Where It All Began - A Brief Reflection

A brief reflection on where my passion for 'all things nature' began!

From being a toddler, growing up in the early 1970's, I was very often found bundled up in layers of mis-matched clothing, hardly feeling the chill in the air in the vegetable garden.

Exploring the muddy garden and
vegetable patch in all weathers,
not happy to be disturbed for yet
another photo! 1970's.

With a seeming penchant for discovery and adventure I would gleefully plop myself down in the rich, fertile earth delighting in the sensory joy of crafting all kinds of earth pies from the treasures I found around me.

It was definitely a time of simple pleasures and innocent exploration, where my parents' garden was my playground and nature my endless source of exciting wonder. Definitely my favourite place to be, outside, up close and personal to all that nature could bring to my small world in the town of Ashford, Kent, in the UK.

Surrounded by nature's inhabitants from cabbage butterflies, slugs and snails, to worms and centipedes, I found 'companionship' in the most unlikely of places! It was in those fully-absorbed and carefree moments that the worms in particular became my curious playmates! Their squirming bodies offering both amusement and, horrifyingly, a fleeting culinary curiosity! 

Another passion was the compost heap. There was always something flying around it, visiting and feeding from it.

My grandparents had a huge, open one that they let me forage in whenever I visited, but under close supervision! It was my treasure trove of broken eggshells, cabbage stalks, carrot and potato peelings.

Their second, smaller compost heap lay beneath a heavy layer of old carpet or rugs, inviting more exploration.  It was warm and alive with 'my' tame families of sparrows and robins who regularly joined me on my dig for treasure!

It always felt like another world, where my grandad and sometimes my grandma would be busying themselves close by, digging, planting, pruning, collecting and whistling away.  They'd tell me all kinds of ditties and stories about life in their modest sized garden, and how they grew all their own veggies and some fruits, and how there was an Anderson Shelter under grandad's potting shed!

When I couldn't play outside, I would copy, draw, sketch and colour in from books, magazines and comics.  When I visited my grandma there was always a brand new colouring book that she'd bought from Leeds Kirkgate Market, on the arm of the small sofa in front of the welcoming open fireplace, for us to colouring in together.

When in 1976 I was bought my brand new set of Usborne 'Nature Trail' books, I was really happy! They were filled with ALL THINGS NATURE! I still have those books on my studio bookshelf today, and I still refer to them!

Where has the time flown?