Springtime Capers and Ripping Yarns

Bank Holiday Weekend: an invigorating time spent with jolly good friends in Cornwall, lashings of ginger cake and bracing jolly japes on the beach.



Wholesome activities were interrupted briefly whilst I tore a calf muscle in a mad cap game of rounders on the sands. I could only hobble sideways afterwards as everyone else tittered at my predicament.

Husband practised his first aid bandaging skills so that my leg looked like a version of Pudsey Bear's bad ear. Nice try luv.

Still managed to enjoy plenty of Easter Sunday champagne and Puilly Fumee. They go well with Neurofen!

Watched a little black lamb born one afternoon - miracle of emerging life always moving.


Finished another Moon Patch for the monthly Lunar Quilt. This one signifies the signs of the Zodiac as I have been planting my seeds according to the biodynamic calendar this year. The moon in the middle is a nice piece of wild silk which has a shot of purple through it although this is impossible to photograph!
Have excuse to stitch for a change with leg elevated whenever possible. Hah!

MOON GARDENING & BIODYNAMICS
Humankind started farming in the Nile valley over 10,000 years ago. Our ancestors watched the rhythms of the heavens, and made connections between the patterns in the night-sky and the effects of the moon, planets, and stars on their bodies, the oceans, and on their gardens. Over the centuries as farming spread, they determined the best times to plant and harvest their crops, as well as for animal husbandry, beekeeping, and timber felling. This knowledge was handed down through the generations in oral and written tradition. With the development of chemical fertilisers in the 20th century, these principles were largely forgotten or ignored; Rudolf Steiner helped to revive and consolidate some of these Lunar Gardening traditions by developing his Biodynamic farming techniques.

Lunar Effects
The Moon reflects light and has a gravitational effect on the Earth. Steiner proposed that this affects plant growth. The Moon has a roughly elliptical orbit so the gravitational pull varies throughout its 28 day cycle. Root growth is improved when Moon moves further out causing a decreased pull on the Earth and vice versa - this force also causes the ocean tides.
- Planting of flower, fruit and vegetable seeds is best done 2 days before a new Moon because light and gravitational forces are more favourable in the seven days that follow.
- During the next seven days the Moon appears larger each night approaching a full Moon. The increased light stimulates foliage growth, but the gravitational pull increases so root growth is less favoured - young shoots thrive and the roots rest.
- For the seven days following the full Moon the light decreases slowing foliage growth, but so does the gravitational pull and the roots can develop. This is a good time to transplant seedlings as it gives the roots better conditions to flourish.
- In the last seven days of the lunar cycle the light continues to decrease, but the gravitational pull increases so both foliage and roots rest in the run up to the new Moon of the next lunar cycle.

Bleeding Heart awaited in the garden when we came home.