David Marshall

My botany’s degrees have taken me boating up creeks in Sumatra , to the top of pyramids in Mexico, kayaking in the Bay of Fundy and walking in the Andes.

Appalled that is!

My training allowed me to travel over world working on projects that had real impact on both lives and livelihoods in Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America & Australia
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As someone who completed a degree & PhD in Botany in 1979 & then spent the next 3 years working in an Agricultural Botany department I am appealed at this prospect. Then as now I suspect that one of the key problems is the failure of school biology to convey the excitement of modern plant science.

Clearly influenced by my Dundonion heritage, I'm now weaving jute on my Rigid Heddle Loom. This is jute that I’ve been involved in processing all the way from bale to carding, drawing, roving, spinning and winding onto the spool I used for warping and weaving during my time at Verdant Works Museum.

Rigid heddle. It's a way of simplifying the basic operation of a loom to a single frame.

Another project on my RH loom starting to take shape.

The aged mature Pisco from Peru drunk directly is beautiful.

I’ve found that saying you prefer Chilean Pisco Sours is a great way to piss off Peruvians. However the best Pisco I’ve ever drunk was Peruvian. Incidentally the most dirty disgusting distillery I’ve ever visited was in Pisco.

My little friend which keeps me in order has just been updated.

A wee trip to the hospital yesterday to have my CRT-P pacemaker replaced before the battery expired. That should be another decade keeping my heart properly paced.

We are still not ready.

Warping and threading my ridged heddle loom for my next project. I hope I have learned enough from previous projects. But how many scarfs does one man need?

Rebuilding the garden boundary fence after the storm damage. Repairing the panels was a major task.

We have buckets of fruit. 15 kg of apples and 20 kg of pears so far with lots on the ground and a pear tree and a cooking apple tree yet to harvest.

Macintosh very much viewed her as an equal.

Ok name them.

Today’s haul of pears 20 kg from 2 of our espalier trees.

Great to hear from you again!

Delighted to see the one in the Hunterian on Tuesday.

That’s what’s left of our espalier Comice pears after the wind has taken down at least 2/3 of the crop.

Time to harvest our Discovery apples. More than 15 kilos on our espalier tree that was bought bare rooted 15 years from the supermarket at £3.50. Still lots on the ground with minor blemishes to keep the blackbirds and field fares over the winter.

This small Rembrandt at the Hunterian Gallery at Glasgow University made my day. It glows with an inner light.

A visit with staff and other volunteers from Dundee Heritage Trust to RRS Discovery in dock at Dundee Harbour gave me a unique opportunity to meet Boaty McBoatface.

Heron on our walk with the dogs.

A day in the life of a novice weaver. Handloom weaving just like my great great great grandfather in the Gauldry in Fife 200 years ago.

These Begonias have graced our kitchen window sill the entire summer.

This morning tomato collection from the greenhouse. Time to get the dehydrator in action.