Fasting at The Larches....

Man (or woman for that matter) cannot live on strawberries, gooseberry jam, raspberries, potatoes and flaars alone!

OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit! We've had other stuff like lettuce, rocket, onions, tons of broad beans and leeks, but it's really been a bit of a poor show this year. We were due to exhibit our prize horticulture and our pet lambs at Burwarton Show this year, but sadly the show was cancelled due to the weather/fields/hay. Lucky escape really; the Larches 2012 is a little meagre this year.

In contrast to the fruit and veg the flaars seem to be faring well. For the first time in 3 years I managed to convince the Echinacea that death was not the only option.

Having been cut back twice this year the purple and the blue geranium as well as the orange geum is flowering for the third time.

Along the path, calundula, rose campion, aster, penstamon and feverfew are rampant.

Shasta Daisies the colour of fried eggs, attract all sorts of visitors.

Early in the season the weather was too dreadful to plant all the potatoes in the field allotment so I hastily shoved them into the two year old leaf mold bin and into two of my compost bays. I tucked them in all snugly, covering them with more compost, home-made, rich in horse manure and hemp. I'm glad I did this as I strongly suspect that the field potatoes will be rotten, they certainly seem to have contracted blight.

Yesterday the sproglets and I harvested the leaf bin. The haul was fairly impressive considering..... maybe we won't starve after all.

We won't need to eat the chickens or the lambs either,

today we came home to a rabbit, dead and skinned on the doorstep, a gift from a friend. Not everyone's idea of a pressie but heo-ho, we live in the country. It's a wonder the deceased was still there when we returned - the cats are impressive thieves.






Save them for later....

It's great to have big, fat strawberries in summer, the taste of them fresh picked is pure summer (regardless of the weather) but it's even better to taste them mid winter, similarly baby broad beans and raspberries too.

Of course strawberries are not the same plump, robust fruits when they have been frozen, I'm not daft! But if you've tray-frozen them and they are loose in a bag (hulled and cleaned of course) there's nothing better than using them frozen in a milkshake or in a daiquiri. The same goes for raspberries who are best used frozen for a fabulous, tart Eton Mess.

Broad beans, picked very young are perfect candidates for tray freezing - no blanching required. Gorgeous.

I've been looking for an upside regarding the lack of sun and I feel I have found a tiny glimmer; (for me only probably,) it is that the crap moisture rich weather will allow me to grow broad beans for-ev-er! Fab news for the sproglets and me - possibly not for my hubby who's not a fan.

*

Queenie, positively the last lamb, is growing day by day. She spent the whole day with Pink (the lamb) today and I ignored her cries in the drizzling rain. She's still on a bottle four or five times a day (...as am I) but she has just ten more days of that comfort before she's on pellets and grass only.

Much as I love her, I will not miss the feeds.

A bit of a glut....

Sunday was going reeeealy slooooowly. It was lovely. Hubby slept in front of the tennis, tired from work. Children amused themselves helping me to gather a bit of a harvest from the walled garden. The 7yo appeared with a little wicker basket and we filled it with baby courgettes, a cucumber and 5 fat strawberries. The mange tout never made it to the basket!

I set about making pasta sauce, with onions, garlic, courgettes and tinned tomatoes a ton of olive oil and a pinch of chilli flakes. I zuzzed it with my hand blender and hey presto, pasta sauce.

Then I set about making a huge batch of ragu sauce for the freezer....

There was a knock at the door.....

Our neighbour brought round a serious glut of strawberries. Yummy thank you.

A little while later he was back, this time with a bag of fresh cut spinach for me. Delicious thank you.....

I carried on with my cooking and the door went again....

It was a farmer friend with a massivo glut of cherries! Cherries for goodness sake! Wow-wee, strawberries and cherries and spinach! Morello Sauce, strawberry jam here we come...

It's heaven here!

Gosh Golly Cucumbers for Tea!

It's a real joy to be able to step out your door and pick something for tea. I remember a friend telling me last year that she had eaten a whole meal comprising only of produce from her garden; eggs, potatoes, chives, lettuce, cucumber, beans, tomatoes. (She asked to be forgiven for the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, butter and sauvignon blanc!) I was jealous at the time but this year its our turn. It is so yummy, stuff the budget; we're eating for free!!

Actually it probably cost me £40 to set up with seeds, a few bags of compost and a splurge on two new trowels which the children have commandeered and lost in the garden! But it's money well spent as we'll be eating fruit and veg till the late Autumn, I really shouldn't have to buy anything except citrus fruits and bananas.

Here's some of our sucesses so far.

Gardening in Pictures, part III

Onions and garlic are going well.



Strawberries basking in the sun...


Fat Hen.... no, not you, the plant, the weed, it's called Fat Hen. It is delicious, although in large amounts it can be toxic, (so can wine!!) Cooking it as you would spinach reduces the potency.



The pumpkins, courgettes, peas, beans and sweetcorn are really motoring along. I'm going to start serving mini courgettes with butter at dinner and pickling the glut.



I may have overdone the potatoes!!