Thyme for Tea

Today has been probably the first day since returning from India, that I've been about to get out to the garden and enjoy being covered in dirt. It's been gorgeous. Today's been pretty rainy, but that was great weather for my job - weeding and turning. While I was away, my partner efficiently kept the broccoli and spinach going by eating it regularly. But didn't effectively manage the over growth of the older and spreading plants. So today I had the fun of pulling huge old celery bushes, and pruning the wandering native spinach, and tossing the old broccoli bushes to the compost. The compost is now HUGE.

While in the garden I found self sown lettuces, radishes, fruiting strawberries, hidden bok choy, and forgotten onions. It's such fun bringing in the produce - today's pickings include

• Fresh spinach - both English and Australian (Warragul greens)
• Rhubarb
  
• Celery
• Strawberries
• Leeks
• Radishes

Since pulling up the old stuff, I can now see what space I have to work with, and can start planning my next round of planting. Maybe next weekend will be a good time to start on that!

While out in the garden my ponderings wandered - but here's a snippet:

• I must blog my reflections on life as a volunteer with ODAM in India. My 6 weeks as a volunteer is now quickly fading into the past, but I feel like there were some really important lessons for me there. I'd like to blog about these soon.
• I must also blog about D-Impact.org.au - my friends who are now working in the village I went to. I'm following their blog with interest, and learning more about the philosophy of designing for the 90% of the population, rather that the top 10%. I also recently read about 'reverse innovation' - an aligned philosophy, but with a twist... more to blog about there.
• This morning I read Riana's blog about 'lists' - so I was thinking in the garden about my need or use of lists. I also loved her review of a typical day, and wondered what my dream typical day would be??
• I'm growing an experimental Yacon - so I was watching how it grows, checking out any signs for pests and wondering when I would get to dig for the fruit?

Finally, I had a quick reflection of my blog and noticed it's been quite a while since I shared with you a tea cup. This little one joined my collection from Limoges in France. I love fine china, but when I was in Limoges I was riding my bike. So collecting some nice everyday pieces wasn't going to be easy. I found this little one and just love it.

Tiny Tea Cup & Saucer from Limoges
(Sitting next to my favourite fine china cup - Memory Lane)