It’s me again, I’m back! After months of inactivity, the growing abundance of produce in the garden has me reaching for the keyboard again. Whilst I’ve been quiet here, I’ve been a whirling dervish in the garden. Three new raised beds contain 124 dahlias (it’s been 18 months in the making), autumn-planted garlic, shallots and… Continue reading Strawberry lassi recipe…
The sun is out and it’s a gloriously beautiful day. On a potter through the garden I passed one of the fig trees and caught the most wonderful scent. If you didn’t already know, fig leaves carry an intense coconut scent and flavour. I kid you not. Even now, as the garden and all the plants… Continue reading The very best fig leaf recipes (including fig leaf ice cream)…
This morning I awoke to a tweet on my phone’s screen which simply said, £27/t. It meant nothing to me, but a little digging revealed the news that NFU Sugar and British Sugar have announced a one-year sugar beet contract for 2022. It means that beet farmers will receive a fixed sum of £27 a… Continue reading Sugar: From British beet to bake…
Last season I grew eleven different types of squash – 2020 seemed a good year to go all out. As lockdown V1 struck I set about furiously ordering seeds, it was the thing to do – everything was scarce and seeds were at a premium. I stockpiled Black Futsu, Butternut, Galeux d’eysines (a warty squash… Continue reading Cheese fondue, in a squash?
I spent the morning eagerly perched on the edge of a field. I was utterly immersed in the hum of harvest. As a child my brother would spend weeks – probably most of his summer holiday – stood on the side of the fields surrounding our house. He would watch the coming and going of… Continue reading A scene of biblical proportions…
The hum of harvest isn’t something that pleases everyone but, for me, the sound of harvest filling the air really does bring me great happiness. I haven’t ever really sat down to think why – maybe it’s because the beautiful drone of the harvesters and the rumble of the tractors scurrying across the fields signifies… Continue reading The hum of harvest…
There are particular points in the farming year that bring me a real sense of joy – from the first cut of grass to the first bale of hay, to seeing and hearing the roar of combine harvesters on the fields. When harvest is in full swing there is a real sense of urgency in the… Continue reading Harvest is go…
It’s been a busy few weeks, but then again it always is at this time of the year – aside from the farm, the garden is in full bloom and the veg patch is bountiful which means I’m in my element in the kitchen cooking new dishes with seasonal produce. There are weeds to keep at… Continue reading A month without rain…
Without wanting to fixate on the weather…we still have snow. While we can now leave the farm, the main road that reaches the drive is still under three feet of snow. Yes, we’ve had some milder weather but that snow is really clinging on in there. Life is relatively back to normal on the farm, the… Continue reading We still have snow…
I’ve been growing vegetables for a few years now, but each year I seem to forgot what I need to do when. Often I find myself referring to seed packets, books or the internet. The crop that always catches me out is the onions. Although they are probably the most obvious crop, I tend to forget… Continue reading The annual rush to bring in the onions…
