Forest Garden

Llanfyllin has a forest garden on the floodplain of the River Cain that was started in 2014. It's a food producing garden of perennials that incorporates all levels of plants: trees, shrubs, wildflowers and herbs in an attempt to emulate a bountiful natural woodland. In other words, it's a multilayered foraging garden (forest-gardens)

The fruit and herb produce from this garden are freely available to all residents to harvest. 

We have a wide variety of heritage apple trees grafted by Tom the Apple Man in Welshpool, as well as raspberries, sloe berries (blackthorn or Prunus spinosa), quinces, pears, herbs, and medlars, which are new to me. 

Medlars (Mespilus germanica) look a bit like a cross between a rose hip and and an apple, and apparently need to undergo a process of 'rotting' before becoming edible. They are a rare and ancient fruit, popular in medieval times, and mentioned in some Shakespeare plays.

We came home with quite the bounty!

Now for some baking to warm up the house ...

Nature's Arch

We've seen a lot of rainbows from our house (yes, it's because we have a lot of rain showers followed by sunshine).

The latest arch of light had intense, deep color, was a perfect bow, and was doubled, too!

As you can see, our locust tree's fall cloak is beginning to show

Rosy Evening

We walked down to the pub last week for their fortnightly movie event, and were lucky enough to see this glorious sight on our way there - we thought it was going to make us late because we kept stopping for more photos!

We are so lucky to be in such a gorgeous spot

On our walk home, we had fantastic views of the Big Dipper, too - how lovely it is to be on foot!

Litter Picking

I've become involved in our local litter picking group, and now have my own equipment from the umbrella group BRACE (Building Resilience And Community Engagement) so I can collect litter any time, with the right supplies.

I'm really happy to report that I'm not finding much trash! It takes many hours to fill a bag, which is unusual. I shouldn't complain, because it takes me out to all parts of town, giving me new perspectives on familiar places, and the opportunity to explore new areas.

This is the stream known as Afon Abel not far from our home. It's fenced off and its banks and flow have been modified over time.

All the litter collected this week was displayed at the Public Institute last Sunday, sign courtesy of moi.