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| Coco |
http://www.thedawghouse.co.uk/
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| fruit in here somewhere |
Happily I've now got 7 pots of blackcurrant jam and made delicious Gooseberry Snow pudding (from Valentine Werner on Saturday Kitchen).
Chinzano, Liverpool
3 weeks ago
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
tipping it down Tuesday
Pouring with rain today, just been out to bring horses in to their stables to dry off with some hay. I'll put their rain sheets on before I put them back out in a couple of hours. So, I'm sitting here with a coffee, perfect for catching up with what's happened in the last week or so.
Last Tuesday we visited D.A.W.G.S (link to their website below) rescue centre in Aberdeen. We were interested in rehoming a wee dog from them. After various questionaires and a home visit, I took our kids and our two other dogs into the D.A.W.G.S. Kennels to meet up with the dog (my husband met us there too, as he works in Aberdeen). It was a huge success, we loved her and she seemed very happy with us too. So we brought her home and she has settled in really well. She is learning to respect our other animals, is a bit wary of visitors but she is a lovely addition to our brood!
http://www.thedawghouse.co.uk/
On Saturday I braved our completely overgrown fruit patch to pick blackcurrants for jam and some gooseberries for pudding that night. Whoever decided that gooseberries were good to eat deserves a medal, in my opinion! They are the scariest looking fruit and the thorns and spikes on the plants make picking them downright dangerous (I have the scars to prove it). My hens were very pleased with my efforts though and decided to help themselves to the gooseberries I had picked too.
Happily I've now got 7 pots of blackcurrant jam and made delicious Gooseberry Snow pudding (from Valentine Werner on Saturday Kitchen).
http://www.thedawghouse.co.uk/
Happily I've now got 7 pots of blackcurrant jam and made delicious Gooseberry Snow pudding (from Valentine Werner on Saturday Kitchen).
Monday, 16 August 2010
beetroots (and hornets)
Been really busy these last few weeks, spent a fortnight at home catching up with friends, then had 10 days in Norfolk/London visiting family which was lovely. I've got a few photos to upload but have taken the huge (for me) step of getting an iPhone so I'm hoping that my blogging will be easier, and perhaps a bit more frequent.
We've had our first harvest of beetroot from the polytunnel - did my favourite roasted beetroot with balsamic vinegar, garlic and fresh herbs.
Absolutely delicious, really sweet and tender. Roast the scrubbed (not peeled) beetroot in a foil parcel with some garlic, olive oil, a couple of good splashes of balsamic vinegar, scatter some herbs on top (I used thyme and marjoram), add salt and pepper and roast for 35/40 minutes in a moderate oven. If the beetroots aren't so fresh I sometimes sprinkle some sugar on too. This is nice served with quiche or maybe some a salad with some baked goats cheese.
The polytunnel is blooming, in fact quite a lot of things are bolting, so we need to work out what to do about that. One thing that hasn't worked very well is that a lot of our broad beans are empty, which could be to lack of pollination?
Therefore, we decided to leave the doors open on the polytunnel since we got back from London last Monday. Unfortunately, we have ended up with some rather unpleasant insect visitors - I have no idea they are, hornets perhaps, but there was one buzzing about (quite scary!) and my husband found this one (see below) floating in his watering can!
Finally a photo of the polytunnel with everything growing like mad! Kids are back to school this week (yipee!) and I'm hoping that Brea (my quarter horse) will have recovered from her recent hoof abscess for me to get back in the saddle. It's been a brilliant summer but I have to say it will be very nice to try and get back into a routine again, well sort of.
We've had our first harvest of beetroot from the polytunnel - did my favourite roasted beetroot with balsamic vinegar, garlic and fresh herbs.
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The polytunnel is blooming, in fact quite a lot of things are bolting, so we need to work out what to do about that. One thing that hasn't worked very well is that a lot of our broad beans are empty, which could be to lack of pollination?
Therefore, we decided to leave the doors open on the polytunnel since we got back from London last Monday. Unfortunately, we have ended up with some rather unpleasant insect visitors - I have no idea they are, hornets perhaps, but there was one buzzing about (quite scary!) and my husband found this one (see below) floating in his watering can!
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| scary beastie! |
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
back from our Cornish holiday
Or perhaps should be entitled what I ate on holiday! But first of all just wanted to put a quick link to my friends' garden which is a few miles along the road from me. They have started to open under the Gardens Scheme for charity and have transformed this beautiful garden by themselves! It's well worth a visit if you ever get the chance.
http://www.mansefieldgarden.co.uk/index.php
We have just returned from our family holiday to Cornwall, around 700 miles from home and the first time I have visited. So we had to make the most of it!
During our first week we had lunch at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant - Padstow, beautiful restaurant and food (I achieved one of my foodie ambitions by eating here) - Seared Fillet of Seabass with roasted fennel seeds and sauce vierge; Braised Fillet of Hake with Mussels, Spinach, Chervil and a Malt Whisky Sauce and to finish had Strawberry Pavlova with Creme Chantilly and Vincotto. Fantastic.
On the second week we met up with friends (who own the garden above!) at Watergate Bay for lunch at Fifteen Cornwall - absolutely amazing food. To start I had Grilled Cornish mackeral with herby fregola di sarda and green olive salsa; then Bocaddon Farm Rose veal 'scaloppine alla pizzaiola' with verdura mista of Florence fennel, red onion and zucchini followed by Strawberry and mascarpone mousse cake, Tamar Valley strawberries and almond brittle. Completely brilliant food, amazing atmosphere and of course surfing at Watergate Bay too.
The rest of our holiday was spent on beaches, and sightseeing with the major highlight being the Paolo Nutini concert at the Eden Project, followed by a visit to Eden the next day.
All in all, had a brilliant time, now back to our own Eden project (polytunnel has gone mad in our absence), a wee injured cat - Spooky had to have surgery for a discolated hip we have no idea how he managed to hurt himself, and with BIG plans for the railway carriage project. Looks like a busy summer ahead.
http://www.mansefieldgarden.co.uk/index.php
We have just returned from our family holiday to Cornwall, around 700 miles from home and the first time I have visited. So we had to make the most of it!
During our first week we had lunch at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant - Padstow, beautiful restaurant and food (I achieved one of my foodie ambitions by eating here) - Seared Fillet of Seabass with roasted fennel seeds and sauce vierge; Braised Fillet of Hake with Mussels, Spinach, Chervil and a Malt Whisky Sauce and to finish had Strawberry Pavlova with Creme Chantilly and Vincotto. Fantastic.
On the second week we met up with friends (who own the garden above!) at Watergate Bay for lunch at Fifteen Cornwall - absolutely amazing food. To start I had Grilled Cornish mackeral with herby fregola di sarda and green olive salsa; then Bocaddon Farm Rose veal 'scaloppine alla pizzaiola' with verdura mista of Florence fennel, red onion and zucchini followed by Strawberry and mascarpone mousse cake, Tamar Valley strawberries and almond brittle. Completely brilliant food, amazing atmosphere and of course surfing at Watergate Bay too.
The rest of our holiday was spent on beaches, and sightseeing with the major highlight being the Paolo Nutini concert at the Eden Project, followed by a visit to Eden the next day.
All in all, had a brilliant time, now back to our own Eden project (polytunnel has gone mad in our absence), a wee injured cat - Spooky had to have surgery for a discolated hip we have no idea how he managed to hurt himself, and with BIG plans for the railway carriage project. Looks like a busy summer ahead.
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Last night's book group
I organise a very informal book group, which mostly involves 10 or so ladies who live nearby meeting once a month or so. We discuss a book we have chosen to read (or not sometimes!) and generally drink wine and have a chat!
Last night was our final meeting before everyone heads off for the summer holidays, our next meeting isn't until September now. Instead of nominating a book for reading over the hols, we came up with a list of suggestions which everyone can choose from (or ignore and add their own) and we'll have our first meeting back to discuss and review.
The books we have on our recommended list are as follows;
Last night was our final meeting before everyone heads off for the summer holidays, our next meeting isn't until September now. Instead of nominating a book for reading over the hols, we came up with a list of suggestions which everyone can choose from (or ignore and add their own) and we'll have our first meeting back to discuss and review.
The books we have on our recommended list are as follows;
Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
any books by Andrew Grieg - especially The Return of John McNab and Electric Brae
Shit my Dad says - Justin Halpern
One Day - David Nicholls
Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
When will there be good news - Kate Atkinson
West Coast - Kate Muir
Notes from an exhibition - Patrick Gale
The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
I'm looking forwards to a very relaxed summer full of plenty of time to read a good book and have also sneaked some more cookbooks onto my personal reading wish list -
Sarah Ravens Food for Friends and Family,
Plenty by Ottolenghi
the Nigel Slater Tender books (couldn't resist!)
We've got one more week of the school term left, and then are looking forwards to two weeks in Cornwall, then three weeks at home before a trip to visit family and friends in Norfolk/London.
Really hoping for a nice laid back summer, and hoping that we'll maybe get round to starting the renovations of our railway carriage too.
Friday, 18 June 2010
Photo catch up
Since the weather has been pretty cold and yucky I had decided to wait until the next sunny day to take some photos of our progress. Here goes;
The chickens new spot - Peach exiting the hen house, she's not quite at point of lay yet so I reckon she's just being nosy.
Inside the polytunnel - so far we've planted broad beans, peas, salad leaves (mizuna, rocket,
mustard etc), sweetcorn, cucumbers,tomatoes are ready to be put into our big homemade grow bag, we've also got some strawberries in big pots too.
Hopefully this weekend we'll manage to go and collect some garden bark for the path between the beds.
I've managed to get a Brown Turkey fig as a Father's Day present for my husband from the kids.
(it's not in the photo, as I've hidden it until Sunday).
The chickens new spot - Peach exiting the hen house, she's not quite at point of lay yet so I reckon she's just being nosy.
Inside the polytunnel - so far we've planted broad beans, peas, salad leaves (mizuna, rocket,
mustard etc), sweetcorn, cucumbers,tomatoes are ready to be put into our big homemade grow bag, we've also got some strawberries in big pots too.
Hopefully this weekend we'll manage to go and collect some garden bark for the path between the beds.
I've managed to get a Brown Turkey fig as a Father's Day present for my husband from the kids.
(it's not in the photo, as I've hidden it until Sunday).
Sunday, 13 June 2010
June already....
Gosh, really can't believe we are on the second weekend in June already. Haven't managed to post as things have been really hectic.
On the evening of Wednesday 2nd June, Brea, my quarter horse, colicked really badly . I had been out cutting the grass as we were due to go to a friends' wedding that weekend, and my daughter had gone out to feed the horses (they get a handful of happy hoof and feed balancer every day). My daughter came running in, Brea was down and she thought she was colicking.
When I got up to the field, poor Brea was flat out. No noise, no movement, it was almost as if she was dead. My husband had gone to phone the vet and I sat on the ground next to my mare, checking her pulse (racing) and started doing some of my Ttouch ear work on her.
Mark, the vet, arrived within 30 minutes at around 8.45pm. By this time I'd managed to get Brea back up to her feet, and had walked her down the hill to our stables. Brea's pulse was almost 70 bpm, there were no gut sounds and Mark decided to put a tube into her stomach incase we were dealing with grass sickness. Thankfully, her stomach was clear but we were faced with what to do next. The nearest vet hospital that can do abdominable surgery on horses is the Royal (Dick) Veterinary Hospital in Edinburgh. It takes 4 hours to drive there under normal conditions but to transport a sick horse in a trailer would take over 5 hours. Brea was in so much pain, things really were looking very bleak as we suspected a twisted gut, impacted colic or grass sickness. However, I made the decision not to subject her to the long journey, if there really was nothing to be done to help her, I would rather she spent her last hours at home with us, rather than stressed out stuck in a trailer.
Mark gave Brea some painkillers and agreed to return within 4 hours at 12.30 am. I spent the next few hours checking her every half an hour, doing more Ttouch earwork and also I managed to do some belly lifts with help from my husband.
Ttouch Ear work is one thing I wish every horse person knew how to do. Basically, you make small circle and a quarter ttouches around the base of the horse's ears. Then stroke the whole length of the ear, up to the tip and apply pressure to the shock point right at the tip of the ear. By doing these ttouches around the ears you can help stabilise a horses temperature, respiration and - this stops the animal going into shock and is exactly what to do when you are waiting for the vet or to aid recovery.
http://www.lindatellington-jones.com/horseArticleColic.shtml - link to Linda Tellington-Jones website.
http://www.ttouchtteam.co.uk/ - UK Ttouch and Tteam website.
When Mark returned at 12.30am, Brea's condition was still looking very grim. Although, her pulse had lowered to 44 bpm. We agreed to keep monitoring her, with me checking her throughout the night, but with us both well aware that I may be calling Mark during the night to put my darling horse to sleep.
I checked Brea hourly during the night, (flashback to when the kids were babies and being up all night with them!). At around 4.00 am when I had checked her, I was happy to hear slight gurgling and bubbling noises from her gut, she had been walking around with my other two horses normally. (I can't believe how light it is here at 4.00 in the morning!). I went back to bed, and slept until 6.30 am, the longest I'd left her - when I walked over the field I got the best welcome any horse owner ever gets, a lovely whicker from all 3 horses!
Mark, came back to check at 8.30 am. I've never seen anyone so relieved as he did when he walked round the corner to see Brea standing quite happily at the gate. I know that we both thought she wouldn't make it through the night. We decided to not give her anymore painkillers and monitor her for the rest of the day.
When Mark returned that evening, I was happy to report that Brea had been behaving normally the whole day, she was grazing and drinking (and poohing of course). It had been a really close thing, and I am so thankful that we noticed as soon as we did that something was wrong.
My family and I decided not to travel down to England to our friends' wedding, luckily for us they are animal lovers too and knew that we couldn't leave a recovering animal (even though I have the best horse sitter around!).
We've now got the cover on our polytunnel, and have managed to plant most of our veggies in it. And we have spent this weekend moving the chickens round to their new bit of garden - so things are slowly moving forward with the garden even if the weather has been wet and cold. Some sunshine every now and again would be nice though too!
On the evening of Wednesday 2nd June, Brea, my quarter horse, colicked really badly . I had been out cutting the grass as we were due to go to a friends' wedding that weekend, and my daughter had gone out to feed the horses (they get a handful of happy hoof and feed balancer every day). My daughter came running in, Brea was down and she thought she was colicking.
When I got up to the field, poor Brea was flat out. No noise, no movement, it was almost as if she was dead. My husband had gone to phone the vet and I sat on the ground next to my mare, checking her pulse (racing) and started doing some of my Ttouch ear work on her.
Mark, the vet, arrived within 30 minutes at around 8.45pm. By this time I'd managed to get Brea back up to her feet, and had walked her down the hill to our stables. Brea's pulse was almost 70 bpm, there were no gut sounds and Mark decided to put a tube into her stomach incase we were dealing with grass sickness. Thankfully, her stomach was clear but we were faced with what to do next. The nearest vet hospital that can do abdominable surgery on horses is the Royal (Dick) Veterinary Hospital in Edinburgh. It takes 4 hours to drive there under normal conditions but to transport a sick horse in a trailer would take over 5 hours. Brea was in so much pain, things really were looking very bleak as we suspected a twisted gut, impacted colic or grass sickness. However, I made the decision not to subject her to the long journey, if there really was nothing to be done to help her, I would rather she spent her last hours at home with us, rather than stressed out stuck in a trailer.
Mark gave Brea some painkillers and agreed to return within 4 hours at 12.30 am. I spent the next few hours checking her every half an hour, doing more Ttouch earwork and also I managed to do some belly lifts with help from my husband.
Ttouch Ear work is one thing I wish every horse person knew how to do. Basically, you make small circle and a quarter ttouches around the base of the horse's ears. Then stroke the whole length of the ear, up to the tip and apply pressure to the shock point right at the tip of the ear. By doing these ttouches around the ears you can help stabilise a horses temperature, respiration and - this stops the animal going into shock and is exactly what to do when you are waiting for the vet or to aid recovery.
http://www.lindatellington-jones.com/horseArticleColic.shtml - link to Linda Tellington-Jones website.
http://www.ttouchtteam.co.uk/ - UK Ttouch and Tteam website.
When Mark returned at 12.30am, Brea's condition was still looking very grim. Although, her pulse had lowered to 44 bpm. We agreed to keep monitoring her, with me checking her throughout the night, but with us both well aware that I may be calling Mark during the night to put my darling horse to sleep.
I checked Brea hourly during the night, (flashback to when the kids were babies and being up all night with them!). At around 4.00 am when I had checked her, I was happy to hear slight gurgling and bubbling noises from her gut, she had been walking around with my other two horses normally. (I can't believe how light it is here at 4.00 in the morning!). I went back to bed, and slept until 6.30 am, the longest I'd left her - when I walked over the field I got the best welcome any horse owner ever gets, a lovely whicker from all 3 horses!
Mark, came back to check at 8.30 am. I've never seen anyone so relieved as he did when he walked round the corner to see Brea standing quite happily at the gate. I know that we both thought she wouldn't make it through the night. We decided to not give her anymore painkillers and monitor her for the rest of the day.
When Mark returned that evening, I was happy to report that Brea had been behaving normally the whole day, she was grazing and drinking (and poohing of course). It had been a really close thing, and I am so thankful that we noticed as soon as we did that something was wrong.
My family and I decided not to travel down to England to our friends' wedding, luckily for us they are animal lovers too and knew that we couldn't leave a recovering animal (even though I have the best horse sitter around!).
We've now got the cover on our polytunnel, and have managed to plant most of our veggies in it. And we have spent this weekend moving the chickens round to their new bit of garden - so things are slowly moving forward with the garden even if the weather has been wet and cold. Some sunshine every now and again would be nice though too!
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Tortilla - (Spanish Omlette) with my wild garlic
This is one of my favourite dishes to make, not only does it taste good, but there are times in the year when everything I use is from the garden - eggs from our hens, potatoes and onions. Decided to add some wild garlic as we've got tons this year.
Started off by lightly frying one large onion, sliced, until soft in olive oil. Next added steamed baby potatoes (used Jersey Royals which are in season right now) roughly crushed the potatoes, then gently mixed through the onions. Added salt and pepper and continued to fry for a bit.
I washed and sliced a large bunch of wild garlic leaves, (saved the stalks, chopped them up finely and chucked them in a chorizo & chickpea warm salad). Finally sprinkled the wild garlic on top of tortilla.
Finished off the omlette by putting in the oven to cook through (or under a grill maybe - I don't have one so just put in the top oven of the aga). Then sprinkled the garlic flowers over the top before serving.
Really good to eat hot and even better to eat cold out the fridge (if there are any leftovers) - is also the perfect hangover breakfast or picnic food.
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