Deblyn

We had quorn fillet in parsley sauce, roast potatoes and mixed beans; followed by oven-baked rice pudding. Yum yum.......

We planted a small orchard here when we moved in. It has two apple trees (Winter Queening and Sheep's Nose) one plum tree (Victoria) and five hazel tress, three silver birches. I have a couple of blackthorn (sloes) to move up there too. We also have a horse chestnut (this belongs to Mr Lowie and gets mollycoddled!) and a small oak tree. On the back boundary is a large elder tree - flowers for cordial and wine, berries for the birds and wine. The chickens love this tree and spend a lot of time in summer jumping up and down trying to peck off the berries - they look so comical! We have other apple trees elsewhere in the garden, and when we plant the hedge along the east boundary will put in some more fruit trees there - hazel, blackthorn, quince, pear, damson, medlar maybe. The chickens and ducks and rabbit live in the orchard (sounds grand for such a small place!) and I spend a lot of time up there just leaning on the fence and watching them. I would like to try a peach tree, but they are susceptible to peach leaf curl here as well as frosts, so it seems quite a challenge. And I have a little fig tree in a big pot, but it got frosted and its little fig (!) fell off - so no fig this year!!!

Now an ex-job!! Hahaha..........! I found my conscience pricked far too much by the fact that the Major and his wife are leading lights in the local Hunt; I cannot work for them any more, so have packed it in. So back to the day job ! (ie my own garden!)

Thanks Westbrook for the beautiful squares that arrived this morning and the little poem with it - great stuff!

Hiya Deb again! Hello to you too Seldiesgirl. I am a fanatical organic gardener; I have had my own garden for 16 years now; this my second one, but a lot lot bigger than the first! I have never used man-made chemicals of any kind in the garden - too risky for environment, children, pets, wildlife; not necessarily in that order though! One of my favourites is companion planting, which I have been doing for years. I'm a great fan of Bob Flowerdew - anything by him is completely organic, but I have no links (got all the books though!). I'm also interested in other types of gardening - veganic, bio-dynamic, permaculture; I pick and choose bits and pieces from the various schools of thought to suit me and my garden. I grow lots of ornamentals, mainly herbaceous perennials as well as fruit veg and herbs. We have six ponds to help with the balance in the garden, three compost heaps, chickens and ducks, two greenhouses, lots of birdtbales nad nesting boxes, lots of native trees planted, etc. Would like to hear about your organic gardening when you get time. Off to have a look at the site you suggested; think I've seen it before, but will have another look, so thanks for that.

Hiya Deb! Heavy showers and cloudy here today, very wet - so spent all day in the garden again!! Hello to MBHill too!

Our Garden club has its annual plant sale in the village hall on Saturday morning. It's all terribly English - well-mannered people waiting in queues, wicker shopping baskets, tea and home made cakes etc etc! It's great fun. As Secretary I have to go up tomorrow night and organise setting it up all ready for Saturday morning. We serve tea and cakes as well, and the money we raise goes towards paying for speakers for the club throughout the coming year. Some good plants turn up as well if you look. a lot of people come for bedding plants and annuals, but occasionally there are some really interesting bits and pieces at bargain prices. Looking forward to it!

I love working in the herb garden on a really hot and dry day; the scents of the herbs are at their best then. I also like opening up the greenhouses first thing in the morning, and leaning on the fence watching the chickens and ducks go about their business. Anything in the garden is my favourite outside job I suppose.

.....so I've caught up with everyone else. to be brutally honest, it wasn't my cup of tea at all, but I did read it all and finished it. I had a real problem with some of the language used. Where does the expression "Well, spit......." come from? Is it an American expression? I have never heard it before, and can't imagine anyone in this country using it in the 12thC!!!!!!!! I did like the bit where Jamie tipped the water over the talking soldiers, though.........!! The copy I got from the library was in a very sorry state and well-read; she must be a popular author but I hadn't heard of her until now. Having said all that, the book would make a rip-roaring film wouldn't it? Imagine - wild Highland scenery, castles, and all those men in kilts................ (Here we go again....!!) What's next for reading then? Who is going to choose?

I'll certainly finish the book otherwise I won't feel able to give an honest opinion on it. Watch this space..........!!

Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but just wanted to say thans to kelly whose gorgeous quilt squares arrived this morning - almost there!!

The library phoned yesterday to say it was in, so I asked them to pop it on the mobile library van which comes on a Wednesday, so i got hold of the book this afternoon. I have read the first three chapters and don't know whether to laugh or cry! I find the mix of pseudo Scots and English, written with a large dose of American expressions very difficult to read indeed! I do not like historical fiction ( and fiction this must surely be!!) anyway, but will give it a go. I wish I had violet eyes, though...........!!

I got lovely squares from Reci and Theyd in the post this morning - thanks!!

When is Mother's Day in the U.S. then? It is in March in this country. I don' bother with it at all and never have; I think everyone should be nice to me all year round!!!!

Dandelion wine 4 pints flowers - yellow only, no green parts 2 1/2 lbs sugar 8 ozs sultanas 2 lemons 1 orange 1 gallon water yeast Wash flowers and cover with 1 gallon of boiling water. Leave to infuse for 24 hours. Draw off 2 pints of the liquid, heat just to boiling point and pour over the sugar, stirring until dissolved. When this syrup has cooled to blood heat, return it to the bulk of the liquid, together with the yeast, sultanas and sliced citrus fruit. Cover well and leave in a warm place to ferment for 5 days, stirring twice daily.Strain the liquid carefully and transfer to a fermenting jar. Ferment out, rack and bottle as usual. this is the basic recipe I use - it changes according to availability of citrus fruit and sultanas! I nade it once with a bit of powdered ginger added and that was quite nice too. Dandelion jelly: I got the recipe from the Homesteading forum; I will have to adapt it somehow as I don't use and can't get the jelling stuff; I will try it just with the sugar and maybe some lemon juice.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? Saeed al Sahaf - Iraqi Head of Information - The chicken did not cross the road. This is a complete fabrication. We do not even have a chicken. George W Bush - We don't care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either for us or against us. There is no middle ground. Colin Powell - Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road. Tony Blair - I agree with George. Hans Blix - We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road. Dr Seuss - Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told. Martin Luther King Jr - I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question. Grandpa - In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. somebody told us the chicken crossed the road and that was good enough. Ronald Reagan - What chicken? Sigmund Freud - The fact that you are all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity. Bill Gates - eChicken2003 will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents and balance your checkbook - and Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken 2003. Albert Einstein -Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken? bill clinton - what is your definition of chicken? the bible - And God came down from heaven and he said unto the chicken THOU SHALT CROSS THE ROAD. And the chicken didst cross the road, and there was rejoicing. Colonel Sanders - did I miss one?

Thanks everyone; things are well-eased off now, especially over the summer when we are outside most of the time. Although we nver actually stop learning......! (Even me!!)

..... to get the reports from the Education Department following the inspector's visit in March. Both children got glowing reports so I am relieved and happy about that. I know myself that I do enough "work" with them and that they are learning all the time, but when it isn't all written down you feel you really have to prove yourself!! Will have a few eeks off now!

........ to start on the seasonal wine making again. Started with a gallon of dandelion wine yesterday and will be making nettle wine this evening. I have a good book called "Drink Your Garden" which is good for basic recipes with no fancy ingredients and equipment. I am also going to make some dandelion jelly later when the stove is up - we certainly have enough dandelions this year, even after picking them for the wine!!!!

After wanting one for a long time, I found a floor-standing tapestry frame at the local tip aka recycling centre. It is complete and in very good condition, made of pine. I snapped it up at 75 pence, which is the equivalent to $1.20 at today's rate! Wasn't going to walk past that one! Wonder when I'll get time to use it???!!!!!!!!

Spent all yesterday afternoon outside and got quite a lot done. tidied up lots of pots and bits and pieces off a piece of ground down the side of the house and now have a new border to play with! Luckily I had lots of plants waiting for homes so in they sent - winter jasmine, yellow shrub rose, lavender, cerinthe, violets, venedium, snapdragons, with annual seeds sown in between.. Mr Lowie will eventually pave this bit over (so he thinks - ha!!) when he starts on the garage; I have looked at this poor bit of garden for the past five years looking sad and neglected, but it should look really pretty this summer. Slugs have eaten some of my broccoli and the white sprouting broccoli has come up as something completely different and will have to be fed to the chickens. It looks like wild rape or something similar - I don't think I want to eat it anyway!! I made a new little pond (pond number 6!) in an old-fshioned galvanised bath I got from the tip a while ago; filled it with weed and plants and some snails and a water lily and sat it near the entrance to the herb garden - it looks really nice. I didn't get around to mowing the grass which is very long after all that heat and rain. It makes an instant difference when it is done. Mr Lowie likes the grass mown short as it makes the garden look neat and tidy!

We have been talking for about two years now about this shed! it is a potting shed for me and my tools, compost and things, so the greenhouses just need to have plants in them. Yesterday we talked some more about the shed, and it truns out I will get my shed for my birthday present this year (only I'm not waiting that long!!) I changed my mind about the siting of it and it's now out of the fruit garden and down the outside boundary fence. Inside it will have a comfy chair with cushions and a bookcase. It will be MY shed...........!!

Twilap and Snowmom - I got both of your squares yesterday - that was a treat! Itching to get started, although I have at least nine other projects I should be finishing........!

I got my first envelope of exchange squares this morning from Grace - thankyou! Lovely colours and patterns. It was only posted on 29th April, so only took 3 days to get here - compare that with a letter I sent to someone on Thursday 24th April, first class stamp and it didn't arrive until yesterday 1st May by which time the event she was being invited to had taken place. Her village is about 9 miles away........!!

I bottle as many tomatoes as I can - whole and in brine; they are sterilised in a hot water bath on top of the stove. I like botling fruit too - the taste is much better than frozen; I do rhubarb, gooseberries, peaches, strawberries, currants, apples. They are done in the same way as tomatoes. i grow quite a few beans and my favourite way is fresh out the garden. I don't freeze runner beans as the taste is not good; the French beans freeze really well though and I do a lot of them. Broad beans freeze well too. I open freeze beans so i can then take out just as much or as little as I need.