March Musings

I realise it’s already April but, well, life has been busy and I really love the alliteration!

Monday

Ah a chink of dry weather. The joy of less mud, drier dogs, more time outside. The daffs are finally bobbing - it feels quite sudden, and always so much later than just a few miles down the hill in Perth and over a month later than family’s gardens in England. The willows are getting furry, the outlines of trees are getting fuzzy, while we hope for fluffier clouds.

Tuesday

I see the Black Grouse most days and they fascinate me. Sometimes I like chewing over questions, being creative and cheeky with possible answers, but I’ve gone full tilt into Black Grouse research because so much of what I assumed is all wrong! Did you know that the males are called blackcocks while the females are greyhens? They are one of four species of grouse native to Scotland and only now do I realise I have been confusing the red grouse and greyhens. They are on the Red List for Birds (2021) so I feel very privileged to get to see them every day in the Spring. Other local birds on the Red List include lapwings, skylarks, linnets, starlings, cuckoo, curlews ,fieldfares, woodcock, yellowhammers, house martins and redpolls. Turns out my Merlin app life list is quite handy!

I do have a question about Black Grouse and perhaps you can help. They are known to ‘lek’ (males showing off to one another) at a lek (a particular site) at dawn with a number of other males. If they are doing their dance (white tail fanned out, making a kind of clicking sound) in the middle of the day and perhaps on their own - could they be practicing for the big moment? How do they know it is the time to collect together?

Wednesday

The daffs are finally starting to come out. We are about three weeks behind Perth so well over a month behind southern England. Having iPlayer is quite handy because I can delay watching Gardener’s World for a couple of weeks at least. I have finally got my driver’s licence back so I have been treating myself to the occasional drive through of Battleby to see when their fabulous azalea and rhododendron displays are starting. Not quite yet!

Thursday

We had a great day chatting about wool and fibre at the Scottish Wool Producers’ Showcase. I was so happy to be able to wear a vest made from our own wool, knitted by my cranial osteopath! It kept my core toasty without overheating. Interest in wool is thriving but interestingly nearly to the point of its own demise. Eva, who organises this and the Scottish Yarn Fest in the autumn has decided to stop the autumn event due to spiralling venue costs and the plethora of similar events springing up all over Scotland. She feels the market is nearing saturation. Knitting with 100% wool is certainly an expensive hobby - I wonder how it will be impacted with everyone tightening their belts? But I also met two new places processing wool which hopefully means the cost of that may go down, possibly reducing how much we have to charge to cover the cost.

Friday

We hosted two retreats of our own this month -

1. our seasonal day yoga and mindfulness retreat with Susan and Rachel. Another lovely day. Olly joined in this time and he literally beamed with lightness when he emerged! He even approved of my lunch. The next one will be in November.

2. A wool and wellness retreat, our first multi-day retreat in collaboration with Trish from Wormit Woolies. The weekend was a huge success - we have had some lovely feedback. We all made beautiful things, (have a look here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWgrvtWDGX5/?igsh=aWJ1b296NGx3bGRx) but my best were the squeals of delight as our guests settled into the sauna in their just-made sauna hats.

What’s next?

• Lambs will be born any day now

• Our drawing retreat at the end of the month - last non-residential spaces available.

• Exciting catering jobs

• Daily tulip watching

• Hoping (very) late planted sweet peas might still work

Don’t forget

• We have three types of frozen lamb meals available: curry, tagine and a stew. Each portion serves 2-3 people.

• We still have frozen joints and mince from our gently reared Jacob sheep

• The Burmieston Sauna is available! We would love our community time slots to be informed by demand. One couple have suggested 10-12 on a Tuesday morning. Would that suit you? Or would you prefer a different time? Let me know!

What I’ve been….

• cooking: my homemade granola has gone down a treat with our guests. The magic ingredient is roasted buckwheat groats; they have this awesome crunch that doesn’t get stuck in your teeth. For the rest, it just depends on what’s in the nuts and seeds drawer, and of course organic oats (always organic because in conventional systems glyphosate is applied as a desiccant, just before harvest.)

• reading: The Names by Florence Knapp. A little unsettling because she is such a great writer, but so worth the read.

• watching: I have become completely obsessed with the Chinese period drama ‘Pursuit of Jade’. It took a bit of getting used to the very slow love interest scenes (I resorted at some stages to watch them on 1.5x speed), but I am completely committed to the characters and the martial arts are phenomenal. I have particularly enjoyed the feminism through a different cultural lens but I do wonder how much subtlety I am missing due to the different context.

• listening: the elder son and I are hotly discussing the best bands in the world. Thrown into the mix include U2, Nirvana, Pink Floyd. Who would you add?

Thanks for reading

Bugs to you all,

Keesje

P.S As mentioned earlier, I am driving again. Just over a year of relying on others to get around has been hard but has also made me slow down. I now need to try to keep life simple and remind myself that the DVLA isn’t awarding me a ‘YOU ARE ALL BETTER’ badge, their timing is more about where I was in the queue. My shaking is, currently, nearly gone as long as I don’t do any weight bearing exercise like yoga. Instead my speech has become more erratic. But it’s all so much better than this time last year.