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Editorial Summer 2012

Written by Chez

Personally, July is my least favourite month. All the burgeoning excitement of spring has gone and the crispness of autumn is not yet even a glimmer on the horizon. Everything still needs watering in the garden, (or, to be fair this year, has been drowned); but hedges are now dusty and the roses are getting overblown and top-heavy and need pruning. It's not quite the end of term, but it's hot and muggy and the children are crabby and tired and the school holidays loom portentously as six weeks of incipient hell. Oh, and the nights are drawing in.

But, hey! I'm told there ARE things to look forward to!

You can send the kids out to the allotment with a print-out of our articles about what to do on the plot in July and August. And you could even get them making you a Gravity Fed Irrigation System if you are brave enough. There are also plenty of thing to send them off with a packed lunch to forage this month. As the summer has been so late there are still lots of Elderflowers around - and there is always plenty to do with them. There are also lots of things around to make wine out of in July and August. And we have instructions on how to use up the Courgette Mountain that happens at this time of year.

The other thing that becomes plentiful at this time of year is rabbits. We have helpful articles on Paunching and skinning and then things to do with them once you've got that far. We also have an article about Keeping rabbits for meat if you don't have access to wild ones.

As the grass is growing so much with all the recent rain, perhaps it's worth mentioning that we have a number of regular scythe users who are members of our forum and who post in our Land Management section. We have a couple of good articles about Why everyone should own a scythe and Hay-making by hand. They are worth a look if you are thinking of getting one as well as (or instead of!) your strimmer.

Finally, looking up the rabbit references and coming across the raising for meat article has brought its author to mind. Downsizer Forum member Lottie passed away last month after a struggle with cancer. I don't think it is out of place to mark her passing here and to say that she will be missed.

Thanks to SandraR, Sally too, sally_in_wales, Jamanda and Barefoot Andrew for the pics above.