vegetables and accordions

Tuesday was just lovely - a special time with the infants at Brailsford Primary School to finish off their vegetable garden song. We cut up all our words and rearranged them to give us some ideas for the lines. Everyone mucked in - working really well in pairs, then as a group and then we made a tune. Then we sang it to the Year 1's and the reception children who clapped very very loudly. Quite right too - here it is:

Our vegetable garden

In our vegetable garden

blackbirds are twittering,

scrabbly beans are curling round,

big fat worms lick our feet,

onion leaves like spiky hair.

In our vegetable garden

heart shaped potatoes,

flowers like the gazing sun,

peoples' breath sounds like the wind,

strong radishes are fat long eggs.

They also enjoyed exploring the wonders of the accordion - the bellows, the buttons, the keys, the different sounds.

I hope to be meeting them again when we get them together with Mahala and the ladies and gents of the Church Choir who will also be making their own new song. Mahala thinks they should write about the leeks in the church roof and the way some people sit like cabbages in the pews...

Scribblers in Doveridge

The Doveridge poets are still sending me stuff. Here's one from Audrey of the Senior Citizens Group:

Our village is so beautiful,
It overlooks the River Dove
With St Cuthbert's Church
On the ridge above.

The village well is kept neat and spry
By the good ladies of our WI.
At the other endof the village is Chapel Green
Where the old chapel and the new school can be seen.

And if you're of the sporting kind
There's a playing field with you in mind
We have a post office and a couple of shops
Where you can buy groceries or lolly pops

When you're feeling depressed and sad,
Take a walk round the village and you'll be glad,
You're sure to meet someone along the way
Who will stop and pass the time of day.

There's so much to do, so much to see
There's no place I'd rather be
Than Doveridge.

Thanks Audrey - it's certainly true it is a beautiful place. And I can testify myself that people have always said hello as I've been walking round.

Gardening at Brailsford

Today I joined the Year 2 children at Brailsford School and they introduced me to their productive vegetable garden - peas, beans, potatoes, radishes, onions and strawberries - set off nicely by a backdrop of big yellow smiling pansies. After we'd had a look, a feel, a smell, a listen and even a taste (of hawthorn leaves which used to be known by country children as "bread and cheese") we talked and wrote down all our experiences on some leaf shaped paper, all ready to write our vegetable garden song next week. I can't wait - yum yum!