Hi folks, hope all are well as we move into Spring. We are settled in our new place now and I have started a new blog: www.fromacountrycottage.wordpress.com . I hope that you will join us in our new adventure in Frenchpark at Flynn’s Cottage.
Bridget x
As we face into another year on this planet called Earth many people are feeling a bit scared about 2012. Much has been said about Mayan calendars, solar flares and biblical prophecies foretelling the end of the world. My view…for what it’s worth…is that the Mayans were not foretelling the end of the world but an end of an era. I came to this conclusion after reading much about these various prophecies. My belief is that 2012 is the time for a change in consciousness on the planet. We are all exploiters on this planet…that is the nature of the beast.
Even Andy and I living here in rural Ireland are exploiters. No you may say…but the truth is yes. We are vegetarian so we do not exploit our animals for food directly. We do however exploit Enid our milking goat every day to obtain her milk. Hens are exploited to produce our eggs…
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Love Love this post from Willowarchway on preserving, especially the recipe for doing the cherry toms.
Whilst sitting here on a Sunday afternoon listening to ‘The Kinks’,I think it puts things onto perspective on living the alternative lifestyle. It’s also strange that a certain time of year can bring a flurry of activity. As we grow most of our food and all of a sudden you have a glut of produce, don’t have a freezer, so what are you to do with it all ? PRESERVE it !
Over the past few weeks I think that we have made a massive leap forward with our preserving and if we want to continue eating over the winter months then we have to preserve our food.
Last year we preserved our cherry tomatoes and they were very successful ( we actually opened one of our last jars yesterday and they were perfect for pizza topping) and so decided to preserve more this season, but as there were so…
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Great seasonal recipe from this lovely blog which I’ve just discovered. x
There is no doubt that it’s pumpkin season here in northern California. Everywhere you look, there are pumpkin farms and patches and the Half Moon Bay pumpkin Festival is this weekend. Lots of pumpkins, fun and…..traffic. We avoid the festival but we do like to go to the coast and visit some of the pumpkin farms for both eating and ornamental pumpkins, it’s fun and the kids love it. But until then, we can make these pumpkin muffins to satisfy any pumpkin cravings (and as a nod to the Great Pumpkin).
And these are very good muffins, more like pumpkin-spice cupcakes. But that is a good thing, a very good thing. The recipe we use is a riff on Sarabeth Levine’s well-known rpumpkin muffin ecipe from Sarabeth’s Bakery in New York. You can also get the recipe, and many others, in her cookbook “Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands To…
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We visited a couple of monasteries on our trip. This one near the town of Srem is home to a community of Nuns. The doors are open and people are welcome to look around, pray or just absorb the peaceful atmosphere.
I found the glass case full of skulls a bit odd…apparently they are the first followers of the founder of the monastery. Two hundred years old.
On my birthday, which was the 16th, we went to visit the ancient hill fortress near the village of Matochina.
As we climbed the steep hill to the fortress a thunder and lightning storm rolled in from Turkey. We did’nt let that stop us though. As we climbed the sky darkened and forks of lightning came in fairly quick succession. After one particularly loud clap of thunder and brilliant lightning an Imperial Eagle came soaring up from behind the hill. So beautiful and dramatic…it is an image that will stay with me forever. No pics as I was just in awe of the sight of this huge bird. Beautiful!
The storm passed as fairly quickly and the sunshine returned as we bade farewell to the Turkish hills visible in the distance.
We also visited these carved rocks near the village of Melnitsa. I wonder what their original purpose was? There are several of these in this area.
The Bulgarian custom of making posters when a person dies is a bit odd. These are placed on the person’s gate going into their house, on trees and in public places. I suppose it a way of letting people know the person has died. A picture of the deceased and a few personal details are carried on the poster. Similar to our newspaper death notices I suppose.
On a final lighter note these millet brooms are for sale everywhere and every house seems to have one. Sometimes with handles, sometimes without. These were for sale in the market in Elhove. Priced at 3 leva each…about 1.50 euros. Of course I brought one home with me.
A rainbow fading out over the hill in front of the house a few evening’s ago. I love rainbow’s…they always make me think about my Granny’s stories of how if you caught a Leprechaun, and could hold onto him, you could force him to lead you to the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow. The Leprechaun’s were very clever and would always think of some way to frighten you into letting go of them. They would then run off laughing and leaping with joy at fooling a stupid human again.
Back to present times and today we pulled the last Kale plants to make way for new plantings. Such a great plant, we were provided with green pickings all Winter, then the seed heads for the last few weeks. Today the Goats got to have a meal from them too. Value indeed! I don’t put the stalks in the compost as they take ages to break down.
Some of the plants were huge, this one was 5ft tall. Kale is a very hungry plant so ground where it has grown needs to be well fertilised before the next crop. It is also a very nutritious plant being high in calcium, iron, sodium, vitamin C, carotenes and chlorophyll. Carotenes have anti-cancer properties helping to guard against the development of cancer if consumed regularly.
Even Daphne, our lovely donkey girlie, came to have some Kale. Smart girl, she knows what’s good for her.
The last of our Kale harvest went into a soup. Together with Leeks, Potatoes and a few Nettle tops it made a delicious nutritious meal.
In a shaded part of the garden is this Wild Garlic. I don’t know the proper name of it. I got a clump of it from a friend last year, she did’nt know the name either. Anyone out there know? It can be used in the same way as Ransoms, all parts edible.
Over breakfast we were looking through the Argos catalogue. Freddie found it a bit boring so he had a little snooze.
After brekkie Andy was checking the exhaust on the car as it had come loose. Freddie exploited the situation to have a nice comfortable seat. I took the pic through the sitting-room window.
The afternoon saw Andy cutting rushes in the back field. We usually strim them but on this occasion we borrowed this machine from our neighbours, it is fairly old but a very efficient machine. It has all sorts of attachments for ploughing, making drills etc. Our main interest was cutting the rushes using the finger bar mower type attachment. It is quicker than the strimmer and cuts clloser to the ground. When we bought this place almost 10 years ago the rushes had’nt been cut for years and were about 5 ft tall. We cut them each year and they are slowly getting weaker.
My main job for the day was pricking out seedlings. These are Rosssa de Trento lettuce, a loose leaf Italian variety.
More lettuces, a Bulgarian cos type and Cabbages were also pricked out. It’s amazing how long this job takes but it very satisfing. Non gardeners would’nt understand but all the gardeners out there I’m sure will.
Flat Leaf Parsley will have to wait until tomorrow…
and all the while we are watched over by The Wise One.
Recently Jimmy over at Fluffytufts awarded my blog the Awesome Blog Content Award. Of course I was delighted, it’s always nice to get a little reward, someone saying”I like what you do.” Many thanks Jimmy, I graciously accept. Go over and check out Jimmy and co’s lovely blog at www.fluffytufts.wordpress.com .
The rules of accepting the award are to share something about yourself using the letters of the alphabet. Do I have 26 things to share about myself? Let’s see!!
A: Andy, my lovely husband. We have been together 18 years and married for 3 years.
B: Bulgaria, a country I really like. We bought a house there 8 years ago.
C: Curly, like my hair. I really like curry too…and cake!
D: Dogs, my fave animal. We have 3.
E: Environmentally friendly: How we try to live our lives.
F: Frost, hate driving in this.
G: Green, one of my fave colours. It is said Ireland has 40 shades of it!
H: Hummus, one of my fave foods!
I: Ireland, where I was born and live. Best little country on the planet despite the current problems!
J: Judge, something I TRY not to do to others hopefully they will do the same unto me.
K: Karma. Something I believe in. What goes round comes round!!
L: Late. I must stop staying up so late.
M: Markets, I love going to them.
N: Natural…is always best.
O: Okra, probably the only vegetable I dislike.
P: Peas, a vegetable I love.
Q: Quiet. As in Peace and Quiet, I love it.
R: Red, a colour I like but would never wear.
S: Silence. To be cherished…sometimes!
T: Treehugger.
U: UFO. I really want to see one!
V: Velvet, love it! Vegetarian for 11 years. That’s cheating…2 for V!
W: Walking, something I do every day…well, almost every day.
X: Xmas! I really hate Christmas spelt this way but could’nt think of anything else beginning with X.
Y: Yikes, I’m really stuck now!
Z: Zebra, I love how they look.
The second condition is to nominate other bloggers for the award, as many as you wish. There’s so many great blogs out there and more to keep on discovering.
I mention just a few of my faves here:
www.thegreenveggie.wordpress.com
Todmorden, a place I’d never heard of until I read this. What an amazing community it must be. This Victorian Mill town in West Yorkshire is now growing most of it’s own fruit and veg in areas that were just waste ground or had useless planting schemes. Inspirational! Do read and share.
My thanks to Helen Guthrie for printing the following inspiring article in the Far North Organic Networker that I received on Wednesday in the library. Read this. There is plenty of hope for our future as people begin to realize we can do so much more in terms of growing our own food locally than we presently are. It’s as inspiring as the Cuban example oforganoponicos. Enjoy, John
By Vincent Graff
Admittedly, it sounds like the most foolhardy of criminal capers, and one of the cheekiest, too.
Outside the police station in the small Victorian mill town of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, there are three large raised flower beds.
If you’d visited a few months ago, you’d have found them overflowing with curly kale, carrot plants, lettuces, spring onions — all manner of vegetables and salad leaves.
Today the beds are bare. Why? Because people have been wandering…
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After having an enforced holiday from the computer for a week due to virus contamination (on computer that is) I was delighted on returning to have a message that Amanda from www.makeripples.wordpress.com had nominated me for a Versatile Blogger Award. It’s always nice when someone else likes what you do, so “thanks Amanda”.
There are 4 rules for accepting the award:
1. Thank the award giver and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.
4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know they’ve been nominated.
7 THINGS ABOUT ME:
1. I have been vegetarian for 11 years.
2. I am qualified in Organic Horticulture and also as a Special Needs Assistant.
3. I am the eternal optimist…even in the midst of the current turmoil in the world.
4. Frugal living devotee. Love car boot sales and charity shops.
5. Keen on DIY and crafting.
6. Lived in Bristol, England for 5 years.
7. Love travelling…like to take at least 1 trip per year.
Finally I would like to nominate the following blogs to receive the award. Some great blogs so do check them out.
www.foxglovelane.blogspot.com. An Irish countryside blog…beautiful photography.
www.willowarchway.wordpress.com. off-grid living in north-west Ireland.
www.linniew.wordpress.com. Writer, gardener, dog lover. All done humourously!
www.cottageoncallan.wordpress.com. A new blog begun at the end of 2011. Living, gardening, painting and crafting in Co. Clare, Ireland.
www.thegreenveggie.wordpress.com. Veggie cooking, environmental issues, sustainable living and animal welfare blog.
www.cattapilladesigns.com Off grid living on Bere Island, Bantry, Co. Cork. Creates beautiful things from beautiful fabrics.
www.whisperingearth.wordpress.com .Herbalist, naturopath, tree hugger, flower child and plant lover.
www.wellywoman.wordpress.com Blogging about gardening, allotments and environment…in wellies!
www.thekitchensgarden.wordpress.com. Growing, farming, cooking plus so much more, on the American prairies.
www.flowerhillfarm.blogspot.com . Explore 20 acres of organic gardens, fields and forest in New England.
www.awomanofthesoil.blogspot.com . English gardening blog. Working in tune with nature and the environment.
www.militaryzerowaste.wordpress.com . Attempting zero waste lifestyle in a military household.
www.sureswiftsongbird.blogspot.com . Canadian vegans and 13 cats living a frugal, environmentally aware, simple life.
www.cohutt.com . Check out what goes on behind Cohutt’s fence.
www.planticrunotes.blogspot.com . A blog about gardening in Montrose, Scotland.
arignagardener 