Thank you for your support!
I want to thank everyone who read and made a comment on my Twist wrench and grab post – and any other post too as we really appreciate your comments. I really value your support. Living such an isolated life it’s easy to get overwhelmed by a mini disaster. As you say, it wasn’t the loss of the money and the cash box that hurt. It was the breakdown of trust. Tamara pointed me in the direction of an inspirational post on Huntergathercook which is well worth a read and calmed me down considerably. My mind is racing with all your...
read moreGreengage jam recipe
Photograph courtesy of ilco “Do you think that my greengage jam has set enough?” The chicken lady passed me a teaspoon filled with greengage loveliness. It was excellent, not too runny. And the taste was superb. “I used less sugar than the recipe as we don’t like jam to be too sweet.” “I heard once that if you include some kernels it helps it to set.” “Funny that you should say that. My grandmother always included almonds in her greengage jam.” “Perhaps they were kernels?” TCL had given me a haul of greengages and...
read moreTwist wrench and grab
Considering that the gateside stand has been up and running for nearly nine months now, thefts from the stand have been low. When they do happen it’s a shock. I spot that we have sold something and my heart lifts but when I open the cash box it is empty. Before the school holidays began some teenage boys on bikes started nicking stuff. As profits are quite low, this was depressing. But I scotched their game by working in the front garden around that time that they passed each day. They knew that I knew. After a while they just stared...
read moreRoast chicken thighs with summer vegetables recipe
Why chicken thighs again? For one thing, it makes a succulent, tasty and economical meal. Also, Fiona split her jam making over two days, which is a great idea because it is then less of a major task. The house is filled with the aroma from the two jam saucepans. One has wild plum and the other is greengage. I am the unofficial taster and quality assurance agent, apparently. So I am giving her a night off from writing. We had this variation on Shereen’s excellent original already this week. I found a large gammon at the CFC on Thursday and...
read moreHow to grow the best potatoes
Up until this year we’ve always been a bit disappointed with our home grown spuds – flavour is always good but the harvests have been poor. We thought that we were giving them the correct TLC but clearly we were going very wrong somewhere. Having been laid up for the past year I had time to research in depth the ways to give potatoes the best possible chance. And I’m delighted to report that I’ve grown fabulous spuds this year. Each plant giving on average 2-3 kilos. We have 40 plants in the kitchen garden borders (not counting the...
read moreRoast and smoked duck risotto recipe
Whenever we find a free range duck on offer we squeeze it into the freezer for a really special meal. Last weekend Danny roasted a duck and served it with a blueberry and plum sauce. Superb. Incidentally we usually cook fruit with the duck to make a sort of instant sauce. This time he roasted the duck “plain” and made the sauce separately. The duckiness of the duck was so good that I think that we’ll cook duck this way from now on. “We can make a duck risotto with the leftovers. Possibly two.” Danny chortled as he cut himself...
read moreFour years old today: Happy Birthday Cottage Smallholder
When I was four, I remember going to a fancy dress party dressed as a fairy. I had a wand and glittery shoes and presumably dinky wings. A tiny part of me secretly hoped that by dressing the part I might feel what it’s actually like to be a real fairy and possibly even to be able instantly to cast spells. But as I clattered down the road in my new shoes I seemed so human and clumpy and the wand remained just a sparkly star stuck on a stick. When I sat down on a cold wet August day in 2006 and wrote the first post of this blog, I can’t...
read moreHow to make homemade pomanders
There are many beautiful moths that come into the cottage on summer evenings. They are welcomed and their beauty dazzles me and I hope that they will not drown in the washing up bowl. Then there are the clothes moths, the enemy that likes to guzzle our carpets and clothes. Any that I spot lolloping on the ceiling are killed by gently wiping my finger over them – yes our ceilings are that low. Despite the clothes moth murders hundreds of these greedy creatures manage to creep into our drawers and wardrobes each year with devastating...
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