THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Essex Meadow
Some inspiring pictures of an Essex Meadow, from just outside of Chelmsford – this should give you an idea of the …
Scything
We at Modern Mint had a lesson in scything the other day when visiting Waltham Place. Here are 9 things we learnt… 1) It is normal to scythe without your shoes on (it is near impossible to cut your own foot, though very easy to cut your hand when cleaning or sharpening the blade…!) 2) English scythes have curves, Austrian scythes less so, and Eastern European scythes are straight. There are also lightweight scythes from the USA made of aluminium. These seemed to divide opinion between love and hate. 3) You know you are scything well when you hear a swuuushh… …
Wild Flower Patch – Southend-on-Sea
This picture was taken by Simon from South East Essex Organic Gardeners… he said, “(if you) haven’t seen it, there is a pocket place of wild flower patch running riot around the back of the (old) Public Library car park in Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea. Take a look – it makes my day (every day)!” It would warm our heart to see this everyday – and don’t forget, you can have it too, if you take up a place on our Ten Meadows project. Or if you’d like to do your own research on meadows, we recommend you check out this …
Seedballs
Here at Modern Mint we have now opened our webshop. What has the distinction of being our first ever product for sale? Seedballs! What are Seedballs? They are a little ball of clay and compost. This little ball then creates perfect conditions for the seeds that are also in the ball of clay to germinate. It is a permaculture technique that we first read about in this book… … we no longer have a copy as we gave ours to a Parisian theatre director about 5 years ago, in the hope they would turn it into a show. That has …