Showing posts with label haha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label haha. Show all posts

Wednesday 28 February 2024

Come Together

I feel I need to write a post - February ends tomorrow and it's been such a wet, grey, windy month that even the allotment hasn't been very inspirational.

Kennet & Avon Canal
Thank goodness for the occasional morning walk to see some sunshine before the clouds gather. Sorry to be so whiney, especially after we had such a lovely Saturday - we had a HAHA Work Day.

HAHA Work Party

You can see that a lot of plotholders turned up. We're all so desperate to do something out in the fresh air! We got to work on Ivan's fruit cage, which has now become a HAHA Communal Fruit Plot - look at us all in the cage 😀

HAHA Work Party
Photo courtesy of Forbes Stephenson

The weedy plot in the foreground is one of Ivan's iris plots - the irises are being shared among the community. As you can see the weeds have taken over and the fruit plot looked like that at the start of the day. But a few hours later - voila!

Fruit cage - weed-free

And the grape vine is trimmed and tied back too so we hope to get a good harvest this year. A bit late for trimming really, but it needed to be done to stop it growing through the netting. We were pleased that Ivan came down to inspect and advise.

Grape Vine (Pinot Noir)

After working in that spikey fruity environment we enjoyed a gathering for snacks and chat around the bonfire. It was good to meet up with everyone again, including some newcomers and the Sun even shone for a bit.

Work Party bonfire

A couple of weekends ago I did manage to finish clearing the area where our little fruit trees are going to be planted, but it's been too wet to get them in - hopefully this weekend...

Fruit Tree plot

At home I've been enjoying Rose harissa-flavoured everything at the moment after Jamie bought a pot of Rose Harissa pesto and it is so delicious, only a hint of heat and such lovely spicy flavour. I made a marvellous soup which included plot-parsnips and parsley along with some frozen veg. It provided me with a week of lunches and I've had two evening meals with rice and What the Cluck cooked on the hob with the remaining harissa.

Rose harissa-flavoured vegetable soup

I was inspired to write a poem this month, for the Hungerford Poetry Festival. If you like poetry you should go along to the Hungerford Hub to see what the actual poets have come up with - I'll share my offering on here next month.

In the meantime, sing-along to Primal Scream. What an excellent addition to the day!


Monday 16 October 2023

Rainbow

We have a LOT of mini pumpkins (Jack-Be-Little). They're actually a bit too small and may be a bit of a pain to cook, but they'll look nice in a Halloween display. My sister and a local nursery school will benefit from a few of them and I'll keep the slightly bigger ones for roasting.

We put them all in the polytunnel and zipped it closed ahead of the forecast frost at the weekend - and it did arrive. Brrr, we weren't used to it at all! 0.3° on Saturday night.

We weren't cold during the day on Saturday because it was a HAHA Workday. Lots of hedge-cutting - only to stop the fence getting overgrown; the birds are enjoying the berries far too much to cut back the laden branches. The bonfire was mostly old rotten wood from pallets and the like. The Sun shone for much of the day and it was a nice gathering of plotholders. We were watching the activity on the ivy in the hedge - so full of life!

Literally buzzing with flies, bees, hoverflies, ladybirds and wasps - all enjoying the nectar and pollen.

The frost has taken out some dahlias on site but our plot is a bit more protected because of its proximity to the hedge and our flowers are still blooming - the hummingbird hawkmoth was enjoying the verbena again at the end of the day yesterday.

I pulled the first parsnips yesterday - look at that monster. Of course I stuck the fork through that, so it went into the compost bin but I was pleased with the one on the right. Though they need a bit more frost to get the true parsnip flavour out of them, I'll try roasting some to see if that draws the flavour out.

The leeks were some which weren't transplanted but have grown quite thick in their original sowing location. That Wintery trug formed the basis of our gratin dinner - I added some chopped nuts and cheese to the top but I think the all-home-grown dish looked better before the cream and topping was added.

On Saturday, just when we were feeling ready to go home, there was a very timely (it damped down the embers) and very heavy shower! It was quite unexpected and we had to run for cover.

And then we had a lovely rainbow to enjoy!

And when the big black cloud moved on, we were bathed in sunshine with blue sky again - crazy weather!

So that's why today's song is provided by Marmalade - love the hippy lady, she reminds me of my sister back in the day 😀

Tuesday 10 October 2023

Morning Glory

Yes, it’s filtered, I had to because it was a bit blurry and then Photoshop offered me this and how could I refuse?! It was quite a nice photo with a distant hot air balloon.
Anyway, that was Saturday as the Sun was just slipping down behind the treeline. Jamie and I enjoyed a barbecue on site and had a couple of games of pétanque in the warm weather. The Sun is setting at 6:30 now and is rising at about 7:30 - this was the lovely sunrise sky on Saturday morning (no filter required).
They may only be short days now that we’re in October but what a lovely sunny Sunday we had. The flowers are still making the most of it on the plot. Our morning glory took a long time to flower, but look how beautiful they are now.
And my one dahlia has finally developed a flower, after the amazing dahlia year everyone else seems to have had! Oh well, it’s still pretty.

And finally a melon Mangomel had matured enough for us to eat for breakfast - it was tiny, barely a mouthful but super-sweet.

The bees, hoverflies and butterflies are really making the most of the fine weather and on Saturday we were so pleased to see a Hummingbird Hawkmoth enjoying the verbena bonariensis. The antirrhinum have got to be one of the best self-seeded flowers. So many different colours; they’ve been flowering for months and the bumblebees love them.

I planted 2 garlic bulbs, which provided 20 cloves, (Caulk White) on Friday and I’ve now planted up all the flower bulbs I ordered. I’ve put some in pots and some in the ground: various alliums, daffodils and anemones. I hope they don’t get wiped out by mice like they did last year… we’ll see what appears next Spring. A few have gone into the flower bed where I’ve cleared masses of Nigella seedlings, but never fear… they’ll be back!.
And here’s a before-and-after weeding photo at the front of Plot8. I’ve put some bulbs in front of the irises and amongst the grape hyacinths. As you can see, the irises have been trimmed back to 15cm for over-Wintering.
HAHA has a seed swap container in our communal shed, so I’ve packed up a few of our collected seeds this weekend too. Lots of beans and flowers - if plotholders don’t want them we’ll find somewhere else to share them.

Yesterday I had a meal of Yin Yang beans, curly kale (thanks to Nia), tomatoes and onion flavoured with a bit of garlic, oregano, soy, tomato puree with a little finely grated cheese on top - delish and so easy to make!

 And, just one last thing - look at this potato! Is it the veggie version of ham-fisted? 😊

The song title is provided by Oasis. What a song, haven't heard that in a while but can't believe it was released 28years ago!

Monday 31 July 2023

Cloudbusting

I took a couple of slices of bread and butter to the plot for a fresh and colourful sandwich 😀 To be honest, it didn’t taste of anything but bread and butter, but it did look pretty.

This sandwich was tastier, with the addition of a freshly picked cucumber, cheese and mayonnaise 😊.  I only recently found out that snapdragons (Antirrhinum) and French marigold (Tagetes) flowers are edible and you can order tubs of ‘fresh’ edible flowers online…! Hoho, I don’t think I’ll bother.

Anyway, enough of that silliness, (though I think my sandwiches may include a few petals more often now). This is a row of nasturtium with self-seeded snapdragons - such beautiful colours, even on a dull day.
We are at the end of July and it’s raining, as it has been for much of this month. But the growth is amazing! This is the Jack Be Little pumpkins and the Incredible sweetcorn.
The Cornell’s Delicata that I sowed is clearly not the bush variety that I’d planned the space for! It’s a Winter squash and I’m pleased to see some fruits now appearing. I’ll try to encourage the plant to grow over the mangetout frame rather than over the path…
Meanwhile our sunflowers have peaked too soon - the measuring is 4 weeks away so we didn’t want them to flower yet. But they do look good and it’s so nice to see them all around site and the bees love them.
This really is perfect growing weather at the moment and it’s a nice temperature for working in - though the HAHA Work on Saturday morning was exhausting - clearing a mass of stingers and brambles from against the site fence near the wildlife plot - my arms were tingling all evening after so much stinging!
Here’s a Timelapse of the lovely bubbling clouds yesterday. We left before the rain started, with a trug full of veggies.
I was eating separately from Jamie so could have chard and fennel which he doesn’t like, oh yes, and asparagus peas 😃 and I used a few baby leeks as spring onions. The courgette had to be picked, but will have to wait a day.
I realise it looks like I was frying coleslaw! This is the mixture of grated carrot, grated fennel, chopped leeks, cornflour and a bit of seasoning. I should have chopped the fennel, or maybe added some of the foliage as the flavour didn’t really come through, but after frying for about 5minutes on each side, then 10minutes in the oven these fritters were very tasty with a satisfying crunch.
This was a teriyaki tofu and courgette meal we had the other night - I found it delicious. No home-grown tomatoes yet but they’re coming on in the polytunnel along with peppers and aubergines.
The French and Borlotti beans are flowering and growing over the old polytunnel frame so we should have some beans to add to our meals in a few weeks…
I’m into my second week of leave (feels like I’ve been work-free for ages) so don’t want to wish the weeks away! We’re enjoying watching England win their matches in the Women’s World Cup - supported by my new gnome 😀 - though the matches are tighter than expected!
Song title provided by Kate Bush - I was amazed to see that I haven’t used this title before. What a great song - but the Cloudbusting can stop now - we’ve had enough rain for the timebeing…

Saturday 8 July 2023

What’s Going On?

I’m a bit out of date, I haven’t posted in nearly 3 weeks. Well, it’s been a busy time and I have a rotten cough/throat infection which is hanging round too long. But, apart from that whinge, it’s a great time of year - look, fresh veg for lunches and dinners!
We enjoyed quite a few strawberries, but not as many as we'd hoped. One of the peat-free compost bags was clearly a bit dodgy as the plants were not at all happy.
We’ve been living on broad beans for a while now, so many different ways to enjoy them but they’re just about finished as we’ll be moving on to courgettes. The leeks will go in the ground once the broad bean stalks go to the compost bin.

We had our Open Day on one of the hottest days of the year, it was a great success with plenty of visitors and lots of chit-chat. So exhausting organising and setting up on a sweltering day but there were plenty of volunteers and it’s always fun running the tombola.

Photo courtesy of Forbes

And the after-party was good fun too, with Ivan’s wine followed by a game of horseshoes - definitely need more practice!

The Open Day was the day after the Hungerford in Bloom allotment judging, so the plots were looking their best. Plot7 was included so we had a LOT of weeding to do beforehand. It did look tidier than ever and I even cleared and weeded behind the polytunnel. 

We got 3rd place in our class 😊 mostly I think because there are quite a variety of different items growing on that plot. The plot looks better now after a couple more weeks with some heavy showers between sunshine but still much more growing to do to cover all that bare earth - otherwise a weed will find it! I’ve been filling gaps with lettuce seedlings.

The Incredible sweetcorn that Nia gave us is growing at a pace. I had to stomp the earth around them as they’ve had some really strong winds to contend with. The four tiny plants are the Lark variety that we managed to germinate - they shouldn’t be affected by cross-pollination apparently.

A few more flowers are appearing but our plots are definitely looking mostly green at the moment. The larkspur and nasturtium are the brightest spots for the many hoverflies and bees that have arrived with the warmth. 
And I’m pleased to have noticed a lot of ladybirds over the last week. The HAHA Wildlife plot has plenty of colour for the butterflies that have turned up too.
So, as new veg is emerging, the earlier planted items are giving way. The radish are all eaten, but the radish rats tails provide a spicy addition to salads, along with the delicious peppery nasturtium, which caterpillars haven’t found yet. We ate the scapes from our garlic a couple of weeks ago. They were a very tasty mild-garlic addition to a halloumi meal.
And, I gave the garlic a couple more weeks in the ground but not long enough for the bulbs to properly form into cloves because the foliage was looking so dead and rust- covered. As a result we’ll have to eat it as ‘wet garlic’ and it won’t store for long which is a shame.

Oh, I finished my Best Foot Forward challenge for the National Kidney Federation - Thankyou if you sponsored me! I managed over 176,000 steps in June - a lot of watering was involved in those steps! So much watering!

Alfie very kindly gave us a Bokashi Composting kit. It literally ferments the green waste, rather than composting, and as it ferments we can use the ‘tea’ as a plant food. Seems interesting and all our broad bean waste has been going in there over the last few weeks - the Bokashi bran needs adding for the process to work.

Apart from the lovely plot visits I’ve been working (obviously) and prepping some documents for the BIG HAHA SUMMER SHOW. It’s our first year of running the show ourselves and it’s going to be in the Town Hall, so we really hope there’s a big turnout. I’m not involved in the organisation, but you know me, I do enjoy doing the posters, etc ☺️
Full schedule is available on the website if you’re local. 
So, that’s me caught up. We’re hoping for a thunderstorm this morning then we can go to the plot this afternoon. Song title and sadly relevant question,  provided by Marvin Gaye.