Pottering...tomatillos

Just getting over a bug here, so I think it is a perfect excuse to potter about. I had a go at making these paper feathers that I had seen on Pinterest, which would look quite nice as an addition to a gift wrap. It was a first attempt, so could improve on that I'd say. That is an old shoelace sandwiched between two old book pages.

I spent yesterday mending (I get all my daughter's mending to do too), and made a collage in one of my art journals, just for the fun of it. 

two things that i love...

Seeds
It's that time of the year here - seed planting time. I'm just about to start and am all excited because I found some purple tomatillo seeds. I have never tasted one of these, and they are not common here, but I have been reading about them and think they should thrive here. They should be a plant that keeps on giving if they are anything like their relatives the Cape Gooseberries (which I don't like the taste of), which grow like weeds here. They are meant to be good in salsa and in place of tomatoes in many recipes. 

purple tomatillo

I've been finding all kinds of great advice in this book that I came across in our library - Koanga Garden Guide

The Koanga Institute is a New Zealand charitable trust dedicated to saving heritage trees and seeds. Kay Baxter - the author and founder is a living treasure herself for what she has done for our world. 
I'm definitely going to order this book to keep. The Koanga Institute is also where I order a lot of my heritage seeds from.
One of the things I discovered was that I should pick out the tips of my broad beans once they were flowering, to put more energy into bean growing, and that the tips are edible in stir fries - so now I can vouch for that too.

harvesting broad bean tips for the stir fry

We are so lucky here - the broad bean flowers were abundant with bees.