The Cottage Smallholder

I had just finished my post for this evening – April flowers from the garden and was planning to drift upstairs to bed and the solace of clean sheets and a Min Pin or three, when Margot from Coffee & Vanilla invited me to the A Fruit a Month blogging event that she is hosting. Read More »

The best bicycle that I ever owned was my first one. A red fairy cycle with creamy white wheels and the promise of freedom and speed. My mother didn’t believe in fitting stabilisers. She ran behind the bike holding onto the saddle. I was impressed that she could run so fast. One day we seemed Read More »

Frittata. The word used to freeze me to the core. It meant nasty, yellow rubbery slabs. Now the suggestion is welcomed with open arms since we were introduced to Anna’s brilliant potato frittata. We’ve guzzled them every week since then. A great way of using up a glut of eggs as well as being true Read More »

Forget-me-nots really come into their own when they self seed. They just don’t seem to work when they are sown and transplanted. They need to find their own place and more often than not appear beside a perfect companion and astonish me. If you don’t have any, scatter some seed around your garden and they Read More »

My mum tried Soya mince once and never again. I can still remember the shriek. Danny’s mum also tried it once. Perhaps they read they same article. About a month ago I was tootling around the Daily Bread Cooperative with my mum. I spotted a shelf of Soya products and was about to accelerate past Read More »

Last year Mrs Boss was the heroine of the Farming Friends and Cottage Smallholder Interblog breeding event. Four of her keets matured to replenish our local breeding stock, adding some good Yorkshire grit to our East Anglian strains. For the first time in years Mrs Boss was a happy bantam hen, absorbed by her flock Read More »

We had the day marked clearly on the calendar when we could sample our salami. 14 days since they were first hung in the larder to cure. Apparently you can taste them just to see how they are getting on and seal the cut end with a piece of lard. Generally, salami take between 4 Read More »

Shopping with my mum is fun. Jalopy has a well deserved rest and we venture forth every other weekend in Danny’s company car. With her special badge we can glide into the spaces right beside the supermarket doors. When I spring out of the driver’s seat passers by look angry but when I open the Read More »

I’m a bit shy when it comes to new recipes. I have to be seduced. Like everyone, I respond best to a combination of great recipes and guaranteed good results. Superb photography is the champagne that encourages me to slip on my apron and sort out ingredients with a trill. One Perfect Ingredient is the Read More »

A few months ago a local caterer and superb cook was spotted buying a Waitrose fish pie. When she was asked why she was buying one when she could easily run up a pie herself, her response was clipped. "I just couldn’t make it for the price." The story did the rounds in Newmarket and Read More »