My Tiny Plot

My little one had been snuggled up in his warm cot all afternoon and so I took him out for a quick walk just before the dark drew in yesterday for some fresh air. The sun was going down quickly and we had to run to see the horses in the fields before the light failed and they wandered home for their hay.

The sun was not quite disappearing over the hill and in the mist of a far-off bonfire sent a golden ray of light back to hit the big house on the hill. It glinted at us from across the field and made us squint and laugh and sneeze.

Down the lane our friendly Oak tree looked dark and mysterious against the beaming sky that faded from blue to orange. A perfect winter’s afternoon walk. Just far enough to make our noses red. Just short enough so we could push back for warm milk and crackling fires.

Loving Wintertime.

Tags: winter walk

Okay so I know it’s not Friday but I made a decision today that may affect my Fridays from now on. I have come to the conclusion that cake is not bad. You know that bit in The Holiday when Cameron Diaz says, ‘I just want to eat carbs without wanting to kill myself.’ Well you know what, I really do.

When I was on holiday with some friends over New Year were were talking about how your mum would always ‘bake a cake’ and it would be a special thing. Gathering the ingredients (which would sometimes require a walk to the shops), preparing, aprons, grandma’s old beige mixing bowl, the packets, the dust, hot ovens, the s-m-e-l-l, the anticipation, watching it rise, the anticipation, the cooling, not yet! And then, finally, finally, when a cup of tea had been made and at least one neighbour had been invited, the taste.

I think we’re guilty, these days, of looking at a cake as just a pile of calories. Yes they have sugar and eggs and butter and la de dah in them but really? Is it worth missing out on all of the above just because it may be a little bit bad for us.

In truth I feel like a bad, bad mother for denying my boys the same excitement that I felt all those years ago.

So the decision is this. Friday is cake day. Not one that comes in a box, or packaging or even sneakily bought from the farmers market. No, Friday is ‘bake’ a cake day. With natural ingredients, hopefully including something from the garden too. And shared with neighbours, friends, boys (big and small) and me.

Disclaimer: I’m not promising to bake a cake every Friday, but I will try.

This is the Carrot Cake from The Riverford Cookbook. It’s gorgeously moist with lots of Carrot in it and no icing because it doesn’t need it. I did add a bit of Cinnamon to it which seemed to work.

Tags: Friday Cake

We had lunch at the Riverford field kitchen on New Year’s Day. I basically ate a plate of vegetables in different forms, Carrots with feta cheese, Cauliflower with almonds, Beetroot and herbs etc. But it felt like a gourmet dish. I was so impressed that I simply had to buy the book to find out how to make those.

I was very impressed with the honesty in the first few chapters. From a test farm for chemical company ICI to the successful vegetable box scheme it is now is a great achievement in one generation.

Guy Watson, the founder, talks about the simple Savoy being the best thing to eat at this time of year and of course the cheapest. His pep-talk has already worked for me. I switched my order for Aubergine and Courgette to Savoy and Kale.

Jackson is raring to get going on his new, bigger garden. He wanted to go out and do some digging but the digging soon turned to raking. The raking consisted of moving the soil from one location to another and then back again.

It was great fun, especially when we used the rake upside down.

And when we were finished the garden really didn’t look any different than it did before we arrived but we had spent a nice hour or two in the garden, getting some welcome fresh air after the crazy Christmas week – and mummy got to do some tidying up too!

Tags: gardening with children

There’s very little gardening going on these days. I wander down to the wood shed with my basket in hand and collect the wood for the fire. On the way I might check in on my coldframe Lettuce or peruse the slow progress of my blanching Chicory (it’s painfully slow!). But other than that I’m mostly dreaming of gardening, reading books, checking out seed catalogues. Nearly, signing up for a half plot at the nearby allotments (am I mad?) and then thinking better of it.

It’s the week before Christmas and so we’re hanging out at home with the fairy lights on all day, watching snowy films and drinking coffee. My dresser says it all really. Sinking in a sea of handmade decorations that vaguely resemble Santa, and regretting that I didn’t get my act together earlier and reciprocate all the lovely cards that Jackson got from his school friends (must be more organised next year!).

The kitsch Reindeer lights are a taste of what the rest of the house looks like, my ever present Homemaker collection just waiting for the big day, the Santa jug and mugs also waiting for some eggnog to be made. And of course the gin, it wouldn’t be Christmas without the gin. KitchenAid’s at dawn and champagne glasses twinkling in the light – we only have three but then we only need three since Granny is visiting.

The days before Christmas are my very favourite days of the year and I cherish every second of them. Infact, I have way too many Christmassy things I want to do and not enough hours to do them in.

But I did find some time to snuggle down and do my annual reading of ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales‘ by Dylan Thomas. It’s the most perfect Christmas book in my view, not least because he could be describing all of my childhood Christmas’s rolled into one – remember when you used to go out and play with the other children in the street on Christmas day?

Tags: Christmas

It’s about this time of year that the snow village appears.

It’s come a long way since I started it back in 2008. Since then I’ve been adding to it every year.

Since the boys were too young to join in I’ve been making the houses myself. I’m not suggesting they are fantastic craftwise. They are really just painted up grocery boxes and glitter and spray snow.

But this year I had a little help, from my three year old. He wanted a house with a ‘snowy garden’ and ‘glittery roof’ the other stipulation was that there was ‘mist’ coming out of the chimney and a wreath on the door. So that’s what we did!

Tags: snow village

I have given Jackson a bigger patch in the garden and we have been busy digging over and raking in manure. We have also done some planning and deciding what he will grow in his new garden. The conversation went like this. “So Jackson what would you like to grow in your garden?” “I would like to grow Carrots.”
“Okay, what else?”
“Just Carrots Mummy, nothing else, just lots and lots of Carrots.”

So… with that brief we took a trip to the garden centre and bought lots of Carrots. Rondo – a round variety. Rainbow – just for fun. Caracas – a Chanteney type. Early Nantes 2 – for super sweet early Carrots.
We might also go for an Autumn variety later.

Here’s a little idea for your Christmas mantelpiece. It’s really simple, just some old wine bottles filled with twigs that have been sprayed silver. With alternate silver candlesticks and tea lights to give everything a nice Christmassy twinkle.

And… this idea was totally stolen, as all the best ideas are :)

Houston we have a problem. The Chicory that I put into storage last month is starting to sprout. Now, that is not supposed to happen.

I can only assume that the mild weather we’ve been having has confused them into sprouting, or possibly the sand was too wet that I stored them in. Either way they have come out of storage early and are now in their final forcing positions – in a bucket of compost with another pot over the top to block out the light.

This is a little earlier than I was planning but I’ve got no option as I can’t have them happily growing in their horizontal positions!

There will be a part three to this story. Hopefully with some nice photos of my lovely blanched Chicory. Hopefully.

Tags: chicory

In our house, as soon as it turns 1st December it’s pretty much time to put up the Christmas tree. So this being the nearest weekend we brought our tree home. A nice 7ft Norway spruce (the bluish looking ones with thick bushy branches). I tried to get my husband to go for a Scots pine but he dug his Coloradan heels in so we went for the fir tree look.

I was reading in Which? this month that there is a shortage of big trees (some sort of planting error eight years ago!). And therefore large trees are at a premium this year. They reckon you should be paying no more than £35 for a 6ft Norway. Umm… but hey, we got free delivery and a fancy net…

The vegetable ornaments are in there, somewhere. Top middle is my London bus ornament, and on the left is a new crown one that says Bath 2011. My favourite is still the empire state building one which is just below the bus and the banana split always makes me laugh. While the most quirky one is still the little red fire hydrant. I love my Christmas tree!

Tags: Christmas tree