Living a contented creative life.

I bombarded you all with lots of ideas and quick tips on the last two posts so I promise to be a little gentler this time. Some mindfulness and a little bit of poetry for you.

We’ve had some stormy weather with the wind tearing the leaves from the trees and the drainpipe rattling. One night it woke me and a poem began to form in my mind. I had to write it down as soon as I could before the words were lost again in my tangled thoughts. I hope you like it. I’m sure you will recognise the feelings which sprang to my mind.

Stormy Night

The wind whipped the house
Relentlessly, it seemed.
A hundred crevices creaked and moaned
While I lay and dreamed.

The sound awoke me.
Listening, I heard
The trees trembling as they bent and swayed.
Every twig was stirred.

It made me ponder
As I lay, snug and warm.
Very thankful that my home and bed
Kept me from the storm.

Today the weather was kinder, mild, damp and full of autumn pleasures. No harm had come from the windy turmoil of previous days. A misplaced watering can here and a few gathered leaves there but the polytunnels were standing strong and protective as ever. Thank goodness we anchored them well when we put them up.

As I strolled around the garden I took in some of the little details. I saw a damp, dark cone lying among the bark chippings on the ground. A Wood Pigeon’s feather lay on the path. It was pale grey and had a few raindrops lingering along its length. I spotted an apple still clinging to the tree. In time it will fall to earth and the Blackbirds will enjoy a winter feast.

There are new signs of life as well. The winter jasmine is flowering with pretty yellow blossoms. Such a cheerful sight on dull wintry days. The hellebores are growing fat buds for beautiful blooms in a few weeks and on one of the green ones today I saw a pair of Ladybirds nestled in among the shoots.

I finished planting my winter pansies and white bellis daisies. They’re safely tucked up in their pots before the frost kicks in. They will slow down when the weather turns nasty but will spring back to life and give us endless pleasure when it improves again.

I hope you’ve enjoyed a stroll around my garden. Stay safe and warm and enjoy your gardens or a walk in the woods if you can. Bye for now. With you again in a few days.

Continuing with my favourite kitchen helpers today because we all feel we need easy methods and sometimes a bit of time-saving. So my next item is the microwave oven.

Of course, the microwave is absolutely brilliant for reheating. Leftover casseroles, savoury bakes, all come back to life after a few minutes in the microwave oven. Defrosting as well is a breeze for bread slices or individual cakes, for example. My individual Christmas puddings (recipe in an earlier post) take only one minute from frozen for an instant dessert.

I also find it useful to soften onions before adding to baked dishes or mixed in with other ingredients to make meatballs or fried patties. It starts off the cooking process if you don’t want the onions to be too crunchy in your finished dish. Chop or slice them, as required, and mix with a tiny drizzle of oil before microwaving for a minute or two, taking care not to brown them.

Making a mug of cocoa in the microwave is easy. No need to boil milk on the hob. In a mug, mix the cocoa powder with a little milk to a runny paste, add more milk and stir, then microwave for a minute. Stir well and sweeten if you want to. I also make a delicious chocolate sauce with this method. I mix the cocoa powder to a thick paste, add just a little more milk to make it runny then microwave for about 30 seconds. It thickens slightly to a creamy texture. Stir it well and serve it hot with ice-cream. I prefer it unsweetened as the bitter chocolate is delicious with a very sweet vanilla ice-cream. Add toasted broken pecans for a sensational dessert with very little effort.

Custard is another easy trick in the microwave. In a pyrex jug heat the milk to boiling point. While it’s heating mix sugar and custard powder with a little milk to form a smooth runny paste. Quantity will be on the tin of custard powder. Stir this into the hot milk (first allow the bubbles to die down or it will froth up and scald your hand when you add the custard mix.) Cook for another minute and stir again. Almost instant custard, nicer than the bought stuff, to serve with sliced bananas or a favourite pudding.

In the summer when we have lovely courgettes in the garden, I slice them and drizzle with a little olive oil, then microwave for 3 or 4 minutes. With a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a spoonful of greek yoghurt it makes a delicious side-dish or nice with a sandwich.

Another favourite of ours is my peanut sauce, cooked very easily in the microwave and so delicious. Here is my recipe.

1 small Onion, finely chopped 6 tablespoons smooth Peanut Butter 300ml hot water juice of half a small Lemon 1 tablespoon soft light Brown Sugar half to 1 teaspoon Chilli Powder 1 tablespoon Tomato Puree 1 Garlic clove, crushed Salt and Pepper

Put the finely chopped onion into a large heatproof jug or bowl. Add a tiny drizzle of oil and mix it around. Cook the onion in the microwave oven for 1 or 2 minutes but watch that it doesn’t brown. Add all the other ingredients and stir well. Cook on high for 6 minutes so that it boils. Turn the oven power down to low (300 on mine) and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir well. Makes about 500ml. Freezes perfectly if that’s more than you need.

If you prefer it completely smooth, blend it. Very good hot or cold with chicken or if you want something a bit different make some sausage meatballs to make a tasty and unusual meal. Use sausagemeat with onion added or chop an onion finely and add it yourself. Mix in a few breadcrumbs to give firmness (never use those horrible things from the supermarket. They’re not absorbent and usually an unnatural colour). Make into ball shapes, brown in a little heated oil. Cool the pan a bit then add some water, about half way up the meat, with a vegetable stock cube. Simmer until firm, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and serve with peanut sauce, rice and vegs.

Here are some other favourite bits and bobs in the kitchen.

The last photo is of a Still Life I painted with gouache of some items in the kitchen. I love cooking and I love painting so here I can combine the two interests.

I hope these tips are interesting. Enjoy your cooking and Christmas preparations, even though Christmas will be very different this year. Bye for now.

We all have our favourite bits of kitchen equipment and tools. One that I find essential is a food processor. Some people buy one when they’ve seen a television chef whizz up some amazing recipe but sadly put it away and neglect it afterwards. Yes, you can manage without one but a creative cook can find so many ways to use one. Not only can you save money but you can use your imagination to combine ingredients to make interesting dishes. Here are some of my own uses.

If you don’t eat the crusts from a loaf don’t throw them away. Whizz them in your food processor to make marvelous breadcrumbs. I freeze them in small amounts, 50 or 100g so that I always have some for so many things. They make wonderful toppings especially mixed with grated cheese, baked or toasted under the grill. You can add them to leftover meat and an egg to make delicious little fried patties. They make lovely stuffed mushrooms combined with cheese and the scooped out mushroom flesh then baked. They can be added to fruit pies to soak up any excess juice, to puddings or vegetarian meals like nut roast.

I always mix sponge cakes in the processor. Just put in all the main ingredients and blend them together for a minute or two. Perfect results. No need for all that creaming, or adding this and that in stages. Easy peasy. You can knock them up in no time and freeze them so you always have some in.

I have used my processor to make pastry for years. I developed my own recipe using cup measures. 1 cup of plain flour, 1 third of a cup of sunflower oil and almost one quarter of a cup of cold water. Whizz to combine. This makes enough for one pastry case for a flan. No need to roll. Just press into the flan dish with clean fingers and trim, making sure the base is evenly covered. If you like the base to be firm after cooking, before adding the filling prick the base all over with a fork and bake for 9 minutes, at 190C/170C fan oven, to crisp it up. Then add filling and put back into the oven.

A food processor helps you to be resourceful and use up leftovers. A little amount of leftover cooked meat can go a long way. You can whizz it up into bits and put it into some tasty gravy and serve with mashed potatoes. Or you can add the bits to a pasta dish with a dash of cream or creme fraiche. Cooked fish can be used in the same way. Also good for making a delicious sandwich filling by adding a spoonful of mayonnaise, salt and pepper, then blending. For beef add a tiny amount of made-up English mustard to the mix.

A simple but really good pate can be made by combining smoked salmon or mackerel with cream or cream cheese and a dash of lemon juice. Served with toast it makes a great starter for a special meal with little effort.

I love using nuts in my recipes but find them easier to eat when they’re ground. Easy in the processor. Some have a little mill for grinding nuts. I find mine really useful. I often add cashews to make a creamy sauce or finely chopped pecans for my pecan pie. Also very good for vegetarian meals which often include nuts for protein.

I hope I have inspired you to use your food processor often and experiment with your own ideas. It really is a most useful gadget.

More about favourite tools and their uses another time.

Sweeping leaves again today. The garden is covered and as soon as we rake them up more come drifting down. One side effect of having fruit trees but I really don’t mind. It’s so worth the effort when we have all that delicious fruit to eat. The leaves don’t go to waste either. We store them to make lovely, crumbly, brown leafmould to use around the garden and for seed compost.

We store cooking apples for the winter but sadly mice have found their way into the shed and are having a great time feasting on them. Hopefully we can save enough so we all have our share. I wouldn’t begrudge a little mouse a bit of food.

The blackbirds are having their share of fallen fruit which were too high in the tree to pick. It’s good to know the wildlife find food and refuge in our garden.

Enjoy the last days of autumn. More recipes to follow for Christmas baking as the weeks go on. Bye for now. Please leave comments. I would love to hear from you.

It’s been a lovely day here. The sky was bright blue, the sun was shining and the warm damp earth smelled so good. The beech tree is looking fabulous with gold and orange leaves and the Ivy clinging to its trunk will provide the birds with berries through the winter.

I was out planting bulbs and winter pansies. Time to remove the pelargoniums and put in some hardy little treasures which will stand up to winter’s blast.

I put orange tulips at the bottom of the tub with yellow and purple pansies above them. Looking forward to a zingy, colourful display in Spring.

Meanwhile the garden is mellowing every day, fading to soft browns and beigey tones. Lovely seedheads, a few fungi here and there and evidence of a lot of bird activity now that the feeders are generously providing a daily feast.

But there are signs of new life even now. The hellebores have lovely fat buds on, primulas are flowering here and there and the yucca has sent up a fabulous flower spike which I hope will open its blooms before it becomes too cold and frosty.

It was a welcome change from being indoors even though I enjoyed making the Christmas cake. I said I would put the recipe on so here it is. There is a bit of fiddly chopping to begin with but once that’s done it’s plain sailing.

240g Self-raising Flour 230gSunflower Oil 225g Muscovado dark Sugar 225g Sultanas 225g Raisins 100g Glace Cherries Approx 125g mixture of Stem Ginger, mixed Candied Peel and grated fresh Orange and Lemon Peel 50g Pecan Nuts Mixed Spices ( I use a tspn of cinnamon, 1 tspn ground ginger, quarter of a tspn mixed spice and half a tspn of ground cloves) 4 large Eggs Brandy

You will need a deep 8″ loose-bottomed tin lined with greaseproof paper ( perhaps a little bit more neatly than I did!) Rub the inside with a little oil or fat.

Chop the mixed peel, glace cherries, stem ginger quite finely, grate the orange and lemon zest (peel). Grind or chop finely the pecan nuts. Combine all these and set aside.

Heat the oven to 150C/130C fan oven

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar and beat together. Add chopped mixture and pecans, add sultanas and raisins. Add flour and spices. Add oil. Then beat well, with an electric hand mixer or thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Put the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 and three quarters of an hour. Let it cool for a while then peel back the greaseproof paper. Allow several hours to cool thoroughly then rewrap in clean greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin. After a couple of weeks, pull back the paper and prick the top of the cake with a fork. Gently spoon in some sherry, 1 – 2 tablespoons. I do this again before Christmas but take care not to make it too soggy.

Here are some pics to help you along.

Happy baking and enjoy your Christmas preparations.

Here’s an autumn landscape I painted with acrylics.

Be with you again in a couple of days.

I didn’t succeed with growing my squashes this year. They were too crowded and shaded from the sun. I usually grow one called Buttercup, a green skinned squash with bright orange sweet flesh. Delicious roasted but good in many ways.

Never mind, I have a plan for next year. I will plant them in another bed in full sun and allow them to spread and soak up the warmth.

Here’s a painting I did of a lovely selection of squashes and gourds which my daughter gave me. Painted with my favourite medium – gouache – a type of watercolour.

Gardening is always a gamble. Weather, pests, the mood of the gardener, all play their part in how successful you are. When you get it right it’s a joy and the effort is never wasted. Fresh air, exercise, a wonderful sense of working with nature. These things make it worthwhile whether you succeed in producing food or flowers or have a complete failure. Plus, if you make your own compost any failed plants will contribute to the heap for next year’s growing.

The marigolds are still lovely, opening their cheerful, golden faces whenever the sun comes out. I brought a few in to enjoy their beauty before the frosts finish them off.

Apparently you can eat the petals and some people add them to a salad. Never tried this but maybe I should. Meanwhile I shall always have them in my garden. Once you have them they drop their seeds and spring up year after year. Mine are in the veg garden around the polytunnels and growing among the beans. They attract pollinating insects which help the beans to grow their pods. I have painted them before and will do again because the colours are so beautiful and those simple daisy petals are so pleasing.

When I’ve been busy and I’m tired I like to cook one of my one-pan meals, especially with rice. I buy bags of frozen cooked rice which can be heated in the microwave. I don’t usually microwave them though. Instead I open a bag and sprinkle the rice into my one-pan meal. It’s brilliant rice. Everyone I’ve served it to says how good it is. Here’s how I do it for an easy, tasty, quick and versatile meal.

Put a little water into a frying pan which has a lid. Just enough to cook the ingredients but not to dry out. Quantities are variable so you will know from the amount you want to cook. Add half a vegetable stock cube ( I like Kallo organic for best taste) and a crushed garlic clove. Bring to boiling and add frozen peas or green beans and sweetcorn. Sprinkle the frozen rice I describe above into the pan. You can add other ingredients at this point, see below. When it comes back to full heat, turn the heat down and allow to simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes. The rice will absorb the stock for a really savoury taste.

Check that it doesn’t dry out but if you find you have too much liquid just turn the heat up and leave the lid off until it reaches the consistency you want.

You can serve this with grilled bacon or smoked mackerel, for example or you can add to the pan pieces of cooked chicken or meat. Or stir in at the last minute chopped boiled egg. You can add herbs. Basil and parsley are good, so is dried dill especially with fish. Or you can jazz it up with chilli, chopped fresh or a pinch of chilli powder.

For a vegetarian meal, add to the basic rice and veg some tinned chickpeas, cooked lentils or your favourite beans. Good too with a drop of cream or creme fraiche stirred in at the last minute.

I made the Christmas cake yesterday. The kitchen was full of tantalising aromas. Orange, lemon and spices filled the air. A lot of fiddly chopping involved but once that was done it was plain sailing.

It’s tucked away now in a big storage tin until I feed it with booze before Christmas. Delicious! I will post the recipe next time. Meanwhile here’s a little poem I composed about making the cake.

Baking the Christmas Cake

Chopping, weighing, stirring.
A bit of this, a lot of that.
Keep those beaters whirring
And watch the thermostat.

While the oven's heating
The scent of cloves, the scent of spice
My happy nose are treating
And my appetite entice.

Soon it's slowly baking,
Puffing, rising, teasing.
The process of the making
Is so very, very pleasing.

Be with you again soon.

I will be baking my Christmas cake soon but I don’t need to make puddings or mincemeat this year. I made them last year and they keep perfectly. Mincemeat actually improves with keeping. I think the booze helps!

My puddings don’t taste like bought ones which seem to have a lot of citric acid to give them that tang. These are lighter in colour, texture and taste but are still full of lovely Christmas flavours. I make individual sized puddings which freeze well and take only one minute to reheat in the microwave straight from the freezer.

Here is my recipe. You will need a large roasting tin, individual pudding tins and foil. This quantity makes about 10 puddings. You can of course halve the recipe but I feel it’s not worth putting the oven on unless you make it worthwhile. If you’re not strict about keeping to tradition you can pop one in the microwave when you fancy a pudding later in the new year.

200g self-raising Flour 2 teaspoons of spice (mixed spice, or I use a mixture of ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves) pinch of Salt 150g Breadcrumbs 100g chopped Pecans 2 cooking or sharp Apples, chopped small or grated 300g Raisins 300g Sultanas 80g mixture of chopped Stem Ginger, grated orange and lemon rind and candied peel 4 large Eggs juice of 2 Lemons 2 tablespoons Black Treacle 350g of Dark Sugar 150g Butter 4 tablespoons Rum or Brandy or a mix of the two.

Mix flour, spice and salt. Add crumbs, nuts, chopped apple, dried fruit and chopped ginger mixture. Separately mix eggs and lemon juice, add treacle. Gently melt butter and sugar together. Add all these liquid ingredients, including rum or brandy, to the flour mixture. Beat well then stand for at least 30 minutes. Stir again.

Grease individual pudding tins and fill each almost to the top. Heat the oven to 190C/170 fan oven. Cover the tops of the tins with foil and stand them in a large roasting tin. Boil a full kettle of water and pour the water around the tins to about a third of the way up the tins. Cover all with a large piece of foil over the top of the roasting tin.

Open the oven door, then very carefully carry the tin and place on the oven shelf. (You don’t want scalding water slopping around!) Cook for 2 hours.

Allow to cool before removing foil and tins. Slide a knife around the edge of each pudding and tip out. Freeze really well.

Remove from freezer and reheat each one for 1 minute in the microwave.

I serve the puddings with rum sauce. I make a white sauce by heating milk to boiling then stirring in a little cornflour mixed with a drop of milk and adding sugar. When it’s thickened I stir in a dash of rum. Really delicious and so much more refreshing than brandy butter. Everyone has their favourite, of course, so it’s a matter of personal taste.

Planted most of the bulbs today. Crown Imperials, Leucojum, mixed dwarf Narcissi and Snowdrops. Some more to do but the knees were complaining. A lovely sunny day with a beautiful sky and so welcome after all that rain.

The acers are rapidly losing their leaves now but they look wonderful on the ground. Other leaves are mingling. Hawthorn, Beech and Crab Apple are lying damply where they fell in the wind and rain. Most of the plants are going to sleep for the winter and the colour is fading fast in the garden. But I have lots of lovely photos to remind me of summer’s glorious show.

Which brings me to poppies. Remembrance Day is almost here so poppies are everywhere. I am a member of the SAA which is an art club for all artists whether amateur (like me) or professional. In 2018, to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, members were invited to contribute a small painting of a poppy. These were then collated in an exhibition at SAA headquarters. I later had the image transferred to a set of place mats. Here is my painting.

Let’s never forget!

Be with you again soon. I shall be baking my Christmas cake in the next week or so and will share my recipe with you. In the meantime, enjoy your Christmas preparations even though things may be different this year.

The birds are busy in the garden again now that the feeders are full and squirrels are trying their best to cash in on the feast.

The blackbirds have been flinging leaves and soil around, messing up the paths and making the garden untidy. I love to see them though. Blackbirds have such attitude and they’re very welcome in our garden. Some cooking apples which clung onto the tree have fallen in the strong wind and the blackbirds are happily nibbling away at them.

Although the garden is winding down there are little highlights to enjoy. The Acers are lovely.

Other beautiful leaves glow in pinks and golds. The hydrangea mophead flowers have mellowed to a silvery sheen and their leaves are lovely. The fruits on the chaenomeles (Japanese Quince) are golden yellow and there are pretty berries and dark brown seedheads around the garden, so it still delights me despite the weather.

Also I’m excited that my order of Spring bulbs has arrived so I’m going to be busy once I have an opportunity on a sunny, dry day. I’m going to plant Daffodils, Tulips, Hyacinths, Leucojum ( looks like a very tall Snowdrop), Alliums and Colchicum. Probably more that I’ve overlooked until I search the bags. This photo shows only a few of them.

I only found seven plums on our two plum trees this year! A solitary fruit on the Victoria and six on our ancient and very tall other tree. The fruit on the old tree is purple and they are delicious if I’m lucky enough to find a few in October when they’re ripe. However plums are cheap to buy at this time of year. Bought ones can be hard and tasteless though, especially the supermarket ones which say “ripen at home”. They never do ripen and the flavour seems bland but if you stew them with a drop of water until the juice runs and add sugar, they are really tasty. We love them, warm or cold, served with greek yogurt. Mmm, really good.

I knitted a third Christmas cracker. Will make at least one more and have been thinking of small gifts to put inside.

Will let you all know how the bulb planting goes. Fingers crossed for better weather.

It was a very wet, stormy weekend. I trekked down the garden this morning, taking care on the slippy paths, for some vegs to make chicken soup.

I like to make soup in my thermal cooker. It’s a favourite bit of equipment. Really, all it is is a large vacuum flask with a pan inside. You put the ingredients into the pan and start cooking on the stove, then after the chosen time (just minutes) you place the pan inside the thermal flask, snap the lid shut and leave it to continue cooking without any need for electricity.

It’s a great energy saver and means you can leave the food for hours without worrying about checking it, knowing that it will be perfectly cooked when you’re ready for it.

I use it for soups, stews, rice puddings and joints of meat. Instead of hours in the oven or on the hob it cooks thoroughly after a short preparatory simmer in the pan. Meat is tender and moist and I have lots of tasty stock for making soup.

It was quite expensive but must have saved me lots of money since I had it. Wouldn’t be without it now.

As you may have gathered by now I’m very happy in my kitchen. I love cooking, baking and preserving and I even love the equipment I use. There is something very pleasing about dishes, wooden spoons and preserving jars.

I have even painted kitchen things. Here’s a Still Life I did a while ago, painted with gouache.

I have been busy baking again. If you like ginger why not try my Ginger Sponge. It’s so easy to mix all the ingredients together in a bowl or food processor with some chopped stem ginger added at the last minute. Light and delicious, it also makes a lovely pudding with some greek yoghurt.

I use one layer and freeze the other but if you want a big cake you can sandwich them together with buttercream.

200g Caster Sugar 200g Self-raising Flour 2 heaped teaspoons of Baking Powder 4 large Eggs 200g Sunflower Oil 1 tablespoon of Ginger Syrup 2 or 3 knobs of Stem Ginger

Put all ingredients except the stem ginger into the food processor. Whizz for a minute to combine well. Chop the stem ginger and add to the mixture. Very briefly whizz to combine but not to chop.

Put the mixture into two greased 8″ cake tins and bake for 23 – 25 minutes at 180C/ fan oven 160C. Test with a skewer. If you haven’t got a skewer press the cake and it should spring back if cooked.

I’ve knitted two of the Christmas crackers from the pattern in Landscape magazine and decorated them with felt holly leaves and berries. They have a toilet roll tube inside them so I can add a small gift.

Stay safe everyone and fill your time with satisfying home crafts.

It’s been too wet and windy for gardening except for gathering fallen leaves. The polytunnels and the greenhouse are refuges on days like these so a bit of work has been possible under cover. I removed the dead basil plants and weeded the garlic which are growing nicely. There are plenty of carrots, parsnips and leeks to keep us going for a while.

I bought some winter lettuce from Delfland Nurseries online and planted them in the greenhouse border. Delfland supply good organic plants which are in good condition on delivery and very reasonably priced.

Nice little plants called Winter Density. Not grown this variety before but I have had winter lettuces in the past and they do very well. Although the greenhouse is unheated these are hardy enough to grow steadily through the winter and provide us with plenty of leaves. No need to pull up a whole lettuce. I just take the leaves from the outside, discarding any big rough ones and leaving the heart leaves to continue growing. They will also grow outdoors with a bit of protection but there are advantages to growing under cover. They’re not torn by the wind, shrivelled by frost or splashed with mud. A cold greenhouse or tunnel is ideal.

The rain has been lashing the windows and leaves have been flying everywhere. When the sun breaks through it lights up the leaves which are still clinging on. It reminds me of a poem I wrote a few years ago when I saw this effect one day.

LEAVES ON A WINDY DAY
Leaves transferred to crystal drops
By Autumn's sunny spells,
Suffused by fleeting rays of light
As sunshine ebbs and swells.
Rotating, rustling in the wind
Like bright medallions all aglint,
Or waves upon the rippling seas -
Cause me to pause and squint
And gorge myself upon the feast.
The sight will never be the same -
Some leaves gone or changed in shape,
Like fire's ever-changing flame.
Yet, caught in the attic of my mind,
Lying silent in the dust
(Except when other treasures topple in
Succumbing to my hoarder's lust),
The picture will stay, caught and held
Till some moment of nostalgic thirst
Will open the attic door and there I'll find it
As tantalising as it ever was at first.

With these wet days my thought turn to indoor hobbies. I’ve been knitting Christmas crackers. The pattern is in the November issue of Landscape magazine. It’s such a simple pattern. I’m enjoying doing them. For a while now I’ve been worried about the waste and plastic tat we throw away from Christmas crackers. Yes, I know they’re fun but we all need to be thinking about reducing waste. So when I saw this pattern I thought it was a nice alternative. I shall decorate them with some shapes cut out of felt, probably holly leaves and berries.

Last Christmas I made tiny felt Christmas stockings and wrote a short limerick for everyone and popped them inside. It was a laugh for them and I enjoyed the creativity. Here are my little felt boots.

Hoping the weather will buck up for all of us but lots to do if it doesn’t. Cheers.

Yesterday was a horrible, wet stormy day in our neck of the woods. I haven’t been able to do any gardening. I need to remove the basil from the polytunnel and do some weeding around the garlic but it was just not inviting.

The garden looks a bit sadder every day but there are berries to cheer the wintry days to come.

The leaves were flying off the fruit trees and the hawthorns. There will be mounds to sweep up as soon as we can go out again. We put them in the leaf bin to make leafmould, a valuable resource in the garden. I use it for mulching, mixing with compost when I’m planting and to use in seed trays in Spring.

A leaf bin is easy to make. Just drive four posts into the ground in a spare spot and fix wire netting around the sides to make a square container. The rain, frost and bacteria break down the leaves until there is a fine crumbly, sweet smelling substance in a few months time. I have tried putting leaves in polythene bags and piercing holes in them but I never found they work as well and I’m trying to reduce my use of plastic.

When it’s a horrible day I usually like to bake. The other day I made my super- quick brownies. If you like chocolate cake, you will like these and they’re so easy.

4 large eggs 200g Caster Sugar 200g Self-raising Flour

2 heaped teaspoons Baking Powder 2 and a half heaped tablespoons Cocoa Powder

3 tablespoons of Milk (I use Oatly but dairy is ok) 200g Sunflower Oil

Heat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan oven. Whizz all ingredients in a food processor or with a hand mixer. (You can use a wooden spoon, but beat well). Grease a large baking tin. I use a roasting tin measuring approx. 30 x 26 cm and about 5cm deep. Spread the mixture in the tin and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Test the middle with a skewer. If it comes out clean it’s done. If you haven’t got a skewer press the cake gently and it should spring back. Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

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Good as they are but if you want a sweeter treat or a fancier brownie try one of these:

Spread with jam. Cherry jam is good for a Black Forest taste; or make buttercream topping and sprinkle with nuts; or use glace icing ( just icing sugar mixed with a drop of water) with or without nuts; or melted chocolate drizzled on top.

Hoping to get out into the garden soon but if not I’m fancying a bit of knitting. Landscape magazine has some nice knitted Christmas crackers to make. Might have a go.

Earlier in the year I crocheted two small blankets for winter naps. I bought a large pack of yarn ages ago and decided to use them at last. I just did simple stripes in a range of colours. They’re so cheerful.

Be with you again soon. Bye for now.