Just Catching Up

Just catching you all up with what’s been going on in my life. Following on from my first lotty visit last Wednesday I returned on Thursday to work mainly on my own. I wanted to see the task of removing all the spuds from the ground where they were planted this year done and dusted. I was able to complete the last three rows where I was working which left just one other row which is else where on the plot. I mentioned to the site manager that it would have been a good idea to get them out as the crops were getting slug damage as well the longer they sat in the ground (thankfully the weather in my neck of the woods have been dry or the whole crop would have been lost). What damaged spud there were was also being followed up by some little creepy crawlies (sorry Maureen they are creepy I have to agree but for educational purposes I have posted the pictures, so others would know what they are if they ever come across them in the future because till last Thursday I had never seen or heard of them).

Spotted Snake Millipede 'Blaniulus guttulatus'

Since we are on the topic of the plot here are some pictures of The Lotty’s cat whose name is Oscar, he is very friendly for a ‘wild’ cat and made himself a real nuisance last Thursday as he wanted lots of attention and petting, even my four year old got tired of him.

Later Thursday night when all were in bed I finally got round to turning the foraged damsons into jam using the tried and tested recipe from Eat Weeds blog. The only thing I did differently was to add two pods of crushed cardamons and a couple dashes of ground nutmeg. I was so glad everyone was asleep cause I got to lick the spoon and pot afterwards, oooooohhhhh!!!!! Yummy!

On Friday the poor ignored garden got a little look in with some well needed watering and harvesting of ready crops. Check out my second slightly bigger than the last time ochre.

The weekend was busy starting from Friday afternoon as the kids extra activities restarted this week as well. So I didn’t get to go into the garden except to open and close the greenhouse. On Sunday though we went out to our local largest public green space Mote Park which is about 15 minutes walking distance away. There was a Multi-cultural Melee being put on which is put on every year but we have never gone to before though we have been here seven years now, tut! The kids had a great time going on the rides, getting their hands henna tattooed and watching all the different cultural dances that went on the main stage.

On the way home we did a little bit of foraging of some plump looking hawthorns (2lbs 3oz) and more even sweeter than the first lot damsons (2lbs). Later today when I go out to pick up my daughter I’ll get some more sugar and turn them into yummy preserves.

While on the topic of foraging food, on the way to my daughter’s school we always pass a hedge which at this time of the year has some yellow fruit, I finally got it confirmed today that is some sort of wild Asian origin quince Chaenomeles japonica 'Moned'. The fruits can be used to make jellies and as they are very high in pectin if they are used in conjunction with other fruit which have lower pectin levels they help to aid the setting of those jellies as well, I’ll pick myself some hopefully tomorrow.

I must mention another recipe I tried from fellow blogger mangocheeks, her Roasted beans with couscous and spiced feta Salad. I omitted the feta cheese salad and also added halved cherry tomatoes to the roasting pan. The meal was delicious my tongue felt like it was experiencing fireworks with all the flavours popping in my mouth, thanks again mangocheeks for posting it.

Last but not least, I have been given my first ever blogging award from another fellow blogger (blush). Thanks again Jo and I’ll post about ten things I love and pass it on in my next posting.

First allotment Visit and Other Stuff 09/09/09

The upper end of the site; left hand side is the communal and small individual plots which are represented by the pink section of the google map and the right hand side is to be cultivated by a man and his son, which is represented by the red section of the map. The thick shrubby growth full of hedgerow type plants and bramble at the top of the site will be cleared over time to expose another 15’ - 20’ of land.

The lower end of the site to be cultivated by one person, represented by the blue part of the map.

My little spot - to the front you can see the planks of wood that marks out the general width.

Today was the day of my first work day on the allotment front and it went quite well I’m pleased to say. I met another member of the community (boy can he talk, he even introduces himself as a talker not a worker). When I got there at a bout 10.50am the site manager happily showed me that she had begun to mark out the individual and communal plots, yeah!! She has given me a lovely piece that has been worked this year and doesn’t have too much shrubby growth to the back of it. There are crops on it but most of those will be gone within four weeks, leaving some leeks which will be out by next year spring in time for my plantings, so happy times all round really.

On the more official side fees aren’t due till the end of the year so another yeah!! And the keys are being sorted, it seems they are a special type of key and a £20 refundable fee needs to be paid for each one, moneys are returned on the safe return of the key.

I really underestimated the knowledge base of the other members, they are on a seriously steep learning curve . Today I brought one of my concerns to the front, I observed that there were quite a few rows of undug spuds on the ground with quite a few going green and when they said that area was earmarked for rotovating I saw all my spud growing ideas going up in 2010 blight. So a very quick lesson in plot hygiene re spuds and blighted tomatoes and their foliage was given, then I got stuck in and begun to dig up a row. By the time I was done there was a bucket of perfectly good spuds to pass around and another bucket of spent foliage and greened/ slug damage spuds put aside for burning at a later stage.

I was also quizzed on pea sticks and winter veg and much more, its nice to be in a community that will appreciate you but I’m looking forward to tomorrow when I’ll be working on my own with just the site manager for company.

.

My youngest totally enjoyed herself and befriended the neighbour and his wife (an elderly couple) who makes his water available to the site. She took her pack lunch into their home and had lunch with them. She also enjoyed acquainting herself with the site’s cat, his name is Oscar and is extremely friendly ( I forgot to take a picture of him though).

Preparation to go the plot, especially with a little one has to be precise:

First aid kit: (not everything is in the picture) cotton, wipes, toilet paper, tweezers, clean container to mix wound cleaning solution, teatree oil for stings and bites, bandaids, ice pack, calpol for pain control/ fever ( still to get - savlon).

.

Pack lunch for her and water for us both (not pictured).

.

Tools in a carrier on wheels: I packed my kneeler, fork, shovel, trowel, hand fork, leather and regular cloth gloves, I also took a couple pairs of surgical glove which keep my hands really clean in case of an emergency eye complaint by little one. The whole lot is transported over the handle of my daughter’s pushchair.

A couple other essentials are note pad and pen. Good thing too as I realised I forgot my pruning shears, measuring tape and a small mirror in case I need to see if there is something in my eye, so I jotted it all down to remind me to pack them for tomorrow. I also plan to take a long a bucket and doggy bags at some point in case my daughter has to do a wee or a poo! although the wee will end up on a compost heap.

Other things I got done today was the foraging of some damson fruit which is on the route to my daughter’s school. Yesterday we indulged and they were really sweet ( I have never had a sweet damson before). The picking tool I made was not as efficient as I hoped it would have been but we still got 1lb 9oz of fruit. Which I’ll turn into jam tonight. Below are a few pictures that tell the tale…

.

And when I got back home I harvested these goodies for dinner. Note the very small Kalibos cabbages they tasted great and I’ll continue to grow cabbages from now on.

Anyhow that’s it for now, bye.

Free Food

Had another lovely day out with the girls today, the weather was cooler and a lot less sunshine. I was able to get them out of bed early so we went arts and crafting at the museum again. Before I left home though I was able to water half of the vege plot and will do the rest this afternoon.

I saw these critters early this morning before going out:

He popped his head out of the pond as I walked by.

Mid instar nymph of a Hawthorn Shieldbug 'Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale'

Recently on the way into town I observed some trees were full of some type of fruit but not being from here I didn’t know if they were edible or not. But last night while checking out other blogs I came across one where the gentleman talked about foraging recently for cherry plums (sorry I forgot to keep the link for his blog). His pictures looked very much like the fruits I saw on the trees from the bus. So with this in mind I took along some plastic bags and after the museum we walked the bus route to the trees (which was about a third of the way home).

When we got there I could see quite clearly that they were indeed the same fruit and a taste test revealed that they were indeed plums.

We had a great time picking them and stuffing our gobs which was about thirty-five to forty minutes, then as the bus stop was literally right in front of the trees we waited for the next bus home.

In all we got 8lbs of fruit, I plan to make jams, pies, syrups, tarts, muffins, cakes, you name it I‘ll try to make it. The yellow ones were not yet ripe so we’ll check them again next week.

The area is on the bus route and it is a strip of land that sits between the main road and a smaller residential road with houses all around (the picture with the girls waiting for the bus shows this). It is such a pity the people in the area allow such a bountiful harvest to go to waste, there was tons rotting on the ground from some of the trees whose fruits had ripened earlier last month. The fruit wasn’t even hard to harvest as most of the trees branches were on the ground (if you click on the last photo you can see the grass in between the branches).

Last night I made a promise to myself to create a calendar specifically to mark the dates/ months to harvest wild free foods. I’ll also attach a local map to it and mark areas where I have seen fruits to be harvested. So that I can remember where I saw them when its time to go a picking.