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July 30 2010
potatoes
pink and white tatties
Never before have we had so many of these beautiful apples of the Earth. Pull a stem and reach into the ground for tuber after tuber – the plot is full of them 
Weather conditions have no doubt contributed to this abundant harvest but I’ve also been a more diligent waterer on dry days. Sunshine finds me standing at the well, filling cans with the water so rich in iron it smells of metal. Plants love it. Potatoes are thirsty roots.
…and we do love these pots: in salads with mayo and chives; as a side dish with marg and parsley and in soups with kale and onion from the garden too
Related posts:
July 27 2010
sweet things
Alpro soya milks and puddings
Have been sent some Alpro goodies to try We do like their soya milk. The only one I didn’t know about was the ‘milk alternative’ suitable from 1 year old. Lots of extra vitamins and iron in it (and surprisingly nice in nocaf!). The chocolate puddings are lush lush lush…
Blackcurrant smoothies, there have been a few more – here’s a before pic Layered up are borage flowers, gooseberries, blackcurrants, leaf beet, parsley, linseeds (flax), brazil nuts, bananas and apple juice.
smoothie to be
sweet red onion from garden - very pleased with these
blackcurrant cake - currants cooked in batter and raw squished into icing too
also made some banana muffins with lots of redcurrants in – no pic but very good
Charlotte's strawberry jam bubbling on cooker - taking 'sweet' to new levels!!
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July 22 2010
a blackcurrant smoothie
blackcurrants
Very blackcurranty and lovely, makes a big jug (about 3 and a half pints, good for 4 people, quantities very adjustable):
lots of blackcurrants, about a quarter blender jugful
lots of borage flowers (optional)
huge bunch of parsley
a handful of brazil nuts
1 banana
1 avocado
1 apple
1 litre of orange juice
Blitz it all in a blender…
enjoy in the sun
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July 21 2010
the tale of the strawberries
Once upon a time a princess planted 3 tiny strawberry plants in her garden.
carefully planted in the newly created bed
They began to grow. Then, despite being guarded by a beady eyed and brave fox, they were eaten down to the quick by saucy young rabbits who were very numerous throughout that kingdom. Over the summer one of the plants recovered and produced 2 strawberries
Many years later (well, 3), many self planted runners later, this is how they looked:
a wild and mysterious forest had grown up around the fox
Rosemary and lovage were shunted to the side, still doing well at the edge of the forest (one of those stray potatoes growing among them too). And what a royal harvest there was! Big bountiful bowls for all the family several times a week 
with soya cream
with a cherry on top
a strawberry from this magical garden was even purple-ised and put on a t-shirt…
purple strawberry tank top
the frog prince
Frogbert called from beside the pond, “I’ve found the golden ball that you dropped in here some time ago!”, but nobody heard as they were all too busy with their strawberry obsession 
There is even a strawberry Lucy now
Related posts:
July 20 2010
how does your garden grow?
Wildly. Freely. Abundantly. Rather similarly to Cat’s I see this morning! Sadly my courgettes are nowhere near as good as Penny’s (I’m hoping they’re late developers ).
Some very early pics from before the sun was properly up this morning:
raised bed with kale, onions, radish and some small tomatoes
the small toms are ones I took out of an organic tomato and just stuck in the ground as an experiment – they are doing amazingly well though were started off a bit late. In there are also the four surviving cabbages that I overwintered. They gave us green leaves for smoothies right through to the end of January when most of them died (very low temp was hit one night). I should have put plastic over them… gardening is a constant learning experience.
This is a long post with MANY pics so click below if you want the rest of it
raised bed of broad beans, peas, sunflowers, leeks and the odd potato
odd potatoes are everywhere in the garden grown up from layers of kitchen compost – I let most of them grow and they’re already very delicious cooked with mint and then served with marg and parsely
broad beans - pods growing about 1cm a day just now with the heat and rain
peas, best straight from the pod into your mouth
amazing kale - harvested everyday, it just continually grows back
French beans in the tyre garden (no actual beans as yet)
growbag on patio - with last years lettuce and more of the experimental toms
Leaving things in as opposed to tidying everything up for winter, while disorganisation/laziness was the reason, has proved very fruitful. We use most lettuce as cut and come again – these are similar to iceberg and leaves are frequently nabbed for sandwiches, juice and salads. Some more winter surviving lettuce:
in the cold frame, a more likely place to live through winter
the jungle of the allotment bit at bottom of garden
Lots of potatoes in there (officially this time), purple sprouting broccoli, leeks, lettuce, chickweed, some late peas, beetroot, carrots, kale, leaf beet, rhubarb, parsley and garlic.
keenly awaiting broccoli
I planted rows of leeks between most things down here and in one of the raised beds – good for biodiversity and avoidance of pests (and another wonderful winter survivor/grower). I didn’t grow these from seed but bought a pot of about 300 from a small local hardware and garden shop for £1.75. This was a rather fabulous price – when visiting a popular big garden centre I saw a set of 12 leeks there for £2.99, only very slightly larger then the potted ones I bought!
beautiful leek
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July 17 2010
cup of tea, anyone?
Tetley for Soya
I was most intrigued during the week to be offered the above product samples for review on the site. It didn’t seem likely that a major company was producing something so accommodating to vegans and non-dairy drinkers. I googled to make sure it was true… and it was: Tetley for Soya
I don’t usually drink black tea now – I’ve had two cups this year. Once when out with a friend in a cafe and then again when visiting another friend after a long day out. I sampled this however and it is rather pleasant – it looked a bit pale after brewing and soya milk poured into it and I expected it to be mild tasting, even bland. But it has a strong flavour without being bitter. Basically I think it’s rather a better quality tea than standard Tetley. Davie is a more regular tea drinker and declared it “affa fine” (English transaltion: very good/nice) Currently available in selected Tesco stores, all of them in England, going by the Tetley website!
no delicate floral teacups here
While on the subject of tea and dairy alternatives we were sent another great product a couple of weeks ago: Good Hemp Dairy Free Alternative to Milk (from the makers of Good Oil that we use all the time), which I imagine would be nice in the above tea too. I tried it in Nocaf, Dan on cereal and we both really liked it, more nutty than soya milk. According to the booklet sent with it, it’s in Waitrose and health food shops from Monday.
Good Hemp Milk
Related posts:
July 15 2010
The Graduate!
When Johnny and Jane were wee, we sometimes went to the Stirling University campus to feed the ducks, coots and moorhens which inhabit the beautiful lochs there. (The other day, when I went there specially to take a photo for this blog, there were mostly swans in evidence…)
‘When you’re big, you’ll maybe come here to study!’ I told them, as I held their little hands and made sure they didn’t get too close to the water. But I just couldn’t imagine that far ahead. It’s difficult to picture your toddlers as grown-ups…
Well, two years ago Johnny graduated from the university; this year it was Jane’s turn and, after four years’ hard work, she graduated with a BA (Hons) in English Studies and History.
A proud moment for her adoring family! John, Johnny and I were there, of course!
As were Nana and Auntie Syl…
A very happy, and loving, mother and daughter…
The next day was the Graduation Ball. Our fairy tale princess didn’t have a fairy godmother, but she did have the PDSA charity shop, who, for the sum of 20 gold coins (well, they accepted a £20 note…) supplied her dress…
… and a mother who, using a crochet hook rather than a spinning wheel, magicked her a matching bag, just the right size for her camera and phone to sit side by side.
Jane had a great time at the Ball. She had a delicious vegan meal and danced a lot. Sadly, there was no Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet, but on the plus side, she didn’t have to be back by midnight (apparently she rolled in at about 3 am) and the next day she was able to lie in bed as late as she liked and didn’t have to do any housework at all!
And the day after that, it was off to the JobCentre…
The Stirling newspaper always shows photos of local graduates, naming the school each attended before university. Jane has never set foot in a school. Her photo will appear with the caption, ‘Jane Veitch from Dunblane, who was home educated, graduated from Stirling University with a BA (Hons.) in English Studies and History’.
Today’s title: The Graduate, film starring Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hofffman.
Today’s smoothie Today’s soup Today’s allotment haul: raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, red gooseberries, Swiss chard, peas, yellow courgettes and green courgettes. Lovely stuff! Courgette flan is definitely on the menu tonight and John and I have decided that we’re going to have to clear a space in one of our sheds and buy another freezer!
July 10 2010
Silmarils
Listening to an audiobook of The Silmarillion just now while browsing the Atlas of Middle Earth. This follows on from our epic watching of the extended versions of all three Lord of the Rings films in preparation and inspiration for our own mountain quest. Nice to be back in Middle Earth
other jewels: smoothie and brambles. Todays smoothie consisted of LOTS of kale and leaves from the overwintered cabbages which are now huge, LOTS of borage flowers, cleavers, a few black and red currants that are just starting to ripen, bananas, brazil nuts and an apple.
a contrived pic of a smoothie with bramble flowers and honeysuckle
The brambles (blackberries) are growing all through the honeysuckle and produce wonderful big juicy berries in autumn so there is no thought of ‘weeding’… the flowers are very beautiful:
bramble flowers and buds
pink
Related posts:
July 08 2010
if the mountain defeats us…
Mither Tap against sun
but it didn’t, so we did not have to brave the mines of Moria, 3 times up and down Bennachie accomplished and quite a bit of money raised for the trees :) My legs hurt today!
at the bottom of the Mither Tap path
top of first climb up steep Mither tap path
down the Donview way
caterpillar
back up on top and heading down Rowan
These new signs help to avoid confusion, there are even paths at the bottom linking different carparks so you can go down different ways without reclimbing if you wish
no such plan for us - back up Rowan
This was the toughest climb being our third, even though it is the easiest path and most gentle slope.
resting on way up - some of the shoes did not make it (5 years old, ethical wares, much walking done)
reaching top 3rd time
steep final descent
down down down
treat picnic at bottom
rose cupcakes
Related posts:
July 04 2010
rhubarb, tweets and elderflowers
rhubarb and ginger jam
We have a veritable forest of rhubarb so into jam some of it went yesterday! recipe over on frugal where there is also a twitter competition detailed on the front page to win my copy of The Moneyless Man (who is vegan by the way, don’t think I mentioned that before)
Gathered some elderflowers in the wood yesterday too and made some cordial sort of from this recipe though I made much less as I know it doesn’t keep for long even in the fridge, even with citric acid which I didn’t use this time… the taste of summer in it is amazing…
Related posts:
June 29 2010
joyful swimming and pie
early morning swimming
When we bought this house the old endowments associated with our previous mortgage were no longer needed and we wanted to invest the money from them in this property (trying to be sensible). The kitchen was hanging by a thread so that got replaced and the children were given the choice of what the rest should be spent on. Their chosen pool has been a fantastic buy, on it’s 4th summer now, Charlotte being the most determined swimmer among us, beating her personal best every day!
from above
Wishes Come True Pie from the novel Hubble Bubble, very delicious even with some substitutions for things like grains of paradise and job’s tears
root veg, nuts, seeds, grains, gravy topped with pastry
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June 27 2010
green soup and juice, raw chocolate pud
minty pea and nettle soup
wheatgrass
been drinking wheatgrass juice with friends
slight deviation away from green
Raw chocolate pudding teamed up with Swedish Glace (booja booja stuff in a tub is raw if you prefer). Pudding was made thus: grind up some raw chocolate nibs (could use cocoa though of course not raw) then blend with a large avocado and 2 ripe bananas with a squirt of agave nectar – makes enough for four people. I also added a little water for a smoother result.
Poppies:
inside a flower
seeds within
Related posts:
June 24 2010
fruitful flowers and summer reading
pea
It’s wonderfully warm here just now. In between all the cycling, walking, climbing and meeting badgers in the woods were loving the cool of the pool and reading in the sun
Fiction being perused: Mariana, a gentle tale of reincarnation and time slipping and the latest Sophie Hannah, A Room Swept White – very impressed with this author’s progression. Non fiction-wise: The Moneyless Man, a guy who lived without money for a year (and continues to do so – see his blog), quite mind blowing, lots of info about the financial system as he was an economist and The Age of Absurdity, a great antidote to, well, total nonsense and status quo worship and it’s very funny too!
Jodie Picoult’s House Rules is also well worth a mention, though I read it a while back, as the main character has aspergers syndrome. He may have been given almost every trait going but he does come over as an authentic aspergian person and Picoult makes so many good points and references much current research, I feel it’s a valuable title to have in the mainstream.
borage
grapes
toms
red peppers, just watered
parsley, getting ready to self seed
melon
Related posts:
June 13 2010
Oh, what a beautiful day!
Well, I’ve been sitting here this past week, composing this blog entry, with the rain chucking down from heavy grey clouds, but last Saturday WAS beautiful, thank goodness. Why ‘Thank goodness?’ you may ask. I’ll tell you. It was the day of the Meadows Festival!!! Last year I blogged about this special event here. This year all four of us managed to go. We had planned to take packed lunches, as there’s rarely anything suitable for us to eat there, but this year we were just too pressed for time…
There are lots of stalls at the Meadows Festival.
John was thrilled to find a plant one right at the start. But that meant him lugging lots of plants around… Johnny and Jane enjoyed book and CD stalls and made a few purchases and I was looking for interesting things for the house, as well as books, of course. I was thrilled to find a wicker basket full of magazines including special treats for me: Country Homes and Gardens and Period Living magazines, which were selling at 6 for £1!
I bought 18, which John carried for me…
I also found a present for Sylvia’s birthday, which was VERY HEAVY. That’s all I can say at the moment, of course… I carried that…
I was NOT tempted to buy this book! Can you guess which one? Honestly! This was NOT going to be an addition to my recipe book shelves… ‘Almost vegetarian’, indeed! Oops, gave the game away there, didn’t I? Oh, well, I wasn’t offering any prizes for the correct answer…
I DID buy a bumblebee badge to add to the collection on my bag…
… but decided to give these a miss! I mean, revolting, or what?
We had high hopes of something to eat when we saw this place…
but although I loved the decor (very ‘me’!)…
… because of some misunderstanding between John and me, we both thought there was nothing suitable. This turned out for the best, though, as you will see, if you read on… (Are you excited? I like to keep the suspense going…)
Just past the cafe we met, and made friends with, this gorgeous wee fellow. His name’s Alfie and he was VERY ‘dog-nappable’! We could just see him fitting into our household nicely. Sadly, but understandably, his owner wanted to hang onto him, however…
A couple of days before, Trudi, from Scottish Vegans, had written to me on Facebook to ask if we were going to be at the Festival and had given me her mobile number. Of course, I forgot to take a note of it with me. (You’re not surprised?) I was wishing we could phone up Molly, the cleverest of our cats, to ask her to check Facebook for me, but she wouldn’t have been able to pick up the receiver. This lack of opposable thumbs can be a problem… However, after wandering around peering at the faces of total strangers I thought might be Trudi (I’d met her only once before) I suddenly remembered that Jane can go on-line with her fancy, new, 21st birthday phone! She logged onto my Facebook messages and there was Trudi’s number! I phoned her and we met up with her and her daughter and baby son. The wonders of modern technology!
By this time we were about to leave, as we all needed sustenance, but Trudi very kindly invited us round to her flat, which was only about five minutes walk away. There we had hummus and salad sandwiches, washed down with mugs of tea. Trudi said she couldn’t see vegans going hungry! Thank you, again, Trudi! It was very much appreciated!
Johnny then set off for a demo, against real fur sporrans, with Ethical Voice for Animals (EVA) and John, Jane and I, heavily laden, staggered off for the train home to Dunblane.
After a VERY warm welcome from the pooches, John and I settled down in the garden. He had a new gardening magazine (do you see Molly in the background? Apparently she’d been out all day anyway, so wouldn’t have been in to answer the phone even if she’d HAD opposable thumbs)…
…the sun was blazing down and I relaxed on the swing seat and browsed in my new housey mags. Bliss!
When Johnny came home, I made one of our favourite meals: Italian marinated tofu (from Vegan With a Vengeance) with potatoes, broccoli, green beans, peas and gravy made from the marinade. Mmmmm…..
Yup! It was a beautiful day!
Today’s smoothie: orange juice, apples, apricots, half a bag of mixed green leafies, lettuce, alfalfa and a wee piece of kombu. Delicious!
Today’s title: from ‘Oh, what a beautiful mornin’!’, Oklahoma, Rogers and Hammerstein
June 06 2010
mellow
iris by pond, cleavers among
a very mellow listen: Deltadream - based on the ancient lost Solfeggio frequency “Ut”, a tone linked with releasing guilt and fear, the shorter track there is a free download.
mellow and cooling eat: minted noodle soup
books weve been mellowing out to in the sun: Named of the Dragon, a gentle mystery, writers, Arthurian and Tudor themes; The Other Half Lives, from Sophie Hannah, the best of her psychological thrillers I’ve read so far and Ask Mother Nature, another nature spirity book responsible for me feeling happy about all the chickweed growing in with the lettuce now
chickweed helps retain water in the soil and is a nice inclusion in salads
bridge over totally calm waters
Had a nice time with some more pilgrims to the house, this time the grandson of the man who built it. We all learned much from each other – apparently the roof used to be covered in solar panels, was the first house up here to have them… no trace of them now… hopefully one day we’ll have them again
borage buds, soon time for blue stars and berries in the smoothies
fully open
May 28 2010
Beauty and the Feast
Here’s the beauty…
…and here’s one of the items that featured in the feast…
You’ll have worked out what the occasion was? Our baby girl’s 21st birthday!
What can I say about our wee girl? Well, at about 4ft 10ins, she IS wee! That, added to her sweet young face, has people thinking she is much younger than she is. She is not pleased about this! I tell her it’s hereditary!!!
She is, and has always been, the much loved wee sister of her big brother, Johnny,
(though the occasional spat is not unknown!) and they share many interests. She is very shy with strangers, but feisty and funny with people she knows well. Added to that, with her family she is very, very loving, kind and caring. She was, of course, home educated until she started university. It’s hard to believe that she’ll graduate in just over a month!
Johnny calls her a ‘geek chick’! In her last year at university she became involved in doing the lighting at the uni drama group, which she taught herself; she can work out how anything technical works without recourse to a manual; and she loves science fiction and fantasy. She also writes fantasy adventure books, which, now that her studies are over, she hopes to get ready for an agent. She is rarely seen without her iPod plugged into her ears. She has always loved reading and never goes anywhere without a few books in her bag…
Jane (or Jenny, as she’s known to family and old friends) has always been a very girly girl. Here’s a memory book page I made when she was younger:
When she was tiny, she loved dolls and pink clothes and cute wee animals. Now she squeaks over babies and, after a period when she would wear nothing but black, despite not actually being a Goth, still loves pink clothes and cute wee animals!
She is my darling daughter and I love her more than words can say!
So, on to the feast! Jane had asked for a strawberry birthday cake and who was I to deny her that? However, in my usual dotty way, I forgot that the syrup from the tinned strawberries would add a lot of sweetness and so I added the normal amount of sugar. (I tell a lie. I actually added a wee bit extra sugar because of a dotty mistake that would take too long to explain…). So when the birthday girl licked the bowl, she declared that it was very sweet indeed and suggested that I might make lemon icing to counteract this. So I did. Boy was that icing lemony! It brought tears to my eyes when I tested it! But it turned out to be a great combination and the sweetness and the watery-eye-ness complemented each other very nicely.
Yes, I did remember the candles this time, but our local shop didn’t have any ‘twos’, so it was back to the old-fashioned kind and ‘tens and units’.
Jane had her final exams at university on the two days following her birthday, so there were no high jinks with similarly harassed uni friends. Instead we had a family birthday lunch the day before with her Nana and her Auntie Syl …
I had ordered Sosmix, at Jane’s request, but it didn’t arrive in time, so we had chilli en croute instead, with potato salad made with Plamil mayonnaise; chopped salad (John’s special: spring onion, celery, red pepper and cucumber chopped up small); green leafy salad; tomato and basil rolls; trifle and the aforementioned cake…
… and on the day itself, she and I went to Glasgow and had lunch at Stereo, a vegan restaurant. Then we went to see Meet Me in St Louis at the cinema. It was so great seeing it on the big screen! My only problem was worrying about the lights coming on when there were still tears dripping off my chin!
OK! Let’s get down to recipes! What would you like? Will we start with the strawberry cake? And then follow that with the chilli en croute? And maybe the trifle? OK, then… But you’re a bit demanding, aren’t you? Sheesh!
Strawberrry Cake
Ingredients:
250g self raising flour
125g sugar
1 tin of strawberries
1½ teaspoons egg replacer
125g margarine
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
Water
Method:
Set oven to Gas Mark 5/375F/190C
Mix egg replacer with the juice/syrup from the tin, made up, with water, to 200g. Put aside.
Mix together all the other ingredients and the egg replacer mixture.
Divide between two round cake tins.
Bake for 35 minutes.
When cool, sandwich with icing and ice the top. I used stacks of icing sugar, a large dollop of margarine and enough lemon juice to choke a whale. But I’m afraid that’s the most accurate measurements you’re ever going to get with my icing. I’m an instinctive icing maker!
Chilli en croute
Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 red pepper
250g mushrooms
500g passata
1 carton organic kidney beans
1 teaspoon Very Lazy Chilli
1 teaspoon molasses
Method:
Fry the onion, mushrooms and pepper together. I like to do them with the gas on full, stirring constantly until they’re getting nice and soft. Smells good, too!
Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a simmer and leave to cook for about half an hour. Preferably make it the day before you’re going to eat it to let the flavours develop.
Unfold some ready-roll puff pastry and cut it into two strips. Spoon some chilli down the centre of each, cut slits all the way down each side, and then cross the strips over on the top.
Bake at Gas Mark 8/450F/230C for about half an hour.
Trifle
The day before you want it, bake a chocolate cake, using the recipe I’ve already given you in my blog post about John (Penny has a Darling Lamb). Cut half off one of the layers and put it aside. Enjoy what’s left…
The next day, using your fingers, break up the piece of chocolate cake until it’s like bread-crumbs and then make up one of these
with the liquid from a tin of summer fruits made up to three quarters of a pint and brought to the boil in a saucepan. Mix in the jelly and stir. Leave to set.
Then make up another jelly, as before, but stirring in the two tins of drained summer fruits. Pour it over the solidified bottom layer. Leave to set.
Spoon most of a tub of Swedish Glace vanilla ice-cream over the top and grate some chocolate over it. I used Organica rice milk chocolate. Mmmm….
As you can see, I also made up a separate custard. You know all about that… And if you don’t, you haven’t been following my blog properly!
And that’s it! Jane is now catching up with all the books she’s been wanting to read and the films she’s been wanting to see, but couldn’t because of her studying. And it’s off to the job centre in a couple of days!
So that’s the last of my birthday blogs! From now on it’ll be back to ordinary musings again… I’ll try to be more diligent! OU essays allowing…
Well, for goodness sake! That boy will hijack anybody’s blog post! I do apologise!
Today’s title: Beauty and the Beast – traditional folk tale
Today’s fruit salad: orange juice; apples; kiwi fruit; bananas; grapes.
May 24 2010
herbish
sage
dill
thyme
golden oregano and marjoram
self seeded borage
wild garlic in flower
blackcurrant leaves drying
fruitish:
red currants and apples
apple blossom
and finally some more plantings of lettuce and salad leaves:
salad station
a favourite book being perused just now – the complete book of herbs
May 18 2010
stones, chickens, nettles
stones in the light
Parkhouse stone circle – we have visited this circle so many times, having lived closeby for 12 years, that it always feels very welcoming and familiar
the circle
the large recumbent
At the farming museum we saw a Rhode Island Red mum with Silkie chicks (she had sat on the eggs):
mother and babies
silkie chick
another
The dandelion pancakes have been written up here, chive variant below:
chive pancakes
Drying some nettles for tea this morning, having worked out that it’s a bit ridiculous how we buy nettle tea (lovely as it is) when we are surrounded by them! Will finish them off in the dehydrator later.
nettles drying in sun
having said that no exotic planting experimentation would take place… well…
melon in the front porch
flowering rather later this year but so beautifully:
cherry blossom
May 15 2010
planting log, sitting, eating, stones and sea
broad beans and leeks in one of the raised beds
I have just planted over 300 little leeks, lots of kale and purple sprouting brocolli seedlings, carrots, radish, garlic, basil, sunflowers and flat leaf parsley as an alternative to the madly (but wonderfully) continually self seeding curly
allotment bit at bottom of garden, greenhouse left
The thinking of the planting this year is to grow things that both do well up here and that we eat lots of, no experimentation with things like aubergines which only just manage to flower before winter! Also in are lettuce, rocket, mixed salad leaves, french beans, broad beans, peas, potatoes, onions and in greenhouse there are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, courgettes and a giant grapevine obtained on freecycle and doing very well so far. Perennial things like rhubarb, chives, lovage, bronze fennel, mint and leafbeet are thriving. Fruit bushes and trees all look to be heading for a bumper year. Cold winter can’t have hurt them
sitting together continues, even in sunless situations
and the eating: chocolate sesame snaps now have thick chocolate stripes on them
chocolate sesame snaps
Made some gorgeous dandelion fritters to go with wild garlic pesto – saw them on home baked a while ago and used basic vegan pancake mix of soya milk and self raising flour beaten to a thick batter, a flower in each spoonful/fritter:
a nice lunch
no shortage of this ingredient in the garden
next wild food recipe on the list to try – Cat’s nettle pies!
stones and sea
broken arm update: after two weeks it has healed so well it does not need cast anymore and writing can take place again
April 15 2010
growth
colour
Planted my berry bushes from Suttons yesterday, well protected there from the rabbits Potatoes are going in today… Dipping into the Anastasia series again to get truly inspired again with growing, so different from anything else I’ve ever read.
honey berry bush, in beside goji and blue
Made wonderful leek, potato and wild garlic soup from the recipe on Cat’s blog
pond flowers
fairy all springlike now beside the Archangel dead nettles
rabbit bones
daff
new leaves on sweet chestnut
flowering currant - is full of bees, lovely noise
new mint
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