tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66650015365858461252024-03-19T04:41:53.726+00:00Rainbow ChardAn organic allotment in NorwichMs Idlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02422072834857825965noreply@blogger.comBlogger331125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-51045870357219193522019-01-23T09:00:00.001+00:002019-01-23T09:00:36.850+00:00Harvest Monday <div>Here I am coming in a little late for Harvest Monday. This week I noticed that one of my sweet dumpling squashes was starting to go a bit soft. Jan's been doing quite a lot of cooking recently and she was in charge of roasting these up. In fact she only used two of them, they give a really decent amount of food for something that looks quite small, so still one to go. The skin is fine to eat as well, which makes prepping them easier - just give the skin a clean first, then slice down following the curves for handy sized roasting portions, and scoop out the seeds.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_30c7_febc_61e4_8e3e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IucGZrcRF7Y/XEgtHyRpz9I/AAAAAAAAEfU/o2bJDCAxVqYKwuTNQTyY3u8tpS4scRARACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 469px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I haven't been to the plot much recently (cold or rainy on my free days) but got a nice little harvest a few days ago - leeks, chard, corn salad and a pointy cabbage. I'm intending to make the cabbage into a coleslaw soon, hope it's still ok in the fridge.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_d476_8898_785b_dff4" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zKAsPgsbTGM/XEgtIl-YqVI/AAAAAAAAEfY/1Y-a73U4pUA0hIldQqeGo9P8T9n-mzMrgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 445px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">The corn salad was used in sandwiches and the rest of the veggies went into a soup. Here's a piccie mid-prep. I'd already added the lovely dark green leek-tops to the pan. Nice to have a splash of colour from the chard too.</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_918f_dcae_d7fc_cbd2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dcbhA-KPumc/XEgtJaDdrwI/AAAAAAAAEfc/SO616kqnFeAKsPCAhf4tODho4WXESlzRQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 487px; height: auto;"><br><br><img id="id_6daa_2748_bd3d_6d0c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KvIeJG_73LU/XEgtKW-Mu9I/AAAAAAAAEfg/2HUlYFooYvIH6aXzs4bEugsyv_9z2cxYwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 482px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've been trying to keep up with home-sprouting pulses regularly (particularly through the winter months when there's less fresh veggie around), and add a sprinkling to soups right at the end, so they stay fresh and crunchy. Adding a spoonful of brine solution from a previous ferment gives a bit of extra goodness and flavour too. This is a different soup from earlier in the week.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b214_7b92_6101_b0aa" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F9tTlY3Oits/XEgtLFkqIWI/AAAAAAAAEfk/l9yrf8VMew0Tpmk2E1HTzKBK6NMvnOCtgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 490px; height: auto;"><br><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">In addition to the sprouted pulses, I've been trying to up our general pulse intake too, and have been buying various dried packs of Hodmedods British-grown pulses, soaking them the day before we need them to save a bit of time. The dark reddy brown peas here are called carlin peas or brown badgers. They have a nutty fulsome flavour. Plus there's a recipe to use them in chocolate brownies, so it would be rude not to try, eh. I've been using their split peas a lot too (like in the soup pictured above), plus barley and quinoa flakes (which I add to my muesli mix).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_dd1c_5ec6_546c_682e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q-2ZswbuHII/XEgtL66vD0I/AAAAAAAAEfo/e8dregjrucAHu_eBUqucnRZXZ8fImuSFwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 487px; height: auto;"><br><br><br><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">We were given a new recipe book for Christmas, The Green Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer, which is what's inspired Jan to do lots of cooking. So, many tasty meals, which need the oven on, perfect for these chilly evenings. She generally adapts the recipes a little bit, to make use of what we've got already. Here's a good chickpea-based one including my own grown beetroot (stored in the fridge up til now) and climbing beans from the freezer. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><img id="id_e342_70f1_bfcb_83c0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FMIagfaQ6CI/XEgtMmZHAWI/AAAAAAAAEfs/-fjl0SPsjjchoZB1Qin4Qr_kSds5slp2ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 495px; height: auto;"><br><br><br><div style="text-align: left;">Usually I write this blog in the evening but as I'm writing a day late, it's lovely and sunny out there at the moment so hopefully I'll get outside for a bit of fresh air later. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks for reading this week, I'm linking in as usual with Harvest Monday, kindly hosted this January by <a href="https://fromseedtotable.blogspot.com/2019/01/harvest-monday-january-21-2019.html" id="id_63d7_42bf_f654_70f9" target="_blank">Michelle at From Seed to Table</a> Check out her blog to see what other people have been up to.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">PS due to technical issues, this is now going out on weds, a mere two days late :D </div></div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><br></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-64932023176037192092018-12-31T16:50:00.001+00:002018-12-31T16:50:01.597+00:00Harvest Monday - Happy New Year!Just time for a little post before we head round to friends' for New Years Eve. It will be an extravagant night of nibbles and board games (and maybe the odd boozy drink). Jan is actually busy making mince pies to take round, she even made the mince meat! I snuck a quick photo before she shoo'd me away.<div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_a119_1869_646f_6cda" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TobEXv5OTmo/XCpItFacepI/AAAAAAAAEew/imbSrWNothkhAyN-EtuJDlxdAiCjkk2FwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 505px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">The mince meat is really tasty, not as sweet as shop-bought, including lots of apples and some chopped nuts for a bit of texture.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">We had a quiet Christmas here in Norwich. Our cat is very elderly (18) and needs lots of looking after, so we're trying not to leave her on her own for too long. She was quite poorly for a couple of days but has made an amazing recovery (possibly thanks to all the extra cuddles). So we have been popping out to see friends (which has been lovely) but also spending lots of time at home. A plus-side to being at home is all the time that Jan has had to spend baking.....This is the third batch of mince pies! Yum. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Our Christmas lunch was really tasty, and kind of healthy. We made a chestnut pie using sweet chestnuts and walnuts that I'd previously foraged, with homegrown potatoes, kale, Brussels sprouts and market-bought carrots. We also made a mushroom gravy and bread sauce from scratch. It felt like a nice balance of comforting wintery foods and healthy greens. I didn't get a photo apart from the sprouts! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_9fb5_3def_9cdd_8979" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/---fLCGSzmj0/XCpIsRvBn9I/AAAAAAAAEeo/HoCBzchTxQASeAIZnRYFkkz7hu20k3BtACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 441px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">They had a lovely flavour, and Jan even tucked into them despite saying she was only going to eat a couple (unfortunately for me, as I was looking forward to a larger share!). The plants have recovered well after being swamped with grey aphids. Some of the lower sprouts have started to 'blow' but rather than harvest them, I've left them to grow out further, as I like them as spring greens. I picked some more the other day but we haven't eaten them yet (a New Year's Day bubble n squeak?). I also harvested more lambs lettuce, kale and chard...but no photos!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Instead, here's my overwintering chilli peppers, inside by the window. They actually live inside permanently now, as they make nice houseplants and it saves space in the greenhouse for sweet peppers. On the left of the photo is a leaf from my home-sprouted mango plant, grown from a mango seed. I'm quite proud of that! The mango needs re-potting though as it drys out quite quickly in the small pot, which it doesn't like.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_2efd_7378_8d46_8079" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gpvS9f11A2c/XCpIsbHFO2I/AAAAAAAAEes/CoHu8Yrk110DsrPyWORXPNHU8crj_e1sACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 523px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I harvested all the lovely deep red chillis from one plant but left the lighter ones for a bit more ripening.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_8e10_c08_2a5_3ee2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-We8-HkgJ4oc/XCpIqTUPh2I/AAAAAAAAEec/3-vQrFg2SVsDC56n6-nbMbtyCAR5M1gxgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 519px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Oh and here's some non-edible foraging from just before Christmas....holly and ivy harvested from the local woods. In the photo below, I've started winding ivy around a solid metal circular frame which I re-use each year to make a wreath for our front door.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_3d1_b34f_ee7f_642c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4p3UzGw_qXU/XCpIrYzxuBI/AAAAAAAAEeg/3j0PU9wYbOYqkQz_f2gdj_QhoOEXHQlhwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 522px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">It looks better on the door than on the bike but you get the idea!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_149_e8bd_b3c0_8bdc" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HzVaR_Z8ldA/XCpIsE0EBlI/AAAAAAAAEek/oepC9L8ETWct_bXQ8ueXwA1lBrzrV418gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 561px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">And just to finish, a piccie of our lovely, cute, little old lady cat Minxie....if only she was as untroublesome as this all the time...my allotment seeds box is strategically placed to stop her getting in and having a wee behind the bike (and yep, we have a bike in the lounge, but that's another story). </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_a8bd_7f58_1ca2_f6c9" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xCnE1bXauIs/XCpIuKuGSqI/AAAAAAAAEe0/2nr3KzxABHkQznNLq-JB13wC3loyH00LgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 589px; height: auto;"><br><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">On that note, I wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing what everyone has been up to (via </span><a href="https://happyacres.blog/2018/12/31/harvest-monday-december-31-2018/" id="id_45aa_f17a_ed11_2c57" target="_blank">Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Happy Acres</a>) and to hear<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"> what your plans are for the coming spring. Cheers!</span></div></div></div></div><br></div><br></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-34136989424783721612018-12-17T22:35:00.001+00:002018-12-17T22:35:05.719+00:00Harvest Monday - back againWell, another unplanned hiatus but these things happen, eh. I'm now trying to remember how to use this blog app! So here goes....<div><br></div><div>Kale has been amazing at the plot this year, cropping all the through from summer, despite the drought and attack of grey aphids. I've seen on various Facebook posts that the aphids have been particularly bad this year, I've certainly never seen them like that before, even a few of the smaller plants died completely before I noticed how badly they were covered in aphids. The curly kale seemed to be affected more than the cavelo Nero. </div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b18a_6f06_25de_9b4e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cyfJ_GKm5P4/XBgkhcsN-jI/AAAAAAAAEdI/qGUY7_8S--AC43fXCdXihhO-TId02ZsZgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 482px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I had a reasonable crop of winter squashes, this piccie taken recently, set up on our sofa, not a fancy background as it looks!....The squashes are storing well in the house on various shelves. We'd already eaten a few of the smaller ones. I definitely need to try and grow more next year, they're so good for winter food.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_79d0_962c_6286_f04b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1qi4uV7DCBg/XBgkh6XCOXI/AAAAAAAAEdQ/eqx4B3SXd_0Lxmw_5XF9b2YCCbxbiXGBwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 543px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I recently dug up all the parsnips as I wanted to cover that bed with leafmould, and knew I'd lose where the 'snips were hiding. Well, they were pretty small (about twice as many as in the pic) but tasty roasted. I blame the drought again (good to have something to blame this year, ha ha). Actually they're usually quite good, I intercrop them between broad beans....the 'snips grow on after the beans are cleared.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b7fb_a7a1_6cf6_dbb9" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tAH9AQGx014/XBgkhl9z4uI/AAAAAAAAEdM/uzLSSZh0YYAzq7eL_xSUWJZkbhAwR11lACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 543px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">On Saturday I had a good couple of hours on the plot, sorting a few things out including protecting all the brassicas with netting / mesh etc to keep the pigeons off over the winter. They've been ok uncovered up until now but as the weather gets worse and 'wild' food in the area becomes more scarce, the pigeons tend to come and have a munch. I've got plenty of self-sown chard uncovered around the plot, so they can have a good old feast on that.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I harvested most of the remaining beetroot (variety cylindra) which I'd originally multi-sown in modules at home before planting out on the plot. They were intercropped as well, with little gem lettuces earlier in the year and then czar runner beans growing up wigwams over the top later. The Nero kale is still looking healthy but as growth slows at this time of year, the leaves are small. I've started harvesting leeks as well...they have a bit of rust but are ok when the outer leaves are removed. They were sown in pots at home and then planted out into dibbed holes in the bed once the early potatoes were all lifted. The corn salad is looking great around the plot, this is another plant I let self seed. I have to hoe some of it out where it grows too thickly or on paths but that doesn't take long. I find the best plants are those where they have a bit of space to grow into a decent size rather than all crammed close together. Plus you can help by harvesting individuals to then let the others around them grow on.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_34dd_b65a_53ab_9de5" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ufotWxtbOkQ/XBgkiUKr4MI/AAAAAAAAEdU/TvRmgitQlVAQSlfpco27Ov5K6Tenub_UgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 563px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Jan was making mince pies today (yum!), so as the oven was on I took the opportunity to roast up the butternut squash. Excuse the photos, it's difficult to get a decent shot in the electric light. I meant to weigh the squash first but forgot.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_14e0_9051_7111_fd25" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YCYBMtm2eTo/XBgkiSKVqTI/AAAAAAAAEdY/hnc2Cdsv1g8MJw360yxA7CCnSEBW7MwKgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 533px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">It was really easy to cut through, so I left the skin on for roasting. The colour was gorgeous but you can't tell in this pic unfortunately.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_cad_3618_340d_d763" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hDAImVcVSX0/XBgkjDP210I/AAAAAAAAEdg/1_jBadwWLkcHBZXxa8W31tXqAO0_2UmVACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 531px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh my gosh, it was so so good. I did one batch just in olive oil which was real good but even better was with ground coriander, a pinch of salt and chopped dry chilli (rough recipe from BBC Good Food).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_4b3b_423f_78d0_419" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eHuLUe7N7HE/XBgkjDWUeMI/AAAAAAAAEdc/VOu8e-u1NfEsjdq4iSNhU05jNWvmwFeGwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 523px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I used the chilli ones to make a spicy meal with my own onion, garlic and kale, plus green lentils, mushrooms and a tin of tomatoes, and a dollop of yogurt. Mmm.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_29a2_6487_fcea_b19a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-seZQabuG6MQ/XBgkk-m2ZZI/AAAAAAAAEdw/9va38biBVyoaDXSKfI0qFzwzpuamg2a3wCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 483px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">This Autumn I did a bit of foraging. I went to the usual sweet chestnut woods, not actually expecting too much because of the drought, but I guess the rains came at the right time for the nuts to swell because they were amazing! We've still got some in the fridge, and am hoping to use them to make a pie for Christmas lunch. I've found a really good way of roasting so they don't dry out....slice them all as usual then soak in water for at least 30mins. Roast in a tray, adding water to the tray every now and then - keeps them lovely and moist.</span></div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_c7b4_494a_3863_4a60" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a0XQzbZqruY/XBgkjqje92I/AAAAAAAAEdk/2ZtHEFWyKMgEya6NnY9bqd4ScUqMgsFqACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 564px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">There's a walnut tree on public land near my allotment, planted by the city council a few years ago (nine or so?). Last year it had a handful of nuts but this year it really bumped up the numbers...surprising what a different one year will make. Most of them came down in a strong wind so I headed home with pocketfuls that day. The grass underneath the tree had been recently cut so it was easy to find them whereas last year I was scrabbling around in the undergrowth (raising a few eyebrows I'm sure). Here's some of them....</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_9504_6fe3_97cb_1e70" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kw1Cjauxr7c/XBgkk0Z39WI/AAAAAAAAEds/4UjcBtQbxTs9tpJvW7Bnhn7-iYUVpUOZACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 575px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Last year my two hazel nut trees put out an incredible crop but this year all the leaves fell off mid-summer in the drought! There's plenty of catkins now so will have to see how it goes next year, they make a fantastic addition to the free nutty protein from the foraging.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">In November we were really lucky in Norwich to be visited by renowned no-digger Charles Dowding. I've been interested in his methods for quite a while, so it was a real treat to see him speak in person...a very full-on two hours packed with information. As well as his main no-dig approach (applying composted mulch to the surface) he has loads of advice on time-saving methods. Check out his website, books and many You Tube videos. Oh and huge thanks to Norfolk Organic Group for arranging the visit, I know they've been trying to get him to Norwich for a couple of years but he's not often in this part of the country.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_5aa2_766a_7a2b_d24b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GUzvGmZ5PIw/XBgkkhsM3ZI/AAAAAAAAEdo/wFXwPZRXFfAHr_Fdk-biOEA0-FiPsvW7gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 548px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">He kindly gave me a free bag of salad as I bought a couple of books and calendars!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_bec3_8df8_2f14_e7cb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sRxt00LDEQ8/XBgkloWsRzI/AAAAAAAAEd0/3qDR2RCI1nsbYJz_hpdVwlJsjl8O0iVBgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 512px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">To finish, a pic from yesterday, when we had a sunny winter walk down to our local Country Park (Whitlingham). Amazingly, although we live in the centre of Norwich, the park is within walking distance for us.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_5091_70f0_2f69_1d9e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2W6SgTmfg3A/XBgkl4ARM5I/AAAAAAAAEd4/fMBkcxrDGxYuJ97lI9s3ucIZ8CQ5xUBSwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 566px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Thanks for taking the time to read this...I'll hopefully be back next week if I've managed to get a few pics. The iPad keeps grumbling at me that it's full, which isn't helping. Wow, it'll be Christmas Eve!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Massive thanks to Dave at Happy Acres Blog, who hosts Harvest Monday.</span></div></div></div><a href="https://happyacres.blog/2018/12/17/harvest-monday-december-17-2018/" id="id_61f7_8983_b843_eeb4" target="_blank">Take a look at what everyone else has been up to this week.</a>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-55757602097716913892018-08-14T13:57:00.001+01:002018-08-14T13:57:07.754+01:00Harvest Monday - including edamame/ soya beans!We've had some good rain showers this week, the allotment and back garden have been loving it (me too, as it means I don't have to spend time watering, huzzah!). It also means that my water butt at home has been filling up, so the lean-to greenhouse crops can get a nice drink of rain water too.<div><br></div><div>I took a harvest of the greenhouse basil earlier in the week, I love it when the leaves are huge like this. There's still a bit of purple basil too, though I've left most of it to go to flower...the flowers are purple too!<br><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_f497_4306_4258_ce78" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AR7pJK_eAZA/W3LRglULv2I/AAAAAAAAEbU/7sPiLSQFKgkA9HrFobmeNHdRQL8pJ4IJwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 423px; height: auto;"></div>Tomatoes have been epic, with bowl after bowl. All varieties are doing well apart from super-marmande which has been suffering from blossom end rot, though fingers crossed, a few of them are now setting fruit without signs of it, (probably as the temperatures have cooled a bit so the compost mix in the pots doesn't dry out as much). </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_8980_1b66_a4e2_621f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r7izRYutX4s/W3LRhu_C4qI/AAAAAAAAEbY/UI66vZ6oczg1mrbeRcRUrj65ygxYM8GbgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 445px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_cf92_bd1c_b731_455" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-garShNqBbkE/W3LRify6myI/AAAAAAAAEbg/VYeO10lcWTAhr9q3PsypPe9g7Bwpo8YRACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 397px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_503c_1067_ce6b_bff5" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4vwUTb3NfFM/W3LRiWW_DJI/AAAAAAAAEbk/0gJ3o_GBOUkbtkEkUViERZaiZ4DBBFpbACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 437px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">Tigerella is definitely my favourite at the moment. They look and taste amazing.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_ca7f_155f_54b_c739" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--v1PbE_bSoI/W3LRhvKflLI/AAAAAAAAEbc/PCx34d9kVhktn0A6KhIRFFKOphGproVEgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 416px; height: auto;"></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">My four over-wintered chilli plants indoors have some lovely ripe fruits on too, so I've picked a few of them this week, to make tomato and chilli sauce.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_1712_9bbb_1e65_e346" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1sYeItD7nEU/W3LRjjwoWSI/AAAAAAAAEbs/zBvmWJtvcYARLl0WTU609uA5AJALrhv2ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 477px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">This batch had basil in too. I've made five tubs-worth altogether, which have gone in the freezer, there's still just enough room to squeeze a few things in.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_e578_7d97_44d0_9331" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZJolxiH_ZAQ/W3LRjbTkPJI/AAAAAAAAEbo/c0p26Z1EH9otdaJ51cOwQIIJz4aOWSOdACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 393px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's been a colourful week too, with the first beetroots harvested. The variety is cylindra, and I multi-sowed them in modules at home first, before planting out under two of my bean wigwams. I had little gem lettuces growing amongst them earlier in the year too, so that small area has been very productive. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_344b_90df_1b06_8edc" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cGkf3P5j0hk/W3LRj_aWy-I/AAAAAAAAEbw/HBguNTBRxLo0OGyPGR-fkoPOSNkJMdz3gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 408px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">The purple blauhilde beans are still producing well too, they've enjoyed the rain and so I've harvested a few handfuls over the week.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_2465_a53e_cea1_1fac" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qECB3gr6PXM/W3LRkXOdn6I/AAAAAAAAEb4/8436rkLEyDA9t_jTwH88TUJP7FYpMgV8QCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 355px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">A nice variety picked yesterday...can you spot an exciting harvest? </div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b3b2_58bc_fb4e_a43f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TQ-1DhAsjnI/W3LRkdz0NaI/AAAAAAAAEb0/SFxO8eAzhjwzf5U4Ip_feIwJxWpLnUw0gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 394px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">The sweetcorn (not actually the exciting harvest, but still pretty exciting), has come on this week and I've picked a couple of cobs. The variety is Sativa early. I've never seen aphids on corn before, but one of the cob husks was covered in them (and ladybirds). They didn't affect the edible part though.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_ccdf_5aaf_63dc_acd6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vgXVbmP9HDc/W3LRlVy8N7I/AAAAAAAAEb8/vcxWEWM7u5E22e40T6WTD30vyAY3dcyYwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 445px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">We've had some really tasty meals, mmm.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_40da_48e2_5b6d_b905" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IrcuhKAUvPg/W3LRl_8r8wI/AAAAAAAAEcA/83jiKe1YFe0AynFC1mDemCa61h9VYSEMQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 385px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's my exciting harvest....edamame / soya beans, wow! I had 12 plants I think, initially sown in loo roll tubes at home before planting on the plot. They didn't really need any special attention apart from tying to sticks when they got a bit tall.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_df06_8b61_db1a_cff2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Pg8ZRBYxy64/W3LRnMzBPxI/AAAAAAAAEcM/coNADm0B_Lg0NEjW1LpXlQMzlZyMrkKTgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 443px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I cooked them for a few minutes in boiling, lightly salted water.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_8d07_2c9_18e4_99e6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xkqQKeY-b8E/W3LRmkvv9yI/AAAAAAAAEcE/cVvRV3tpF5s0vbyzMH9OXL2gv5mJf44VQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 446px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">They were so good, with enough to last over two meals for us both. So that's definitely edamame and chickpeas getting grown again next year (see last week's post for chickpeas)</span></div><img id="id_1c92_5063_87ba_82f7" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mp_fiB_tNSM/W3LRmh9W0_I/AAAAAAAAEcI/i6MH-OJVyIMe7qXGTnPnqT_94sGQurgUQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 476px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">I've had some more windfall apples, these have grubs in.</span></div><img id="id_7be7_b46d_3974_920a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bGc7r_ff3Lw/W3LRnNSvWHI/AAAAAAAAEcQ/yMum18sOB1Q68dETb_h7Da7a3SSHJUMIwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 456px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">So I picked more blackberries...</span></div><img id="id_2594_3e35_d482_2e49" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vR2qxRL5LKU/W3LRng2O05I/AAAAAAAAEcU/LBYUurM4mSgiUSu7-Qmk3KUZrEM8ibnEwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 475px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">..to make the first batch of stewed apple and blackberry of the year. The apples are quite sweet so no need for any sugar, I just added ground cinnamon mmm.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_10a_a23c_5121_d765" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rbNNev1H8jY/W3LRoMPyxxI/AAAAAAAAEcY/BV9CPTIj3JcUqnHELw9GW9_5iL4tbNCNACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 472px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">I'll end on a guided walk at High Ash Farm yesterday, organised by Norfolk Organic Group. It's just a couple of miles from Norwich, and quite well known as it focuses on farming for wildlife. I've walked around the farm several times before but you get a much more in depth perspective with a guided tour. Here's just a couple of snaps - first, one of the many fields sown with wildflowers...beautiful sunflowers have followed phacelia in this field. Apparently a lot of the flower varieties have finished much earlier than usual this year due to the heat and lack of rain. Last week's rain has brought the sunflowers out though, lucky for us.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_7536_2018_eb0d_a645" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fMCRwBoK3RA/W3LRotECb8I/AAAAAAAAEcc/TGQIZLshdaAEn7PVhtIOvHXOlWVBdHelgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 572px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">And second, the group enjoying a grey heron flying past, putting on a nice show for us. But most unusual was a swallowtail butterfly that tumbled through the air along the lakeside - especially amazing as our guide had never seen one there before...quite a way from The Broads where they breed on milk parsley....what a treat!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_7afd_7dd2_e8a3_532b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cwKTeol8BHA/W3LRotEcZII/AAAAAAAAEcg/KLQ7oCxpwREv_XQbHS6fnzxfD6uzGH3HQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 466px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">That's me for the week. Thanks for reading and I'm linking in as usual with </span><a href="https://happyacres.blog/2018/08/13/harvest-monday-august-13-2018/" id="id_591f_af50_b074_5de4" target="_blank">Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Happy Acres</a><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">.</span></div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><br></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-51605454389814339072018-08-06T22:37:00.001+01:002018-08-06T22:37:13.788+01:00Harvest Monday - full swing (and chick peas!)There are quite a lot of harvests coming through now, with plenty of kale and chard. Here's a small bunch I picked earlier in the week, though last night I actually harvested about three times as much. I'm still thanking the wasps who've been doing a marvellous job of picking off most of the caterpillars.<div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_7786_893f_814c_331b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9VugisNZEZA/W2i_fHee-JI/AAAAAAAAEaU/E6vHosqQcW0YcsrCQ8gvHIcsQyF6Tg2GgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 482px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">Ooh, and talking of caterpillars, I was carrying out a bit of tomato care (removing lower leaves etc to improve light and airflow) in the greenhouse at home and came across this cutie munching it's way through some leaves. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_a4fc_c5d0_f6d8_5921" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wv6AWj9QESM/W2i_fOrkQjI/AAAAAAAAEaQ/VWxSXklsnLgXm03Gj9ljY6eIKmBYDGKiQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 503px; height: auto;"><br><br></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_752e_d151_404c_2627" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t73eLEWQTSM/W2i_eiawaSI/AAAAAAAAEaM/-i1yU41agRkp7UueMVAJSaYsSqAhiuOTwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 444px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I popped it outside with a few leaves and later on, after a bit of book and web research, identified it as the interestingly named 'bright line brown eye' moth, which is also known as the 'tomato moth'. The name refers to markings on the adult moths, and apparently it eat lots of different plants, not just tomatoes. Anyway I'm happy to share a few leaves with it for now...in fact it probably did me a bit of a favour as the leaves were quite dense and needed thinning!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_36e8_ae52_fd36_8117" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4ih-vXxWlDg/W2i_grWUU4I/AAAAAAAAEag/enuR_QX00ssfeUtB7C7m4H1nf3Arpu7iQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 436px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">It definitely hasn't impacted the tomato crop, I'm getting bowl after bowl at the moment, with four currently lined up on the worktop! I'm really loving the detail on the stripey tigerellas. They're delicious too. One evening, when it's a bit cooler, I need to do a bit of batch prep with them, maybe I'll just do a tomato and basil sauce instead of slow roasting them...it's too hot to have the oven on!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_4750_8d47_5f2b_f2f4" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-20J_mMB85Xk/W2i_f0D4HHI/AAAAAAAAEaY/MFMyVbJFW_kvZc9h3TRjPSejn5hC0tMowCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 601px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Back at the allotment, the blackberries are continuing to ripen well. A fair few have already gone past their best on the plants (probably due to the rain last week, plus I haven't picked them as often as I'd like), but there's still plenty for us. I eat quite a few of the squishier ones whilst I'm harvesting, mmm. The beans are ok overall - blauhilde (purple) are now coming along nicely, whereas the dwarf beans are struggling a bit with the return to dry hot conditions. The crystal lemon cucumbers are romping ahead of the other varieties, their leaves are still looking ok whereas the others have quite bad mildew (which is worse in dry weather). The crystal lemons are in a bit of shade some of the day, so that may actually be helping them this year. Although there's a nice big courgette in this photo, I've only got one plant producing, and it's quite slow to put them out, so I don't actually have a glut for a change! The patty pan summer squashes are finally developing little fruits though, so we should have some of those soon. The tiny apples are windfalls, but are reasonably ripe, so we're able to eat those too, quite nice chopped into the breakfast muesli.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_1d1d_b66e_bc03_c1a4" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7WqID6IoAJY/W2i_gEBzWyI/AAAAAAAAEac/3fDIOoo0qJggG0TY8TeDcLj_wjONUpzNQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 540px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">An example of one of my favourite meals at this time of year - chop it all up, fry a little bit and add a couple of eggs. This had some leftover potatoes in too, yum!</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_aa27_862c_fe30_21ac" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZGx6BNKE9vM/W2i_g0NJogI/AAAAAAAAEak/Mv2RoRsDKsw8po_q7eJKPorDWjVp0jYjwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 438px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">And onto the chickpeas...I tried growing these last year. I think I just popped them in the ground (not even soaking first) - one plant grew up and excitingly started producing flowers...at which point I went to move it a little from growing into the path, and of course the stem snapped, ah! So this year I sprouted them at home first - soaked in a jar of water for a day, then drained and rinsed with water each day until they started sprouting, then planted out (probably about 3cm deep, just making a hole with a stick). I also put a stick in the ground at each location I planted a chickpea, so I knew where to look for them (they were a bit randomly planted, in the area I have two dwarf apple trees).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Anyway...ta daah! I had a few plants make it through, and once the pods developed, gave them some water, to encourage swelling of the pea inside (or peas...up to two per pod) and harvested when the pods felt nicely full. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_584b_dd4b_852_5599" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nyY0ycR_nSY/W2i_hF65uFI/AAAAAAAAEao/iJZ2llmXBHwwltu5gOi381u4dZSdW1UkgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 500px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_2cb9_4833_dd77_b0be" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3T4VoP954iY/W2i_hEjRPkI/AAAAAAAAEas/veM2IFstCagIRfH4jnAGWJ-2v3jHGbdtACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 439px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">They didn't take too long to pod, but I imagine if you've got a lot of plants it could take a while.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_7d_9320_8159_5df0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QQnwU9zJAEo/W2i_iLt4oUI/AAAAAAAAEa0/a0JS6fUi_sofeLnYjsAEk3JdY6oyzOiyACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 462px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I boiled them in a tiny bit of water for about five minutes. There were enough for us to have a tasty portion each, with a salad of homegrown goodies. The flavour was very fresh, a bit like a traditional pea but slightly different (bad description!). I'll definitely be growing these again (I didn't buy special seeds, just used dried organic chickpeas from the wholefood shop).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_ba67_9d15_e8f1_54b8" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GLXLW9BfGfE/W2i_huUijoI/AAAAAAAAEaw/FsBkB9wTG7MuckNKKjyXJhCpyV15CcV5ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 448px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">My next exciting unusual harvest to come is edamame beans / soya. The pods are there but need to fill out.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Apparently we might get another storm tomorrow night...we definitely need some rain again anyway.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">That's me for this week, thanks for reading. I'm linking in as usual with Harvest Monday kindly hosted by</div><a href="https://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/08/harvest-monday-august-6-2018/" id="id_ef04_83fd_a78_4ca3" target="_blank">Dave at Our Happy Acres.</a>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-5004406642911317312018-07-30T22:20:00.001+01:002018-07-30T22:21:04.372+01:00Harvest Monday - a returnIt's been a while since I've posted - wow April seems ages ago! Hopefully I'll be back in to regular posting from now on.<div><br></div><div>I guess every growing year has its challenges - 2018 has seen a very wet spring (requiring lots of slug patrols - I lost a few plants) and a very hot, dry summer (requiring lots of watering - and I also lost a few plants to dry conditions, or pests that took advantage of stressed plants, such as one Brussels sprout plant that was totally covered in cabbage aphids, which I'd never even heard of before - I ended up cutting that plant off at the base and composting it). During the dry period it's been very easy to keep weeds at bay though, so that's one bonus - a thorough hoeing and hand weeding several weeks ago did the trick, with hardly any new weeds popping up - plus I haven't really been disturbing the soil, so no new weed seeds have come to the surface. There may be some that blow in from elsewhere though. My soil is very sandy and it dries out very quickly - I'd love to have a good supply of organic matter to improve the soil structure - there's only so much compost I can make, and I also collect leaves to make leafmould, plus get a few bags of well-rotted horse manure each year. I really want to make some composted woodchip...sigh, one day, one day.</div><div><br></div><div>Anyway, the soft fruit has enjoyed the hot weather (a small example in the pic below), with very sweet harvests of raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, redcurrants and saskatoons (all of which I'd mulched around the base with cardboard and compost. They still needed watering though, which I focussed right at the base of each plant so it would go under the sheet mulch and reach the roots, and only did it during the ripening period so they swelled up nice n juicy.) It takes so long to pick soft fruit, I'm almost glad that's nearly over (Jan helped a lot with the raspberries in particular which was handy). Blackberries have started ripening now, so we've started cramming them into the freezer too. I'd normally make cakes with some but it's been too hot to have the oven on.</div><div><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_224_a034_f154_6440" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VGFbjv8KA7I/W1-BBuuzHpI/AAAAAAAAEY0/buPiPIS_AqozwOBIqA2aeXNR9JHYCgiqQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 522px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div><br></div><div><div style="text-align: left;">Earlier on in the summer I had a nice crop of radishes, intersown between the broadbeans. I really should've sown some more to get a staggered period of harvests, maybe next year.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_12e1_e2d6_c5b3_21b3" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T95Cjubd3BU/W1-BCXbPDyI/AAAAAAAAEY4/0uGNJ3-Q0mo7yJz98VwUBaRl7dn3NQG1wCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 404px; height: auto;"></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I roasted these with almonds (I think there was a recipe in The Guardian paper) - would never have thought of that myself!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_498c_aac_5c7e_5fe2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-g4oLpSloYhQ/W1-BCUERV-I/AAAAAAAAEZA/An_jkE3ykN0fz5XUIXxcjCjGEIpVxZ6lQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 410px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Broad beans were also really good - the Autumn sown variety (super Aqua dulce) produced a lovely large and tasty crop, and the spring sown variety (Eleanora express), which ripened a few weeks later were even sweeter. There weren't as many pods because blackfly got a few plants, but it still wasn't bad. At a community allotment I've been helping with we sowed green long pod (? Not sure if that's the right name) in May and have had an amazing harvest over the last couple of weeks, demonstrating how broad beans can provide a great harvest over a long period. That variety is incredibly tasty too so I think I'll get some seeds for myself next year.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_e34d_1ffa_bebd_eda3" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yd2_W5buATs/W1-BCe9WJoI/AAAAAAAAEY8/WeeSam6gRQ0-pHDoUYjd4nsLrWnp1VJhwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 405px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">My early potatoes did alright, and the scab wasn't too bad considering it's worse in dry conditions. I forget what variety they were - a new one for me, which I have written down somewhere.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_34e8_ea7e_5d03_aaf2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F9MkerFBrH8/W1-BDCWYENI/AAAAAAAAEZE/GOQ8XVus0ckepGB9aGckRYwRc20iDjzgQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 441px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">At home in my lean-to greenhouse, the basil was very happy, though after this photo I did get some caterpillar damage.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b859_aadc_3896_8184" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iLnfrfn8ZpE/W1-BDg8jHJI/AAAAAAAAEZI/L0DbwVRWvP0mJt6VnaVcbwtJliX-sdJpwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 432px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">The scent of basil is delicious. I've got more to pick now too. In fact some of the plants are starting to put up flower heads, so I've been pinching these out to keep them producing leaves rather than flowers. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_2a71_2a6e_6836_5a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XkqeRWKmgxk/W1-BD5kTGjI/AAAAAAAAEZM/2YBhuLPL44EMiPxMJPpgNecdUfzasQ72ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 408px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Also at home, in the back garden I have a wigwam of runner beans (variety Lady Di). The flowers were just falling off and not setting into beans to begin with due to the dry weather but now they're doing alright, and I'm picking a handful every couple of days or so. Because the growth isn't very tidy, the beans end up a bit curvy, but they still taste good. We've had very strong winds (and rain finally, yes!) over the weekend and the leaves are looking a bit shredded now, but the wigwam didn't blow over, hurray (which has happened in a previous year, ripping out the bean plants from the soil). In the back garden I also have a wigwam of borlotti beans, which hasn't started flowering yet, plus at the allotment I'm growing csar, blauhilde and a yellow climbing bean, and two dwarf bean varieties - a green and a yellow. Some of the plants had struggled with the dry conditions so they should all appreciate the recent rain. It sounds like a lot of beans, but we'll eat some fresh, freeze some and also leave some for the bean inside to develop, for stews etc. I had wanted to do some fermenting too but I'm not sure if there'll be any spare...may be if the growth picks up after the rain...</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_c795_6f7b_14ce_c93e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EHnbOcFM6FU/W1-BEqautlI/AAAAAAAAEZQ/ASNl1ogDnVEy5y-FQjw6iSPHsBm3KGY2wCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 418px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Salad leaves have been good so far, I've surprised myself, even growing some decent little gem lettuces with nice dense heads! I intercropped the little gems with beetroot, under a couple of the bean wigwams at the allotment, and in between some strawberry plants. Here they are in the foreground earlier in the year - they were ready to harvest before the beetroot or beans really got going, so I'll try and repeat this method again next year, it makes good use of the space. The wire mesh was to keep the sparrows off - they loved to nibble the young beetroot and lettuce leaves!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_6b1a_179d_93e3_ff6b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X4Mc4UrO0No/W1-BEvr5b6I/AAAAAAAAEZU/9uddNPiygG0Prrvq9T1-EBs8IAPyWLOJQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 416px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">At home I grow salad leaves that need more regular picking, and for the first time I've tried mustard frills - very tasty. I'll be sowing more salad leaves in August for Autumn, winter and early spring cropping. Some of them will get planted in the tomato pots in the greenhouse, when the tomatoes are over.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_d07e_c7bf_d1e3_7963" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vbuAeHXnh80/W1-BFSYthTI/AAAAAAAAEZY/Qe_C9VhdXhQGcypufkCq70oWp8FGwQPawCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 409px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Kale has been good, though there seems to have been a lot of white butterflies around recently, laying their eggs and then little caterpillars hatching. I should really have netted all the brassicas. Good news is there've been lots of wasps about now as well, and they go around picking caterpillars off the brassicas...thank you natural predators. I made a pesto last week with cooked kale leaves and dry-toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds...yummy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b580_d667_f6c0_eb0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zMmZJV3Wx3Y/W1-BF276uNI/AAAAAAAAEZc/lkG9JJli7v8dKIwCyHyYf01xQzQ7PwIBgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 407px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Chard has again been a dependable self-sown crop. It's growing well where it's near other plants I've been watering, so not needing any extra effort to get extra harvests.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_2b36_b0bd_9a55_7a3" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vvD9ufbvRV4/W1-BGney76I/AAAAAAAAEZg/_MKvg7nhxP0Zp-AhGoMt_cqy--ZnntWLACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 400px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Back in the lean-to greenhouse at home, the toms are picking up the ripening pace. These are 'tumbler' - very prolific for a small plant. I have a few different varieties growing in pots. Some of the varieties are definitely more susceptible to blossom end rot, which has been bad this year (caused by calcium deficiency, which in my case is because it's been so hot that the smaller pots have dried out, meaning the roots can't uptake calcium). So next year I'm not going to grow super marmande, which is a shame. May be if they're grown in the ground they wouldn't suffer so much, as the soil would have a better capacity to hold water.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_56b2_2d31_e172_54f7" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8PJY880D7Hc/W1-BHJbD28I/AAAAAAAAEZk/uRb_GvVjECUxm4ElsfwXltxrd11fZl0TACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 397px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">There are a few tigerella in this pic too - smaller than normal due to the plants growing in small pots, but other plants I have in larger pots have much bigger fruits (yet to ripen).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_778a_9195_3b54_854d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-og9Q848_H0U/W1-BHHTmzrI/AAAAAAAAEZo/AYyhZOe3-Po8r4v961yW0recfr6xdbanwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 356px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">So that's a whistle-stop tour of some harvests so far. Of course there's courgettes (though I'm yet to have a glut!) and the usual suspects like onions and garlic. I haven't taken many harvest photos this year but hopefully will get back into the swing again. I'm quite excited to soon harvest my first ever crop of chick peas, and soya beans!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've been to some interesting places recently and plan to share some piccies another time - including The Eden Project and Lost Gardens of Heligan, which I last visited over ten years ago...it's a long way to Cornwall from Norwich!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks for reading and see you next time. I'm linking in to <a href="https://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/07/harvest-monday-july-30-2018/" id="id_beaf_c567_5416_d49b" target="_blank">Harvest Monday, kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres</a>.</div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-54421089985668793622018-04-24T09:03:00.001+01:002018-04-24T09:03:30.300+01:00Harvest Monday - false security and an allotment updateIt's been unusually sunny and hot here the last few days, easily lulling us into a false sense of security. The good thing is it's brought on the growth of things like tomato and pepper plants which really hadn't been enjoying the cold, dull weather. And luckily none of my little brassica seedlings got frazzled in the greenhouse, which did happen one year. Quite a few things need potting on now, so I should get on with that before they become too leggy. Ooh, and I noticed today that the first cucumber and winter squash seedlings are emerging. <div><br><div>Down at the allotment I've been getting the beds ready for this year's plantings. This meant harvesting the remainder of the leeks, though I did leave a few little ones to go to flower, because they look pretty and the insects like them too. <br><div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b751_b5e9_4bd7_a9e4" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dpyQ1j-XFTQ/Wt7kseyRbWI/AAAAAAAAEXw/mVu_igtYu58pk8UcgYApwRBxZMOKiRauACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="text-align: center; width: 542px; height: auto;"></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've also made another harvest of purple sprouting broccoli, this was about half.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_20de_f7af_5819_fe47" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-suCcYLBWdLo/Wt7ksmUVCjI/AAAAAAAAEX0/FrjzqNGkcogFmJRCuE0vy87m9MfSI7IvgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 499px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">And the self seeded chard is putting on some lovely fresh growth, before it begins to bolt...so I should really go round harvesting as much of this as possible. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_49dd_b8d7_4569_a503" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VHD_nOI5QT0/Wt7ks4PbXGI/AAAAAAAAEX8/I_wTc3wVwz4z1iITJIqxmLqAsPmzucw0wCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 406px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">The broad beans I sowed in Autumn made it through the recent cold weather, phew. They're quite hardy but showed a big of damage (blackened leaves) after several freezing days (interestingly, the snow didn't cause any damage, it was the extreme cold later that did). They've all been nibbled by weevils (which create little scallops all round the leaf edges) but it never seems to bother the plants too much. I love the flowers, that white and black is stunning.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_7769_dba8_9fea_bddf" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BalajBxdKeI/Wt7ks0xGMUI/AAAAAAAAEX4/-ROS9Eg7tV4zuDIEvAmjQC_qQrhftCkxACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 433px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">At home we're eking out the last of the rocket in the lean-to greenhouse. Not many harvests left now. Excitingly our local organic greengrocers has Isle Of White tomatoes in - the tomato company uses waste products to generate heat for their grow-houses, plus they have a warm micro climate down there, which means very early tomatoes - it feels like a real treat.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_1103_84d1_2908_461" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VcEc2Do6xN8/Wt7ktm52aiI/AAAAAAAAEYA/GF5t_4eqlYUDBas9A2HgJtZOfdFXXDDLQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 475px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's a quick look round the allotment. I mowed the grass paths the other day, so it looks quite neat (I have one of those push-mowers, which are great if the grass isn't too long to begin with). Also, you can't see the edges of the plot, or around the main fruit bushes, which all need mulching. But on the whole I'm quite pleased. No doubt the grass will need cutting again the next time I go down though....so I'm trying to get rid of some of the smaller grass paths by mulching with cardboard, to save maintenance in the future.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Standing near the entrance looking down length. One of my dwarf apple trees in the foreground. Shed to the right (out of shot). Bags of manure ready to spread on the beds (I went with a friend to collect manure the other day...very well-rotted, I could do with a trailer-ful!)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_69_3eac_b98a_7a2d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0uWz1F8myrw/Wt7kt259mMI/AAAAAAAAEYE/D2OPgLZHNBIN2a_PBpT4Rb-B4CnWN-KhgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 451px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">About two-thirds down...the neat bit. I've started mulching the summer raspberries on the left. In the foreground is self sown chard which I'll crop and remove when it's time to put the new plants in. Oh and I left a few plants of corn salad to go to flower and seed.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_e13f_db14_c20c_625f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2CFizofkFwc/Wt7kuseY5xI/AAAAAAAAEYI/5jlRPHqkaZQMUcN_e1sCe6_IsSvILSsuwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 487px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">These three beds are potatoes. The two outer ones have manure added on top (ideally this would've been done earlier) the middle bed had manure last year for squash plants, and as I don't have loads of manure I'm prioritising where it goes. I'm also going to try not earthing-up the potatoes (which disturbs the soil) and instead try and find enough mulch material...will see how this goes but may end up earthing-up after all.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_1461_61f0_1a5_5749" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oekzB5oLcYs/Wt7ku4DJbGI/AAAAAAAAEYM/ode4Pv93_8UA7THFLU6DN9iHViudmepAgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 426px; height: auto;"></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">The fruit bushes (far end and edge of plot, behind me) are all full of flowers, it looks like another good year for them, I'll try and get some piccies next time. The plum tree next to the shed seems to have responded well to the pruning I gave it last summer so I'm looking forward to plums as well, mmm.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm linking in with Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres</div><a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/04/harvest-monday-april-23-2018/" id="id_7c84_7e7f_733_ec9a" target="_blank">Dave at Our Happy Acres</a>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-25688537613044861222018-04-17T08:55:00.001+01:002018-04-17T08:55:46.769+01:00Harvest Monday - PSB at last! And winter salads finishing<div style="text-align: left;">There's a lot of green this week, it's quite surprising. The winter salads are all starting to go to flower so it's time to pick most of them in bulk and let some go to seed.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Corn salad sows itself all over my allotment plot so there's masses to pick at the moment. The stems have started to elongate as it heads towards flowering. But the stems are still nice and soft, and I find it also makes them easier to harvest, as the upper leaves have less soil-splash on them. I cut the whole plant off just above soil level (to leave the roots in the ground to compost) and then simply cut off all the top leaves in one go. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b9e1_5e27_6903_3aec" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gH_TfjIhedw/WtWocF8GAXI/AAAAAAAAEWo/4nHY3R9nutcWZcVN5oUunTqBy94lI642ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 488px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">The winter purslane I sowed in August and planted out early autumn didn't do amazingly well on the allotment (but was excellent undercover in the lean-to greenhouse at home). It was time to clear the allotment plants and get a small harvest. With all the rain we've been having, there were plenty of tiny slugs at the base of the plants, so it was good to clear these onto the compost heap too. I've also cleared all the purslane from the lean-to because aphids had started to run-riot. Out on the plot the other day I did notice ladybirds becoming active so I'll have to coerce some home to munch on the aphids.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_55e4_c81b_917c_5412" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m5MUA-PLLbU/WtWocpREevI/AAAAAAAAEWs/yOB86bQH6oo1iNSm5V838kkWk1zZqUu6gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 469px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">After getting severely munched by pigeons during the snowy weather (the mesh had come off), my purple sprouting broccoli has finally made a comeback, yes! It's funny because I've recently sowed this year's PSB which has germinated nicely. I think it's worth a year's wait to get this tasty harvest though. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_75f8_6287_39d6_e93" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MPfoKeWTOg0/WtWocjmMcKI/AAAAAAAAEWw/ZEIxQkI-A501mhWIwIJqKPXyHSVBN79pACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 433px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">I harvested an even larger load of corn salad on Sunday. That'll probably be the last that I pick and the rest will go to flower. They have beautiful tiny white flowers. This all went into a big batch of pesto (with cashews).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_3ce5_f4b2_fe8c_a8a1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GbUgoyv7RKA/WtWodAknD1I/AAAAAAAAEW0/VeN0ugOpeicV-h0FjGYxaGKUta8j4zoSACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 449px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">And there was a second harvest of PSB as well.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_33cb_a149_9383_a7ca" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ewMWXquV6t8/WtWodsTYh5I/AAAAAAAAEW4/j_PeF1N7SNEoCQrOGQH2QFrDek6dC_O4ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 427px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">We got the train up to Cromer on the north Norfolk Coast yesterday, and did a lovely circular walk. Right near the start of the walk, past an area of woodland, the wild garlic (ramsons) was looking delicious so we picked a few leaves (as far from the path as possible to avoid potential dog wee!)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_8021_833f_37a4_18f8" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NYp1cIcT834/WtWoedrh4hI/AAAAAAAAEW8/4wVd6z7xXFo97xCrueYaobeUevGOk14MACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 442px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">We had a few leaves last night, mixed in with the corn salad pesto, and with extra toasted walnuts on top. I meant to steam some PSB too but forgot, so may have that with poached egg tonight.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_3ab4_fd7c_4c49_2b28" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ms1Wi85tIqo/WtWoeQfqN9I/AAAAAAAAEXA/iPAQABnHG68CDy0URMll-JFwy5rGP2lxwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 466px; height: auto;"><br><br><div style="text-align: left;">We've been trying to get a few walks in recently because we're having a couple of days walking with Jan's mum at the end of the month and need to get our walking-legs in shape. Yesterday's walk via Felbrigg Hall (National Trust) was really lovely and really felt like an escape from our usual day-to-day activities.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_5364_f5dd_a355_6274" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t2PLpyRbNDA/WtWoeYXs5xI/AAAAAAAAEXE/TZT9Ld6GmHMOgDNDPWgYutg0EZn3cABKgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 428px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Jan's fancy photo of the hall.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_7173_ae65_5801_2f9c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WGFv1o7lVSM/WtWoey82uyI/AAAAAAAAEXI/WWNEI3eDUDk7bDblNykFwmMmhwATNzrLgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 512px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">We did a bit of geocaching too, which was fun. There was a cache hidden at the base of this incredible beech tree.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_940e_ace0_46f6_e5de" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-acWZNYIfw0A/WtWof4AtD3I/AAAAAAAAEXM/GytVr9jNBUcsk6wZcGolCNwaHxs_CiX0ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 425px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">And I found a new home for us. Maybe it's a bit draughty. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_be72_4118_78e9_13e9" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IaczpfF8DZY/WtWogLf3w0I/AAAAAAAAEXQ/8WDTM_q4v4El_JZClvucXQWnzWqs2PudgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 397px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">At home, I've been gradually getting through the seed sowing. Most things are done now and germination is on the whole ok, phew, though I've still got beetroot to go. Then there'll be some things to sow a second crop of later, plus direct sow beans etc straight into the garden and allotment in May and June. My tomatoes are about half the size they were at the same time last year, the light has been so poor. But flowers are starting to appear on my Autumn-sown broad beans and on the fruit trees. Looks like I might get some plums this year, mmm.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Thanks for reading and sorry for being a bit sporadic with posts recently...life seems particularly busy at the moment! I'm linking in with</span></div></div><a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/04/harvest-monday-april-16-2018/" id="id_ae7e_2c79_5456_dd05" target="_blank">Harvest Monday, kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.</a>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-84915991925441817822018-04-02T22:46:00.001+01:002018-04-02T22:46:11.977+01:00Harvest Monday - rain, rain go away...<div style="text-align: left;">Wow it's so rainy here at the moment. I had an allotment session yesterday before the deluge started in earnest, managing to plant out my onion sets (variety Sturon) and 2nd early potatoes, variety Orla. This is a new variety for me as the catalogue had run out of my usual. I'm also trying a new maincrop, which I'll plant whenever the rain decides to stop. Over the last couple of weeks I've been harvesting loads of leeks (but didn't get any pics) and cleared them all from one bed, in readiness for the maincrop potatoes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the lean-to greenhouse at home I cut all the winter purslane leaves from one pot, to encourage some fresh growth from below. It's quite an easy way of harvesting too, grabbing a handful and cutting through the lot, rather than picking off individual leaves. These mainly went into a pesto, made with toasted cashews plus some rocket leaves from Eves Hill Veg Co where I volunteer, as these particular rocket plants had started to bolt. They still had a nice soft texture though. Some rocket from the lean-to here at home went on top of a potato-pizza that Jan made...that was a goood pizza.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_aa2_374d_6b57_7beb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AvvHKqtQ26k/WsKkmtEg2-I/AAAAAAAAEV0/L7rAneXerCk7lt_TLAgO-HbabiuRIBC9gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 403px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've also continued to harvest corn salad / lambs lettuce from the allotment. I meant to get some more yesterday but forgot, making a quick getaway from the cold rain. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_5361_b20e_af5f_d114" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B9EvaUlBWXw/WsKkmhzkv8I/AAAAAAAAEV4/oO4oFGtbLs0Aat1HydWcIpTlH6P8OMckACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 368px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">A few days ago it was actually sunny, which handily coincided with a free day for me, so I had a good session sowing broad bean seeds - I dib the holes first and then go along popping one seed in each hole, then use a rake to gently cover the rows. Before I dibbed the holes, I also raked the whole bed, to kill off any weed seeds germinating in or just below the soil surface. The dibber is actually just the handle of an old fork which snapped a few years back.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_3813_47b8_c8bb_5ab" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NaBlEJWvdAM/WsKknUXtFgI/AAAAAAAAEWA/omo2uVHEm34lQ5pgBgdk0EWbOQa_0WA5QCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 383px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">After sowing the beans, I then made two seed drills inbetween the three bean rows, for parsnips with radishes. I've used this method before - the radishes grow quickly, and are then harvested whilst the slow parsnips germinate. The broad beans do their thing too and are cleared (leaving the roots in the soil to feed the parsnips) before the parsnips really need to get going. It usually works except last year I had zero parsnips germinate, which may have been a dodgy pack, even though it was fresh seed. I water along the seed drill first, then sow the seeds. It was useful for the papery parsnip seeds to stick to the wet soil, as it was a bit windy and they tend to get blown around otherwise. I expect the ones which got blown away will germinate and grow better than the ones I properly sowed!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_a912_29d7_f256_cc88" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zbhQBvNcTNg/WsKknV_pijI/AAAAAAAAEV8/YjXdTQS38sM1pOOaa5MYy_r9hFIabEZcACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 395px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm still volunteering at Eves Hill Veg Co (community market garden) most Wednesday's, there's a good crew of us at the moment. Last Saturday was also the monthly open day, where a wider group of people tend to come along and help / have a look around. It was particularly special this week as two heavy horses were on site to help shallow-plough the field-scale beds. Whilst the aim of the market garden is to try and disturb the soil as little as possible, it's quite difficult to prepare the long beds otherwise. I think everyone enjoyed seeing the working horses too, there's a real skill in handling them. These two particular horses are usually helping to remove logs felled within woodland, so they did really well getting the hang of it quite quickly.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_a7bd_5e85_3cda_4ade" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AWQgHOqwxm8/WsKkoOMWCFI/AAAAAAAAEWI/agjUSFjKDPEa_XeyVDxNbHC8jRL3l4h6gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 413px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b8a1_c4dc_733a_b8f6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6CQJbdLqT6w/WsKkn_L4uzI/AAAAAAAAEWE/Q_S9ZTy8q-QGFBV5Z0Hqa-VK6D7BSiG4ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 417px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_82f0_5912_bb7e_91c1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FkuugvtSuBY/WsKkovDeHAI/AAAAAAAAEWM/Au_khnJwVZAAMcyPEtY8FTgY7VPYfbNNgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 392px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh I forgot, I've also potted-on all my tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. They're now in the lean-to greenhouse where the light is much better than indoors. I've protected them from the worst of the cold with bubble wrap on the shelf and along the adjacent windows. I'll probably sow some more things this week, (it is April after all, I think, ha). But most of the seed sowing will start later in April / May.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks for reading, I'm linking in as usual with Harvest Monday kindly hosted by <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/04/harvest-monday-april-2-2018/" id="id_ab68_844f_6f7e_bf9a" target="_blank">Dave at Our Happy Acres</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-41650783612040557052018-03-19T22:20:00.001+00:002018-03-19T22:20:49.086+00:00Harvest Monday and starling murmuration <div style="text-align: left;">It's been a funny old week of sun, rain, snow, wind. I managed to get a couple of allotment sessions in, and finished weeding the beds where my onion sets (variety Sturon) will be planted and broad beans (Eleanora Express) will be sown. I also made a nice harvest of leeks, Nero kale, corn salad and chard, but somehow only managed to photograph the leeks.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">The leeks have such a good flavour, not too overpowering. I use the dark green part of the stem as well as the white bit, so although they're not huge you get a decent amount of edible material from each leek. Interestingly there's not any rust on the plants, which usually makes an appearance at my plot. Maybe as the soil is (hopefully) more healthy now, it makes the plants more healthy and more likely to fight off problems. These leeks were planted out where I'd had broad beans earlier in the season, and I left the bean roots in the soil when clearing the plants away, that could've helped too, feeding the leeks as the roots broke down.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_50c0_8511_def2_d522" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bWTsF-e6Stk/WrA3uZKyXYI/AAAAAAAAEVE/VhuYFr_0kl4iZmysqMC28ozSu77q8pn0QCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 463px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">The kale and leeks went into a few dishes including a noodle soup one-pot (I love saving on washing up).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_9b2b_3202_ae69_962d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y1dvzBWVLEs/WrA3tc8ctoI/AAAAAAAAEU8/eH8ePwf5130GA_GPLBCdOz26PxXg2FgogCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 432px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Jan was out for a meal one night so I made a quick tea for just me of softened leek and kale with fried egg on toast, drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar, mmm. (Also just using the one pan, hooray). It was so good, I made it again for the two of us the following night!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_a2bb_916b_aa59_3683" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OhxCJI5tUO4/WrA3t83pUOI/AAAAAAAAEVA/xvDrV2KuPD83XVYC-TK_gmhZu8WIMqPQgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 427px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Jan made us potato pizza one night - the base is boiled potato with flour and butter. It sounds odd but is really good. You may recall she made us one a few weeks ago too. A nice thing about pizzas is the variety of toppings which can be incorporated (last time included sliced beetroot). This time round, the homegrown elements were chard from the allotment and a tub of roasted tomato / pepper / garlic / onion mix from the freezer. I think it was the last one which is a shame, but it was put to good use.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_d262_1f11_33ef_f38d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UJ27e4YPwrw/WrA3ufw6yjI/AAAAAAAAEVM/LYsyx5pTh8Q1aMuWZKEz19zbwgdf7NpcwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 388px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Last night we had a curry, using up the last of the leeks, kale and chard, plus a bag of chopped French beans from the freezer. There's only one or two bags of these left now but they've been really handy over winter, so I'll try and increase the amount grown and stored this year. I've got a couple of different varieties to try as well, including a yellow waxy one. We had two mini naans leftover, so I made another curry tonight. The fridge was a bit bare of veggies so I used the third last acorn squash and a couple of bought carrots (plus am still eking out the last of the stored onions).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_9d44_7391_e89a_11af" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T3TdEP9bLIo/WrA3udt7kHI/AAAAAAAAEVI/X2IzzYQLFxQyuzFBhVbI66Hitem4pM6tACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 395px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the lean-to here at home I have some coriander still growing from a sowing last August, so used a bit of that for some greenery. The coriander looked very droopy after the first lot of cold weather recently but recovered well, which really surprised me.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b02_8d2e_45b4_cc28" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sTYkEb4N-3g/WrA3u2ttSHI/AAAAAAAAEVQ/_CZwF0AQWyMmrs-QcdiOeVVOeyV3GHhtwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 441px; height: auto;"><br><br><div style="text-align: left;">And of course I couldn't not have sandwich photo, so here we are with self-sown corn salad from the allotment. I've also defrosted a tub of broad bean hummus from last summer, so have been enjoying that with home-sprouted shoots. In the lean-to I've cut back some of the winter purslane plants completely - they had lovely big leaves but had started developing a sort of mould where unfortunately aphids have been munching on them. So hopefully I removed a load of the aphids along with the leaves. I need the ladybirds to wake up and starting eating the aphids instead. Sadly, since the snow storms a couple of weeks ago we haven't seen the wren which had been visiting our garden and lean-to (and eating aphids I think).</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_9db6_5fc7_4085_da7b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KtiVA6m71Y4/WrA3vgmP4GI/AAAAAAAAEVc/Ek88PBaaZdEfxBqL-mLGffYg6ZzBmNuZQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 423px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">But the last three evenings (at least) Norwich has had some lovely avian visitors....starlings. I haven't seen a big starling murmuration in Norwich for a couple of years, but the very cold weather must have brought them all together. Late on Saturday afternoon I happened to spot a huge murmuration from our house...it was over the area near County Hall of the south eastern edge of Norwich where there are woods with big ivy-clad trees. It was soo cold and windy we decided to just enjoy the stunning aerobatics from inside, but last night we headed over to that area to see them. There was only a smallish murmuration, so we figured maybe as the weather was calmer they'd not formed such a huge flock. It was still enjoyable to watch but then as we walked back towards home Jan spotted the mega murmuration - it was further west than before, huh! We had some good views of them swirling around until they suddenly swooped down to roost, mainly into thick ivy growing up through trees alongside the Lakenham Way (disused railway which is now a foot- and cycle path). We took a walk along the path - the starlings were so loud, clicking and clacking to each other, and moving between trees. It was like walking through a tunnel of starlings - pretty amazing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">So tonight we took another walk (well, 5.30pm-ish seems about the right time), and found them again. It was in a very similar area to last night but a tiny bit south west, where there happened to be a handy place with open views to enjoy them. The photos as usual don't really do the experience justice, not capturing the vastness of the spectacle, and so I didn't take many. Interestingly, the starlings don't seem to call to each other during the murmuration, the only sound is the subtle whoosh when they fly close over head, or a sort of clatter when landing in the trees. But as soon as they're in the trees the chatter starts, catching up on today's news no doubt.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_f92f_9271_cc89_773f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gJVZcRuWZNo/WrA3vVcVJtI/AAAAAAAAEVU/p6860LagkiA-aIqGyPUGUoyGk6CJT6yWgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 414px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_8085_2be7_8dd2_837" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OUU_CIpMPq0/WrA3vh_iZTI/AAAAAAAAEVY/ZouXs9uJoLgoVxbPgPEohhmx8-SB2JFuACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 473px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm not sure what the weather's meant to be like tomorrow but I may have to go on another starling hunt!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks for reading this week, I'm linking in with Harvest Monday kindly hosted by <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/03/harvest-monday-march-19-2018/" id="id_c6ca_25c9_7c57_8cc6" target="_blank">Dave at Our Happy Acres</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-65382119561197461862018-03-06T22:12:00.001+00:002018-03-06T22:14:42.342+00:00Harvest Monday and Wonderful Woodchip<div style="text-align: left;">
I missed last week's Harvest Monday because I was away for a couple of days at the beginning of the week....more on that later. In the meantime we've been having all sorts of diverse weather, including absolutely masses of snow last week...I popped to the plot this afternoon and was pleased to see the broad beans survived (the snow mostly melted away in Norwich a couple of days ago when we had a day of rainfall). They look a bit flopped over from the weight of the snow, but I think most of them will be ok.</div>
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In terms of harvests and using up stored crops, I made a big curry thing with the last of my sweet dumpling squashes (below). They were still in good condition and could've kept for longer but it felt like the right time for them. Their flavour is very sweet and the skins can be left on too, which is handy as it involves less cutting, and also means there's more to eat. I still have three squashes left, all the cream coloured acorn style, which again are still in good condition but I'll use them up sooner rather than later.</div>
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We've continued to use up goodies from the freezer...I have several bags of sweetcorn which are great to add into different meals, adding a 'pop' of texture and sweetness. I'm growing the same variety this year - Sativa early. This pasta meal also included some kale from the allotment. I harvested a load more today actually...fortunately the enviromesh covers protected them from pigeon damage. I had a wander along the main path through the allotment site after I'd finished today and saw kale plants on other plots completely decimated...such a shame.</div>
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Before the big freeze last week, I picked a nice selection of rocket from the lean-to greenhouse for our sarnies. Over the course of the cold week, the plants looked very droopy and sorry for themselves, with very low daytime and nighttime temperatures. I thought there might be some casualties but actually most of them have recovered, so that's good news.</div>
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As we couldn't really pick any fresh leaves last week, we focussed on home-sprouted beans and lentils, enjoyed several times on open sandwiches, to use up homegrown/made beetroot hummus which I'd thawed from the freezer. Last time I got a jar out we didn't use it up fast enough and it went mouldy so I didn't want to waste any this time.</div>
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The weekend before the freeze, it was time to start sowing things...exciting! As these stay indoors for a while I wasn't too worried about it being cold outdoors, and they live on top of a set of drawers near the radiator so they get extra heat from that. I also wrap them in bubble wrap (over and under the trays) for extra insulation which then gives a warm enough temperature for tomatoes and peppers etc to germinate.</div>
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So Jan helped with this, which was great...much less fiddly than just me on my own. We sowed tomatoes, sweet peppers, aubergines and onions. We're not bothering with chilli peppers as I have four plants that have over-wintered indoors, one even has some flowers on it at the moment. I had to move them away from the windowsill to make way for the trays of seeds though so I hope they're not too grumpy. The tomatoes and onions have already started germinating though, so that's a good sign.</div>
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My seed order has started arriving, hooray. It's coming in dribs and drabs for some reason. I'm hoping the onion sets and early potatoes arrive soon as I usually plant these out at the end of March. I'm trying a new variety of maincrop potato this year called Linda, and have put the seed potatoes in the lean-to to chit.</div>
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So last week I went to a seminar at Tolhurst Organics (near Reading) with a couple of friends from Norwich. Luckily we made it there and back safely in the snowy conditions, so a big thanks to Joel for his careful driving. Joel is setting up an organic market garden just outside Peterborough to supply salad and veg for a new farm shop which has just opened...you can follow his journey on Instagram under @RodkersJourneys or Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Joelsmarketgarden/" id="id_59c1_3826_6529_693" target="_blank">The Market Garden at Harvest Barn Shop</a>.</div>
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The seminar was titled Wonderful Woodchip and organised by the Organic Research Centre. Wow it was a great day, the main crux being how to obtain, produce and use woodchip. Tolly (Iain Tolhurst) has been honing the use of woodchip on his organic farm over the last few years. The farm is stock-free (no animal inputs) and uses a combination of green manures and woodchip to improve the soil structure / life etc. The woodchip adds carbon to the soil and improves its microbial / fungal health. </div>
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The majority of the woodchip at Tolly's is brought in by a tree surgeon, to whom the woodchip is a waste product.</div>
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Composted woodchip has many uses...if left to compost for long enough it is even fine enough to use as a medium for raising seedlings. In the photo below, the woodchip in the large sack has taken two years to break down into a soil-like medium. Whereas most bought seed composts will be relatively sterile, the composted woodchip is full of life.</div>
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The large bits are sieved out and vermiculite (to aid drainage) is added (1:4 vermiculite:compost I think). </div>
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Very healthy seedlings. Interestingly they have tested composted woodchip from different species and by the time it is composted there is very little variation in its make up. It was suggested that it's best to not just have solely conifer species, and to mix them with others. Also, don't use walnut or larch (I forget the reason!).</div>
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In the polytunnels uncomposted woodchip is added to the paths as a thick mulch, which breaks down over time. The chip acts to both suppress weed growth and improve the soil as it breaks down. The roots from plants in the beds grow out into the paths and benefit from the improved fungal conditions in the paths. Composted chip is also added onto the beds themselves.</div>
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Here's a relatively fresh pile of chip recently delivered by the tree surgeon. Tolly highlighted the importance of knowing what is coming onto the farm (e.g. As mentioned above, walnut and larch are not wanted). </div>
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Tolly composts the woodchip in rows (oldest at the end) but it can be done in piles if that's all the space you have. Turning it speeds up the composting time...his takes about a year but could be speeded up if he turned it more. Also it's quicker if you're composting on the same area as previously compost has been made, because the beneficial soil organisms are already in situ.</div>
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Here's some of the older chip, really starting to break down. Tolly also adds in some vegetative matter produced on the farm (e.g. Stored potatoes and squashes that are past their best). My iPad memory was full at this point so the rest of the photos from the day are on my camera and difficult to get off, but we went on to look at the field-scale crops where a seven year rotation incorporates green manures, with the composted woodchip being added to the soil surface after the green manures have been growing. </div>
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So that's a brief run down of the seminar. We also learned about setting up hedgerow management plans for your land (for example to identify different wood chip sources), which was interesting....I used to do a lot of practical habitat management and it was great to touch on this subject again, combined with food growing objectives. Oh and I haven't even mentioned ramial woodchip (produced from branches), or agroforestry but I'll leave it there for now.</div>
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I'll finish with a snowy shot of the garden. We made sure to put out extra food and fresh water each day for the birds, which encouraged a few new visitors as well as the regulars.</div>
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Thanks for reading, I'm linking in a day late to Harvest Monday, kindly hosted by <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/03/harvest-monday-march-5-2018/" id="id_42c3_b3e3_91d5_4395" target="_blank">Dave at Our Happy Acres</a>.</div>
Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-2423758499883587402018-02-19T22:19:00.001+00:002018-02-19T22:20:06.632+00:00Harvest Monday - February - time's a-flying<div style="text-align: left;">I had a coldy-flu-cough thing for a few days last week so didn't think I'd have much to write about this week. I was especially annoyed to be stuck inside during some sunny days. But hooray, towards the end of the week and over the weekend the sunshine continued and I spent a happy few hours pottering around on the plot, clearing weeds and laying out homemade compost. I try to disturb the soil as little as possible, so after hoeing off annual weeds I just put the compost on top of the cleared soil, easy peasy. For any perennial weeds (like the dreaded couch grass, which I've mainly got rid of already), I just loosen the soil with a fork and pull the roots out, without turning the soil over. This means that all the fungi highways moving nutrients throughout the soil remain largely undisturbed, the soil structure isn't damaged, the soil doesn't dry out as much and all the wee microscopic organisms can live happily, making a lovely nurturing environment for my veggies to grow nice and strong. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Talking of which, I harvested more kale, leeks and mizuna this week. I'm really impressed with how well the mizuna does over winter without any protection. One thing I wish I'd checked on though is my purple sprouting broccoli....at some point recently the chickenwire mesh I had them covered with had been blown off by the incredibly strong winds...giving the local wood pigeons a tasty feast of PSB leaves, darn! So I covered them back over and fingers crossed they grow back again....they should do, plus I don't need that bed for ages so I'm not in a rush to remove the plants.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_c3de_d5a7_4add_f393" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y9krUvliW8U/WotNfIpst0I/AAAAAAAAES8/WnWUhpxEhgIYUNyOWBja6g0iPUTnjORjgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 513px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">The last two nights we've had a surprisingly tasty saucepan-meal with the leeks, onion, garlic, kale, French beans (from the freezer), red lentils and tinned tomatoes, with mashed potato. As ever, it tasted better than it looked...</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_5bc4_4e99_51c9_943d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Beq_BxoFTe0/WotNeHGyFWI/AAAAAAAAES0/1LVXXqQJywMo2R4xMxEawkPXzitP6CzEwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 481px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Whilst Jurrasic World was on TV the other night (I do like a dinosaur movie), I thought I'd be productive and crack open the rest of my hazels from the allotment. There's a nice big bowlful, which I'll toast in the oven next time we put it on...I love their flavour, it's so good.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_c8f6_530b_9317_bcdb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Dns6iEc58Kk/WotNf5eFKZI/AAAAAAAAETA/B06_f-Z1yb4Pay0vDF8Cg4yRNvbZ_hPxACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 429px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">And I figured it was time to use up the stored apples from the shed. Most have kept pretty well, wrapped in newspaper. I chopped these up and cooked with some mixed berries from the freezer - gooseberries, raspberries, black currants, and sweetened with a few spoonfuls of a previous year's elderberry jelly. That's breakfast toppings sorted for a while.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_8f86_9367_d093_fd03" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SN-8yrBAYGA/WotNeqeL8KI/AAAAAAAAES4/jcOl5H2P7vU2SqVAT9UFLgt5gVf9_Rp-wCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 442px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I haven't sown any seeds yet but today I brought in a trayful of compost to warm up....(and covered it with another tray so it doesn't dry out). I'm planning on growing some onions from seed this year, as well as from sets. I'll also start off some tomatoes and peppers in the next few days. But most crops don't need sowing for at least a month or two so I'm not panicking just at the moment.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">After a sunny few days, the weather took a damp turn today. It's off out to Eves Hill Veg Co volunteering tomorrow (community market garden) when apparently the drizzle will continue unfortunately but at least it's not the predicted minus six degrees coming later in the week! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks for reading, I'm linking in as usual with Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/02/harvest-monday-february-19-2018/" id="id_ebab_c9ff_7893_d060">Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.</a>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-36766710806220878372018-02-07T19:14:00.001+00:002018-02-07T19:14:28.482+00:00Harvest Monday (erm...Wednesday) - early February <div style="text-align: left;">Well I've been very tardy this week...where has the time gone? So now it's Wednesday but I can just about stretch the old memory back to last week (listening to the cogs whirling).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I had a nice little harvest of kale, leeks and corn salad. Some of the kale plants have started to look like they're bolting a bit so I cut the whole top of these plants off, rather than just harvesting individual leaves. With any luck the stalks left in the ground should put out a few new leaves as spring progresses. Mind you, I still have quite a number of kale plants growing along ok, so we'll not be going short just yet. The leeks are ok too, continuing to bulk-up with the lengthening days. Harvesting alternate leeks where possible gives the ones left behind more space to grow as well. The corn salad is dotted around all over the plot as I let it self seed (it also has really lovely little flowers, so worth leaving some just for that too). </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_d361_eb14_858b_484" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j2v0AFO3_ys/WntQCZ5cw9I/AAAAAAAAER0/yIxxIcyL0SkLL32RfgrYgbvQX3ltI0bxACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 409px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">Over winter I've stored some of the my beetroot from the allotment in the brick shed in the front yard. It's kept quite well but some of the smaller beets had started to go a bit soft. So it was time to cook them all up.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_7ac0_5a8f_565e_6227" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-37RIlgz0WiI/WntQCTc7myI/AAAAAAAAER4/xKclrKxLuUIuToL7RWNSugKYlW1hF0rcACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 412px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">I was using-up some old seeds left over so had a few varieties, including the beautiful chioggia. However! I actually prefer the flavour of the deeper red varieties (controversial). </div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_48c1_185d_3cbc_434e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K3X9NOmOY1A/WntQCreWA0I/AAAAAAAAER8/6PMiutUZeYYjhoLv4Ko66UFUEDxOjHaqwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 419px; height: auto;"><br><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Jan made a delicious potato pizza for tea on Saturday (which was a nice surprise to come home to after I'd been out all day). The base is made with potato and flour, which sounds weird but is really nice. Anyway, she used some of the beetroot for the topping, sliced thinly, and some rocket growing in the lean-to greenhouse. Jan, you can definitely make that again (hint hint, if you ever read this).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b981_ed64_64ab_77b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dcR6W40mmGo/WntQC3TXtzI/AAAAAAAAESA/8NRP-PJ5zQUOtw_tUPzmovknkUZW4nxcgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 428px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Yum</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_285e_46e0_d4a_28e7" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-avCIzXRgl34/WntQDgVT80I/AAAAAAAAESI/P9PWEPo6Kuk_G90tNnAuPuGEBYJT7DwIwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 421px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I also made a salad with roughly chopped beets, corn salad and sprouted lentils. The beets are quite sweet so I didn't bother with a dressing.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_86cc_24af_57a8_7171" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-06RHIiFwjdY/WntQDv-MrpI/AAAAAAAAESE/7cs9nN2ZFk4886F5w1jAwJL9PS-dbaIMgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 438px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">The corn salad looks nice when it's washed but beforehand was a bit grubby - all the rain we've had splashes soil up onto the leaves, and the small leaves are a bit fiddly to clean...but they're worth it for tasty fleshy goodness.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_b29a_10dd_b356_f226" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PK3PzeocfzM/WntQEPwyboI/AAAAAAAAESM/qxZC2w4a1Q0az0XI9GAN33prZQB1UmhiACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 493px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">The last few photos are of future-food....Autumn-sown broad beans doing ok on the allotment (the sticks were to stop cats using the area as a toilet)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_43bb_86a3_b13c_d6e4" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5YNKByieguA/WntQEH67CwI/AAAAAAAAESQ/rjsvMkR54oYxbTA0uQN7KwsbDhszx1_mwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 472px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Borlotti bean seeds I saved last year. I actually froze these in a jar for a couple of weeks recently because the previous year when I'd also saved some seed, they got ruined by bean weevils, which emerge from the seed, munching holes everywhere. So popping them in the freezer kills off any beasties that may be lurking inside. It's important to freeze them in a jar because it keeps moisture away from the bean (plus make sure you thaw them out whilst still in the jar too).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_daab_2ad4_a71f_23bb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4sCZzFeFA_c/WntQEqewAnI/AAAAAAAAESU/NqTOTl7TBe4t1ZcKKPUpkIsNGHsVUBOpgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 386px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">And catkins on one of my hazel trees on the allotment, fortunately still hanging in there despite the strong winds of late. I've seen lots of catkins on the floor in other places so am lucky to have these on mine. If you look really really closely you may be able to see the tiny red female flowers on the tips of some branches - I tried to get a close up but they were so small the camera wouldn't focus. Well, hopefully I'll get some hazel nuts later in the autumn anyway, as catkins + flowers = nuts. I've got some still left from last autumn in a tray, they're so nice lightly toasted...mmm a real treat.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_431a_6fb6_eb60_1efd" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6XYm6kq7YXg/WntQE7ijoZI/AAAAAAAAESY/TDoYalqf5YIwuo9O2_bPrziGN2DBdCnHwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 410px; height: auto;"><br><br></div>It's lucky I hadn't planned to go to the plot today - we woke up to snow on the ground, followed by some chilly rain. Though yesterday at Eves Hill Veg Co (where I volunteer) the snow didn't put us off...my feet got a bit cold though, I need to get better insulated wellies!<div><br></div><div>Thanks for reading and sorry for the lateness. I'm linking in with <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2018/02/harvest-monday-february-5-2018/" id="id_505f_d0f2_9419_ca32">Harvest Monday, kindly hosted again by Dave from Our Happy Acres</a>. (Thanks go to Michelle at From Seed to Table for hosting last month). </div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-42662365818256498602018-01-29T18:41:00.001+00:002018-01-30T22:57:51.757+00:00Harvest Monday <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Last night (Monday) I went to a Norfolk Organic Group talk about butterflies (really interesting), but by the time I got home it was getting on a bit for finishing off the blog post, so I'm coming in late again for a Harvest Monday....</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">This week has been pretty busy with various foody bits n bobs, but not much allotment time. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">We had friends round on Friday night, so Jan made roasted butternut squash pasties again, incorporating some of the last green butternut plus caramelised red onions. We had the pasties with mashed potatoes - the stored potatoes have started to produce shoots due to the intermittent mild weather, so I'll try and use the rest up soon. There were enough pasties for leftovers at the weekend, and we shared one for lunch, with truly delicious salad, freshly harvested from Eves Hill Veg Co (not-for-profit market garden where I volunteer), grown in the polytunnel overwinter.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_5bd2_1b26_5331_df19" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KgN-DgivRhs/Wm9q3O9DqQI/AAAAAAAAERA/XZN5XjYWDjQMz3_RU0wiQP8-Pbc09AgxACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 479px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Earlier in the week we'd been continuing to eat-up my own winter salads....a load of corn salad from the allotment - </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_a105_9dee_5ac1_8fad" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tWznRTzIS34/Wm9q3MRcvaI/AAAAAAAAEQ8/V0gLZcH_N34FSy4OdJvCaRMW65ODbuGEwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 479px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">And mizuna, also from the allotment. It seems to do well despite frosts. I'm glad I sowed it back in late summer - I wasn't going to bother as the seed was quite old!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_a94_41d9_6940_1f0c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DJXJ2OFeUmM/Wm9q34vlGHI/AAAAAAAAERI/aNVu41PLv9I1Wfi8yKDI9c8UQaa0xzEowCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 486px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's the kale and the 'random brassica' leaves that I harvested last week - the random brassica leaves (unidentified self-sown brassica) are massive compared with the kale. Mind you, I've been harvesting from the kale for months, so they've done pretty well.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_5ebd_1fcc_24b5_6994" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4xNdYtkqWD0/Wm9q3jo-6UI/AAAAAAAAERE/BX_XWYh6TYoOb0cEZhku5jPnCRMUWk66gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 491px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Another from last week - a tasty quinoa meal with the green butternut squash and dwarf French beans from the freezer.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_4183_7c34_76ba_5b0e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ITz49HPGlcw/Wm9q4ZCqMRI/AAAAAAAAERM/j96bxIqPjn8f1fnQ3oKJ0rGt4sXWg6EzQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 488px; height: auto;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Another freezer-inspired meal tonight, using up diced sweet dumpling squash and courgette, with blauhilde beans (the bean itself rather than the pod) and those mega 'random brassica' leaves. It turned into a bit of a gloop but tasted good, with noodles, onion, garlic, ginger, cumin and turmeric. It's great just grabbing bits from the freezer, already prepped for cooking / heating - quick n easy. I've still got some onions in storage (variety Sturon, grown from sets), so hopefully a few more weeks before we need to buy any.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img id="id_3f0e_a788_e788_d3c5" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--WVOUNFSyFg/WnD4VpYn0kI/AAAAAAAAERk/DlrhMLT_DwgiSPNZh3a64s0qZuUZsumJQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 487px; height: auto;"><br><div style="text-align: left;">We've had lots of other home-grown meals too, though they were even less photogenic than the ones above! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I was back out at Eves Hill today (prepping new salad beds) with other volunteers, so that's the third time in eight days - an extra visit on Saturday for the monthly community day, which despite being soggy had a great turn out. This was followed by a showing of In Our Hands, a film by The Landworkers Alliance about regenerative small farms - well worth a watch if you get the opportunity.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm cutting it short again tonight, feeling sleepy, so will say good bye for now, and hopefully have some better photos next week, maybe some of the plot and Eves Hill (which was lovely and sunny today...I need a good session like that for the allotment).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks for reading, I'm linking in with Harvest Monday kindly hosted this month by <a href="https://fromseedtotable.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/harvest-monday-january-29-2018.html" id="id_5967_d9d5_9ff4_7037">Michelle at From Seed To Table</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;">PS sorry if any email subscribers received a fairly empty post last night, I'm using a new app and accidentally published it live...oopsie.</div></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-8284572140923154242018-01-24T08:21:00.001+00:002018-01-24T08:21:19.367+00:00Harvest Monday - rainy days<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Well, after a couple of days trying to get photos to upload (even buying another blogging app), we've not managed to work out why it's not working, so here is Monday's blog post, sadly lacking any pics.....</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">It always seems to be rainy on the days I have free so I haven't made it to the allotment much, and I haven't got many photos this week either. I did pop down today briefly to check for wind damage, after the bad weather last Thursday morning (Norwich and Norfolk lost lots of trees, with loads of roads blocked too. We were watching the huge tree in the alley behind our house swaying around at 5.45am - it was a bit worrying but fortunately the tree stayed put, phew). Luckily as I don't have a greenhouse on the allotment, there's not too much that can be damaged, so just a few bits and pieces had blown around. And the shed was still upright so I'll count that all as a win.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I harvested some kale, leaves from the random brassica, corn salad, mizuna and rosemary. I wish all my brassicas did as well as the random. It grew from homemade compost I used as a mulch, so the compost must've had some good nutrients etc in it. In fact, that's on my list of jobs to do - weed the rest of the beds and mulch with compost or leaf mould.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We broke into the last of the green butternut squashes. It's much smaller than the two mega squashes that grew but even so, a meals worth used about a quarter of the squash, so we've still more to go. Jan roasted this with some homemade chilli flakes</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We mixed the roasted squash with onion, carrot, mushrooms (not homegrown), and green beans from the freezer. It was nice! And there was enough to last two days so we had leftovers tonight</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><p> From storage, I'm also eating up the last of the dessert apples. There's a couple of trays of cookers left as well. And that reminds me, there's a tray of beetroot which needs using up too, the beets are starting to go a bit soft. Apart from that, we've got plenty of fruit and other goodies in the freezer including sweetcorn and courgette.</p><p> </p><p>A couple of interesting items arrived in the mail this week - the diary from <a href="https://myharvest.org.uk/2017/12/calling-all-growers/" target="_blank" title="">My Harvest</a> (for recording allotment visits) and the Organic Gardening Catalogue. So hooray I can now sort out my seed order (that's a job for Weds as I'm volunteering at Eves Hill Veg Co tomorrow), and I must fill in the allotment diary with today's visit.</p><p> </p><p>And excitingly, the little wren has been flitting around again in the lean-to greenhouse at home, picking off tiny insects from plants. I got a really good view of it yesterday, I was standing right at the window with it just a couple of feet away. It's helping with the aphid problem too, so is welcome any time.</p><p> </p><p>That's me for now, thanks for reading. I'm linking in with <a href="https://fromseedtotable.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/harvest-monday-january-22-2018.html" target="_blank" title="">Harvest Monday kindly hosted this month by Michelle at From Seed to Table.</a></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-73735404840057847532018-01-15T23:08:00.001+00:002018-01-15T23:08:37.249+00:00Harvest Monday - mid January already<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">In last week's post I mentioned that some of my sweet dumpling squashes had started looking a bit oozy, so I'd roasted them up. Well, not long after, a couple of the blue kuri were going a bit mouldy on the outside - I didn't have time to cook them up, so instead I cubed them for the freezer, ready to use another time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eraSbpFbjSU/Wl00TzdTfPI/AAAAAAAAEQY/_tpsLuNoFFEgjd-uEbxxJgRr9NeThKOqwCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180115230750071" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eraSbpFbjSU/Wl00TzdTfPI/AAAAAAAAEQY/_tpsLuNoFFEgjd-uEbxxJgRr9NeThKOqwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180115230750071" id="blogsy-1516057715627.6147" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Whilst I'm on squashes, we used up the final chunk of the mega green squash in some yummy pasties made by Jan, which also included caramalised red onion (grown on the allotment from sets last year). I have one medium sized green squash left, which I'll probably crack into next, and which will then leave just two acorn squashes and three sweet dumplings (that I'll keep a close eye on for any mould developing - well that's my intention anyway, whether that actually happens is another matter!).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-47Laboh9yf4/Wl00WK3NfgI/AAAAAAAAEQc/fCa3q7gDKGIK3FFgji_Bmp9tlF-tDwSRwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20180115230750396" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-47Laboh9yf4/Wl00WK3NfgI/AAAAAAAAEQc/fCa3q7gDKGIK3FFgji_Bmp9tlF-tDwSRwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180115230750396" id="blogsy-1516057715592.843" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> I had a couple of hours on the allotment on Friday, before it got too cold. We'd got some cardboard boxes that a nearby supermarket kindly let us take, so I flattened them out and laid them over a couple of my grassy paths (weighed down with bits of wood from my old raised beds), to cut out the light and help kill off the couch grass - I have quite a lot of paths, which take time to manage and also the couch grass creeps in to the beds from them, so I'm gradually getting rid of the smaller ones but keeping a main network through the plot. Mind you, it takes a surprising amount of cardboard, so I'll be making several visits to the supermarket.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I also made some harvests whilst I was at the plot - kale, chard, corn salad and this unidentified brassica. It grew out of some compost I'd used as mulch around a fruit tree, and is a big plant now, and as I'm not sure what it'll develop in to I thought we may as well eat some of the massive leaves.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rRk-enKKdKc/Wl00YJA9ryI/AAAAAAAAEQg/sini0ryX2Hs3oaR1FwhISAwEFZhiKxZiwCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180115230750683" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rRk-enKKdKc/Wl00YJA9ryI/AAAAAAAAEQg/sini0ryX2Hs3oaR1FwhISAwEFZhiKxZiwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180115230750683" id="blogsy-1516057715641.0159" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">They've got quite a full flavour, we had some tonight along with the kale as a side dish to home made falafels. It was a bit of a mish-mash meal - literally - mashed potatoes (grown on the allotment), some leftover red cabbage with chestnuts (foraged in autumn), and some gherkins I grew / preserved a few years ago. There are several jars that I'd forgotten about in a kitchen cupboard - they were a bit of an experiment as usually I ferment gherkins, but this time just used cold cider vinegar and spices. They're actually surprisingly good, a bit soft but lovely flavour, sweet and sour despite not adding any sugar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H9t67pdXTDU/Wl00aWw0ZFI/AAAAAAAAEQk/hedaGhO6vAA-eQV16VER2wlVpyvo9gnzQCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180115230750948" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H9t67pdXTDU/Wl00aWw0ZFI/AAAAAAAAEQk/hedaGhO6vAA-eQV16VER2wlVpyvo9gnzQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180115230750948" id="blogsy-1516057715593.7188" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The corn salad was nice too, a welcome addition to lunchtime sarnies. I tend to pick a few plants at a time and then prep them altogether, keeping the washed leaves in a covered bowl in the fridge - it saves faff each time you want to use them. I'd planned on getting some more from the plot today but it's been too rainy, bah.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xwAezCKS--8/Wl00clngXhI/AAAAAAAAEQo/W8HHtWPG0hQDeMZjpVxMEfx5g8qpaK3VgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20180115230751237" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xwAezCKS--8/Wl00clngXhI/AAAAAAAAEQo/W8HHtWPG0hQDeMZjpVxMEfx5g8qpaK3VgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180115230751237" id="blogsy-1516057715667.7527" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="373" alt=""></a></div><p>I've been hoping to order my seeds for this year but apparently the main catalogue doesn't come out until the end of January - usually I order my seeds in Autumn (from the Organic Gardening Catalogue) so I've been very tardy this season. Still, it's a bit early for me to be sowing anything, so I'm not too worried, apart from whether the seed potatoes I want will be in stock by then. Some people like to start their chilli and onion seeds off around now but that's mainly if they have a heat source and 'grow lights' to support the early seedlings, which otherwise would get leggy in the weak winter light. I usually sow my tomatoes and peppers around mid-February and will try and do the same this year too.</p><p> </p><p>Thanks for reading this week - apologies about the poor photos, the light in the house is not good for evening pics! I'm linking in with Harvest Monday kindly hosted this month by <a href="https://fromseedtotable.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/harvest-monday-january-15-2018.html" target="_blank" title="">Michelle at From Seed to Table.</a></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-79332648084599222912018-01-08T22:28:00.001+00:002018-01-08T22:28:40.413+00:00Harvest Monday - a new year <div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">....but first a quick look at the end of 2017, as I had an unplanned gap in blog posts (not for any particular reason, they just didn't happen, and time flies).</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">So anyway....one of my friends had a lovely candlelit wedding on the winter solstice. She asked me to bring along a dish for the reception and I thought it would be nice to make it completely from homegrown goodies. I made a winter salad with roasted butternut squash, red onion and garlic plus home-sprouted lentils and boiled beetroot. I'd made loads so there was enough for us to keep some, and it was quite good heated up too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CJEmdRrzA4k/WlPuxVpm-DI/AAAAAAAAEPM/oRrG4cT5UzA3nBvInfr2kJ0OZb9ObYAuQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20180108222013494" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CJEmdRrzA4k/WlPuxVpm-DI/AAAAAAAAEPM/oRrG4cT5UzA3nBvInfr2kJ0OZb9ObYAuQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222013494" id="blogsy-1515450518299.9163" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">We were here in Norwich on Christmas Day and whilst needing to use up some bought veggies before heading off to visit family the next day, it was nice to include homegrown goodies too. So in the morning we nipped to the allotment to lift a few leeks for the chestnut pie filling. Funnily enough there was no-one else on the allotments, huh. The chestnuts were ones I'd foraged for in October and previously roasted and frozen, which made things easier. And of course we had roastie potatoes. Jan made the pie pastry top, a lovely buttery flavour, mmm.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kiMFGerPlac/WlPu7-78XMI/AAAAAAAAEPQ/FVe-ONY26j8DAOX_1CmY5Lyx9pA6U5JTACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180108222013862" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kiMFGerPlac/WlPu7-78XMI/AAAAAAAAEPQ/FVe-ONY26j8DAOX_1CmY5Lyx9pA6U5JTACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222013862" id="blogsy-1515450518322.7825" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Last week I noticed that a few of the sweet dumpling squashes had started to ooze a bit from their skin, so it was a good excuse to cook them up.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rJdjS0Njico/WlPvENZMuZI/AAAAAAAAEPU/6yuxv8QHV4Ej4nwmwdEqIuoX5zehZq1ogCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20180108222014134" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rJdjS0Njico/WlPvENZMuZI/AAAAAAAAEPU/6yuxv8QHV4Ej4nwmwdEqIuoX5zehZq1ogCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222014134" id="blogsy-1515450518299.0833" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The first batch I roasted straight, with just a little oil. I'd ummed and ah'd about how large to cut the pieces, and in the end decided to just cut them along the indentations, which meant they didn't take too long to roast.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ws9At-r5BR0/WlPvM8zJYMI/AAAAAAAAEPY/Yk5z2i46xVcgA5AE0qLxN5-qcyADW5LkACHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20180108222014388" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ws9At-r5BR0/WlPvM8zJYMI/AAAAAAAAEPY/Yk5z2i46xVcgA5AE0qLxN5-qcyADW5LkACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222014388" id="blogsy-1515450518376.631" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">For the second batch I added some small onions which I'd brought back from the allotment shed, and also sprinkled a few homemade/grown chilli flakes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t2Gu5wAaVHs/WlPvW-Vd-0I/AAAAAAAAEPg/IXYTbGRhcLcwBqK_fWHSzJi3yb4djRd_ACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180108222014701" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t2Gu5wAaVHs/WlPvW-Vd-0I/AAAAAAAAEPg/IXYTbGRhcLcwBqK_fWHSzJi3yb4djRd_ACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222014701" id="blogsy-1515450518357.629" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The squashes have a very sweet flavour, so a little chilli kick adds a bit of diversity.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FkLZlOJyTHA/WlPviye1iOI/AAAAAAAAEPk/8lySxgKdgWghYQEOli1FS1duXerPmZXcgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180108222014968" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FkLZlOJyTHA/WlPviye1iOI/AAAAAAAAEPk/8lySxgKdgWghYQEOli1FS1duXerPmZXcgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222014968" id="blogsy-1515450518320.2354" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">It's been handy having some pre-roasted squash in the fridge, which can just be added to various dishes like this risotto Jan made. We've also had a curried rice dish, one with pasta and one with bulgar wheat.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PA2uv7RD-Dg/WlPvtanPj8I/AAAAAAAAEPo/axaskBeOgxoVtIXwunS7cCJNNI7i8TqJACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180108222015237" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PA2uv7RD-Dg/WlPvtanPj8I/AAAAAAAAEPo/axaskBeOgxoVtIXwunS7cCJNNI7i8TqJACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222015237" id="blogsy-1515450518350.8762" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">On Friday I went to the allotment briefly to stock up on a few veggies - the leeks are growing slowly but surely, and by harvesting alternate leeks it means the ones inbetween have more space to grow-on.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L-uFU6hnxFI/WlPv21iBuzI/AAAAAAAAEPs/A2Feo5MrYCo-fqC9Sh-7mcw6srOcD_uUwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20180108222015544" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L-uFU6hnxFI/WlPv21iBuzI/AAAAAAAAEPs/A2Feo5MrYCo-fqC9Sh-7mcw6srOcD_uUwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222015544" id="blogsy-1515450518403.1736" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I have a couple of dwarf curly kale plants and picked these leaves from one of them (Jan used them in the yummy risotto).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FdN5uVVCEmE/WlPwC87pURI/AAAAAAAAEP4/s6kV5uc-GzIGRKasH8NvkxbKZAUaEo2KgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180108222015845" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FdN5uVVCEmE/WlPwC87pURI/AAAAAAAAEP4/s6kV5uc-GzIGRKasH8NvkxbKZAUaEo2KgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222015845" id="blogsy-1515450518377.2231" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">And I have quite a few Nero kale plants, so whilst the leaves aren't huge, if I pick enough of them it makes a reasonable harvest. I try and pick from different plants each time to allow the others to grow-on inbetween. I was also going to pick some mizuna but thought we probably wouldn't use it up quickly so decided to save that for another day. I'm hedging my bets a bit and leaving the mizuna and one kale bed uncovered - the strong winds keeps blowing the covers off, despite weighing them down, and the kale plants are actually getting squashed by the supports, so fingers crossed the pigeons don't decide to have a meal of them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3VbeDK35lC0/WlPwLUcf7LI/AAAAAAAAEP8/ObDvO6cI1QMyGJ5QOoGERjRs5mIGEwCWQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20180108222016131" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3VbeDK35lC0/WlPwLUcf7LI/AAAAAAAAEP8/ObDvO6cI1QMyGJ5QOoGERjRs5mIGEwCWQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222016131" id="blogsy-1515450518323.853" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Back at home I still have winter salad leaves growing in the lean-to greenhouse. Including some lovely sweet rocket - </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AASYR3UAj9I/WlPwVekxyjI/AAAAAAAAEQA/GixpMH_bci8KqEb01LFeCfLTYFMeCq5qgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20180108222016418" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AASYR3UAj9I/WlPwVekxyjI/AAAAAAAAEQA/GixpMH_bci8KqEb01LFeCfLTYFMeCq5qgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222016418" id="blogsy-1515450518312.2725" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">And juicy winter purslane - it's pretty amazing how well this stuff grows back after each harvest. I have a few pots (using the old tomato compost, complete with tomato plant roots still in situ, probably breaking down and feeding the purslane), so again I can harvest from different plants each time. Hmm I have a quandary though - usually I sow some peas around now to harvest Spring shoots, but all my pots have salad in. Ooh, what to do?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ubd8Ay5aQLs/WlPwlRbFomI/AAAAAAAAEQI/sEVNtv-9gykFbBL2qAu-31wQuD6jw04FQCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20180108222016719" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ubd8Ay5aQLs/WlPwlRbFomI/AAAAAAAAEQI/sEVNtv-9gykFbBL2qAu-31wQuD6jw04FQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20180108222016719" id="blogsy-1515450518334.258" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="500" alt=""></a></div><p>Back down at the allotment, I had a good few hours yesterday in the sun (yes....sun!), mainly pruning a big old buddliea (to encourage new growth) and moving a stack of timber that had been near a couple of my rotational beds, and had been a source of hidey places for slugs, snails and woodlice. I don't use much timber on the plot anymore but it's still handy every now and then, so the stack is now further away from any annual plants. I also want to get on with clearing more of the weedy beds (which actually includes a lot of self-sown rainbow chard) and around the fruit bushes, then spreading compost or leafmould on top. I aim to disturb the soil as little as possible, so in some cases the clearance will just involve snipping the plants off at ground level and leaving the roots to decompose in place. I also want to lay cardboard to kill off some of the grass paths (too much hassle to keep cutting them all, plus the couch grass encroaches from them). So that's my plans for the next couple of months, plus no doubt getting side-tracked by many other things along the way. How about you?</p><p> </p><p>Ooh, one other thing, I've just signed up to <a href="https://myharvest.org.uk/2017/12/calling-all-growers/" target="_blank" title="">My Harvest</a> - a study by Sheffield University into different aspects of allotmenting throughout the year, including how many hours spent there, physical inputs, harvests etc, recorded in a diary. I thought it would help improve my record keeping as at the moment I only really record quantity / timing of seeds sown. They're still looking for participants if anyone else is interested.</p><p> </p><p>Thanks for reading this week, I'm linking in as usual with Harvest Monday, this month kindly hosted by <a href="https://fromseedtotable.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/harvest-monday-january-8-2018.html" target="_blank" title="">Michelle at From Seed to Table</a>.</p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-67541591293189913812017-12-11T23:01:00.001+00:002017-12-11T23:01:24.393+00:00Harvest Monday - wintery<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I've seen so many photos of lovely snowy scenes over the last couple of days but here in Norwich it's been cold, heavy rain (with a tiny bit of sleet). We're not jealous at all, nuh uh. But it's definitely the weather for warming stews and one morning last week I set up a slow-cooker meal, including a couple of small squashes (cubed), chard and rosemary from the allotment, plus carrots, lentils and a tin of tomatoes. We had it with mashed potato (potatoes stored in the shed). It's nice coming home to a ready-cooked meal, I seem to lose enthusiasm in the evenings at this time of year. And there were enough leftovers for the next day too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F8oiS84CT_M/Wi8Nnliev2I/AAAAAAAAEOo/FX6f3PNKseg6KkjZxOOpct3A66vsytzvgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171211225807035" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F8oiS84CT_M/Wi8Nnliev2I/AAAAAAAAEOo/FX6f3PNKseg6KkjZxOOpct3A66vsytzvgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171211225807035" id="blogsy-1513033281199.3657" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Today I made something similar, using one end of my remaining mega green butternut squash but added curry powder for a bit of spice instead of the rosemary. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CW-5rbkIMMM/Wi8Nxd8flgI/AAAAAAAAEOs/4nwh0MaMaws4MRd3HvFNn8JetuCk1rctQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171211225807359" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CW-5rbkIMMM/Wi8Nxd8flgI/AAAAAAAAEOs/4nwh0MaMaws4MRd3HvFNn8JetuCk1rctQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171211225807359" id="blogsy-1513033281118.8235" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The flesh colour isn't as deeply orange as the previous squash but it tasted alright. These squashes do seem to be quite watery though, as you can see with it seeping out after cutting.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J1iBoiyXZ58/Wi8N77EwYkI/AAAAAAAAEOw/f5v1UdZsfos3Zic7MrvQOYAnmle0F5spwCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171211225807631" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J1iBoiyXZ58/Wi8N77EwYkI/AAAAAAAAEOw/f5v1UdZsfos3Zic7MrvQOYAnmle0F5spwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171211225807631" id="blogsy-1513033281140.3018" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">And throughout the week we've been continuing to have salad leaves from the lean-to in our sandwiches, like this sweet rocket and winter purslane, plus green lentils which I sprout in a jar on the kitchen windowsill. I sometimes feel like this is a bit samey each week but then remind myself that we're still eating homegrown salad in December, which isn't bad going.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B27KZz9B7sc/Wi8OEwMEqDI/AAAAAAAAEO0/M06-7O1S20EfrBNR0-hlKAM4p3FzZycPQCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171211225807915" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B27KZz9B7sc/Wi8OEwMEqDI/AAAAAAAAEO0/M06-7O1S20EfrBNR0-hlKAM4p3FzZycPQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171211225807915" id="blogsy-1513033281196.1082" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">There's a small wood not too far away from us, which we walked down to last week to snip off some bits of holly and ivy - these grow prolifically in the wood so worry not, we're not depriving the local wildlife at all (and we saw a song thrush in a tree on the edge of the wood, which was lovely). So I made us a Christmas wreath for the front door - I have a solid metal ring (which was actually a plant support) that I re-use every year and twist the holly and ivy stems around it...tah dah....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CyUSd6_AlxU/Wi8OQKS2RsI/AAAAAAAAEO8/sJ1i6r2eaFYso2XI4D3NnLDaXqTyv6ZAACHMYCw/s1846/Photo%2B20171211225808251" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CyUSd6_AlxU/Wi8OQKS2RsI/AAAAAAAAEO8/sJ1i6r2eaFYso2XI4D3NnLDaXqTyv6ZAACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171211225808251" id="blogsy-1513033281137.2449" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="488" alt=""></a></div><p> Actually the photo isn't very good, it was at an angle so the wreath doesn't look properly round, but I was rushing to take it during a brief dry moment. Well, it looks a tad uneven too, so I might stick a bit more foliage in if I get round to it. I'll try and get a better photo next time. Maybe with a bit of snow ha.</p><p> </p><p>Oh and some good news is that Norwich Farmshare (who I mentioned the other week) have been successful in their crowdfunding campaign, so can get cracking on developing their new CSA (community supported agriculture) site in the city, hooray.</p><p> </p><p>That's me for the week, I hope you're all getting on okay where you are. I'm linking in as usual with <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2017/12/harvest-monday-december-11-2017/" target="_blank" title="">Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.</a></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-86502780204514682642017-12-04T21:24:00.001+00:002017-12-04T21:24:17.865+00:00Harvest Monday - surviving the frost<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">It's been very frosty here in Norwich recently, and we even had sleet and snow the other day. So I haven't been to the allotment much, it's too damp to get on with things like weeding. But I did nip down there this morning to harvest some goodies....first up is the mizuna, which doesn't seem to have minded the frost at all. I have a few plants (sown at home in plugs and planted out in the area I had some maincrop potatoes), so I just harvested the larger outer leaves, leaving the rest to grow on.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mPEkBsPtlgg/WiW8qsM4JpI/AAAAAAAAENw/q0-VpfaZLxULIyp2LhzCIOhmZU3KOWU1ACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212239067" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mPEkBsPtlgg/WiW8qsM4JpI/AAAAAAAAENw/q0-VpfaZLxULIyp2LhzCIOhmZU3KOWU1ACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212239067" id="blogsy-1512422656348.0256" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The chard doesn't mind frost much either. The stems on these are quite vibrant, nice to brighten up winter dishes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c0efPMxCAsU/WiW8swkSrkI/AAAAAAAAEN0/iivRks16u2UaK0WrHOlI--Nqq2JPHe0YACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212239358" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c0efPMxCAsU/WiW8swkSrkI/AAAAAAAAEN0/iivRks16u2UaK0WrHOlI--Nqq2JPHe0YACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212239358" id="blogsy-1512422656303.6648" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The Nero kale is also ignoring the frost, with its dark leaves. There seems to be less whitefly around since the temperatures have dropped so that's a bonus too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-czmGBuDSbv8/WiW8vEpyTzI/AAAAAAAAEN4/i45kDu6JErc5WXUcHEKn7OOdnaLVIz47wCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171204212239687" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-czmGBuDSbv8/WiW8vEpyTzI/AAAAAAAAEN4/i45kDu6JErc5WXUcHEKn7OOdnaLVIz47wCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212239687" id="blogsy-1512422656367.748" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I picked a bit of rosemary to make a cleansing tea .....although it's early in the Christmas season I already feel like I'm overdoing the sugary foods (and not being as active because of the weather), so a refreshing tea is very welcome (and very easy - just snip off a couple of inches, pop it in a mug and pour in boiling water, then leave to infuse for a couple of minutes (I find if its left too long the tea has a bitter flavour).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FHbHPpshv_4/WiW8xlatH7I/AAAAAAAAEN8/mt1seMKgVFIUQnpbAOzpjIy9hxQp9q_CgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212239987" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FHbHPpshv_4/WiW8xlatH7I/AAAAAAAAEN8/mt1seMKgVFIUQnpbAOzpjIy9hxQp9q_CgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212239987" id="blogsy-1512422656340.6782" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">We were going round a friend's to eat the other day, so I decided to take roasted beetroot. I have some beets stored in the front shed but thought it probably best to use up the ones still outside in the backgarden. They roasted up nicely with a few cloves of garlic, yum. I also mixed in a handful of winter purslane leaves from the lean-to (not pictured).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mUCz-Gv8emE/WiW8z0F5hhI/AAAAAAAAEOA/-8k1nGh2EKsy0COx1KMjfgS0dq4naoFvQCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212240251" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mUCz-Gv8emE/WiW8z0F5hhI/AAAAAAAAEOA/-8k1nGh2EKsy0COx1KMjfgS0dq4naoFvQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212240251" id="blogsy-1512422656397.1619" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">On the puddings side, I already had a tub of stewed fruit in the fridge (blackberry, raspberry, gooseberry and apple mix), which we have on our muesli in the mornings, so I made a cake batter and mixed in a good dollop of the fruit. It created a sort of raspberry ripple effect and was pretty tasty, though the cakes did sink after I took them out the oven. I'm sure there's a scientific reason for that...anyone know? Here they are before baking (I didn't get an after shot).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K-tDSVVdALc/WiW82E7upfI/AAAAAAAAEOE/rdwZrHNonJAnE55BYADUNvyxMAJPocj3QCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212240532" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K-tDSVVdALc/WiW82E7upfI/AAAAAAAAEOE/rdwZrHNonJAnE55BYADUNvyxMAJPocj3QCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212240532" id="blogsy-1512422656328.7825" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">On a completely different tack, we needed a quick dinner the other day, so had some curried rice and additional veggies from the freezer, including some red pepper for a bit of colour. It ended up being a bit like a risotto, not bad.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: center; clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n0hgmezNNZM/WiW84gmrsVI/AAAAAAAAEOI/Vvyv3sFe7_QWmd70AucIDVdmjZrDBD5lwCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212240797" target="_blank" style=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n0hgmezNNZM/WiW84gmrsVI/AAAAAAAAEOI/Vvyv3sFe7_QWmd70AucIDVdmjZrDBD5lwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212240797" id="blogsy-1512422656308.0327" class="alignnone" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Talking of peppers, I used up last week's fresh pepper in sandwiches, along with sweet rocket from the lean-to and homemade chutney.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YVfrxm_jG_0/WiW87OAprLI/AAAAAAAAEOM/ceaUMpW9CfUVF9mB_RttOWSck3TpldT9ACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212241057" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YVfrxm_jG_0/WiW87OAprLI/AAAAAAAAEOM/ceaUMpW9CfUVF9mB_RttOWSck3TpldT9ACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212241057" id="blogsy-1512422656389.1414" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">After eating loads of almonds last week I felt bad for ignoring my hazel nuts, so cracked a load open and toasted them in the oven (when it was on for some other baking too).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H0OlgF3WuTI/WiW89iCOuzI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/6AvS8oBfZogVIuh8zCZZ5AexYxU8ma51QCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212241318" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H0OlgF3WuTI/WiW89iCOuzI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/6AvS8oBfZogVIuh8zCZZ5AexYxU8ma51QCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212241318" id="blogsy-1512422656372.0657" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The skin flakes off after they've been toasted, which makes them even tastier....mmmm.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qIP63Z-d3z0/WiW8_3ka8HI/AAAAAAAAEOU/I_Zt9Y1M-cseYci3DzCRiBZc_BumIzYywCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171204212241597" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qIP63Z-d3z0/WiW8_3ka8HI/AAAAAAAAEOU/I_Zt9Y1M-cseYci3DzCRiBZc_BumIzYywCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171204212241597" id="blogsy-1512422656337.5527" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="500" alt=""></a></div><p>Today we made a non-edible harvest...holly and ivy trimmings from a nearby wood, which I'll make into a Christmas wreath - photos to follow. And I have another 'harvest' this week too, if the weather holds out - bagging up a load of lovely well-rotted horse poo to take to the allotment. Not sure which one I'm most excited about (yes let's face it, it's the horse poo). </p><p> </p><p>Thanks for reading, I'm linking in as usual with <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2017/12/harvest-monday-december-4-2017/" target="_blank" title="">Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres</a>. Head over there to see what other people have been harvesting too.</p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-54569225916372004392017-11-27T22:57:00.001+00:002017-11-27T22:57:57.532+00:00Harvest Monday and a trip to Spain<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">So, I was away last week visiting my sister in very sunny Spain (more of that later). On returning, I was happy to find that the first of my mega green butternut squashes was still ok (we'd eaten about 2/3 of it but left the last 1/3 in the kitchen, with the cut end covered over. The cut end was fine - it was a section still of solid flesh rather than a seedy bit. I cut off a few rings and made a curry which lasted 3 meals for the two of us, not bad. But that then exposed the seedy bit, which is quite liquidy and would rot quickly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-myTtzgHmOOo/WhyU9yZ_z2I/AAAAAAAAELs/SzRA5BOB8c08mPHVw-j1yw_JUH-34tpMQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224221416" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-myTtzgHmOOo/WhyU9yZ_z2I/AAAAAAAAELs/SzRA5BOB8c08mPHVw-j1yw_JUH-34tpMQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224221416" id="blogsy-1511823475835.2314" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">So last night I roasted it in chunks with rosemary, red onion and garlic. This is the actual colour, I haven't edited it...very orange.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2uBaCmRajTs/WhyVIdLBC3I/AAAAAAAAELw/i07ATJyfNOoIh6U3TbUHPtScWs1Wq4pdgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224221762" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2uBaCmRajTs/WhyVIdLBC3I/AAAAAAAAELw/i07ATJyfNOoIh6U3TbUHPtScWs1Wq4pdgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224221762" id="blogsy-1511823475878.3489" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Towards the end I added some kale that I'd harvested yesterday at the plot (there was a cold wind blowing down there and I didn't hang around very long).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s45fz7zWgjw/WhyVSsBkR9I/AAAAAAAAEL0/0B54QVrswtIL4XfoTjs5R--_WdHhSUZ1QCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224222036" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s45fz7zWgjw/WhyVSsBkR9I/AAAAAAAAEL0/0B54QVrswtIL4XfoTjs5R--_WdHhSUZ1QCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224222036" id="blogsy-1511823475896.4343" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">It's really good..The butternut squash has a very sweet flavour, though some liquid does come out during roasting. Anyway I ate a load last night and we had some of it today for lunch. I chopped and cooked a potato first to add and make into a kind of soupy stew. Oh, and also added some fresh leaves of winter purslane from the lean-to, there's a couple poking out in the photo below. Jan's got a cold and I thought a hot lunch with extra vitamin C from the purslane might help (spoiler alert....it hasn't!). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HJBkR21ekWw/WhyVbLYQYfI/AAAAAAAAEL4/N0tTpUKsPMwvlU3isnXtwSyEF8cd3zoagCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171127224222376" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HJBkR21ekWw/WhyVbLYQYfI/AAAAAAAAEL4/N0tTpUKsPMwvlU3isnXtwSyEF8cd3zoagCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224222376" id="blogsy-1511823475842.3906" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Also, a bit of an unseasonal harvest yesterday - a couple of aubergines and a red pepper from the lean-to greenhouse. They haven't seemed to suffer too much with the cold temperatures but as we've been getting some heavy frosts this week I thought I'd pick them before they were past it. I roasted the two aubergines (in a separate dish to the squash) with some garlic....it tasted lovely but didn't look so good. Also, I caught naughty minxie cat on the worktop, licking the dish (after I'd eaten some), so I'm not sure if she was licking the aubergine or the oil, or both...whatever the case I'm a bit reluctant to eat the rest! I haven't used the pepper yet...I forgot today so maybe tomorrow.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rUEpvRJKOmI/WhyVliXn1YI/AAAAAAAAEMA/Iio3QCS5lMsioTJh5DzkTe2Mz9vb6rY4wCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224222807" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rUEpvRJKOmI/WhyVliXn1YI/AAAAAAAAEMA/Iio3QCS5lMsioTJh5DzkTe2Mz9vb6rY4wCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224222807" id="blogsy-1511823475882.7922" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">One of my sisters lives in southern Spain...it's so hot there - too hot for me in the summer, so we visit in the autumn. It's actually still pretty hot during the day but cooler at night. They have some land with almond trees, and this year harvested about four sacks of nuts....and so I didn't feel too guilty at cracking my way through a bucket load to bring home. It was lovely waking up and heading straight out to my nut-cracking station. People seem to have their preferred method of opening the nuts, and mine is sitting across a low wall, with a large stone with a groove in it (for the nut to nestle in), then give it a couple of taps with a stone.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UcmbzCj4dGE/WhyVun5uu5I/AAAAAAAAEME/VT4FQxiHsewtzM6EMmoF2Pxv-v94b_0swCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224223085" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UcmbzCj4dGE/WhyVun5uu5I/AAAAAAAAEME/VT4FQxiHsewtzM6EMmoF2Pxv-v94b_0swCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224223085" id="blogsy-1511823475915.4785" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">My method definitely improved over the week and I managed to get most of the nuts out whole, quite a satisfying job. In fact I virtually had to be dragged to the car on our last day, getting in a final few cracks to leave some nuts ready for my sister to munch on.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GNfoXkUFbr0/WhyV5v3PJGI/AAAAAAAAEMI/Ln_kZNPyLZovdwqEUBW1KQS_rmBib0shgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171127224223364" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GNfoXkUFbr0/WhyV5v3PJGI/AAAAAAAAEMI/Ln_kZNPyLZovdwqEUBW1KQS_rmBib0shgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224223364" id="blogsy-1511823475853.1902" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">This was the view from my nut-cracking station...not bad, not bad.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ArU3KjnKYdY/WhyWDFWzA5I/AAAAAAAAEMM/2Yh4qERQcf0d3Nuqo1io_Qny1MlUDuYlwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224223646" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ArU3KjnKYdY/WhyWDFWzA5I/AAAAAAAAEMM/2Yh4qERQcf0d3Nuqo1io_Qny1MlUDuYlwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224223646" id="blogsy-1511823475874.1284" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Back at home we're making steady progress through the nuts, I don't think they'll last us very long (I should've got up earlier each day). They're delicious on they're own raw, but even better dry toasted in a pan, and even better better mixed with a bit of honey, pinch of salt and chilli powder then toasted in the oven. I made some of these last night but they didn't make it into a photo.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-chdkC_HGoQ4/WhyWMI5z1CI/AAAAAAAAEMU/mAgrYKxn2Y8ujcZfJfFua5KoMMzpRwpigCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171127224223912" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-chdkC_HGoQ4/WhyWMI5z1CI/AAAAAAAAEMU/mAgrYKxn2Y8ujcZfJfFua5KoMMzpRwpigCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224223912" id="blogsy-1511823475917.7817" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I don't like to sit around too much on holiday, so if we weren't out for the day I made myself useful on the land. They have a swale (on-contour ditch for spreading out rain water) with planting pits dotted along. You can just make out a pit in the pic below.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fQPz168k_ZY/WhyWThfZJYI/AAAAAAAAEMY/Ie-hFCHEBS4IeGLZZpmTDZGHVuBTg0wmACHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224224186" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fQPz168k_ZY/WhyWThfZJYI/AAAAAAAAEMY/Ie-hFCHEBS4IeGLZZpmTDZGHVuBTg0wmACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224224186" id="blogsy-1511823475891.84" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">There was a flush of wild plant growth this year after some rain, which led to masses of wild rocket germinating, so we've been clearing the dead dry plant material (grows up to about knee height) and adding it into the swale, to help absorb any rain when it does eventually come (the area is a semi-desert with very low rainfall). Within the pits they'd had broad beans, which actually did really well, they'd eaten loads fresh and I found loads more dried beans for saving. I podded them whilst sat at each pit, to chuck a few beans back in and see if they do anything over winter. I also added the dead stems and pods back into each pit, again to add organic matter. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-80QPXRK0A7Y/WhyWhXr4zoI/AAAAAAAAEMc/e2Z1uTkVU2E1lehVquEW4O5ZUU4s71-6ACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171127224224462" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-80QPXRK0A7Y/WhyWhXr4zoI/AAAAAAAAEMc/e2Z1uTkVU2E1lehVquEW4O5ZUU4s71-6ACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224224462" id="blogsy-1511823475856.9468" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I had some help from Beth dog. She wasn't in the way at all. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CQaj6NvcyRw/WhyWqyZlq_I/AAAAAAAAEMg/dyZd0RrsUTkCuTaEJFVgwRu6eAoB8R8OwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224224741" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CQaj6NvcyRw/WhyWqyZlq_I/AAAAAAAAEMg/dyZd0RrsUTkCuTaEJFVgwRu6eAoB8R8OwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224224741" id="blogsy-1511823475929.8315" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The area my sister lives (Almeria) is really diverse. A large proportion is semi-desert mountains, but we visited the Rio del Agua, which because of the water is much more lush. Unfortunately though, the whole area is suffering from over-abstraction, one of the main reasons being that the new extensive olive plantations require irrigating. As a result, the huge aquifer is rapidly depleting. We bumped into a guy who's been meeting with UN to explain the effect it's having on the ecology and people...what an inspiring man.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c1ZBM6yrFac/WhyW0DBXDjI/AAAAAAAAEMs/WKyCRMcpSbMgaLR_7MIBB1wox8TMJ2n-QCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224225014" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c1ZBM6yrFac/WhyW0DBXDjI/AAAAAAAAEMs/WKyCRMcpSbMgaLR_7MIBB1wox8TMJ2n-QCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224225014" id="blogsy-1511823475922.5908" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">We also visited a botanic garden, set in the area of an abandoned gold mining town. I'm always a sucker for a veggie plot, so enjoyed seeing what they were up to. Incredibly, because of the super-long growing season in almeria they even had some new-ish plantings of potatoes, tomatoes (growing up the frames) and broad beans.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-17A1lxFyCwo/WhyW_4ghhTI/AAAAAAAAEMw/knC_uQuAykkYa_10np-RempJLb-OjVP4QCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224225297" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-17A1lxFyCwo/WhyW_4ghhTI/AAAAAAAAEMw/knC_uQuAykkYa_10np-RempJLb-OjVP4QCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224225297" id="blogsy-1511823475924.8115" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Potatoes with toms in the background.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-37P72aNlj9c/WhyXOL-4xrI/AAAAAAAAEM0/qPNv_Uye_bA2Eb5NkBtpEIJDPjh0voRqwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224225650" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-37P72aNlj9c/WhyXOL-4xrI/AAAAAAAAEM0/qPNv_Uye_bA2Eb5NkBtpEIJDPjh0voRqwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224225650" id="blogsy-1511823475872.7576" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Broad beans.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QomBsCgL8qc/WhyXalGRdpI/AAAAAAAAEM8/CS1Bw2-VPJ0MDvYscoWq_RcXU9W4bCRSwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224225978" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QomBsCgL8qc/WhyXalGRdpI/AAAAAAAAEM8/CS1Bw2-VPJ0MDvYscoWq_RcXU9W4bCRSwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224225978" id="blogsy-1511823475948.2456" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The gardens were lovely to wander around and earlier in the year would be full of colour. As it's Autumn, there was a lot of green, though still lots to enjoy. I particularly liked all the carob trees, with pods dripping down.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AWNwxO5k7JY/WhyXl61FUBI/AAAAAAAAENA/OikxzR9ev8k_diZN22MXhVaxIS15-_WzQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224226373" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AWNwxO5k7JY/WhyXl61FUBI/AAAAAAAAENA/OikxzR9ev8k_diZN22MXhVaxIS15-_WzQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224226373" id="blogsy-1511823475898.6807" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">We had a day birdwatching in the salt lake area adjacent to the coast. As well as some cool bird spots (including flamingo and black winged stilt) there was an unexpected site....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ChFpDKM1bBs/WhyXu55fFeI/AAAAAAAAENE/YfU7_o9yGyk3UXe7RAOsHQnmD0JY9mFPQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224226649" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ChFpDKM1bBs/WhyXu55fFeI/AAAAAAAAENE/YfU7_o9yGyk3UXe7RAOsHQnmD0JY9mFPQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224226649" id="blogsy-1511823475876.2773" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">A herd of goats coming along the beach!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oxFS0d1E6Zw/WhyX4pS6eCI/AAAAAAAAENI/4NJCE82eN5wgM3LhW9HN2_yLIMHy3ZLIgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224226915" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oxFS0d1E6Zw/WhyX4pS6eCI/AAAAAAAAENI/4NJCE82eN5wgM3LhW9HN2_yLIMHy3ZLIgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224226915" id="blogsy-1511823475937.335" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Jan and I really loved the goats, they have such nice faces. We've seen them in the mountains before but not along the beach. And some started following us instead of the goat herd, so his dog had to come round them up. (I'm sure he wouldn't have noticed if we took one or two home). As well as being kept for the milk and meat, the goats in this area are taken around to graze the scrub down and reduce the fire risk.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5Q3ofBEHAYk/WhyYC-FB-DI/AAAAAAAAENQ/KGWw--SU9b4ifCbx4RHBCvzi_ndrjW3IQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224227203" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5Q3ofBEHAYk/WhyYC-FB-DI/AAAAAAAAENQ/KGWw--SU9b4ifCbx4RHBCvzi_ndrjW3IQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224227203" id="blogsy-1511823475922.3955" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">We had such a good break, it was a bit of a culture shock to get back to a busy city that's gearing up for (dare I say) Christmas. So I'll end with a couple of reminders of the peaceful countryside there - the walking route through to their nearest town....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SnEO9g06_C4/WhyYREDZekI/AAAAAAAAENU/gfGAoUhe7WQmTlk0aXNSFzHBhOHbxYABACHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171127224227484" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SnEO9g06_C4/WhyYREDZekI/AAAAAAAAENU/gfGAoUhe7WQmTlk0aXNSFzHBhOHbxYABACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224227484" id="blogsy-1511823475877.7" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">And a beautiful cove down on the coast...sigh.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aRET7wG8HDQ/WhyYcpU2-XI/AAAAAAAAENY/w54Wx2r5o7U5xE6UT-KWCwinak_M6Rk7ACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171127224227758" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aRET7wG8HDQ/WhyYcpU2-XI/AAAAAAAAENY/w54Wx2r5o7U5xE6UT-KWCwinak_M6Rk7ACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171127224227758" id="blogsy-1511823475903.2212" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="500" alt=""></a></div><p>Thanks for reading this week, I'm linking in with <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2017/11/harvest-monday-november-27-2017/" target="_blank" title="">Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Out Happy Acres</a>. </p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-43208108872206793892017-11-13T20:59:00.001+00:002017-11-13T21:11:17.007+00:00Harvest Monday and Norwich Farmshare Crowdfunder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I made up a new game today, it's called 'Find the borlotti beans'. The premise is simple - balance a tray of beans to dry precariously on top of a hifi speaker, then (whilst opening the curtains), knock them all over the place. Enjoy the next fifteen minutes searching under chairs, a wardrobe, chest of drawers, bed and so on (scenario changes depending on your furniture). Have a go, it'll keep you entertained for ages. I'm pretty sure I didn't find them all either, so more fun to be had later.<br /></div>
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<br />I've failed to take any harvest photos this week, but have picked chard, kale and corn salad from the allotment. Jan made a lovely big hotpot with loads of wintery goodies, including the kale and some blauhilde beans from the freezer. In the lean-to greenhouse at home I have several tubs of lush winter purslane / claytonia, so we've been adding tasty leaves to our lunchtime sandwiches.<br /></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Xj3Twf2lOxs/WgoHG2YoaiI/AAAAAAAAEK8/TMWb77kNezIh4sRNpYVrEECGsEDY4mNeQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171113205556708" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="373" id="blogsy-1510606781928.0212" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Xj3Twf2lOxs/WgoHG2YoaiI/AAAAAAAAEK8/TMWb77kNezIh4sRNpYVrEECGsEDY4mNeQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171113205556708" width="500" /></a></div>
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<br />Same goes for sweet rocket (variety Esmee).<br /></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0X9cbaDS9r8/WgoHPff3gwI/AAAAAAAAELA/dwLg41FOWxskq7TpUGz2s0FZHEKknZljgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171113205556970" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="373" id="blogsy-1510606781923.9688" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0X9cbaDS9r8/WgoHPff3gwI/AAAAAAAAELA/dwLg41FOWxskq7TpUGz2s0FZHEKknZljgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171113205556970" width="500" /></a></div>
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<br />So onto Norwich FarmShare.....<br /></div>
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This is a fantastic community farming project, providing fresh, chemical-free veggies to people from the Norwich area. Members sign up for weekly shares (of different sizes) and can either collect from The Hub (meeting up with other members) or have them delivered by bike. Also, members spend some time helping out, which could be 'behind the scenes' type activities, helping at The Hub, or getting your hands in the dirt, actually helping to farm the food (with the two official Growers). What's not to like about that?<br /></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jR5kI1P8W1k/WgoHUd-VfHI/AAAAAAAAELE/scU0yLYsXEADq4pmW2QIIMzgexzuy2_xwCHMYCw/s1448/Photo%2B20171113205557292" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="377" id="blogsy-1510606781923.3525" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jR5kI1P8W1k/WgoHUd-VfHI/AAAAAAAAELE/scU0yLYsXEADq4pmW2QIIMzgexzuy2_xwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171113205557292" width="500" /></a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br />Since spring 2016 FarmShare has been in a transition period - the land they were farming on the edge of Norwich wasn't going to be available any longer, so the hunt began for a new site / sites. After lots of hard work and research, a couple of great opportunities have arisen. The first site is a block of several unused allotment plots to the north west of Norwich (Valpy Avenue site), which together form quite a bit of land. The focus here will be on community and educational activities (as well as growing food). The site is really lovely too, overlooking Sloughbottom Park and the River Wensum Valley. Work has begun to prepare the site (I helped a little at the first volunteer workday a while back but there's been lots more happening since then), with plans to establish infrastructure like a volunteer shelter and compost loo. That's where the crowdfunding campaign comes in, taking place over the next few weeks.<br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lQ5hB5U20E8/WgoHbZZsALI/AAAAAAAAELI/IFjQ0unbPYkO9WDpNomUjXTl7R6HAtWlgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171113205557599" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="369" id="blogsy-1510606781908.851" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lQ5hB5U20E8/WgoHbZZsALI/AAAAAAAAELI/IFjQ0unbPYkO9WDpNomUjXTl7R6HAtWlgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171113205557599" width="500" /></a></div>
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<br />There are some great rewards for pledges, including fun ones like having your name written into a squash as it grows, and useful ones like bike maintenance sessions. I gather a whole load of new rewards are being released soon too, which I'll be keeping an eye out for. If you don't fancy any of the rewards but would still like to support the project you can simply make a donation, even a fiver would help towards achieving the goals of a fairer, healthier food system, buidling soil and building communities. <br /></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xuzLzDGhyI0/WgoHmV2BhNI/AAAAAAAAELU/nOFPRP5rhiAyins-f41trAQ3wrzKuDkXQCHMYCw/s1397/Photo%2B20171113205558326" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="381" id="blogsy-1510606781968.4287" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xuzLzDGhyI0/WgoHmV2BhNI/AAAAAAAAELU/nOFPRP5rhiAyins-f41trAQ3wrzKuDkXQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171113205558326" width="500" /></a></div>
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<br />If you're interested in finding out more have a look at their <a href="https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/norwich-farmshare-1/?" target="_blank" title="">Crowdfunder page</a> and also watch the excellent video <a href="https://vimeo.com/238913934">https://vimeo.com/238913934</a> </div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/238913934" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe>
<a href="https://vimeo.com/238913934">Norwich Farmshare - crowd funding campaign</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/mattjamesrobinson">Matthew Robinson</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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Another cool thing happening in Norwich at the moment is the film festival Conversations About Food organised by the East Anglian Landworkers' Alliance (with Norwich FarmShare). The festival presents a series of five inspirational films relating to sustainable agriculture, showcasing examples from around the world. We've had the first two (which were excellent, I particularly enjoyed Gracie's Backyard about a Swedish farm being run following permaculture principles. The second film Sustainable, centred on US examples, was good too - I think you can find this one for free online). Next up is In Our Hands, focussing on the UK, I'm looking forward to this.<br /><br />
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<br />Also coming up, next week at the monthly Norfolk Organic Group we'll be treated to a talk by well-known gardener Bob Flowerdew. It's all happening in Norwich eh. Thank you to all the people who are giving up their time to organise these amazing events.<br />
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That's me for the week, thanks for reading. I'm linking in with <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2017/11/harvest-monday-november-13-2017/" target="_blank" title="">Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.</a><br />
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Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-26218516570332245932017-11-06T23:17:00.001+00:002017-11-06T23:17:23.585+00:00Harvest Monday - one of those massive squashes<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">We were having friends round for dinner this week, so decided to crack open one of the big green butternut squashes. Here's a reminder of the size of one...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-stcJ-O8KOCo/WgDru1LSE2I/AAAAAAAAEJY/-RhFoJeAX8QzgwWj8VIdXQtzqdNsW0uSQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171106230911282" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-stcJ-O8KOCo/WgDru1LSE2I/AAAAAAAAEJY/-RhFoJeAX8QzgwWj8VIdXQtzqdNsW0uSQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230911282" id="blogsy-1510010242017.8467" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I was really interested to see what it was like inside, and cut off one end...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nmuKlnpwOro/WgDr3dvnG7I/AAAAAAAAEJc/aKGiaA18bVkkvP46W1ZB26Iof-kSDjWZACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230911675" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nmuKlnpwOro/WgDr3dvnG7I/AAAAAAAAEJc/aKGiaA18bVkkvP46W1ZB26Iof-kSDjWZACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230911675" id="blogsy-1510010241943.2495" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">It was really easy to cut through, and had a lovely orange colour (more orange than the pic shows)...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rOwAhqpMEgA/WgDsAAJnUTI/AAAAAAAAEJg/L8E3vtRU1LEct08j-YeAgltKBL5IpQ19gCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171106230911952" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rOwAhqpMEgA/WgDsAAJnUTI/AAAAAAAAEJg/L8E3vtRU1LEct08j-YeAgltKBL5IpQ19gCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230911952" id="blogsy-1510010242020.765" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">As the skin was thin, I left it on for the roasting, and added a bit of rosemary from the allotment too. That section of the squash ended up making three roasting tins-ful, phew! The squash has a very sweet flavour, yummy. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WuE1AMvzIco/WgDsJuNwdwI/AAAAAAAAEJk/wHv6uLBmSnQiujGX_aUaNh0DIdVUky9SQCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230912242" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WuE1AMvzIco/WgDsJuNwdwI/AAAAAAAAEJk/wHv6uLBmSnQiujGX_aUaNh0DIdVUky9SQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230912242" id="blogsy-1510010241981.6465" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Also this week, I harvested all the remaining beetroot from the allotment - I wanted to use the space to make a new strawberry bed, plus the beets might otherwise get damaged by heavy frost (apparently there was one last night). I've stored them all in the brick shed at home, twisting the tops off first.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--fdIUU8ZgJs/WgDsR-YZlJI/AAAAAAAAEJs/_4xwCx83x5YMA1prCyJqQHaieM3tKj36ACHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171106230912573" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--fdIUU8ZgJs/WgDsR-YZlJI/AAAAAAAAEJs/_4xwCx83x5YMA1prCyJqQHaieM3tKj36ACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230912573" id="blogsy-1510010242029.6357" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="669"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I sorted through the beet tops and selected out the nicest quality leaves to cook up.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vruGZTdKw_8/WgDsZseJKvI/AAAAAAAAEJw/NJfSuIabH5Yk5LVPi5NYr1LT2-AJwHreQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171106230912892" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vruGZTdKw_8/WgDsZseJKvI/AAAAAAAAEJw/NJfSuIabH5Yk5LVPi5NYr1LT2-AJwHreQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230912892" id="blogsy-1510010242010.3247" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The colour dulled a bit after cooking in a small amount of water, but still tasted good.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bTbmjiPDM30/WgDshkLuxaI/AAAAAAAAEJ0/nPo1g0mg09AJeL7VglC8XgTXkgaKxk93wCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230913231" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bTbmjiPDM30/WgDshkLuxaI/AAAAAAAAEJ0/nPo1g0mg09AJeL7VglC8XgTXkgaKxk93wCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230913231" id="blogsy-1510010241940.8618" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Whilst tidying up the two old strawberry beds I've been removing self-sown chard plants and saving the best leaves of those too, with a couple of large bunches picked on different occasions, here's one below. I was going to completely remove one of the old strawb beds but decided to leave them both whilst the new one settles in. Oh and there are actually some strawb flowers and actual fruit on a couple of the older plants! Crazy autumn. I don't expect them to ripen though. With the chard plants, I've been snipping them off just below ground level, so that the root decomposes in the soil, feeding the strawb beds as it goes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JZprRq-CPWY/WgDsp8tX_HI/AAAAAAAAEJ4/LzDXF1UNoSAlsCOjWZbN0FKumxgeUyChwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171106230913506" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JZprRq-CPWY/WgDsp8tX_HI/AAAAAAAAEJ4/LzDXF1UNoSAlsCOjWZbN0FKumxgeUyChwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230913506" id="blogsy-1510010241990.8467" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Jan noticed we're nearly out of chilli flakes, so rather than buy more, we decided to make some from our own fruits. I've been growing these indoors - I have two over-wintered plants and two newly sown last spring.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4dMZPUKYwdI/WgDswqT6rdI/AAAAAAAAEKA/LCOlR5fDXGkUMhosO5PTSkumApJCNYGRACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230913790" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4dMZPUKYwdI/WgDswqT6rdI/AAAAAAAAEKA/LCOlR5fDXGkUMhosO5PTSkumApJCNYGRACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230913790" id="blogsy-1510010241984.7927" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Not having done this before, we just used a few to begin with, in case we messed up. Jan carefully sliced them up and we baked on a very low oven (less than gas mark 1) to dry them out.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZRqnwYSijUE/WgDs5h1Du7I/AAAAAAAAEKE/NYMx5bgEUEcGu7ta0qzT9FzHSWADK1NygCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230914072" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZRqnwYSijUE/WgDs5h1Du7I/AAAAAAAAEKE/NYMx5bgEUEcGu7ta0qzT9FzHSWADK1NygCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230914072" id="blogsy-1510010242033.2285" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">We thought they looked OK after about an hour or so </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m6LOza9AEv8/WgDtCKJx45I/AAAAAAAAEKI/YcS9UdSK0E84dL6nEB7dPi52EZT3u-XAgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230914415" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m6LOza9AEv8/WgDtCKJx45I/AAAAAAAAEKI/YcS9UdSK0E84dL6nEB7dPi52EZT3u-XAgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230914415" id="blogsy-1510010241979.7058" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">So we ground them up (and actually snipped them up a bit too). We've yet to try them, so not sure how potent they are yet. And hopefully we dried them enough but I know Dave (Our Happy Acres) is an expert so maybe he might kindly give his view? (And in fact I've just seen on his latest blog post, linked below, that he dehydrated some peppers over two days, so our one hour seems a tad lacking!).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UA3824ZNxXU/WgDtJz6ExTI/AAAAAAAAEKM/biMiIaPGLv8WxHwaQ0JrHQInleFC0hiWgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230914784" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UA3824ZNxXU/WgDtJz6ExTI/AAAAAAAAEKM/biMiIaPGLv8WxHwaQ0JrHQInleFC0hiWgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230914784" id="blogsy-1510010241979.3975" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">For a bit of variety this week, we dipped into some of the freezer goodies, using a pack of sweet peppers and diced courgette, with some homemade pesto. Oh, and today I thawed out a jar of beetroot hummus to go in our sarnies, along with the salad leaves that are still coming from the lean-to.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--nPwoMpeNhE/WgDtRxb7M7I/AAAAAAAAEKU/ZkSMfrgf70ETuaXX65132h0CpOY6l0yDQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171106230915170" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--nPwoMpeNhE/WgDtRxb7M7I/AAAAAAAAEKU/ZkSMfrgf70ETuaXX65132h0CpOY6l0yDQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230915170" id="blogsy-1510010242035.8083" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Today was actually really sunny, so after a short gardening job I spent a couple of hours on the plot, continuing to tidy the strawberry beds. Yesterday wasn't too bad either, and we had a walk down to Whitlingham Country Park on the outskirts of the city, where there are various woodland routes and a large broad (manmade lake) to walk round. I forget sometimes that I was the warden here one summer many years ago, it's changed a lot since then. Now there's even a lovely visitor centre and toilets!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UjQxmm3TeZ4/WgDtZtNHgvI/AAAAAAAAEKY/oMzCt0HVsAUJC4LBnIZtO8-M7xFrpsQiQCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230915491" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UjQxmm3TeZ4/WgDtZtNHgvI/AAAAAAAAEKY/oMzCt0HVsAUJC4LBnIZtO8-M7xFrpsQiQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230915491" id="blogsy-1510010242024.8606" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The River Yare bounds one side of the park and in a few places there are some great views to be had (my photo's not very good, it was a bit cold on the fingers). We even saw a kingfisher fly by, low over the water at one point. I heard it before I saw it, with the 'peep' call giving a heads up that it was about to fly past.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fqZ34b-RzaM/WgDtgNw2-gI/AAAAAAAAEKc/bxMEv7LbWigmwUEHlThsk_euruvcWp4WgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171106230915774" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fqZ34b-RzaM/WgDtgNw2-gI/AAAAAAAAEKc/bxMEv7LbWigmwUEHlThsk_euruvcWp4WgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171106230915774" id="blogsy-1510010241956.925" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="500" alt=""></a></div><p>I haven't looked ahead to the weather over the next few days but it would be nice if we had a some more like this. I might try and get some pics of the plot if the light is good. Ok, thanks for reading, I'm linking in with Harvest Monday, hosted by <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2017/11/harvest-monday-november-6-2017/" target="_blank" title="">Dave at Our Happy Acres</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Ooh, I've left it a bit late to mention properly the <a href="https://www.norwichfarmshare.co.uk" target="_blank" title="">Norwich FarmShare (Community Supported Agriculture) </a>crowdfunding launch, aiming to raise money for establishing the new site, so will do that another time. But please have a look at the link above in the meantime to find out more. </p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-33005486796689153022017-10-31T09:27:00.001+00:002017-10-31T09:27:37.014+00:00Harvest Monday - nuts! And Science!<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I wanted to try out some of the hazels from the allotment - it's been a few weeks since I harvested them and they've got a nice full flavour now. So initially, as I had half a red cabbage left (bought from Folland Organics on Norwich Market) I thought I'd try the spiced cabbage recipe from last week, using hazels instead of chestnuts. Jan dutifully started cracking hazels whilst I chopped the red onion and cabbage etc. She amassed a nice little potful...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N0aV3R1jL2M/WfhBvPBLxcI/AAAAAAAAEIg/kecoR5oZC9MbwDVMMm_iDFszejJNe7IgwCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171031092608646" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N0aV3R1jL2M/WfhBvPBLxcI/AAAAAAAAEIg/kecoR5oZC9MbwDVMMm_iDFszejJNe7IgwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092608646" id="blogsy-1509442054593.124" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: justify; clear: both;"><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then I started doubting myself, whether the flavour would work as well, so instead I added some frozen chestnuts to the cabbage, and cut all the hazels in half (photos aren't very good due to poor light).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ruZKEBB50hw/WfhBxjJ1k0I/AAAAAAAAEIk/dwtv-bJmz6sz3Q-Cvml1AkH-RSj--89lgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171031092608946" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ruZKEBB50hw/WfhBxjJ1k0I/AAAAAAAAEIk/dwtv-bJmz6sz3Q-Cvml1AkH-RSj--89lgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092608946" id="blogsy-1509442054596.9521" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> And made one of my all time favourites - toasted hazels, yum yum yum. Simply toasted in a dry frying pan, they taste so good. The stash of stored hazels wasn't dented too much, so there's plenty more of these to be made. And the catkins for next year are already formed on the two allotment hazel trees, looking good too. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H8TwEbrO6fg/WfhB0NZTHRI/AAAAAAAAEIo/KWEPHUzz4rQvU0DeVf66pow04KCMMqOkACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171031092609208" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-H8TwEbrO6fg/WfhB0NZTHRI/AAAAAAAAEIo/KWEPHUzz4rQvU0DeVf66pow04KCMMqOkACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092609208" id="blogsy-1509442054613.763" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The internet is awash with photos of winter squash at the moment so I didn't want to miss joining in. These were assembled together on our sofa, from their current homes on various shelves and tables downstairs. The three big, long ones underneath are the green butternuts, surrounded by sweet dumpling (stripey), cream of the crop (pointy) and blue kuri. It's hard to tell the size here but the biggest squash is about 16lb (according to my bathroom scales). So a good number of meals coming from that lot. We'll be having friends round to watch Stranger Things on tv soon, and I can see us cooking a squash meal (or two or three).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u3Bled96ags/WfhB2XZBAOI/AAAAAAAAEIs/V5zCiVqEh5Mx_fWzWwMWYVBexb_RLPccwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171031092609546" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u3Bled96ags/WfhB2XZBAOI/AAAAAAAAEIs/V5zCiVqEh5Mx_fWzWwMWYVBexb_RLPccwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092609546" id="blogsy-1509442054685.8926" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Out in the lean-to greenhouse at home I picked most of the rest of the sweet peppers, which were almost all ripe. I'd noticed some little flecks had appeared on a couple and it turned out they had grubs inside, eating away at the peppers, urgh - the flecks were their poo I think, like caterpillars leave. Anyway, I managed to salvage quite a bit of pepper flesh so lucky I didn't leave it too much later to pick them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zvo9GFXzoRU/WfhB4TLwl0I/AAAAAAAAEIw/kY5P0tM44ZcsGj2oc4xaqCaA8Vyj-HgIQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171031092609835" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zvo9GFXzoRU/WfhB4TLwl0I/AAAAAAAAEIw/kY5P0tM44ZcsGj2oc4xaqCaA8Vyj-HgIQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092609835" id="blogsy-1509442054688.5007" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">We're still eating nice fresh salad leaves in our sandwiches. Today I picked most of the outdoor lettuce that was left - it can't be long until the first frost and they probably won't last past that. I also picked some more coriander and dill from the lean-to, which make a flavoursome combination. Then on top, are some sprouted lentils which I sprout in a jar on the windowsill then keep in the fridge once they've got to the right size. (Though I remember reading years ago that those sprouted in the dark produce different vitamins...I'll have to look that up and see if I remember rightly). The bread is delicious organic sourdough from Timberhill Bakery, double-yum.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8LL-6jXJAVE/WfhB7HQvw3I/AAAAAAAAEI0/BehCP9NnCfg8g8SOjOK9_u6wTvBMIU6DgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171031092610129" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8LL-6jXJAVE/WfhB7HQvw3I/AAAAAAAAEI0/BehCP9NnCfg8g8SOjOK9_u6wTvBMIU6DgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092610129" id="blogsy-1509442054653.7522" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I've been to loads of food related events this week! Most were being put on as part of the Norwich Science Festival. There were so many sciencey events and loads were free as well, which is always a bonus. </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I didn't get many photos but a quick mention - Nicholas Crane (from 'Coast' TV prog) talked about man's impact on the British landscape, which as we know includes the effects of agriculture past and present. Professor Alice Roberts talked about our history of taming species, the first covering wolves / dogs and also included the (possibly accidental) development of agriculture. They both have books out about their respective themes, so there's some Christmas pressie ideas for you. Both these talks ended with a question about where modern agriculture will go next? My view is, bearing in mind that the soils are trashed, we're losing species and increasing carbon emissions, a hastening move towards regenerative agriculture needs to be on the cards. Ecological farming and soil building, here we come (hopefully).<br></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I also saw Helen Sharman (Britain's first astronaut) who was an amazing speaker (as was Alice Roberts). Interestingly they both shared the view that the long term future of humans will rely on colonising other planets, as for example, if a huge asteroid came along we'd be in proper trouble (not their exact words). Hopefully no big asteroids are heading this way anytime soon then.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">The last day of the Science Festival (yesterday) was actually 'food and agriculture' themed (other days were Nature, Engineering, Physics etc). First I went to a talk on soils, focusing on the battles between all the microorganisms happening without many of us noticing. There is so much life and diversity in a healthy soil, it's amazing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yUma9q_X6Fw/WfhB8mc8s9I/AAAAAAAAEI4/shxrXb29rPIwzgtjg1KzY2fN3V8MK7rowCHMYCw/s1852/Photo%2B20171031092610399" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yUma9q_X6Fw/WfhB8mc8s9I/AAAAAAAAEI4/shxrXb29rPIwzgtjg1KzY2fN3V8MK7rowCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092610399" id="blogsy-1509442054684.481" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="329"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">On a lighter topic, Tim Kinnaird (finalist of MasterChef who now runs a macaron business in Norwich), explained the science behind making the perfect macaron, which is actually surprisingly sciencey. There were some samples afterwards which I *may* have tried (very yummy).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-88ochAnEzUk/WfhB-674m7I/AAAAAAAAEI8/uxGRwLBFDuA_rOWOqwX9P4Cu1cSQDSbqgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171031092610685" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-88ochAnEzUk/WfhB-674m7I/AAAAAAAAEI8/uxGRwLBFDuA_rOWOqwX9P4Cu1cSQDSbqgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092610685" id="blogsy-1509442054681.5613" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Ironically his show (where recipes involve a fair amount of butter and sugar) was followed by one on the positive effects of eating plenty of fibre in your diet, but hey, a little bit of macaron every now and then is ok, eh. The final talk I saw described the fungal problem affecting bananas - interestingly, even though there are over 1000 banana species, there is mainly just one grown for commercial export (the Cavendish) and it grows as a clone (no seeds as they have been bred out). So there are these genetically identical plantations across the tropics, at risk to the fungus, which is spreading about quite nicely. Whilst there are methods for minimising the risk of spreading the fungus (footwear hygiene for example), the scientist who gave the talk, Dr Sarah Schmidt, is looking for ways to combat the problem. One of the methods involves identifying soil bacteria which inhibit growth of the fungus...so we're back to the importance of soils again. She has a <a href="https://bananaroots.wordpress.com" target="_blank" title="">website</a> where you can find out more if you're interested. </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Also this week I've been to the pre-launch of <a href="https://www.norwichfarmshare.co.uk" target="_blank" title="">Norwich FarmShare's</a> exciting crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for their new site. I'll say more about that next week, after the proper launch. And tonight, this very evening, I've been to the <a href="http://norfolkorganic.org.uk" target="_blank" title="">Norfolk Organic Group's</a> monthly talk, this time about growing potatoes.....also very interesting, and with the added bonus of taste-testing some delicious freshly baked potatoes of different varieties that members had brought in. What a lovely idea.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Finally, a shot through the larger polytunnel at Eves Hill Veg Co (not for profit market garden where I volunteer) from Wednesday. All the summer crops have now gone but look at that brilliant winter salad. Yes I still have polytunnel envy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PWL-LyEyaPw/WfhCBbcUb7I/AAAAAAAAEJA/XZk1pAzoPWw5XWMEPvfJ_gtmx4Fe-OhfQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171031092611050" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PWL-LyEyaPw/WfhCBbcUb7I/AAAAAAAAEJA/XZk1pAzoPWw5XWMEPvfJ_gtmx4Fe-OhfQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171031092611050" id="blogsy-1509442054645.797" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="373" alt=""></a></div><p> Thanks for reading this week, it was a long 'un. I'm linking in with <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2017/10/harvest-monday-october-30-2017/" target="_blank" title="">Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.</a></p><p>(PS I wrote this on Monday evening but then had iPad issues, so am publishing Tuesday instead) </p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-41768176023415577262017-10-24T13:36:00.001+01:002017-10-24T13:36:58.946+01:00Harvest Monday - autumnal<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Well, I was coming in late with this week's post as I'd spent yesterday evening peeling chestnuts. But then after writing the whole thing it disappeared, so this second time round I will be a bit more brief!</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">With all the strong winds, my remaining courgette plant looked worse for wear, so I picked the last few fruits rather than lose them to rot. The ends had gone a bit soft so I cut them off, but the rest was good.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8P594o8tFjI/We8zXDoenOI/AAAAAAAAEHQ/frJ1OvujGzkyUklXmGaCdR32DP0ogD_IQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133422247" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8P594o8tFjI/We8zXDoenOI/AAAAAAAAEHQ/frJ1OvujGzkyUklXmGaCdR32DP0ogD_IQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133422247" id="blogsy-1508848617456.1787" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">One of my green butter nuts was later to grow and ripen than the others, and the end of it had started to rot (in the shed where I was curing it), so I cut that bit off, which still left a large fruit.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UvN0lhCCnNc/We8zaIdPYnI/AAAAAAAAEHU/pJjdeElSGHgDajJsYLvUd5oqgA7ZOsTlACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171024133422639" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UvN0lhCCnNc/We8zaIdPYnI/AAAAAAAAEHU/pJjdeElSGHgDajJsYLvUd5oqgA7ZOsTlACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133422639" id="blogsy-1508848617504.1858" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">You can see where it wasn't cured properly yet, the flesh is pale at the stalk end still. It had a lovely sweet aroma though.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AMMpM2MT6X4/We8zc1UWNBI/AAAAAAAAEHY/O4h5plZfm_8ssQHmLf6XQAUji-lI_GXVQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133422918" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AMMpM2MT6X4/We8zc1UWNBI/AAAAAAAAEHY/O4h5plZfm_8ssQHmLf6XQAUji-lI_GXVQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133422918" id="blogsy-1508848617493.7556" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Yesterday I picked some chard and kale. These particular chard leaves were from plants which self germinated in the compost mulch around the raspberries. They're much more lush than other plants around the plot so just shows the benefit of a good mulch.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3jBt7v9ohgY/We8zfkiv5OI/AAAAAAAAEHc/zAjkLHI6nOk1J36KdX7mFKh9VlWXAieRwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133423205" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3jBt7v9ohgY/We8zfkiv5OI/AAAAAAAAEHc/zAjkLHI6nOk1J36KdX7mFKh9VlWXAieRwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133423205" id="blogsy-1508848617522.1743" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">At home I bottled up the apple cider vinegar (simply apple peel, cores and water) that had been fermenting in large jars on the kitchen worktop. After straining off the solids, there were four bottles altogether- these two were actually a similar colour, it's come out a bit pink in the photo. They should darken over time too. The flavour is quite sweet as they were dessert apples. As you can see from the bottles, Jan has been enjoying an occasional G and T.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZxzKfRTw8y8/We8zifFy7HI/AAAAAAAAEHg/c4sYpeQRnlY3S9oDP0m7OIZVjERDhublgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133423545" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZxzKfRTw8y8/We8zifFy7HI/AAAAAAAAEHg/c4sYpeQRnlY3S9oDP0m7OIZVjERDhublgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133423545" id="blogsy-1508848617488.2378" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="669"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I'd bought a lovely organic red cabbage from Folland Oragnics on Norwich Market, so looked for recipes to combine it with sweet chestnuts, and found <a href="http://vegalicious.recipes/2008/01/15/red-cabbage-with-apples-and-chestnuts/" target="_self" title="">this one</a> - score, roast and peel the chestnuts, slice the red onion and cabbage thinly (my own red onion), cook it down a bit with sugar and water and lots of spices, then add the chestnuts and chopped apple. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5W7Gwp7VBh4/We8zlNCgn8I/AAAAAAAAEHk/k2GnEmzfdFcl_rwexz7UBvjsOQbT5ZmtgCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171024133423882" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5W7Gwp7VBh4/We8zlNCgn8I/AAAAAAAAEHk/k2GnEmzfdFcl_rwexz7UBvjsOQbT5ZmtgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133423882" id="blogsy-1508848617542.1033" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Iv1IFSnVa9s/We8zoBIfQtI/AAAAAAAAEHo/9XYuwM26-fgf-1oaJdSbmdNHQOfEOH9GwCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171024133424161" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Iv1IFSnVa9s/We8zoBIfQtI/AAAAAAAAEHo/9XYuwM26-fgf-1oaJdSbmdNHQOfEOH9GwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133424161" id="blogsy-1508848617491.1077" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-02gu3RStGoE/We8zqk3XYfI/AAAAAAAAEHs/sg7jG6gjK-QJz1dai9tWUDTRWBir6eF8QCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133424499" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-02gu3RStGoE/We8zqk3XYfI/AAAAAAAAEHs/sg7jG6gjK-QJz1dai9tWUDTRWBir6eF8QCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133424499" id="blogsy-1508848617521.818" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">It took most of Sunday afternoon to make but luckily was very tasty!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YXeXM5bpx30/We8ztNJNxLI/AAAAAAAAEHw/KsJ3vDeDd4wwKlvp9NaIfFt31-eVsbX2wCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171024133424776" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YXeXM5bpx30/We8ztNJNxLI/AAAAAAAAEHw/KsJ3vDeDd4wwKlvp9NaIfFt31-eVsbX2wCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133424776" id="blogsy-1508848617458.982" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I wanted to cook up the rest of the chestnuts yesterday and looked up an easier to peel method, and found <a href="https://toriavey.com/how-to/how-to-roast-and-peel-chestnuts/" target="_blank" title="">this one</a> - slice nuts, bring to a simmer in hot water, roast in oven and then put in a covered bowl to steam. It sounds faffy but was quite easy really, apart from all the peeling...I think the skins came off a lot easier with this method but I should have prepared them in smaller batches as there wasn't an even cook across the lot. I didn't get any photos either but the link above had some helpful instructions and pics.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Earlier in the week these peppers in the lean-to were still a bit green...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aTbRGqDygkk/We8zvdSQm0I/AAAAAAAAEH0/WvvlBiyYxccpZXTj3ZvuE8I5TBoMs1NqACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171024133425073" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aTbRGqDygkk/We8zvdSQm0I/AAAAAAAAEH0/WvvlBiyYxccpZXTj3ZvuE8I5TBoMs1NqACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133425073" id="blogsy-1508848617472.3584" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">But by Saturday they'd fully ripened..</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_6SWDz-egyc/We8zyqQC9FI/AAAAAAAAEH4/Flko5xGzMzwzpipHM3jLlwKbGuARv2_DgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133425438" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_6SWDz-egyc/We8zyqQC9FI/AAAAAAAAEH4/Flko5xGzMzwzpipHM3jLlwKbGuARv2_DgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133425438" id="blogsy-1508848617507.963" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Such a nice colour...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qPeHeUo5AsY/We8z1Ad4IWI/AAAAAAAAEH8/IT697OjG4m86vEHO2Q3GQ1ydn12kAiJtQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133425771" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qPeHeUo5AsY/We8z1Ad4IWI/AAAAAAAAEH8/IT697OjG4m86vEHO2Q3GQ1ydn12kAiJtQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133425771" id="blogsy-1508848617464.6304" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">After quartering them I sliced them and froze the slices across three freezer bags, for using later. Ideally I'd not use plastic bags but my freezer is pretty full and the bags were easy to squeeze in. I also need more of those glass tubs (well, Christmas is coming up, hint hint).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BaFfDFrvOHE/We8z3uDf6DI/AAAAAAAAEIA/6C3OIWk16U8X7Of0r7rElsOqkRihNT38QCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133426180" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BaFfDFrvOHE/We8z3uDf6DI/AAAAAAAAEIA/6C3OIWk16U8X7Of0r7rElsOqkRihNT38QCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133426180" id="blogsy-1508848617498.896" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Also from the lean-to we've been enjoying winter salads, growing in the old tomato pots. The last few days we've had coriander leaf, winter purslane and sweet rocket in our sarnies.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Finally a shot of the smaller winter squashes, currently occupying the kitchen shelves...there are cream of the crop, sweet dumpling and blue kuri. Almost too pretty to eat but I'm sure I'll force myself. I'm planning on taking a pic of all the squashes together at some point, including the monsters but I'll have to shift things around. It'll be good to see them together though. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EGBb7vI1qq8/We8z5-m3ncI/AAAAAAAAEII/8x-R5TrQ5w0k8a1_S3i3k2H_POnSt4MqwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171024133426532" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EGBb7vI1qq8/We8z5-m3ncI/AAAAAAAAEII/8x-R5TrQ5w0k8a1_S3i3k2H_POnSt4MqwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171024133426532" id="blogsy-1508848617507.1287" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="373" alt=""></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><p>Thanks for reading, I'm linking in late with <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2017/10/harvest-monday-october-23-2017/" target="_blank" title="">Harvest Monday, kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres</a>.</p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665001536585846125.post-6976742454085372212017-10-16T23:58:00.001+01:002017-10-16T23:58:35.925+01:00Harvest Monday and a trip to the coast<div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I only took a smattering of veggie pics this week, but here they are...first up, some curly kale and Nero kale. I'm planning on spreading a bit of compost round the plants soon to give them a bit of a feed, as they've been in the ground for several months already.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wVniVZV0FcE/WeU34_a4t2I/AAAAAAAAEGM/fEEQDne-i5UrZl4vkPXa6bWVV3iJvblnwCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171016235019487" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wVniVZV0FcE/WeU34_a4t2I/AAAAAAAAEGM/fEEQDne-i5UrZl4vkPXa6bWVV3iJvblnwCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235019487" id="blogsy-1508194714327.3733" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">From the lean-to greenhouse at home, I picked a couple of ripe sweet peppers. There are quite a few still to pick, so I just need to make sure they don't start rotting on the plants before I get round to harvesting them all. Maybe I'll freeze some of them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gPhmygxR9iQ/WeU4CohOvXI/AAAAAAAAEGQ/MWkh3-mXamobzmmYPn7w4tuhHU-eqmBqACHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171016235019798" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gPhmygxR9iQ/WeU4CohOvXI/AAAAAAAAEGQ/MWkh3-mXamobzmmYPn7w4tuhHU-eqmBqACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235019798" id="blogsy-1508194714311.4954" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">These two went into a tasty pasta dish, mixed up with some basil pesto made from some of the plants which were being cleared from the smaller polytunnel at the market garden where I volunteer.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-itqYUySu9vA/WeU4KjWdGBI/AAAAAAAAEGU/RIQbkliIQZQi4hvWJFSq3FY_GZHgb1NQgCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171016235020052" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-itqYUySu9vA/WeU4KjWdGBI/AAAAAAAAEGU/RIQbkliIQZQi4hvWJFSq3FY_GZHgb1NQgCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235020052" id="blogsy-1508194714350.8237" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I finally got round to sorting out the potatoes that I'd lifted a while back, giving the lounge quite an earthy aroma for a while. At least I laid down some newspaper before tipping them out of the old compost bags they'd been temporarily stored in, in the kitchen, (which wasn't a great place, it was too warm and light, so a few had even started to sprout a bit, and it's those I'll use up first). The rest are now in a big paper sack in the brick shed outside, which keeps cold but frost-free.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-snRobcWYBEU/WeU4UUc1hNI/AAAAAAAAEGY/8kbecvUN-NIOn9s8smwhuVripxb0ouzGACHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171016235020335" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-snRobcWYBEU/WeU4UUc1hNI/AAAAAAAAEGY/8kbecvUN-NIOn9s8smwhuVripxb0ouzGACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235020335" id="blogsy-1508194714289.9722" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Other harvests include daily pickings of salad leaves for our lunch sarnies, mainly lettuce and rocket at the moment. The lettuce outside is nearly finished but the more recently planted-out leaves in the lean-to are growing away quite nicely whilst the weather isn't too cold yet.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">I always look forward to a bit of chestnut foraging in Autumn. The weather was forecast to be fine for most of today so a friend and I headed off to a couple of woods not too far away, along with her little girl (13 months old, awww). Well, it seems to be a good year for them, we collected a couple of tubs each without too much problem, and enjoyed a pleasant wander through the trees in dappled sunlight (this was before Norfolk caught the very edge the hurricane this evening - it's now cold and windy). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LwQQgoSIt-U/WeU4euvH1wI/AAAAAAAAEGg/8okTM9ZRq8oWyAd_lcE9_IfZ19UtLcmUQCHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171016235020629" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LwQQgoSIt-U/WeU4euvH1wI/AAAAAAAAEGg/8okTM9ZRq8oWyAd_lcE9_IfZ19UtLcmUQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235020629" id="blogsy-1508194714271.798" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">There was quite a spectacular sunset this evening though - completely underdone in this photo. In reality it was a lovely (or spooky) orangey glow (having gone completely dark from 4.30pm, then brightened up again)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tQ7LHUVCmJ0/WeU4me_kxhI/AAAAAAAAEGk/ldYpUBjm74EHtX-n9V85q-I5PveqXF9kQCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171016235020957" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tQ7LHUVCmJ0/WeU4me_kxhI/AAAAAAAAEGk/ldYpUBjm74EHtX-n9V85q-I5PveqXF9kQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235020957" id="blogsy-1508194714291.124" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Yesterday was another beautiful autumn day, so I caught the train up to Sheringham on the north Norfolk coast (people were actually swimming in the sea, it was so warm) and then swapped to the Coasthopper bus, along to Salthouse and Cley, for a very enjoyable walk - first heading inland a bit and then back to the coast for some birdwatching at the nature reserve.</div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">View down to the marshes and sea.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ReGmIFR7N84/WeU4wJ8SoHI/AAAAAAAAEGo/1aMHcVWAKsQomVoB9BEgVmO2iuKWkcZmACHMYCw/s2048/Photo%2B20171016235021223" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ReGmIFR7N84/WeU4wJ8SoHI/AAAAAAAAEGo/1aMHcVWAKsQomVoB9BEgVmO2iuKWkcZmACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235021223" id="blogsy-1508194714283.9824" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="373"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Across the marshes, looking to Salthouse</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S5hD-GPJOWY/WeU48Rd9-KI/AAAAAAAAEGs/HvqNYrkKdJIe0MkSrT3msw2S6GZYiU4ewCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171016235021492" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S5hD-GPJOWY/WeU48Rd9-KI/AAAAAAAAEGs/HvqNYrkKdJIe0MkSrT3msw2S6GZYiU4ewCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235021492" id="blogsy-1508194714368.934" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">Across the pools and reedbed, looking towards Cley</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B-cEJdHpG5U/WeU5PQwBspI/AAAAAAAAEG0/njoOMqirFWwFQ_XYbK-foEywlf5zJRH-gCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171016235021752" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B-cEJdHpG5U/WeU5PQwBspI/AAAAAAAAEG0/njoOMqirFWwFQ_XYbK-foEywlf5zJRH-gCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235021752" id="blogsy-1508194714278.3403" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">A lovely sound and sight - the pink footed geese are back for the winter, flying over the reserve in mid afternoon with their gentle 'wink wink' calls.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SkEvjxjLpHc/WeU5brwp5iI/AAAAAAAAEG4/BJPHnQL-CEYuSycFY8za1gXrdZ7K7bFNACHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171016235022018" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SkEvjxjLpHc/WeU5brwp5iI/AAAAAAAAEG4/BJPHnQL-CEYuSycFY8za1gXrdZ7K7bFNACHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235022018" id="blogsy-1508194714302.7139" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="500" height="500"></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;">They were headed inland, maybe to feed on the arable fields?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4C-zIJtmq74/WeU5mCZvwiI/AAAAAAAAEG8/sCCX20sIPewqN02GX_Mg-uMLg-5Gg6eJQCHMYCw/s1936/Photo%2B20171016235022574" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4C-zIJtmq74/WeU5mCZvwiI/AAAAAAAAEG8/sCCX20sIPewqN02GX_Mg-uMLg-5Gg6eJQCHMYCw/s500/Photo%2B20171016235022574" id="blogsy-1508194714291.9514" class="aligncenter" width="500" height="500" alt=""></a></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> Anyone interested in birds - I also saw marsh harriers, black tailed godwits, snipe, ruff (winter plumage), two kestrels (one of them had a bit of a 'to do' with a marsh harrier), lapwings, little egrets, plenty of different ducks (shelduck, widgeon, gadwall etc), curlew and more. Quite excitingly, I heard a water rail on the edge of a pond (they sound like a squealing piggy) and also Cetti's warblers. Oh and saw a grey seal swimming past the beach. And turnstones on the prom at Sheringham (they're always there, so cute). Not a bad day. My top money-saving tip for this journey (or similar trips to the coast) is to buy a 'bittern line day ranger' ticket at the train station, which is only £9 and includes all your train and Coasthopper bus journeys for the day...bargain.</div><p> </p><p>Back to the veggies, I sowed my Autumn broad beans this week, and will plant out the garlic soon too. I have a few last winter squashes which I put in the allotment shed to cure, to bring home as well. Thanks for reading, I'm linking in as usual with <a href="http://www.ourhappyacres.com/2017/10/harvest-monday-october-16-2017/" target="_blank" title="">Harvest Monday, kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.</a></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="Posted with Blogsy" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />Posted with Blogsy</a></div>Lou@RainbowChardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01435858511588433002noreply@blogger.com6