Wiggly Wigglers

Trees!

2009-11-29T17:53:00.004Z

As we all know, trees are wonderful things and they are certainly one of my favourite subjects to photograph. One of my favourite places to go, particularly in the Autumn, is Queenswood Arboretum in Herefordshire where you can see amazing leaf colours like this:-

But leaves are not essential. I am quite fond of dead trees too and here is one the one at Lower Blakemere Farm that I took on Open Farm Sunday in 2008 whilst on Farmer Phil's tractor ride:-

Wiggly Photos

2009-11-21T16:42:00.002Z

The latest Wiggly catalogue has landed and you may have seen (on Page 21) some photos of Farmer Phil's lovely bright sunflowers. The sunflower patches are just down the round from Blakemere Farm in Preston-On-Wye and Bridge Sollers.

Heather asked me if I could take a few photos and since I don't need asking twice when it comes to photography, off I went with my trusty Nikon D90 (best birthday present ever). That few turned out to be 80 plus and if you have the time, you can see them all HERE!

If you were lucky enough to receive a Wiggly box of sunshine, this is where the flowers started life.

I have been interested in photography for quite some time and have owned many different cameras. My current baby is the Nikon D90 which is a DSLR. But I also currently own a Canon Powershot (digital), Canon EOS 3000 SLR and a Lomo which is a mass produced Soviet camera that takes wonderfully retro looking pictures.

Wiggly Podcast 0202

2009-11-19T14:50:00.001Z

Have you listened to the Wiggly Podcast lately? Go on give it a go!

The Destruction of Indestructible Socks
The main topic of the show is the annual trauma of testing Phil's cows for TB, but Heather can't make it to the Wiggly Sofa so Richard and Phil host the show together for the first time. They introduce some Phil bashing from listener Ken Boulton; a frankly amazing impression of a bunny in distress; full coverage of the visit from the TB vet; and even manage to plug some Wiggly Products. It's as though they had a script...

We love lovely letters!

2009-11-05T15:51:00.002Z

Here's one that came in just now after one of our mealworm dishes was a little worse for wear when arriving in the post.

Dear Karen,

The postman has just delivered the replacement dish, and it is in one piece. Thank you for your prompt response, the dish is now under my beech hedge full of worms, I will check it later and (if the black birds, robins and local pheasants leave any) add some peanut bits and raisins for my two hedgehog visitors, just in case they are still foraging. I have a small Silver Birch tree about 10 feet from my patio door which is festooned with the apple houses, live food feeder, Suet cake cage, peanut and seed feeders I purchased from you in the summer. I spent a lovely half hour or so about a week ago when I sat at my dinning table and watched: - half a dozen long tailed tits (I had to look these up as I'd never seen any before), a small flock of gold finches, a couple of haw finches, a green finch, robin, a couple of dunnocks and a grey squirrel all at the tree at the same time. The squirrel was taking pieces of suet ball hung in the apple houses, eating some then burying the rest in different parts of the garden (not sure if it will be in tact when he looks for it again later though).

This all started because I bought a 'Can o Worms' from your stall at one of the Gardener's World Live' Shows a couple of years ago (which I might add is going strong) and of course browsed your catalogue. I didn't have any trees in my old garden and even though I rented a property on a working farm didn't see anything like the diversity of wild life I have seen since moving here in March of this year including (for a few weeks just after I moved in) a young fox who visited the garden every morning.

Many thanks again not just for the good service but for the sheer beauty happening outside my patio door, I forgot to mention the two Jays who periodically visit the suet balls and have done all summer.

I would be very happy for you to use this email as a testimonial on your web site if you wished.

All the best
Julia

greenhouse envy

2009-11-03T20:46:00.003Z

apparantly, the more urban a population, the more romantic their view of nature. or so says radio 4 as i'm washing the dishes. i'm sure this conflicts with a more interesting (and trashier) story about new yorkers having a fear of grass and leaves but i'm willing to admit that as the nights draw in i idealise my little 'yard-en' more and and more.

the victorians (who would have occupied my house -- albeit with 5 children according to the census--where did they *put* them??) had a thing about ferns and i kind of fancy having a go at this myself. they despaired at the inability to grow plants outside because of the thick pervasive smog in most cities and so, to make a long story short, it became fashionable to grow plants and lichens in glass boxes and even in 'living pictures' which could hang on the wall.

as new kinds of glass developed, they went mad for houseplants -- particularly ferns. a fashionable house had to have many plants -- they showed not only status but moral fibre.

i like the victorians. the more i learn about them the more i think this neighborhood must have been absolutely bonkers and nothing like we might think. for example -- whereas we have a fashion for stripped floor boards, they liked to paint them black with tar or resin. i can't imagine a darker colour adding much in the way of happiness to last you though winter though i can imagine it as a fitting context in which to sit and construct myself some bizarre glass boxes with tiny pseudo-tropical environments inside.

well, just about anyway.

for those of you who are tempted -- here is a mad blog i've found about houseplants btw
http://blogginghouseplants.blogspot.com/

Smelly Feet? you NEED goat socks!

2009-10-28T16:45:00.005Z

I've just received this note in from Christine:

"...anyway, about comfort socks, I wear mine with my walking boots, I've got really smelly feet but they don't take up the smell! I bought for my of the plain ones for my son and girlfriend for wearing in bed, they love them. I've been shopping with you for some years now and always have been pleased with my purchases. Thank you so much, Christine"

She is right you know. They are made of mohair and goat hair is a bit like the hair on your head. It insulates, but breathes. Some people not too far from me now hardly ever wash their goat socks anymore... But of course this is not a Wiggly recommendation! In fact I can vouch for machine washing and even tumble drying (if nec) your Wiggly Goat Socks! ORDER HERE!

Aconbury Wood

2009-10-27T07:39:00.002Z

Coppicing is a traditional method of managing woodland in which young tree shoots are repeatedly cut down to near ground level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge, and, after a number of years the coppiced tree is ready to be harvested, and the cycle begins again. (Note that the noun coppice means a growth of small trees or a forest coming from shoots or suckers.)

The woodland is harvested in rotation, - just as with the crops on our farm. In this way, a crop is available each year somewhere in the woodland. Coppicing has the effect of providing a rich variety of habitats, as the woodland always has a range of different-aged coppice growing in it, which is really beneficial for biodiversity.

Chestnut can be grown in this way and because it is straight and really hard the orginal use was to provide hop-poles to support the hop plants whilst they are growing . Nowadays is it usually cut on a 12 to 18 year cycle to make into cleft chestnut paling fences or stakes.

One of the local woods on the Duchy Estate runs a project, in conjunction with Wye Wood, to encourage people with both physical and mental health problems to learn traditional skills and improve their quality of life. Partly funded through the local Primary Care Trust and the Forestry Commission, people are referred to the project to take advantage of woodland walks or to develop their skills through learning traditional crafts. The result of all this is healthier, happier individuals …and these lovely feeders. Made from Chestnut, a naturally durable hardwood (fence posts made with Chestnut last longer than those made from Oak!), these lovely feeders will last in your garden for many years to come.

phoenix poppies

2009-10-20T11:51:00.003+01:00

well, beggars can't be choosers so i've decided that if i can't remove all the stuff my neighbors keep dumping into the shared alley behind our houses, i can at least beautify it! and doesn't it look gorgeous? okay, there's some work to do and even since this pic i've noticed that drainage is a big bad issue but...into this wheelbarrow i've dumped some mushroom compost and 2 packets of poppies and wildflowers. i'm hoping that come spring something beautiful will rise from the ashes. the larger vision is that the same plants will selfseed the whole quarter mile corridor of decorative tellys and beer cans.
if anyone can recommend plants (from seed) that i could throw on the ground and which would probably grow just about anywhere i would be grateful. meanwhile my small and secret mission continues....

The Postal Strike

2009-10-20T09:10:00.005+01:00

Following this week's announcement that Royal Mail Strike action will likely affect deliveries across the

, we have made our decisions on how to ensure we provide an excellent service. This is our top priority...

So:

Where it is possible this week we will upgrade your order to go with a courier (in our case Business Post and APC) so that your deliveries will arrive right on time - no problems. You will already be aware most of our deliveries and ALL of our flowers get sent this way anyway and so will be unaffected.

For small amounts of LIVE food (under 1 kilo) please order today TUESDAY (before 2pm) so that we can get your order in the post and delivered before the strike starts. We will bring all those orders on a multimail standing order basis forward from Wed, Thurs, Friday to today so that these wont get caught up.

Our courier does not need a signature so when you order if you are not going to be in please pop a note to say where you would like your order left and this should minimise the strike action.

Cross your fingers it will all be sorted out in the meantime!

Heather

Thank you Wiggly Wigglers from Kingsley St. John's primary school

2009-10-18T11:11:00.000+01:00

Recently Wiggly Wigglers offered the chance of some re-furbished wormeries for organisations and schools. Kingsley St. John's Primary School were lucky enough to be chosen for one and I went along to help set it up and explain the hows, why and what's to the children.

Please visit the following blog post on how the wormery was set up.

And thanks to everybody at Wiggly Wigglers for donating the wormery - it is much appreciated by everybody at the school.

Zagreb Floristry

2009-10-16T17:48:00.003+01:00

Here is a spot of inspiration for the Wiggly Florists me thinks...
Rach and I spotted these whilst in Croatia the other day encouraging young potential entrepreneurs to start their own business.
Aren't they lovely?

Hey Mr Robin!

2009-10-02T15:59:00.012+01:00

Wiggly customer Dawn just sent in these wonderful photos and describes how her garden birds appreciate their mealworms:

"Our main client is a very friendly robin that has been visiting since last year - he greets us every morning and often sings for his grubs & takes them from the hand.

In the spring he brought his wife along and she also took grubs from us and it was a very hectic time keeping up with their family's demands! We would often work in the garden and have both robins flitting around hoping for grubs - landing on tools and even at the breakfast table!

Keep up the good work of providing these things - although we have some beetles and a large tub with baby wigglers there is no way we can keep up with demand!

It is so wonderful to be able to have the trust of a wild creature and to be able to photograph it without disturbing it - he is a wonderful poser and at times seeks out the lens when he see the camera, I am sure he checks himself out! No doubt he will adorn many a Christmas card.

I have attached a couple more photos that may amuse - for one I turned around and saw him sunbathing next to me after a busy morning feeding his family, the other was taken in early spring when he was wooing his lady."

dark berries

2009-09-19T11:04:00.003+01:00

thank you maud hartley on whose grave i have at last found some respectable brambles! collecting them was a treat -- i must have got about 2 punnets but not without considerable odd looks from passers-by. i dunno but i guess it's the ultimate compost?

autumn must be here because i've been missing canada and craving carbs. a blackberry crumble with some lovely cooking apples did the trick. i use weetabix crushed up to add a bit of crunch to the topping.

have any of you got leeks as young as mine? at the DIY shop about 2 weeks ago i saw a box and decided to wack them in amongst my green manure (courtesy of my Wiggly seed box) -- i'm a bit dubious about whether they will survive but as veg go they are pretty stiff-upper-lip so no doubt they will be fine. or at least they won't complain too loudly.

as october is just around the corner i'm kicking myself that i didn't get growing pumpkins -- i'm not really sure where they might fit in our classic victorian terrace garden. ideas welcome. i saw an amazing display of hanging gourds in london once....i'll get there -- now let me see if i can find you a picture...

Mutant mistletoe

2009-09-17T13:55:00.004+01:00

I just had to share this crazy picture of Wiggly Wigglers' mistletoe berries just starting to do their stuff from Antony Martin. Berries are available anytime but we won't despatch til Feb 2010.

Wedding Flowers

2009-09-10T21:50:00.001+01:00

Lovely note we've had in today - congratulations to the happy couple too!

Hello there

We just wanted to email to say a huge thank you for our amazing wedding flowers. We have been to about 15 weddings over the last three years so we wanted something different and eco-friendly. We were astounded to see the fantastic flowers you sent for us for our wedding on 1st August 2009. The flower girls magic wands were beautiful, the bridesmaids wrist coursages and buttonholes were perfect, the posies we ordered as thank yous for the mums were so lovely in the little jam jars and my brides posy was just what I wanted - natural and beautiful. I have never seen so many beautiful flowers as those in the cut flower boxes - they were the freshest flowers we have ever seen. We truly can't thank you enough. They were just what we would have picked if we had come to wiggly ourselves! They were such good value for money and all with a clear conscious too. We will send you some photos as soon as we have some.

Thanks again so much. We will most definitely be recommending wiggly to everyone!

Warmest wishes

Gorringe on Twitter for Farmers

2009-09-05T21:37:00.004+01:00

My list of "things I would like to do before I am dead" includes having an article in print in the Farmers Weekly (plus speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, and mastering heelies, ballooning over Kenya...and several others...)
Anyway, this week I have a whole column in The Farmers Weekly to encourage Farmers to Tweet.
It may not be as eloquant as Mr Naylor's effort but it is the page before...
If you want to find Farmers on Twitter follow @followfarmer

FREE Organic Veggie Seeds from Wiggly Wigglers

2009-09-01T21:55:00.003+01:00

Don’t miss The Wiggly E-Newsletter!

“A Little Bit of Countryside in my inbox – and super special offers to boot,” says Mrs B York (Thank you @mrsbyork)

Free veggie seeds when you sign up to the Wiggly E-News. Lots to choose from, please pass the news on if you think you know someone who would like to try planting a packet of Organic Asparagus Pea or Chicory Witloof or even Turnip Purple Top Milan!

Here’s just 5 more reasons why you shouldn’t miss it:

1: Exclusive offers to subscribers

For example, we managed to get hold of Peonies from a farm, and offered a Pile of Peonies Bouquet at a proper Wiggly Bargain price! For

August 2009 we had a standard bouquet in white with Asters, Phlox, our own Wheat and Grasses with a saving of £12… now we’re farming!

2: Free Stuff!

Occasionally, we pass on freebies. In May 2009 we handed out free tickets for events at the Hay Festival. In July 2009 we gave away £10

worth of Wildfl owers. And of course you get invited to all our events.

3: Handy Tips and Gossip

We include relevant tips and gossip from the Wiggly Team and other members of the Wiggly Community – whether it’s a customer who wants

to share a composting tip,Terry Walton explaining how to keep your rhubarb sweet, or even Farmer Phil reporting on the farm harvest…

Wiggly Gossip will deliver that perfect, unbelievable fact for your next night out!

4: Easy Present Giving

Do you hate trudging around the high street, but still like to give your loved ones great gifts? We regularly highlight practical, corking products

which can be wrapped for you and delivered next day if need be.

5: Lastly, it’s extremely easy to unsubscribe!

We shouldn’t like to send you our E-News unless you are enjoying receiving it, so unsubscribing can be done at the click of your mouse.

And no need to worry about junk emails, we don’t pass your details on to any other company at all

A beautiful place to rest

2009-08-27T13:41:00.015+01:00

Heather has always joked that she would like to be buried with a bag of worms to help her on her way back to the earth. A bit extreme maybe, but more and more people are now choosing green burials in wild meadow or woodland sites rather than municiple cemeteries.

When you start to look at funerals from a green point of view, it does become rather troubling. Have you stopped to think about where the wood to make coffins comes from? And what about those floral tributes spiked into oasis? Like most flowers, they have probably travelled 1000s of miles to get to you. OK, well, what about cremation? I find it shocking to discover that each cremation produces on average about 50kg of CO2, or that the mercury from dental fillings is emitted into the air.

All in all, dying is an environmental minefield!

But there is an alternative and green funerals are on the rise. There are now more than 200 natural burial sites around the UK. Some of the sites near to us are truly beautiful.

Have a look at the Humber Woodland of Remembrance. The owners are as much guardians of wildlife as guardians of a burial ground. Diane Thomas uses the Natural History Museum's postcode plant database as her bible of what is allowed to be planted there.

Another magical place is Usk Castle Chase which is run by Native Woodland. Again the site is managed to maintain it's natural habits. The Gwent Wildlife Trust have helped to plan the burial scheme and promote wildlife conservation.

Now this brings me back to the issues of flowers and floral tributes. Of course a wreath of MUM in white carnations is just not going to fit in to these tranquil settings. But a Wiggly Florist sheaf of English flowers, local foliage, all hand tied with rafia, would be simple, seasonal and natural.

So I'm making it my mission to change the face of British funeral flowers and spread the quiet, peaceful beauty of Wiggly flowers to funerals across the land.

Oh, and I'm off to book myself a plot!

guerilla tuesdays

2009-08-25T13:05:00.004+01:00

well, urban foraging brought me home about 10 brambles wrapped up in a muslin square -- not great so i've had to hit the farmers market a few miles away for some damsons. i'd somehow blocked out the pain of picking out all those damson pits from the last time i made jam -- next time someone stop me!

point being however that there is a distinct surfeit of concrete and weedy patches round here which could, with some love, be turned into productive growing space. something which is particularly on my mind today as i've be watching a woman and her daughter who go up and down our street looking through the bins for food. makes you stop and think.

one positive re(action) to all this is guerilla gardening -- check out the blog (or if you're into print in the way i am its a beautiful little hardback book). i'm wondering about sending some seed bombs into next door's decaying garden !

We've got better delivery rates for Highlands and Islands..

2009-08-20T21:43:00.002+01:00

You may remember that last year we had to pass on surcharges for delivery to the far flung corners of the UK, which made Wiggly delivery for some customers very expensive. Since then we have been looking for a way to improve this situation, and finally we've got it.

We have now found a local, independent courier company - CS Couriers - who link in with other local delivery companies to provide a nationwide service. This means that delivery throughout the UK - Highlands, Islands and Northern Ireland included - is back to £3.75 for any size order. (Live Mealworms qualify for free delivery as usual.)

So, I'm delighted to be able to say "Welcome back!" Of course, if you are pretty remote it may mean that delivery takes 48hrs instead of 24hrs.

Cauliflowers and Caterpillars by Simon Sherlock

2009-08-19T20:57:00.005+01:00

Burying Bokashi in a trench for your veggies gets all those beneficials rockin' - This however is not Simon - this is Ricardo. Heather

Here's is Simon's update:

Sharing your vegetable garden with nature

For the most part I love butterflies and do everything I can to encourage them, along with other beneficial insects (bees, ladybirds and lacewings etc) into my garden. Not only do they help pollinate the plants but we're helping to keep their numbers up in these desperate times (times where even the bees are disappearing faster than our pensions). The garden without nature flitting from flower to flower and singing in the trees just doesn't seem complete and lazing in your garden (children permitting of course) on a warm and sunny day gives great pleasure, a feeling of well being and quite often a desire to drink beer. Maybe that's just me.

But this year my enjoyment has been marred somewhat, and it took me a little by surprise.

For this is the year that I decided to grow some vegetables outside – I purchased a couple of raised beds to complement my array of potted vegetables and, using the contents of my wormery and Bokashi bins (as well as a hefty dose of compost from my three compost bins) set about creating what I hoped would be some very successful (though admittedly quite small) vegetable plots.

Planted up with cauliflower, spinach, rocket, onions and a few carrots they soon filled out and I have been astonished at how well everything has grown, as well as how much food can be produced from such a small area. The cauliflowers expanded at such a rate that from early June we were lobbing off the odd leaf for our tea and one leaf, along with some spinach, was often more than enough veg on the side of a meal for the wife and I.

The florets of the caulis soon followed, filled out nicely and, even with such a small plot, we were harvesting more than we could manage and had to give a few away.

But where were the pests everybody complains about?

There were no carrot fly on the carrots, very few slugs and no pests on the leaves. I thought (rather smugly) that I had it made – that or the Bokashi has some other magical ingredient for keeping the beasties at bay. But that was in June when it was very hot – as soon as the rains of July arrived all hell broke loose. Suddenly there were slugs everywhere (early morning and evening patrols were required and were reasonably successful I thought) and, whenever the sun came out, the butterflies appeared.

Previous years joy at seeing a pair of Cabbage White's flitting around the garden together soon turned me into a Victor Meldrew as most of their 'flitting' was being done all over over my lovely cauliflowers! I couldn't squash the eggs quick enough and there were soon lots (and I mean LOTS) of small caterpillars hatching out. Who can believe the speed these little so and so's grow! And the more they grow the more they eat, until a mere two weeks later we are left with two small patches of doilies, I mean cauliflower leaves, that have no chance of recovery! Luckily we have finished the florets now, but I did read that new ones will grow if the plant is left intact (and it has some leaves to take up the rays of the sun of course, unlike mine).

So next year I will be extra careful, less smug and will even try some of the organic brews for deterring them from laying. There are a number of brews you can use as an organic gardener, such as soaking nettles in a bucket of water until they rot down and the water stinks. It's very nutritious as a feed and the theory is that it smells so bad that the butterflies won't land on the leaves to lay their eggs. Definitely worth a try next year I think.

I've also read that companion planting with celery will also deter the cabbage white. The trouble is that celery deters me as well as I hate it, but it's probably worth a try.

I'm sure there are other great methods for deterring pests so why not leave a comment below or share your methods in the Wiggly Wigglers Facebook group?

New Wedding Theme at Wiggly Wigglers

2009-08-18T20:27:00.002+01:00

If you know someone who would like a "green" wedding they may find the new Wiggly Wedding Theme useful...

migrating toward winter

2009-08-17T15:09:00.003+01:00

at 4.16 am i'm sitting up in bed. it's dark and my daughter has just fallen back to sleep. that's when i hear it -- the eerie sound of migrating geese. it starts as a distant, faint sound -- i almost wonder if it's a memory -- but it swells and surges over the house -- a confident cry cry cry. i'm dying to rush to the window and look to see if i can make out the V of wings but she's asleep on my lap and i don't dare wake her. it lasts ages and can only mean one thing -- those first signs of an encroaching winter....

there's no denying it -- the garden knows before i do. i look at the flowers who have dropped their petals overnight and am sort of startled awake -- that time already? soon i'll be harvesting the winter veg that i put in as a 'long term' project and saying goodbye to all the soft new growth on my fruit trees.

it comes, and it goes and it keeps on rolling forward. but geese overhead take me back to my dad shouting for a younger me as i rush from wherever i am -- hurling myself down the stairs and into the backyard eyes skyward -- a migrant himself in Canada he never tires of the romance of the geese and their seasonal flight.

Happy harvesting hormones

2009-08-15T10:54:00.001+01:00

I think that there must be a happy hormone released when I get up early on a bright sunny summer morning and look at out at the meadows beyond my house, where they have just started haymaking. This view, smell, temperature and light combination certainly affects me in a such a positive way.

One of my favourite things about this view and these meadows is the way they are harvested in strips, or rather odd shaped parcels. They are in fact ancient Lammas Meadows along the banks of the River Lugg, which date back to medieval times.

The land is farmed according to commoners' rights through the Autumn and Winter, with local farmers using it for grazing cattle. Then from 2 February (Candlemass), the grass is allowed to grow until Lammas Day, traditionally the 1 August, when weather-permitting, haymaking begins. The meadows are owned in strips marked by dole stones. Each farmer may harvest at slightly different times, allowing a jigsaw puzzle of cut strips to emerge from the long grass, revealing the division of the meadow. Some make rectangular bales, and some round - a difference which for some obscure reason, that no-one else gets, amuses me enormously!

Lammas actually means 'loaf mass' and the day was traditionally celebrated with bread being made from the season's first wheat. The Real Bread Campaign this year has promoted a celebration of bread and lammas listing Local Loaves for Lammas events all over the country. How wonderful it would be to celebrate fresh bread, summer and the harvest at one of the oldest and most important Lammas Meadows in the country.

Anyone want to help for next year? I can already feel the happy harvesting hormones kicking in with the scent of freshly baked bread. Hmmmm.

reverse atkins with chips

2009-08-14T21:19:00.003+01:00

this was meant to be a before and after but oddly has become an 'after and before' -- in any case giving you the main headline first which is that i've had about 60 potatoes! for some unknown reason they were getting blight (odd as i'm sure it's several miles to the next potato plant but there you have it) -- so now we're on a hardcore starch diet for the next few weeks.

the plants were getting ridiculous anyway -- overshadowed only by the muscles from brussels (sprouts) . in fact, i was a bit tentative about digging all the potatoes as they are underpinning the sprouts i think. it's the first year with these 1 x 1m beds and i packed it in not counting on the vagaries of the english weather!

anyway -- short and sweet but yeah, come round for chips!