WADHURST MARKET

There is once again a market each Thursday afternoon from 2.00pm at Wadhurst Commemoration Hall. We have not had a market for over 20 years so it is great to see its return. Sadly not every one is happy about this and some of the shop owners decided to start a petition against the market. They failed to mention that the stall holders in the market were all going to be  local people such as myself with their home grown or home made produce.

The first market last week was a great success with many people attending and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. They were able to sit and have a cuppa and a chat before picking the children up from school.

The stalls were all of a very high quality and included organic home reared meat and game, sausages, handmade fresh fish cakes, organic bread and cakes, home made cheese, gorgeous flavoured apple juice from an old apple orchard, organic home grown vegetables, paintings and handmade natural doggy treats.

There was also  my husband there selling his fabric remnants, antique upholstered chairs and bric a brac. A lady selling her paintings and a lady advertising here photography.

We even had a clown outside entertaining the children.

Lets hope that the shop holders will realise that the market will bring in many new customers to the village who will not only visit the market but go and have a look in their shops and hopefully purchase goods from them.

RECYCLING & COMPOSTING IN OUR HOME

We try to recycle as much as possible in our home & with 14 free range hens it is not to hard to recycle any vegetable waste. They will eat any left over bread, which we soak in water or natural yogurt, cake, biscuits, crackers & pastry. They love Marmite on toast, which gives them the extra vitamin B they require, & will fight over any rice or pasta that is left in our house. My neighbors all bring along their unwanted kitchen scraps sorted into root veg, salad or table waste. I then feed the salad to the hens boil up the root veg & make a mash for them & the rest goes in my special compost bin.

I sell any eggs to cover the cost of their feed, corn & elephant grass which I use in their nesting boxes as it has a natural anti-bacteria & I can also compost it or put it round the vegetable to keep the slugs & snails away.

I also shred any paper (not glossy) & this goes in the bottom of their hen house. Then when it is soiled it to is added to the compost bin.

MY NATURE GARDEN

 I have a lovely vegetable garden with an abundance of runner beans, peas, cucumbers, cabbages etc thanks to my lovely hens and the compost. It is full of butterflies  so I expect to loose a few cabbages but it is lovely to see so many different ones.

I also have nesting boxes all over my garden and have had 2 robins nesting in them a Wren in the hedge and a several blackbird families. The blackbirds wait for me to feed my fish in the pond then they come down and take the food and feed it to their young. The pond also has a waterfall which the bird love to bath in and drink from.

I have a second large pond which is totally natural, with no fish. In this there is always frog spawn, newts, dragonfly lava and many other water species.

I keep a natural area with brambles, nettles and lots of rotting wood for insects hedgehogs and other species to live in or dine at. If each of us could just set a side a small area then maybe many of our insects would manage to survive.

This wet weather is not helping my tomatoes they are starting to look water logged and some of the leaves are going moldy. Not sure what I can do about that. It is such a shame as I have some lovely large plum tomatoes just waiting to ripen.

I had a Wood Pecker visit a dead tree in the back of my garden yesterday. I have been hearing it tapping for a few days now but could not catch site of it. It was a lovely red colour with black spots. He stayed around for about a hour tapping at the tree.

Sad morning I found a young blackbird dead in my natural pond. 

I am the secretary of the Sussex Group Motor Caravanner's Club and my husband is the Chairman. We have been members for 6 years and have been to rallies all over the country.

It is a very friendly club and there is always great places to visit with your motor home for a weekend throughout the year.

We have an annual holiday rally at Selsey over the Bank holiday  for 5 nights with a full line up of professional entertainment every night, a heated swimming pool, showers and toilets. We enter a motor home in the carnival and help to raise money for the local charities. This year with have the popular group UNION GAP.

If you are interested in joining the club then email me for a joining form and more details.