Cutting Asparagus, Lilac and Resources

While my husband flails noisily at the knee high grass around the raised beds with his newly mended strimmer, I bend deep into the shelter of the rhubarb forest to avoid the green shredded storm. 

I love the sucking snap of each bendy pink stem as I yank it from its crown nest. The asparagus stems don’t yield so easily and I have dig down a bit round the firm white stalk before wiggling and tugging and breaking them off. To trim the giant rhubarb leaves I use my beautiful hand-crafted knife with a carved walnut wood handle and leather tooled sheath - made by a friend who is a man of the woods with the heart of an artist. It makes me feel like Monty Don, to be the owner of such a glorious and sharp gardening implement.

The sun is still high at 7 o’clock when we stagger back from the allotment laden with bags of rhubarb, asparagus, radishes and spinch and a huge flopping bunch of white lilac branches which fills the kitchen with with a warm peachy perfume.

I’m too tired to cook so my husband goes out for pizza and I put a bottle of Crabbies Lemonde into the freezer to cool. And I notice how we are slowly slipping away from the strictures of our detoxing diet - only two months in. I like to apply the 80/20 rule - good for 80 percent of the time and indulgent for 20 per cent....but I also notice how easy it is to fudge the figures.....

And today my husband recieved a letter informing him he has been awarded the Disability Living Allowance that he applied for with the help of the wonderful woman from Welfare Rights...without having to fight for it or go to a tribunal or ask for endless letters from the consultants and doctors. Considering how much cutting back on resources is going on I am truly and deeply grateful......