Ponderings on my favourite Children's author - Enid Blyton

I have been re-reading a lot more EB every since D started reading them, and I was thinking today as to why it was/is such a fascination for me and other random take-offs from it. So here are all the grand facts I arrived at:

• I'm a big fan of the Fantasy Genre - Wheel of Time became my all-time favourite series when I discovered it rather late a couple of years back, and the person who finished the series - Brandon Sanderson is definitely my favourite current author and I will pick up any of his books that came out. I thought about it, and realized that Enid Blyton was probably my first ever exposure to this kind of writing. Ardent Fantasy fans don't kill me! But creating a world different from the one we live in, that you sometimes wish could be true - isn't that what this genre is all about ? :).

• Enid Blyton has written most or probably all of her stories especially the fairyland related ones with nearly only children as main characters. I was thinking - as an adult - if a fairy came up and spoke to me, I would probably be searching desperately for the wires holding her up. So yeah, kids are the only ones who still have that sense of wonder and can believably speak to fairies or follow a caterpillar or gnome to where they are taken. Makes complete sense.

• She had this ability to make food sound sooo scrumptious - I read her school series when I was a child and had no concept of what sausages or ginger beer or most of the items actually tasted like - but she made them sound so amazing!  What an amazing gift of prolific writing she had. 

• In spite of all the golliwog related debates, I think she remains the writer who writes the "cleanest" as far as I am concerned. It's one of the authors I know will introduce D to the world of wonder without me having to police what underlying messages might be in the book. Believe me, I'm far from paranoid but I do tend to worry on this count as I believe messages in books do have an impact at this age.

Ok, will stop before you start saying "Enough already!" in your head ;). Do share your insights on favourite authors, will be interesting for me to hear!

That elusive Green Thumb?

Have sown a couple of radish varieties, they are always the first to sprout :)

People tell me sometimes "Oh you have such a green thumb!" and I always absolutely deny it. Only I know how many plants I have killed along the way, from reasons like bad watering, to not knowing how to take care of it in extreme seasons like a very hot summer. Of course, those failures do not make it to social media ;).

Rows of beetroot and carrot, the carrot is always a slow starter
but I'm hoping it will do better in the ground than it has in my containers :P

With a couple of years of container gardening under my belt, one thing I have been wanting to try in the last few months has been to try growing more on the ground. Easier said than done, as I cannot just "buy" a farm and hope it all goes well, not even talking about the process of actually finding something appropriate. I had been hearing of the concept of leasing small patches of land, and was thrilled to come across one such option that was at a reasonable distance from home.

Lots of greens - this one's Palak

They are called Green Thumbs Mini-Farms, located at Kodathi village off Sarjapur Road. The owner, Anand, is an enthusiastic gardener/agriculturist himself and has a banana plantation next door to the farm area. He has segregated patches of approx 10x10m, which is quite large believe me, especially for an amateur. Just that much area can provide a big percentage of a family's veggie needs if planned and nurtured properly. As of now, I am trying to plan a bit, but also want to experiment with how well different things grow in a space like this. Daily watering is part of the deal, but looking out for pests and so on is something we have to do diligently if we want this to work.

It has been a little more than 2 weeks since I sowed seeds, and this is what things look like right now. I am hoping these are going to serve as "before" pictures and in a few months I can update with some lovely harvest pics too.

Some bush beans - a local variety

Amaranthus

A few more I haven't yet clicked are okra just beginning to sprout, some tomato seedlings that had not yet established well, some climbers like beans, bitter gourd, cucumber that are still very small, as well as coriander that is always late to germinate. 

Wish me luck!!