Purple PawPaw

On bank holiday monday we went for a ‘Wild Food Walk’. This was organised by a group that we are part of called Buck the Trend (BTT) that is aiming to get people to think about living more kindly on the earth, looking at alternative energy, transport, cutting costs and food related things. This has included looking for some land, talking with people from different groups about how they have accquired land for planting, meeting with people doing fantastic and amazing things in terms of living more simply and small holding and now eating from the hedgerows.

The walk was led by Fiona Campbell who largely feeds her family from the wild. We were encouraged to try things and were also shown poisonous plants which should not be tried at all. We came back with a basket of goodies which formed our dinner for the evening – and with some BBQ meat (foraged from the butcher) and a little light dressing it was lovely. We have said we would collect more food this way, as yet we haven’t made time, but I look forward to another salad sometime soon.

We’ve been to the Devon Show for the past two years and decided to go again. The weather held and we bumped into a number of friends making us feel that Devon really is home. Managed to do some research on bee keeping, clay ovens and pigs as well as having to sample many of  Devon’s exceptional culinary delights.

Below are some photos of the exciting day we had….

Our allotment is growing excellent grass, chickens have had to have their wings clipped after escaping and digging up all our bean seedlings and we are planning great things for later in the summer…watch this space…

We grow potatoes, grass and rhubarb!

The scaffolding is down and you can see that the painting continues, we had some wet weather early on this week which halted things a bit but otherwise everyday the house feels more and more like ours.

The great reveal as the scaffolding at the front of the house comes down

Nearly all the green has gone!

Our house really is in the middle of the street and is pretty unique as it is rarely seen. If you photograph from the bottom you can’t see it and its the same from the top, as we are on a very slight bend. This has advantages. I particuarly like the anonymity. However we are slightly more visible at the moment!

After living here for 7 years and hating the colour of our house every day of that time, plus watching it slip into a stage of shabbiness we are currently having it painted. Due to being directly on the street and therefore dangerous for the painter (who we like a lot and want to do more work in the future and therefore it is our interests to protect) we have had to have the house scaffolded and bridging the road. Mr H has taken photos, which are below…enjoy!