Pavement Meadow

You could easily be mistaken from these photos into thinking I have been for a walk in a beautiful meadow in the countryside, 

When in actual fact I was walking along a pavement near my house where the council have planted a lovely wild flower meadow.

How cool is that?  Thankyou local council for cheering up my day everytime I walk past this beautiful patch of pavement, great for bees and other insects, birds, biodiversity generally and of course, my well being. Such beautiful colours.

Playing in the Sand

You would probably think that playing in the sand is something only slightly older children can do, babies would eat the sand obviously, so sand pits are a no-go for them.  Or are they?  I found the idea to create a sand pit for babies using edible sand, namely corn meal, and to my amazement a local supermarket actually had some, (it's also called polenta, but is a powder rather than a block that we are more familiar with).  If you are wondering where to find it, have a look in the "world foods" section in your supermarket, it's probably there in a very big bag made by an unfamiliar brand.
I put a load into a plastic tub and let Biscuit get stuck in with spoons and scoops, he ate it of course but that was ok because it was perfectly safe!  Yippie!

Of course the corn meal sand pit was much more exciting for Boris than his actual sand pit so he got stuck in there too!

Playing with sand (and corn meal) is a great sensory experience for both babies and toddlers, they can move it around with their hands and fingers, scoop it with cups and spoons; helping them to understand about volumes and the qualities of sand, and especially with corn meal, tastes and textures, there is so much learning potential with sand.  What activities do you do with sand?

Elderflower Champagne

In the past I have made elderflower cordial and elderflower presse, but never champagne, so I had to give it a go, I mean what could be more delicious to enjoy on a warm summers evening than glass of bubbling homemade Elderflower Champagne? or as I prefer to call it; Elderflower Berkshire.  I made this a few weeks ago and now I have 6 bottles good to go.  Can't wait to share it with friends in the garden.  Here is how I made it:

I got 4 liters of hot water,
700g sugar,
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar,
About 15 elderflower heads in full bloom, gathered on a sunny day,

Juiced and zested the lemons

Added the sugar to the hot water in a sterile fermenting bucket,

Added the lemon juice and zest to the bucket then topped the bucket up with enough cold water to make up 6 liters,

Added the elderflower heads and white wine vinegar,

Got a little boy to give it a stir,

Covered with a cloth then left for a couple of days.  I then checked it, it was foamy, and fizzing but if it wasn't I would have added a pinch of yeast to get it going  Left it for another four days then filtered it through a clean muslin.

Poured it into sterilised bottles and left for at least a week before drinking, frequently releasing the pressure from the carbon dioxide that is produced in the bottles by the continued fermentation process. 

DRANK IT!!  Sorry I didn't photograph that but I can assure you it was delicious, so sweet and fizzy!  Definitely worth making again, it didn't take long to make and was super cheap, just lemons and sugar really.  Give it a go before all the elderflowers have gone!

Have you even made elderflower champagne?  Was it delish?  What else have you tried?

Here is the full recipe I used courtesy of channel four and River Cottage.

Don't forget to gather the elderflower away from the road.