My Story Part 1
So, this is me holding up my Gran’s house. I know what you’re thinking, Why?. Well, I can tell you why¦ Because as I wandering around the garden, minding my own business, I happened to gaze up at the sky. It was a particularly blustery day and I was perturbed to see the wall was slowly moving towards me! There was no time to lose. I had to take action.
What I can’t tell you is how long I held the wall, waiting for assistance? My mother has since told me that she found me numerous times in this position. I doubt I spoke much at this age and my mother’s bemusement at my strange behaviour no doubt continued until finally, I realised that it was actually the clouds that were moving and not the house!
I love this photo for the sheer joy I feel thinking that despite my tiny stature, my child brain, free from adult scepticism or rationale, truly believed that I could overcome this oversized problem. This fascination of cause and effect has never left me, nor the optimism to see a solution to any problem, no matter its size.
My family nurtured a love of nature and encouraged me to respect all things living from a young age, be it tolerating spiders and their frantic decorating of every corner of the house with their doily webs or adrenaline pumped dashes into the car in the garage where minacious wasps nested every summer! The idea of extinguishing another species just because it temporarily inconvenienced you was not an idea that was generally tolerated or probably even considered.
I spent much of my childhood and teen years taking in the flora and fauna of the nearby fields, woodland and waterways, finding great solace there during more difficult times. Growing ever more aware of the demise of the natural world, I wanted to readdress the balance and so when my partner and I moved into our first home in 1995 I chose to garden without the use of chemicals. I shan’t lie to you, it wasn’t just for the sake of nature; it was also because I am a self-professed lazy gardener who doesn’t like to waste money! If a plant needs constant watering, feeding and spraying, it’s clearly in the wrong place and will demand much of your time as well as involving spending good money after bad! Far better to choose a plant that suits your soil and climate so that once established it can take care of itself, surely?
