Frost

Woke up to a white icing sugar dusting over Edinburgh - some of which didn't clear until mid-day. The few days of warm sunshine were a wee taste of spring, not to be taken as the start of a bright and warm growing season. Fingers crossed the beetroot seeds will forgive me...

Roots all over again

I arrived at the farm today to find the patter of tiny feet all over our raked roots bed... pheasants after worms again. Sowed 1 row Early Nantes carrots, 1 row Jamie Oliver's special purple carrots (moment of weakness in Homebase the other day - they are purple!), 1 row spring onions, 1 row Detroit2 beetroots and stripy beetroots. Then I realised the last two shouldn't be sown until April - too late! We'll see what happens. I also extended the existing onion rows with calendula, which will be very pretty, very soon.
Covered the lot with chicken wire and netting - no more pattering birds dust bathing in this wee corner!

March on Green

Spring is upon us, and everywhere around the farm little green parcels are unwrapping themselves, propped on grey wood or soil. I find it baffling that nature rolls out precicely one shade of translucent green on just about every plant!

The area still looks very bleak - we can see straight through the forest garden, and the only green touches are the conifer hedge and tufts the horses and sheep have left of the surrounding fields. The buds of pale green life are heralding the rapid changes in store for the next few months. Time to get some seeds in the ground and the mulch on the weedy bits.

rose

comfrey

raspberries

rhubarb

lettuces

A new year a new look!

First day of the season on the farm, and a gazillion things to start with after the winter break.

Like a nice cup of tea and Nenya's brownies for happy farmers sporting wooly hats.

The rest of cold and sunny Saturday was taken up with maintenance. On the whole our patch is in great nick - but there's always room for improvement. Leeks, lambs lettuce and jerusalem artichokes are the only crops for harvest at the moment - with the odd feral potato thrown in! 

Malcolm moved (very heavy) slabs about and "fixed" the bench with lopped cherry suckers.

We dug up blackthorn, jerusalem artichokes and the turf on what's going to be the new tattie patch, and chopped and sawed off a whole lot of tree. Nenya also moved our victorian rubbish pile to the North side of the tree - a fraction of the antique landfill treasure we've dug up over the past year.We tried to light the pile of blackthorn branches in the middle, but that was optimistic - a couple of weeks of drying time should have us a nice bonfire though! 

Four seasons: before and after

We're coming up to our co-op anniversary.

Remember this? 

One year on, here we are, all dug over, planted, weeded, watered, harvested and eaten. So much easier starting this time round!

New recipe: Eggs, beans and waffles*

Ingredients (for 1 person):

• 2 potatoes waffles from Lidl
• 2 eggs
• Half a tin of baked beans from Lidl
• Some olive oil (probably also from Lidl, maybe Sainsburys)
• Salt & pepper
• Tomato Ketchup (I think we got it from Sainsburys)

Method:

1. Stick the waffles in the toaster on maximum setting
2. Fry the eggs in olive oil
3. Heat the beans in a pan
4. Season with salt and pepper and serve the whole lot on a plate with a massive dollop of ketchup on the side

*Because sometimes I just can't be arsed with all this organic permaculture malarky.

Sweet potato bread

This is Jay's recipe for a fabulous gluten-free bread. We haven't grown sweet potatoes yet, just all sorts of normal ones and Jerusalem artchokes, which would probably also work well!

2 large sweet potatoes
200 g soya flour
200 g polenta
200 ml soy milk
4 tbsp olive oil
2 heaped tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
seeds (optional)

Boil potatoes, peel and mash. Blend all main ingredients together, then add seeds, and squish into lined loaf tin and bake about at gas mark 5 (180-200C) for 40 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
Serve still warm with butter or an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dipping mix. Great for gluten free vegans and to posh up a simple soup meal.