Gallery
Orkney Islands
Autumn Comes to the Orkney Islands
We have gone full circle in our new life in the Orkney Islands and as we celebrated the anniversary of moving up here, the seasons changed once again to autumn. This time though, I feel prepared to take autumn in and experience all that it has to offer. Last year, as...
Our First Summer in the Orkney Islands
Well it is drawing near to the end of our first summer in the Orkney Islands and autumn will soon be upon us once more. We have escaped the sweltering weather that mainland uk experienced for several weeks, but we have had lots of sunny and pleasantly warm days. There...
Jellyfish on the Beach
We popped to the beach for a lunchtime walk yesterday, because Wren likes to go as often as she can and a daily dose of beach exploration does us all good. We were very surprised to find that the beach was covered in jellyfish of a few different varieties. We used to...
Self-Sufficiency
Making a Hugelkultur Bed
Over autumn, I am working on a permaculture project with our kids. It is really important to us, that they feel a part of what we are doing here and the best way to do that is to get them involved. As I have a lot of winter veg seedlings waiting to go in the ground,...
Growing Vegetables in Orkney (July)
We started our vegetable growing adventure in Orkney back in March, at the beginning of the covid-19 lockdown. At the time I didn't really expect to have much success. Having only moved to the island in November 2019, we hadn't yet had a chance to get a polytunnel up...
Growing Our Own – Update on our Veggies
If you remember, I began our journey to self-sufficiency back in March at the beginning of the covid-19 lockdown (Growing Our Own Food - Making a Start). A lot of growing has happened since then, so I thought that it was time for an update. We are still struggling...
Craft for Kids
Make Your Own Autumn Wreaths
Making a wreath to hang in your home is a lovely way to celebrate the seasons and it is also a lovely craft for kids of all ages to enjoy. Since moving to the Orkney Islands, we have been so much more aware of the change in seasons. In this big, unbroken landscape, it...
How to Make a Corn Husk Doll
After having a go at making a corn husk doll myself, I showed Lark (my 10 yr old) what to do, so that she could make one herself. She really enjoyed doing it and it's a shame that we don't have more husks, because I think that she would really like to have made a...
Two Easy, Summer Nature Crafts For Kids
We finished off a botany study with two lovely nature crafts. They were so easy that even my two year old could join in, so I thought that I would share them with you. It's also worth mentioning that they are a lot of fun for adults too! The first is printing onto...
Basketry & Natural Crafts
Harvesting Honeysuckle Vine For Basketry
Over the past three weeks, I have been busy harvesting honeysuckle vine from our garden for basket weaving. The land at the back of our house is full of trees and rather wild and I was going to tidy it up a bit to make it more accessible, back in the spring. Then, as...
Learning To Use Natural Dyes
Way back in March, I bought myself a couple of books on dyeing. One was about learning to use natural dyes and the other showed in depth, the techniques for shibori pattern making. This month I finally got around to having a look through the books and trying out some...
Making Baskets With Grass
A couple of weeks ago I was gathering some common rush in our garden, when I noticed some grass that was really fine and yet very tough. I had a feeling that it would make some great coil baskets, so I collected a small amount to try it out and left it to dry. I have...