Living a contented creative life.

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.

I’m hoping this spell of good weather will last. The garden is looking better by the day but Winter has a nasty way of surprising us at times like these. February is not Spring, although we all like to believe it is. Grateful though for every opportunity to admire the few flowers daring to brave the cold nights and shine in the daylight.

The snowdrops are a fine show right now and the early crocuses are very pretty.

I planted primulas to give a cheerful greeting by the front door. Their leaves have suffered because of the cold but the flowers are just beginning to open and will be lovely in a week or so.

The hellebores continue to put on a splendid show. I planted a very dark one a few years ago and it’s been very slow to flower. At last it has produced one sophisticated bloom, almost black and very lovely. Not fully open yet but here’s a glimpse to be going on with,

Others are luscious shades of pink and white, some with double petals and fascinating centres.

I bought a collection of mail-order hellebores a few years ago. When they arrived I was dismayed to see the tiniest of plants. I potted them and kept them in the greenhouse for a year. Planted in the garden, they grew slowly and have never made big plants. They produce very few flowers. In contrast, when I’ve bought well-established plants from our local nursery they have flourished and produced abundant flowers. So, my conclusion is not to buy mail-order hellebores. Pretty they may be, but only two or three flowers don’t give enough satisfaction.

I find herbs are very good plants. Often they’re regarded as just useful for cooking but many of them are beautiful too. The well known ones like rosemary and marjoram are evergreen and have lovely flowers. My prostrate rosemary, which splays on the ground in a pleasing way, has delicate blue flowers at the moment. Sage makes a woody shrub which looks good even in Winter.

Indoors, I’ve been waiting for my amaryllis to bloom. It has grown an enormously tall stem and I wondered if it would actually produce a flower. I’m pleased to see a few pretty petals emerging at last. In a few days it will be lovely. I’ll put another photo on when it’s fully formed.

I had to use the last of my stored cooking apples. A rat had chewed through the floor of the shed and everything was a mess! Only a few apples were spared but I didn’t want to waste them. I think in future I won’t store them like that, although I have done for many years. I will freeze them as stewed apples and lots of cakes.

After a good clean up and peeling I used the last precious few to make my apple and cinnamon squares. A firm favourite of ours. The recipe is in my “Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook”. Very easy to make and absolutely delicious. If you’ve tried the recipe, here’s a tip. One day when I forgot to sprinkle sugar over the apples before covering them with the cake mixture, in desperation I sprinkled the sugar mixed with cinnamon on top of the cake mixture before putting it into the oven. To my relief and surprise it made a delicious, crispy topping. Now, I always make them like this. They also make a lovely pudding with some Greek yoghurt or ice-cream. We love them and I hope you will too. You’ll find my cookbook with this link:

https://geni.us/eANQu

Regular readers might remember that I make wine. Nowadays I just make parsnip but I tried many different kinds in the past. Parsnip is a really good, warming, Winter wine. Just a hint of sweetness and leaves a gentle glow in the chest as it goes down. It’s a pleasure to make and a joy to drink. It’s time to rack off my last batch.

When it was made and put into the demijohn to ferment it was very cloudy.

Now, after a few months, it’s clear and ready to be racked off the yeast into a fresh demijohn to mature for a while in a cool, dark place.

There is absolutely no need to add chemicals to home-made wine to make it clear. If you’re keen to have a go, my recipe and full instructions are in my cookbook. See my link above for details.

Last week I talked about my liking of studio pottery and showed a few from my collection. I had a lovely response. Obviously, there are like-minded readers out there. Thank you to everyone who commented. It’s always appreciated and good to know I’m not posting in vain.

With you again next week. Wait patiently for Spring and enjoy the early flowers in the meantime. Bye for now.

Almost halfway through February. So glad to see the days growing longer and some opportunities to do a few jobs.

Indoors, it’s time to “chit” the seed potatoes bought at our local nursery. This means putting them in a light spot to encourage shoots before planting. The light is necessary to produce firm little green and purple sprouting growths, not the long white ones which develop when they’re kept in the dark. We don’t want those. Best positioned with the majority of the “eyes” pointing upwards. Egg boxes are useful for this because they separate and support the potatoes. I will plant these in a few weeks time when the soil has warmed a bit.

The garden is slowly coming to life with bulbs pushing upwards and a few flowers here and there. Some sunny afternoons have lit up the garden, while interesting clouds have painted the sky.

My little garden friend has been bobbing about, in and out of the trees. I love to see his bright eyes and pert little body. Very bold, but still quite cautious so it’s difficult to snap a crisp photo.

The bumble bees are busy going about, in and out of all the flowers. I caught this snap of one in a green hellebore.

The lengthening days encourage the Spring vegetables to grow after their Winter sleep. The lettuces in the greenhouse are perking up at last and the cabbages in the tunnel are sprouting new leaves from the centre. A drop of water on a leaf looks like a gleaming diamond. I’ve had an abundant supply of fresh parsley all Winter. Hardy with a bit of protection, they grow really well in the polytunnel.

I like to add chopped parsley to my chicken soup. It makes a hearty meal. I use two Kallo organic chicken stock cubes, half a vegetable one, two sticks of celery, a chopped leek or onion, diced potatoes, one medium parsnip, two carrots, parsley, and cooked chicken cut into small pieces. I add about one and a half litres of water and 50g of red lentils, bring to the boil and stir well to prevent the lentils from sticking. Then simmer until the vegetables are tender. When it’s ready I thicken it slightly with a hand blender.

When I make soup, I simmer for just ten minutes then place the pan into my thermal cooker. It continues to cook without any electricity. I’ve mentioned my thermal cooker in previous posts. A fuel-saving device well worth having.

Regular readers will know that I love pottery. Over many years I’ve picked up pieces from charity shops, flea markets, boot sales and so on. I have plates, serving dishes and ornaments from many different periods and factories.

Although I love old items I also enjoy examples of the potter’s craft in the form of contemporary studio pottery. These are one-off items made by hand, so they’re very special in their own way. I’ve bought some of these from galleries and individual potters. I’ve occasionally found them in charity shops. Because they have a potter’s mark instead of a factory backstamp they’re often overlooked.

I appreciate the art and skill, the texture of the clay and the different glazes. Here are just a few examples of some of my favourites.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these examples. Finally, here is a painting I did of a favourite pot made by a friend and some little boxes made by my husband. I painted these with acrylics on a canvas board.

Winter will soon be over and our gardens will blossom again. Stay warm, well-fed and contented. With you again next week. Bye for now.

The garden is gradually coming back to life. The snowdrops have opened more of their snow-white flowers but there are many more to follow. Tipping up the dainty blooms allows me to see the delicate green markings on the inner petals. So pretty! I’m surprised every year when I discover one tiny clump of double ones. I forget that I have them and it’s only when I tip up the flowers that I realise they’re there.

I might buy more double ones if I see them for sale. You can’t have too many snowdrops. So welcome in Winter when the garden lies dark and drab.

The hellebores are awakening. Their lovely petals come in beautiful colours with splashes of red, pink or green on the inside. Some have double petals and lovely stamens.

Such lovely flowers and so hardy. These are the oriental hellebores. I recommend them if you want colour in the colder months.

Even the Yucca has sent up a flower spike. It might not withstand another blast of hard frost but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It will have beautiful creamy-white bell flowers if it succeeds.

I bought a dozen primulas from our wonderful local nursery and edged a path with them. Nothing to show yet but I’m hoping they will be glorious in two or three weeks.

Round about November I sowed seeds of broad beans in the greenhouse. Sadly, the weather changed drastically and the compost became too cold and wet. The seeds came up but the tiny plants rotted, unfortunately. So, I’m trying again. I’ve sowed seeds straight into the bed in the polytunnel. They should be protected there and with a bit of luck will do better. Then I will plant them outside later.

Lots of birds visiting the garden. Lovely long-tailed tits have been flitting about in the trees and visiting the feeders.

Of course, these smaller birds do attract predators. There was a beautiful sparrowhawk in the pear tree behind the house the other day. Looked sleek and well fed! A privilege to see it close up though. Couldn’t manage to take a photo. They’re nervous and the slightest movement from me scared it off.

Mice have got into the tool shed where the apples are stored. They’ve munched their way through some and made a right old mess. Time to use what’s left. I had a few in the house too and a new recipe was forming in my head, so tried it out. Very pleased with the result, so I’ll share it with you.

Apple and Pecan Flan.

You will need a flan dish, approximately 8"/22.5cm in diameter.
1 cup Plain Flour
third cup of Sunflower Oil
quarter cup of cold water

Put all these in a food processor and whiz to combine. 
Grease the flan dish with the residue oil in the cup measure.
Remove the pastry ball and press evenly into the flan dish, ensuring it's fully covered and a little up the sides.
Pop into the fridge while you prepare the rest.

2-3 Cooking Apples
50g Pecan Nuts, broken into pieces
1 Egg
50g Caster Sugar
50g Self-raising Flour
1 level teaspoon Baking Powder
50g Sunflower Oil

Add salt to a bowl of cold water ( about 1 tablespoon to 500ml).
Peel and core the apples. Cut into small pieces and put them into the salted water, as you work, to prevent browning.
Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan oven.
Mix the egg, sugar, flour, baking powder and oil in the food processor, to make a cake batter. 
Rinse and drain the apples. Place evenly in the bottom of the pastry case.
Carefully spoon the cake mixture over the apples.
Sprinkle the nuts evenly over the top.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.
Test the centre with a skewer. If it's clean, it's cooked through.
Delicious as it is or served warm with ice-cream.

The kitchen has been described as the “heart of the home”. I certainly agree with that. Baking is one of my favourite activities . The creative process, the aroma, the visual appeal and the sensual enjoyment of eating the end product are all part of the pleasure. I even love the cooking tools I use.

Whatever you’re doing, I hope it’s enjoyable. With you again next week with more photos and a bit of chat.

Almost February. The days are gradually lengthening and the garden is slowly stirring. Time for a bit of trimming of dark, dead stems and soggy leaves, to make room for emerging green shoots. Whenever there’s a dry day I shall be out there tidying and making ready for the Spring show.

One day last week I had an opportunity and ventured out to do a little work. It’s surprising what you find in a garden. I discovered a lovely leaf, just like a piece of lace and some beautiful empty snail shells.

Birds are busy already. The woodpigeons are nesting again in the beech tree. It has a lot of ivy which helps to hide the nest and provides berries throughout the Winter. Sadly though, it’s not a perfect hiding place because the jackdaws and magpies often find it and take the eggs. Perfectly natural, but hard on the pigeons!

The crow’s nest in the birch trees just behind our garden has been there for three or four years. It’s stayed intact through some heavy storms and I think it has been reused. Crows certainly return in Spring and we hear their loud cawing and flapping about.

I love to see the jackdaws flying overhead to their night roosts in the late afternoon, and the sparrows gathering in the hawthorn trees.

We seem to have a lot of rain. The snowdrops and hellebores are sometimes a bit mud-splashed. Raindrops do look so nice on things though.

In the polytunnels, the Spring cabbages are a bit slug-nibbled but they’re holding their own and in a couple of weeks they’ll start to shoot up. I fed the garlic with some comfrey pellets because some of the leaves looked a bit pale and floppy.

Almost time to start sowing seeds but I’m usually cautious. It’s easy to start seeds off in the warmth of the house but it’s a waste of time and effort to plant them out while frosts threaten. Later sowings soon take off when the ground has had time to heat up and the nights are no longer freezing. I might risk a few kohl rabi and mizuna in the polytunnel where they’re protected from extremes, but most of my sowing will happen in March and April.

Indoors, a warm kitchen keeps me happy. I made more mince pies. I know Christmas is long gone but I have lots of home-made mincemeat. We love a warm mince pie dusted with icing sugar. Mmm. Delicious. I baked two dozen and froze some. Twenty-five seconds in the microwave heats two frozen ones to perfection.

Often, when I bake, there is a bit of pastry left over so I make jam tarts with these scraps. So easy and such a treat. Because the pastry has been rolled a couple of times the tarts are often mis-shapen but it really doesn’t matter. They don’t need to look posh. Still taste so good.

It’s important to dilute the jam with a few drops of hot water and stir it to dissolve it slightly before filling the tarts. The jam boils in the oven and becomes too thick and chewy if it isn’t diluted before baking. Result is toothache, if it’s too concentrated!

Time when I’m not busy means time to appreciate small things. I always ask my son to give me an amaryllis bulb at Christmas. It’s growing now but not yet flowering. The stem is very tall. I noticed a fascinating pattern of sunlight on the wall around it one afternoon. The light was shining through glass with a rippled effect, around the door. It made a lovely pattern and striking shadow. I took a shot.

The same light was playing on one of my paintings.

So many little things around the home can give pleasure. The way the light falls and makes shadows, the shapes of simple kitchen tools, lovely pottery, are just a few examples. Here is a small selection of things which caught my eye..

Enjoy your own pleasures as we all wait for Winter to pass. With you again next week. Bye for now.

Snow and ice! A cold garden, covered in a white blanket last week. Not a favourite of mine but even so, an opportunity to see some lovely sights.

The birds have been tucking in on the bird table and feeders. Although they’re very elusive I snapped a few through the window,

Signs that spring is only weeks away are emerging around the garden. Lovely hellebores are slowly unfolding buds. Snowdrops, daffodils and tulips are pushing skywards. I found a couple of primula flowers blooming despite being full of melted snow.

Always plenty to see, whatever the weather.

The winter clematis are beautiful. I have two varieties of Clematis cirrhoza draped over an arch. One side has “Wisley cream” and the other side has “Freckles” I think the photos explain which is which.

Despite the icy conditions, I found another bumble bee, busily visiting the clematis flowers and the small white blossom of the scented winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima. He was very quick but I managed to snap a couple of photos.

I even found a beautiful, fat, green caterpillar among the carrot leaves in the polytunnel. I hadn’t the heart to throw it out. Didn’t seem to be doing any harm, and moths and butterflies are declining. Who knows what a beauty it might become? I left it to do whatever it needed to.

Indoors, I have been reading a lot. I need to do some baking but I’ve been learning about food science. “Food for Life” by professor Tim Spector. Extremely interesting, sensible stuff, nothing to do with eating fads and all that nonsense about “superfoods”. All food is good if it’s not over-processed. I find it fascinating to learn about food and what it contains. You can always discover something you didn’t know.

Regular readers will know that my recipes are simple and don’t involve exotic ingredients. Comfort food, in a way. Basic ingredients which produce satisfying, nutritious and tasty meals. I have a few tricks and must-haves up my sleeve but anyone can cook using my methods.

I think we all need to be able to look after ourselves and the cost of living is so high now that it’s important not to waste anything. With that in mind I had two ideas last week for easy ways to use up bits of food.

My first one was a bacon and bread pudding. I had two strips of bacon and a few dry slices of bread. Not good for much on their own. So, I snipped the bacon into bits, chopped an onion and a tomato and tore some basil leaves. I put these with pieces of bread into a baking dish and mixed them together. I beat two eggs with about 300mls of milk and a little pepper, then poured this over the bread mixture. Allowed the bread to soak up the moisture, then baked in the microwave for 10 minutes. A tasty meal served with some vegetables and nothing wasted.

This would work in the electric or gas oven for about half an hour and parsley would be just as good instead of basil. I grow beautiful basil in my greenhouse in the summer but it doesn’t like the cold. In Winter, I buy a pot of growing basil from the supermarket. I keep it on the kitchen windowsill and feed it with cold tea every day. It keeps going for a couple of weeks and I can use it for a few meals.

Another idea came about in a similar way. I had a small piece of cooked chicken. Not enough on it’s own but combined with other ingredients it made a delicious meal. Using the food processor, I added the chicken with sliced onion, basil leaves, a couple of slices of bread, salt and pepper and an egg. Whizzed them together, formed the resulting mash into flattened patties and fried them in a little heated oil in the frying pan. Cooked for a few minutes until golden brown on each side and served with vegetables and chutney, they were delicious.

This way, what seems like a scrap of food can be turned into something nutritious and appealing. The eggs give extra protein and the bread pads out the texture to make a filling meal. They’re easy to do and don’t use a lot of fuel. Again, any kind of herb like parsley, sage or marjoram would do, if basil isn’t a favourite.

Finally, here’s a cheerful little painting to brighten the Winter.

I hope you’ll join me again next week. Stay warm and healthy. Bye for now.

Halfway through January and Winter is truly underway. It has been relatively mild although the forecast is for colder weather soon. This is when I appreciate hearth and home more than ever. Enjoying baking in my warm kitchen and snuggled up by the fire at night.

But then I have always appreciated being at home, no matter what the season. Home is the hub of all my activities. Gardening, cooking my produce, baking delicious cakes, knitting, painting, using my camera and writing my blog. All my treasured possessions have a place here and it provides me with a base for enjoying the things they enable me to do.

I enjoy creating. It’s lovely to have an item to use and appreciate when you’ve spent some energy. I have been knitting a warm jumper. A pleasant way to pass wet, cold, days when the garden looks forbidding. The needles are no longer clicking. I can actually wear it now. Here’s the result.

The colours are cheerful and cosy looking.

Since I last mentioned I was knitting, a few readers have told me that they would love to knit but can’t quite master it. My advice is to keep trying. It took me years to do it well. I can only cope with simple patterns , even now, and I still make mistakes if I lose concentration but it’s a very satisfying hobby when you persevere. Here are a few helpful hints which patterns never tell you.

Patterns don't tell you practical tips such as the following:
*With a highlighter, mark the number of stitches and rows throughout  the pattern for your individual size, before you begin. Saves confusion as you work.
*It's helpful to have a pencil and notepad on hand while you knit. Then you can mark off the rows while counting them. If you have to answer the phone, you will know where you are in your pattern when you return to your knitting.
*Always pull the yarn very tight when you knit the first stitch in every row. That way you will have a neat edge when the knitting is finished.
*When you begin or end a piece of knitting, leave a length of yarn so that you can weave it in with a darning needle when sewing the pieces together. That secures it very well and leaves no unsightly knots.
*Once you've mastered the basic stitches of knit and purl, casting on and casting off, you can tackle most things. Knitting small toys is often a good way to practice these skills. They're quick and simple and fun to do so you don't feel daunted by a huge project.

Don't give up. Invest in a good book of instructions if you find that's a good way to learn, and don't be put off by examples of fancy patterns. You don't need to do them! If you progress though, you might find them enjoyable.
I hope I can encourage you to keep trying. It's a nice way to pass winter hours. Please believe me, if I can do it, anybody can! I'm not a "natural", I have to work at these things.

The garden is included when I talk about the appreciation of home. It’s part of my feeling of being grounded and essential to my sense of who I am. I try most days to go into the garden, if only for a look around. Much of it looks soggy and dark right now but pretty little flowers are peeping out here and there and the snowdrops are pushing up. The bellis daisies are so fresh and appealing in their simplicity and the cyclamen announce their arrival with vivid colour. Won’t be long before the daffodils cheer us with their astonishing brightness.

I noticed a log with some weed leaves splayed beautifully over it. The texture of the bark was lovely to see and the fresh leaves were green and shapely.

Beauty is around us if we choose to look. It’s surprising where you can find loveliness if you notice small details.

I hope you’re finding lots of pleasurable pastimes during the dreary Winter. One pleasure is cooking warming and sustaining meals. Since Christmas I’ve been making a lot of my one-pan meals with simple, seasonal ingredients like carrots, sprouts, kale, celeriac and parsnips. Because I cook them all together in very little water, all the goodness and flavour are retained and they’re delicious. The vegetables combine well with potatoes or rice. Ideas, and instructions, are in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook.

These can be meat or fish based or vegetarian and I’m inclining more and more to vegetarian versions. Some ground nuts or a handful of red lentils, added to the pan, make a nutritious and tasty alternative. Ideas are buzzing around in my head all the time.

Something I’ve developed recently is a small addition of yoghurt, creme fraiche, or soured cream. I wait until the vegetables are cooked then remove the pan from the heat and stir in a dollop of one of these. It combines with the stock and makes a flavourful sauce. A very satisfying meal to make and eat and so simple.

I hope you’re enjoying your own home comforts. With you again next week. Bye for now.

I love the fresh pages of a new diary in January. I always have two. One is for general day-to-day events and the other is for my gardening notes. I’m not a “dear diary” type of person. Mine would be boring for anyone else to read (Windows cleaned, paid! etc) but they are so useful as a reminder when I need to look back for when something happened.

My gardening diary helps me to remember when I sowed seeds, planted out, and the names of vegetable varieties I’ve chosen to grow. My head is like a sieve, so I value this information. I also record the weather and sightings of birds or other wildlife in the garden. Nice to read back on a wintry night.

I like these plain black ones because the layout is good and they look neat on the bookshelf.

Each year our daughter has a calendar made for me using my photos of food, vegetables and kitchen tools. It’s such a lovely idea and I really appreciate it.

The weather has been kinder since the severe frosts of last month. Blackened leaves have been hiding fresh new buds and pretty flowers to brighten up a bedraggled garden.

I actually saw a bee buzzing around the flowers on my winter clematis! That seems very early. I know bumble bees often emerge from their nests in February on sunny days but I don’t think I ever saw one in January before.

I did a bit of tidying around my hellebore border, removing damaged leaves and debris which had blown over emerging shoots. I was annoyed with myself when I found I had snipped off a little flower. I brought it in with some snowdrops to make a tiny arrangement in a small wine glass, so all was not lost after all.

Hellebores are such wonderful flowers, so welcome in the Winter when little else is flourishing. Only a few have opened up yet but the buds are steadily increasing.

While I was clearing the border, I found a little hidey-hole at the back underneath leaves and tree roots. I hope it’s keeping a small hedgehog snug for the Winter.

In the vegetable garden, new plants are slowly growing. The greenhouse is protecting my Winter lettuces which I grew from seed a few months back. The heavy frost didn’t damage them despite having no extra protection. Only small yet but gaining and will take off in February when the days lengthen.

I have sworn not to buy any more mail-order plants after many disappointments but my weakness kicked in when I thought about growing cauliflowers. So, again, against my better judgement, I splashed out on six little plants. When I say little, I mean little! When they arrived they were barely beyond the seedling stage. I planted them immediately in one of the polytunnels with fingers crossed that they might grow. I will keep you posted.

Indoors I have some stored squashes, which I grew last Summer. I thought it was time to use a small one, but I only needed a quarter of it for one of my one-pan meals. To use the rest I made soup. Very simple and nice to have on a cold day.

Here is my recipe for four servings.

Squash and Cashew Soup
1 small Onion
approximately 350g Squash, prepared weight
2 Vegetable Stock cubes
1 stick Celery
50g Cashew Nuts
1 litre Water
Soured Cream or Creme Fraiche

Roughly chop the onion and celery. Cube the squash.
Put ingredients, including cashew nuts, into a large pan, add water and crumbled stock cubes. Bring to the boil and stir to dissolve stock cubes.
Turn down the heat and simmer for twenty-five to thirty minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Liquidise in a food processor jug or use a hand blender. 
Just before serving stir in a spoonful of soured cream or creme fraiche.

Indoors, my Christmas cactus is looking lovely with it’s deep pink flowers. Big tiered blossoms with a silky sheen hang off the ends of rough old stems. It’s an ancient plant but still produces a few pretty blooms every year.

My knitting is coming along nicely. I shall soon have another warm jumper to wear but I haven’t had the time to paint anything since before Christmas. Here’s an old picture reminding me of Spring when the ladybirds will be active again.

With you again next week. Stay warm and find lots of enjoyable pastimes to while away the Winter. Bye for now.

We stand at the beginning of the year
Full of hope and good intentions.
The old year gone, our spirits stir
And throw away those last-year tensions.

Bring on the new, embrace it all.
Expand the mind, the heart, the soul.
Go forward, not afraid to fall.
There's every chance you'll reach your goal.

Happy New Year everyone! Very best wishes for good health and happiness in 2023.

Christmas was lovely . I hope yours was too.

Christmas dinner was so enjoyable! Cooking it was a pleasure with all the lovely aroma, a glass of sherry and Handel’s “Messiah” in the background. My festive flan was as delicious as ever, the parsnips were sweet and the roast potatoes were crisp and golden. Eaten with copious helpings of my cranberry sauce. A winning combination for us.

The Christmas cake is going down a treat and chocolates are my big temptation . I’ve been over-indulging so my New Year resolution is to go back to healthy eating and lose some weight. I say this every year!! Perhaps in another week!

Around Christmas I love to think about my gardening needs for next year, so I sorted my seed packets. I have loads. Can’t resist buying seeds, even though I might never use some of them. That wonderful promise contained in those tiny specks is so exciting. I made a list of what I have and I think it’s complete.

I usually buy smaller packets now, to ensure I use fresh seed, but I do find some leftover ones are too good to throw away. Especially peas and beans. They keep well and usually come in generous amounts greater than our needs. I only grow a few plants of our favourite vegetables. I don’t see the point in growing enormous amounts and we haven’t got exotic tastes. I grow familiar vegetables for satisfying and nutritious meals, and make sure I have something to harvest all year round. That keeps me happy as a gardener and a cook.

I will grow more “Autumn King” carrots this year. They’re an old variety with a delicious flavour and grow big if I remember to sow the seed thinly so they’re not overcrowded. I still have plenty in the polytunnel, along with parsnips and celeriac.

The sprout plants were hopeless last year. For some reason, they just didn’t grow and the sprouts were few and very tiny. Had to buy some for my festive flan. Not bad but not quite as sweet as little homegrown ones. Must do better this year.

Kale is a good Winter standby. Full of goodness, tasty and reliable. I prefer the less curly one called “Red Winter” or “Red Russian”, which recovers well after hard frosts. It has a purple tinge to the stems and frilly green leaves. Always tender when steamed or stir-fried.

In the flower garden, the hellebores are budding. I have the oriental ones which do better in my garden than Heleborus niger, the one people call the “Christmas Rose”. I have a lovely cream, oriental one which starts budding in October and is now flowering really well. A welcome sight in my tired, dreary, Winter garden.

Bulbs are showing little green tips just peeping out of the soil. A few snowdrops are pushing up and showing flower buds.

Apart from tidying the polytunnels, it’s been too wet for gardening. Even my camera is having a rest because the garden offers little in the way of photo opportunities at this time of year, although I try to find other points of interest when flowers are not freely available.

When I can’t go out in the garden and there’s no need to bake, my fingers start itching to do some knitting. I like to buy yarn in sales and keep it for a rainy day. Some of it I’ve had for years but it’s good to have supplies ready when I feel creative. Then I find a suitable pattern and start those needles clicking. I’m knitting a jumper in lovely colours. The yarn is a bit chunky so knits nice and quickly and it’s 50 percent wool so it’s warm. I think it will be lovely to wear.

I hope you’ve also found a few quiet moments to be creative.

Have you managed to use up the Christmas food? There is a tendency for us all to overstock at Christmas, just in case! Sometimes it takes a lot of imagination to keep coming up with innovative ideas rather than waste all that excess. I expect the turkey and ham have gone by now. With a lot of pleasure, I should think. My festive flan provided us with Boxing Day lunch as well, so a nice relaxing day after all the activity.

All over for another year. Onwards and upwards now with New Year resolutions and a fresh start. Good luck, everyone. With you again next week. Bye for now.

The frost has gone for now and it’s wet and windy. Most people prefer the crisp bright days but I’m relieved that it’s a few degrees warmer. At least you can move about without icy hazards underfoot.

The garden looks a little bedraggled after the harsh frosts. Fortunately the hellebores, winter clematis and jasmine perk up again once the frost has melted.

The leucojum, like a giant snowdrop, is sending up its leaves again and will flower in a few weeks’ time. Always a reliable early Spring flower.

Indoors, my Christmas cactus is a bit slow to flower this year. It’s an old plant and probably needs repotting.

Like me, it’s getting old and can’t quite manage the full performance. Sometimes I need to just put my feet up and keep warm. It was a busy week, so why not?

Our family were here for our early Christmas get-together. It was a happy occasion with good food and gifts and began the festive feeling for all of us. One member of the family will be working for some of the Christmas days so this time together was precious.

For our own Christmas dinner, just two of us, we have a vegetarian meal. Trust me, this is as tasty and satisfying as any meaty dinner. I started this a few years ago when we’d had a lot of meat for our family meal before Christmas. I felt almost like I needed a detox! So I looked for an alternative and came up with my festive flan. We loved it so much that it has become a tradition.

It contains ground cashews, winter vegetables and apple in a pastry base and I serve it with roast potatoes and roast parsnips. It’s truly delicious.

The recipe is a bit too detailed to give here but it’s in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook, if you’d like a lovely vegetarian alternative that doesn’t contain cheese. There is a kindle version as well as a paperback. If you’re interested you will find my book with this link

https://geni.us/eANQu

There are also easy recipes for cranberry sauce, rum sauce to have with Christmas pudding, and simple desserts to have as an alternative or to enjoy with other festive meals.

Here’s one of my poems about the magic of Christmas.

Christmas Day
The wine flows, chocolate melts on our eager tongues.
The kitchen buzzes and tempting aromas fill the air.
As days go, this one belongs
Among the very best we share.

This is the magic that Christmas brings-
Traditional pleasures, the giving of gifts,
The thrilling sound when a choirboy sings,
The feeling that our soul uplifts.

As once again this special day is dawning
With bright-bowed presents waiting there,
We wake to another Christmas morning
Full of merriment, peace and prayer.

Time to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and everything good in 2023. I will be with you again in the new year.