The early morning dew

As this blog has developed it seems that Coco and I do very little 'Real' gardening.  Nothing could be further from the truth and Nanny Southwellski has over 40 jars of preserved produce to prove it.

And that doesn't include the 9 pounds of cherries and 6 pounds of gooseberries in the freezer!

We have been eating our own veggies and fruit now for almost 3 months, but then again so have the birds, chooks and caterpillars.

Every jewel placed by hand

You see the thing is that as Coco and I wander around the garden we get a little distracted by the beauty and incredibility of it all.

Nature is a wonderful thing and we are privileged to witness it at such a close viewpoint.

We have a duty to look after our world and environment which is why Coco and I go out some mornings before breakfast and hang tiny jewels on our dandelions.

This morning, as we did our regular inspection and walked around just listening to the birds and Brutus of course welcoming the day, it occurred to me that actually all those jobs that we see every day and that need doing aren't what it's all about.

Dewdrops on our apple tree.

Our garden is a learning space for Coco and I and anyone else who wants to shed off the world for a little while and wander around and marvel at the wonder of it all.

For example, our sunflowers topped 9 feet from tiny seeds that Coco and I planted in pots in the spring.

We are going to dry the flower heads and harvest the seeds to feed the birds, and seeds for ourselves as well as to eat and sow next spring.  And so natures cycle goes on.

Our tomatoes are turning at last and we now have more than we can actually physically eat but we do have some good recipes and of course we have Nanny Southwellski with her vast array of pots and pans and jars to deal with it all.

A huge success, in my opinion is Nanny Southwellski's apple and cucumber chutney.  A couple of nights ago we polished off half a jar with cheese and crackers and it was AMAZING!!!!!

Another equally huge success is the pumpkin stuffed with leeks and cheese that we had for supper last night it was delicious!  Sadly we only have 14 more pumpkins left!

Snack attack!

Now, of late I have become fascinated by spiders.  I know nothing about them except the turn up when you least expect them, they run very fast and scare people.

But regardless of what you think about them you have to admire their ability and tenacity when it comes to web building.

Take this chappie/chappess on the left for example how long did it take to build the web that caught this bug?

Wrapped

Or this web (right) on a young Hazel nut tree.

These are just some of the things Coco and I see every day in the garden, I wonder how much we miss?

Makes you think doesn't

I have a favourite poem, it's quite short but it comes to mind frequently when we are in the garden.

LEISURE

William Henry Davies 1871 - 1940

'What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at beauty's glance,

And watch her feet how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can,

Enrich the smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Daybreak to Sunset

Sunrise

It seems to me that the more tired Coco gets during the day the earlier she wakes up the next day.  We've tried an 8 o'clock bedtime a 7 o'clock bedtime and half past 6 as well.  The result?


We are still up at about 6.15 in the morning.  Even a trip to Banham Zoo with Auntie's Angela and Sarah didn't make a difference, up bright and early this morning.

Never mind, if I'm honest I do lay there waiting some mornings for her to rouse so its really no hardship at all.

Levelling the compost!

That, in it's own way was an explanation of how we came to start this post with a sunrise picture instead of a sunset.

Anyway, we have been adding to the structural stability of our poly tunnels ; and in doing so have started to incorporate some raised beds.

It didn't take us very long at all, we screwed 4 planks of left over decking together filled it with compost and dug it into the soil below.

Firming the compost!

Coco took on the levelling job with gusto and initiative.  Having started with her rake it quickly transpired that this was neither fast enough or hands on enough for my little assistant.

The only answer really is to launch yourself onto the bed and push the compost around with your hands and then walk up and down to firm it all.

It worked a treat!

Teamwork

As you are aware we always like to bring glimpses of some of the creatures we get visiting the garden and here on the caravan wheel are a couple spiders who seem quite happy sharing a web for their evenings hunting.

We also get numerous bats flying around  the property at dusk and we could sit and watch them for hours, (except it gets dark and we can't see them) as they remove countless mozzies for us.

Now I was told/read/or heard somewhere that if you stand very still and then clap your hands slowly and rhythmically above your head the bats will fly much closer to you and you will attract more of them.

So, having checked it was September not April, I found myself a quiet little spot in the corner of the paddock which was under their main flight path and not in view of the house (or Nanny Southwellski!) and away from prying eyes.

I stood very still then slowly raised my hands up and started to clap rhythmically (Nanny Southwellski will tell you my sense of rhythm is not great and in fact seldom has any rhythm of its own, its more a random selection of steps/claps/toe taps etc.)

I tried for about 5 minutes and only succeeded in attracting Blossom, who looked at me with pity in her eyes and then wandered off.

Did it work? Did it Charlie, I doubt they will ever return.

Yellow Winged Darter

Never mind, this little chap on the left is a Yellow Winged Darter, a member of the Dragonfly family who landed on the deck fence at lunchtime.

We have quite a few of these and other Dragonflies floating around and I do mean floating around, they are incredible exponents of flight!

Sunset

And finally, tonight's sunset.  It seems only right that as we started with sunrise we should finish with sunset.

Sorry Delia, it's over!

The end :(

Yes it's over between Delia Smith and me, I have had a long relationship with the lovely Delia and in our many years together she has never let me down.

We've baked bread, made goulash, pavlova, Yorkshire puddings not to mention her luxury fish pie, I could go on.

Hugh's new book

But it's time for a change and in the Southwellski household we now love Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.



Sorry Delia.

Today he brought a magical new dough to our home, we used it for perfect pitta's and froze some of the dough for a loaf in the future.

He has made us revisit our need to eat meat with his book on veggies and how to prepare them in new and exciting ways!

We had roasted peppers, tomatoes, red onions in fresh warm pitta's and with a bit of cucumber, more fresh toms, pak choi lettuce and a dollop of mayo and they were a feast to behold!

Nigella

 Actually if truth be known I love Nigella, but wouldn't admit that in front of Nanny Southwellski.

However if I was pressed on it I would have to say it's because I actually rated her Dad as a chancellor and politician.

No, to be perfectly honest there is another chefette I rate far more than Delia, Hugh and yes even Nigella.

She has sparkly eyes, quick hands and gets right into tasting the food she prepares.

Maybe not as well known as Ainsley or as outspoken and temperamental as Gordon (although she has her moments!) she is as animated as Jamie and is not afraid to mix her foods in new and exciting ways.

Celebrity chefette to be!

Who is this genius I hear you ask?

It's none other than my sidekick and partner in many adventures - Coco!

Just look at the enjoyment on that face and the laughter in those eyes, who wouldn't want to cook at 7.15 in the morning with her?

Say chocolate!

Coco could show them a thing or two about cooking and eating I can tell you!

Whilst on the cooking theme and before we head into the garden, we have been baking our own bread just lately and it's actually a lot less hassle than I thought it would be.

We prefer a loaf with seed and grains and are currently using Allinsons yeast and flour and haven't had a bad loaf yet.

Coco and I spent most of today in the garden before visitors and a heavy downpour put paid to our plans of tidying up the veggie patch ready for the winter greens to go out.

Fowl play!

On the subject of visitors we seem to have an unwelcome one, one with a liking for tomatoes and who is tall enough to reach the ripe ones.

Today however the culprit left a tell tale sign, a trail of footprints that lead along to tomatoes and across the leeks and ended at the fence to the chook run.

His biggest mistake was to revisit the scene of the crime only for me to confront him and offer a chastisement.

I don't think Brutus was that phased by it to be honest he just turned around and went in search of his girls.

Dew on the Leeks

Fennel

Finally, it was a wonderful dew laden morning this morning and after Coco had gone back to bed for her nap I had a wander around with my camera.

And with an almost clear blue sky a shot of the Fennel flowers was just too much to resist.

Who knows, maybe tomorrow the winter greens will get planted!

(No Delia Smith cookery books were disposed of or harmed in the production of this blog)

Blow the wind Southerly, Easterly, Northerly and Westerly!

The UK has been blasted by South Westerly gale force winds, except for Grandpa Southwellski's Garden that is.

A bit of ventilation!

Here, upon reaching the garden some of the gusts took a sharp right turn (South East) after the bungalow,  took down our poly tunnel and  then rejoined their South Westerly buddies and went on towards Feltwell.

It was a bit of a blow (excuse the pun) because everything was looking lovely in there yesterday and was the source of much pride for Coco and I.

But hey ho, it will be again once we have fixed it, and if the wind drops overnight that will be our job for tomorrow.

Trevor and the boys!

Our tomatoes are at last starting to turn and I sampled the first ripe one today in a sandwich with our own cucumber and home-made bread, it was delicious and needed nothing else!

Remember Trevor and the boys? Well here they are in out of the wind and safe and well, for now anyway haha haha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

We are still busy preparing and preserving our produce and the next batch of fruit for preserving arrived in the kitchen earlier in the shape of a huge basketful of pears.

It always amazes me how much fruit you end up with once it's actually off the tree.  There never seems to be that much when its growing.

Moon rising over Hawthorns

We also made our fist batch of Hawthorn Syrup which is good for circulation, heart problems, hardened arteries and anxiety and restlessness.  So if I suddenly fall asleep on the keyboar.........
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...d you will know why.

This will go alongside our Rosehip Syrup which has already proven its worth with a cold circulating at the moment, it certainly makes a difference.

A peck of purple peppers

In the poly tunnel we have (had?) a good crop of peppers and chilli's coming on and one plant has peppers that are a beautiful purple colour.

I've not seen these before so whether they will turn red at some point I am not sure.

Now as for the melons, well I am not sure if its was a cruel joke on the part of Focus or if it was the mix up in labelling when I was being ably assisted by my small partner in grime but the melons we planted are now sporting some really healthy looking Cucumbers!  Not a melon in sight!

Never mind, peeled, chopped and put in a bowl with some grapes, cherries and a splash of cream and no one will know!

One of the chicks

The chicks are doing exceptionally well and we have 6 of Brutus's offspring along with 3 Buff Orpington's which are about 5 days younger that the first brood.

Blossom is beside herself and is waiting for the chance to get in the cage with them.

We moved the chicks into the utility room and when I put the dogs to bed Blossom sat there staring into the cage, she was still there the next morning in the very same spot!

She was exhausted all day and didn't even bark at passing dog walkers.

Well that's it for tonight, hopefully tomorrow will see the poly tunnel rebuilt, plants retied and everything back to being good in the garden.  Now for some more Hawthorn syrup!

Goodbye Lou

Lou

We had been treating Lou our Rottie cross for what were essentially bedsores on her elbows and wrists for the last three weeks. Sadly during that time she lost mobility in her back legs and we made the very painful decision to have her put to sleep yesterday.

I have never experienced having to make that decision before and Nanny Southwellski and I  talked long and hard and with many many tears before deciding that it was unfair for us to keep her living as she was for any longer.

It was for us that we didn't take the decision sooner and selfishly we had kept going with washing her wounds, packing them with honey and dressing them daily.  It must have been awful for her as they were down to the bone but being the sort of dog she was she didn't complain at all, just gave a gentle wag of her tail when she saw me coming with the bowl of iodine and the dressings.

The final moments were very peaceful, Jeremy the vet came to the house and climbed under the desk so as not to move her and gently trimmed the fur on her back leg before injecting her.  She died peacefully without as much as a whimper with her head in Nanny Southwellski's lap.

In all honesty, I think had we seen Jeremy the first time we took her to the vets three weeks ago we would have made the decision then and she wouldn't have had to go through any of the unnecessary treatment.  But, we saw another vet who said she would recover eventually and that despite her being 18 she had a long time left.

I suppose the moral of this tale is get a second opinion and take a step back and look at what is happening to your dog (or cat, horse, pig, hamster or whatever it is you have) and ask, what about them?

Lou was a rescue dog who was extremely nervous and would bolt upstairs at any sudden sound. If you went to grab her collar she would squeal like a stuck pig even if you hadn't touched her.

Her nervousness subsided as she became deaf after which she put on weight and never reacted to anything.

She was incredibly gentle and never so much as bared her teeth at anyone with the exception of 3 travellers who were intending to come onto a building site we were running.

Lou came to work with us and sat in the back of the van during the day.  I heard some shouting and a deep barking and on going to investigate I found Lou, hackles up standing her ground and refusing to let the unwanted visitors in.

That was a one off, but from then on I always believed that if her loyalty to us were to be tested she would not let us down.

She was a regular visitor to our training centres and had a natural affinity to our students who had learning disabilities and one young man in particular, Jonathan, had a great affection for her and would always take for walks and make sure she had water and toilet breaks.

He loved the responsibility and I have no doubt that Lou was responsible for starting the process that made him the confident young man he was when he left.

Our home is an emptier and sadder place without her but we are glad she is no longer suffering.

We love and miss you Lou. x

Congratulations Brutus its a Chick!, and another and another and.......

'Daddy!'

Brutus became a father for the first six times on Monday and the little ones are doing well.

We hatched six of our eggs and have a brood of beautiful fluffy chicks.  Nanny Southwellski has named them all as Spot, Zorro, Amber, Easter, Patch and Copper.

It was a stressful time watching them 'pip' and then break out of their shells, Spot arrived first and the second chick arrived as we were at the official opening of Wideham Farm Equestrian Centre.

Bless their little fluffinesses!

Nanny Southwellski then had concerns that they might have different birthdays as the hours of Monday passed and the last chicks still had yet to arrive.

However all was well and the final chicks arrived while Nanny was talking to her sister Julie in New Zealand.

So technically Julie knew about them being born twelve hours before they arrived.  Oooh too confusing!

We have to do it all again this weekend with 5 Buff Orpington's due!

Spot

It's 4 days since they were born and their rate of growth is incredible, it is possible to just sit and watch them for hours on end, indeed one of us does!

Coco is very gentle with them and knows how to 'call' them by scratching her fingers on the floor.

There will be many many more photos of them on Nanny Southwellski's Flickr page just google 'Southwellski' and it will be there.

One of the many cucumbers!

On a more gardening centred note we are experiencing a glut of cucumbers, be nice to have a few ripe red tomatoes to go with them and perhaps a crisp bit of Pak Choi as well.

The tomatoes are still not ripening either indoors or out although I am sure one of them is starting to change colour.

 I have even hung a ripe banana in amongst the tomatoes, just to give them a little idea of what they should be doing.

Chilli? - put a coat on then!

Our peppers are looking very healthy and we also have the first of our little chilli's making an appearance (its in the middle of the photo).

The bell peppers are growing as you watch them, and we have yellow and green ones, not sure if any will turn red, if they're like the tomatoes probably not.





Outside is quite busy too with the pumpkin plants dying back we can see the pumpkins themselves and we have twelve football sized fruits just starting to turn (tomatoes take note).

We also had two cucumbers as well, not sure where they came from, although Coco was a nifty one for pulling the labels out of the seed trays.

Nanny Southwellski is not sure if she likes pumpkins or not so we will try one and if not the rest can go on sale at the front of the house.

Our weeds are doing exceptionally well especially the nettles, but there is a reason I am not pulling everything up wholesale, well two reasons really.

The reasons are Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal.  They are the joint authors of 'Hedgerow Medicine' a book about just that, remedies from the plants (and weeds) we find in and around our gardens.

However, unlike many other tomes relating to the topic, this book not only tells you the properties of each plant but how to harvest, prepare and use the remedies. I will expand on this in later posts.

Finally, I should say a big hello to Tony and Linda in Tasmania, and to Julie in New Zealand of course.  Who'd have thought Grandpa Southwellski's Garden would go global!