Pansies, Pottery and Poetry

March begins this week. A step nearer to Spring. The vernal equinox is on the 21st. That’s when the day and night are of equal length and the natural world goes mad in a riot of colour and activity. Can’t wait!

Things are definitely stirring though. The birds are calling for mates. I saw the first frog of the year in the pond two days ago and daffodils are glowing in the garden.

The tiny tete-a-tetes are so beautiful and some are a bit lost behind one of the polytunnels, so I brought in a few to enjoy. Their miniature trumpets and dainty petals are a joy to look at. I have them on the kitchen windowsill to gaze at while I work.

Also indoors I have my amaryllis to admire. It has opened two flowers and two more will follow soon. Perhaps a bit full-on, but so gorgeous.

A butterfly was visiting the potted pansies and basking on the sunny house wall. It looked a bit ragged but was a welcome sight.

The pansies took a beating during the extreme cold a few weeks ago but they’re flourishing now and more flowers appear by the day.

There’s a lot of moss in our garden. Many parts are shaded by the trees and this and the light sandy soil seem to encourage it . I even find it on the potted conifers, draped across the branches.

More crocuses are popping up. Their inner petals have stripes so delicate that they look like they were painted with the finest watercolour brush .

The kale is growing well now and I picked some to make my cheesey potato bake. The smallest leaves are so tender and sweet I was nibbling them while I prepared to cook them.

Normally, with this, I steam the kale over the boiling potatoes and when I’ve added the cheese to the mash, I spread it over the kale and softened onion, then bake it for about thirty-five minutes to brown the cheese. This time I tried my airfryer to do the browning. Wow! It took four minutes instead of thirty-five in the conventional oven. Fantastic. What a saving in fuel.

The result was pleasing. It wasn’t quite as heated through but I could have used the bake setting for a few more minutes if necessary. It was perfect for eating immediately, so I was completely satisfied.

The full instructions for making my Cheesey Potato Bake are in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook. https://geni.us/eANQu

An easy, nutritious and economical meal. Very tasty, and satisfying, with chutney or your favourite sauce.

Next week, I have a new recipe for you. I had some dried cranberries to use, so I rustled up some delicious cakes. As usual, it’s an easy recipe which takes only a few minutes to make.

Fresh cranberries are very sour but the dried ones are sweetened with fruit juices and plump up really nicely when baked. I use them in my Banana and Cranberry Loaf, a great favourite of ours, which I know some of you have tried. This new recipe is for cranberry squares and is very simple. More of this next week.

I had such a response to my studio pottery photos two weeks ago that I thought you might like to see a few more.

Finally, here’s a poem I wrote at this time last year about the pleasure and poignancy of renewal all around us.

Early Spring Flowers

Snowdrops nod their dainty petals,
With daffodils not far behind
Where every foraging bee settles
When the faltering sun is kind.

The colours of these early blooms
Lift the dullness of the season,
Banish winter's deadening glooms
And restore again life's reason.

Each satin crocus shining bright.
In all perfection, pure and clean
Is pointing upwards to the light,
To which each one of us should lean.

Regeneration is our goal,
We welcome signs of early Spring,
Cherish this food for the soul
And shrug off Winter's cruel sting.

Let’s hope the weather remains kind. At least we can go out into our gardens and countryside and enjoy the early show. Bye for now. With you again next week.