Eighties

Look at that! We had some proper rain yesterday!

Jamie was particularly happy as it meant he didn't need to go to the allotment to water. He sowed some of my favourite Gigantes beans and Ivan gave him several runner bean plants too. He also managed to dig some holes ready and waiting for our courgettes and tomato plant. The tomato has little fruits already, so it's begging to go out.
I actually went out again last week - in the daytime, it was on the last sunny day. We walked to a field that overlooks the town.

We walked down through to the town. There were a few more people than I've seen in weeks, but we didn't have to do much swerving to avoid other pedestrians - though, I must admit, I found it rather novel seeing the avoidance manoeuvres people make!

Apart from that walk, I've just been working. I bought a new gamer’s mousepad - makes my 'workstation' look cool :-)

Jamie pulled one of our garlic - they’re all small like this because they didn’t get enough water when the bulbs were forming, nice flavour though.

Neal brought over some more broad beans. We had them with two meals including this halloumi and grilled asparagus (You can tell when I've cooked because I like to make it look fancy)

And there were some left so I made hummus - I had to add some frozen peas, (there weren’t quite enough beans once they were podded and shelled) which add to the GREEN! It was very tasty, we had it with the roasted peppers, along with other tapas, on Friday evening.

The rhubarb is still providing and we’re still loving the mix with strawberries, so delicious and so easy:
Equal measures of rhubarb and strawberries;
1/4 measure of water;
1/2-3/4 measure of sugar;
2 tbsp of lemon juice.

Shaheen’s recipe for rhubarb and rose petal butter gave me the idea of soaking rhubarb in some rose liqueur and cooked that up a couple of days later with some sugar and a bit more rhubarb. I do love flowery flavours.

I harvested the first of the ‘micro greens’. They are nice and peppery, but basically just cress!

Today’s song is provided by Killing Joke, I saw them at the Elephant Fayre (in 1985 apparently) - I don’t remember them like they appear in this video. The country rather feels like it’s returning to those times - apart from coronavirus which is taking a bit of a backseat in the media, but it continues to kill over 1500 a week in Britain so please continue to stay safe x

It Doesnt Make it Alright

We had another delivery from our allotment - thanks again Neal!

As well as our first broad beans and strawberries there was another huge supply of rhubarb - our mammoth plant just keeps on giving! (Photo from last year).

The top photo in this post is the marvellous combination of strawberries and rhubarb to make a most delicious sauce, using this recipe (even I probably didn't really need a recipe for this!)

The sauce has provided us with a tasty filling for breakfast pancakes, a topping for ice cream and even as a jam for scones. What a great combination of fruits which happen to harvest at the same time.

There's been a lot of growing activity in the flat this week. The micro-greens have shot up.

The 2 courgettes both germinated quickly.

And the peppers and tomato plants have flowers. Hopefully we'll get some of the rain that is threatened tomorrow, then Jamie may be able to get a spade into the ground!

Lockdown has been reduced somewhat, even for the 'clinically extremely vulnerable'. I'm not going to change my behaviour much, but may not feel guilty by getting a bit of sunshine outside now. The NHS website suggests adding vitamin D to the drugs regime - We already started doing that a couple of weeks ago.

The Specials provide the song. I love the Two-Tone message of the eighties. Sadly racism is as rife as ever with the shocking news from America where racist police were literally dismissed for murder, rather than being arrested - now corrected, but no wonder people are raging. And in our country, this Government delaying the results of the review into why BAME (black and minority ethnics) appear to be more critically affected by Covid-19.

Sorry about this rant, but I read something recently that was really upsetting and want to show my support against racism. Black lives matter; all life matters.

Outside

Day 1 of lockdown - I've started again because yesterday we went for a walk (yay!) - at 4:00 in the morning to see the sunrise and listen to the birds.

It was wonderful! Walking through the dewy grass. Mist was rising from the canal and over Freeman's Marsh.

The birds were singing their dawn chorus - Jamie recorded this outside the allotment gates. I can recognise a crow and a pigeon(!). Can you recognise other singers in there?

We saw a muntjac deer, lots of rabbits and didn't have to practice any social distancing as there was no-one else out.

I got to see the measures in place to restrict the spread of covid-19:

the 2metre line markings on the pavements, sanitisation stations in the Co-Op and lots of warning signs.

So that was a lovely start to a 5-day break from work.

Jamie visited the allotment last week to bring some compost home to pot on the tomato and peppers. He enjoyed catching up with so many of our friends on the site and he took a few photos.
Look how dry the earth is! We really need a bit of rain!

Clearly this is Plot3 which Neal hasn't dug - thank goodness his kind work means that Plot7 doesn't look like this too. The photo shows the lovely netted cage that we put up last year - now protecting thistles and dandelions!

Our pond is certainly a haven for wildlife this year - there is a pond with a frog in there, honest!

I used some of the compost Jamie brought home to sow some micro-greens. They're under our red/blue grow-light. We've not tried them before, so quite interesting and they've sprouted in about 24hours. And Jamie's sown a couple of Tosca courgettes.

We're seeing the occasional plane fly over, but nothing like before, no wonder the air is so much clearer.

So now I have a few days to relax and it's so warm and sunny. The song is provided by George Michael.

Red Alert

Day 70 indoors and Jamie & I have reverted to our former selves and spent yesterday playing video games - Landstalker, if anyone remembers that blast from the past! We'd rather be outside nowadays but will stick with the shielding plan, even if this ridiculous government doesn't understand its own vague advice "ooh, little bit of politics".

Today we have more gorgeous blue skies and sunshine. We really have had beautiful Spring weather, but I know our fellow gardeners are crying out for some rain. We had a tiny shower yesterday, but it was cleared away swiftly by the strong winds we've been experiencing in the last week. 

I've been playing with my 'microscope camera'. The images aren't as good as I'd hoped (not exactly microscopic!), but the spikey just-emerging tomato flowers are pretty amazing.

We now have two pepper plants in the kitchen windowsill too. Jamie is still hoping to visit the plot at some point, to plant them out. And he's said he'll sow some of my Gigantes beans too. Another fellow plotholder, Kate, very kindly offered to plant up our allotment now that Neal has dug it. It's a tempting offer, but it'll be good if Jamie gets up there so we've said no, for now.

A bit droopy on arrival. They're happy now

Both our allotment sites are fully leased now, with our biggest waiting lists we've had since the beginning. It's really good to show there's a strong need for communal growing spaces in Hungerford - I wish I was there to meet some of our newcomers, but at least I've seen some great photos of their activity, on social media.

I've done a bit of cooking, I used up some celery sticks to make cream of celery soup on Saturday. I used this recipe, using milk and flour instead of cream.

I fried the finely chopped onion and celery in oak-smoked oil. It's amazing, just like Campbell's condensed soup - it needs scooping out of the jug! Even Jamie likes it - he never normally likes my home-made soup :-)

We're still eating a lot of rhubarb. We actually have brown sugar to bake it and the syrup is delicious. We've discovered that chocolate icecream goes particularly well with rhubarb.

The title is highlighting the fact that this government think we can 'stay alert' to a virus, rather than stay home to protect ourselves and others - Basement Jaxx provide the great song.

Life Goes On

62 days inside, sounds like a prison sentence! But it's not, and look... some photos of our plots.
Jane wanted me to see some of the flowers and there's Neal standing beside our enormous rhubarb on Plot 8!

There are just a few California poppies showing at the moment, but I'm sure the whole place will be covered in poppies and nigella quite soon. At least it'll look pretty, amongst the weeds.

I'm pleased to see the red flower re-emerge, it's in a pot and happily looks after itself each year - I can't remember what it's called - and in the front are snap dragons which are re-growing from last year so they'll make a nice colourful display. Will I get to see them in person? Not sure about that. I've started receiving daily texts from the NHS Coronavirus Service (seems to be a new service that started last Thursday). This was the most important bit for me - 'shield at home until 30 June'.

Actually, I count myself lucky. I'm glad that I'm not being advised to return to work. I sympathise with those who will need to return so soon - very daunting. Especially when the problem for social distancing is yet to be resolved in many workplaces and for people using public transport. I think people should wear face masks outside like in so many other countries - at least that would help reduce some spread. My cousin Jen made me this colourful one for when I finally get out - pretty huh?

Last week I was very busy with work, but Friday came round super-quick. I was enjoying salad lunches with more home-roasted peppers (my new obsession), baby leaf spinach and black olives. There's a bit of Quorn 'ham' in that plateful too.

I had an omelette last night with the spinach, peppers and tomatoes - I refrained from adding cheese, otherwise I won't get through the front door after lockdown!

And I made some pea soup last week - with tinned peas.

I don't think we've ever bought tinned peas before. It was tasty and so easy to make with just half an onion, a bit of garlic and half a stock cube as additional ingredients!

It's been a bit chilly this week - we even had a frost one morning when I looked out early; it's why we usually aim to wait till June before planting things out - we've been caught out by it before.

I've been joined in my window by a Lizzano tomato plant that was delivered by Dobies this week. We're hoping that the peppers will arrive soon and Jamie could make a visit to the allotment to pop them in the ground.

We'd normally grow them in tall pots and the peppers would be in the greenhouse, but not this year. We'll see how they do - we know the Lizzano doesn't mind being outside. Thanks to Neal's very welcome help we have Plot 7 is cleared for Jamie to plant them in. Look, he's even given us lovely neat edges!

And we're still getting deliveries from the plot, though this will be the last of the carrots and leeks which have gone to seed.

The song is provided by Gym Class Heroes - a very pleasing video.

Wait

As if working out what day it is isn't difficult enough! We've had a Bank Holiday Friday - we never have a Bank Holiday Friday! Our usual holiday Monday (May Day) was moved to Friday for VE Day, so now I think it's Sunday but it's Saturday. Oh, it's confusing!

This is 'Pip' our regular big fat pigeon; he struts along our hedge looking like he owns the place :-)

Day 54 inside - it's nice and warm with the windows open and the road is fairly quiet. Everyone is waiting for Boris Johnson's "big announcement" about lockdown tomorrow. With over 500 Covid-19 deaths per day over the last week, it's crazy to be thinking that there should be any reduction in England's half-hearted lockdown. We already have the worst death rate in Europe... I think we should just wait until the fatalities really reduce.

Anyway, enough of that depressing news. I'm pleased to report that our Silk Road Bush is full of flowers.

 It'll continue like this for several months.

I love it and the leaves are as pretty as the flowers.

And more good news. Neal has brought us round another delivery from our plot. The carrots weren't so good, but this rhubarb is so delicious - that'll keep us going for a while. I really should think of something more creative to make with it, but it's just so good roasted!

Another fellow plotholder, Ivan, has offered to help keep our plot 3 in order while we're away from the allotment - we're so looking forward to getting back there. But, for now I'll continue working from home -  Zoom meetings can be quite entertaining, whether for work or meeting friends, but it does mean you're never actually away from the screen. Look at some of my lovely colleagues - always quite animated ;-)

I haven't done any exciting cooking, but have re-discovered the delights of a cold baked potato in a salad - that was with the last of my roasted peppers and mushrooms. My lunches at home are much more generous than what I have at work!

On that note, I'll go and do some exercise... oh no, I think I'll read my book instead :-)
Stay happy and healthy everyone. Here's a fab song from Kym Mazelle and Dr Robert (of The Blow Monkeys - I'm  pretty sure I went to see them in the dim and distant past).