New Year

The New Year seems to be running away really quickly - I feel like I haven't been "getting things done" so my first post this year is a photo story of the year to date. (the bits where I took a camera, anyway)
Teignmouth on New Years Day

Teignmouth, New Years Day

Stover Lake frozen and snowy 7th January

Carved a face in the ice ball outside-- 8th January

Still frozen at the Heath -- 10th January

Up on the Moor -- 18th January - hex in the bottom corner, hound tor in the distance.

Between Lustleigh and Haytor --18th January

View from Allotment 18th-- Was digging here in a T shirt yesterday!!

Dramatic moorland clouds 18th January.


Done plenty of walking and photo taking anyway.

Looking over my photos reminds me that the things I did do were just as important as the other stuff I should've done.

paper wreath

made from used shredded paper - still looking ok in its 3rd year--

Been too busy to blog -review of August

Finding the time to do the stuff to write about and the time to write it seems to be a big challenge. The computer needed a complete rebuild too, and due to back up failure I've lost some (lots) of my photos as well.





Spent a lot of August, and a couple of days at the end of July staying with my friends at Steward wood helping out on a permaculture course. It was great spending time with old friends and getting to know new ones better. At the equinox I wrote a list of things I want more of in my life-





dark skies so I can appreciate the starlight and moonlight more.


Fire light and friendly faces.


music making, dancing, laughter and creativity.


I ticked a lot of my boxes while I was there. The non-chlorinated water was an extra bonus too and a dry skin problem I've had on my foot for two years has completely cleared up. Bathing in (and drinking) non-chlorinated water is the only thing I can think of to account for it. Haven't lost any weight - I thought the vegan organic diet and all the extra exercise might have let me drop a few pounds - guess the feeding was still too generous. I feel really blessed to have had such a great feeling of community there. Their people-care is great.





I followed the course with a week of camping at East Prawle, just looking out at the ever changing colours of the sky and water was great, though all the low level working of camping gives me back ache - I realise it's because I pick things up by bending at the waist (endgaining- it seeems quicker) but by the time I'd realised that's what I was doing the damage was done. Collected lots of seaweed for seasoning, ate limpets a couple of nights--still chewey though.


Been using the kelp as a skin-care thing, so may have to go and get more, and also look for some carrageenan which I didn't see. Got dulse, laver, sea spaghetti, and bladderwrack and sea lettuce.





Also a new favourite flavour -- rock samphire. Like strong salty thyme, with hints of lemon. I love it. DH and his mates reckon it tastes of shoe polish-- it maybe doesn't travel that well.


I've dried some of it too. Did wonder if it would respond well to lacto-fermentation as a preservation method. Might suggest it to some of my lacto-fermenting friends.





The allotment has been horribly neglected. The washing piles had reached new epic proportions when I got back (mount kiliman-washing), plus all the camping debris needing dried and put away. So we've had a busy week of housework, drying herbs, plus we won a deer in a raffle, so that needed butchered and frozen. And I have a deer hide. Torn beween trying to brain tan and keep the hair on - (don't have the brain and not sure if I can buy brain) or make raw hide to make a drum. My only experience of tanning so far is here, so this is a different bag of cookies, but I will have help this time.

mish-mash

Ages ago, I talked a bit about "changing prevailing use patterns". The two photos above are the method I tried... and it's fairly successful. Blocking and screening the route off, so that using the step to get off the deck is the easy option has fairly well worked. Once you've gone that far then using the steps is the most likely way down, to where the compost heap is now.

Next photo is my proto-hydroponics system- started initially as a way to keep things alive while I was on holiday- it's going quiet well. The tomato (not shown in the photo) is growing one large fruit, the chives are going strong. The watercress is doing less well than expected and the lettuce are keeping up with their soil grown companions, though they started off doing better.

I haven't got round to fitting an airstone yet, I have been lifting the plants out and whisking the water vigourously with a balloon whisk. They haven't had much feeding either.

Here are the seedlings I've yet to plant out.

I got 2 and a half kilos of shelled broad beans from the plants at the allotment. Shelled them, blanched them, froze them. A week later the freezer went down in a lightning storm. It wasn't discovered till everything had turned to mush.

broadbean pate- tastes like summer

The quicker you get the broadbeans from the garden to the pot the better this tastes. This season's fresh garlic works best too:

Make a really strong french dressing with loads of garlic, and herbs and mustard to taste. Fresh garlic is great with this.

put the shelled broadbeans into boiling water and cook till tender, about 10 mins. When cool enough to handle pop them out of their skins, cover with the french dressing and lighly mash them together. Leave in the fridge for overnight and then use as a spread on crackers. Or hot buttered toast.

allotment update

got back from holiday on Wednesday evening. Thursday was given over to unpacking and resting up. Got up to the allotment on Friday. The weather has been very dry so the weeds haven't gotten too out of control. Spent 4 hours weeding, lawn mowing and watering.
Graham on the next plot gave me some lettuces (enough for a weekend of salads) which was nice as mine have all bolted.

2 rows of my potatoes were looking sad and yellowish, but the next day they looked much recovered after copious watering. Also watered the allotment broadbeans. The pods are well formed but need to fill out a bit more.

The broadbeans in the garden are well above waist height and ready to pick. Will be making my favourite broad bean paté in the next few days, with the fresh garlic I harvested just before going away. Have also been eating raspberries (from home and graham's windbreak) strawberries, wild strawberries (from the lane), white and black currants (just a handful of each, but yummy), and gooseberries, (from the faithful old bush in the garden).

Isn't summer brilliant.

garden views

The pond area is looking pretty lush at the moment.