more work in the garden that I'd ever done before.

And then there's the bits where Naomi's growing vegetables. It all looks amazing, and tastes great.

As I've reported before, not content with having her own allotment and the beds she's built in our garden, Naomi is also one of the founders of a new community supported agriculture project, with a plot of organic land at Hammonds End in nearby Harpenden. Nome has an administrative role in the project, as well as putting in many hours of hard labour there.

To find out more, see their Facebook page, Twitter account @FoodSmilesStA and website at foodsmilesstalbans.blogspot.co.uk.

 The Food Smiles plot started off looking daunting - well, to me, anyway!

Stony soil, and lots of digging needed

Poly-tunnels, but needing repair

But the new members of this collective worked long and hard to turn it around.

Local garden centre Aylett Nurseries were very generous in their donations of essentials,

and children from a local art club presented Food Smiles with two scarecrows they'd made.

Everything's very well organised,

and, as the various produce becomes ready to harvest, it's all shared appropriately.

In the few months that this project has been underway, they've made great progress, and are now literally reaping - and eating - the benefits of their commitment and effort.

If I had a hat, I'd take it off to them! It's all very impressive.