For the present

Back from exhilarating, exhausting week with seven kids (my two daughters and their five!) in the country. The littlest ones were concerned about the pitch dark at night - a deer had scoffed the goose fat we put outside to cool and the ghostly trees swayed in the wind - but we had many wintry beach walks with children and mums of various shades of reluctance. My best presents also came from the kids... an Oxfam Unwrapped special: a gift of a goat, and, best of all, plants to stock an allotment so a family can help feed itself and maybe sell spare fruit and veg... It will be great in the dank months ahead to know another family somewhere, is also looking forward to growing, sitting and eating together. Off to our own allotment tomorrow to see how the green manure is surviving... Happy new year everyone