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Elephant in the Room, Coffins in the Garden

And here it is! An elephant, literally, in the room...
I made it a few days ago, goodness knows why because I’ve always considered knitting to be an Autumn/ Winter activity. But when the urge comes upon one to break out the needles and use up a ball of random grey wool (can’t remember why I bought it because, well, you know me and grey) then it cannot be ignored. I think what it was, was that I’d been wrangling with ‘Clive and Min’ and quite often I find that when I have partaken of a lengthy writing session, I need to faff around with something practical to help my mind to sift through what I’ve just penned and sort out the good from the bad, the ugly and the plain idiotic, like, for example, having Min eating a custard cream. She would NEVER do that. 

Anyway, elephant was duly knitted in the space of two days, and has since been joined by a companion in pale grey with blue and pink ears. That one is currently in the studio, and as I am comfortably ensconced on the sofa in the living room, I cannot be arsed to go and fetch it for a photo shoot. And then I thought it would be quite nice if they had a baby elephant, so I started that yesterday. In a mid grey. I really cannot comprehend how I’ve amassed all this grey wool. Sigh....

We had a large delivery of timber a couple of weeks ago and Andy has since transformed three quarters of it into these...
....no, not enormous coffins, in which I can ‘lose’ the unfortunate bodies of my enemies. They are raised beds, you fools, for the growing of vegetables within upon the Damson Cottage estate in 2021, if we are still around post- Zombie apocalypse. As you can just see, the location of the Eglu (blue blob in the right hand corner next to the upturned rust bucket wheelbarrow) has stopped play, with two more still to be created in order to bring the grand total to eight. However, from where I was stood to take the photo, I reckon we could fit in another row of four, easy peasy. Best not push my luck, though, as I’ve put in a request for a square bed, twice the height of these, to be installed in order that I can start off a new rhubarb crown. So far, rhubarb production chez nous has been very poor and our plant has finally been oppressed by a gooseberry bush that is intent on becoming the Biggest Gooseberry Bush in the World, so it is time to start anew on the rhubarb front. I love rhubarb. This year, I have felt rhubarb bereft. 

Of course, now we have the job of filling the raised beds with lovely compost. Our new compost bins are doing a sterling job, but there is no way they’ll provide eight beds’ worth of compost volume so I’m on the lookout for other sources. It’s going to be the winter project, filling those beds. Luckily, our garden provides tonnes of leaf mould, and Andy has been hedge trimming now all the birdies are fledged, and the wood chipper has been working overtime. I was sitting in the hammock yesterday afternoon watching a bunch of wrens running amok in the back hedge. Chaotic, it was. Charmingly chaotic. Like a swathe of little mice darting in and out of the greenery. So many baby birds this year, of all shapes and species. Wonderful! 

I hope you enjoyed the long awaited next episode of ‘Clive and Min.’ There shall be more this week. And then the baby elephant shall be completed. 


Comments

Anonymous said…
Gooseberries, you have gooseberries!? Oh the envy! We are trying to grow rhubarb from seeds this year. We have 5 plants so far. We do have a mature plant that we will split as well. I love rhubarbs as you might be able to tell. Love your raised bed set up. Looking forward to read all about it
KJ
Denise said…
We do have gooseberries, KJ. I have 6lbs in the freezer now! As for raising rhubarb from seed - well, you are a braver woman than I! However, I should be happy to know how successful you are. It’s an interesting project. I shall pick up a new rhubarb crown in the Autumn, I think. The lazy way out...🙂
Anonymous said…
Don’t worry, I have outsourced that to the husband. He checks the vegetables development hourly. 🙄 Btw the elephant is the reason why you have lovely gray yarn lying around. She is just gorgeous. If I lived closer I would come by and exchange your gray yarn with something maybe more your style and a chocolate cake. One must always bring chocolate cake.
KJ
Denise said…
Chocolate cake, KJ? That seems more than a fair exchange for grey wool. The deal is done! I’m working my way through my grey wool excesses by knitting elephants. I haven’t considered what to do with the elephants...🤔
Anonymous said…
Sell them - make your creativity pay the bills. Better to have a lot of small streams float into the river.

KJ
Denise said…
Do you know, KJ, I like that ‘stream/ river’ analogy. Thank you!

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