Cheer up, create ….. something.

I wrote the following a few weeks ago, about mid-November, but didn’t have the photos to go with it. Perhaps it was predominantly Winter-blues that made me feel low in the first place, but even though the days are still getting shorter and the weather is ‘cat’, the Christmas-cheer is firmly taking hold now. More on that in the next blog.

When you are involved in the care of others, privately or professionally, you are considered to be doing a ‘great job’ and we do our best. But when you make a mistake, however small, un-intended, or with the best of intentions, that mistake counts far greater than all the good you have done. Because it can negatively affect a person who is dependent on your care. Not reacting fast enough, accurate enough, detailed enough, attentive enough can cause discomfort. A small mistake or short-coming can undo much of the good work you are doing, even in your own opinion. Or more precisely: especially in my own opinion!

So, pondering over my shortcomings towards my fellow humans and without much I could do about it, I was feeling pretty low for a few days. Needed to cheer up and get on with things! Help was on its way, I thought, in the form of a parcel. A few weeks ago I treated myself to an on-line order of food-stuff from Holland, my native country. The minimum postage is for 20 kg, so there’s a great incentive to use up the weight you are paying for! My order came to about 16 kg, and a massive 50 items. After a loooong wait, the big box finally arrived one day. Under the watchful eye of The Sidekick the items were unpacked. Coffee, biscuits, cheese, chocolate, pickles, peanut-butter, drop, selected herbs and sauces, anything a Dutch person-living-abroad craves from time to time. It was all well wrapped and travelled well, except for the Droste cacoa. About ¼ of the chocolate powder was spread around the box, but no matter. The only minor disappointment were the chocolate letters, a December tradition (bottom right). They arrived in Milk-chocolate, though I had ordered Dark. Hard enough to get quality dark chocolate in these parts! But The Sidekick likes it, so it’s an early Christmas for him.

The arrival of all these goodies only worked a small way towards cheering me up while I had a taste of this and that. After the unveiling the Sidekick decided to go to his own abode for a while and then I realised, in spite of all the goodies, I had nothing out for the dinner, no meat defrosted! Shock, horror. We decided he would return later and we’d drive to town for a take-away. Comfort Food, just what I needed!

An hour later I was ready to go, but storm Barney had gathered momentum by now and it seemed stupid to face this monster, just for a take-away. Phoned The Sidekick, who was relieved he didn’t have to drive in the storm and quickly agreed. I would Cook-From-Scratch, as they say: I had 2 eggs, potatoes and a can of tuna. Joined by a late harvest of tomatoes and my own onions and garlic I turned this into a Spanish Tortilla (omelette) accompanied by Tuna in tomato-sauce. And some of my Dutch cheese melted on top of the Tortilla at the finish.(in fact, the tuna and cheese were the only items that were not home- grown) As I was getting underway with my food-creation I caught myself humming! Not comfort food, but creative food was cheering me up.

After dinner I found a post on facebook on how to crochet a Christmas decoration. Link here, I hope

I haven’t crocheted in about……20 or 30 years. Have lots of wool, cotton and other leftover yarns lying around and inherited a well equipped sowing-box from my mother. It didn’t take long to gather tools and materials to get started. As it had been so long, it took all my attention and distracted me completely from my worries. Even with my lack of experience, it still came out looking ok.

So give it a try, if you need cheering up: get creative.

For good measure I then made a few baskets and decorations with willow, dogwood and date-palm.

New arrivals cause commotion

The arrival of my new materials recently – 12 half bundles of beautiful graded willow rods (4 and 5 foot Green Dicks, 4,5,7 and 8 foot Black Maul) – has caused quite a stir in the shed. For lack of a good spot, they ended up leaning against one of the doors, with the door locked to avoid someone  knocking the whole lot by entering. The shed is divided in 3 parts. Behind the first door is the turf-supply, just brought in for the winter. The space behind the two other doors is divided in two by a low wall. I use it for basket making, my friends have used it as a smoke-room. It is supposed to be a workshop and storage for gardening + DIY-tools, but ended up cluttered by you-name-it and what-ever-u-fancy.To find a tool you had to dig your way through paint-cans, cushions, old chairs, bicycles and a lawnmower. High time for a change: I decided to end the confusion once and for all: on one side of the low wall will be all the tools, paint and other DIY stuff, available for ‘the public‘ to use. On the other side of the wall will be my willow studio, needless to say with ‘restricted access‘!!! I worked like a mad-woman and after 3 days the tools are in the right place and so is the willow. Still more clearing to do, mainly hanging more shelves on the walls. The hardest part was to figure out where everything could go, making the most of the space. Today I finally figured where the steamer for the willow can go, without losing the space needed for storing this years’ supply of home-grown willow! The willow will be raised off the floor, on a wide shelf, with a railing to keep it in place. Well, it makes sense to me! Will show ye the photos when its ready.

Meanwhile I started working with the new supply of willow and its a treat! Had to use what I had soaked, before going off to Spain for a few days…….The Witch is going South and not just to escape the despicable Irish weather. Weaving by the Sea is where I will be. A basket-making course beside the beach, what could be better? Learning new techniques, getting a tan and enjoying the scenery. Magic or what?  I am on my broomstick tomorrow, expect sunny photos in my next blog! Mo.

Auction-bed, internet.

The witch is floored !

Was it a draft in the tent at Castletown Summerfestival, or just a change of temperature as the doctor suggested? Either way I am in bed with a throat infection, a cold and an aching ear. Or as someone said: you have a bad dose!  

Double-back for a moment: Demonstrating the craft of basket-making in Ballyglunin was great fun! Several people came up to ask questions, took my leaflets or had stories of fathers and grandfathers who used to make baskets.The highlight of the day was weaving ‘fishes’ with the kids. The concentration while they were making a fish and the pride in the finished product was endearing.  I also ran into people I hadn’t seen for years and hearing how I inspired someone (who in turn inspired others) to take up college as a mature student was just the cherry on the cake. My basket-making may inspire others again, who knows.

Back to the present day. Being sick can be very boring, there’s only so much sleeping you can do, but with no energy what else do you do? I had previously planned to go to a local Antiques Auction, which was now out of the question.

I have always loved antiques, was surrounded by them growing up. My mother had a dinky little shop, just across from the zoo in my native city, with antiques and curiosities. Some of the stuff meant for the shop would end up in our house. She also loved going to auctions. Though I don’t remember ever joining her at an auction, I seem to have inherited the ‘gra’.

I love the atmosphere of an auction room. In spite of being potential rivals, ‘regulars’ are sociable and greet one another.Then there’s the buzz of getting what you want, for the lowest possible price. I always set myself a limit, so overspending is not very likely. If anything, I am sometimes too hesitant and miss the opportunity. In hindsight I often regret not going one more bid! But still, I have acquired some lovely items and was very pleased with the prices I paid. After all, it’s just for fun. As one other regular said: we come here to spend money on things we don’t need at all! True.

So it is mostly a social event and I was disappointed I couldn’t go. This time there were a lot of items I was interested in, including several lots of…..baskets. I decided to send my bids by e-mail, but that means your maximum bid is known from the start and you will not have the pleasure of ‘winning’ it any cheaper. Or deciding to go higher in order to get it. And then I came upon the latest advanced technology: Live Internet Bidding. This local crowd have joined a British website, where you can join the auction live from your laptop and bid from home in real time. You can make a wish-list for yourself as you browse the catalogue and even place an ‘Auto-bid’. The auctioneer does not know your maximum bid, so you go up in increments, as if you were doing the bidding yourself. While you follow the auction, with sound and pictures, you can also join the bidding with a click! 

So, yesterday I made my wishlist, chose my maximum auto-bid for the stuff I really wanted, changed the maximum for some items several times (sic) and ended up with a list that would cost me around €300 if I got it all. Whoops. Ah, not to worry. After a rather sleepless night, not from anticipation, but from ear-ache, I woke up shortly before the start of the event. I could not have picked a better way to occupy myself today. It was raining buckets outside and I had no energy for anything. My first auto-bid was very successful: an oak chair, for €6 under my maximum. And that was the only success! Everything else went for more than I was willing to pay. (Sorry my friend, you are not getting the blue wine-glasses, they were too dear 😉 ) I did a few live-bids too, but lost out to others.

All this from the comfort of my bed. The monotone voice of the auctioneer was perfect to put me to sleep whenever there were long breaks between my wish-list items. No real concentration needed, plenty of opportunities to doze off to the voice in the background. So, in spite of spending most of the day in bed I have been active and had a good day. Now all I have to do is collect the chair in the next few days. I intend to use it as my basket-making chair.

Growing, killing and making.

Growing willow seemed easy. It started with a few rods that came with the apple-trees, to support them during transport. These have now grown into proper trees, inside the hen-compound. When I learned about coppicing, to grow rods for baskets and living structures, I cut them down to shoulder height. I use the top half and the hens eat the leaves off the low branches. It seems only fair to share. The rest of my Saili-patch is outside the hen-house and gets cut down to the ground every year.

Last year I saw the first signs of infestation, only in one tree, slightly isolated from the others. It was a white sticky cover, around the top of the trunk, at the start of the branches. And then I noticed that it moved!!!  Hundreds,  maybe thousands little white critters. I think they are white-fly or white aphids? I sprayed them off with water and hoped for the best.

However, they are back with a vengeance. The other trees inside the hen-compound are totally infested. Yesterday I carefully examined the Saili-patch and….. unfortunately the white monsters have spread to some of the plants there too. It seems that some types of willow are un-affected! But this time I am better prepared. I have a weapon of mass-destruction: it is called Garlic Tonic. No harm to plants, hens and environment, but many pests hate it!

Recipe: Crush about 3 cloves of garlic into 2-3 spoons of olive oil. Shake and leave to infuse overnight. After 24 hrs strain this into 1 liter water and add a teaspoon of washing-up liquid (Ecover is best for environment). Strain into a spray and spray liberally on the offending creatures! Additions of cinnamon or chilli-pepper have been advised, to make it even more potent, these need to be dissolved in hot water first. I make two liters every day and repeat spraying. The roses also thrive with this and it can be used on any plants or vegetables.

Willow rods are soaking in the new troughs. To our delight, and admittedly a small bit of surprise, the troughs work perfectly, without any leakage to speak of! They fill up easily and it’s also easy to unscrew the cap on the drain-pipe to empty them. One of them is set up to be filled with rainwater, when the weather allows……. I took up the idea of a relative, to put a cover on top, so they can be used as seats also!

This idea was appreciated by the house-mates!

And it proves to be a handy work-bench also, with enough room to have tools and materials right beside you, where you need them. In the right weather it is the ideal place to make baskets!!!

Fowl play

It is that time of year again: just when you think all is well and your hens are laying regularly, one of them decides to get broody. That means a cranky hen takes over the nest-box and prevents the others from laying eggs there!  This time the youngest of the hens started first.To stop her interference with the egg-production she was moved into an adapted rabbit hutch, and separated from the rest. Last year she was too restless and didn’t follow through, this time she sat patiently for 3 weeks and produced one chick, out of 3 eggs. At first I thought it was a boy: long tail-feathers being a clue. At about 8 weeks old it now looks more like a girl: wider tail feathers, comb looking small and no gills to show. It is notoriously difficult to sex newborn chicks, so I wait in anticipation: is it going to be for the pot, or increasing the flock as future egg-producer?

Meanwhile a second hen took over the nest-box a few days ago and again brought the egg-laying to a halt. As the Maternity Ward is already occupied I had to come up with a new house for breeding. A chest of drawers was transformed into another ‘hutch’ with the bottom drawer left in for easy cleaning. Mommy is now happily sitting on her bed of straw, with 3 eggs under her. I found in the past that more eggs does not mean more chicks…..the very first time the mother was so busy fussing over the first 2 chicks, that she completely neglected the third one as it struggled its way out of the egg and then perished from the cold. The mothers can also be very clumsy and stand on their new children. Survival rate not great then. Last year saw the best egg-to-chick ratio: 3 survived out of 4 eggs. Alas, all were boys, which meant no expansion of the flock and a lot of fighting when they grew up. Noisy too, when they practiced crowing.

But they all look cute when they are little.

Saili has arrived!

Well, was it the new dog or the new job that got me distracted?

I have neglected my blogging-duties and I blame the new pup! See for yourself, how can you resist that?

She came into our lives on May first and brought luck from the moment she arrived. A few days earlier I saw her picture on MADRA (Mutts Anonimus Dog Rescue and Adoption)’s facebook and fell in love! Those who know me see the resemblance with the previous dog, yes? I knew she’d be right for me, and I was right.

I weighed up the options for a name and finally settled on……Saili, pronounced as Sally. Yes, that’s also the name I use as willow witch. Crann Saili is willow tree in Irish. So there she was… and taking up all the attention.  Only a pup of about 5 months old, she started very shy and insecure. But soon got her confidence back: chewing everything in sight, running and jumping around the garden and following everywhere! She is a real sweetheart, loves giving licks and hugs. If you go away for 5 minutes, the welcome back is as if you were gone for 5 weeks! Forget about nice cushions on the couch for a while: she already has most of them ripped. Forget about having space in the bed at night, she has discovered this is the best place to be! Forget about going to the toilet alone, this is a social event that calls for hugs as you’re sitting down! And the garden is a world full of wonderful discoveries…. what do you mean I can’t eat stones? The hens are regularly herded back into their pen, as she is a cross of Lab/Collie and knows her herding-instinct. Maybe make a great sheepdog one day…..if she gets over her fear of larger animals. One bark at the cows behind the fence and then a fast run inside!

And the fella who said he was alright without a dog?

Judge for yourself,  inseparable now.

At the Country Market.

Ready to go! Demonstration of Willow Craft.  Catalan Platter, now for sale!

Well, I can’t say it was very busy in Dunmore, where I was demonstrating my Willow Craft last Friday. But the company was good and I had a pleasant morning. A 4 year-old kept me entertained while I was making my basket and he was very creative himself. A few people came and admired the baskets. Most importantly, being there and showing the work encouraged people to tell their stories! It turns out there were quite a few basket-makers in this area in the past. Several people have come in and told me of their father or grandfather, who was making baskets,sitting in the kitchen. It seems the craft was there and then lost, only one generation ago! Time to bring it back to this locality!

As usual in An Seomra Eile inspiration was rife: the idea of a ‘basket-maker-in-residence’ was brought up. I am game! In the Community Garden behind An Seomra I will be making a few things for the upcoming Bealtaine Festival anyway. I have started a Living Willow Arch, which will soon be accompanied by a Living Arbor, with a place inside for a seat. During the festival there will be pea-supports for sale (Teepeas), something like these:

Don’t they look nice in the snow?

Oof, I better get off this blog and start working !!!

I am in busyness.

My business cards arrived, hurray.

 

So now I guess I am really in business! Have been very busy this week: extended the Willow Plantation in both places. In my Saili garden I planted in clumps, but this time I labelled everything properly. In the ‘plantation’ I first spread more plastic ( I know, should have done that months ago and then the weeds would now be killed, but hey, I am not that organised!) and then planted nice tidy rows of each different willow species ……and labelled them on both sides of the line! When these start growing, they will make a very colourful display. Almost a pity to have to cut them down again!

Today I was getting ready for the demonstration/display at the country  market in Dunmore tomorrow. I have a few baskets made for sale, and prepared some for working on tomorrow. I just hope I didn’t over-soak the willow. What I am using now are left-overs from the last course I took, so they were soaked and steamed already before! More soaking does not improve the quality.  Skins are peeling on some. Hope for the best.

Now you may be fooled into thinking I have a very professional set-up: alas, not yet! When I say soaking, I mean the willow resides in the bathtub for a few days! A proper trough, long enough to accommodate the longer willow rods shall be built in due course…….sometime this spring. Watch this space……