Autumn flowering perennials
My mum always says that the best gardens have a decent show of flowers in September. Walking around the garden last week, most of my autumn flowers are just on the cusp of bursting into flower. There was very little to see apart from pink Japanese anemones and white Michaelmas daisies. This morning I looked a little more closely and saw blue flowers on the plumbago, evening primroses, cosmos and sedums. I was thrilled to find that our first delicate autumn crocus has emerged. With the prospect of not buying flowers for the house, I have been...
read moreThe ultimate soft pork meatballs recipe
Years ago when so called witches were awaiting trial, they were fed mouldy bread and water. Mouldy bread, in excess, causes hallucinations. And in the case of the witches probably sealed their fate. So I tend to avoid mouldy bread. We have been working on the ultimate pork meatball recipe. We now have a recipe for the softest melt in the mouth meatballs with the addition of a beaten egg. I decided to give Magimix her first run chez Cottage Smallholder. I oohed and aahed so much that Danny rushed into the kitchen to check what was going on....
read moreCan you unlock the Park Berry Mystery?
Mildred left a comment on the post “Can you identify this fruit” asking if anyone could identify a fruit that she had found in her local park. “My query, if anyone can help, is about a tree in the local playing field. They are similar to the photo at the top of the page but smaller, only about 15mm, and round. They are red. The inside looks the same too. They seem to be growing in clusters like elderberries grow – not at all like the crab apples on my friend’s tree! At present only a few have turned red, the rest...
read moreBBC Radio Cambridgeshire interviews Cottage Smallholder
Sara Varey, a broadcast journalist for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, invited me to do an interview for their Good Food fortnight. I was really chuffed. I emailed her to find out what she wanted to talk about specifically. The topics she wanted to cover included the blog and why I had started it as well as my smallholding. My blood ran dim. We might be called The Cottage Smallholder but we are not proper welly wearing, sheep shearing rural folk. An email flew instantly back, informing her that we only have a third of an acre, keep chickens and...
read moreSmart Wife’s Perfect Yorkshire pudding recipe
We now have an even better recipe for Yorkshire puddings – these are crisp and keep their shape. Years ago Smart Wife taught me how to make perfect Yorkshire puddings. I often ruined the joint but our individual Yorkshire puds were perfect every time. Rising like a miniature Tower Of Pisa army, they happily deflected attention away from the teeth challenging meat. On Sunday, Danny suddenly gets serious at around six o’clock and puts on his King Of Roasts mantle. If he is cooking beef I am invited to be his Queen Of Yorkshire...
read moreBook review: The Reader’s Digest DIY Manual
I bought my copy a few years ago in Homebase. It lives in Jalopy underneath the passenger seat and has proved to be an invaluable tome. If I brake too fast or corner too hard it shoots out of its den and hits the wall of the footwell, hard. Instantly chastened, we continue our journey at a more sedate pace. Its authority has given it an edge. I do most of the repairs at the cottage and the book has become an intelligent friend. Even though there are sections that I have to open with a letter opener (it slipped into the bath one night when I...
read moreEasy rare roast prime rib of beef recipe
A couple of weeks ago, Danny visited Fred Fitzpatrick’s, shopping list in hand. Suddenly Fred popped a well hung rib of beef into a bag and put it with our order. Danny was astonished. “I’m sorry Fred but I didn’t order that!” Danny is almost as passionate as I am about rib of beef. It must have been hard to say no. Fred beamed, “It’s a present for Fiona.” When I got back from work, Danny related the story and I examined the beef through the thin white bag. It had a bluish tint, I knew then that...
read moreWe think that we have a male keet. Farming Friends & Cottage Smallholder Interblog Guinea Fowl Breeding Event
Back in June Farming Friends sent us six guinea fowl eggs in the post to put under our broody hen Mrs Boss. Five eggs hatched out. Sadly, our favourite and the only snow white keet, Lightning, died a couple of weeks ago. The remaining keets are doing well and are nearly three months old. They are bigger than Mrs Boss now. They hang out in a gang with Mrs Boss in tow. She alerts them when there is chopped lettuce or Swiss Chard in the offing. Their instant response is to fly up the run and land in the roof of the Day Centre. Mrs B and the hens...
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