It's peak sowing and planting season at the moment and I'm working on A LOT of gardens!  I really, truly believe that so much understanding about plants has been lost in recent years, and identifying them, and knowing how they can be useful will become more and more important as artificial resources become scarcer.  So I like to use every opportunity to share a bit of knowledge.

I managed to escape for an hour or so yesterday and freed some time to walk to a meeting, something that sadly hasn't been so possible lately.

When I walk anywhere, I tend to do so with the eye of a forager!  I noted about myself some time ago that my eyes are constantly darting from ground to sky and scanning around for edibles.  I don't know whether this is something that's innate, a hark back to when food was scarce, or whether it's something learnt by means of having a slightly food obsessed nature!

This time of year is excellent for the forager because it's the time when the fruit trees are in blossom.  Short of having actual apples dangling from the branches, it makes easy work of spotting potential bounties realised in the autumn.  Cherries and plum relatives (plums themselves, but also gages and blackthorns for sloes) are currently blossoming here; apples and pears won't be too far behind now.  I made a mental of note of where to return later in the year!

Today is Earth Day! - an international day of climate activism which, this year, is themed around the pressing issue of plastic pollution.

So what an eye opener today has been!

Having a large household and feral children makes for monumental amounts of washing.  I cut this to the bone because I hate it; it's my least favourite of all the household chores, with the exception of changing king size duvet covers...

If I have been quiet of late, that's because I have done something almost unheard of.  I've had a holiday!