Somebody that I used to Know

March is speeding along and has thrown all kinds of weather at us. The snow arrived at 3am on the 8th so we pulled ourselves out of bed to go for a little stroll. 

So beautiful to see it before the roads were cleared. It didn’t stay for long so it was worth getting up for. The following week we had gales and it’s been very wet so we didn’t have any plot visits plus Jamie had the lurgy; not THE lurgy I’m pleased to say, but horrible enough to not want to venture out.

I was on strike last Wednesday - first time ever - along with much of the country. I would have liked to join a picket line, but showed my support remotely instead. It was rather nice having an unusual mid-week day off even if I wasn’t paid for it. I’d like to think it’ll make a difference, but sadly I don’t think it will.

We had a quick plot visit to see if the wind had caused any damage. Just the usual collection of bags and compost lids in the North-East corner. But we did find a bunch of frogspawn in a puddle so gathered it up and shared it between our pond and the HAHA Wildlife pond. And this is how it looked yesterday, just 4 days on and it already looks a bit froggy!

On Saturday we had a HAHA Workday. It was really rainy in the morning so we postponed the bonfire but we still had a good turnout in the afternoon. We only had one heavy shower but also had some very pleasant sunshine. Rubbish was cleared; empty plots were made a bit more presentable and the Wildlife plot and bug hotel had a rejuvenation. Clearing the couch grass, ribwort plantain and docks which try to take over. 

The grape hyacinths, daisies, dandelions and cowslip are the first bee attractors but this was the only photo I managed to get of a bumblebee this weekend!

I’m pleased to see that our purple sprouting broccoli has finally developed florets - I’m hoping to have enough to harvest next weekend. Jamie has pulled some leeks this weekend and in the week I slow-cooked some of my dried borlotti beans. Using the slow cooker for 6 hours rather than using the hob for 1.5 hours is about 5 times more energy efficient!

I added a couple of garlic cloves and a few Gigantes and podded runner beans too. They were the basis of a couple of tasty meals with passata, chilli olives, shallots and a splosh of red wine. The second day the ingredients had soaked up the flavours of the sauce and had quite a different taste/texture.

Yesterday (Sunday) we spent a few hours clearing the Wildlife plot’s bog garden of weeds and I planted out my Egyptian walking onions (aka tree onions) which have been growing on in the polytunnel - they shouldn't mind even if the weather takes a turn for the worse again.

At one point we heard a commotion with four magpies protesting very noisily at the top of site. However all the humans we spoke to were pleased to see the return of our little friend ☺️

Such a friendly little chap and he’s a rather weak excuse for me to use this great song by Gotye - I still LOVE it. From 11 years ago, unbelievable. Enjoy.