Roasted Beetroot Soup

This tastes as good as it looks.
A recipe can be obtained online. The one I chose said to roast the beetroot in their flesh with onions and garlic.
The roasted effect brings out the earthy flavours...in other words the flavour of beetroot, onion and garlic, all homegrown of course, are much stronger than if just boiled.
The recipe I was followed said to blend all the roasted veg together and thin out with stock to the preferred consistency.
I chose to simmer the roasted veg together with a veg stock for about 30 minutes before blending.
A swirl of cream and a topping of chopped basil leaves enticed the taste buds no end!
A second serving...and I was full.
Such lovely flavour...earthy and sweet!

Figgy Brandy

For the festive season and beyond...here's hoping this version of fig preservation makes it through the next few months.
It's a simple recipe of cutting fresh figs... proudly from the veg plot...into quarters and immersing in brandy in a container glass jar. This one is 1500ml. 

I ran out of brandy, so a little top up will be needed soon. Though I do believe if there's an additional top up of sugar and water, or maybe honey and water syrup, could provide the environment for a liqueur of some sorts. Here's hoping it will be edible for the festive season ahead. A serving with icecream or some other simple creamy concoction would be inviting.

Courgette Collection

Large courgettes develop frequently, almost overnight it would seem.
The effect is due, of course, to water and heat.

Therefore it is easy to end up with a glut and I am always on the lookout for those who will take them to use for soups, stir fries or baking cakes. ..a nice ingredient to use in a recipe called Courgette/Zucchini Bread. It's more of a cake than bread and quite delicious.

A recipe can be found easily online. It's possible to make a kind of spread also with the extra courgette.
Nature's bounty knows no limit

!

Pop Ups in the Garden

Pop up spinach 'going to seed' in the beetroot bed.
I will probably have to wait about 6 months for the seed harvest...but worth it if the seeds are viable.

Last year's  (2017) seed harvest had too many to count and the really interesting thing I discovered recently was, that a number of seeds had fallen from last yeast's plant and germinated after the rainfall last week.
The seeds were well buried and trodden on and still managed to germinate. I couldn't have planned it better.

Now the problem is...where to plant all these spinach seedlings. I've run out of room!. Still, its nice to get an abundant gift like that! That's the beauty and generosity pf the natural process. We're just a part of it and the abundance is always close at hand.

The spinach bed has been growing since May, though prolonged drought conditions have kept the plants on the small size.
Still, seed from last year's pop up harvest has allowed me to be very generous in the sowing of a profuse lot.
I expect rain over the next few weeks to increase the size of the leaves and i can then freeze some for the long winter months when growth will stop and the leaves become scarce.

Basil Outdoors

This is the first time I can truly say there's been a success growing basil outdoors. ..3 varieties...lemon, purple licorice and genovese. This last one has the usual strong flavour that's expected in this variety.  The other 2 have a milder flavour. They grow in pots, next to the Black cherry variety tomatoes. Not sure how basil acts as companion plant etc, but the colours look good against the dark green of the tomato leaves.
All tomato plants had their first organic commercial feed 4 weeks ago.  Before this I just watered in some Epsom salts for fruit setting. That seemed to work as the small cherry tomatoes are loaded on the Totem variety, but not so much on the tall black cherry. Here's hoping the ripening process begins soon. Don't fancy too many green tomatoes...though I understand they are quite edible when cooked. Anybody got any experience cooking with green tomatoes?

Garden Cat

Diego - Garden Cat - Garden Mascot - Garden Guardian 
My little furry friend arrived one day in early July into my veg plot purring gently and then miaowing quietly. He stopped long enough for me to rub him briefly while he moved just a few feet away so I could capture him on camera,,,thus the photos.
Ever since, he seems to know when I'm in my plot and appears suddenly, padding softly and brushing briefly against my legs,before he crosses beds and veggies to access his hunting ground - the raspberry forest ... my term for the tall canes which grow profusely during the summer months.
He hunts for shrews and small birds which hide in the undergrowth and pick at the ripe berries.of 2018.
He belongs to a resident of a very pretty stonecottage built by the owners of the allotments.

    His ginger presence is in stark contrast to the greenery of my plot.
    He doesn't know the difference between a veg bed and a pathway and I have to
   shoo him off netted areas, which are under constant attack from rabbits and           other roaming animals.
   The allotment, which I have rented for the last six years, is situated about a           from the edge of the city and is therefore situated in pastoral surroundings             where fresh air and bird sounds abound,.
   There is never any silence, as nature provides its own noisy background pf           birds, tree movement, wind sounds and the ever encroaching traffic sounds.
   There is relief in the natural sound of birds, though the flapping of pigeon
   wings on the nearby trees can cause a slight confusion as to the nature of  the
   flapping, especially when two birds seem to be duelling for space on the
branches, which swing dangerously up and down.
If you;re looking for the therapy, there is great amusement in watching their antics on the branches.
And of course the,cat, Diego  finds this a great source of fascination and probably wonders if they, the pigeons, would ever drop to earth.

They do drop down from time to time, when my back is turned. Big fat birds they are. I've watched them land dangerously close to the vulnerable veggies, then shooed them off theveg beds as they hopped around eyeing tasty treats for themselves.
The various creatures, over the years have taught me well to be protective of my growing items and so this year, every veg bed has been well netted, with wire hoops holding up the black nets, which seem to be the best colour to deter the rabbits and the white cabbage moth.
In previous years, I have tried different nettings and slowly learnt that green, though a colour that fitted in with the surrounding greenery, was
not the best colour. It would seem the rabbits and various creatures may not know the colour black and they certainly do not like the close weave of this years netting...success at last in protection of my hard work.

People often ask me why I bother with the organic approach and the hard work attached to growing a variety of items for eating during the summer and winter months.
My answer could be a long one, but here it is briefly:I enjoy and need the contact with the earth. The earth doesn't need me, but I need the earth in a very basic way as a creature of this planet does.
I have found the kind of therapy I need and which I have searched for years in other situations and there is nothing like the comfort and joy I receive from mother earth in this veg plot.
The therapy is silent, non-intrusive and free. and I come out of that allotment every single time feeling great. What more could I ask for?