Back on track

Gorgeous day yesterday but no time to visit the allotment. I kept my fingers crossed for continued good weather today and I wasn't disappointed. Mrs. G. and I met up at the unusually early hour of 10 o'clock, ready to tackle some digging. I will easily confess that the thought of spending hours digging had filled me with dread but I really enjoyed today's efforts.

It was an unusual day in more ways than one. We actually spent most of the time working, not drinking coffee whilst chatting. As neither of us had brought any coffee and all the allotments around us are looking very nice and tidy, we probably felt that we had no time to lose. I'm saying probably as we didn't talk about it at all. We just got on with it.

We never overdo things and today was no exception. We dug over and weeded two beds, ready for potato planting next week. 

We put some of the chicken manure into the soil, hoping that it'll make the spuds grow nice and big.  There's still a fair bit of manure left in the corner of the plot. 

The smell is still very strong!

It was time to harvest the remaining parsnips and some of the leek, which is always a pleasure. I always plan my meals for the week ahead and haven't planned anything where I could use any of it. However, it will no doubt last until next weekend. Our nice neighbour Bob mentioned while passing by that the rhubarb is ready to start picking so there will be a rhubarb crumble in both Mrs. G's and Mrs. M's household this afternoon!

Going up to the allotment early in the day has meant that I've now got the rest of the afternoon to potter about. If by pottering I mean washing and cleaning the house.... Oh and of course, making and eating a rhubarb crumble!

Mrs. M.

Menopause

Well what do you know? Our three little chickens have reached the menopause! They've been laying soft eggs for a couple of months now, mixed in with the odd normal egg, and Mr. M. has tried everything, and I mean everything, to get to the bottom of this. They've had calcium supplement in their food, their coop has been blow torched to get rid of mites, you name it and Mr. M. has done it. In the end he contacted the farm we bought our little dears from and they said that this was normal. They've come to the end of their egg laying and have consequently reached the menopause. 

So that's it? We've only had them for 2 years. Apparently, chickens lay a predestined number of eggs in their life time and when they've laid them that's the end of eggs. Hm. I suppose we've been very spoiled getting 3 eggs a day, 7 days a week for almost 18 months. If a chicken lays for example 4 eggs a week, their egg laying period will obviously last longer than if they lay day in day out. Mr. M. was told that they will still lay proper eggs for a while yet but nowhere near as frequently as before. Who knows? We might have to buy eggs one day soon.

On top of this, Gwen has been on an adventure again. This time she decided to visit our next door neighbour on the other side. Luckily, he wasn't afraid to pick her up and put her back in our garden.

Mrs. M.

Time away

Ahh, half term and some time for me! Last year, my friend Mrs. H. and I met up in London to see Les Mis. We had such a good time so we instantly decided that in 2014 we would do the same but also stay the night. Half term is here and I've just spent 2 days with my dear friend in the capital. 

We had decided to meet up outside The National Gallery in the morning. I decided to walk there from Victoria and  managed to arrive at Buckingham Palace just in time for the changing of the guards. It was packed with people! I didn't stay to watch as I was already a bit late but I saw these handsome horses while I was walking down The Mall. 

 

There's something about the sound of hooves that make you stop and watch.

We went straight for one of the cafes in the gallery before seeing the Van Gogh exhibition of 2(!) paintings. We wandered around the impressionist galleries and enjoyed all the paintings before heading out, only to realise that it had been raining while we were inside. As Mrs. H. lives at the other end of the country we don't see each other very often. This means that a lot of coffee stops and chatting is a frequent occurrence when we do meet up. 

We had found a nice hotel near Victoria and headed back there to drop off our bags before heading out again.

A very decent hotel though as it was on a main road it was very noisy throughout the night and neither of us slept much.

The musical this year was  Billy Elliot and we were not disappointed.

The show was better than I had expected, having seen the film several times. The acting was very good and I was impressed by the accents, especially after reading in the programme that the boy who played Billy was American. His singing might not have been brilliant but overall I think he was fab. The boy who played Michael was excellent! The feeling of the whole mining situation came across as extremely angry - very powerful!

After a bad night's sleep we got ready to wander through London. It was a glorious morning so we decided to walk up to Marble Arch and then stroll down Oxford Street. It took us an hour to walk there, fairly briskly. Time for another coffee... This time in Selfridge's. After some more window shopping and drooling we ended up in the cafe at Liberty's and had some cream tea. 

The haberdashery at Liberty's made me itch to get my hands on practically everything. I bought some wrapping paper for £4.95 instead, hoping to find a frame for it. 

Hours later and strolls down Carnaby Street, around Covent Garden and Leicester Square, we said goodbye and headed to our respective train stations. My legs and feet were aching and it was heaven to sit down on the train once it arrived (late). Having had a lovely two days away it was nice to come home to a happy family. I should go away on my own more often...

From one day in 2013 to two days in 2014. What should we do next year? A week? In New York? Well, one can always dream.

Mrs. M.

It's too wet!

Will this rain ever stop? Well it did for most of today actually so Mr. M and I went to the allotment with a bucket full of chicken you know what. It was muddy and soaking wet up there. We cut off the remaining brussels sprouts and also took some tiny red cabbage for the chickens. They're not fussy with what they eat. They love picking away at the brussels sprouts stalks. There were some sprouts of decent size so they ended up on the dinner table later on. 

I'm glad the parsnip is growing leaves as it would be difficult to find where they are otherwise. We really ought to harvest them soon but it's been so wet and horrible that I don't fancy digging much. 

 

Some of the leek is looking nice and thick whereas others look rather thin.

 

I'm so glad that my favourite is showing signs of re-emerging. I can't wait to make more rhubarb and vanilla jam. 

On the way home it started to rain. It was a bit weird as the sun was shining and they sky was fairly blue. All of a sudden we saw this:

 

 The rainbow was really clear and bright, which is not very obvious from this photo. It was stunning. 

Apart from this little trip out, I've spent most of the day making a music bag for Little Miss M. Her flute teacher has asked her to keep all her score sheets and books in one bag so I offered to make her one. I used some fabric I bought in IKEA a while ago. It was really fun to make and the owner is very proud and can't wait for her next lesson. 

A pocket for pencils, keys or similar.

From the back.

It's now time to meet Mr. and Mrs. G. for a pub quiz gathering. We've yet to get anywhere near the winning team!

Mrs. M.

In case I overdo it

Well, I'm not exactly fit... I hope I'll muster up some energy to do a bit of digging at the the allotment soon - if the rain stays away. However, in case I overdo it, it would probably be a good idea to have something to ease the pain. At least that's what I told myself while sewing this little thing this afternoon.

This rectangular thingy is filled with rice and after heating up in the microwave, it'll soothe my muscles. I hope. If not, it was quite fun to make, even though I now have rice on the floor and in my fabric basket. The fabric is cute as well. The back is cream coloured fleece from a cheap blanket I bought in The Range. Nice and soft. 

Mrs. M.

Cars and cakes

It's been a very hectic weekend and I really don't feel ready to go back to work tomorrow. Our car broke down on Friday and has spent the weekend at the local garage. It's apparently the alternator that needs replacing and the mechanic won't be able to get one until Monday. Hey ho. One can live without a car for a weekend, can't one? This weekend wasn't the best one to be without the car but I was prepared to walk and get the train. Our mechanic didn't seem to be of the same opinion. When he called at 6 o'clock on Friday evening to tell us that he wouldn't be able to fix our car until Monday, he insisted that we got one of his loan cars. Hm, I could see pound notes flying away and was, in my head, prepared to give Little Miss M's Saturday flute lesson in the neighbouring town a miss. He kept insisting and when he said it would be free of charge I said yes. So I went to pick up the loan car yesterday morning and have really enjoyed driving around in a small car. It really makes a change from the estate we own. We're a one car family as I work ten minutes walk away and Mr. M works from home. This little Ford Ka has been a delight to drive. The children however were horrified when they saw the little thing. "How embarrassing!" they exclaimed. I can't understand why they would say that. It's a car! Admittedly it's quite old and not very clean and tidy inside, but it's really comfortable and nice to run around in. I've been very happy!

This afternoon Little Miss M and I drove to the local garden centre to pick up some potatoes. They're now positioned in the garage ready to chit. I had no idea about what type to buy so I did my best Mrs. G. I got Foremost for the early potatoes and then two types of late potatoes: King Edward and Romano. 

They're supposed to be somewhere cool and light according to my book so I've placed them by the window in the garage. 

As we took on the allotment in April, we never bought potatoes this early. Hopefully we'll get just as good a harvest as last year.

Today was also a day for baking . Having watched Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast on Friday I really fancied the Tosset Cakes. So I made some. Quite a few actually.

They were really easy to make and rather fun. They also tasted delicious! I now wish I hadn't eaten quite so many...

They were really easy to make and the recipe can be found here. Why not have a go? I've now got a whole tin full of them. It remains to be seen how long before the tin is empty. I don't quite get why they're called cakes when they really are biscuits?

I used my new oven glove to get the trays out of the oven. A little thing I decided to make this morning. The old one is still nice but needed washing so I decided that having two would make life just that much easier. 

Mrs. M.

Update

Yesterday was glorious and Little Miss M. and I went for a walk to the allotment. Several people were around looking very busy. The Little Miss and I walked around, picked some kale and looked at what needs to be picked and what needs to be got rid of.

In there somewhere are the parsnips. We need to dig them up! We had some with dinner last weekend and they were delicious. 

The brussels sprouts are still a little bit on the small side so I think we'll wait for them to grow a bit more. 

This is the spinach and it looks awful. We really need to get rid of this lot.

The kale is also looking a bit tiny but I pinched a few leaves and made some chips when we got home. 

I suppose this is what the rhubarb should look like. I hope so anyway. I'm really looking forward to the rhubarb season. We picked plenty last year. 

Looking back at what I've been writing about the allotment is going to be really useful when Mrs. G. and I start planning this year's planting. A lot of work needs to be done before then though. Today looks like another glorious day but it feels quite a lot colder. Is it too cold to dig? Not just for me but for the soil I mean. Dig up parsnips is probably OK but to turn over soil might not be. I had better consult my handbook.

Mrs. M.