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!

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!

And this is relaxing??!!??

I've read all the books and Coco and I have had long conversations about gardening and if it really is relaxing.

Now Coco will probably tell you that her idea of gardening is having a ride in the wheelbarrow, trying a freshly picked carrot or peas straight from the pod or having a go on her swing or a chill out with Uncle Luke in the hammock.

Uncle Luke is back from Aberystwyth for a few weeks, he is studying Genetics, poker and alcohol at University there. We are all very proud of him and probably don't tell him enough but then that's what parents, especially Dads do. 

Uncle Luke

Great Grandpa Southwellski would always tell me how well my brother Colin was doing and tell Colin how well I was doing and it was only after Great Grandpa Southwellski passed away that Colin and I spoke about it and realised that he was equally proud of us both. 

So Luke if you read this I am proud of you and all that you are doing and Coco has a very cool and chilled Uncle, even if you are a tad untidy!

Anyway is gardening relaxing?

The argument against.

I have developed a very individual war dance for when the dogs and cats stray onto the veggie plot, it would strike fear into Cochise himself.  

And when it rains from absolutely nowhere just as I am watering the peas which I stupidly placed as far away from the tap as I could and have to carry a watering can to them because the hose isn't long enough I go a decent shade of puce!

Monty

When my parsnip seeds on a strip (that are impossible to sow on a windy day and I resemble a gymnast doing a ribbon dance) only germinate every 6th seed I tend to feel a bit miffed.

Or when Monty creeps up behind me and barks just as I am removing that trickily placed side shoot just below my very first tomato of the season, which I have called Trevor by the way.



 The argument for.

Nanny Southwellski and Monty all smiles!

When Coco and I get up in the morning and let the chooks out and the birds are singing, the sun is shining and all the veggies are standing proud and glistening with early morning dew it makes me stand and look and feel good.

When Monty and Nanny Southwellski smile in unison it makes me feel warm inside and when Coco points at the carrots and peas and says 'This' as only she can, it makes the carrots taste so much sweeter. 

Trevor

 

And when our plants that we have nurtured from tiny seeds, battled to protect them from the chooks, dogs, cats and birds, watered religiously day in day out, talked to sung to and encouraged from the very start, when they start to produce the hard work is forgotten.

We have called our first tomato (left) Trevor for no reason other than it begins with 'T'.  Trevor is an Italian plum tomato who will end up in a pasta sauce of some sort.  You won't feel a thing Trevor.

Pea processing Southwellski style!

We harvested our first peas today, expecting a heavy crop we took our largest trailer (right) down to the peas and commenced picking.

Coco quickly took charge of quality control marking each suitable pea with a tooth mark, just to let me know that she had checked them all you know.

We seemed to have about twice as many pod shells as we did peas, I suspect I will trace the missing peas in tomorrows first nappy!

Our potatoes are the sweetest new potatoes you could wish to eat with just a hint of our home grown mint added at the end of cooking they are divine and the hard work in the cold of digging the plot, planting and then replanting after the chooks had dug in a fashion Time Team would have been proud of, being hit by a late frost which took them almost back to the ground, all that seems a dim and distant memory and well worth the effort.

So I guess I have answered my own question really, the fruits of Coco and my labours are more than enough to make us forget the stress and toil we have gone through to get here.

Yes, gardening is relaxing!