Embracing my lockdown

My life, like that of so many, has changed quite dramatically since this lockdown began.
Not in obvious ways.

I’ve lots of children and a small business that we run from home and are attempting to keep afloat, so although I have always spent a lot of time within these four walls, with everyone home 24/7 there is more to juggle.

Will I manage to transplant these to the raised beds my fellas have built in the garden without a) killing them, or b) them falling prey to pigeons, slugs and other beasties?

No, it’s changed in proper “I feel like my grandmother” ways.
My grandmother kept bees in her garden in Willingdon, and I remember visiting her, being ushered to her kitchen table, and handed a doorstop of hot buttered toast sliced from fresh bread and dripping with honey spread straight from the comb. She was always making flapjacks or shortbread. Her home always smelled of baking.
I haven’t got as far as bees. I’d love a hive, but my lovely neighbour might string me up…
Instead, as this madness all began, we acquired four chickens. And fell in love instantly.

With Hekate, Persephone and Minerva

So the morning goes like this:

My Teddy (9 and diagnosed with autism at 2.5) and I wake up first and come down to let the chickens out.
He says, every morning, unprompted and without fail, “I love those chickens” which is in itself quite remarkable for one with such limited speech.
Then, in we come, everyone else (mostly teenaged) still aslumber, and he tootles about while I knit.

Very nearly finished….

And sporadically check for eggs, occasionally spurring them on with a “Come on. Time to lay my breakfast!”

After a steaming vat of coffee from a mug I treated myself to after seeing a post from a talented ceramicist on Instagram, (that beautiful rainbow, being shown off alongside Persephone in this post’s photo) I plunder our 25kg sack of wholemeal flour – we’ve always bought flour in bulk. It makes sense, with such a large family, right? – and make a large loaf of bread, liberally showering the dough with pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds, and set it to rise while the boys begin to stir.

And sometimes the chickens visit…

By the time the boys are coming downstairs, there’s bread in the oven, the house smells gorgeous, my latest knitting project is a few rows closer to completion and I’m preparing for a freshly laid egg on homebaked bread, toasted for breakfast.

I am, in case it wasn’t obvious, seriously counting my blessings ❤

Note: If you’ve stumbled across this blog thinking it might be time to learn a new skill, on May 6th LoveCrafts.com are launching a free 3-video tutorial on how to knit your very own pair of bootsocks, using my pattern. Check it out over here for details

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