April in Tinnock

April has almost come to a close and it is leaving the door wide open for summer.

Our little cherry trees are growing hardier every year, and every year, I forget how beautiful their blooms are. They bring such a pop of colour around the village, only lasting a few weeks, when their petals start falling down like confetti in the breeze.

We welcomed some new chickens to the farm, as well as some bantams for the girls. Chickens are such happy, characterful little creatures and it doesn't feel like home without seeing the girls pecking away around the place.

Bluebell season is well underway and it is a bumper year for them! There are bluebells flowering over ever ditch, alongside every stream, and especially our forest. There is nothing quite like walking though these dainty, bold flowers, bowing their heads with the weight of their little bells. Their smell is do deep, woody and calming, it is a joy to sit in the forest and listen to the water flowing and watch the wind shake the flowers.

An exciting addition to Tinnock was delivered during the week by Mike.  In his own words -

"I realised that we needed to re-evaluate our relationship with bees and the environment by putting their needs first. I created the Let it Beehive to allow bees to do what bees do best for the last 70 million years, to live a natural life cycle and thrive with minimal interference."

Mike kindly spoke to Lily for an hour, explaining all about wild honey bees and their immense impact on our world. She is so excited about her hive and is eagerly checking for signs of bees every day.

You can find more information at https://letitbeehive.home.blog

The vegetable patch is planted out, the early potatoes are bursting out of the ground, the seeds are sprouting and the herbs are flourishing with the heat and gentle showers. We grow what we enjoy eating and are slowly growing more every year to get us through until the next season. We opened our last jar of pickled beetroots the week, so we are desperate for this season's crop to flourish! We intersperse our vegetable crops with edible flowers, which we use for salads and also to encourage pollinators. 

The best of April:
Gentle showers, naps in the sunshine, seedling bursting from trays, bluebells lining the creeks, waking up with the birds singing, the smell of cut grass, orchards bursting with blooms, wildflowers peeking out through ditches, hands in the ground planting seeds, Orange Tip Butterflies feeding from dandelions, and the gentleness of spring in the air.
All my love, 
Kirsten