Day 10 of #30DaysWild - how a country fete made us go wild!

This will be a count-back post...life has been so full of nature we barely got time to write more than a couple of Facebook posts in #30DaysWild. I am full of admiration for the semi-professional photographers, writers that are keeping their blogs up-to-date and gaining likes by the bucket load. I have a teething baby with a cold that doesn't understand blogging. He just understands the separation anxiety of mummy leaving the room to go on a computer (If I try using my mobile he grabs it and sticks it in his mouth so that's a no-no!)

Anyway, today the oldest children paid the princely sum of 50p each at a local fete to make their own identical flower arrangements to present me with and told me I was the best mummy in the world (Mothers day  x 2 this year it seems). They aren't even wild really but absolutely beautiful so I have to show them.
I also have to explain that the wild bit  about today is what our garden does when we leave it alone for five minutes to go to other things or take holiday with the kids.

I made a good attempt at weeding the front garden where I've planted new roses this year. I enjoy this, even though it is a job that never gets finished. I can keep my eyes on a huge oak tree opposite the road from us which occasionally reveals a Great Spotted Woodpecker by day and a Tawny Owl by night. The love and attention I've devoted to the front while casual birdwatching has meant that the back is becoming it's own wildlife haven. A few weeks back I planted rows of chard, carrot and rocket seeds next to a potato patch with a kid's help but a Borage plant I bought from a green fair at the sustainability centre 2 years ago has self- seeded and now we have this:

One bedraggled rocket plant and one chard seedling has survived slug attack...but for how long? The carrot seeds never worked (maybe they were too old). But does any of the failed vegetable seeds matter when I have this beautiful crop of purple borage flowers that I can freeze in ice-cubes to decorate summer drinks? And best of all Bees love them. Speaking of bees lets go back to day 9:

Day 9 was a Friday, one of my precious last full home-days before my 4 year old starts big school in September. And so in his honour I scouted sites about nature scrapbooking and found this amazing activity to do: hammering flowers. It was easy. Get a hammer out of the shed (or a smaller toy one if you aren't sure your child is capable). Pull out some printer paper out of your printer or any plain paper will do. Sandwich some freshly plucked flowers from your garden between the sheets outside on a hard table or surface. You are not going to press them. This is not for the faint-hearted. The aim of this activity is to make A COMPLETELY RANDOM WILD PATTERN. So, you get hammering. If you are an adult you can go for it. If you are supervising a child let them tap carefully away then when they have waned in interest pick the hammer up and take out your frustrations on those poor flowers. Now get the child back in view, lift the paper up and TA-DA you have RANDOM WILD FLOWER EXPLOSION PRESERVED FOREVER!

After the flower hammering I decided to keep up the happy vibe and mow the lawn for my husband (since I was last pregnant it has been his chore to do) and get fit. Not a wild thing at all until you consider my approach to the task. The lawn has been neglected for at least three weeks and has turned into a beautiful yellow composite flower meadow with clovers and is covered with buzzing bees etc. Please don't ask me what it's name of the yellow flower is...a baby dandelion? Should I give it a name really if I'm about to decimate it with a machine? I don't want to deprive the bees but if I leave it another weekend our lawn mower won't cut it. It has to be mowed. Quick, because if I don't it will rain again and the kids won't have anywhere to play but long soggy grass. I decide to do two things differently to my husband. 1. Lift the lawnmower cutter to highest level to leave a few flowers and grass bit longer 2. Leave some of the wildflowers at the edges and around trees for a bit longer or until my husband finds where I've hidden the strimmer. A happy wild compromise.

The simple pleasures: I picked 2 bowls of strawberries from our garden and listened to a male goldfinch singing. Recently I have also watched Starlings nesting in the neighbours roof with the baby pointing and explaining in babbles. I added this to the Facebook #30DaysWild group so I couldn't be caught slacking on this blog! Now can't find where the photo I chose is though so you have to imagine those delicious berries.