We Started Nothing

Back to work last Wednesday for me. I was glad that it was a short week; it was such a struggle getting up early. The weather finally turned cold with some frost and I thought today was going to be awful, but it was actually quite pleasant on the plot this afternoon - though I didn't stay long.

Altocumulus clouds

I only visited to show a new plotholder around and pick a few carrots. The sun didn't show itself, but as you can see, the clouds were interesting and there were quite a few plotholders busying themselves with clearing and tidying their plots. I found this in the greenhouse - some little mouse or vole showing off to a prospective mate, perhaps? I know they like to pull leaves down to conceal the entrance, but this feather isn't a very good concealer!

Our plots look a mess, but it's nice to see some new growth - our Spring bulbs are pushing through in all the pots.

The garlic is looking happy.

The broad beans are much taller than we intended them to be at this stage - the weather has been so mild that they've just kept on growing in their mesh cage.

One of the rhubarb plants is showing signs of life but the other two are still in hibernation.

Meanwhile the weeds and grass are continuing to grow...

I did a tiny bit of clearing and put some kitchen waste and dried out stems into the compost bins. At least two of the bins have tunnels leading in through the bottom; presumably for rats, though I stirred the contents up a bit and nothing leaped out at me - thank goodness!

I brought the Honeyboat squash home as I may use that later in the week. I thought I'd check whether the black-skinned turnips are still edible - they look good on the outside, but...

No good for eating - so that's a shame. They'll be more rat-food, I mean, compost.
The song title is by The Ting Tings and it's true, but we really must start soon!

Happy New Year and thank you for reading - this is our 10th year on the allotment, so I hope it's a good one!

Christmas

I've really enjoyed this Christmas, even though the weather hasn't provided any snow, or particularly cold days, the whole month has felt very Festive. Our living room is evidence that Jamie and I enjoy a bit of sparkle :-)

Brussels sprouts and carrots are the only veg we've had fresh from the allotment during the holiday and, I have to admit, that we bought some sprouts rather than going back to the plot.

We've discovered how delicious sprouts are roasted (with olive oil, salt and pepper). They need to be properly browned and are much more flavoursome than steamed.

They even taste good cold, squished onto a cheese cracker! So I intend to make some sprout pate, with the addition of seaweed flakes that my sister gave us for Christmas - I fancy the Dulse, smokey-flavoured one. Perhaps I'll make some carrot pate too...

We had our Christmas roast (Quorn) with all the trimmings at about 11:00pm on Christmas Eve and subsequent meals have mostly been snacky/tapas. The Granovita vegetable pate is so delicious - you should try it! I never ate meat pate so don't know how it compares.

We received lovely presents from family and friends including beautiful decorations, books and lots of food and drink to keep us going well into the new year.

I spent some time with my newest Great-Nephew, Isaac, at his Great-Grandma's (my mum) on Christmas Eve - he's such a cutie. Since then we've only set foot outside a couple of times and still no visit to the plot. We've been having too much fun watching films, playing games and doing quizzes in between eating and drinking - so much eating and drinking!

Next stop, new year's eve but first a Christmas song - I thought I'd struggle to find one (hohoho) but decided on this by The Who.

Wonderful Wonderful

What a wonderful pre-Christmas week I've had - culminating in last night's Hungerford Extravaganza, where a few of us plotholders joined in with the lantern parade, I don't think I've ever been in a parade before, it was a lot of fun!

The HAHA lanterns were a beetroot, a carrot and one decorated with flowers and a butterfly.

And we managed to get HAHA into each of our designs...

We made our paper lanterns over the last two weekends at workshops. First we made the structures, then added tissue paper coated with a PVA/water mix, then they were hung up to dry for a week.

And after the parade Kerry, Zoe and I walked to Marsh Lane Allotments with our lanterns - look how lovely the look on the plot. (I expect they look a bit sad now as it's raining - freezing rain!)

While we were looking at the lanterns and star-gazing the Extravaganza fireworks display started and we had a great view from the allotment site. The ricochet around the town from the whizzes and bangs was amazing - echoing all around and such beautiful fireworks.

Earlier in the week Jamie and I enjoyed the HAHA Committee Christmas meal - delicious food and lovely company.

I'll say HAPPY CHRISTMAS now and please listen to this song, at least twice. It's so beautiful by The Killers - enjoy x

The Day the World Turned Day-Glo

There's been a lot of rain recently - our rain gauge had over-flowed at some stage during the week. And it's been very windy - with rubbish, composters, cloches and polytunnels all making their way to the North-Eastern corner of the site. I'm pleased to say to say most of our belongings stayed put - perhaps we're protected by these two :-)

Something has been enjoying pecking at those pumpkins... could it be this handsome fellow? There are two male pheasants wandering the site at the moment. There isn't much left to eat on site which isn't protected behind netting.

We were only visiting the plot to pick some veg and show a new plotholder round - not the best day for a visit, but now they have their new plot for Christmas. We were watching this redwing, which is enjoying the berries on the hedge near our plot - my photography through a hedge needs improvement :-) But I hope you can see the red patch, which is very bright in real-life and identifies it from a thrush.

Now, obviously this first post of December shouldn't be pumpkin-based, but I thought the three biggest squashes which we have left in the greenhouse look so colourful they deserve another share.

I expect I'll end up chopping them into chunks to share with friends and work colleagues - they're far too big for me. I used half a Festival squash to make my dinner last night and today's lunch. Squash, beetroot, chestnut and onion tart - so tasty, hot or cold, and just a sprinkling of cheddar. I roasted the beetroot, chestnut and squash before adding to the ready-made puff pastry. Delish!

So, why the Day-Glo song title? The colours are nice but not that bright... well, I couldn't go for another week without mentioning my handbag on this blog. (Anyone who knows me is now rolling their eyes). But just look at it....

Quite interesting...

The colours are more obvious when the sun or other bright light shines on it. And for maximum effect, in the blink of an eye - or the flash of a camera...

Amazing, huh? Thanks Lumikay - fantastic design!
So now you see why the XRay Spex song is appropriate :-)

Hazy Shade of Winter

Look how colourful my dinner is! That's carrot, beetroot, onion and chestnuts to stuff a Honey Boat squash. It's in the oven now...

We had a couple of hours on the allotment this afternoon - it wasn't too cold, it wasn't raining or windy but it was such a grey day. What a mess Plot46A looks - we're going to take the structures apart for next year and have it as a straightforward plot for growing - it's our only plot which isn't near the hedge, so it will be novel for us to dig somewhere which isn't invaded by tree roots!

I cleared some of the awful weed from around the kohl rabi - this chickweed (I think) is a pain, it's all over the plot. I'm hoping it'll die off if there's a frost, but I'm not so sure that it will. In the meantime I cleared enough so that I could put some covering over the kohl rabi to keep the pigeons off.

We did what we needed to do, which was to clear all the remains of tomato, pepper and aubergine plants from the greenhouse. There are still squashes stored in there and a few more onions hanging in the roof netting - still bumping our heads on them every time we move! While Jamie finished off in the greenhouse I did a little bit of weeding around our leeks. Really wish we had more leeks! We were too slow to sow them this year.

We were pleased to see that our garlic has sprouted - just a few tips poking through the soil at the moment, but it gives us hope!

Then back home to cook with the ingredients I picked - one of our two celeriacs, carrots, beetroot and a few more onions and shallots.

I've never grown a giant celeriac like they sell in supermarkets, but this is plenty to make a soup with.

Celeriac and chestnut soup - mmm, the celeriac has such a lovely pungent smell and the chestnuts make it a nice creamy soup, but it's not very attractive is it?! But then, the prettiest soup I've ever made was borscht and that tasted nasty.

While that was simmering I was cooking the stuffing for the squash - it looks like a dessert doesn't it! This is the first Honey Boat squash I've eaten. It seems to be very similar to a Cornell's Bush Delicata, so I'm hoping it'll be delicious...

And of course today's song is by the lovely Simon & Garfunkel - aaah.

Golden Brown

What a lovely Autumn weekend we had. It was a bit fresh, but very pleasant in the sunshine.

Saturday was a quick visit to pick some veg. Mainly for soup - I have some chestnuts left over after making the most delicious chestnut and pumpkin stew last week..

Onions/shallots are being steadily eaten, they're surviving pretty well in their netting suspended from the greenhouse roof - some are attempting to re-grow as it's been warm. The beetroot and small carrot were grated for a salad - though the purple radish had been nibbled by something, I only needed a few bits (luckily). The HoneyBoat squash will be stuffed for a meal during the week.

A beautiful calendula which has survived the cold weather and the hot sun has drawn it back into flower. So pretty. But the cold weather coming up will probably stop them in their tracks. Unlike the Californian poppies which seem to be indestructible and have almost covered the plot where we had our sweetcorn. Oh well, they are beautiful and if they pop up between some veg I won't be too upset.

There is still more to harvest - the kohl rabi have recovered after the pigeons pecked most of the leaves - they have more growing to do before we will pick them and there are nice florets on the purple sprouting broccoli, although there are a lot of whitefly. We need a harsh frost to kill them off I think!

Something large has visited our garlic bed, but no sign of garlic appearing yet - I think this is probably a cat, I'm pleased it didn't leave a 'gift' behind :-}

I'm at work, eating my delicious chunky carrot and chestnut soup while there's a very cold wind and rain hitting the window - but I don't mind too much as Jamie and I are going to Oxford this week for a bit of Christmas shopping - I'm feeling quite Christmassy already after seeing the Newbury lights at the weekend.

And, I can't believe I haven't already used this Stranglers song on my blog - this was the second single I bought, such a great song. Enjoy.

Looking for the Rain

We didn't have to look far yesterday, this is our front window. Torrential downpours in between drizzle was all we had for most of the day.

We were so pleased that it stayed away during the evening while we were at Newbury Racecourse for the fireworks - what a great display! The beginning was particularly amazing with the loudest bangs I've ever heard - it made the ground shake - and the soundtrack for the evening was the ending of the First World War 100 years ago today, so there were lots of red fireworks to represent poppies - it was actually really good (much better than this photo).

Today, Jamie is feeling very painful because of the Twister fairground ride that we went on last night - he was in the seat that gets crushed and has bruised his ribs (or maybe cracked one, as he heard a 'pop' - eurgh). So while he's resting up I made some pumpkin soup. I'm sorry to say that last week's roasted Crown Prince soup went in the bin - it was vile! So I didn't roast the pumpkin today.

And I peeled most of the skin off as this type of pumpkin tends to have rather hard skin. I fried two shallots with turmeric, paprika, cumin and a bit of curry powder, then added the pumpkin and some stock.

Mmm, that smelt so delicious

While that was simmering, I mixed up the pumpkin seeds in a bag with melted butter, salt and smoked paprika before putting in the oven on 150 for 45 minutes.

I decided to sieve the soup after I'd blitzed it, there were still some bits of skin which seemed a bit hard, and now it's a delicious smooth pumpkin curry soup. And more than half a pumpkin left...

The songtitle is by Unkle - it's part of the soundtrack to a Danish TV series we watched recently, The Rain. Tonight I'm off to the ballet to see Swan Lake, with my sister - my first ever ballet! I'm looking forward to it.