Monday 28 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

You Just Keep me Hangin' On

Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' just keeps going

At Lawson Park garden there are a few valiant plants still flowering through the recent hurricanes, worth listing here because as the saying goes 'if it works here it'll work anywhere'. Unlike the last two Novembers we have yet to see a hard frost:

Caltha palustris (the marsh marigold - one of the first flowers here and determined to be the last), clematis 'Black Prince' (pruned very late hence flowering very late), buddleia weyerania (a yellow globular form of the butterfly bush), prunus subhirtella autumnalis (a cherry), annual marigolds (calendula) and rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm', and irrepressible yellow daisy-like perennial (pictured).

Good autumn colour in the form of bark, berries etc is found in cornus alba (common dogwood), salix alba vitillina (yellow willow), stephanandra tanakae (a Japanese shrub we have grown from seed). Viburnum opulus (our native guelder rose) keeps its beautiful red berries much longer than anything else.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5756/you-just-keep-me-hangin-on on 28/11/11 at 12:56 0 Comments

Monday 28 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

You Just Keep me Hangin' On

Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' just keeps going

At Lawson Park garden there are a few valiant plants still flowering through the recent hurricanes, worth listing here because as the saying goes 'if it works here it'll work anywhere'. Unlike the last two Novembers we have yet to see a hard frost:

Caltha palustris (the marsh marigold - one of the first flowers here and determined to be the last), clematis 'Black Prince' (pruned very late hence flowering very late), buddleia weyerania (a yellow globular form of the butterfly bush), prunus subhirtella autumnalis (a cherry), annual marigolds (calendula) and rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm', and irrepressible yellow daisy-like perennial (pictured).

Good autumn colour in the form of bark, berries etc is found in cornus alba (common dogwood), salix alba vitillina (yellow willow), stephanandra tanakae (a Japanese shrub we have grown from seed). Viburnum opulus (our native guelder rose) keeps its beautiful red berries much longer than anything else.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5756/you-just-keep-me-hangin-on on 28/11/11 at 12:56 0 Comments

Wednesday 23 November '11
(from Grizedale Arts Blog)

Wish I could be like David Watt

David Watt who ran one of the few useful shops in the village, just recently passed away. He ran the hardware shop and though he seemed to specialise in dog leads, he always had some magical item that you never knew you needed until you entered his shop. One of the last thing we bought from him was a cable peanut! Everyone seemed to warm to him and even just catching a glimpse of him walking his dog would put you in a nicer mood. He will be greatly missed by the village and by all of us.

Posted by Maria Benjamin on 23/11/11 at 12:28 1 Comment

Monday 21 November '11
(from Grizedale Arts Blog)

...And there was light.

The Christmas lights are all up an on in Coniston now and look fantastic (if a little creepy!) A surprising number of people came along to the switch on, nearly 200, which was well above my pessimistic guesstimate of 20.   Richard Ryan, Manager of the Blackpool Illuminations was due to switch on the lights but as he was stuck in traffic, and with people getting bored of mulled wine very quickly, we had one of our favourite local ladies, Margaret Proctor, switch on the lights for us and pose for press photos. We were handed the job of organising the Christmas Lights from a committee of local women who have done this for 11 years. We have been quite anxious about their response to all the changes we have made but fortunately for us, they are very happy with them! Richard arrived just before everyone disappeared into the pub or to dominos night (one of the biggest club nights in Coniston!) so he was able to give his talk on Christmas Lights and the Blackpool Illuminations. We had bought a couple of lights from him and the big Peace on Earth sign, he told us, was originally made for a Robson Green Christmas pop video! 

Posted by Maria Benjamin on 21/11/11 at 16:05 0 Comments

Tuesday 15 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

Minimising Empty Days

Hoping this will be us soon!

These last few months waiting, getting excited about the new arrivals and now we discover that Octavia our pig is no longer pregnant. It seems likely that she was pregnant as she stopped coming into season after being served by a boar back in July. This would have made her due next week but because her mammary glands never developed, we have had to come to the conclusion that she lost her litter. From talking to Carole Barr, whose boar we borrowed to cover Octavia, she must have re-absorbed her pregnancy. This sounds quite gruesome but actually it makes sense for mammals that produce large numbers of offspring. If there's a problem with say just one embryo, rather than the whole litter being aborted, that one embryo can be reabsorbed into the body and the others can carry on to full-term.

From looking online, it doesn't seem that uncommon for a pig to lose her litter this way, but in proper pig business this translates financially as 'empty days' and the aim is to minimise empty days. This is done by either slaughtering the unproductive animal or taking it back to the boar as soon as the re-absorbtion is discovered. Fortunately we don't have to think in these terms as she's not our cash cow, so I think we will minimise her empty days by getting another grower in to keep her company. We'll take her to the boar soon and aim for a spring litter.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5755/minimising-empty-days on 15/11/11 at 17:59 0 Comments

Tuesday 15 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

Minimising Empty Days

Hoping this will be us soon!

These last few months waiting, getting excited about the new arrivals and now we discover that Octavia our pig is no longer pregnant. It seems likely that she was pregnant as she stopped coming into season after being served by a boar back in July. This would have made her due next week but because her mammary glands never developed, we have had to come to the conclusion that she lost her litter. From talking to Carole Barr, whose boar we borrowed to cover Octavia, she must have re-absorbed her pregnancy. This sounds quite gruesome but actually it makes sense for mammals that produce large numbers of offspring. If there's a problem with say just one embryo, rather than the whole litter being aborted, that one embryo can be reabsorbed into the body and the others can carry on to full-term.

From looking online, it doesn't seem that uncommon for a pig to lose her litter this way, but in proper pig business this translates financially as 'empty days' and the aim is to minimise empty days. This is done by either slaughtering the unproductive animal or taking it back to the boar as soon as the re-absorbtion is discovered. Fortunately we don't have to think in these terms as she's not our cash cow, so I think we will minimise her empty days by getting another grower in to keep her company. We'll take her to the boar soon and aim for a spring litter.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5755/minimising-empty-days on 15/11/11 at 17:59 0 Comments

Saturday 12 November '11
(from Grizedale Arts Blog)

An Update of the Kitchen Update

Seventeen volunteers showed up on Tuesday to get stuck into more revamping of Coniston Institute. The kitchen was the priority. Since the new units were put in a few weeks ago, we hadn't had a chance to add the finishing touches like putting up shelves and deciding which cupboard for cups and which for plates and where we should keep the tea towels. It's all looking great and working so we're looking forward to cooking a big thank you dinner for all the volunteers, committee members and funders.

We also had a massive clear-out of a general hoard found squatting in the basement. The mouse-nibbled shuttlecocks, broken Christmas decorations, rotting curtains and paint brushes gone hard, filled a trailer and three cars. 

Then came the rubble.... a wall has come down to make a once overflowing storage room and dark corridor into a beautiful new library.... update to follow.

Posted by Maria Benjamin on 12/11/11 at 23:26 2 Comments

Friday 11 November '11
(from Grizedale Arts Blog)

"It may be winter outside, but in my heart it's spring"

...As the rain lashes the window on a Friday night, I find myself wondering if Barry White was much of a gardener?

Anyhoo, I'm posting to remind you that the Grizedale garden at Lawson Park opens next year to you - the public - for charidee (the National Garden Scheme, it's prestigious don't you know).

The big cakes and all date is SUNDAY SEPT. 2ND 2012 - save the date now and order your waterproofs.

But you can also contact me if you're in the area another time and if I'm around you'll be most welcome.

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 11/11/11 at 19:25 0 Comments

Friday 11 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

It doesn't do this autumn-light thing often....

A north-east wards view of the bog and upper Farmhouse Garden, Nov. 2011

... so make the most of it.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5754/north-east-view-of-the-farmhouse-garden on 11/11/11 at 19:21 0 Comments

Friday 11 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

It doesn't do this autumn-light thing often....

A north-east wards view of the bog and upper Farmhouse Garden, Nov. 2011

... so make the most of it.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5754/north-east-view-of-the-farmhouse-garden on 11/11/11 at 19:21 0 Comments

Friday 11 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

How do you spell 'Ssssshhhh' again?

During recent rainy weather a nice local signwriter has been at last inscribing our Library Manifesto on an interior wall.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5753/how-do-you-spell-ssssshhhh-again on 11/11/11 at 19:08 0 Comments

Friday 11 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

How do you spell 'Ssssshhhh' again?

During recent rainy weather a nice local signwriter has been at last inscribing our Library Manifesto on an interior wall.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5753/how-do-you-spell-ssssshhhh-again on 11/11/11 at 19:08 0 Comments

Friday 11 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

Behind the curtain there are 342 species

An as-yet-unpublished area of our web site here - and one that would make Kew Gardens even greener with envy - is a plant database designed by Dorian Moore for us, and to wihch I have just added the 342nd plant entry.

It's all very clever, with maintenance info I can update for future LP gardeners, pictures and even notes on edibility. I promise that one day we will publish it. Promise.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5751/behind-the-curtain on 11/11/11 at 19:03 0 Comments

Friday 11 November '11
(from Lawson Park Blog)

Behind the curtain

An as-yet-unpublished area of our web site here - and one that would make Kew Gardens even greener with envy - is a plant database designed by Dorian Moore for us, and to whch I have just added the 342nd plant entry.

It's all very clever, with maintenance info I can update for future LP gardeners, pictures and even notes on edibility. I promise that one day we will publish it. Promise.

Originally posted at www.lawsonpark.org/blog/5751/behind-the-curtain on 11/11/11 at 19:03 0 Comments

Wednesday 9 November '11
(from Grizedale Arts Blog)

Rietdale. Gerrit?

On Monday we took delivery of this fine Rietdale Chair made by Harvey Wilkinson, former curator at Blackwell. The chair is a hybrid of the 1917 Red and Blue Chair by Gerrit Rietveld and the Eskdale school of woodcarving, produced by itinerant craftsmen in the valley of Eskdale in the English Lake District around the same time.  The Eskdale woodcarvers were never recognised as a movement or driving force in arts and crafts , yet their extraordinary designs in carved oak offer a proto-modernist version of design evolved in this remote valley, like some lost evolutionary offshoot.

Harvey has not created this piece as an art joke, but as a genuine improvement on what he sees as a slightly clunky attempt at a chair. The frame is built in beech, the arms in oak and the seat and back in ply. The edition of ball and ring turning to the legs is conceived to give the whole thing 'lift' in the traditional manner.  Further models with material variations are to be developed and it is surprisingly comfortable.

Posted by Alistair Hudson on 09/11/11 at 21:29 1 Comment