Biodynamic gardening update for January
It all started with The Gaia Book of Organic Gardening by Patrick Holden and Cindy Engel. The Chicken Lady gave me this book for Christmas. I absorbed every page. It’s packed with ideas on how to improve the soil in your garden without the need for chemical fertilisers and very useful information and pointers to make a garden more self sustainable. Exactly the book that I needed, as I’ve become obsessed with improving our kitchen garden soil. Then I started to read more widely and discovered that biodynamic gardening is like organic...
read moreSimple Seville orange, ruby grapefruit and lemon marmalade recipe
When I was a decorator I’d often dream about decorating as it was an integral part of my life. I’d often wake exhausted in the morning having been ‘decorating’ all night. Decorating was the backbone to all these dreams overlaid with the classic dramas. Anxiety dreams - would I finish painting the room in the allotted time? Adventure dreams – scaling roofs and walls with a pot of paint and a brush. Travel dreams – decorating around the world. Even frightening dreams – decorating alone in a haunted house. The decorating dreams...
read moreGrowing First Early potatoes in the greenhouse
I never in my craziest dreams thought I’d be writing this post. As my fingers fly across the keyboard it's sleeting outside. I’ve planted some Swift (First Early potatoes) in a potato bag in the greenhouse. If all goes well they should produce a crop by the end of March. This is not a moment of Cottage Smallholder madness, I found the advice on the Harrod Hoticultural site. John Harrison has written a series of great monthly grow your own articles for this site. He is the author of Vegetable Growing Month by Month and also writes...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Spectacular goose, red pepper and tarragon risotto recipe
“Would you like goose risotto tonight?” “Oh yes please!” We eat a lot of risotto at the cottage. The perfect easy comfort food. What I didn’t mention was the age of the goose. I’d found some last week in our freezer left over from Christmas 2008. It looked a bit stringy and unappetising so I hid it from Danny as it defrosted. Leftover goose – even if it’s been lingering in the freezer for months makes a risotto to die for. It smelt and tasted fine and once it was chopped up and stirred into the risotto it transformed the...
read moreAnd the culprit eating my pea shoots was…
I’ve been busy tackling the mystery of what was eating my pea shoots. These peas were planted in October under fleece. They germinated well and were at the stage where they needed to be supported by twigs. At first I suspected slugs. My open beer traps didn’t attract a single slug. Then Cath gave me the tip that traps need to be covered and I remembered that years ago my mum gave me the ultimate in slug traps. I found it in the greenhouse and set it up with a trill. But even the mighty Slug X beer fest didn’t attract a single...
read moreEasy Seville Orange Marmalade recipe
“I want to make a marmalade that looks pretty. Like this.” I pushed our copy of New British Classics by Gary Rhodes across the table. “It looks stunning but it would take hours to remove the pith and cut the peel that fine.” “Not if I poach the oranges à la Delia. I could probably scoop out the pith with a spoon.” I’d been researching making marmalade in depth. Having been brought up in a dark chunky marmalade household I’ve steadfastly continued with the tradition. Assuming that this is the best marmalade. Until last...
read moreSlug challenge 2010 and seedlings
Our basic electric propagator has been brought into service again as I’m really keen to get my tomatoes and peppers started early this year. Also I wanted to sow the Florian strawberry seeds to get a May/June crop. The propagator hasn’t got a thermostat but it is a real little cracker. Germinating seeds very quickly. This year they seem to have germinated even more rapidly – perhaps using rainwater to water them is helping? I’m also using biodynamic techniques and sowing, planting and tending by the moon this year - which is...
read moreMarmalade Dayzzzz
This past two weeks or so I have been caught up in a fever that hits the UK from mid January to the end of February. The great marmalade making bonanza. I was determined to develop a new range of recipes for the gate side stand - from dark and chunky to light and dainty. I have come up with two new easy recipes. I’ve also made a few discoveries and now feel much more competent when it comes to making marmalade. In fact I think that I was probably up a bit too long each day, falling asleep the instant my head touched the pillow. Only to...
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Recent Comments
{ Fiona, have you reached the "mad as hell" stage yet?? } – Mon 10 :06 pm
{ something to use instead of poison is a mix of builders plaster and sugar 50/50 with a bowl of water near by.... } – Sun 6 :20 pm
{ I know this is an old thread, but I just happened upon it. I make something similar, haven't tried the chili added to it... but... } – Thu 5 :55 pm
{ I have chickens and I've seen lots of rats running around my chicken coop and i'm afraid to use rat poison, is rat proof chicken... } – Thu 5 :57 am
{ Fiona, come on, it's been nearly 4 months and I might have to start checking those Suffolk paper reports again!..... } – Wed 11 :13 pm
{ I have been using kitchen towels and rapping the pot this has worked well, but made the box; Boy is it good used rock-wool and... } – Wed 5 :42 pm
{ I just tried this with the plums I have in northern California: we have some red and some orange wild plums, and some that I... } – Tue 11 :46 pm
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