Making an Autumn Leaf Bowl

My autumn creations being made from fallen leaves.

I’m really enjoying my art evening class course. We’ve moved away from paper, bleach, coffee and fabric dyes to clay. The idea is that over the next five weeks we will come away with a sculptured work of art depicting something moving. I originally was going to do a study of one of our dogs. I needed images from  360 degree angles but as soon as I point the camera at either of them they run off thinking I’m going to shoot them (that’s my theory anyway) So I am opting for something that stays in one place when it’s photographed, a car. Not just any car though.

Buy and Sell

Over the last few weeks I have spent quite a lot of time on internet buy and sell websites and online auctions and came to the conclusion that I shouldn’t.  I seem to whip myself up into a frenzy when I see something that looks good value for money and buy it. This isn’t usually an issue as it’s only a few cacti from Poland or a few house plants from Holland.

This week I surpassed myself (in the name of art) and bought 7 antique brass wheel hubs that came from horse drawn carriages. They are beautiful pieces too and all have the builder’s names on them, OGorman’s of Clonmel, Briscoe Dublin, Cleery and Breen and P. Hogan, Limerick. They are only small and fit nicely onto the table to be drawn. They certainly don’t move either when I try to capture their image.   

Impulse Buy

That’s not the biggest thing I bought his week though. I spotted an old 1965 Morris Traveller (for those of you that watch Corrie it’s Roy and Haley’s choice of motor)  This car was in Tipperary and looking neglected. I phoned the seller and asked a few questions (not enough as it turned out) then asked if he’d take Paypal – he did, and I got an old jalopy delivered to the door the following day. It’s rusty, smelly and rotten has lots of charm and nostalgia and will be ideal for my latest foray into clay sculptures as this thing isn’t going anywhere fast. 

I’m creating an image of the car sinking at 45 degrees into the ground with the back doors wide open like its screaming. It’s quite an accurate reflection of how I feel parting with money, too easily, on something that will probably end up being a chicken coop in the back garden. Jalopy or not though I have still spent a week polishing it! (Update- I sold it to someone who is going to renovate it to it’s former glory so we are all happy!!)

Autumn Bowls

My creativity knows no bounds this week and I found myself creating some autumn bowls made from fallen leaves.  I followed instructions from a video of a very happy looking person making their bowl in the glorious American sunshine. The glowing red maple leaves casting a warm glow over her face as she held it up to the camera. My attempt was a little less sunny, far more pva glue over me and even more cursing. I don’t know if you have ever tried to glue leaves together onto a bowl. It’s not that easy!  

Here’s how it was done:

I used a large glass bowl, cling film, WD40 (any household oil is good), leaves, PVA glue.

Firstly I had a walk around and collected some brightly coloured leaves, the bigger the better as I found out. I then cut off the thick stems as these would take forever to dry.

 I thought I would try both putting leaves around the outside of the bowl and then the inside to see which was the most successful, these were all stuck down with copious amounts of PVA glue. 

The leaves on the outside I secured into place with a sheet of cling film and on the inside I just pressed them down hard into place.  After a couple of days I removed the leaves from outside of the bowl, leaving on the clingfilm to keep the shape and put that and the bowl in a warm place to dry off the excessive amount of glue (I overdid it a bit).

They are not quite the bright coloured maple leaves that the demonstration recommended but my selection of beech and sycamore leaves picked up on the roadside look quite pleasing in the sunlight.  They are not particularly strong or long lived but they will serve as good fire lighters when I have finished drawing them for my art class.

We do have a very wide range of maples here, also known as Acers, these trees have wonderful displays of autumn colour. If you are lucky enough to have some near you maybe some of them could be made into bowls before being thrown into the compost bin.

Does It Blend?

My new toy, the Nutribullet has changed my eating habits for the better.

I was chatting to my brother a short time ago and he was telling me about his “diet” Well, it’s not a diet as such as we know none of those really work. What he has is something called a Nutribullet. This is a glorified name for a blender (or extractor to use the sales pitch) that’s shaped like a 12” cone and does more or less the same thing as a coffee grinder except you put raw fruit and vegetables into it and it is very easy to clean.

Messy Juicers

I’ve tried juicing fruit such as apples with a very complicated juicing machine before, but at the end of the process you have used up half an orchard, been left with a bucket load of pulp and have two hours worth of cleaning the sieve ahead of you after drinking the juice.  The Nutribullet, my brother claimed has totally changed how he eats and feels great on it. I thought it sounded interesting as it’s more of a lifestyle change than a diet, which as we all really know, is how to lose weight. I had to buy one.

Simplicity

The idea is simple; you fill half of the large cup with raw green leafy vegetables. I started off with some of our own home grown kale and broccoli but found them a bit too ‘flavoursome’ so I put in spinach and shop bought broccoli. My brother then tends to put whatever is in the reduced to sell section of the supermarket or what he can get at the country market and as he is in Australia it’s usually exotic fruits like papayas, mango and bananas.  The mixes, I’ve found are never the same. I like to add nuts and berries into mine as well as sunflower seeds, sprouted seeds, and one of my favourites at the moment is frozen peas, it makes the drink sweet and also chills it.  Of course the drinks are as healthy as you want to make them. My lads opt for the biscuit, milk, peanut butter and chocolate spread option.

Breakfast

I have taken to having a ‘Nutriblaster’ as the marketing division call it, for breakfast and I must say it has made a bit impact on my morning.  I used to have a colossal amount of porridge for my start to the day (think one whole suet pudding in a bowl) and all I wanted to do afterwards was sleep. I also found that I couldn’t bend over, say when I needed to weed, as I got acid heartburn (I thought it was an age thing) That’s all gone now, I don’t have an energy lull mid morning and I can bend over in the veggie patch all day now without any bother.  The Nutriblasters are surprisingly filling too as you have all of the fruit and vegetables. When I say all, I mean all, you can put in the skins of everything such as oranges and lemons (including pips).  It’ll grind almost anything up to make the food easily digested but there are a few things that are recommended not to grind such as apple pips (the core is OK) as they have cyanide in them. It’s take a bucket load for you to feel ill but it’s a cumulative effect in the body so best avoided.  

Favourite

My favourite up to yet has been the one where I added lettuce,raw mushrooms, home grown tomatoes, avocado, banana, carrots, garlic and chilli’s. I thought it was delicious but for some reason no-one else in the family agreed. It’s the weird combinations that seem to work (for me anyway) My brother has had at least two of these blends a day for the last three years and he swears by them.  I’ve been on them for a couple of weeks now and I must say I am feeling the benefits. I occasionally have one instead of a cooked meal and of course for breakfast. They are good in the evening too as it’s so tempting to grill the cheese sandwiches for supper. One cup of the raw fruit and veg is a great substitute and takes away any craving for sweet food.

 

Made to last

I’m hoping it’s not going to end up in a cupboard like the Ronco food chopper or the Brevil sandwich maker as I do think it’s a great way to get the full amount of nutrition from fruit and vegetables as everything goes into the cup (which is the only thing to wash as you can drink it straight from that!) The marketers (and my brother) have done a great job at selling the Nutribullet to me and without wanting to sound like a repetitive infomercial – You eat LOTS of healthy raw food, there is NO waste whatsoever, everything goes in seeds, skins, unsightly bits and you can add in things you normally wouldn’t eat (in my case chicory).

There’s one added bonus too, it doesn’t matter if you have teeth or not!

It's Your Duty to be Fruity!

Gareth’s top tips for getting great apples

I’m passing you over to Gareth Austin, our own local community Horticulturist this week as he is extremely knowledgeable about apples amongst a myriad of other gardening related topics.  This week Gareth tells us how to choose and look after apple trees. There’s one to suit every garden!

Ever since Eve bit into the forbidden fruit apple trees have been a source of myth and legend. Top fruit is easily grown in any garden and depending on the type selected they can happily grow in pots or big tubs on the patio. Perhaps Apple are the most common top fruit that we plant and grow, with pears, plums and cherries making up the other popular types. 

How Big

When we first go to select apple trees the first decision is how big do we want them to grow, a Semi-dwarf apple tree grows on a specially selected root-stock which helps to restrict the overall height to around the 10-12' mark when grown in open ground

For the small garden or for growing in Patio tubs look no further than dwarf apples, types like the Golden Delicious  and spur apple variety can be happily grown in containers and pots on the patio or in open ground in small gardens. These trees are grown on a dwarf root-stock so the growth is limited to around the 6'.

Another type of dwarf fruit tree is the Coronet Apple Trees; these are grown on a Dwarf rootstock and will grow to around the 6' mark. These again are ideal for the smaller garden and for large pots on the patio. The habit is small and open, they look just like a small apple tree, and the fruit is regular in size. These can be grown in open ground but they soil has to be rich. The rootstock are slow growing so the roots aren’t able to go for large distances and source their own substance so if your growing in open ground ensure the local area around the tree (1mx1m0.5m) has been well enriched and is well nourished.

Decisions

Once you've decided how big you want your tree the next decision is to decide how you’re going to grow them. If you're choosing a Coronet Apple Tree or a Spur Apple Tree chances are your growing them in big pots on your patio, but if your choosing a semi-dwarf apple tree then you can decide to either grow them as a traditional apple tree in open ground or perhaps espalier against a south or west facing wall or fence . Espalier is a great way of maximising your garden space, it’s how I grow my fruit trees in the garden at the house. 

Spacing wise you're looking to plant espalier fruit trees at least 12' apart, and for traditional orchard trees you’re looking at least 12' apart also. Where space is really limited, and you only have space for 1 tree then why not grow a Family Apple Tree, on the one tree you can have 2 or3 different varieties of fruit grafted together, so your guaranteed fruit year after year (weather permitting of course!)

Cross pollinate

Selecting what varieties to grow is a matter of first deciding how many cookers and how many eaters you want to grow. The important thing is that the varieties you select will all cross-pollinate. To achieve this you have to ensure that they will flower at the same time (an early flowering apple tree may be passed flower before a late flowering fellow breaks bud...and then you'll have no fruit!). 

If I had to select 6 apple trees to plant I'd Plant Bramley, Discovery, Egremount Russet, James Grieve, Worcester Pearmain and Katy. I'd suggest these as there all varieties I've grown lots of before and I know them all to grow and crop well in our climate. However apple tree variety selection is such a personal choice that you should give it some good thought, remember that this apple tree is going to fruit for the next 25 years or more so careful selection now will stand you in good stead for years to come. 

Apple Trees should be pruned each Winter to ensure an open goblet shape, this ensures the trees is less 'packed' with branches and that any flowers which appear can be easily pollinated and the fruit receives enough sunshine to ripen properly and to a good size. Summer pruning is more important on espalier and smaller fruit trees

Care

Winter wash fruit trees after leaf fall with Winter Tree Wash, this helps to kill any overwintering pest and diseases, and helps to control moss, lichen and cankers....our wet weather is wonderful at promoting these!

Mulching and feeding of fruit trees is essential to help promote healthy plants, and autumn and early spring is a busy time in the fruit tree world with this task.

Remember....It’s your Duty to be Fruity!!!

Thanks for the tips Gareth!