The Community Farm

Today I'm feeling pretty good, possibly even excited despite yet another day of fog, rain etc which has left me pretty depressed lately.

So why the high spirits today? Well I'm about to become a shareholder, albeit a small one, in The Community Farm - my cheque is in the post!



The Community Farm is a not-for-profit CSA project which reconnects people with how and where their food is grown. They are Organic growers and run a veg box scheme.

From their website:-
The Community Farm was started by Luke Hasell, Phil Haughton and Jim Twine who all live in the Chew Valley. Luke and Jim started The Story Group a few years ago and supply organic beef and lamb to the local community. Phil runs The Better Food Company, which is an organic supermarket in Bristol, and he has been growing vegetables locally for the last 7 years. All three have a lifetime’s commitment to the principles behind organic farming. They have a shared vision to work with people from Bristol and the Chew Valley and hope to play a small part in reconnecting the local community with agriculture.




The Community Farm is based on Luke’s farm on Denny Lane in the heart of the Chew Valley where 11 acres are currently growing a wide range of organic fruit and vegetables. The farm has been in Luke’s family for generations and is a beautiful and tranquil place with stunning views over the lake.



Having a project like this locally to my home means that I can be really involved if I want to as they run volunteer workshop days, or I can just go and take a look at the progress from time to time.

They still need to raise money to fund the project so no matter where you live please consider sending them a cheque and become a shareholder in this brilliant project. This is the way forward for our food production - locally grown and distributed, eating seasonally, community involvement, fresh organic produce free of pesticides and chemicals.

So yes I am excited about The Community Farm. I already have my vegetables from an organic veg box scheme so I know from experience how good they taste. I think more about planning my meals and make a great effort never to waste anything now.

Please support this project or if there is one closer to you give them your support!

Visit The Community Farm for further information.
Photos courtesy of The Community Farm.

Where are the Snowdrops? - Favourite Spring Flowering Bulb

Of all the spring flowering bulbs snowdrops are my favourite. They bravely push their way through hard cold ground, so delicate and slender but surviving snow and frosts.

Some snowdrop bulbs have a surprisingly high value. They are sometimes sold for as much as £150 for a single bulb and can even be found for sale on eBay! I had always thought of them as being a typically English plant but not so - they come from Turkey, Greece and the Caucasus, though two kinds in particular grow well here – Galanthus nivalis and Galanthus plicatus.

To the novice enthusiast it comes as quite a surprise to discover just how many different varieties? there are. If I was a Galanthophile I would know the answer - this is the term used to describe a snowdrop enthusiast, taken from the Latin name for the snowdrop which is galanthus.

There is something about bulbs that I find appealing, especially the spring flowering bulbs. Such variety of colours and shapes starting with the snowdrop, then crocus, daffodils, hyacinth, tulips - all flowers which over the years I've enjoyed photographing and continue to do so each year without fail.

If you love these beautiful spring flowers and want to see them in your garden next year, try to buy them 'in the green' - this means with the leaves of this years growth attached. Specialist suppliers can provide them like this and they naturalize really well.

No More Snow Photos

After several weeks of freezing weather with snow on the ground for much of the time, just as I'm beginning to feel better and kick this Flu bug, the temperature has shot up by about 15 degrees and we have slush and fog.

I only managed a few personal photos of the dogs etc during most of the snowy period, Christmas day being the exception when I went to the coast, well Weston-Super-Mare! It was actually a real delight with snow on the beach to the tide line, crisp and crunchy.

It's good weather for making New Year Resolutions - sitting in the warm, with a cup of coffee and box of chocolates, yet another showing of ET on the television. Somehow the idea of making a very public declaration of one's intentions might make them easier to stick to.

Experimenting with Adsense

You may have noticed those pesky AdSense ads appearing with my recent posts and wondering why? Well, I'm curious to see just what Google deems appropriate and how that fits with my perception. I'm just dabbling at the moment with short posts because my brain is somewhat fuddled with the after effects of the flu.

According to the weather report I've just seen on BBC TV we are experiencing heavy snowfall - not here we're not!! They've just said it again - "particularly heavy in the south west of England". I've not been outside for 4 days now and starting to feel the need to record these snowy conditions and enjoy the beauty of it all.

Winter Flu

Somethings it seems you just can't fight and for me it's the flu :-( Day 3 and I've gone back to bed despite everywhere being covered in snow and a bright blue sky. I ventured out for a walk this morning just to take in the silence that snow brings. So far there's no sign of the 'pain in the butt' 4WDs that come up here to play or rather plague us.

Hooray for a laptop that I can prop up on my knees between dozing and coughing. Now if only I could concentrate long enough to do something useful........

Now I Want to Buy Stock Photos

Buy stock photos? Me? It's strange how things turn out - a year ago I wouldn't have considered myself to be in the market for cheap stock photos, but here I am scouring iStock and Dreamstime looking for images to use on my website.

I've always been against the principle of royalty free stock photos. I considered it akin to selling my soul to the devil, and yet here I am queuing up to buy stock photos.

I'm only looking at the most inexpensive stock photos and I suppose you get what you pay for, but generally the quality is pretty uninspiring. Technically the images are fine but the content is questionable at times and it's hard to find appropriate poses. Mostly I'm looking for images of women in the age range 40 -60 years, but there seems to be a huge gap in the age ranges available - either very young, extremely slim girls/women or mature/senior women with regulation grey hair, glasses and too many wrinkles!

Flirting with Facebook, Tweeting on Twitter etc

After resisting completely any association with Facebook, I've spent sometime over the past couple of months making contacts, keeping in touch with distant friends, and getting a far bit of useful information about all sorts of thing - and useless stuff too!

I've enjoyed myself and learned quite a bit but it's so distracting! You find me there at http://www.facebook.com/carolineshipsey . I also have a page for my business Healthy Lifestyle Success where you can see what's happening with all developments there.

I think I've got the hang of it now, keeping a balance between what is useful and not getting involved in useless chitchat is the key to it for me.

Twitter has defeated me though! I think I could do with a crash course in how to Tweet usefully! It must be beneficial because so many businesses use it and it apparently is a 'must have'. Until someone comes to my rescue and guides me through hash tags, and @ symbols etc I'll just have to resort to the occasional "It's snowing"!

I've not been as active here on my blog as I should be - it's therapeutic to write here, I enjoy adding my photos and I hope others have enjoyed it, so once again (yes I know I've said it before!) I promise this time to write at least weekly.