leap

I had to write a blog post today – chance only comes up every 4 years.

Beautiful day – spent most of it building out arbour/pegola thing, watching the toads, frogs and newts in the pond and even managed some blankie time – it was that warm

And i caught a bit too much sun – I did think about it, but dismissed the worry as it is only February… I wonder when I shall ever learn.

March tomorrow – how quickly has that come around – I need to sow much more seeds!

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the room of doom

Over the last couple of days we have been tackling the room of doom aka the spare room.

‘Spare’ makes it seem surplus to requirements – not so – we have both worked from home in that room, it is the main storage area of our home dyed wool, in various stages of  process, our dvd and cd library, and alas, a general dumping area.

The cats, Molly and Pete have been helping.  And by helping I means curling up and lying down in the middle of everything  – in Pete’s case, and playing happy adventures climbing through the loom and over teetering boxes with glee in Molly’s.

But, after many days, lots of sorting out, being ruthless, building shelves and reorganising, we now have a large space in the middle of the room – revealing the hideous swirling brown and orange nightmare carpet we inherited in all its ‘glory’.  One day we shall change it.. but it seems far down the priority list at the moment.

Ultimately our plans are to make a study / craft room.  With a big table to sew/model/craft at, my desk an paperwork mountain in the corner,  a little wood burner installed in the fireplace, the sofa bed will double as guest sleepage, and a chair so we can spin or weave or  knit or craft and keep each other company as we craft , listening to the radio or music etc.  I did wonder if I had over subscribed the room with too many uses, but now we have shifted everything about, it actually seems possible, as it is a large room, and all that shelving takes advantage of the high ceilings.   (Why do we have high ceilings upstairs and low ceilings downstairs?)

but before we play musical tables and set ourselves up there, we have to tackle our son’s room – or more to the point the floor – which is decidedly bouncey and if anything like the floor that came with the room of doom, the joists  will have been eaten by the delightful death watch beetle, and will need replacing – with all that that entails.

So – we have been opening boxes of things not yet unpacked since we moved in, and making decisions and freecycling etc, because the floor of my son’s room needs replacing. you know how it is.

There is a goal at the end of all this hard graft, and it is that craft room, with the wood burner and sofa and all the craft things… and then no doubt the room of doom will become the room of loom.

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spring, in pictures

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sowing, planting and harvesting w/e 24/2

sowing:

broad beans – express – in modules in greenhouse

cabbage – primo – in seed tray in greenhouse

red spring onions – in pot in greenhouse

lettuce – red salad bowl – in seed tray in propagator

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schmallenberg virus

Another animal virus does the rounds  – this time smallenberg virus – which affects cattle sheep and goats.

Defra information

It would seem from the information given that it reduces milk yield in cattle, but more worrying causes birth defects in sheep and cattle.  For sheep this could result in difficult/impossible births – the vets will be busy, and of course the loss of lambs.  VLA have a fact sheet on signs – in sheep it would appear that adult sheep don’t show any – it is their unborn that will show it..

Fortunate for us as we are not lambing this year, once again – but worrying for loads in the area – a case has been reported in Cornwall, and Devon is seen as likely due to the closeness to Europe and the timing of midge populations at tupping time.

oh joy.

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sowing, planting and harvesting w/e 17/2

sown:

broad beans – express

leeks – mammoth tornado

calabrese – green magic

geraniums

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poor man’s goose

My mum has often talked fondly of this dish that her grandmother used to make, a way of using up left over roast pork.  And  good leftovers recipes are popular  in this house, as we like to cook a large joint.

My version of poor man’s goose has potatoes in it (not accurate to my mum’s memory of the dish) and we all liked it so much, we had it twice in one week!

The only problem with the dish is how obviously not goose-like it is. The poor man in question could not have been fooled.  However, I like the idea of a recipe from my great grandmother, modified and handed on (I’ll have my son cooking it soon) and the name somehow fits in with all those other economy comforting foods, like toad in the hole.

Ideal for a cold working day – slam it in the oven, and a filling tasty meal is ready later.

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sowing, planting and harvesting w/e 10/2

harvesting:

leeks

savoy cabbage

spring cabbage

PSB

sage

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