2009 - what will it bring?

Well here it is, a shiny new year already. I'd say 2008 wasn't exactly a vintage year, and I'm sure that more trying times are ahead, but then the challenges we go through make us the people we are, so I say bring it on!

I don't make resolutions - like rules, I tend to find they are made to be broken. I have a few goals this year, however:

• Have a more successful vegetable harvest - it would help if the weather improved this summer of course, but I don't really have a say in that!
• Work hard and finish my PGCE, and fingers crossed find a job
• Knit more

I don't think my goals are too unworkable, so they should be achievable. Fingers crossed!

Planning for the coming year

It might be the depths of winter now, but I'm planning away for the next growing season. Today was a sort of "winter-clean" for the house, just before we put the Christmas tree up. In the process, we took an old chest of drawers outside in readiness to be a winter log store, and some old bookcases to be raised beds. Of course, this meant I *had* to go looking for something to plant in them!

Because of this year's poor results, I went looking for something a little more robust to cope with the ever-inclement summer weather here in Wales. Victoriana nurseries had a great sweetcorn variety, "Seville", which will grow in colder temperatures. I love the taste of fresh sweetcorn, and really missed it this year when they failed to get off the ground. Here's to next year! I've also been shopping for a nice lettuce mix to carry us through the summer salad season, and found Victoriana also had an "In perpetuity blend" that should keep us in salads all summer long!

I'll be trialling these, and a couple of others, when growing season comes, so stay tuned for some reviews!

Doesn't time fly when you're not posting??

Well, I can only apologise for being such a terrible blogger! Not a peep since May! It took a message from someone talking about my blog to kick start me back into action.

The summer was disasterous for growing, at least for a novice like me. We did well out of our potatoes (still have some left in fact), the parmex carrots, and our peppers did well. Sadly, our tomatoes and chillies never really ripened, nor our pumpkins, and some inconsiderate person knocked over our strawberry pot.

On a cheerier note, it's the time of year for clearing the garden clutter and getting ready for next year! this wekend hopefully we'll be putting in all of our spring bulbs, and turning an old chest of drawers into our new log store, and some old bookcases into raised beds. Without a shed or greenhouse I fear for my fuchsias over winter, but I'll wrap them up the best I can. We have had some VERY severe frosts recently (as I'm sure many of you have too!), which have taken their toll on our lovely banana plant. That will teach us to listen to a good reliable weather report!

Of course, Christmas is coming! I'm still in busy busy mode at the moment, but I'll try and post some recipes and gift ideas here in time for the big day. I'm looking forward to our pickled Quails eggs as a Christmas treat!

Hope everyone's well!

Spring has sprung!

It's been a while since I've updated the blog - truth be told I have been feeling completely uninspired recently, the garden has been hard work, money has been tight, and the weather poor. Then May came and what fantastic weather we were treated to! All the plants in pots out front of house (including the potatoes) soaked up some rays and went nuts. Good times.

Of course, this being the good old UK, the weather has got back to being miserable again. So here's what has been happening since April..

Lots of quail eggs! We've pickled one jar of them, a couple of weeks ago now, so they'll be ready to taste now. Yum! If you have a glut of eggs, this is a good way to use some up (as well as other tasty egg products, like lemon curd, lemon meringue....)

How to Pickle Eggs

1. Boil your eggs! They need to be good and hard boiled for pickling. For quail eggs, that means3 minutes. For medium hen's eggs, 6 minutes. For large hens eggs, allow a good 8 minutes.

2. Run the boiled eggs under a cold tap - not only will this cool them down, but it will also stop the grey layer forming around the yolk (you'll often see this in things like scotch eggs).

3. Shelling time! As you can imagine, this is a whole world of fun with quail eggs...

4. Ensure your jar is sterile - a good way to do this is to clean with hot water, then dry in a hot oven for half an hour. If you have a handy baby bottle steriliser knocking around, then this is the ideal tool!

4. Place your eggs in the jar, along with distilled white vinegar (you can use the normal malt vinegar if pushed, but it leaves the eggs a funny colour). Optionally, add some whole spices to give it a bit of an edge - try a couple of cloves, a star anise, and mustard seeds.

5. Mature! Mature the eggs in a cool cupboard for at least two weeks, and eat within 6 month (eat within 3 weeks of opening). Go great with salad, in sandwiches. Enjoy!

What's growing around the place...

Baby carrots:

Not so baby sweetcorn:


Pumpkin seedling (it is a seedling, honest!):


Marigolds for companion planting:


Broccoli (looking a bit weedy, but we're not ready to plant out yet):


Potatoes:


Strawberries:


Good luck to anyone who is also growing!

National Downshifting Week

This week (19th - 25th April) is National Downshifting week. This is its fourth year, encouraging people to value a simpler life. I am sympathetic with their aims and wishes - here is a list of particularly good advice for food consumption from their website:


Ditch the pre-packed options and cook from fresh.
There's no doubt about it, you 'can' buy very cheap ready-meals these days, but the nutritional value, the overall quality and the taste cannot be compared to doing it from fresh! If you're short of time, double up the ingredients and freeze half for another meal and be sure to use up leftovers in creative new dishes for the next day; soup offers a great way of getting started with this.

Buy your staples in larger packs.
Pasta, rice and porridge oats are perfect examples and you'll also cut down your shopping trips too. If it's just too much to store in your cupboard, split your bulk buys with a friend or neighbour.

Buy plain packets of cereals and add your own extras.
Bananas, raisins, cranberries, blueberries and more are all easy to store and served with a spoonful of honey, they make breakfast time funky enough to entice children off of other sugary options.

Buy cheaper and tougher cuts of meat and slow cook them.
Slow cookers start from around £20.00 and are a great investment. All the fat will run off and the meat retains it size and is deliciously tender and juicy. You can also use this to make mouthwatering dishes that cook through the day while you're at work, giving you a ready meal when you get home!

Grow perpetual lettuce.
Don't worry if you don't have a garden, just grow them in pots on your windowsill. Simply pluck off the leaves from the outside of the plant (making sure to leave at least 6 in the centre) and it will continue to grow and grow. 8 varied pots of lettuces will feed the family delicious salad every day, throughout the whole summer.

Cultivate a few herbs too
Like basil, chives, thyme, rosemary, mint, sage and coriander.
Much better value than buying little packs or dried and you don't need to be green-fingered as they are super-easy to grow. You don't need a garden either for the smaller ones, you can grow them on the windowsill and they'll add great flavour to your home-cooked dishes.

Learn how to make your own dough and you'll never go hungry again.
It's much easier than you think and the basic recipe will allow you to make loaves, rolls, pizza bases, even flatbreads like the ones you use for fajitas. Needless to say, they're better value too and have no unnecessary preservatives or additives. (I teach a class on beginners breadmaking at www.TheMagdalenProject.org.uk)
On that thought, if you are already a bread maker, buy larger sacks of flour from your local baker. It's far more economical this way! A 16kg sack is about the size of a pillow and not that much of a nuisance to store in the kitchen and you'll do far less shopping trips which will save you money there too. See if you have a flour mill nearby, then you'll be able to add a 'real' local touch!

Buy loose produce, not pre-packed.
Research has shown that in the UK, £10 in every £75 of regular groceries is taken up by packaging, which is an astonishing waste of money! Check out your local farm and community shops and buy seasonal fruit and vegetables without the plastic wrap!
Have a go at making biscuits, cakes or flapjacks and bake them with your children.
It's much cheaper and really great fun to do, especially if you make it a Sunday afternoon treat. Then store the goodies in airtight containers and use them in the household lunch-boxes.


They also recommend taking a little time off to spend some quality time with loved ones - no DIY allowed, just lots of time to relax, go for a walk, and just be together. Sounds like a plan!

Tag!

I was "tagged" today by Ciara - it's like one of those chain e-mails that used to go around where you answer questions about yourself. Well, here goes...

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago:
10 years ago I was in the first year of my GCSEs! I remember hating English Lit because my teacher made me re-write an essay about Romeo and Juliet 4 times. I was also working part time in a newsagents.

Five Snacks I enjoy:In a perfect, non weight-gaining world
1. Toast with lashings of peanut butter or honey
2. Ice cream - strawberry cheesecake Haagen Daaz or turksih delight flavour
3. Oreo biscuits
4. Cheese and biscuits - something really nice like a mature Comte
5. Pork Scratchings

In the real world
1. grapes, yum, I could eat a bag a day
2. bananas
3. ryvitas with cream cheese
4. satsumas
5. sunflower seeds

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Build a beautiful house and smallholding somewhere peaceful and out of the way
2. Give money to my in-laws
3. Travel around the worls, but especially a road trip around Europe
4. Indulge my guilty pleasure of nice cars!
5. Sponsor green energy initiatives (NOT biofuels which I have a real thing against)

Five jobs that I have had:
1. Cinema "multifunctional assistant" i.e. dogsbody
2. Bookseller
3. Market Stall worker - selling vegetables aged 13!
4. Checkout assistant - a real high point, haha.
5. Ann Summers party organiser

Three of my habits:
1. If I start something, like sudoku, a book, or an essay, I have to finish it in one go.
2. I tend to eat food in a particular order, like vegetables first, meat last. That sounds a bit wierd, doesn't it?
3. I don't like to throw anything away - hence paperwork going back forever, and a pile of cardboard that needs to go to the recycling centre!

Five place I have lived:
1. Wakefield, UK
2. Bournemouth, UK
3. York, UK
4. Aberystwyth, UK
5. Pontefract, UK (no, I don't get out of the country much...)

Five People I Want to Get to Know Better: (a nice way of saying TAG!) But don't feel obligated! (I've left them off right now, I'll think about who i'll send it to later)

Composting - the basics

First of all, apologies for the gap in posting - I've had a very busy week what with guests and work, so this is the first chance I've had to update. Hopefully it's been worth the wait...

Composting

Composting is a valuable past time. As well as providing a boost for your plants and vegetables, it helps cut down on waste you throw out, as well as a handy place to dump green and garden waste to avoid having to go to a tip or recycling centre, which are usually sited inconveniently for those who don't drive (plus, it's pretty hard to carry binbags on a bus!). I'll discuss here different ways for varying amount of space, as well as what to put in your heap.

Finding Space for Compost

1. No outdoor space

Most people can compost, as it doesn't take up a lot of space if you just have the one bin. The only real restriction is to those with no garden whatsoever like people living in flats or shared houses - in this case you can still use a Compost Caddy, the handy way to store vegetable waste without smell in your kitchen until you have enough to deposit in green waste bags or donate to a friend with a garden:


We have one of these in our kitchen, in order to store vegetable waste until there's a big stack of it to chuck on the compost heap. It saves having to make loads of trips in the rain or cold with one evening's peelings.

2. Small Outdoor Space

If you do have some space outside, but not a great deal, the best way is to have a plastic compost bin - most councils supply them cheaply to encourage recycling in the home. Below is a typical example:This is best sited directly on the soil, so that worms and bacteria can get in and get breaking down your waste. With this type of compost bin it's particularly important to have a good mix of ingredients to avoid smelly, liquid compost - make sure you mix your kitchen waste with a good bit of carbon, such as shredded paper and cardboard. More on this under "what to put in" below.

3. Large Outdoor Space

If you have a bigger space, and would like to go whole hog on the compost front, a multi-cell compost bin is the way to go. This makes it much easier to turn compost during the process, and you can have a handy three bin system: new waste, processing compost, ready compost.

This can be made from pallets (line with mesh to avoid any rodent invasion - unlikely if you only put in the correct material) as the example from the CAT:


Or a posher tongue and groove system if you have more money or DIY skill:


Or even posher still, brick built (there are some arguments this doesn't allow enough air in - you may want to leave some gaps in the brickwork to allow it to "breathe", putting mesh inside as with the pallet wood).

The most important design features, whichever material you choose, are a removable front to allow easy access to your compost, and some kind of covering to keep the heat in and keep the process of decomposition going. A good material is old carpet, which will insulate well and isn't too heavy. You could also use wood, or even plastic sheeting. Recycle whatever you have lying around - that way you don't have to buy something new, or add to what you're throwing away.

What to put in?

1. Kitchen

Green waste such as vegetable peelings, past their best veg, fruit peel. As well as being full of nitrogen, they add moisture to the heap. Other things from the kitchen you can include are tea leaves, coffee grounds, and egg shells. DONT put in any cooked foods, meat or dairy products. This will attract rats and other pests.

2. Garden

Lots of things from the garden can go in - grass cuttings, any annual weed cuttings (make sure you avoid evil weeds like Japanese knotweed, or you will never get rid of it), hedge clippings, prunings (but nothing too woody, which won't break down), and autumn leaves.

3. Other

Other things you can include - droppings and non-synthetic bedding from small animals such as guinea pigs or rabbits, cardboard and paper, wood ash, and cork. DONT put in coal ash, carnivore faeces, wallpaper, hoover contents.

It's all about proportion... here's the science!

For a compost heap to really work, and break down to form good, earthy, rich compost, you need to get the balance right. There is some science behind this, but it's easy! Basically, you need to make sure you have the right ingredients - balance your green waste (which is rich in nitrogen) with your household paper and cardboard waste (which is rich in carbon). These two, combined with the heat of being confined to the container of your choosing, as well as helpful organisms like worms, fungi and bacteria, will let your heap decompose and form lovely compost.

A word about turning

To get your compost to its optimum state in the quickest time, turning is invaluable. It also helps the different materials in your heap mix together well, and let the organisms within have access to air. This is the most difficult in the single bin environment, as it basically means emptying your bin and refilling it, though will only need doing once or twice a year as the plastic bin makes a good, hot, humid environment for your compost. It is much easier in a three bin system, where the first is for newly deposited waste, that can be shifted to the next cell when it's had time to break down a little, then shifted again into the third bin when it's well on it's way to being finished. Having a bin with an easily removable front and lid helps, as you can have as much access to the heap to turn it as possible - it's best to turn your compost once a month if you can.

And that's the basics. Hopefully this will help a little - here are a few links for further details:

Gardeners' World - built a compost heap
List of Local Councils (find your nearest to get cheap compost bin)
RecycleNow - Home Composting