Jilly's Blog: Weekend catch up

Time for a little catch up me thinks. Do you remember that I told you on Saturday that Simon was doing a green wood work thingy? It is a new group that has been set up by the Greeniversity. They will be meeting once a month at a place called the Green Backyard. More about that shortly. Simon helped set up a pole lathe which is a non electrical thing for turning wood so far as I can figure out! He is making a mallet.

The Greeniversity is a new venture in Peterborough set up to promote the sharing of eco skills. In a nutshell it is people from Peterborough getting together to learn green skills from other local people who have skills they are willing to share. The free courses are taught by ordinary people. There are courses about how to grow your own veg, how to knit, how to customise charity shop clothes, how to ride (and service) your bike, gardening, composting and even how to insulate your loft. This is their website: http://www.greeniversity.org.uk/

You may recall that we signed up for a talk on bee keeping before Christmas but it was cancelled because of the snow. I hope they do it again as we are interested in the possibility of having some hives at the allotment. Next Saturday we are doing a short course on willow planting and pruning and on the 29^th we are doing another one on willow domes and tunnels.

You may recall that we attempted to start a willow dome last year on the allotment because we thought the grandchildren would like it. Sadly it all died. We have since found out that it was the wrong time of year. You have to do it in February when the “sap is rising” (whatever the heck that means!) So hopefully the course will give us further knowledge. They are all being held at the Green Backyard.

The Green Backyard is a community growing project in central Peterborough run entirely by volunteers. It was totally derelict just 2 years ago but has been transformed into an open green space which is used for growing fruit and veg and all kinds of green activities. They promote sustainable lifestyles and raise awareness of environmental issues through practical demonstrations and community involvement. This is their web site: http://www.thegreenbackyard.com/

Well as Simon didn’t have much time on Saturday he decided to go back again on Sunday. I thought I would go with him to have a look around this Green Backyard place. We told Coralie about it and she said she would come too as the boys would enjoy seeing the chickens. She told Verity and next thing we knew it had turned into a family outing!

Coralie made rolls for everyone and Verity baked a cake so we had a picnic lunch there! It was a very interesting place to look around. Simon continued with his pole lathe work and Verity also had a go at that. Seems she had quite a talent for it too. She had it all beautifully smooth. I didn’t even get asked if I wanted to try! LOL. Simon probably knew I would have ended up gouging lumps out of it and it would be ruined!

Here are some photos. More will be in my January album.

Coralie and John dropped me off at home as Simon wanted to stay a bit longer. We ended up having Coralie and Sam’s family here for dinner. Verity and Steve had to get home. Sam arrived about half past five. It was nice to see my girlies. I don’t see them as much as my grandsons. Little jess is 10 weeks old already and weighs 10lb 12. She is so cute. We had a lovely meal of roast pork. All in all it was a good weekend.