Worth Every Ache

9/4/22 Saturday
Overnight a frost had lain down on our lawn, nestled to the edges. Sun rose unobstructed, warmed the ice to water, gave it little rainbows to wear.
At work, I walked to Bethel Tesco to discover they do not have ink cartridge recycling envelopes anymore. They advised that I try the post office- also nope, but the post box had a yarn-bomb bunny on it, and the sun was warm, and everything was cheerful.

10/4/22 Sunday
A frost, a pair of coffee cups, a lecture on agroforestry: we start the day right. Browse trees for a while, then up and on with daily stuff like raking out the fire ash and going to work.

11/4/22 Monday
Morning: wild wind kicking through the garden. Put my pots in sheltered spots. Drive to work slowly because fuel is expensive, many high-sided vehicles also going slow for safety reasons, roads are busy due to Easter hols, definite convoy vibe. 
Outside the air is fresh, bright, summer seems possible, another frost also possible- mischievous weather.

12/4/22 Tuesday
Coffee, agroforestry lecture, then up and off to Paddock Garden. Planted a purple twisted hazel, a few winter heathers, pink daisies, a buddleia, a few leeks, a lot of sweet peas, a euonymus bush (not Hieronymus Bosch, which is what I hear when I try to pronounce this) and some escapee raspberries. The heathers are tasked with muscling out grass at the foot of the iron fence, the daisies have a similar job on a corner of the earthen mound. Sweet peas are tangled into the dead hedge by the lower parking bay, for scent and for their nitrogen-fixing magic. The leeks we are trying out in between currants- there’s plenty more to plant out, so we might just add a leek bed (not a leaky bed, which is what I hear). Euonymus Bush cost £1, so we risked planting ‘him’ as a filler for the hedge at the bottom of the scrubby woods. Let the raspberries loose in a clearing- the first food we’ve introduced to the woods. Scythed down some brambles under the hollow oak, planning a perennial foodstuff patch, maintaining the path. Lost track of time. It was noticeably warmer today, we were casting layers off, watching the sky build dark cloud, though the thunder was rolled out before the rain reached us. Rushed home, went teaching, very tired now. All of our students going for Dan grades have passed: celebrations, congratulations, and new patterns abound. 

13/4/22 Wednesday
Back to work, filling out midweek shifts for holiday cover. Overtired. Can barely lift disco tent- put lights on but did not dare play the dance tunes. Holistic chakra tuning music sufficed.

14/5/22 Thursday
At work again, less tired, still tired. Fog lights required on journey in. Managed a short walk in the mist, admiring lichen fluff on trees. Air feels as though it is about to heat up. Windows open, got a lakeside YouTube trickling water and birdsong, care client is playing guitar and wrestling a snake.

15/4/22 Friday
The usual coffee with an agroforestry lecture to start our day off, which is an actual day off, being Good Friday. Wandered to the polytunnel to pot on cucumbers- but then also repotted tomatoes, peppers, coriander, a germinated hazelnut, a pomegranate, the olive tree, and some random seedlings that look cabbagey. Brunch was munched outside, washing was on the line, tulips ablaze, blossom frothy. Loaded the van, went to the land. Tipped ash on the parking bay stones at the top field- this is making a firmer, flatter surface good for wheelchair users and anyone with wobbly mobility. Later we will grow moss over it, for comfort underfoot, and carbon sequestering. Drove to the lower field for various tasks. The orange chipper was busy making mulch out of ash tree twigs, barbed wire was dragged from the hedge between the top field and the scrubby woods (one section done, will continue after bluebell season). Mulch was utilised under the purple hazel, and the magnolia trees, and to squash grass along the line of currants. Topsoil was shovelled over this mulch patch, to make a sort of raised bed for the rest of the leeks. A few leeks were left in the woods with the raspberries which seem to be settling in well. All around them bluebells are plumping up ready to flower, red campions are in bud, yellow celandines sprawl, fern-babies gather in curled clusters, and the bramble thickets push out leaves. It teems with life, with ideas, with possibilities; it's worth being weary for, worth every ache.