It’s a beautiful spring day so come with me on a quick walk around part of the farm.

Past the pond where the sun catches the ripples made by the wind.

Inspired by The Textile Ranger’s writing about Impermanent Art, I made my own ephemeral art pieces by tying together daffodils and attaching them to trees. Oh, how funny I thought I was putting a post on Instagram of a holly bush that appeared to have bright yellow flowers on April 1st. Looking at my ‘installations’ today, they look rather more like a roadside accident shrine. This old tree has a large gash down one side with a rabbit burrow in the base.

Let’s carry on through the yard, down the track and jump into the bottom of the ditch so we can see the primroses are flowering on the banks.

Further down the track, the paigles (or cowslips) are just coming into flower. Unlike the primroses, the paigles grow alongside the track.

Around the farm, the field boundary hedges are filled with a froth of white blackthorn blossom, which we hope will develop into sloes this autumn. I’m not sure how we’re going to reach the sloes so high up in this hedge around Gardeners Field.

Dropping in at the Christmas Tree plantation we can see the new growth on the Norway Spruce trees. I’ve read that these spruce tips can be eaten in a multitude of ways but have never been sufficiently tempted to try any of the recipes. One year I made Christmas Tree Gin that smelt just like pine scented disinfectant, which was rather off-putting. We still have half a bottle left, which doesn’t appear to be improving with age.

Before we head home, there’s just time to check the bees in the fallen tree branch. There have been some fairly cold and miserable days since it fell and as the bees were very exposed, we were worried they might perish but I’m pleased to report that there are still lots of live bees in situ. This is the top layer of the honeycomb, which you can see is open to the elements. Underneath this top layer are more bees but I wasn’t going to get any closer to see if I could get a photo.
Another beautiful spring day on the farm in Essex.