By now I guess everyone has flipped the page on the calender & either surrendered to or embraced the arrival of 2012........

Each New Year, I like to make a little mandala in the front of a new visual diary as an act of faith & commitment to my work. This is the first time I have ever shared one of these, so I hope it inspires you.




Do you remember I was wishing The Fae would knit the Mtn Pixie Socks & leave them on the lawn for me to find in the morning?

I had quite a surprise on the morning of New Year's Eve, to find I now have a team of avid gardeners, taking up residence in the veg. garden.....but not of the Fae kind, more of the velvety, soft-eyed, long-eared, big family to feed sort...........



When I heard it was going to be a very hot & dry New Year, I wanted to harvest the garlic, which wasn't ready for harvest a week ago at Summer solstice. I like to put it out to dry in the sun before I bring it in & make plaited garlands for storage, because this improves its keeping ability over the long & damp Winter.



So off I set across the cool green grass to my vegetable garden. Firstly, I paused to admire the healthy lettuces & flowers. I am especially fond of the shape of leek flowers this year ......



Anyway, when I got to the middle of the garden, I paused to locate the purple beans I have just planted (yes, late, I know, but I am seeing if a late planting now the soil has warmed up works better than loosing the crop to rot & rodents....) and, I couldn't quite find them! Instead of there being a neat little path covered in dried weeds, I found freshly dug soil, piled up over the paths & just look what the mystery gardeners made whilst Marigold was getting her beauty sleep!



A tunnel UNDER the plants!

How clever......I think...It seems the fence around the garden gives a sense of safety from hungry cats & foxes......the cool greenery of rampant nasturtiums would offer cover on hot days from the many predatory birds that live & hunt here.




Well, as you can see below, there is herbage & greenery enough for us all at the present time, so I am watching with interest, to see what will happen. I am concerned the garden may cave in, & really want to fill in this new piece of landscape archetecture, but what do you think? If they are not nibbling my perfectly sweet lettuces, or nibbling the tender bean stalks as they did last year, why worry? They haven't even touched the chamomile flowers this year, which are usually their favourite fruit....


Oh! speaking of which, I must show you my first crop of elderberries! Aren't they beautiful?




Blessings of a New Calender Year to All! May 2012 be the year the world finds peace, may it be the year we All have enough of everything we need, including love, and may 2012 give Us All the confidence to take responsibility as individuals for dreaming our world.

Blessed Be
X

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

Hellooo again, Miss Marigold wants to show you what's she's been making in the art room all these moonths. This is the next stage of the manufacture: selling them on a stall she is sharing with a lovely friend, who shares her love of Gaia & of the Fae.



The last fair where Marigold plans to have a stall is tomorrow, & she hopes to recover some of her costs! Any little balls of hand-painted wool left-over will come in handy for 2012's Mountain Pixie Socks etc., & the muslin veils are useful year round anyway.

Some needle felted Faeries have been put onto felted garlands, & a few are left loose for Xmas stocking fillers.... Marigold is having a rest from making them. They are even more labour intensive than knitting! However, she is about to begin some new projects.



As her Fae friend says, the fingers are itching to begin something new! If you look on Etsy, you will find Faedale, which is Marigold's Fair Friend's shop.

This commercial aspect life is very interesting for such an old-fashioned lady as Marigold, who likes to play shops very much, but is still working out how to make a profit! Another dear friend, Miss Lily, who has been studying these things, says it is perfectly possible to make the income exceed the expenditure, so Marigold remains optimistic that she will one day have enough customers, & enough stock!

Blessings of successful fairs in bucketing Melbourne rain, & incomings exceeding outgoings!





Blessings of

Hello Everyone, I wonder who lives in here? We saw it on one of our rambles....mysterious....




And so is this place......
Spring has come & gone, & now Summer is shyly showing its two faces. Some days, brilliant sunshine that send Treadwell & me scuttling for the shade, & others where the sky is low & dark, & thunder & lightning keep us awake, as seemingly endless rain pours & pours in rivulets over the topsoil of the garden.

In our part of the world, November is a very "in-between" season, & spectacular storms are often seen. Soon it will be time for the "cherry hail", which damages the crop annually.

Treadwell & I spent some time at the beach again, & how happy he looks lately!


Blessings of every happy thing,
with love,
Miss Marigold & Mr Treadwell

Blessings of Brigit

Blessings of Brigit this fine Imbolc day! Spring has arrived exactly on time! I hope you enjoy the view from the art room this afternoon. The sky was blue, the birds were singing, & just look how sparkly it is in the camelias......I think the Fae must be hiding in there somewhere........


Oh Marigold! How you have let your garden go this Winter! Now you must prepare this weedy space for Spring planting! But just look at the light! It is truly wonderful after such a long, cold season. I think I will attempt to make the vegetables & herbs much prettier this year.
Here is my poultry! The ducks are very wild & very shy this year. I do love to eavesdrop on their mutterings. The hen I made for myself out of felted knitting after being inspired by one I saw at Winterwood Toys. This girl turned out to be plumper & broodier than I had imagined, & is a perfect symbol in my workspace. She sits on the little velvet tub chair, hatching out good ideas whilst I work away, trying to do her justice. She reminds me that sometimes I have happy accidents....

So, here's to Spring, & to our dear Brigit! Just look at these lovely fat burgundy buds swelling on the Eldar Mother!

And the face in the evergreen Oak .......I didn't notice it until the camera showed it to me!


I'm off to do a bit of Spring celebrating with Mr Treadwell! Blessings of blue skies from the Not So Misty Today Mountain!

Misty Mountain in Winter

Hello again from the extremely Wet, Cold & Misty Mountain. Miss marigold & Treadwell are tucked up in the art room, playing with coloured threads & watching the clouds drifting in & out of the trees.

A couple of weeks ago, we visited the magickal Rowan Grove above, & believe it or not, we were greeted by a huge tawny rabbit, who immediately turned his fluffy white tail & disappeared into this thicket as I fumbled clumsily with the camera....they don't like being caught, do they?

Also, I took a couple of "big" shots, to show you how beautiful it is up here. This place encourages shamanic flight......... and Mr Treadwell loves to ramble......

I attempted to dye muslin for Springtime last month, but left it as it is too difficult to get it dry inside. The art room is rather small for acres of wet, messy cloth, and anyway, it looks so beautiful on the clothesline, wafting in a gentle breeze, it's worth waiting for some sunny Spring days, which surely must come in a couple of months..... For now, I shall continue to work with wool, creating more Mountain Pixie Socks, & some felted coin purses I am still imagining because they too, are hard to dry.


Soon it will be Imbolc. The wild ducks that enjoy bobbing about on the pool have returned from their "other home", wherever it is, & the garden feels as if it's waking up even though everything is still cold.

The lyrebird sings his unspeakably beautiful song in the valley below, & all is exactly as it should be.........

Well, I'd better go & stoke the creative fire!

Blessings of increasing light & activity if you're in the South, & Blessings of the Velvety Blanket of increasing darkness & rest if you're in the North!