Early morning at the Barn, before visitors……
Hello everyone,
What a weekend it was – a whirlwind of people, plants, flowers, food, scent, picnics, mementos and lovely conversations. The atmosphere was one of excitement and activity, and I loved catching up with so many friends, both old and new – what a way to celebrate the release of ‘THE HOUSE AND GARDEN AT GLENMORE’!
Aside from thanking so many of you for visiting (and for your delightful correspondence since), I just want to say that my long-held vision of a small and charming garden fair couldn’t have come to fruition yet again without the participation of everyone involved and so also send huge thanks to: Martin Boetz for Hayshed Lunches and Jillie Arnott who baked around 80 cakes over the two days! Ovvio Organic Teas, Sibella Court, Joe Vinks, Camden Park, The Secret Garden, Neil & Carmen, Sophia Kaplan, Georgina Reid and their own teams of helpers. Kim Smith poured oh so many cups of coffee (Kim helps me out the back on event days and was rushed off her feet this weekend) and I think you all met Eliza in the Barn – she’s such a star to step in at these rare events with her infectious smile and enthusiasm, which mask the fact she’s just been thrown in at the deep-end (the Barn really isn’t a proper shop and normally it’s just me with half a dozen or so workshop participants browsing). By the look of the empty shelves though, clearly a frenzied and fabulous time was had by all! By the way, I’ll try to get a page on the website so you can buy the dresses online – I’ve been meaning to do it for ages and think that finally, we have the size situation sorted. In the meantime, please contact me if you’d like to order a dress (or a hat or apron for that matter!).
Big thanks too, go to all the girls at the gate: friends who were helping on a voluntary basis and they did a fabulous job under stress – especially those moments where there were big queues the length of our little road! These events involve so many people behind the scenes – most of them doing things that have little to do with their usual areas of expertise and we’re enormously grateful for the time they give to help out.
For those who joined my Kitchen Garden Tours – gosh, what crowds! As a rule I have a mere handful of participants, which allows me to go into greater depth and inspect each and every aspect, but to have visitors stretch the width of the entire garden was incredible. I’m just thrilled to see there is so much enthusiasm for growing your own veg out there! Also, do remember I’ve written a quite comprehensive section in the book about the cycle of the Kitchen Garden here….with a lot of information about seasonal produce, the food we eat in the actual order of the seasons, as well as recipes. (Yes, I almost drove the publishers to distraction about the true sequence of seasonality and having more than four seasons of recipes….and happily they came on board).
I know many of you are almost holding your breath to hear the winner of the place at SHONA WILSON’S upcoming COLLABORATIONS WITH NATURE WORKSHOP on SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER. For those who aren’t successful, there are a handful of highly desirable places left at what was one of the most enchanting workshops we ran last year with this generous, inspiring and insightful artist – see the newsletter archive on the website for details, as well as the booking form here. Those who attend are in for the most enormous treat….and….the winner is….drumroll please…..whoever is in posession of ticket: Black F38. Please contact me to hear more.
As soon as the dust settles, I’ll send details of the WILLOW & VINE CHRISTMAS WORKSHOP with PENNY SIMONS – many of you were asking at the weekend – I just need to clear the decks of urgent tasks. But I’d also love to know how many of you may be interested in QUICHE, TARTS, FLANS & RECIPE BOOKS with FOOD & WORDS’ BARBARA SWEENEY on SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER? We know we’ve left it rather late in the day to announce, but got so over-excited at the prospect of running it that we thought we’d put it out there to see if a dozen of you can join us. I’ll get details out just as soon as possible. You see I WANT to know how to make a really good quiche and the produce in the garden is perfect for making them right now and Barbara can talk the leg off an iron pot (in the nicest possible way!) about recipe books and cooks and eggs and butter and cream and….well….put it this way…it will be a day of the most scrumptious food and plenty of words…. (surely it goes without saying that Barbara is a dab-hand at cooking….as well as talking!).
And so…..although our big event is over, there are many ways for you to visit Glenmore in the coming months and certainly I have lots of plans for 2017! In the meantime, I have plenty of copies of the book, so if you’d like to purchase a copy of ‘The House and Garden at Glenmore’ to collect or for me to post or arrange for presents etc., don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thank you to all who came from far and wide (especially those fromVictoria and Queensland!) to join in all the fun of the SPRING GARDEN FAIR!
Very best wishes
Mickey
ps Once we’ve sifted through all the costs of staging the weekend, we’ll be able to make a donation to The Secret Garden and The Wollondilly Shire Council Mayor’s Picton Relief Fund.
