We met this time with a pumpkin theme! Bernadette is demonstrating the reuse of pumpkin shells to turn into hanging bird feeders! Let’s hope the birds love them! The kids are getting stuck into planting daffodil bulbs for next spring. Thanks to the Garden Gang for building this area dedicated to flowers for the bees.
We have also been collecting seed pods from the wigwam. These started out as the ones we grew from seed last year! It’s been great to watch their grow and flowering cycle and we hope these little wool pots will soon be germinating next years plants. It was a fun afternoon 🎃
We are very pleased to see all the flowers this year in the church gardens. Here we find Charlie sitting amongst the sweet peas that the CC Juniors grew from seed! It’s been a poor summer so the plants are not as tall as we hoped but they smell lovely and Charlie was happy to pick some to take home. The more we pick the more they grow! We have grown lots of alstroemeria which have appeared on the Altar recently as well as other lovely flowers and Judi picked this bunch as her prize in the raffle! 🙂
Thursday past, despite the very poor weather conditions, 8 youngsters turned up after school for the first of monthly meetings of CC’s Juniors. (Gardening Club). Louise, Bernadette and Maureen had a busy but fun time with the children- sowing seeds, planting bulbs, making bird feeders from peanut butter + toilet roll!
They also enjoyed a healthy snack of fruit kebabs.
This past weekend, as part of the Season of Creation, an “International Harvest Festival” was held during both Masses at St Ninian’s .
Parishioners were encouraged to come dressed in their traditional attire or in bright clothing and many did! They were also asked to bring gifts of fruit and their response was amazing! Both Masses were a real celebration of the fruits of the harvest.
After the Offertory procession and handing over the gifts of fruit to Fr Johney, the children sang their own harvest song.
The fruits of parishioners’ labours were gratefully received by four groups in our community. Their generous gifts of all kinds of fruits were distributed to our local primary schools, St Ninian’s and Tayview. Both schools expressed their appreciation and said the children would enjoy the healthy snacks of apples, oranges and bananas.
The elderly residents of Menzieshill house also appreciated the produce, with staff commenting it was a real treat to get healthy food donated.
The final recipients of their generosity were clients of the Salvation Army hostel in Ward Road. The chef there was delighted to get the plethora of pears and other vegetables and fruits, which he planned to turn into tasty dishes for the residents. So, well done St Ninian’s parishioners, you are definitely the pick of the bunch!
It’s hard to tell whether summer is on its way out or on its way back in! We must be grateful for this lovely sunshine at the beginning of September. The Mary Garden is definitely changing, less prolific flowering but nevertheless plenty to see. This week we saw the return of “Jim Ruddy’s Asters” which were one of the first perennials we planted – now blooming for the third year.
The Cosmos (always a joy) are keeping the bees happy and the brambles (which give us such a job because their roots are so invasive in every spare space!) can definitely be forgiven as they are now providing food for the birds – and a few happy gardeners 😉
The Mary Garden is blooming after all the heat and rain the last couple of weeks. It looks so lovely! We are happy to find our first Cherries appearing, strawberries, cucumbers, salad leaves and tomatoes are all nearly ready for the first pickings. The bees are happy in the wildflower garden and hopefully some of the cutting flowers will be seen on the Altar very soon 🙂
It’s been some time since we’ve shared news about what’s happening at CC’s and in the garden. There’s always something going on every Thursday! Here’s a flavour……
The Garden
This Thursday was a beautiful Autumn day which was ideal for bulb and wild seed planting. Once again, Allison, the Community Champion from Tesco Riverside came up trumps with bulbs for us! She is a real champion! Liz and Louise didn’t waste any time in getting them in the ground.
Meanwhile, Jim and the 2 Brians worked at tidying the area at the side of the house where Storm Arwin had reeked havoc and felled a tree. This area next Spring will hopefully be full of wild flowers and a haven for bees, butterflies and other pollinators as a result of their hard work.
BeforeAfter
CC’s (our Community Cafe)
Our lunchtime customers were offered the choice of Leek and Potato or Courgette and Minted Pea soup. For ‘seconds’, a toastie or a cheese scone? Decisions, decisions….
After the food and a chat, there was an unexpected bonus when John, a new visitor to the cafe demonstrated an enjoyable gentle form of exercise.
