This 14th Century proverb sprang to mind as we sat with four older guests, volunteers and carers on our very first taster day preparing some tree seeds for planting in the spring.

We’d started our day meeting up for tea and coffee and then we all watched the video from Erve Knippert care farm for older people in Holland. (Blog followers will know that this has been our inspiration.) All seemed to think it was a good idea for a new kind of day support service for older people.

Although there was a bit of a nippy Blore Heath wind blowing outside, it was warm in the sun and so we went outside to have a look around. Everyone said hello to the sheep, cattle and checked out the hens for eggs (none – all had gone off the lay). Then up the drive to watch whilst John fed the pigs

Guests enjoy welcome October sunshine by the pig patch

After a super lunch prepared by Rosie and Caroline the consensus was to do the afternoon activity inside in the warm, so we squashed ourselves into my office and listened to a talk and demonstration from gardening and horticulture expert Simon Abbots. Over the past couple of weeks I’d collected different kinds of tree seeds – sloe, damson, acorns, hazelnuts, hawthorn, holly – and Simon’s plan was to show us how to “stratify” them to encourage germination. He gave an interesting talk on the importance of this and then everyone helped put them into a compost mixture that would be left outside during the winter. Come Spring, they would hopefully start to grow and could be planted out.

With Christmas only a few months away, pots of hyacinth bulbs seemed a good project, so everyone planted bulbs in bowls to take home as presents or reminders of their day at Blore Heath. “Don’t press them hard down!”, said Simon, “Or you’ll damage the bulbs.” “And keep the mice away from them!” One of our guests said there would be no problem about that in her flat – she would put the bowl near where the cat slept!

Hyacinths for Christmas

J