Allotment!

Now this might be a bit daft considering all the other stuff I've got going on at the moment - new business to set up (Glorious Gluten Free Foods), a full time job, lots of WIPs in the wool department (including 400 balls of locally produced Aran wool to knit), Twitter (which has become alarmingly time consuming due to my fixation with not missing anything), a Kindle full of books to read (including War & Peace of course) - but I've just agreed to take on an allotment. About 3 months ago I put my name down on what the local allotment society website said was a 12 year waiting list. That 12 years just became 12 weeks and OH and I went over last night to have a look at our potential new project. Yes there were lots of reasons why we shouldn't be taking this on but it was just too tempting. So I am about to phone to accept a half plot (only a half, but it's still a lot of digging). It is currently very overgrown but I am assured that those are just very easily pull uppable weeds and that the person who used to have the plot (before the people who let the weeds grow) had a very productive piece of ground. I have already harvested a few broad beans from amongst the weeds and they were scrummy. So tomorrow we're off to Liverpool to meet up with some Norwegian friends of ours who are over at a Beatles experience weekend, and then Sunday will be allotment day! How very exciting. I think. I think this is a good time to take it on as we can do some digging and weeding now, harvest whatever we can from the plot and then do lots of planning over the winter, armchair gardening is so appealing. One day I'd like to set up a farmers' market in the village and encourage everyone to shop locally; maybe this allotment is the first step. Any tips anyone?

What a lot to do!

I am still knitting, some successful projects, some not so successful. Most annoying thing was finishing a jumper for my daughter and taking care for once to finish it off properly. And it was a disaster! She tried to pretend it wasn't but it was too small (me having worried most of the time about it being too big) and my picking up for the neckband was very messy. So it's back in my bag awaiting unraveling and re-knitting. You may get it for Christmas Jo! I have also taken the plunge and launched a new venture - baking gluten free foods. I have a friend who is coeliac and have discovered just how difficult it is for her to find good quality delicious baked goods. I have baked for her for a while and have now done some market testing. There is definitely a gap in the market big enough for me to wriggle into. I've started a separate blog to post about my new venture and market my delicious cakes and biscuits. Exciting times and busy ones too as I've just taken on an allotment. There was a 12 year waiting list according to our village website so I thought a few months ago I had better get my name down. 12 years seemed long enough away not to have to worry and I could always decide nearer the time if I really wanted one. Then I got a phone call to say I was at the top of the list and one had become free. A bit of a shock but I thought it too good an opportunity to miss. It's all about organisation and time management..... So I sing, I ring, I read, I swim, I knit, I bake and now I have an allotment. I need to go and lie down now.