Day 151 - Thrilled to announce.....

Friday 31st May

Another month has flown by as I hang on for dear life.  Where is this year going?  Today has been just lovely as I spent time with my girl.  When Molly is away at university the house reverts to a male dominated space and I have to rely on my naughty dog, Lottie, and my very naughty kitten, Mimi, for female company.  The problem with that is that neither do shopping or tea and cake.  I am, therefore, less convinced of their gender because all girls love to shop and eat cake.  It is in our DNA.

Typically, with Molly, we switched into planning mode as we looked ahead through the summer.  I admire Molly's bravery as she just throws herself into all these placements not knowing where she is going or who she will meet.  It is going to be a busy summer for her but it should reap enormous rewards.  I don't believe it is enough to have a degree these days.  I believe that this has to be balanced with relevant professional experience and this has been Molly's aim from the start.  Last summer she spent two weeks as a RSPB volunteer at Forsinard Flows in the very north of Scotland.  She loved it so much that this summer is jam packed with voluntary placements including her assistant warden work on the Isle of Eigg for the month of July. 

Molly is taking all this a step further this year and has just set up her own blog, Conservation Stories, so she can blog her way through the experiences.  Despite heading in a science direction she decided to take English on to A level and it has been one of her best decisions to date.  It meant that she continued to develop her writing skills and now they are going to come in very handy.  But it does not stop there because I am thrilled to announce that she has agreed to become a guest writer on my new site 'One soul many hearts.'  The title of her own blog, Conservation Stories, is a slight play on words.  Molly believes that she can introduce us to the beginning and even the middle of the stories but she wants to work to change the endings.  She is particularly interested and committed to pulling species back from thee brink of extinction and therefore the ending needs to be changed if the story is to be successful. 

I love the potential of this strategy and so was very quick to get my request in for her to join One soul many hearts.  We spent some time reflecting on how our professional lives are moving closer together and could easily imagine some joint writing projects.  How excited am I?  I consider it an honour to be working with Molly and I am sure the experience will touch me deeply. 

We also began talking about possible fundraising initiatives of her own and campaigns that she might start to align herself with.  Molly will be able to feed some of that through One soul many hearts as she cuts her teeth of leading her very own campaign.  I will, of course, be right by her side just in case she needs me. 

Thus, I am building a really interesting and diverse team for the new site.  There are almost endless possibilities for more people and I did just want to make one point.  As a collection of people we are all very different.  What binds us together is a willingness to share perspectives be that in written or image form.  I don't think any of us would describe ourselves as experts in our chosen field but I think we would all say that we are passionate about what we will be contributing.  If I am brutally honest I am not looking for seasoned writers, photographers, filmmakers or artists.  I am looking for people who have discovered they have something they would like to share that is grounded in positivity.  The site does not have a political or academic context; it is a place to share all that is good about the world.  So, if you have been thinking you would like to share a perspective through writing or image form but thought you might not qualify the chances are you would - on that basis alone. 

When I worked at the university a member of my team once said to me 'I didn't know I had that in me' when referring to some work she had completed.  There lies the essence of this new site.  It is a space where I hope to foster emerging talent and where the journey will be one that we are all pleased to be on.  If I achieve that I will have realised one of my main goals.   Please, please get in touch if you have something you think you would like to share. 

Of course, I balance all of this with the day to day life of managing an horticultural smallholding so I was back in my tunnel after my little jolly.  Yet more hanging baskets filled and yet more potting on but I don't have little green elves to help me.  I am not complaining because I do love my plants and this week of sunshine has blessed them all.  We are charging along now and everything is bursting out of their pots.  What I don't sell at our plant sale weekend will head towards the raised beds for our own kitchen garden and cut flower needs. 

During watering I spied tiny green strawberries emerging and started jumping up and down with hosepipe in hand.  Possibly not my best idea but you all know how I feel about growing strawberries.  We shall soon be into the first preserve making of the year with our strawberry jam making and you may remember that I want to try drying sliced strawberries.  I will warn you that not all my culinary projects work but it doesn't stop me trying. 

If I am this excited over my strawberries can you imagine how excited I will be as the borage flowers?  I can tell you that that will be any day as the buds are displaying flecks of blue.  If you are busy planting up baskets and pots I can share a little tip with you.  If you line your pot or basket with hay your plants will do much better.  The hay absorbs and holds onto water and stops the soil completely drying out.  Also I wonder if I could just mention that avoiding double flowers is a real must.  Our darling flying insects can't access the pollen so single blooms are always better.  Apologies if I am preaching to the converted here. 

I do hope that those of you who love gardening will manage some time in your space this weekend and do share any pearls of wisdom because I do love to collect them!

A super, super day.

Until tomorrow. xx