Hello Everyone,the Silly Season is in full swing, & one of the silliest things you will hear at Marigold's place this week, is the sound of serious young kookaburras learning how to laugh. Not quite grasping the intricacies of voice production a la kookaburra, they sound like the turning of a rusty wheel, or someone attempting to speak whilst suffering acute laryngitis. Perhaps a throat losange would help..... They seem to be earnestly forcing the sound, rather than expressing themselves....This one spends much of its day on the clothesline, practicing looking imposing, whilst the parents gather food...just like a human teenager....


This is the flowering season, & even the "weeds" in the vegetable garden are pretty.

There are perhaps more of these self-sown beauties than vegetables this year, but the delight to my eye is almost as sustaining as the delight to my cooking pot!
I just love the way my namesake & Nigella flowers grow together!Nigella is very glamorous, & Miss Marigold is...a Miss Marigold!



There is also a good crop of Borage this year. I put the flowers into salads, but I leave a lot of seedlings where they germinate, because I adore the blue star-like flowers, the bees like it, & the soil seems to benefit from it growing there. I hear it is an herb for courage.
It makes Miss Marigold smile......

Hope you are smiling too.

Marigold sends her greetings

Greetings Everyone, Now that the Spring Equinox & associated commerce are behind me, & Summer's blazing heat is at last making itself felt, Your Marigold has had her nose to the grindstone, making the latest batch of Mountain Pixie socks for a rush Xmas order, avoiding sweaty knitting needles, & swotting up on the Faerie People ...... which is most enjoyable, if sedentary....oh Dears, predictably, she's put on rather a lot of weight!



This is my knitting basket, which looked so joyful as I was completing the last sock........so many colours to play with.....How fortunate I am to have such dazzling vibrations of colour to surround me. If I need to make a new colour, I try to create it with dyes.......it's fascinating....colour really enchants my work, which sings to me silently when I create harmonious colour schemes......



But oh, how much easier it would be if the Fae would leave socks out on the lawn for me to find in the morning! I think they might be calling Treadwell & me into the forest for another adventure, now that our work is done for a little while! Below is how it looked last moonth....the wildflowers will have changed by now, & soft, sappy growth is hardening up. The dappled light of the trees will be welcome protection from the Sun's burning rays, whereas last moonth, it was cold in the shadows.


Summer Solstice is almost here, so I am turning my attention to the garden wholeheartedly. It became very unruly whilst my attention was on making colourful things. I must go out & have a good old fashioned blitz on the weeds, & prune, & fertilise before the weather gets any hotter. This year, I haven't put in as many vegetables, although the herbs have done extraordinarily well, & my wool & fabrics will be scented with lavender, rosemary, pennyroyal & other delights, fresh from the garden. I am concentrating on building up the soil for Autumn planting.
I am very pleased to report my first crop of Elder flowers in 5 years from planting out cuttings,
& if I am very clever, & beat the rosellas, I may even get a small sprinkling of the berries, which I have never tasted yet have fantasized about in recipes from old cookery books for years!




Solstice Blessings to You! Wherever in the World you find yourself, may you enjoy balance, harmony and peace.

With much love from Miss Marigold and Mr Treadwell