A Pleasant Visit.

I have had a very pleasant morning visiting a lady whom I am grateful for having met her. Her name is Vera and she is the nan to one of my son's friends. As you all know I started a new project this week and I needed a little help from an expert and who better than a lady of quite a few years (it's rude to mention a ladies age you know!) with a lot of experience in knitting and crocheting.

I popped round to see Vera this morning clutching my precious project in my hands anxious that what I had done was correct. Vera was sitting in her chair with a pile of knitting and crocheting patterns and some of her finished work and a sweet little cardigan than she is presently working on. I had not met Vera or spoken to her until this morning and what a lovely lady she is too.

Within a few minutes it was like I was sitting in my nan's lounge again when I was a child. Vera taking a look over my work said I had done very well for my first project and yes I was flushed with pride. Vera went through all the patterns she had and passed me the pieces she had finished and what she is working on explaining how she had done them.

Vera has shown me how to sew the attachments on and also showing me how to hold the wool correctly as I tend to hold the wool like I am knitting, she said it does not matter as long as I feel comfortable doing it that way, but she took the time to show me anyway.

I had taken Vera round a jar of my home made elderberry and blackberry jam that I had made last autumn as I do not like to visit people empty handed. In exchange I came away with a bounty of goods for which I was not expecting however very grateful. Vera gave me a darning needle a crocheting pattern and book, two crotchet hooks and some odd balls of wool so I can make the decorative attachments for the hats that I am planning to make.

But the best thing Vera gave me was her time and experience which is worth much more than any crotchet hook or book. She is a lovely warm welcoming lady. Most of the things that Vera makes are for the local hospital, the gift box appeal, charity events and just for the people she meets. I am very grateful for the chance I have had of meeting Vera and feel that I am a very lucky person indeed.

We tend to forget or ignore the older generation which is such a shame. They have so much knowledge and time to share and impart. If this knowledge goes unheard it may be lost forever.

I know this post is off my usual topic however it is something I just wanted to share with you all. I have not quite finished my project yet so I will not post the photo until it is completed.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Until next time x

feeling hot hot hot!

It has been very hot and muggy the past two days. But at long last some of the strawberries have gone red and Octavia found the biggest one and promptly plucked it from the plant and went racing off into the coop with the other's in hot pursuit!

The girls had a couple of hours out in the garden, Bell was quite happy plucking at my lettuce and Dory was in my newly planted herb pot kicking out all the soil, Matilda was in the fruit border and Octavia was rummaging in the strawberries! So a good day was had by all. I cut some rhubarb which my mum has taken home to make a rhubarb pie. I have put netting round it now so the girls can't get at it. We had four eggs today which made a nice change. The girls are now back in the run laying down with their wings spread out relaxing after their hectic day.

I had visitors today so not much gardening has been done, however I have removed the broad beans as these had seemed to have finished and what pods were growing have gone black. This was quite a poor crop this year and I planted these in November last year for them to over winter. The Variety was Aquadulce, last spring I sowed The Sutton and I shall sow these again next spring as I had a much better crop from these.

The snails are busy feasting on my brassica's even though I have mulched with human hair on some of them the snails seem to still manage to get through where there is no mulch. A trip to the hairdressers is in order to restock up on mulch.

As it has been so dry it is perfect weather for weeding and hoeing so I have done the vegetable plot and the raised beds. The pods are forming on the peas, I just need them to fill out now. Everything that is in the ground is growing quite well. The cauliflowers, sprouting broccoli and cabbages I sowed a couple of weeks ago are coming through, hopefully these will make it into the ground soon. The swede that I sowed has started to poke through the soil and the parsnips are 3-4 inches high now.

Well I have almost finished my little project. I have just got to do the final sewing and it is finished. I was better at this than I thought. It is amazing what you can learn from just watching a video, even if they were going to quick and I had to keep pausing and replaying! I will have to upload the photo tomorrow as the battery has just gone on my camera. It does not seem to last long and always runs out of juice at the most inopportune moments!

Well that is it from me for another day, I have got a lot of watering to do. Until next time x

Just call me Barbara...

It has been a couple of nice days, I even wore a summer dress today as it was so nice, which makes a change from my usual gardening clobber! Not much gardening has been done though as Monday I was catching up on house cleaning after having a full house at the weekend. Today I went out to lunch with my parents which was rather pleasant.

I have spent a couple of hours out there this evening so the girls could have their manic run around! I have watered and fed the potatoes, courgettes, strawberries, sweet peas and the tomatoes. I have run out of feed so the beans and peas will have to wait until tomorrow to be fed.

The sunshine we have had means the strawberries have started to turn at long last!

The small courgette plant has produced three flowers and all were male, hopefully they will produce some female flowers soon. The tomato plants and carrots in the greenhouse have grown quite a bit.

I need to remove the side shoots off these tomatoes, that is a job for tomorrow. I have left it a bit late but they seem to have grown so quick!

These are the last potatoes that I planted at the end of March as you can see they have also grown quite a bit and will soon be ready they are full of flowers that have not opened yet, these ones have yellow flowers where as the earlier ones at the other end of the garden are purple. This year I did remember to peg the labels to the bags. So when I do harvest them I will know what variety they are.

We are still only getting one or two eggs a day, I am wondering if it because Octavia, Dory and Bell will keep attacking the rhubarb. Matilda does not touch it and she is the only one who is laying an egg everyday. I do put something round it but they keep getting through. Tomorrow I am going to put some canes in and put netting round it so they can't get at it. Once it dies down I will move it onto the vegetable plot as that is one place the girls don't go.

I have started a new project today, it is something I have been wanting to do for a while. Jay is becoming rather concerned as yesterday I was cleaning the house with fresh lemons and white vinegar. I am recycling, reusing and  baking and making most things. Today he came home and found me crocheting! He thinks I am turning into some new age hippy and I am having a midlife crisis! He thinks I am going to start knitting him big baggy jumpers, socks and pants! According to the family I am getting more like Barbara from the Good Life everyday. If you don't know what I am talking about I have posted a clip at the end of this post.

I am attempting to make a crochet beanie hat. I had a You tube video on my laptop whilst crocheting so I could learn how to do it. My glasses were perched on the end of my nose whilst shouting at the woman on the video she was going to fast! However I think I have mastered it already.

Well that is it from me for today, I hope you have enjoyed my blog today. Until next time x

An Odd Egg!

Jay was given a tray of fresh chicken eggs yesterday and this particular one looks rather odd. Most of the ones we have used had double yokes and they were huge! I'm not sure why some eggs are like this we have had a few but nothing as remarkable as this one. I have had a quick browse on the internet but could not find anything about it. When I have a bit more time I will investigate why perhaps they lay eggs like this.

I did not show the eggs to the girls just in case they felt offended and inadequate once they saw the large supply of the big eggs and refuse to lay any of their own in protest! Not that they are laying much lately anyway, we did have another two eggs today.

I have not done much in the garden the ground is so wet, we had a short torrential down pour that came from nowhere and only lasted for about ten to fifteen minutes. I cut off all the seed heads that had appeared on the spring sown onions.

cut and come again mixed salad leaves

With all this rain things are growing quite well, however we do really need some sun to ripen the strawberries

Can't wait for these to ripen 

As you can see they are getting bigger but not ripening at all. The peas have started to flower so it will not be much longer before we will be having some of them.

mmm peas fresh from the pod 

The flowerbed in the front is really growing with all the rain, they have doubled in their size in just over a week.

I gave all the potato bags a good watering earlier, we did not have any for lunch today. Jay was in charge of Sunday lunch today and he decided he wanted to do gratin potatoes which you can use any old potato for so I am saving them for later in the week. 

I made a no bake chocolate cheesecake with baileys yesterday. It is the latest recipe for my online cooking class. Luckily I managed to get a photo of it before it was attacked by the family. To obtain the recipe click on the link on the recipe page where you will be able to print off the recipe and see how it is made. I have not had my piece yet however it is calling me from the fridge!

Well that is it from me for another day, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Until next time x