Everyday is a mini Harvest Festival

Hello again. I hardly know where to start today. SO much has grown, been harvested and been eaten since I last wrote.We have had to buy a chest freezer to keep up with everything. Also the girls are now laying an egg a day each.

Here are a few highlights.....

Firstly the early and second early potatoes were delicious - they have been divided up between friends and family. They have been eaten and enjoyed and also some have been mashed and frozen to enjoy later.They were different colour and taste and the Charlottes were yummily yellow and creamy.

The broad beans just keep on coming and the radishes were also very tasty but I wish I'd grown more.

The strawberries, tayberries, raspberries and blackberries have been eaten, juiced, frozen etc.

I also made some lovely raspberry jam which had to have a cake to go with it!!;)

The courgettes are going strong and I have already made savoury muffins for the girls at work and the courgette loaf below. Especially tasty with some soft cheese. I stuffed a large courgette with mince, homegrown onions and garlic and topped with cheese and herby breadcrumbs and it made a scrumptious Sunday lunch!

The onions were amazing - huge and really tasty. Cooked, froze, gave some away and dried some for storing. The shallots were also successful and I've found a recipe for courgette and shallot chutney which I'll be trying out.

The Autumn planted garlic was great but the spring planted weren't very big (will stick to Autumn planting in future) We've had some fresh and strung lots up to dry out for later use.

The spring onions are lovely - really strong tasting.

The sweetcorn is now growing well, the carrots appear to be doing what they should be and the leeks, swedes, Kale and squash are all looking healthy. Not so sure about the parsnips yet. This was one I accidentally uncovered !! I dread to think what shape they'll be by November :)

The beetroot were tiny but have been boiled and pickled. The little gem lettuces were good and crunchy and I'm going to plant some more. The tomatoes are turning red and taste very sweet. The sugar snap peas are delicious and keep on coming.

There's quite alot of space on the plot now ready for winter veg. Just need the time to sow more in between all the picking, cooking, pickling, freezing, baking etc.

I feel so pleased with my first yrs produce - I honestly didn't think it would go so well or be so much fun.

Hope you're enjoying the Summer where you are xxx

Hello again - I hope you're enjoying some of the lovely sunshine we've been having.These beautiful flowers appeared on the blackberry bushes at the lotty last week and surprised me with how lovely they are. The middles look almost like little stitches - so pretty and delicate. Actually lots of beautiful flowers are appearing on my plot. I will share more with you about the lotty in a minute, but first,  I want to introduce you properly to my girls as promised in the last post.

Firstly there is Pearl - she is the boss, cheeky, very nosy and top of the tree as far as my three go.She's very confident and eats out of my hand. If one of them is going to give me the run around it's Pearl. She's already gone walk about once and when it's bedtime she's the one that jumps on the coop and won't go to bed!! Here's a better picture of her. She's got a fancy collar as you can see. 

Dorcas is the friendliest one. She's fairly docile and was also the first to lay an egg.

Then there is little Ruby (On the left of the photo)  who was quite nervous when I got her but is coming out of her shell, so to speak! She gets picked on by Pearl. She's not laid an egg yet and I think she's the youngest.

I got some rings in different colours to put round their legs so I could tell them apart but within half an hour, I could tell who was who, as they have such different personalities!!
They arrived less than a fortnight ago and I can't imagine being without them now. They have laid a total of ten eggs so far which is not bad going since only 2 are laying yet.

The pleasure they give me far outweighs the cost of setting up. They have a fox proof pen, an eglu to sleep in and they are really easy to look after.

  Now, for anyone who's interested I am going to give you an update on my lotty itself. There's quite a lot to show you as June is a serious growing month and everything is starting to romp away.

The majority of planting is now done

The broad beans are flowering nicely

I planted a little herb garden

Parsnips, beetroot and radishes

Early potatoes in bags

Second early spuds and maincrop behind

Strawberries starting to ripen 

Lettuces coming along

The garlic is nearly ready 

Shallots growing well and 

splitting into lots of bulbs

All the fruit bushes are going great guns now

Masses of tayberries awaiting ripening

The onions seem to be growing ok

Carrots ready for thinning out 

Kale perking up a little now

Cherry toms in their hanging baskets

Two of the 12 larger variety tomato plants

Sweetcorn ready to be planted out tomorrow (I ran out of time today!)

There are also two squash plants, two courgette plants, sugar snap peas,  leeks and swedes under netting which don't make for great photos!
So there you are - thats the lotty round up. Its a steep learning curve but its really good fun. I would recommend it to anyone! x

Textile update

  

I have been sooo busy with moving house and the lotty I have again neglected my little blog and my lovely followers - sorry! As promised on my last post, a while ago now, I want to share with you a project I've been working on. I have long admired embroidered felt work which I had seen done by others and I had some felt which I made a couple of years ago but wasn't brave enough to machine embroider on. After a session on the machine at the Seaside Stitcher's group I decided to just go for it. It was really a nerve wracking at first but fun once I got going and I loved stitching the grasses. The poppies were pretty random on the original piece but came to life when I started the hand embroidery. Then I added the other french knots and a few bullion stitches etc to represent wild flowers.  Here's a closer peek.

I was really happy with the results as it's something I have wanted to do for ages. Now all I need is the time to make more felt and experiment with different ideas!!

I'm afraid there's not been too much sewing done lately. The allotment and the new additions are demanding most of  my attention at the moment - but I will leave that for my next post! Here's a little taster.

The girls

Hope you are all enjoying the better weather. Pls leave a comment if you stop by. Thank you xx