Light My Fire

We had a HAHA Workday yesterday - our first proper visit to the site for over a month! It was great to be working out in the fresh air again. (I hope this video is working, it's using the slow-motion feature on my new phone).

Luckily the rain stayed off for most of the time and all the volunteers did a great job of clearing the site; chopping back overgrown hedges and getting rid of all the rotten wood around the place thanks to a great big bonfire.

It's been such a wet few weeks I'm sure we were all glad to be out. And naturally, cakes were provided by Ted so we had regular tea-breaks and time for a catch-up.

Jamie and I (with help) spent the time clearing our Plot 46A - we didn't do anything with it this year, so we're clearing it for someone on the waiting list. It would have been nice to have a plot in the middle of the site, but we're stick with our original ones for now.

We were pleased to be able to clear all the structures and all the rotten wood was burned. The barrels full of soil were left by the previous tenant, we didn't manage to empty all of them but we'll help the new ploholder if necessary. They have lovely soil in them, but unfortunately there's a lot of weed seed in there too.

The bonfire provided us with some extra warmth as the sun was going down when we left - well, it's November, it was only about 4:00pm.

Over the last few weeks I've been enjoying the last of our harvest of pumpkin and am still loving the dried beans. I must be sure to pick more for drying next year. This meal I had was so delicious, based roughly on this veggiedesserts recipe.

I intended for it to cover 2 meals but ended up going back for seconds and scoffing the lot in one sitting, and with a bit of cheese on top. What a piggy :-)

We've not quite finished all the Dido potatoes - they are a lovely yellow maincrop variety and have been delicious as mash, patties and as wedges. Today's song is, obviously, provided by The Doors - enjoy.

Something Good

It's the time of year when there's plenty of clearing to be done on the allotment, but the weather or the inclination isn't with us at the moment. But I am enjoying making use of the remaining harvests from the plot.

I'm eating my Thai-spiced pumpkin soup as I write this. It's really tasty. I'm not sure how much the pumpkin adds to it, but the Thai spices and coconut milk have given it a lovely flavour and texture.

I also have a big bowl of paprika-roasted pumpkin seeds, they were a nice addition to each spoonful of soup, which reduced the woodiness.

The Jack-of-all-Trades pumpkin that I used weighed 5kg - I only used about 500g of skinned pumpkin in the soup.

I'm saving some to add to a bean stew later in the week (look at my colourful beans prior to soaking - that's the Gigantes plus the edamame and borlotti from last year).

The rest of the pumpkin I sliced up and have left in our kitchen for my colleagues to take home, I notice that 3 of the chunks have already been taken - I don't want to be taking any back home myself!

That's my fridge, not a work one!

We have one more Jack-of-all-trades pumpkin left at the plot, in the polytunnel if it survives. We've had a lot of rain and the temperature reached -4°during the week so I'm glad I recovered these Jack-Be-Little pumpkins the other day. Ones which were left outside have started to collapse. And that's my last Spaghetti squash.

The broad beans have sprouted either side of the plank (you may just be able to see them). It was nice and warm in the sunshine yesterday, so that should encourage a bit more growth before the weather turns nasty and we'll put some netting over them.

So, a song title... a GREAT version of this song by Kate Bush, provided by Utah Saints - perfect.

Fireworks

Mmm, these were my Gigantes beans marinading to have with dinner. They're so tasty. After soaking them overnight they get huge (I know, the clue's in the name!)

I ate them re-heated with these celeriac 'steaks' for dinner - this was an expensive way to buy celeriac, though the seasoning was nice it wasn't nice enough to warrant the price!

I decided to use the remaining celeriac with chestnut puree to make soup. I ground the cardamom this time, to remove the seeds from their pods. I also added an onion, cumin and lots of pepper.

The soup looked nasty and the cumin overpowered the rest of the flavours, so I still haven't successfully experienced the cardamom flavour....

Oh well, try and try again...

On Wednesday afternoon we visited the soggy plot - we've had a couple of cold nights, as you can see from the state of the beans...

and the begonia!

We pulled our last bag of potatoes - Dido. They look good and slug-free. Apparently they should have a 'floury to waxy texture'.

At the back of the polytunnel I can see that our buddleia and bay leaf cuttings are looking pretty happy. They must have some quite healthy roots in the bottom of their pots - the buddleia will be potted on next year

We were saddened that the crowds weren't so big at the Newbury Racecourse Fireworks this year; hopefully it was the weather that put people off rather than the event, which was excellent. I love fireworks but they're getting such bad press at the moment.

The post title is courtesy of First Aid Kit (hooray, I didn't have to use Katy Perry!). This is a rather  nice song, which I hadn't heard before.

Season of the Witch

I've been cooking, I always feel that's worth a blog entry. Last week I cooked one of our spaghetti squash. We still have two left to eat, they seem to be keeping ok - one at home and one in the polytunnel.

I rather like the spaghetti squash, lots of people don't seem to (including Jamie). I only cooked it for about 40 minutes which left the strands firm rather than going smushy. Then I turned the two halves over, forked the 'spaghetti' strands out, added the chopped nuts, cheese and tomatoes and popped them back into the oven for about 15minutes.

Nothing has happened on the plot apart from rain, rain, rain, although when we visited at the weekend, to pick some more dry-ish Gigantes bean pods and drop off some kitchen waste, we saw that the garlic has sprouted already! The weather must have been just right.

And then on Sunday evening I did some more cooking - just soup this time and I actually used a recipe because I wanted to use the cardamom seeds that my friend gave me (Thanks David) and I used half of one of our medium-sized pumpkins.

I made this delicious pumpkin soup - I have to be honest that I'm not sure the cardamom added much flavour. I put 7 pods in, I will try more another time. I did enjoy it for lunches at work this week and I've been snacking on the roasted pumpkin seeds (with paprika) during the evenings - so more-ish even if they are rather woody!

Halloween Night gave us an opportunity for a bit of fun - I do enjoy a wig :-) And we had bloody beetroot & potato mash with a Stahly's veggie haggis for our Halloween meal - lovely.

Song title courtesy of Donovan - Happy Halloween!