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The John Seymour School
for Self-Sufficiency
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Will Sutherland
Nov 7, 20201 min read
Winter is coming!
We still have parsnips, broccoli and curly kale in the garden. There are still plenty of delicious apples on the espaliered fruit trees...
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Will Sutherland
Oct 2, 20202 min read
Autumn clearance!
Yes, it's the time of harvest and autumn clear-ups! Plenty of autotelic activity! There is still a lot to do – hundreds of tasty apples...
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Will Sutherland
Sep 12, 20204 min read
In the Garden – Fruit, Fruit, Fruit......Beans, Beans, Beans....
The time for planting and weeding is over – August is the time for harvest! All the fruit trees are heavily laden – so much so that one...
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Will Sutherland
Aug 6, 20203 min read
Summer overflow!
Nature is burgeoning, blooming and over-flowing all over the garden. Even though this happens every year, it is still a re-assuring...
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Will Sutherland
Jul 5, 20202 min read
Mid Summer Abundance in the Garden
It's mid-summer and the garden is full of good things growing! Weeds are pretty firmly under control – thanks to regular hoeing. After...
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Will Sutherland
Jun 2, 20204 min read
May in the Garden
Sunshine and more sunshine – has been the story of May in the garden. But the breezes have been cool and some of the nights downright...
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Will Sutherland
May 5, 20203 min read
An ideal spring ?
The broccoli was (and is) great. We've enjoyed sumptuous green shoots almost every other day now – and there are 22 bags safely stored...
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Apr 4, 20201 min read
The garden is waking up!
At last – dry weather, fresh broccoli and lots of seeds already sown. Spring is on the way and the primroses are sweetly blooming. ...
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Will Sutherland
Jan 23, 20201 min read
In the Workshop – More Northumbrian scythes for sale!
There is no better therapy for bodily pain and discomfort than creative working in wood. During winter months I try to spend 2 or 3...
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Will Sutherland
Jan 23, 20202 min read
Winter Garden News
Back to Earth After the wettest autumn I can ever remember the weather has finally let up and routine work in the garden goes on. For...
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Will Sutherland
Dec 1, 20191 min read
Wet, Wet, Wet....
All in the garden is WET, WET, WET!! I can never remember such a wet “back-end”. There are still parsnips and beetroot in the...
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Will Sutherland
Oct 6, 20193 min read
September - the Harvesting month
In the Garden (and in the Kitchen) September is a month of harvesting and “mellow fruitfulness”! Every two days I have been picking...
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Will Sutherland
Aug 4, 20196 min read
Summer Life of the Garden
Each year brings its surprises – its sad failures and its magnificent successes. 2019 has been no different. Spring was a strange one –...
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Will Sutherland
Jun 13, 20192 min read
Poem from the Spring Garden
The seeds have spouted, sucking in the air Transforming its carbon without a care Powered by sunlight and the soil below Together it's...
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Will Sutherland
May 9, 20195 min read
Spring 2019 course brewed a good batch!
It's exciting when a new course begins on a Friday to imagine the interesting people (the students) I'm going to be working with in the...
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Will Sutherland
Apr 2, 20193 min read
Use the “Force” - make your own bread and begin to change the world!
This month we are talking about spring in the garden - but you don't need a garden to experience the “force” of life! Anyone can make...
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Will Sutherland
Mar 24, 20193 min read
Spring is here and the first seeds are in the ground
Salad crops, courgettes and pumpkins are now germinating in the greenhouse. Potatoes, parsnips and celeriac are already under the...
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wllmsutherland
Dec 11, 20182 min read
AUTUMN PRUNING
So the leaves have fallen and the first frosts have put the garden into its winter sleep. I've scooped up most of the fallen leaves (the...
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wllmsutherland
Dec 10, 20182 min read
Save the Future by Composting
Composting and your New Year's Resolution On our small space-ship Earth, the long term future of our human civilization depends entirely...
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wllmsutherland
Oct 21, 20181 min read
21 Bags of Parsnips!
All gardeners know there old saying about parsnips - " first in, last out"! So here we are enjoying the true Autumn harvest which...
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