Mushroom Madness + Post Of The Month Club

Posted by Happy Homemaker UK

In England, we are definitely having an 'Indian Summer' right now - a welcome warm spell

I was surprised to hear the English use the term 'Indian Summer',

for I always assumed the phrase was a Native American reference

But maybe they are referring to the country of India where it is hotter?

Living here often tests what I think to be true...

So I 'wiki-ed' it, and sure enough, 

'Indian Summer' is an American colloquialism that jumped across the Atlantic

Not only am I doing the 'happy dance' about the sunny warm weather
but also for the annual autumn return of

{ the magical Fly Agaric Toadstool }

I had assumed these only existed in fairy tales, until last year when

I nearly peed in my pants when I stumbled upon my first ones!

As large as saucers, these toadstools are as poisonous as they are beautiful

Traditionally, pieces of the mushroom were floated in milk to attract & kill flies

Not that you would eat one, but if you did
you'd find yourself with stomach cramps, hallucinations, or worse
{oh my}

Here is how the Fly Agaric peeks its head as it emerges

As it ages, its top becomes concave and serves as a bowl for catching rain water

Don't you just love nature and all the multi-layers it offers throughout the year?!

Here is another beauty I spied in the woods

(I won't use the word 'forest' for it is actually a legal term - who knew?)

I had to lift my camera up to capture these lovelies

This ancient beech tree reminds me of the tree from the film 'Avatar'

To be honest, I don't have a sufficient wide-angle lens to capture its grandeur

Thanks for tromping through heath and woods with me :)

- all photos by me -
---

Welcome to our September Post Of The Month Club!

I am pleased as punch you are here :)

Time for our meet & greet

* Bloggers, just link up your best post of the month *

And see, you've already done the work

* Share the love by dropping by a few other blogs and say 'hi',
if you can *

* Would my nifty button be a nice addition to your lovely sidebar or post? *

Yep, we'll do this the last day of each month

* Don't forget to become a follower here too *

Don't be shy
Jump in :)

Happy October Blogging, you ray of autumn sunshine, you

P.S. I have family in town, so I may be delayed in reading your post
but I will drop by in the next few days :)

 

Work in progress...

Just a quick update on the commission for the lovely H. Here's a little look at the underpainting as of last last week, although it's come along significantly since then. I'll share the finished painting as soon as it's signed, sealed and delivered, but until then, here's a snippet:

I'm making a huge mess, but it's so much fun working big again. I'll be adding some of these larger works to the exhibition I'm having later this year too, so stay tuned for updates.

Back to work now, catch you soon,

Obscure Gardens: World Garden Of Plants & Tom Hart Dyke

Posted by Happy Homemaker UK

I first learned of Tom Hart Dyke when I happened to pick up a book at a book fair,

An Englishman's Home: The Adventures of an Eccentric Gardener

In this fascinating book (and quick read), 

Tom tells of a problem he shares with other families 

who have been bequeathed castles and manors in England-

they are incredibly expensive to maintain

To my absolute delight, 

I met Tom this week

and toured the World Garden of Plants at his home in Kent

{squeal!}

Lullingstone Castle Estate, Kent

Let me just say his excitement and enthusiasm 

for life and plants was infectious! 

Think of a 'Steve Irwin' about plants

Tom holds his discovery from SW Tasmania, 'Varnished Gum' (Eucalyptus vernicosa),
the smallest eucalyptus species known to mankind

While on an orchid hunting expedition in 2000 in the Darien Gap, Columbia, 

Tom was kidnapped and held for 9 months by guerrillas

and miraculously released for Christmas without an explanation as to why 

(Although he wrote a ransom note home, it never arrived)

Incredibly, as the first gun was thrust at his temple 

Tom was hit with the idea of creating a World Garden 

as a way to blend his botanical passion
with a potential tourist attraction to save his Lullingstone Castle

Plants you may have in your garden that originated from Africa

Six years and 10,000 plants later,
the World Garden has flower beds roughly in the shape of the continents

with plant species, cultivars, and hybrids planted in their country of origin

It is an educational botanical map within a 2 acre walled garden
and a nod to the Victorian and Edwardian plant hunters of the past

{did you know almost 80% of plants in England are non-native?}

When Tom is plant hunting,

he brings back just seeds and grows them once home

{he generously welcomed us to take any seeds we saw in the garden}

And although most of his seeds were destroyed by his kidnappers in Columbia

he did keep a few, such as this Banana Passionflower

This week is the first time Tom's Banana Passionflower has ever bloomed
from seed collected during his fateful trip to Columbia eleven years ago!

As Tom 'hunts', he collects seeds from plants he thinks have a high ornamental value

- simply for the love of it, not for the fortune or fame -

In fact, he has buckets of plants that he has not yet named,

for naming them doesn't really interest him

He just enjoys collecting them :)

But such a magnetic aura cannot go unnoticed:

so far he has been featured in KEO films, BBC, and PBS documentaries

And THE Kew Gardens just paid him a visit and were 'wowed' by his collection

As you can imagine, nature is creating new varieties of plants in Tom's garden
as pollinators span 'the continents'

All sunflowers originated in North America - who knew?!

A family affair, his mother and sister served our group tea and biscuits

I felt I already knew them from the book; it was such a pleasure to meet these lovely people!

Tom's next plant expedition may take him to Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa
He is crazy passionate about cacti at the moment

Being a Plant Hunter his hardly an extinct profession in England
There are still quite a few that will risk life and limb in pursuit of plants

Don't you just love the possible story behind each flower we see in the garden?
Tom Hart Dyke certainly has a doozy :)

More information :: Lullingstone Castle

Tom's books :: The Cloud Garden, An Englishman's Home: The Adventures of an Eccentric Gardener

More 'Obscure Gardens' Posts
Kew at Wakehurst

***

Time for another Post Of The Month Club day - yea! 

It is a great way for bloggers promote their best work

and a place to meet & greet

Join me Friday, September 30th

Yep, right here :)

(more details here)

Peace out

It's school holidays in this part of the world, and I managed to squeeze in a long-overdue trip to the beach last week. It was a gorgeous sunny day on the sunshine coast, with a warm breeze, and lots of seafood for lunch.....doesn't get much better than that.

yep, that's the Mr - shy little wallflower that he is :)

But back to the coalface now - I have a painting to finish! I'll be back with an update soon.

Catch you then,

Obscure Gardens: Kew At Wakehurst

Posted by Happy Homemaker UK

Call me crazy

but I had been DYING to visit 

the Wakehurst Millennium Seed Bank for over a year,

located near Gatwick Airport in West Sussex

It is a joint venture with Kew Royal Botanic Gardens (their 'country garden')

and National Trust's most visited property, Wakehurst Place

I had no idea what to expect

but I was a happy little bee with what I saw 

(and I only had time to see half of it)

- woodlands, heath, bogs, lakes, walled gardens, Elizabethan house, and 'THE' Seed Bank -

Yep, that's cyclamen

Wakehurst is home to an EXTRAORDINARY collection of flora

from the remotest corners of the world

I have never seen such an extensive living collection of rare and endangered species

and so beautifully landscaped

It was a FEAST for my little floral heart

{ pitter patter }

Such a revolutionary idea:

The Millennium Seed Bank safeguards almost 2 billion seeds
from more than 30,000 species of wild plants from 140 countries -
often bearers of the world's food supply, medicine, shelter, and livelihoods

So far, they have successfully collected 10 percent of the world's plant species
They target to conserve a quarter of the world's plant species by 2020

After local collection and transportation to the MSB,
seeds are classified, dried, and then x-rayed to make sure they have the most viable seeds

Storage may be in freezer vaults of -20 degrees Celsius
or cryogenically preserved in liquid nitrogen at a mere -196 degrees Celsius

Germination experiments determine the best way to store and bring seeds to life
And seeds are often stored in their local country as well for safekeeping

You can actually see in the windowed labs

This is definitely a working garden and laboratory with people busy working in front and behind the scenes

Wakehurst not only stores seeds but also cultivates & plants them on the grounds

Visitors can browse one of the nurseries

And like a plant explorer, I had my own dangers...

I had to cover my head while taking this photograph,
for the old oak tree above me was 'raining' acorns like hail
(it happened earlier while driving too, in fear of breaking a windshield)

A working garden

Not surprisingly, they also conduct honeybee research here

Can you see the beehive behind the beautiful, living willow screen? 

Beehives

As there are reminders of WWII dotted throughout England,
this sign shows a wartime subterranean communication room under my feet

The tree has an odd looking line in it - 

this is a wire from the communication center

WWII 'Wartime Secret'

And I just had to throw in a few photos of the Elizabethan Home

Benches are strategically placed throughout Wakehurst for reading, resting, and bored husbands :)

Nothing more to say but

Ahhh... Total Gardening Bliss
:)

More information: National Trust, Kew Wakehurst

More 'Obscure Garden' posts: The World Garden Of Plants & Tom Hart Dyke

Linking with: Sweet Shot Tuesday

- all photos by me -

 

Mission Complete: The Cleanse of 2011

Posted by Happy Homemaker UK

Here's the deal

When I visited home over the summer,

my friend looked so healthy, so glowing
and so much smaller (dropped 10 lbs)

I had to ask, 'What's your secret?'

'The Clean cleanse', she replied

'oh...Darn it!...', I thought,
grasping for a different explanation

Knowing an annual detoxification has been part of many cultures,
I was 'on board' with a cleanse as a way to be kind to my body

But about 15 years ago I did a dreadful cleanse

Just vegetable broth with supplements, 

leaving me weak, shaky, grumpy, & just generally horrible

I quit in 5 days with no remorse and a trail of thankful coworkers in my wake

So you can understand why I hesitated to do another cleanse

But the curiousness got the better of me,
put its tendrils in my mind,

so I surrendered and bought the book

Clean by Dr Junger

{ Plus I needed a kick in the pants to start eating healthy after the summer }

Endorsed by Gwenyth Paltrow, Outside Magazine, & other famous ones,

the book contained reasonable, sound advice

Try to eat organically
Eat more fruits, veggies, fish, and nuts
{ Doable }

But then, oh no, no...

NO

Wheat

Dairy
Soy
Eggs

Processed sugar
Caffeine

Alcohol

This made my dairy-loving body hide under the sheets
with a pillow over my head
yelling 'Noooo!'
at about the time I was due to pour that glass of wine
at the end of a long day

Let's face it, there is never a good 21 day period to put your culinary life on hold

But like an explorer, I grabbed three suckers friends for this food expedition
And they seem to agree with my assessment of the cleanse too:

What I feared would be almost a month of fun-free food,
actually was a 21 day opportunity to figure out how to eat in a new way

with the help of the delicious recipes in the back of the book,
packed with flavor
{ garlic, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon }

One of the most important things to say

is I was never hungry
or grumpy
( well at times, sure, but not due to the cleanse )

I felt so nutritionally fed,

I rarely craved the foods I was to avoid

It was actually easy-peasy
( a little more complicated when away from home )

Now I confess I did have a few meals of 'vacay'

An oreo-and-beer day with a friend {super naughty}
A pizza and beer day with family 
But let's just call that part of the experiment :)

The way I felt the next day ( bloated, awful )

got me to jump right back on the cleanse

*
Smoothie for breakfast
Real meal for lunch
Smoothie or soup for dinner
Snack on nuts and berries when hungry
*

The idea is to have liquid meals for dinner and breakfast
so your body can detoxify while you sleep

So here's a peek of what I've taken from it

• Water is tasty and quenching with lemon in it
• Breakfast smoothies are now a morning routine, forever
• The secret ingredient for a perfect smoothie consistency is avocado
• Quinoa tabbouleh and lemon marinaded kale are new favs
• Dates, currents, coconut, flaxseed, almond milk, and miso are new additions to the grocery list

Although my kids were not on the cleanse, 

I sneaked in wheat & dairy alternatives when I could

- coconut milk drizzled in their porridge & rice noodles with tamari sauce-

How do I feel?

A lot lighter and certainly healthier

 We all lost weight ( I lost six lbs ) - that's always happy

Most of all, I learned a heaping handful of new scrumptious recipes
 that gave my body a rest from the things I typically consume
( and we were already eating organically and very 'Whole Foodsy' before the cleanse )

I'm totally hooked
and will continue to eat 'clean'
for breakfast and lunch
( back to solid meal dinners with the family again )

Now let's get all personal here
How do you know if you're the perfect candidate?

Look at your poo, my friends
According to the book, it should be daily, odorless,
and the consistency and color of peanut butter
Gross, I know
And yes, I went there :)

Would I recommend eating 'clean'? Absolutely

P.S. 'Clean' also sells supplements and shakes, which feels gimmicky to me. I would not recommend using these, as one would miss how to make the smoothies and soups, which for me was the most worthwhile part. I followed the book, not the website :)

Note: I received nothing from 'Clean' for this post

- all photos by me -

A blank canvas

You might remember in my last post I mentioned I was about to start on a commission for a lovely client? Well, I thought this might be the perfect time to share a little of how I go about painting a commissioned work - before I forget all about taking pics along the way.

here she is...a nice (big) blank canvas

My lovely client, H, spoke to me about creating a painting for a large wall in her beautifully renovated Queenslander. If possible, I like to visit the client on-site - that way, I can get a feel for the space, the light, and the bones of the room itself. This painting will make a real statement - at 3m x 1.5m, it's a large piece, and will be on view from the minute you walk in the front door.

We then had a chat about her ideas, what colours she'd like included - and just as importantly, any she definitely didn't want. She has a great mix of traditional and modern in her home, as she's retained the original charm and character of her Queenslander, but she's also included some clean, modern elements too. To complement the original VJ walls, she chose a traditional, full-blown floral curtain:

..and picked up the olive green from the pattern, using it as an accent wall colour in the central hall, and also for the glass splashback in the kitchen. Elsewhere is a natural white, keeping things nice and airy.


So, after discussing the options, we decided on a modern abstract design, incorporating the raspberry, red/pink and olive green from her curtains, as well as some complimentary tones. Once that was sorted, I sent through a series of mock-ups of my ideas, to make sure we were on the same page, and also to provide a visual of what I'm thinking. I've found this really helps both me and the client - I'm a really visual person, but I realise not everyone works that way. By doing so, it really helps to iron out any misunderstandings before we're too far down the track.


So, that's enough from me - I have painting to do. I'll post more pics once the piece is all signed, sealed and delivered. Can't wait to share the finished painting with you all - and I have to say, it's a lot of fun to be working on such a large scale piece again. Supersizing isn't always a bad thing you know :)

Happy Hedgerows

Posted by Happy Homemaker UK

One thing I adore about rural England is the hedgerows that crisscross the countryside

Just recently I grasped the importance of them

I could just blabber on and on about them

Hedges have been an important part of the British landscape since Roman times, and some of these hedges still survive. In the ancient countryside of Devon and Kent, the majority of existing hedges are medieval. They were a valuable part of the rural economy - marking boundaries, providing shelter, food, and timber.

If you drive in the English countryside, try using ‘Hooper’s Rule’: count the number of tree and shrub species in a 30 yard stretch of hedge. This number will roughly equal the age of the hedge in centuries. They say this works back to 1,100 years ago. (Of course recent planted mixed hedges would be an exception.)

From 1947 to 1990, approximately 35% of hedgerows were destroyed to enable larger machinery to be used on farms. However, legislation was introduced in 1997 to protect hedgerows, which has led many hedges to be replanted or restored.

Hedgerows act as wildlife highways for many species, including cutie-pie hedgehogs, mice, voles, bats, and foxes. Of course, flowers are wonderful for the bees, butterflies, and other insects. Wildlife nibble on berries; birds nest in branches. It is quite a remarkable vibrant ecosystem. Yep, just one long nature reserve traversing the countryside!

Not only do hedges create great scenic value, they fence in livestock, clean the air next to roads, and act as a wind barrier and 'soundproofer'. As icing on the cake, they are a living wall that change color during the seasons. Makes me sing 'Laaaaa'!

An old English native hedge would have included a large variety of plantings. Hornbeam, beech, hawthorn, blackthorn, sweet briar rose, dogwood, hazel, and field maple still are used today. Throw in some holly, pyracantha, privet, viburnum, current, laurel, crabapple and/or spindleberry for a berry smorgasbord. Then dig in another ‘understory’ of plants and ferns to fill in at the bottom for a beautiful garden and animal refuge. Maintain it regularly to keep it healthy and thick (ooh, those are smoothie adjectives).

There are more than 30 styles of hedge-laying in different parts of the UK, depending on the climate of the area, local farming practices, soil condition, and types of trees and shrubs that grow well in the area. A few styles of hedge-laying are named ‘Midland Bullock’, ‘Welch Border’, and ‘Derbyshire’. And those names are not from Detroit, my friends.

Have I infected you with 'hedge-love' yet?!

Funny thing is, I thought I wouldn't have any photos for this post

Turns out, I've been clicking away at hedgerows since we moved here

Therefore, I can say...


all photos by me
:)

Sources: hedging.co.uk, hedgesdirect.co.uk, habitataid.co.uk, hedgerows.co.uk, hedgelaying.org.uk

Linking to: Sweet Shot Tuesday

 

Stripe me lucky

Black and white is a classic combo that never goes out of fashion. Throw them together into a stripe, and it's even better. I've been seeing this pic all over the place lately, and it was love at first sight:

is this not the most gorgeous storefront ever? It belongs to designer Liz Caan. Perfection.

I love black and white awnings. So fresh, yet chic and classic at the same time. And how better to frame a lovely window, or door, than with one of these arrangements.

 Sibella Court's shop, The Society Inc. Love the green door too....and that it won't stay that way for long - she changes its colour often. Brilliant

 Nathan Turner is starring in my new fave show, Million Dollar Decorators. Of course we're late to the party here in Australia, but I don't care. Loving it sick.

 Double the good stuff. 

 Love the awning and the pooch

And best of all, it completes an Aussie beach house to perfection. 

So, are you a fan of black and white? Love it, or (heaven forbid!!) hate it?



Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7