Update on the flooding (6th October 2012)

The weather this weekend has been glorious- Warm and sunny, quite a difference from the relentless rain of last week.  Unfortunately I have been too busy elsewhere to make full use of the opportunity to reassess the flooding down at the land.

Saturday saw a Body, Mind and Spirit convention at Gorton Monastery with some interesting speakers including one on Bach Flower remedies.  Having previously studied both Homeopathy and Aromatherapy I am very interested and enthusiastic about the therapeutic properties of plants, flowers, and trees.  The basis of Bach Flower remedies, as far as I could gather, from this speaker, is to use the essence of the plant in a tincture; and the process used to create a tincture is not dissimilar to certain recipes I have previously used.  In fact I thought that it may actually be far easier, less expensive and less time-consuming that I cannot understand why have I never studied herbalism before? Note to self-find local courses and buy new books (YAY!).

Sunday saw us noisily cheering our 10 year old son and his U11's rugby union team through two magnificent victories at their home ground-which, coincidentally, is just a stones throw from our woodland.  Completing the afternoon with a couple of hours down at the woodland.  Thankfully, the boating lake has now drained away however, looking at the aftermath, we think it may have been subjected to further flooding that we didn't get chance to see.

Previously, we had spent days chopping all the felled branches into smaller logs and neatly stacking them in woodpiles towards the edge of the meadow.  To our utter dismay, and somewhat bemusement, these piles are now no longer; instead there are distinct piles of what can only be described as driftwood on the further-most edge of the meadow.  As we suspected on our visit during the week of the floods, the river must have burst its' banks, though this time in an even bigger and mightily forceful manner.  If only we had been witness to it! For the moment we could only stand scratching our heads, looking at the remnants of destruction and wonder about the path the water took.  

If I'm totally honest I was more than a little dismayed.  My beautiful meadow, the plans I have envisioned for growing all manner of healthy, healing plants, flower, and vegetables; The uses of which I have been eagerly researching.  Are these now desolate? Or is it possible to continue forth with these ideas?  Again I do not wish to dwell on the apparent negativity of the floods and so will continue to seek positive answers. After all, the recent flooding and rainfall has been somewhat out of the ordinary and I realise many other areas, indeed many inhabited areas, have been grossly affected by flooding.  We need to learn how we can work with nature and all that this brings, and how we can continue to do the best we can with what we have got.