Middlemarch

Composed and performed by CMP

“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”

“It is an uneasy lot at best, to be what we call highly taught and yet not to enjoy: to be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small hungry shivering self—never to be fully possessed by the glory we behold, never to have our consciousness rapturously transformed into the vividness of a thought, the ardor of a passion, the energy of an action, but always to be scholarly and uninspired, ambitious and timid, scrupulous and dim-sighted.”

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

Here is an end of the book faster version!

Spring Stinging Nettle Soup!

Young fresh nettles can be collected from January onwards until approximately April.

Don’t harvest older nettles!

This is a surprisingly delicious and nutritious plant to pick during the Spring when it is young and not stingy! It is very rich in iron and other minerals and tastes very like spinach.

Cut the head of the young nettle using a glove or plastic bag on your hand to grasp the nettle. (Be careful you only collect from areas that dogs don’t frequent!)

To make a lovely soup add nettles to the following ingredients :

  • potatoes
  • celery
  • garlic
  • onions
  • carrots
  • other vegetables

You can also add a vegetable stock like Swiss Bouillion. You can either liquidise the soup or leave it as a vegetable soup with pieces. It is nice to add a little sour cream to the finished soup.

Mustard and cress grown in an egg box

You can grow seeds in a jar, a carton or an egg box or even an egg shell! (You could also use grass seeds in the end of some tights to make a hairy funny head!)

  • Use mustard and cress to grow your own salad.
  • Make the soil moist before putting the seeds on top. Children can use a spoon to water the seeds
  • Sprinkle the seeds thinly
  • Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil
  • Water regularly. Two weeks later you will have a nice crop.

Cane basket making

This is a satisfying craft as it uses such nice material. It isn’t difficult if you follow this post. You can use a cane basket for Easter eggs or as a table display.

I use 2.5 mm thick cane which you can order from craft shops online. You don’t need to use a wooden base if you don’t want to. If you make a cane base you can use as table mat for hot objects or with longer pieces of cane they can become the sides of a basket. You can stick in new pieces of cane as stems to make the sides longer for something like a waste paper basket

  • soak the cane for at least 10 minutes
  • Start with 4 piece bands laid across each other
  • Here the cane broke because it was too dry. Make sure the cane is wet even re-soak it if necessary 1/2 way through a project
  • Even if your weaving isn’t perfect it will still come out as a very nice little basket.
  • Watch the video to see how to finish a basket
  • If you have put in long stems you can finish with nice arches
  • Here’s another way of finishing
  • This is an example of a wonderful little cradle you can make when you get good at cane weaving!

Seeds and spices and all things nice … for snacks or healthy home made Easter eggs !

  • Oats and ground seeds and chopped up nuts mixed in a bowl. Carob or licorice powder as optional
  • Make an apple puree with spices clovers ginger and aniseed cinnamon, dates and prunes
  • Mix with the dry ingredients in first photo
  • If too runny add more dry ingredients e.g. oats
  • Cling film small portions
  • Here they are; scrummy! Good luck . They are great for diabetics as much cheaper than healthy bars.

Rain

A song for little people

Composed and performed by C.M.Poffley March 2021

Two great poets are quoted at the end:

Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice Act 4 scene 1)

The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes…..

Wordsworth

My heart leaps up when I behold 
   A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began; 
So is it now I am a man; 
So be it when I shall grow old, 
   Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.