Cold Snaps & Hot Dinners

Winter finally happened this past weekend - four consecutive frosty mornings & just below freezing nights.  Granted, in reality the night time temperatures dipping below freezing is about average for the time of year, but after such a mild (albeit damp & dull) December, it came as a bit of a shock.  Though not as much as the shock & horror when I dug out my alpaca wool wristwarmers/fingerless glove & found that clothes moths had made a meal of the right hand one.  (Also found they'd sampled a needlefelted model of a Balwen sheep I'd had for years without a sniff of them.  That's it the freezer in case there are grubs hidden deep inside that need killing off).

Of course this was the week I finally got round to booking a haircut, and to prove how much we've been hoodwinked by the so far mild winter, every customer in the hairdressers was clutching a hot drink, & every time the door to the street opened, every member of staff warmed their hands with a quick blast from their hairdryer.  Even the shop's dog - a long haired Chihuahua - had burrowed down deep into a pile of towels & blankets instead of keeping watch of the comings and goings outside.  But I'm back to feeling sleek & neat, if only above the neck.

The cold spell had been preceded midweek by Storm Brendan, which may not have caused anywhere as much of a problem as it did elsewhere, but it spelled the end for a large conifer tree on the road near the lake, and the mini greenhouse where my broad bean seedlings were housed took a sideways swipe, sending them crashing to the floor.  Despite initially looking like I was going to have to follow the instructions from the Wartime Weekend Gardener for the third week of January & sow a second batch, they had all survived - just needed the seed compost topping up and they were fine. 

The bulbs in the front garden are flowering away still.  The little Pauline irises that did so well last year that I decided to plant twice as many this year are in full flow - again a good three or four weeks in advance of last year.  Hopefully this variety will be available next Autumn too, unlike the previously stalwart Katherine Hodgkin, which seems to have disappeared from sale.  I was told at on place I looked for it that there had been a crop failure at the bulb growers, but I find it hard to believe that there would only be one source grower for such a seemingly ubiquitous variety.

Cold weather is the perfect excuse for a warming stew, so this past weekend I made a beef goulash, mixing my own combination of spices, and it lasted us three good and fortifying meals.  I've got back to meal planning lately.  Not to the point of mapping out breakfast lunch & supper for seven days just yet, but by deciding on a "big meal" for Sunday, when we both have time to prepare & cook, working backwards to decide what we need to get & do, then deciding on follow up meals for a few days.  One of the reasons I think "meatless Monday" is ill thought out is that it disregards the use of what was left from Sunday - possibly leading to more food waste.

I started with out festive meal.  As neither of us was hugely bothered this year (me miserable due to the struggles with my knee, him because he job was keeping him busy, and both of us after the disastrous election & the dreadful prospects for us & anyone not super wealthy), I didn't bother to order a bird or anything ahead of time - just the bread, as the bakers were closing for a week.  Instead, I phoned the butchers the Friday before & asked if they'd have a boneless pork joint in - they put my name on a list & I popped up there on the Monday.  I'd decided to go for a Swedish theme, having ordered a package of scandinavian food stuffs (cheese & chocolate mainly), so created a spice rub, heavy with cardamon & allspice & slathered the meat in that, covering it & letting it soak in overnight like the usual marinade.  That pork did us several meals, the final one being on New Year's Eve, when I made pyttipanna, with tiny cubes of the spiced pork and the Swedish black pudding I'd used half of to make the stuffing patties I'd serve on Christmas Day & for Boxing Day breakfast.

The first weekend of the new year, I got a boned & rolled breast of lamb.  This time I went for a North African flavour, & did a lamb & apricot tagine.  Not as adaptable as the pork in terms of leftovers, but it did us three days yet again, with the seasoning warming up day on day.

Then I did a ham hock - always a good standby at this time of year.  We stretched that to three dinners & a couple of sandwich lunches, with the last scraps going into a Dutch style pea & ham soup.  Final experiment prior to this weekend's goulash was a West African chicken & peanut stew.  That worked really well too, though I suspect my version was nowhere near as hot as the real version.  Next on my list is a Persian chicken stew -with pomegranate & crushed toasted walnuts, a traditional Polish Bigos stew.  Enjoying stepping out of the kitchen comfort zone, though there's still a time & place for a basic pasta in tomato sauce.

Remind Me - What Month Is It?

Granted, the coldest weather usually occurs late January & early February (right around Imbolc), but this does seem to have been a very mild winter, temperature wise.  A tad soggy, but nowhere near as cold as usual.  Checking back, I don't think we've woken to a frost since early December.

Even so, I was a little taken aback by how enthusiastically some of the Spring bulbs I have in pots in the front garden were sprouting.  I'd planned on augmenting, or even replanting some of those containers, but even by late November there was too much growth in them to disturb.  Have had to rustle up a few extra containers for this past Autumn's bulb purchases.  Still, it means a bit of successional planting, and I can move things in & out of sight as they flower & go over.

So this past week,  I checked things over, and saw that the pot of February Gold were all in bud - one of which opened midweek.  Given Wednesday was a dry, reasonably sunny day, I roped Howard in & we got some work done at the front.  Cut back the ornamental grass which was taking over the Belfast sink.  I plan to lift & divide that, replanting clumps elsewhere in the garden & allotment, with some at the front in a container all to itself that can be moved to hide whatever is an eyesore at any give time of year.

With that done, we set about pruning the clematis - again a month ahead of usual.  That  plant has survived being lifted from the old allotment, living in a bin bag as a pot for a while before being sunk into the classic modern house soil - solid clay & builders' rubble.  Yet it always tries to outwit me by budding & coming into growth before I can prune it for the new year.  Well I thought this year would be different, but barely into the second week of the year, a few buds had burst further along the plant than I wanted to prune it back to.  Well, I cut it back to where I needed it to be and it can regrow and catch up in due course.

Oh - and my Cephalaria gigantea (flowering time - June to October) has FIVE flower buds on it.  And the lovely deep, deep purple Iris reticulate Pauline has started flowering too.

Well I don't care what my established plants are doing, no way am I risking sowing any seeds just yet, outdoors or in.  (Not even in my heated propagator)

I'll just follow the Wartime Weekend Gardener's advice and lay down a thick mulch over the vegetable beds.

First Weekend of a New Decade

Trying hard to be positive with all that has happened - and may happen.

But more than ever, it's important to plough your own furrow.  I've kind of felt like this since June 2016, but after the disaster of the election result, looks like there will be nothing left to fall back on now.  So get on & look after yourself in whatever way you can, and in doing so, help others.

Finally had the MRI of my knee done just before the festive break - the one I've been asking for to identify the cause of the paid for nigh on a decade.  Now in the intervening years of walking on an injured knee,  and given my age, I've started to develop arthritis.  So I fully expect to be fobbed off with that as the reason & have to continue fighting to get something sorted that will allow me to be more mobile & in less pain (& to not wake up due to random flare-ups, etc.)

Even so, I intend to do all I can to be fit & mobile, in spite of what I have to deal with.  With Howard's help, I shall tackle the house, garden & allotment, getting them as ship-shape & productive as possible.  Have just ordered the first batch of Dalefoot seed compost (the peat free stuff made from composted wool & bracken) & have a propagator ready to plug in & put on a windowsill the cat rarely frequents to get a couple of weeks start on the more tender stuff like peppers & tomatoes.  The overwintering varieties of onions, garlic & shallots are doing nicely in pots in the mini greenhouse, as are the first batch of broad beans.  Hopefully the flood prevention works near the allotment a couple of years ago will have put an end to plots being under water at this time of year, but given how soggy things were in December, best to go the tried & tested route & plant them out in a month or so. 

Still not got all the tulips planted - that's a job for next weekend, once we've cleaned up pots we planted two or more years ago (& replanted any viable contents under fruit trees).  Feel bad that pain & unsteadiness on my feet has put me this far behind, but checking sowing & planting records, we were this late getting started the year Howard had his skin cancer op, so we should catch up.

I'm going to try to follow the Wartime Weekend Gardener book again, plus guidance from assorted Charles Dowding books & a planting by the moon book.  The recommended activities from 1942 included ordering seeds (done), planting Jerusalem Artichokes (will be dealt with next day Howard has off, along with pot cleaning & general space-making), forcing rhubarb (next time he gets over the allotment & has a suitable bucket or suchlike to hand), and finally, getting some early salad seeds started.  I want to use part of the kitchen windowsill to grow microgreens, so this would be the ideal opportunity.  But will mean no random spraying of white vinegar & bicarb sprays, and a handy step stool so I can reach them to harvest.

More stuff for the to do list then.

Where Did Summer Go?

Autumn has arrived, and with it, plans for the next growing season.  It's got to be better than this year.

Not a good summer for me - my painful knee has turned the dial up to agonising, leaving me effectively housebound for the past few months.  I've tried to get help from my GP, but due to government constraints, the most I can get referred to by him is physiotherapy.  First appointment with them is next week.  But at least I got to see my GP before the Home Office decided to pull the plug on his work permission due to being a Commonwealth passport holder (in spite of having been here for years, married & raised a British family).  So for the foreseeable future, the patients at our surgery are stuck with one GP with zero bedside manner and even longer waits for even shorter appointments.

In the intervening time, I've been woken up most nights by the pain - a deep, burning sensation in the middle of the joint, causing me to almost convulse in discomfort.  And if I'm not sleeping, neither are Howard or the cat.  With Howard having a job now that requires him to have his wits about him, that couldn't go on.  So on his first day off that week, we got a cab up to the Urgent Care at Chase Farm, where, after a slight meltdown in front of the triage nurse, a very understanding doctor arranged x-rays, which confirmed absolutely no damage to the bones (in fact he said they were in excellent condition & perfectly positioned), which pointed to ligament damage - possibly cruciate (which having researched, looks a pretty nasty, long term restoration prospect).  So he referred me on to the fracture & joint clinic at Barnet General, who offered me an appointment in little over a week.  Having seen them (after a 2 hour plus wait & another meltdown due to the frustration) I now await an appointment with a knee specialist.  The week after the appointment at Barnet, the letter asking me to book a physio appointment finally came through my door.  Well, I made an appointment, if only to give them an earful.

Howard has been enjoying his job as a cargo bike courier.  It can be hard, physically, and some nights he comes home beyond dog tired, but it's boosted his fitness and confidence.  How he feels about the work in the depths of Winter remains to be seen, but he's enjoying getting out & about, at times providing a vital service to the community, after over a decade in a deskbound job with a long, frustrating commute.

He's has to manage the allotment & much of the garden pretty much on his own, but as ever we've managed a decent haul of potatoes & onions, plus some salads & other greenery.  After such an abundant harvest last year, the fruit trees seem to have taken a break, but the erratic weather, all timed wrong, must have played a part in that.

This coming weekend sees us taking a break and heading out to the Malvern Autumn show.  My favourite show of the year, so I plan to make the most of it, even if I need a walking stick & regular sit downs.  We plan to take in visits to a couple more villages that feature on my family tree, plus a couple of our regular favourite haunts along the way.

So hopefully I'll return next week with renewed optimism & determination to grow as much of our own food as possible.  After all, if Brexit is as bad as we expect it to be, we will no longer be able to rely on the shops to feed us.

It's All Gone Quiet Again

Another Mid-May, another snarl up.

Over the past few years I've had a suspected mini stroke, a bullying by my boss so bad I quit my job (a bit rash, but I didn't want to face him ever again), a fall that jarred my back & left me out of action most of the Summer, and now my old knee injury (thanks Network Rail & your "wait till we're sued" station & staircase repair policy) has flared up so badly I can only comfortably walk in it 1 day in 5.  The plus side is that I've become a dab hand at applying cohesive bandage.  Have another GP appointment next week, hopefully he'll be able to get me referred to see a specialist and after 19 years of problems, finally get it fixed.

Howard now has a new job, as a cargo bike courier for an ethical, zero emissions, delivery company.  Obviously doesn't pay as well as graphic design, but at least it's something, and I get to call him a professional cyclist.  Plus the company has a contract with OrganicLea, so he gets to visit there at least once a week and look around for inspiration while he's waiting to load up (he also gets to drive an electric van for bigger loads), plus sometimes comes home with unsold items from the farmer's market.  The other week he returned with a bag of sorrel leaves, which I used with chopped onions & ransoms leaves as a bed to lightly braise some white fish on, topped with more chopped sorrel & ransoms flowers in melted butter.

On his days off, Howard has worked hard to keep the allotment chugging along on time.  All the potatoes, onion, garlic & shallots for the year are planted, and he's getting other seedlings planted as & when ready.

Not been the greatest year for seed sowing, due to the various cold snaps putting a check on growth.  A mouse got into the mini greenhouse where my peas & broad beans were, and had a feast.  Pumpkin cat went to look for it, but to have a staring match rather than actually catch it.  I've got another batch sown, plus the few surviving peas planted around a tripod in a container in the back garden, so we will have some in due course.

The wall of salad when first planted up

After the mini heatwave in February, I thought I'd risk starting off my tomatoes & peppers in the first half of March, rather than the last week.  Hardly anything germinated, then the back-up sowing I did in early April got hit by the cold snap after Easter.  A few things have germinated now, but I'm annoyed at the wasted time, effort & materials on the whole.  Galling that out of a whole tray, I have just one Gardeners' Delight seedling, for instance.  But at least that's something I can buy as a plant fairly easily.

We've been harvesting salad leaves with great regularity though.  I used the large vertical plant stand we bought from Ikea a couple of years back and filled it with pots of salad leaf mixes, plus a couple of pots each of spring onions & radishes.  With Howard taking a packed lunch with him four days a week, we've been snipping leaves early every morning to go in salads or sandwiches.  Probably getting through the equivalent of three or four bags of salad during weekdays, let alone weekends.  Then you factor in grown in peat free (Dalefoot) growing media, raised organically, food metres rather than miles, plus being a matter of minutes from harvest to table (or a couple of hours for the packed lunches) and no single use plastic whatsoever, and it's wins all round.

The bulbs we planted in pots in the front garden one icy November day have put on a wonderful display and are now dying back until next year (bar one pot that has stuff that should flower until July), and the perennial bed we relaid in February is coming to the fore.  The wallflowers are still providing bursts of bronze & peach, but the main colour at present is purple - centaurea & trailing verbena, plus the foliage of my penstemon echoing the colour of the flowers peaking right now.  My cephelaria gigantea is romping away again, with plenty of buds, as is the clematis, once again seemingly thriving on neglect or is it just growing at a pace we can barely keep up with tying it in to keep us on our toes?

Brown Sugar - my favourite tulip

Not Just a Flower

Nature moves fast in Spring.

We had that blip in February when we had a few days when it was as warm as would normally be expected in May, but this patch of London hasn't had the sudden cold snaps, snow or flooding seen elsewhere.  A bit chilly, but nothing an extra layer or two can't fight off.

As March turned into April, grape hyacinths took centre stage in the tiny lawn in the front garden.  Last year, the grass was getting a little scruffy, not helped by the appearance of self-sown salsify in it, from I know not where.  Pretty pink flowers maybe, but not what I intended.  So in October, we took up the old turf, landscaped the area so it didn't slope down towards the house wall, got the soil in better order & replaced the lawn.  Before we put a new roll of turf down, we planted some bulbs.  Orange flowered crocus, the aforementioned grape hyacinths and a small native narcissus.

Not just any old narcissus, but the strain of native daffodil found in Herefordshire & the borders, most famously around the village of Dymock.  These are the same variety Monty Don has planted in his garden, which I think is a little further north west in the county.  Not sure where he got his from, but we bought ours from the Newent Garden Centre on our now habitual afternoon tea at The Nest, Ledbury on our way home from our weekend visiting the area for the Malvern Autumn show.

Getting those bulbs was a way to have something that kept alive my connection to the area - a tiny nod towards my heritage.  On researching my family tree, I was able to trace once branch back to the villages of Much Marcle & Dymock itself during the mid to late 1500's.  Having that little daffodil in place, ready to show up every spring, is a great reminder.

How Did We Get To Here?

Years ago, when I was working for a music publishers, one of the regular visitors to the company offices was a typical music biz chancer of the time, always on the look for a gimmick that would be a quick way to a hit.  One of the acts he managed wrote a UK Euro entry (One Step Closer - Bardo), which nearly came a cropper because the song had already been released in Japan on the b-side of the original band's single.  A business bigwig got wind of this, but it was all hushed up because our chancer had some knowledge about the other guy that he hinted would get into the press if he went to the authorities, so that all went quiet.  A few months later, he was looking for a 30's/40's novelty song for another set of charges (another washed-up formerly faux mod band, trying to reinvent themselves as all-round entertainers).  As my job required much time in the sheet & recorded music archive, I found the perfect song for them, and it was a bona fide hit.  Unfortunately, the song was so old & obscure, my employers' rights to the copyright had lapsed and no-one had seen any point in renewing them. 

A few years after the music publishers closed down, and I was well out of the music business, I saw the old chancer on TV.  He was claiming to have found film of the Americans undertaking an autopsy of those on board a UFO.  Obviously, this was pretty soon exposed as a complete scam, but the incident was made into a film.  What a let down - to have part of the story of your life on the silver screen, only for your part to be played by Ant.  Or was it Dec?

Why am I reminded of this?  Well, one Christmas, as I wrote my Christmas cards for my colleagues, I found among my Woolies selection the perfect card for him.  Two little cartoon mice, playing ten pin bowling, but using holly berries as bowling balls.  A little bit of customisation of the card and it was perfect for him, and went down a storm in the office: a little word bubble, stating "Keep going - If you throw enough of these at the wall, some of them will stick".

Unless she is genuinely deluded, I have a feeling that the sentiment of that little card sums up the Prime Minister's EU vote strategy.

I despair.