Brother William's Garden

Sunday, 6 April 2014

Today - Sunday, it was a very wet day. It was so wet that there were big puddles everywhere and some ducks came and thought about making a nest in the garden. In April all the sparrows, blackbirds, wrens and robins are making nests, but when it rains, that's when the ducks come to stay.

It was good that it was raining because I had planted out some chard and some chervil and the water would help it to grow. But it wasn't good to go out in the rain because Rufus and I got very muddy very quickly and the wind made us cold. So we decided to make something indoors.

This is what we made

We made this horse from a cork that was in Brother Barnabas' collection of stoppers he uses for mead. We made four holes at the bottom and pushed in some little sticks. We made his head out of a very thin piece of bark cut into the right shape. And we made his mane and tail out of strands of wool. Then we painted him.

(You could make something like this using thin card and cocktail sticks cut in half.)

Then I said to Rufus, 'Shall we make up a story about the horse?'

Rufus was half asleep but he thumped his tail on the floor to show he thought it was a good idea. First of all we needed a name for the horse, so we decided to call him Willow.

Willow lived in a field in a valley. Usually his field was full of lush green grass, but because it had been raining and raining, all the grass had gone underwater and he couldn't eat it. This made him very sad because he was hungry. He was also sad because his feet were always wet. But when Willow looked up to the high ground on either side of him, he saw that there was fresh green grass up there. So he splashed and squished and sploshed his feet until he got over to a place where the fence was a bit broken and he kicked it and kicked it with his hooves until he could get through and then he gave a great leap and climbed up on to the higher ground. And there he found there was no end of lovely green grass and not only that but there were small trees covered in tender leaves that he could eat as well. Willow stayed up on the high ground until the water his drained away from his field at the bottom of the valley and when he made his way back there, he found that the grass there tasted better than ever.

After I had told Rufus this story, the sun came out and we went into the garden and all the birds were singing because they were so happy the rain had stopped.

Sunday, 9 March 2014

Brother Barnabus' Pancake Recipe

Last week it was Shrove Tuesday and that meant making pancakes to use up all the flour, eggs and milk we are not allowed to eat in Lent.

It was a lovely sunny day and all the daffodils were out...

It was nice to see them against green for a change. Last year the ground was covered in snow.

I wrote a little poem:

Gently falls each flake of snow, six-pointed like the daffodil

In white it covers up the ground, around each stem a little mound.

That's one thing about gardening, you can think about things as you work!

Last tuesday Brother Barnabus came to the garden, looking for something to add to the pancakes to make them a bit more tasty. I've written down the recipe in case you want to try it.

It's in three bits as I couldn't fit it all on one page!

Hope you can read this!

We had such fun making them!

Monday, 17 February 2014

It was a fine day for a change. The sun was out and the birds were singing.

'Come on Rufus!' I said, 'let's turn the compost heap.

The compost had been rotting all winter and it had changed from green to dark brown. I put a big fork into it and turned it and shaped it into a shape like a steamed pudding - it was steaming too!

(Because compost heaps get hot even when it's cold.)

But there were some things wriggling in the heap - lots and lots of...........

WORMS

The Robin had a proper feast.

Then it was time for Rufus and me to have our lunch too!

Saturday, 8 February 2014

What happened to the Fish in February

In the Monastery garden, there is a pond where fish are kept. In the winter there is not much to eat and sometimes Brother Barnabus has to come a catch fish in a basket for the monks to eat for supper.

One morning Brother William were walking past the pond when they noticed something strange.

There were no fish in the pond! (But if you look carefully you might be able to see them on the grass.) The wind was so strong it had blown them out of the water.