We took a bit of time out to go and visit cousins Enid and Nicky and Tim in Dorset, and Barbara in Hampshire. Joan, Barbara's sister had too bad a cold to join us, so hope you get well soon, Joan.
We travelled from a lovely day in Dorset to Hampshire, staying overnight in Thruxton, just outside Andover in a lovely thatched cottage. The following day, Barbara took us to a gastropub, where we could feast on anything from wild boar to venison. Actually, I had the veggie option and it tasted truly wonderful.
It was nice to be back, though. We've had a lovely month so far...we've escaped the worst of the UK rainfall (yes - believe me!) anyway, we just get on with things. Now the chicken house is up, Jim is finally erecting his greenhouse. So far, it looks professional, good on the eye and sturdy...all it needs is glass(!)
I've been adding to the beds in the field, extending the flower beds as well as working on the veggies. We've now got three big beds; potatoes in the newest; onions, leeks and carrots in the next and legumes in the third. Up until now, we have not done well with legumes. Broad beans seem to struggle wherever we plant them, and the runners Jim put in the polytunnel to grow up into seedlings have all been eaten...or maybe the seed we used was just out of date. The French beans are doing fine, almost ready for transplantation, though. I have dug two smaller beds (more manageable) this year; the first is a variety of things including lettuce, beetroot and parsnips. The second is brassicas...I'm particularly proud of Jim's Brussell sprouts, grown from seed and now sturdy plants. If anyone round our way would like some BS plants, just come and collect.
When Mark Webb, our butcher from Rhydlewis, pulls up on a Saturday morning, hooting his van like some boy-racer, I try to chose meats that will compliment what we've got in the garden. We are still eating out of the garden, even though this is supposed to be the lean time...a 'garden in waiting'. In the polytunnel we have early spinach and salad veg - in the garden last year's spring greens are now hearty and delicious and there is one remaining row of purple sprouting broccoli from last year which will make a couple more meals. Tonight, I'm cooking Mark's chicken breasts with spinach (and spuds and carrots are from the farmers' market in Newcastle Emlyn), and tomorrow we've got an oyster cut of beef so I think a bit of the spring greens will go well. What I'm really waiting for with anticipation are the polytunnel early peas; they are already fattening in the pods and maybe they'll be ready to eat by the time we get back from Mark's party - Becki's partner will be 30 years young at the end of this month and Mark and Becki are flying in from Antibes for the ocassion. We're going down to Shoreham on Sea to celebrate with them all.
Out in the garden early yesterday while putting the washing on the line, I heard my first cuckoo since we moved here...and my first cuckoo for about seven years, actually. He soon flew away out of earshot, but it was a great moment. We have dunnocks in our garden, so I must warn them to keep a weather-eye out for Rather Oversized Eggs in their nests. And an owl has started hooting just before it becomes dusk each evening, another lovely country sound.
No comments:
Post a Comment