Imbolc - light in the darkness

 

snowdrops

 According Glennie Kindred in my copy of her Sacred Celebrations the end of January/beginning of February marks the old festival of Imbolc- the re-awakening of the Earth. As she says "The days are beginning to lengthen....Sap is beginning to rise....Everywhere there are signs of the Earth stirring." 

So it's time to light a candle, admire the snowdrops and once again mark the turning of the wheel.

and the promise of more to come

Perversely the first few days of February usually bring snow here in the Midlands so I'm busy watching the skies and hoping it holds off for a few days more as Hill Close Gardens in Warwick is having a couple of snowdrop days this weekend and we've planned a visit on Sunday all being well. It's J's birthday and snowdrops have always been a favourite of mine - that dainty little nodding flower emerges at the darkest time of the year, stubbornly flowering before almost everything else despite hard frosts, harsh winds and whatever else the winter decides to throw at us.

 No wonder they have been used over centuries to symbolise Hope and Rebirth.

Winter Photographic Scavenger Hunt #3

Today's post brings you three more offerings for the Bracelet of Days' Winter Scavenger Hunt as described in my post at the beginning of December.

12. Glitter. This one is problematic for me, glitter makes everything sparkly and pretty giving a real lift in the winter gloom but it is made from plastic and doesn't degrade. As it is so tiny it can easily enter the water courses and contaminate the food chain for wildlife all over the planet. It also means these cards have had to go to landfill as they are un-recyclable and I have more gift labels than I will ever use. Bah Humbug indeed!

6. A water dispenser. For bugs, bees, birds and whatever other critter is sneaking around the garden gathering droplets of rain to quench tiny thirsts.

11. Dressed for the season. Protected against the frost our outdoor tap all wrapped up for the winter.

So thanks again to Eileen at Bracelet of days.

I am not a number....

or the tale of the anarchist birds of Warwickshire!

This weekend was the annual RSPB Big Garden Bird Count (It's not too late as they've made the weekend last until today so click on the link and check out the website!)

Now since the 6th January we've had visits from Starlings, Dunnocks, Wood Pigeons, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits and Magpies plus our (I thought) resident Robin, Black Cap and Wren. Now that should make a nice little return for the RSPB shouldn't it! So there I was on Saturday all set up with my cup of tea, camera and my counting sheet  and zilch, nothing, nada - at least not until the last ten minutes when a dunnock and a wood pigeon deigned to pop by. Nevermind, thought I, its a bit grotty weather-wise - windy, damp and grey, I'll hold off and try again on Monday.

So this morning dawns, crisp, calm and cold with the most beautiful blue sky imaginable so I settle down once again with my cup of tea, camera and counting sheet. And there they are coming down in their ones and twos - a male blackbird, a pair of blue tits checking out the new bird box, a great tit, a dunnock, a pair of wood pigeons and one flitty starling. Not a bad count, you'll say what's she complaining about. Now look at the pictures below:

Count? What count?

Nope not coming down...

I'm just going to perch here...

Nothing to see here..

Magpies croaking, pigeons cooing, blackbirds singing all three gardens away!

Oh and yes the Robin rocked up about 10 minutes after the count stopped!

Happy Monday all

Stroll around the garden

By the time I crawled out of bed this morning the grey had faded and the day has turned beautifully sunny and very mild. So I popped outside and topped up the bird bath and tray feeder and then had a mini stroll around the garden to see what flowers I could find. And yes Family I did have my emergency button in one pocket and my phone in the other!

First the back garden with crocuses starting to peek through the grass, the snowdrops opening under the apple tree and the hellebores coming into their own.

A small break for a sit down and a mug of soup and I had an even smaller stroll for a peek at the front garden beds.

More snowdrops here, lots of new shoots promising nigella and hyacinths and daffodils in the future and the lovely gentle shade of true primroses.

Winter's white punctuated by the earliest of purples and the palest of yellows. January Joys

January's Bookshelf

Oops where has the month gone? It has taken me a while to read just one book so far this month. I have been distracted by company, by music, by tv box-sets, by the garden birds and piles of sorting so my poor book kept being set to one side and then in the last few days an urge came upon me to finish it. Amy Snow by Tracy Rees. So finish it I have. An historical saga with a mysterious twist, it proved to be an enjoyable read once I settled to it. There's definitely something about chilly days and curling up with a book!

So what next?

Despite my best intentions I still can't quite get set into any of the non-fiction so I'm setting those aside for now and heading towards another fiction book that has been on the shelf a while - Kim Edwards' The Lake of Dreams. Published in 2011, it's another tale of mysteries buried in a family's past just waiting for someone to open a box and discover them... Are people really so careless with their secrets? or do we just assume people with secrets always want them to be discovered after they have gone?

One just finished and one to be started

Warming the cockles...

Weird phrase that but evidently it's a reference to the Latin for the ventricles in the heart which look like snails hence cochlea - at least that's what it says on the internet  anyway!

ermm more card...

Card for no dig gardening

 The weekend has been grey, damp and a bit meh so to stave off the second half of January I-feel-sorry-for-myselfs there's been a far bit of cardboard stash sorting and general tidying around the place with J doing any heavy lifting and popping the hoover round when I'd finished making a mess with the paper shredder! We save big bits of card and boxes to use as mulch for the allotment beds and the small bits and shreddings for lining bean trenches or feeding the compost bins and then there are the egg boxes for chitting seed potatoes in ... Not surprisingly the house was starting to feel a bit overcrowded so now everything is in the storage alley ready for a trip up to the allotment when we next go up. Beans, potatoes and all manner of good things will follow!

Essential egg-boxes for chitting spuds

Of course all this hard-work needs heart-warming food as a reward and this weekend it was J's gorgeous home-made pizza on Saturday - oh the joys of a bread-maker that kneads away while you are doing other stuff - and tofu casserole from the freezer on Sunday. I made the casserole earlier in the week, had a portion for lunch and froze the rest - this meant lunch today was quick to prepare but still really tasty and nutritious. Today we popped a garlic bread in the oven to go with it but it works well with mash, rice or pasta too.

Cockle Warming Casserole
The night before (or an hour if you really have to!!)
Dice 1x 200g packet of firm tofu and coat in a mixture of 2 tbsps tomato purée and 2 tbsps pesto. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

A couple of hours before you want to eat ***see note below
In a medium pan
Sauté 1 chopped onion in about a tablespoon of oil until translucent.
Add in the mushroom and diced parsnips, tofu, mixed herbs, garlic powder, black pepper and a small glug of water to keep from sticking (and avoid adding extra oil). Stir, cover and continue to cook for about 5 minutes.
Put empty 1 litre/ 1.5pint casserole dish onto a strong baking tray (just in case of over-spills and to make it easier to take out of the oven).
Pour veg and tofu mixture into casserole and sprinkle 1tbsp of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of thyme and some more black pepper over the mixture.
Top off with sufficient boiling water to cover to just below the surface of the casserole dish. (I usually leave about 1cm).
 Give it a stir, Cover and Cook
***Now comes the how much time do you have decision.
This will be perfectly good cooked for about 30 minutes on a gas mark 4 until bubbling nicely and the parsnips are slightly soft on the fork but if you have time and can give it longer then try gas mark 3 for at least an hour and the flavours will settle in even more.
Delicious fresh from the oven. Even better frozen and reheated a few days later.

Tofu casserole and mash on Tuesday. It went too quickly to photograph today!

Saving money but still buying organic

Buying organic food wherever possible is never going to be the cheapest housekeeping decision I ever make but for me it makes senses environmentally and ethically and therefore represents good value. That doesn't mean to say I don't look for ways of economising where I can though. One of the ways I save is by joining a buying co-op. A friend manages our trading relationship with Suma which means she coordinates our ordering, pays them centrally and receives the delivery for us and then we pay her and collect our goods, or in my case she drops them around to me in exchange for a cup of tea and a bit of a chat if there's time. It's important that we honour her role in the process and pay up promptly - electronic banking is great for this - so that she's never out of pocket for long and also order on time so that we don't jeopardise everyone else's order - there's a minimum spend but as there are about 20 of us in the group we don't normally have problems reaching it once every 6 weeks or so. It's also important that we collect our goods promptly or be in for her to drop them off as she lives in an ordinary terrace house so doesn't have vast storage facilities! In addition to reducing the costs, it also means we save on packaging as we can buy things like lentils, pulses, dried fruit, bread flour, oil, passatta and organic squash etc in bulk. It also means that we can get to try out different products sometimes as often someone will not want a whole case of 12 or 24 items but is willing to split them with other members. This means we get the cost saving without having to store large quantities of items. 
As Suma supply some local shops we piggy back on to their normal delivery cycle in the area which means we aren't adding too much to transport journeys. You have to be a bit canny sometimes as not everything works out cheaper but a quick check on supermarket shopping sites every now and again can keep you on track - for example a quick check on my usual online supermarket (Ocado) this week and I saved 73p a bag on Doves Farm organic white bread flour, 32p a bottle on Rocks squash and 68p a pack on a 9 pack of recycled loo rolls. There are obviously other supermarket shopping sites out there but I've found that prices for organic dried goods and staples tends to be similar across the main providers. Fresh stuff tends to vary a little bit more and good deals can be had if you shop around but as I now struggle to go into an actual supermarket much less from shop to shop in town this works for me. As I'm not cooking for a big family I tend not to buy spices in bulk as I worry they will lose their potency before I use them up but buying loo rolls in bulk isn't an issue as they don't go off and I just keep them in a corner of the spare room and things like tomato paste, lentils etc all have such a long shelf life that I will definitely use them up before they become unusable (In this house best before dates are used as the advisories they are meant to be and I make my own judgements as to when something isn't edible). So if you are thinking of making changes to the way you shop this year and want to make the environmental cost of your food a consideration then I recommend exploring how a cooperative approach might work for you and in fact I have just come across this "how to" on the Sustain Web site.  Now I've just got to wait for J to get here to put the box of squash and packs of flour away for me!!

Kindness of friends and the dedication of strangers

It's my birthday!!! This time last year I was laid up in Coventry Hospital recuperating after radiotherapy and not knowing what was going to happen next. So today I've celebrated quietly but joyfully and very, very thankfully.

Fragrant flowers from a friend

Tasty treats and pretty bits from my sister

Stories to savour from my lovely J

New puzzle from my Mum

Happy person!

Making use of our dried apple - Apple Pudding

After dropping Mum off at the station on Thursday I had a bit of a play in the kitchen. I've been thinking of different ways to use up our stores of dried apple and the last of our 2018 hazelnuts. As well as being good for nibbling on. it can make tasty apple pies or crumbles and was a really good addition to our Christmas cake this year so I thought I'd re-hydrate some to have a go at a variation on a fruit tea bread. In the end this recipe produced a really tasty but quite doughy loaf which was great as a warm pudding with custard or cream for several meals with the last slice being eaten on Sunday.

Re-hydrated Apple Pudding
I put dried apple slices in a wide 1 litre pyrex jug up to approx 650ml line and covered in boiling water up to c. 1 litre line. Cover and leave for at least 1hour.
Scoop out apple slices into the bowl of a food processor and reserve liquid. Whiz apples into a rough purée.
Add 1.5 tsps of cinnamon and 1tsp nutmeg and approx 2tblsps of roasted hazlenuts. Whiz again. 
Add in 10oz Self-raising flour, 5 oz demerara sugar, 5 tblsps sunflower oil and 2 eggs. Whiz until mixed.
Add in sufficient of reserved apple liquid to make a fairly loose batter (I used approximately 250ml).
Once thoroughly mixed to a loose batter add in about 3oz sultanas. Whiz once or twice to combine then spoon into pre-lined loaf tin.
Bake Gas Mark 4 for approx 1 hr and 15 minutes until skewer comes out clean.

Despite looking the part here more work is needed if I want it as a loaf cake but it's definitely a keeper as a pudding.

Sorting and Saving continues

Old envelopes and used stamps were part of this week's sorting so I'll have a small package of stamps to send off to Macmillan Cancer Care for their fundraising efforts. One less thing for landfill and whilst I might not have many, if enough people save them and send them in then it will all add to their valuable work. For those of you interested stamps can be sent to:

Stamp Bureau in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support PO Box 469 
Leeds
LS17 1HX

Save your stamps

Surprise stashes!

Yesterday's sorting brought a very nice surprise. Seeds! Before I became very poorly last winter we had a trip to the Wyevale 50p seed sale but we both had forgotten about it and had obviously just scooped up the seeds with the card, paper and other odds and ends and dropped them in the living room corner when I came out of hospital in January 2018. So we now have lots of lovely sunflowers, sweet peas, scabious and other flowers for a real mixed cutting garden plus lentils, chickpeas, summer sprouting broccoli and large leafed basil to add to the stores. Such joy to be found at the bottom of a hidden box.

And one extra mystery packet too:

Cow-rose? Much scratching of head - a brief twitter exchange - and a light-bulb moment - a few Springs ago we spotted a really pretty cowslip sized plant on the edge of our little meadow area - the difference from all the other cowslips? Primrose sized flower heads. So we marked it with a stick and protected it from the mower and watched it bloom and joy-of-joys set seed and dry out. J collected the seed and carefully marked them but then obviously they too got caught up in the chaos and lost from sight. Now we have the fun of waiting to sow and if we are lucky watch them grow and if we are super lucky watch them flower and then we'll see whether it's mutation is stable, whether it comes true, whether we really have our very own "cow-rose".

Sorting the clutter

The piles are diminishing at last! No I'm not de-cluttering in the traditional sense, my living room will still be full of books, pictures, music and films in various formats, plants, seeds, stationery, puzzles, games, jugs, vases, wooden boxes, candle holders and lots of other bits and bobs that are still useful, still give me pleasure or may indeed come in useful one day. What I am doing is getting rid of the other stuff: the catalogues, pamphlets and post that accumulates in corners and drawers, the magazines that I really am not going to use again no matter what I thought 5 years ago, the backs of envelopes that have been scribbled on but not discarded once their usefulness passed, the DVDs that I haven't watched and the CDs I haven't listened to in ermm about 5 years and the paperbacks that I've read, quite liked but haven't passed on since the last sort out ooh let me think... about 5 years ago! I'm making room for the person that lives here now, the person that could really do without tripping over piles of shoes in a corner, that wants to be able to get to her paints or puzzles without moving the three piles of books that are stacked in front of them, that finds it harder to reach the floor so why on earth is she keeping the stuff she needs on a day to day basis there instead of at waist height on the side-board...
So here I am recycling, re-purposing and setting aside for donating or shredding or composting and yes a few things will no doubt end up in the black bin too but we'll keep those to an absolute minimum.
I'm actually finding it quite satisfying. I'm remembering that I like being able to see the floor and to actually get to the window ledge to water the plants, to hold the jugs, vases, bowls of stones or conkers that I've collected, to actually see the things I like, the pictures of people, places and things that I love and the books I want to re-read or haven't got to yet. I'm even re-discovering a few things that I knew were in here somewhere but couldn't lay my hands on and there may even be a few pictures of those as the week wears on. (but please don't even begin to mention the landing, the bedrooms, the attic or the kitchen...)

Stalking the garden birds

As it is turning chillier more birds are starting to make an appearance in the garden and brightening our days, eating the food and emptying the bird bath with increasing regularity. We seem to have a resident pair of blackbirds, a couple of super-sized pigeons plus the robin, blue tits and great tits. This week we've also seen a male black cap, a wren and a dunnock and today they were joined by some starlings. I like these much maligned noisy little birds - they may be greedy but look closely and they are oh so pretty with their iridescent feathers. Now here's the rub - you're going to have to take my word for all these sightings as despite spotting them regularly and knowing they are about they are all determinedly avoiding the wildlife cam whenever we set it up and also seem to disappear whenever I get my ordinary camera out. I did manage to get a snap of the dunnock today but it's taken through the kitchen door so isn't brilliant so don't be surprised if you struggle to spot it here (right of the chair and washing line post!).

He's in there somewhere!

Fuzzy dunnock in today's garden

Let's just hope that they overcome their shyness by the time the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch arrives in a few week's time or I'll be sending in a nil return again!

Accomplishing Admin.

Got the week off to a good start this morning as I worked my way through the "to do list"- I requested some repeat prescriptions, using my surgery's online system makes this so easy to do, and because it is always available it means that I can sort them out no matter what time of day I remember them. I've also opened a new savings account, made some medical appointments, shuffled through a couple of the clutter piles and written out some birthday cards for fellow January birthdayers so now I'm feeling quite pleased with myself!  I've got friends coming for lunch this weekend so have been pondering what to make whilst at the same time finishing off my store cupboard check ready for the "big shop". Not a "no spend January" for me this year as we've been carefully using stuff up over the last month or so and now I need to restock with things like bread flour, basic dried herbs, lentils and the like. I've also added some frozen berries and other fruit to the order so I can make smoothies when I feel like it and there's no chance of it going off if I don't fancy them for a few days.  We've used up all of last year's homegrown berries and whilst there's still a fair bit of preserved apple and some fruit leathers left I do want a bit of variety to our January puddings and breakfasts.
More on the lists for tomorrow but time for a rest now!
Hope your week has begun well too.

Plants for free

J spent a few more hours up the allotment yesterday wringing the last bits out of his break from work. He's managed to clear a bit more bed space and transplanted lots of lovely wall flowers and self-sown cornflowers from where they had landed to where we'd like them to grow. Cue them sulking for a while but hopefully they will establish and grow happily on when the days warm up. He also brought a few plants back to plant here at the house - these are a bit more of an experiment as the garden is clay whereas the allotment is sand but they have two choices and I'm hoping they'll thrive once they get over the shock.
Now we have window-ledge space we've got several pots of wallflower cuttings on the go too - we decided to experiment a bit with some of the straggly 3 year old plants that were too tired for moving as a whole but had plenty of good strong shoots on them. After selecting the cuttings material from the plant I've set some to root in water jars and others in a free draining mix of compost and vermiculite. The water method is really simple just a jam jar full of water and a cling film type cover. In our case it makes good use of the un-recyclable mushroom punnet covers as we don't buy cling film. This water method works really well for woody herbs like rosemary, lavender and sage and these wall flower cuttings are very similar so it will be interesting to see how they manage. They could probably do with a bit more warmth and light than usual as it's only January so they're up on our bedroom window-sill rather than the living room. 

Wallflowers of the future (we hope!)

Experimenting with rooting in water

Dismantling December Blues or launching into January Joys?

The tree ornaments are now in their boxes, the candle holders wrapped in tissue paper and the door wreath popped out into the back garden for a few days in case the birds want to rummage through the berries. The cards are in a bag to be de-personalized and set aside for hospice crafts or recycling, depending how inundated with donations the team get. Later the lights will be sorted, packed back into their tins and the tree will be dragged into the back ready for shredding for mulch and, if the trunk is any good a bit of turning or carving later in the year. If the trunk is no good for turning then we'll cut it up and pop it under the hedges for the critters to munch on. The greenery that has lived on in jugs over the last few weeks (and lasted remarkably well it has to be said) will be chopped up and composted and any ribbons set aside for re-use - they're already in a bucket outside waiting for tomorrow when I might feel inclined to don coat and gloves against the chill. J will be press-ganged to hoover through and the surfaces will be dusted down and made ready for the new month's clutter to accumulate - I'm under no illusions I always re-accumulate clutter no matter how many times I sort through and clear surfaces so why deny it?
 There are still some un-opened sweets and mince pies as well as half a stollen - so note for next year - you get sweets as presents so you don't need to buy stuff in too! The Christmas cake lasted through to the New Year but only just so we won't get a chance to get fed up with that. Tomorrow's lunch will use up the last of the fresh veg. In fact we've done quite well at using food up as we go along so a larder & freezer check is in store for next week and then I'll do a shop for fresh supplies of store cupboard staples and maybe a few new flavours - but I've a feeling stews, soups and bakes will feature quite highly over the next month or so as we head to the chilly time of year so there won't be too many new flavours just yet.
The music that has rung out over the last month has been de-bookmarked (is there such a word?... oh well, there is now!) and new tunes will now take their place when I'm cooking, reading or just fed up with the TV - more on that later in the month no doubt.
The hyacinth bulbs given as a present are tucked in the dark sleeping and waiting for their time in the sun (12 weeks and counting!!)
There are un-watched box sets earmarked on the Fire stick and player services.
There are un-read books on the shelf behind the tree and, if I'm lucky a few more to come as birthday presents later in the month.
There are more jigsaws stacked waiting to entertain (thanks Mum!) and the watercolours and new glass paints are sitting in their boxes ready for me to dabble once J has gone back to work and Mum has gone home.
A year ago I wasn't sure I'd get to see this one so no more time to be blue, time to make room for the joy of a new month, a new year, and new things to try out.
Joyful January indeed!

Pruning and pottering and wildlife camera challenges

Whilst I've been pottering in the kitchen and resting my bones J has used the break to get the fruit trees pruned and continue getting beds ready at the allotment. He's also been playing with his action camera to see what sort of films he can produce. So I give you "HOE CAM" !

We've also been trying to film the wildlife in the garden but despite happily posing when I'm here on my own they are singularly video-camera shy and despite several attempts all we have managed to capture is this fearsome beastie:

In addition to sowing some Aquadulce Claudia broad beans in pots here at the house, he has also managed to transplant a couple of rows of self-sown spinach beet and uncovered some beautifully healthy looking flower plants at the plot so there will be leaves and flowers in the spring. (photos when I next visit as I forgot to take my camera up when I went to pick him up on Sunday). 

Next steps will be to sow some peppers and onions here at the house later this month. Spring will come!!

Of new recipes, old favourites and what the heck shall I do withs...

There's been Pot stirring a plenty over the last few weeks, with Mum and J here to enjoy eating and doing the washing up after me I've really enjoyed making good use of our freezer and store cupboard supplies and those meal plans have really helped make sure we had a nice selection of meals without too much effort and no waste.

Lentil base became tasty stew 

On Thursday one of the tubs of leftover Green Dragon pie filling and a tub of mash were pressed into duty and become lentil stew.

Bean and mushroom Risotto

On Sunday the pre-christmas mushrooms and carrot were getting slightly past their best so joined some broad beans from the freezer and rice from the store cupboard in a tasty risotto.

Leek and potato soup

Yesterday was a simple leek and potato soup using up some of the tubs of pre-cooked potato from the freezer and lots of herbs.Served with a garlic bread I'd bought a while ago and discovered in the freezer!





Today I also tried out a new-to-me pie recipe from the Hairy Bikers on the BBC website that my Mum spotted a month or so ago. Unusually for me it's involved buying in several special ingredients but it's made a lovely treat for New Year's Day lunch and I don't have too many unusual things to use up quickly. I did tweak a little as I'd accidentally used up all my thyme in yesterday's soup and I didn't bother with the Marsala but popped in some extra stock instead, so I give you the really rich and definitely delicious almost entirely like the recipe Mushroom and Chestnut pie. There's none left and we were all too full to eat pudding so that's always a good sign.

New Year's day lunch - delicious with just a few roast veg.

Now what to do with about 3 ounces of pre-prepped chestnuts???