Ah, September, always one of my favourite months of the year. I say this not just because it is the auspicious month of my birth. (Actually, my birthday was a rather muted affair this year; the sproglet choosing the day to give me two full-on hour-long tantrums and my birthday cake not lovingly made by … Continue reading Grow, forage, cook: September round-up
Gardening
Grow, forage, cook: saving seeds (and free seed envelope template)
Far be it from me to deny the joys of veg gardening (of which there are many, even in years of disappointing harvest) but I have to confess that one of my absolute favourite benefits of growing your own is the chance to get something for nothing. Yes, it is just quite possible I am … Continue reading Grow, forage, cook: saving seeds (and free seed envelope template)
Ode to a broad bean
Oh green broad bean, oh green broad bean, you’re really rather small. Oh green broad bean, oh green broad bean, you’re hardly there at all. Oh solitary green broad bean, I still like you a lot(ty), Though you hardly bear comparison to last year’s fine borlotti. Your skin is wan, your colour’s dull, your seeds … Continue reading Ode to a broad bean
Garden moodboard: September
It's quite possible, looking at this month's moodboard, that my love for white flowers might be getting a little out-of-hand. But what white flowers they are! Along the bottom row there is a white cosmos ('Purity'), with a small daisyish flower next to it, followed by Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus, a current obsession of mine). … Continue reading Garden moodboard: September
Grow, forage, cook: a disappointing harvest
As August has bid us farewell and summer has melted into the season of mellow fruitfulness, I’ve started to feel a little bit of a fraud. It's been great to see so many of you joining in with our Grow, forage, cook series; Laura posted what we hope will be the first of many round … Continue reading Grow, forage, cook: a disappointing harvest
Grow forage cook: spicy plum chutney
There’s been a definite chill in the air this week and I have to keep reminding myself that, yes, it is still officially August and still officially summer. For one more week at least... I’m sure I can feel the days shortening imperceptibly each evening and my summer duvet is wrapped more tightly around me … Continue reading Grow forage cook: spicy plum chutney
A peek in the garden
I thought it was high time to take you for another little stroll round my garden and a photographic browse of what’s going on outside in August. I’m thinking about my garden pretty much non-stop at the moment, planning what changes I want to make for next year. Which plants need to be dug up … Continue reading A peek in the garden
Grow, forage, cook
It's the bucolic dream: cooking with produce fresh from your veg patch, or plucked from the hedgerow with your own fair hands. A lamb bleats contentedly in the background, the birds cheep overhead, the sun shines down through the trees, the dappled shade ripples over your wheelbarrow and far away up a hill, a shepherdess … Continue reading Grow, forage, cook
Garden moodboard: August 2014
Oh the joys of an English summer! July was gloriously sunny for the most part and my garden has been putting forth some of my favourite flowers as a result. If last month was a little bare, this month has surely been making up for it, with snapdragons, pink roses, white cosmos, frothy nigellas and … Continue reading Garden moodboard: August 2014
Grow forage cook: morello cherry vodka recipe
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you might know that the wonderfully talented Laura at Circle of Pine Trees is a good friend of mine. Laura and I met back in our student days at Bristol Uni, both of us studying English Literature and then taking a masters in poetry (otherwise … Continue reading Grow forage cook: morello cherry vodka recipe
Wolves in London 