improvised matting

I’m sitting somewhat awkwardly on a concrete breezeblock in front of my shed, one of the same blocks that I discovered had previously been a set of steps. I have weeded in front of my shed to make space for them resulting in an even muddier path than the one I’ve been sliding about on for the last few wet weeks. Now instead of slipping I have boots encrusted in mud, so, I’ve decided to remedy this by making a mat of sorts out of skeletal yet substantial michaelmas daisy stalks. My theory is that whereas gravel or wood chippings just add to muddy boots creating a pebbledash effect, these stalks should stay in place better, we’ll see.

Now that I have a wall-builder on board there are certain jobs that need to be done before he is here again on Saturday so why, I wonder, am I doing a job that I’ve put off now for over a year? I wonder if I am feeling the need to reclaim my reflexive methods of working, or perhaps I just don’t like being told what to do!

semiotic tangle

4.23pm. I’ve been digging for about an hour, as the rain increased the light decreased. I’ve found what I think must have been concrete steps leading from the higher to lower level. Probably because of this having been a pretty permanent structure (until now) the nettle roots are some of the most impervious I’ve come across, they had woven themselves through a wire basket that had been buried there causing it to become at one with them, passively losing its original meaning.

This morning I was reading an essay about language and meaning, I feel rather like the wire basket when I read about semiotics, the concepts seem to tangle up my thoughts rather than liberating them. So, frustrated and slightly cabin-crazy from being in the house most of the day I decided to dig the remaining daylight hours. I intend to persist in the reading of philosophy alongside my allotment processes to discover whether one may begin to throw light on the other and vice versa.

preparation for a birthday

No digging yet today. It’s our middle daughter’s 21st this weekend so I started by sawing and filling my car boot with logs for the fire. Then I harvested what I could find, a few remaining potatoes, some small straggly carrots, 2 magnificent parsnips, three lacy cabbages and several Jerusalem artichoke. I even found some rocket and chicory that had survived the ice and frost as well as mint, thyme and sage.

The council lorry is coming early tomorrow morning so I’ve been sorting some rubbish at the same time as clarifying the space around the wall that my friend and I are spending the next few Saturday afternoon’s repairing. I can’t get used to seeing my images as though through a mirror. It is the result of taking pictures straight into my computer using its Photo Booth mode. Maybe I should take them through Photoshop and reverse them?

dark too soon

Sitting here in my shed in the dark, just as well that my laptop has an illuminated keyboard. I’ve taken a photo of myself that looks like something from hallowe’en!

It’s only 4.39 and it is now so dark I couldn’t see what I was digging and had to stop. It rained all day yesterday and I didn’t get here until later today as it started wet so the ground is pretty saturated. I started digging the lower section and became frustrated by it all being heavy and sticky so I did some pruning up by the wall that we are repairing, me and my wall-building friend. Since then I’ve been digging along the wall, which is much lighter and not as wet as the lower section. I’ve been digging out nettle and willow-herb roots and finding the most perfect soil. I think I’ll use this section for a seedbed and then plant pumpkins and marrows along it.

ordinary transformation

As I was sawing just now I came across an elder branch that had one polished bark-less side where it had clearly rested and rubbed against another branch influencing its growth into an irregular, twisted shape. I was reminded of a dear friend who worked and subsequently died in an accident on a scrap yard near to where I used to live. He used to save these sorts of branches to show me and he’d then carve and transform them into creatures that were suggested by the knots and twists in the branch or root. He would do the same with discarded metal using welding. As I was contemplating him and the influence he has clearly had on my current art practice I gazed up to the cloudless blue sky to see two planes drawing a heavenly kiss above me.

talking paths

I brought some more people to the allotment today, it seems to be something I’m doing lately. I made them cups of tea and coffee and we talked about peace and quiet as well as paths and how best to maintain them. One of the people who I’d never met before is a countryside conservation volunteer.. Tiny the cat came to meet them too.

The light’s dropping now and as a result the midges are waking up and getting hungry, I can feel them biting… always an indicator that it’s time to be going home. It’s only 4.07, the days seem very short now.

spontaneous actions and reactions

Tuesday 13th November 2007

I’m trying a new way of recording what happens here on the allotment by bringing my laptop with me and typing straight into it and also recording video and images directly into it. I’m interested to see if this allows for a fresher, more direct communication.

It was wet this morning so I decided not to dig and instead when I wandered into the local hardware shop at the end of my dog walk this morning to buy acrylic primer, I came out having acquired 25kg of galvanised wire and the hooks needed to create the fence between me and my bungalow neighbour. I feel slightly guilty spending money so spontaneously and without consultation but it does seem to be not only the best possible solution but also the cheapest. It took me all of an hour to install and the result is an almost invisible boundary… what could be better. It also means I can grow things like sweet peas up it that (as my friend said who I was telling when she walked by) ‘will benefit everyone’. Whilst I was fixing the fence some men came to fit a new clothes drier for my bungalow neighbour on the other side. There was some confusion because I think they thought I lived there and came to talk to me about the washing line, which misled them and ultimately upset my neighbour, and all goes to show how important the fence really is.

Since then I’ve been continuing my mission to prune the elder trees whilst the ground isn’t full of crops that would be crushed by falling branches. The sun is shining on the edge again, it’s such a glorious time of year.

frozen wonderland

Monday 12th November 2007

It’s a frozen wonderland here this morning, which is rapidly being dispersed by brilliant sunshine. It’s now 9degC in my shed but ice instead of water under plant pots is evidence of several degrees below zero overnight. A bit of log-sawing whilst the kettle boils soon acclimatises my body to these chilly conditions.

I’ve been thinking whilst digging of my friend in London who’s husband died last night – hoping she’ll eventually find solace in the digging of her allotment.

Came back after lunch and decided to cut back the elder over my writing/thinking palette. In so doing I discovered that the rambling rose which had seemed inconsequential is in fact a monster. Decided to weave it around the remainder of the elder thus creating what I hope will become a shady rose arbour next summer. Halfway through this job my phone rang… it was my research supervisor ringing for a pre-arranged telephone session at 2pm intended to be on my home phone! We’ve re-scheduled for 4pm.

boundaries and stories

Friday 9th November 2007

Two separate streams of thought today whilst digging…

Firstly and most prominently about boundaries, safety, vulnerability and different people’s perceptions of these issues. A friend is coming to repair my dry stone walls (boundary walls) tomorrow which is why this is on my mind.

The other thinking has been about an event I’m presenting at a gallery in December in which I’m hoping that things I’ve found in the ground will transform into stories found in the audience.