first...apple...ever!

I ate the first apple from the garden last week.  It is from the "summer strawberry" tree.  It's a variety from Adelaide that is so called because it is supposed to be red with flecks looking a bit like the seeds on the outside of a strawberry, and it is an early-ish apple ready in the summer.  After one of the baby apples dropped off, there was one lone apple on the tree, and I was a bit worried as I saw Gemma eyeing it off a couple of times!  On the 7th of feb I went out and it had fallen off, and was a bit pecked on the top - I guess by a bird.  I put it on the kitchen sill and waited 5 days for it to ripen - the red colour did develop a bit.  The taste was not bad but it was a bit soft - I think it would have been better if I ate it straight away, but I wasn't sure that it was ripe then.  Still nice though and lovely to have some home grown :o)

Marc Jacobs F2011RTW rubber articulation

They look a bit leathery, but the skirts are made from rubber discs.  The spaces allow for articulation and movement.
Images from Style.com.

1960's and 1970's Japanese aprons

One of the responses to working and being inspired by the garden is to make aprons for gathering actions - as seen in some of the preserving party pics and along the way.
Here's some of my favourite examples of vintage aprons from the Kamakura-Shobo Publishing Co. Pattern Drafting books Vol. 1, 2, and 3, published in 1967, 1970 and 1972.  My nanna brought Vol. 2 back from Japan around that time, and I always poured over it when I was young :o)

one tomato, two tomato....

Mmmm, the first taste of home grown, summer tomatoes is something to savour!
The tomato bushes have finally started to be more generous.  The first few or so had some kind of wormy holes, but were still good if you cut away the bad bits.
I've been gathering more and more, and by the looks of the flowers and the greenies still on the vines, I might have to start thinking about sauce recipes :o)

what Gemma likes to do on hot summer afternoons

more Spring window reflections

A mess sorted and a window of opportunity

Back in September the workroom was in a massive mess and I was in a stalemate.  I'm in a similar place now, so some relfection back on that time may offer some inspiration!

Above...before the cleanup...

After - phew!

And during the process, while I was struggling to find spots for things and thinking about some kind of pin board, it occured to me that I could put up one of my old curtain rods at the window and hang things for consideration there.  This gives a reflective space between The Workroom and The Patch and allows for an experience of the other from within.