Wednesday 8 September 2010

The Start Wales Festival

Another trip to The National Botanic Gardens of Wales. We started in the rain and finished in the sun. This was to visit The Start Wales Festival which was inspired by The Prince of Wales. (He missed seeing us today as he visited there yesterday!) "An initiative to help people across the UK lead more sustainable lives and to show what a more energy efficient, cleaner and healthier future could look like." So lots of exhibitors, producers and workshops all to help us sustain the planet, improve our lives and teach us to make better use of our natural resources. We try to do our bit by keeping chickens, growing potatoes, beans, lettuce, chard, courgettes, tomatoes, radishes, spring onions, apples, rhubarb, peppers, raspberries, blackberries (wild ones), beetroot, spinach, and cabbages, plus a lemon tree and an orange tree!
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The gardens were still looking wonderful with loads of colourful flowers to see and photograph.
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A butterfly on the Verbena Bonariensis.
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These are 'dried' flowers growing. It is really wierd to touch them and find that they feel dry and crispy - very odd!
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Globe artichokes. Never seen them flowering before. They look rather like proteas.
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A beautiful globe artichoke.
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Of course there was lots of locally produced food on the stalls and we couldn't resist some organic yoghurt with marmalade, some with mint and one with lemon. We also bought some lavender biscuits and some chili and horseradish biscuits.
When we returned home there were four more eggs awaiting us again!
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