Busy, busy, busy

It's that time of year again!
There are chicks in the dining room, seedlings going in and out, the garden is crawling with froglets that are being stalked by chickens and though the days are long they are never long enough!

Racey Lacey hatched her chick. Of the five eggs only one was fertile but we smuggled some chicks underneath her on day 21.
She's now proudly raising two seramas, a sebright and a pekin.
I'm a little worried about the sebright. It just isn't thriving. The others are flittering about and exploring their world but the little sebright is still tiny, seems a little wobbly on her feet and keeps getting pasted vent.
She's the dark chick at 6 o'clock in the picture.

Little flower is still blissfully in love with Teddy.
Luckily it appears the feeling is entirely mutual! 
Teddy is really enjoying all the attention. At this time of year as he's losing his winter coat he gets itchy if not groomed each day so he comes running as soon as Little flower bursts into the paddock calling his name.
Then he waits for her to fit his bridle and they skip off happily together for his hour of pampering!

 


The street party was a great success!
Turns out my neighbours are all bonkers!
There were plenty of games, sack races, tug-o-wars and such.
We had face painting, tombola and raffle.
The children used chalk to colour in the road, draw round each other and write messages to 'Will and Kate'

Everyone brought out mountains of food.
These cupcakes took ages to ice!
Me and Wurzel cracked open the homebrew at about 3pm.....it all got a bit hazy after that!


Together we all raised lots of money in support of  'Help 4 Heroes' a charity providing care for injured British soldiers.




Up on the plot.....
Here in the South East we have had the driest March and April on record. In fact, we have had only one brief shower in the last eight weeks! Normally we depend upon 'April showers'  to provide a large proportion of our annual rainfall so drought conditions so early in the season is proving disastrous for seed germination.

To add to our woes, high daytime temperatures are making those that do germinate bolt and go straight to seed and (adding insult to injury) we are still getting the occasional night time frost.
The potatoes in the picture have been badly frosted...I've earthed them up now and can only hope they will recover.

All is not doom and gloom though.
There is always optimism enough for gardeners in springtime! My house, so dark and cold in the winter is proving to be the perfect place to 'hatch' trays and trays of seedlings. My dear friend Dom has a large conservatory to bring them on.
Between us I think we have it covered. I care for the brassicas, fennel and salad leaves, potting on (and on and on) until conditions improve, Dom cares for the sun lovers, the chillis and squashes, melons and cape gooseberries. And there are sometimes delightful surprises at this time of year! I found this splendid purple flower at the edge of my fruit bed the other day. It's quite tall (about 18 inches) and closes quickly if you cast a shadow over it. I've no idea what it is but I'd love to find out.
Do you know?


The best thing about spring is the sudden energy boost afforded by sunny days. The children are boisterous and eager to get out there and play! Poor Wurzel is usually the climbing frame of choice giving me precious time to gaze at the chicks and marvel at seedlings emerging from the soil.

Happy growing blogland!

  

Can horses smile?

I think they can!
Maybe because spring is here or maybe he just likes his new home. Perhaps (and I realise this is unlikely) he was really pleased to see me but whatever the reason, I'm pretty sure Teddy grinned at me yesterday!

Teddy, a little gelding, along with a fourteen hand mare called Mary have come to live at our allotments. They are very, very welcome. The long time resident, Mr Chips lost his companion (Gracie) before Christmas when she died of a twisted gut and he has been in a deep depression ever since. To see him cantering and frolicking with his new friends is a real joy! What's more, Teddy is exactly the right size for little flower to groom and he's so friendly and gentle, nuzzling her and stealing kisses! Little flower is ecstatic!

Back home, our eldest chicken, Boudicca, died last weekend. She was five and a half which is really old for a hybrid. They're life expectancy is three years. 
Anyway, we took the opportunity to get two more big girls to keep our pekins in check!

 

Meet Hattie the welsummer.
She lays beautiful, large dark brown, spotty eggs.

and Miranda, the light sussex. Miranda still looks a bit moth eaten bless her. She lived with a cockerel and was evidently his favourite!
She hasn't laid yet but we are expecting a large, pure white egg. And I'm sure that with a little TLC (and no randy cockerel) she'll look and feel a lot better in a week or two.

The chap we buy our hens from has become a friend over the years and as we were leaving he gave us some hatching eggs to put under our broody.  They are supposed to be three lemon sebrights and two buff orpington bantams but egg number 4 seems a bit big for a bantam so we'll wait and see!

Racey Lacey, our ever ready broody has been moved indoors and is patiently sitting on them. She's a very determined little mum and we have to forcibly lift her each morning to make her eat, drink and poop!
Today is day 7 of 21 and we'll probably candle the eggs tonight to remove any duds.



Our home is full of seedlings and Union Jacks this week! 
The Royal Wedding is approaching and I am organizing a street party. Street parties are are a very English phenomenon and involve a group of neighbours dragging their tables and chairs out into the road to celebrate together. We string red, white and blue bunting from lamp post to lamp post, make mountains of sandwiches, fairy cakes and trifle. The children get to play without fear of traffic, the old folk get prizes for living here longest and there are raffles to raise money for good causes....ours will raise for injured British servicemen and women.
So do me a favour?
Pray to whatever God you believe in for good weather in London on 29th of April! 

Hosts of bobbing daffodils!

So, apologies first....February was a horrible month and having been raised with the old adage  'If you've nothing nice to say, Say nothing'   that's exactly what I did.
But now it's March, spring is springing and it's impossible not to be cheered by the sight of bobbing daffodils so I'm back, feeling a bit fragile but optimistic nevertheless.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first.
In February my bees died. Having made it through the coldest winter in decades, having thwarted the attentions of a hungry woodpecker, having eluded human vandals and withstood the dreaded varroa mite they got over excited one sunny afternoon and broke their cluster early. They flew about collecting pollen from the crocuses and Queen Bea foolishly started laying eggs.
When the temperature plummeted (as it does in February....every year!) a large number of bees refused to return to the cluster and remained instead diligently caring for the brood and there we found them two days later, frozen to death.
I was quite unprepared for how sad I felt when I found them. It's not as though they were pets! Yet a silent hive is a terrible thing and the sight of the dead bees 'bums up' in the comb where they'd tried to warm....and the waste! there was a litre and half of beautiful honey in there and so much new pollen...I was gutted. I still am.
Still, onwards and upwards. I've ordered a new colony (ready in May) and might even pick up a swarm in April as well. Lets hope for better luck next time eh?

 Up at the plot things are picking up. The purple sprouting broccoli is already showing signs of budding and (as shown here in this totally rubbish photo!) the garlic is growing strongly.
I'm hoping that the early snowfall last December will result in fat bulbs with lots and lots of cloves.

 
 This picture is my 'elephant garlic' actually a type of leek that looks and tastes like garlic only much, much bigger!
I bought a bulb (it was expensive too) the other year, split into eight cloves and planted. 
Only two grew.
I ate one (oven baked and delicious) to see if we liked them and whether they were worth the effort (yes and yes) then split and planted the other last September for one last try.
I now have eight growing strongly and two weak ones so I'm well pleased! At five quid a bulb to buy (if you're lucky enough to find them) these are one of those crops that make me feel very smug to have an allotment!

Elsewhere on the plot I'm off to a slow start. My arthritis has flared up quite badly and I'm simply too vain to use my crutches in public so I'm not as far ahead with my digging as I'd like. I have sown some early peas, beetroot and carrots. It's a bit too early actually and weather is still very unstable so I've only sown a little of each along with some onion sets just to cheer myself up really and anyway....you never know your luck!
The currant bushes are beginning to leaf up but as they're not very photogenic I thought I'd leave you with a picture of the crocuses that snuggle amongst them.
Fantastic little flowers aren't they?
 

Time to get cracking!

So the decorations have come down and the Christmas tree has been turned into mulch. Everyone is back at work or school....
This is the season for planning. When the weather is awful and the soil is claggy there can be nothing better than snuggling up on the sofa in your Christmas slippers with dog beside you and a good book.

I have a couple of favourites that I return to again and again.
John Seymour's 'Self Sufficiency' is one. It has a lot of sensible advice in it but that's not why I read it. This is my daydream book that I study regularly so I'll be prepared when I win the lottery and buy that smallholding in the country.
(I don't actually play the lottery so winning it is unlikely!)

My current book of choice though is 'Gaia's Garden' by Toby Hemenway. It was a gift from my big brother who is kind enough not to be surprised that his sister now dresses like a scarecrow and talks passionately about brassicas.
Anyway, this book is a real gem, inspiring and practical and a fantastic introduction to permaculture principles.

This is a subject I've been trying to learn about but not having hundreds of pounds and unlimited childcare to go on courses I was struggling to move forward. I've read the book cover to cover twice already and am busy redesigning my back garden around my new apple tree that big bro bought me to go with the book.

Today though, the weather was glorious! Bitterly cold but crystal clear with that harsh winter sunshine that makes it hard to see.

Today was a day for being outside!

Little flower was keen to come with me and made a good job of raking the fallen leaves while I turned over and weeded one of the long beds. 

There was some damage to the beehive.

I suspect a woodpecker but I'm not entirely certain.

It looks almost as though something has been chiseling at the place where the brood box meets the hive floor....it's not a round hole like (I imagine) a woodpecker makes and thankfully it doesn't go all the way through....yet.

I wrapped chicken wire crop covers around the hive which will thwart woody if he is the culprit...but I wonder if it may have a rat in which case Queen Bea and the girls are probably doomed.

 Little flower distracted Mr Chips, explaining in patronising tones the perils of coming too close to a hive of agitated bees so I was able to work without hindrance.

I did, for a moment, wonder at the wisdom of letting a small child march up to a stallion but he seemed to listen intently and when she'd finished he nodded slightly and rested his great head on her chest so she could tickle his ears.

I never should have let her watch the Horse Whisperer!

  Finally, before heading home we enjoyed a hot chocolate break over by the shed where we were joined by a fat little robin on the ground, there was a very tuneful thrush in the tree to my left and above her, right at the top, sat a distinctly shifty looking woodpecker!

  

 

Well, that's that!

2010 is finished....how was it for you?
We had a pretty good year, grew stuff, made things, laughed, sung and didn't cry much!
We're all healthy, we're all together and we're starting the new year with no debt and a whole heap of optimism.

Winter celebrations are a big deal in this household. We are not at all religious but we join in with christmas, winter solstice and any other parties we can think of. 
We start on December 1st, making decorations, baking, making and wrapping gifts. 

My children argue less, the house smells and looks lovely and this year we were treated to early snowfall that turned 'Thomas' my topiary hedge man into a very special snowman!
I do so love this time of year!

Winter is also a lovely time to be up the plot.
Yesterday I spent a peaceful afternoon there, completely alone apart from Mr Chips, the old horse.
The fog obscured the view of the London skyline, and muffled any noise.
I won't pretend I got much done, a little digging....moved some manure and planted the last of the spring bulbs.
Truth is I spent most of my time sitting by my little shed brewing coffee with my new 'kelly kettle' (a present from Wurzel) and watching the birds and the foxes squabble and play. I can honestly say it's the most relaxed I've felt in years!
And speaking of relaxed, I'll leave with a picture of our soppy old dog Jacob in his favourite spot (when he thinks I'm not looking)
Happy New Year everyone!

Grow what you eat? or eat what you grow?

Urban self sufficiency is a myth.
We know this, right?
There are other phrases like 'self reliance' that help to diffuse the futility of my endeavours but really, the truth of the matter is that I will never produce more than a fraction of what my family consumes.

I am very lucky in that I have an allotment.
For those of you who hail from outside the UK (especially that someone who logs in regularly from Latvia....I would love to know who you are!) an allotment is a piece of land, rented from the local council, specifically for growing your own family's food.

This is mine.....
The dead grass on the left is someone else's allotment...the green grass on the right is the communal border....only the middle, cultivated section is mine.  
Allotments hark back to the industrial revolution when masses of country folk were needed to move from rural areas to the cities in order to work the mills and factories. The laws that gave poor people the right to rent a small plot of arable land remain but sadly, many of the allocated spaces do not and there are often long waiting lists.
So, where was I?
I am lucky to have an allotment and a garden. My garden is about 24 feet x 48 feet.
All of this means that I have quite a lot of growing space by London standards, and I can keep a few hens and beehive (but don't tell the authorities because neither are allowed!)

Yet despite my good fortune, if I want tomato or cucumber on my summer salad I must go and buy them because try as I might, I cannot get one to ripen before September.
I don't have room to grow wheat for bread or to make pasta (we eat a LOT of pasta).
There is nowhere near here to fish or hunt (well, you can fish but you have to throw them back and I don't really see the point)
Yesterday, I composted all twenty cape gooseberry plants which were laden with small, green fruit too late ever to reach yellow gorgeousness. 
And let's face it. London is just not the place to grow a mango.
I'm not sure life is worth living without the odd perfectly ripe mango!


We are self sufficient in eggs......but only in the summer months!
 This is entirely my own fault.
We choose our hens 
according to how pretty
they are, how friendly 
and how much damage
they do while free ranging.
So we've ended
up with a flock of fancy 
bantams instead of
year round layer
hybrids.

We're self sufficient in courgettes and winter squash. Impressive huh? Except that we never ate them before I grew them....and I only grew them because they were easy! Then, halfway through my first season and peering out from beneath a courgette mountain, I realised I needed a way to persuade my kids to eat the blimmin' things and so set about learning ways to cook them.



Perhaps this is the answer!
Should we alter our diet to reflect what we can grow?
I've successfully reconditioned my children to think that summer isn't summer without courgette fritters.
Broad bean hoummus and runner bean falafels (so long as no-one knew that's what they were) went down a storm.
Maybe I should convince myself that cucumber and tomatoes are no good in salad....and should only be pickled or canned for winter....nah! it's never gonna work.
I'm always going need the supermarket! 

A birthday, five pumpkins and a Unicorn cake!

The weather is getting cold and squally, the thick clay at the plot has turned to claggy, clinging mud and I am having a very busy week!

Little flower turned eight on Thursday.

I really didn't fancy a house full of squealing little girls so the week before I had suggested that she choose a friend to take to the cinema instead of having a party this year. So what if the pictures is really expensive? (the tickets alone cost £60 quid!!) It would be worth it for the peace and quiet.

Little flower seemed thrilled at this idea (which should have set off alarm bells in my head) and pootled off to make a shortlist.

The following day she confessed that, unable to choose, she had invited two friends.

The day after that, Wurzel admitted to inviting a third (via her parents) and two more to come round for tea!

 So it was that I ended up with a house full of squealing girls after all!

My mum made this amazing Unicorn cake at short notice and Wurzel rushed to the shops on his motorbike and bought all kinds of nasty junkfood for the squealing girls to eat.

And Little flower had a wonderful birthday....in fact, she wants exactly the same thing next year.

 The following day I set off to buy pumpkins for Halloween.

I am a little embarrassed to admit that my winter squash harvest didn't run to Halloween carvers but with Tescos selling at 50p each it seemed a shame to cut into the plot ones.

Blimey! look at the state of my back room!

I'm embarrassed about that anorl!

 Anyway....moving swiftly on! Wurzel's mum recently returned from a trip to Canada and brought home a book of pumpkin designs that we just had to try!

 Okay, I admit that we may have got a bit carried away!
But at 50p each I figured that five wasn't excessive.

 And they looked fantastic!


We made a huge spiced pumpkin cake (in a roasting tray) a massive stockpot of pumpkin soup and enough toasted pumpkin seeds to last until next Halloween!
There's still enough purée left for cookies and pumpkin pie!


Happy Halloween blogland!

 

If I was a pioneer, I'd have starved by now...

 My potato harvest was, once again, truly pathetic!
This is the haul from eight plants.
I went to the potato fair in February and bought fancy, pretty seed potatoes in vibrant pinks, blues and mauves. Heirloom varieties that almost went extinct.

What they don't tell you is that there's a reason for that.
They're primadonna types, high maintenance and low yielding....suitable for those old geezers that fuss and nurture, not 'bung it in and hope' merchants like me!
Please someone remind me of this next February? Urge me towards the boring, bombproof varieties so that I don't find myself gracing the aisles of Tescos next November.







I have spent far too much time lately in waiting rooms.
This is, I suppose, an inescapable part of motherhood when your child has Down's syndrome (well, I say 'child'....Willow is actually 22).
But still, the enforced inactivity of endless waiting in hospital corridors irritates me at this time of year when there is so much to be done at the plot.
So I have embarked on a new project, one that is portable and convenient. 
I'm making a quilt!

I started by cutting out lots of two inch high triangles from scrap paper and junk mail.
This is the only measuring involved because I'm rubbish at it!




Then I take some triangles and some scraps of fabric, a needle and thread with me to the hospital.

While I wait I roughly tack the material to the triangle.


It's really easy, no concentration or  measuring required!

Over the last couple of weeks I've amassed quite a collection.


I especially love the 'cow' fabric and the apples. 
The red gingham is left over from little flower's school summer dresses, the flowery from the wendy house curtains and the stripes from where I took up the legs of Willow's pyjamas!

When I get home I sew the triangles together in random order before pulling out the tacking and removing the paper to use again.


I really like the way it's turning out.

Alien vomit!!!

There is something freaky up at the plot....
weird dollops of gooey, icky stuff are appearing all over the grass! I have no idea what they are but my best guess would have to be ALIEN VOMIT!

 There are about twenty odd blobs of the stuff....but more appear each day untill most of the grass is covered....

 ....They appeared almost overnight, this happened at around the same time last year too....

 Eventually they turn a dirty yellow colour and crust over before disappearing as quickly as they came...
(cue 'twilight zone' music)

And while we're talking of weird blobs, I found these on a piece of wood...

I was tempted to open them to see what lurked inside but decided against because a) I didn't want to disturb any hibernating, aphid eating beasties and
b) because I'm a total chicken!

And on to more normal things.....

Squash

Now, I am  a lover of squash. I love squashes so much that my mum did me a portrait of one to hang in the living room! So last night the weather was a little chilly and I figured it was time to cut into the first squash of the season.                                                   

 I decided to use this rather splendid 'Turks Turban'.
I've not grown this type before and indeed this plant was a gift from my friend Dom.
Anyway, I thought it would make a lovely risotto for last night with enough left over to make a curry this evening.

But when I cut it in half I found that the seed cavity took up almost the whole thing!
The flesh is a beautiful colour and very dense and sweet but gawd save us! by the time I took out the seeds and the peel there was very little left!
Next year I'll just have to grow thousands of the buggers...you listening Dom? 

Season of mellow fruitfulness

John Keats called this the 'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness' and that is the very best description of English autumn I have ever heard! Today my garden is bathed in glorious, golden sunlight. The chickens are happily free ranging while our old dog dozes and Wurzel is up a ladder harvesting the last bunches of grapes from atop the pergola.

I say the last of the grapes because we've been picking them for weeks now and there were so, so many! Little flower has taken a bunch to school each day, we've given great bowls full to family, friends and neighbours. I've juiced mountains of grapes to make jellys and jams.





and of course, I hardly need say,
there is a gallon of red wine bubbling away in the kitchen.


And Wurzel is out there, picking yet more! Even the chickens are growing weary of grapes now! (They are fickle those hens, shortly before the grapes ripened they had begun turning their little beaks up at cherry tomatoes!) and we will know soon whether there is enough for another gallon of wine.

I love this time of year.

Okay, here goes....in alphabetical order

Allotment, we've moved to a beautiful new allotment site bordered on one side by ancient woodland and on the other by horse paddocks. In fact, our plot was used as horse grazing for 30 odd years before we got it...it's a little compacted but should be well fertilised. This picture is taken from the bottom of our plot, The car is up the top facing the horse paddock.


We've dug some long beds (it's real hard graft on compacted London clay) and erected a shed. We built a couple of raised beds for seedlings.
This year we've had pretty good crops of tomatoes, winter squashes, beetroot etc. Loads of strawberries and far too much chard!
Little flower, who loves horses to the point of obsession, comes plotterin' regularly and can sometimes be seen riding one of the horses bareback across the grass. Willow, being twenty two now, visits occasionally..... to sunbathe. Wurzel makes the odd appearance, under duress, to do any heavy jobs that I can't manage.

But I am there whenever life allows.















Bees,
I am now the proud owner of one colony of bees. Can you see the terror on my face?

I worry for the honeybee. I feel I have a duty to support them. I was very responsible, I went and did the course...I allowed myself to be stung to prove I'm not allergic. I found a great spot to put them and saved up for all the gubbins you have buy (and there is a LOT to buy) but still, they scare the bejeezus out of me!

Little Flower on the other hand, is simply fascinated (she being the short beekeeper in the photo!)
Willow won't go within fifty feet of the hive and Wurzel, bless him, is my hero! Despite not having all the gear he happily trundles up to the hive with me and does whatever I ask.
I do plan to be a confident beekeeper one day. Just not as quickly as I'd hoped.




C is for Chickens! Guinny has now sadly left us for the chicken coop in the sky but Boudicca is still going strong and now shares the garden with Racey Lacey ( a little wyandotte with very frilly knickers) and three pekins, Millie, Buffy and Tiger Lily.
They are all completely bonkers!

Right. That's enough for now, I think I'm getting the hang of it....sort of.
I've spent forever trying to post images and arrange text....I'm going to publish and see if it's worked.
Wish me luck!

cough....ahem....

It's been a while since I was here....(a couple of years actually) I guess I was kind of distracted! I'm also something of a technophobe and when the powers that be started messing about and changing things I flounced off in a huff....as you do.
Anyway, I'm back now and as soon as I've figured all this new gadgetry out I'll have another go at blogging.