Garden · 25. April 2023
I became keen to grow flowers when I learned that it would draw pollinators to the garden, and could contribute to us obtaining even more bountiful food. So away I went and got a lovely cottage and native garden growing. I grow flowers everywhere (...)
Country Kitchen & Recipes · 03. April 2023
When I had captured my prized Bramley's in my arms I raced back to the country kitchen only to find I really wanted to make an apple and pistachio tea cake, and could not find any inspiration in all the regular places. So I made up a very simple recipe and it worked so well that I am sharing it here.
Garden · 24. August 2022
From the minute the cold autumn chills remind us that winter is on its way, gardeners are plotting and planning for the following year. The reality is a tad more complex. In winter we think of high summer, in spring our heads are in autumn, in summer I wonder what I will plant for colour and food in wintertime, and finally in autumn we are planting bulbs for spring. It’s a constant evolution for our gardens.
Creative Writing · 15. June 2022
I think I’ll forget today. The day that began with promise. Drinking a poignant morning coffee. Feeling the unexpected hot heat of the sun against our cheeks on a late autumn day. Singing and cooking in the kitchen. Dreaming up stories. Watching a pink super-moon lift above our heads as we take the slowest of meandering evening walks. Drenching ourselves in pink, watching the colours touch the hilltops. Not wanting the day to end. Shall today be memorable though? The accepting part of truth...
Garden · 30. May 2022
While its immensely tempting to rest every single bed under a thick layer of mulch, cardboard or black plastic and head north to the sunnier states for winter, I try to rest one bed and plant lovely greens to enjoy for winter suppers.
Creative Writing · 21. May 2022
If every winter I composed a song,
then soon I will have four seasons worth of winter songs
Garden · 28. March 2022
In many places throughout the world, autumn can feel like a clear ending. Visiting Europe during autumn in the past, it seems so clearly defined that when the season is over, there’s nothing to really look forward to for awhile. Local gardeners tell me ‘that’s it, I’ll be covering up the beds and hunkering down for the winter”. And why not! Leaves fall and crunch underfoot, evenings turn crispy cold, harvests wrap up and days get dramatically shorter. Not that much in a vegetable patch can surv
Plant Guides · 09. March 2022
While I have grown potato onions and spring onions widely at times, the Negi onion is the one that remains outside my kitchen door and never dies off. Happily this year, they self-propagated (perhaps from the east winds swirling around the place), so now I have three pots outside the kitchen door.
Country Kitchen & Recipes · 08. February 2022
Is there nothing a potato can't do? Just like eggs, they are a chameleon of the kitchen, one minute you're digging into homemade crunchy chips, the next you are enjoying leftover mash in an apple tart made with potato pastry. The wonder of it all.
At Home · 28. January 2022
These days, with many people staying close to home, we found that there are not many rescue dogs available for adoption. Some that we looked at did have very severe problems, they wouldn’t be suited to going home with a family that had children. Never having had a puppy ever before, we were resigned to the fact that we’d know when the right little personality came along. We knew it could be a few years.