Labour of the month: May

My Labour of the Month for PPPs this May was truly Herculean – and I forgot to take the 'before' shots, so you'll just have to take my word for it ;-)

PPPs Labour for May is . . .

Planting out the tomatoes

The day started quite sensibly – I cleared out the staging from one side of the greenhouse and swept the floor in readiness for the potted up tomatoes. I don't use grow-bags any more, pots are much better for tomatoes as they like to be planted deep – in fact I nip off the bottom two or three leaves and plant the lower 5cm of the stem below soil level, the plant will make extra roots and take up more water/nutrients.

So far so good.

Then I thought about where to put the outdoor tomatoes, it's best to keep them away from the potatoes as blight can be a problem later in the summer (if it ever rains – and it still hasn't!). I also need to keep the hens away from the tomatoes! so that rules out a large part of the main garden. In recent years I've grown tomatoes in pots in our courtyard, but it's shady and cool for half the day, so we don't get ripe tomatoes until late September. Cliff had suggested putting tomatoes in our front yard which gets full sun for most of the day – the best place is against a south-facing wall out of sight from the road and next to the outside water tap.

A brilliant solution! Except that the area is where we keep the dustbins and we've allowed nettles and ivy to run riot for at least three years – have you tried to pull up thick nettle root matting?
It took me hours labouring in the hot sunshine, I completely filled the council compostable-waste wheelie bin with nettle roots, and the result is this . . .

I put the pots of tomatoes into some old resin faux-lead planters that are far to manky to look good anywhere else, and I've left a few self-seeded perennials to give the area a casual 'tidy-but-not-too-tidy' air. (In case you're wondering, that large thing is a stable yard mounting block made from an old cistern filled with concrete – it's not going anywhere! but is useful for resting the watering can on while filling it with water.)

There are still lots of tomato plants left –

plenty for the gate-side stall . . .


It's my contribution to the Village Fete's plant stall, people don't want to buy tomato plants in late June so I sell them now and give the stall the money.



This year I'm only growing four varieties:

RED CHERRY – it's a cherry tomato and it's red (duh!)
I bought the seeds on our holiday to Tenerife in March, I wanted a bog-standard, good flavoured, easy to grow, cherry tomato; to graze on and to use in salads.

TIGERELLA – it's stripy!
For something a bit different.

LIGURIA – an Italian paste tomato
I bought the seeds years ago while on holiday in Italy – the packet was huge but tomato seeds stay viable for a long time. This is one of those big tomatoes you see on Italian market stalls, like a full sack gathered at the top; it's perfect for the topping on bruschetta – skinned, chopped and warmed with a little garlic and olive oil.

IMUR PRIOR BETA – you what?! exactly!
This was my choice from this year's Heritage Seed Library list, here is the description:
Indeterminate. Cordon. Donated by John Yeoman, this variety was selected from high altitude areas in the Chilean mountains and developed in Norway for growing in cooler regions. Also thought to be blight resistant*. The juicy red fruit have soft, smooth flesh and are slightly acidic in flavour. Let us know what you think**.

* mmmm? I think I'll put some in the vegetable garden and give that a test.
** Must remember to send feedback to the HSL.

Celia
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These are a few of our favourite things

I've had an enjoyable few days sharing my corner of East Anglia with Terry Golson who was on a brief visit to England from her home just outside Boston, USA. In two and a half days we visited Ickworth Hall, Wyken Vineyard and the Leaping Hare Restaurant and Country Store, Clare village and the Antiques Centre, Saffron Walden, The Star at Lidgate, Cambridge and Baldock and treated Terry to a proper sit down luncheon and cream tea (you can read more about that here).

Here are some of the highlights . . .

Lunch at the Leaping Hare Restaurant, with the light filtering through a screen of fig leaves outside the windows . . .


The food was very special too – and as bloggers do, we had to take photos (we almost forgot, we were so eager to taste it!) my dessert was the trellis of rhubarb poached in cinnamon syrup served with a hazelnut meringue which had been secretly filled with vanilla cream from underneath – genius!


Admiring the clever colour themes in the gardens at Wyken Hall . . .



and spotting hares – peeping out of the windows . . .


and in the pargetting . . .


We met some gorgeous birds with beautiful feathers!


There was time for Elevenses in Cafe Clare, with toasted tea cakes and crumpets with jam . . .


It was eye-opening to look at familiar places with Terry, she loved the textures and patterns in the vernacular building styles – she's given me lots of ideas!


I'm now back to the old routine – an illustration deadline, the village magazine to publish, the Pick'n'Mix Makers Market in Holt on Saturday 11th June to prepare for and new prints to work on. Oh, and I'm still having to water the garden as we haven't had any proper rain yet (just a brief shower of drizzle).

While we were out about and about doing fun things, Terry received texts from her husband breaking the sad news that her hens were not well, the news got even worse – Lulu, her favourite hen had died. It was so difficult for her to be so far away and not to be able to help her husband cope with the hens and the young chicks in the horrible rain and cold.

Terry has returned home now and I'm sure you'll all join me in sending her and her husband Steve good wishes and hope that their hens pull through and that the sun comes out for all of them in more ways than one!

Celia
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The Grand Tour

If you are wandering along the Embankment in London, opposite the London Eye and the Royal Festival Hall, I recommend that you step inside Somerset House and through into the courtyard – it won't cost you anything and you'll see some quite breath taking and thought-provoking statues . . .

Circle of Animals / Zodiac heads by Ai Weiwei

On Sunday I met up with Wendy of Hens in the Garden and Terry of The Hen Cam and we did just that . . .


We were intrigued by the animals mouths – some were anatomically accurate, the teeth and inside the moth super-sized realistic; strangely some were weirdly wrong – the rabbit has human teeth; all have tongues which are clearly visible; all seem to be talking.



The exhibition was organised before the artist Ai Weiwei disappeared. Are the Circle of Animals here to tell us something?

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This week Terry has been staying with us and we've packed in so much! We've also eaten some wonderful food in lovely places . . .

but we're having such a fun time I haven't time to blog!

I'll tell you all about it when I get back to the old routine.

Celia
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In another life . . .

After the 'Asthma Fair' (you can read more about how things went on my facebook page) I headed off – not towards home but in the opposite direction – all the way to South Wales.

Sadly, it was for a friend's funeral; we stayed overnight here, which was amazingly good value and very good. In the morning, fortified with impressively fine croissants, we had a few hours to fill so we headed into Newport to explore. This once busy industrial port is now trying hard to reinvent itself for the 21st century – a tough call in the present economic climate; we walked down to the river Usk where dozens of old wooded jetties are all that's left of the thriving dockside that was once there.

Another great landmark that is still there, restored and in working order is the Newport Transporter Bridge. We were disappointed that it was closed and we couldn't take the car across, neither could we climb the towers and walk over the top gantry (I'm not sure that I could have done that even if it was open!)


And then there was a rather panicky half hour when we lost our way back to the hotel (where we'd left the sat-nav and our smart clothes) and we had visions of being late for the funeral service even though we'd got to Wales 14 hours early and turning up in scruffy clothes and trainers!!! But thanks to my iphone we found where we were and where the hotel was – so we got there in time and suitably attired, for what was to be a very emotional afternoon.

I'm now back in my studio, yesterday seemed like a diversion into a parallel world – did that happen? it can't be true? but yes, he is in another place.

Time to unpack the car, get down to work – I haven't told you about my visitor, have I? I'll let her tell you herself . . .


Celia
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Blogger went down for a couple of days and returned again having deleted your comments - I did read them all before they disappeared - thank you for your kind words.

I hope that everything is now working again!

Asthma UK House and Garden Fair

Tuesday 10th May
Chilford Hall, Linton nr. Cambridge

The "Asthma Fair" as it's known locally seems to be the event that starts the summer season of fetes and garden parties; it's now in it's 13th year and hopes to better last year's total of £12.5K raised for Asthma UK. Each year half of the 60+ stalls are different from the previous year, which is a great tactic to keep the event fresh and interesting.

I was a little daunted when I was invited to have a stall at this year's Asthma Fair, but it was the push I needed to make my stall bigger and better! I've had a 'dress rehearsal' so I know what goes where . . .


. . . and now it's all been dismantled and packed into my car van tardis all ready to unpack tomorrow and reassemble on stall number 38.


Of course the tabby one came to check that I'd done it correctly, but she won't be coming with me in the morning.


I hope that some of you can come, if you love flicking through Country Living Magazine you'll love it! There's everything from wrought iron gates to cup cakes!


Celia
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Three in one field

I've been very busy getting ready for the Asthma UK House and Garden Fair at Chilford Hall near Cambridge. It's the biggest event I've attended with my work, it's also a bit different in that it isn't an art fair but an event similar to the Country Living Magazine Fairs, with a large range of stallholders sellers everything from handbags, tablecloths, cupcakes and iron gates!

Just in time for the stall I've completed a new design in the series of small prints on Japanese paper; this one is inspired by the intriguing fragment of glass in Long Melford Church which depicts three hares with shared ears.

The three hares symbol is a mystery – does it symbolise the Trinity or is it a much more ancient? one from a different culture altogether? There are many examples of the three hares symbol a long long way from Suffolk, in Devon; it is also found in Chinese, Iranian and Jewish art.


"Three in one", there's something special about seeing three hares in one field . . .

Three in one field

The original limited edition unframed print can be ordered by emailing studio@celiahart.co.uk
This is a small edition of 20 prints is printed on Japanese Kikuchi Haini Kozo Koban. The image size is 15 x 15cm, the same size and paper as used for the 'Love in the air' print. Each print is named, signed and numbered in pencil by me.
An unframed print costs £48 (the price includes p&p to addresses in the UK mainland).


I will be selling cards of the Three in one field design at the House and Garden Fair, and they will soon been available from Magic Cochin's Emporium.



If you live near Cambridge I hope you can come along to Chilford Hall on Tuesday 10 May, it's a popular friendly event and raises lots of money for a very good cause. There's lots of top quality stall and some lovely food too, so bring your friends and have lunch, and stay for tea too!

Celia
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May Day

Somewhere mingled in with Easter and the wedding of the century and all those bank holidays, April blended into May – I hope you all had a lovely May Day!

I spent May Day walking outside my comfort zone and not just because Tarragon our beautiful Lavender Araucana cockerel, in a moment of hormone-fueled rage, speared my ankle with one of his spurs (and yes it did hurt . . . a lot); but the main reason I was in unknown territory was that I was walking in Wales . . . Cliff and I went to The Gower for a few days and on Sunday (after a little practice walk, to test how well my ankle had healed, went well on Saturday afternoon) we walked from Llangennith to Rhossili and via the beacon on the top of Rhossili Down and back via the magnificent sandy beach, a total of 11 miles – and that meant I had to do hills!

As you probably know if you pop into my blog regularly, I'm a Fen girl and a 'hill' is land above a couple of metres above sea level; if you were to pile up Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, like a stack of pancakes, they wouldn't be as high as the top of Rhossili Down! And although I can walk up hills without puffing too much, hills as things scare me . . . but this one had a big flat beach next to it and a huge expanse of sky all around, which made me feel at home.

The weather was overcast but warm, and the wind blew the cobwebs from our minds and the sand blew in curious strands across the beach to the crashing surf . . . I won't describe it, you can watch the movie . . .

The soundtrack is 'The Lark Ascending' by Vaughan Williams
to remind me of the skylarks that were singing all around us
as we ascended Rhossili Down.

Here's a map of the route - click on it to enlarge.

Celia
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BTW if you are unable to view the video
please let me know and I'll try to fix it.

Labour of the month: April

My Labour of the Month for PPPs this April has to be garden related – this is the peak month for sowing and planting, that window of opportunity when the soil warms up, the hours of daylight lengthen and frosts are few and far between (and hopefully gone until late autumn).

April is traditionally the month of heavy showers, when the sky turns an inky grey and the rain pours down drenching the soil; then the sun comes out again and the air smells fresh and drops of water glisten on the leaves like diamonds . . . yeah OK I'm dreaming!

This April, have we actually had any rain at all? I've been trying to remember when it last rained and I can't recall even a short shower – did it perhaps rain a teeny bit on Mother's Day on the 3rd April? So the laborious labour of the month has to be . . .

Watering the garden

We have three large water-butts in the vegetable garden,
the one next to the greenhouse is almost empty
so I'm now using water from the two linked butts
which take water from the house roof.

Everyday there is more to water!
More seeds sown and plants getting larger
and needing potting-on.


The sunshine is gorgeous,
it's lovely to wander around in sandals
– but I would like some help with the watering!

If it rains on the parade on Friday
please can my garden have some too!


Celia
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Happy Easter!

27˚C !!!! That's summer dress weather – and it's St George's Day . . . or is it? apparently that's been deferred to 2nd May this year, it's not just the weather systems that are all mixed up this year!

But, it is Easter – and on cue the Pasque Flowers are blooming on the Devil's Dyke near Newmarket. They are pretty rare in Britain and only grow in the wild in 19 sites, we went for a stroll along the high banks of the dyke the other evening just to check out how they're doing this year.


So, this amazing hot, dry and sunny weather has brought out the Oil Seed Rape flowers and wooo! the land turns yellow! I know lots of you loathe this garish stuff, but I rather like the drama of it . . . here's a view across the rolling field of 'High Suffolk', just east of were I live. We went for a lovely walk here yesterday evening as the temperatures started to fall, we're checking out footpaths for Cliff's next 15 mile route for the local walking group.


We found some beautiful tracks, some with big views and others through cool meadows spangled with Dandelion clocks in the evening sunshine.


Have a lovely day tomorrow, whatever you have planned. I'm not sure what we'll be doing, but I've just baked a cake . . . I'm sure we'll eat some it ;-)

Celia
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One ha' penny, two ha' penny . . .

Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!

One ha' penny, two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons

One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

Thanks to Joanna who posted this recipe on her extremely useful and informative blog at the beginning of last month. Amazingly I remembered and decided to check out the instructions this week – and a good thing I did, because you need to do some pre-planning and start the buns rolling the night before the morning you want to bake them.

And, yes! they turned out pretty good . . . they taste very good!

Happy Easter holiday weekend everyone :-) We're doing some traditional Easter things (gardening, DIY and maybe a walk to see the bluebells).

Celia
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Is it? or isn't it?

Is there an archaeologist in the house?

Is it or isn't it a flint tool?

When I'm working in the vegetable garden I often pick up pieces of flint (the soil is full of them!) and wonder if it's just a broken stone or a flake of flint worked by someone thousands of years ago?

I picked up this one while I was planting potatoes the other evening – and found it in the pocket of my trousers today!

Does anyone know an expert who can tell?
I'd love to know.

Thank you
Celia
x


PS: Here's the reverse and a 50p coin for scale:

Thank you girls!

a reason to be cheerful –

each of my five hens laid an egg today

Saffron, Sylvie, Tarragon (the supervisor), Phoebe,
Ginger and Nutmeg


Celia
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Who you are

This afternoon I went to an event at Cambridge Wordfest, entitled 'Fenwomen' – the author Mary Chamberlain was in conversation with Liz Calder about her "Portrait of women in an English village" based on interviews she made in the early 1970s. The resulting book became the first book published by the feminist imprint Virago, and is a pioneering work of oral history.

This year the East Anglian publishing house Full Circle Editions brought out a new edition of 'Fenwomen' with photographs by Justin Partyka; I saw a review on the blog Caught by the River and realised that my family is from a very similar village in the Cambridgeshire Fens, not far from the one where Mary Chamberlain did her research. I ordered a copy and read it – to me it wasn't a glimpse into another world, but a reflection of my own family's history that I know from personal experience and the stories my parents, aunts and grandparents told me of their lives.

Today I felt a little bit like someone from a strange tribe sitting in on a National Geographic lecture. It's made me think about how we see the lives of other people, while our own is familiar and normal.

This short video was filmed last Friday at two locations
on the edge of the village where I grew up.



Celia
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Perfectly packaged

Yesterday the postman delivered a package from Japan . . . I knew what must be inside – I'd made a purchase on Etsy, but it was a surprise that it had arrived so quickly!


For a while I just enjoyed looking at all the stickers and stamps on the outside, then it got even more interesting when I took out the contents . . . like 'Pass the Parcel' there was another package inside and I remembered how packaging is an art in Japan. I won't be throwing this paper away!


This is what I found inside: two fabric covered buttons (one with a 'C' for Celia on it); two pairs of chop-sticks in little folded paper packets; and some pretty decorative stickers.


Ooooo . . . there's more: little packets of tissues with Miss Kitty designs on them and a map of the Tokyo subway – these made me laugh. They reminded me of my holiday seven years ago – they are so typically Tokyo!


But, wait a minute! I didn't order any of those things, they were just little extra gifts that Mayumi had popped into the parcel :-)

This is what I'd bought from her Etsy shop, Karaku . . .


Wooden rubber alphabet stamps – and what's more it's an old fashioned type-writer style typeface, like the one I use for my studio's stationery; and they are in lovely little tins too!


Gosh! I'm going to have so much fun . . .



Celia
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An artie tweet-up at the castle

What's the point of Twitter then? If you haven't tweeted it's a bit hard to explain – but from little tweets big things sometimes happen . . .

I can't quite remember exactly what sparked off a little twitter exchange between fellow Suffolk & Norfolk artists a few weeks back; but the out come was that we fixed a date to meet up to see an exhibition at Norwich Castle . . . today was the day!

It was a glorious sunny morning and the roads were problem free, I sailed along in my new motor listening to Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 – did you hear it? Martin Sheen – surprisingly interesting and moving, one of the pieces of music selected was 'Spring' from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which was absolutely the perfect sound-track for driving through Breckland in the sunshine.

I arrived with plenty of time for a little wander around before our rendez-vous; oh look! I'm definitely in the right place - there's a big banner advertising the exhibition . . .


But back to the shopping . . . here's the lovely Royal Arcade

look at the display in Digby's window! Yes I did go in . . . maybe at Easter I'll show you what I bought!


I also couldn't walk past a little clothes shop called 'Purple', I came out with this pretty cotton skirt . . .


So! that usefully filled up the time until just before the rendez-vous hour of 11am :-) I made my way up to the Castle's Norman keep – which was looking pretty damn splendid in the sunshine.


Standing at the end of the bridge across the to the base of the towering castle were fellow creative tweeters @mandyprint @corryvreckan and @thumb_print_ink. We'd come to see Restless Times - Art in Britain 1914-1945 (an exhibition curated by The Tate and previously shown in Sheffield); but first we needed coffee/tea and a good natter! Then we got down to some serious art viewing - the exhibition was full of inspiring work. Mandy's favourites were the domestic interiors, full of well-observed details of life in inter-war Britain. Rachel loved the archive films of industrial northern towns and Sarah and I enjoyed looking really closely at the Eric Ravilious watercolours. I think we all liked pretty much everything - in fact we were nattering away so much about all the exhibits that the exhibition attendant came to join in! He also gave us information about The Great British Art Debate because he thought we'd have a lot to say!

Well, we eventually decided we'd 'done' the exhibition, but before we left the castle Rachel recommended a visit to the Ladies . . . it's a bit special!


Outside in the sunshine I revealed one of my puchases - a box of goodies from @wholesomegrocer . . . Macarons made by none other than our fellow East Anglian tweeter and magical-masterchef-macaron-man himself @drtimKiinnaird - we agreed the man's a genius!


So that was our first real life tweet-up! and it was a great success; but before I headed home I walked up the hill to Upper St Giles with my 'Easter hen' and 'Love in the air' prints and cards for 'Verandah', the little gallery/shop that sells my work in Norwich. Then it really was time to head back south to Suffolk . . . a long a tedious traffic jam of a journey.

It was a relief to finally get to the quiet lanes of the final stretch to home . . . and there were two macarons left in the box* :-)


Celia
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* there aren't now!