Hardy orange trees: Calamondin
We are trying to become less dependant on imports to the UK. One key ingredient that we lack at the cottage are easily grown citrus fruits. We have a greenhouse which is chock-a-block in the winter so an ordinary citrus tree would have to live in the cottage for the winter months. We reckoned that our tiny windows and poor light would make a citrus tree suffer and go straggly. Ages ago I bought what can only be described as an expensive lemon twig on Ebay. It was given the affection that only a proper bountiful tree deserves. Kept in the...
read moreHow to make a temporary vase for cut flowers
I invested in Sarah Raven’s The Cutting Garden: Growing and Arranging Garden Flowers a while ago. It’s a brilliant inspirational book if you are raising flowers to cut for the house or to sell. A perfect reference guide. Recently I also bought her later book Grow Your Own Cut Flowers. This is a much simpler book than The Cutting Garden, listing just her favourite flowers and bulbs. But there are new tips and tricks and I’ve enjoyed lolling on the swing seat with the Min Pins and immersing myself in its pages. If I was going to...
read moreKale buds, cabbage buds and Lucky (our dehydrator)
I had no idea that you could eat kale buds until Margaret Thorsom who writes this blog alerted me to the fact on a comment on my latest purple sprouting broccoli post. They are absolutely delicious and we are mixing them with our PSB. And Margaret Thorsom’s blog is pretty good too – she is a weaver and crafter and her husband is a vegetable farmer using hoop houses. I’d love a hoop house – they are really nifty. I’d also like to make rag rugs in the future when normal energy returns. Yesterday I spotted that a lot of the cabbages...
read moreUse a cheese planer to cut butter and relax
This might seem ridiculous but I struggle to butter toast every morning. We keep our butter in the kitchen rather than in the fridge but even in the summer the kitchen is a chilly place and the butter is rock hard. I’ve tried slicing off slivers with a knife but it takes ages and the pieces tend to stick to each other. I’ve cut blobs and let them melt a bit on piping hot toast. This works sometimes but drives me mad, as the last two slices have cooled enough to hold the butter like icebergs. Danny isn’t keen on spreadable butter. The...
read moreForgiveness
Yesterday I woke at six fretting about someone who bullied me at work seven years ago. “You have to let go.” I told myself. “This is eating you up.” I didn’t like this guy. Let’s call him Len to save his blushes. I didn’t respect him. Every now and then Len would order me into a private office and declare. “I know what you are doing.” Clearly someone had overheard me talking about him and reported back. I would try and stare him out and then he would say. “I have a very sensitive nose – you smell.” It was hurtful and...
read moreThe Secret
Danny is always looking for new business opportunities. He’s a real dynamo when it comes to this and has learnt a lot over the years. One of his recent gurus suggested watching the film The Secret so he ordered it from Amazon and it sat unopened on his desk looking tantalising. A couple of days ago I asked him what it was like. “Not really my sort of thing,” he replied, “So I only watched a bit of it.” Intrigued I put the DVD into my laptop and watched the film. It’s not visually a great movie but the message bowled me over....
read morePeeling apples in heaven
I’ve been trying to use up all the apples from our trees in the garden. Bottling with blueberries and blackberries, making apple chutney and apple sauce. I’m going to make apple butter and dry slices when the dehydrator eventually arrives. I hadn’t realised that peeling, coring and slicing apples could be such a chore and take so long. I began to make excuses to avoid dealing with the windfalls. “The chickens will love these apples and also the Min Pins.” The flock and Min Pins chomped and chomped. But the bounty was so...
read moreGrow your own life and loofahs at Down to Earth dot com
“Where do you think loofahs come from?” Danny looked up sensing a trick question. “I don’t know. Probably from the bottom of the sea like natural sponges.” “I thought so to – ‘We haven’t done so well with the fish today but our nets are full of loofahs.’” “Well where do they come from?” “They’re a vegetable. The small ones can be eaten like courgettes.” Danny was as surprised as I was when I saw the loofahs scrambling up a trellis on the Down to Earth blog. I’ve been reading a lot of ‘new to me’ blogs...
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