We are very lucky in our village to have a proper butcher's shop. I wish more people would use it, instead of buying their meat at the supermarket. Our butchers are Winston and Michael. They recently took delivery of some freshly caught rabbits and put them in the freezer. Winston will only accept rabbits that have been ferreted, so there's no damage to the carcas and no lead shot to break you teeth on. Michael chopped one up for me

- it made 6 good pieces. It made a wonderful casserole. Here's what I did:-

-I dipped the pieces in plain flour and browned them in a pan with a lump of butter and some olive oil.
-I set them aside in a heavy bottom casserole dish while I fried off two medium onions, roughly chopped and about 3 plump cloves of garlic (because you can never have enough garlic).
-I put the onions and garlic with the rabbit pieces.
-Then I fried up 4 carrots, chopped quite thick, a handful of button mushrooms and 3 celery sticks, also chopped, and then put these with the rabbit.
-Next I added three generous glasses of white wine (ours was homemade apple wine but anything would do - cider works too), and about half a pint of chicken stock made with a stock cube.
-Finally I added two teaspoons of whole grain mustard and some dried marjoram. (Fresh would have been better, but it's too early in the season).
-I brought the whole lot simmering point on the top of the stove, then put the lid on and put it in the oven at about 180 degrees c.
I was intending to cook it for about 2 hours but in the end, my husband had to see the end of the rugby and my neighbour turned up for a gin and tonic, so it was nearer 3 hours. I had looked at it once during cooking to make sure there was enough liquid.
We ate it with some boulangere potatoes (potatoes and onions baked in the oven in stock), but when I do it again, I'll serve it with mashed potatoes.

This recipe is a marriage of the rabbit recipe in Gary Rhodes' New British Classics, and the recipe of our neighbours in France, Georgette and Jean who say rabbit is "tres bon avec les carottes".

Spring is here

After all that cold weather we enjoyed a fantastic few days in France, walking along beaches, working in the garden, and mostly in bright sunshine.

Spring is well and truly under way here in Hampshire too - the garden is full of beautiful snowdrops, daffs and crocuses; we're feeding our bees some runny sugar syrup; I've already seen bees, butterflies and a hoverfly; the birds are clearly very twittervated and Willow the mad rabbit is excavating a warren of epic proportions for her non-existent young.

(Primroses)

(Daffs)

(Lilac buds)

(The first frogspawn of the year)

(Perennials hardening off outside after overwintering in the greenhouse )


(The picture of innocence)

For Christmas we bought Dad a sausage making machine - it's basically a heavy duty meat grinder with attachments that allow you to put the ground meat into sausage casings. Our butcher very kindly makes us up a pack of meat with right proportion of fat to meat and hog casings. At first we used cellulose casings but our latest attempt saw us trying out natural hig casings, i.e. pig guts. It was slimy work but the finished product was well worth it! So far we have made two flavours of sausages - sage, onion, apple and cider and one with chestnuts too. Both were truly delicious, though I think it's fair to say that they looked better cooked than they did raw!

A while ago I started off our first veg plants of the year - tomatoes, sweet peppers, chillis and aubergines, all of which do well when they have a long growing season. This weekend I will be following that up with some okra and things such as parsnips and turnips. This year I'm really going to try my hand at successional sowing and companion planting to try and get the best out of our food crops.

(Sweet pepper seedlings)

The perpetual spinach and swiss chard stayed in leaf all through the winter and are now off to a flying start - I like eating the really soft baby leaves in salads.

(Overwintering leeks and kale with perpetual spinach)

I have already sorted through the seeds we have left over from last year, and divided the ones that are still viable into Sow Now, Sow A Bit Later and Sow Late categories. I have bought some of the seeds that we need to buy in new. My tips for buying seeds would be:

1. Always buy seeds that are viable for at least two years after you buy them, so that you can use them again next year too.


2. Always buy packets with limited numbers of seeds. There's no need to grow 500 carrots at once - it's better to grow too little than too much.


3. Go with a list of all the sorts of veg you want to grow that year and can find space for.


4. Research varieties etc. before you go, or refer to your own notes about which varieties work for you.


5. Try and find alternatives for F1 varieties - yes, F1s are pretty reliable and heavy cropping, but the seed doesn't come true , so you won't be able to save the seed and grow the same thing from them next year. This year I'm trying a Heritage tomato variety - a Brandywine - to see if the old and endangered varieties are worth growing.


6. Buy from reliable seed companies! I won't name names, but some companies are what I can only call bloody useless. Or check out places such as Lidl for seeds at really low prices - if they don't work, you won't have spent very much at all.


7. Try saving your own seed for next year and swapping with friends and neighbours, especially with annual flowers. F1 varieties don't come true, but could still produce some yummy veg - give it a go!
   

Our bees seem to be having a good start. All the hives survived the winter, and don't seem to have minded being moved to a new out-apiary either. This year we are planning a massive requeening programme - all our hives need requeening and we'd like to breed our own new queens from one of our older but friendly Hawaiian crosses. All the hives are bringing in pollen and judging from the number of stings I received this morning they're feeling pretty active!

This winter has seen us brewing away like mad. We've made all sorts of homebrew, from beer kits to sloe gin, blackberry and blackcurrant wine and cider from the apples we scrumped in the autumn. So far there haven't been any failures - even the haw wine, which started off smelling of bacon, has turned out to be very drinkable. We'll be carrying on into the spring, making wine from gorse and elderflowers, and also our jam store. We don't eat jam any more and so to avoid wasting the jams and jellies we've laid down over the years we are turning them into wine too. I'll see if I can get a recipe up here soon.

(Demijohns of deliciousness)

I have discovered two textiles techniques: the first is Indian braiding, or finger weaving, which allows you to make really colourful braids. I'm still pretty slow at this technique but have learned how to weave three different patterns. The picture below shows me wearing a thin chevron braid in simple pure wool DK knitting yarn that I finished recently.

(Double chevron pattern - work in progress)

I have also discovered a technique that supposedly outdates weaving! It is called sprang and you can find a fantastic website about it here, in English and Dutch. www.denblauwenswaen.nl/engels.htm These people also have some brilliant demonstrative videos on Youtube under the name of Denblauwenswaen.

Pottery is coming along nicely - I can now make lids, throw off the hump and all sorts. Spinning is good too - I haven't done any for a while but in my last lesson I learned worsted spinning, which I really enjoyed. Even better though was using my teacher's Viking combs - seems like the perfect activity to do when you're really angry, as you really have to bully the fibres!

And lastly, I plan to open an etsy shop soon, selling little gifts made from my handmade felt and reclaimed fabrics. Watch this space!

REVIEW: The Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins

I have been reading the Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins recently. I'd heard a few things about it (but not much) and had seen it on Amazon, so I got it out of my local library.



Before reading it, I didn't have a clue what the Transition approach was, except for a foggy understanding that it was something to do with green issues.

This book is a real inspiration; reading it has changed my whole perspective on what we are doing to our planet and possible consequences of our actions. But more than that, it has really inspired me to take action, and I can't wait to get going.

The book presents strong arguments and backs them up well; although some of it does make me feel a bit bewildered, I'm sure that more research would clarify some things for me, and the Transition Handbook has loads of resources and ideas to help with that.

I like the balance struck in this book. Split into three parts - the head, heart and hands - it starts with facts and figures, some of which are depressing and most of which really shocked me. However, it goes on to share a positive vision of what the future could be like if we act now. This bit was so wonderful to read I nearly cried! Sure, there are scary statistics, but Hopkins balances these out by showing what we can do to change them.

I also like the fact that it is all about acting as a community - Hopkins clearly holds no illusions that if everyone switches to energy efficient lightbulbs we'll be all right, but neither does he trust government to sort it all out. The book has a real "power to the people" feel about it. It describes practical things you can do and after reading it, I don't feel at all powerless or hopeless.

I would reccommend this book to anyone interested in green issues, and to sceptics. It will really make you think and might even change your views. 9/10.

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Here is a link to an article about my Dad's friend, Geoff Galliver, an experienced beekeeper.

http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/2039298_buzz_is_building_over_bee_crisis

Other articles of interest:

http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/lifestyle/home_and_garden/s/2001053_ladybirds_and_bees
http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/lifestyle/home_and_garden/s/41048_bees_are_the_best

Review: Dylan Moran

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I went to see Dylan Moran at the Anvil on Saturday and I am still laughing. V good. Go see it now.

General Update

I haven't written for ages so I've got some serious updating to do!

• Honey harvest: our crop this year was disappointingly small. We got a fair wax crop but the bees had eaten 90% of the honey by the time we got to it, because the summer was so miserable. Next year we will probably take a spring harvest as well as an autumn one and just feed the bees really well. Even though there isn't much of it, our honey does taste divine, even though I say so myself. Things always taste better when they are home produced.

Uncapping

Sorting out the extractor (only cost a tenner!)

Honey!!!

• Unfortunately one of our hives died...probably of starvation. It was a hive we had set up this year, we didn't take any honey from it, and they had been doing so well earlier in the season. The cause was once again, that they'd eaten all their stores, and also our fault - we should have been feeding them. I was so surprised when we went up to the hive and we found out it was dead...it actually smelled like a dead animal, like a piece of roadkill or something. You wouldn't think that piles of dead bees would smell like that, but they do. Like one dead organism.


• Visit to Wales: we avoided the Abergavenny Food Festival like the plague and instead took a trip to the lovely village of Skenfrith. Unfortunately I was unable to stop my father having a scrumping spree. There was a German film crew in the High Street, filming Unter Den Hugeln Von Wales, which apparently means Under The Hills Of Wales. Rather surreal.


• Homemade pasta: we have got so fed up with eating endless spinach and swiss chard that we have been trying to come up with ideas of how to use the stuff...so we made pasta! V. good indeed.

• Chutney: have been making jars and jars of the stuff. We have even managed to make some sugar free stuff for my diabetic dad - the secret is to use eating apples; combined with the sultanas, they provide all the sweetness you need.
• Cidermaking: on my sister's birthday with some of our friends over. We made seven gallons of cider out of the bags and bags of apples we have been collecting....some from our own garden, others from the wild, some were given by friends, and some were "borrowed".... we didn't just stick to cider apples - we did eaters, cookers, the lot, and it made for a really lovely juice...just hope the cider turns out nice! We've got some more apples to do now and all....we might get another few gallons.


• Feeling arty: I've been doing loads of observation recently, and not much final pieceing. i have however taken some half decent photos of my work, and have tried out altering them on the computer...I love the effect! (NB: The following images are copyrighted).


• Geese: the canada geese are flying in thick and fast now; I have heard them lots of times but I saw them for the first time today. I love this time of year. They are so utterly beautiful, they take my breath away.


• Feeling the crunch: we are cutting back on everything and shopping at Lidl. One of my friends today said that he'd barely noticed it was happening! Alright for some...

Crafty Crafty and a Review

Well, it is nearly the end of the summer hols, at least for my sister and dad. The weather hasn't been great this year, although we had a great time in France, and have had a great time getting crafty this holiday.

Pops and I have been doing lots of potting and spinning and weaving this holiday. I love it! We've been to the Milland Pottery about five times now to learn from Angela Carter how to make pots. It's great fun, and really nice and messy. So far neither of us have produced the perfect pot (especially when you see them next to Angela's stuff...) but for a first attempt these ones came out really well, and our later attempts are noticeably less wibbly-wobbly.

We have also been to the Willow Close studio twice, where Pops is learning weaving and I am learning to spin under the excellent tutelage of Carol Keats. I really love spinning. The whole time we were in France I just couldn't stop.

This is the first yarn I spun, a thick and thin single of natural Corriedale roving, dyed Blue Faced Leicester roving, and uncarded natural Jacob fleece. It's really fuzzy and soft, and althougn it is by no means the perfect yarn, I'm pretty proud of it all the same. I like the fact that it is all the colours of Party Rings biscuits! It crocheted up pretty nicely into a headband/strange necklace thing.

This is the yarn I produced last time. Carol did a brilliant exercise on colour with us. I used her drum carder to make up 8 rolags in various colours of Merino roving and uncarded natural Jacob fleece, before spinning and plying. This yarn is much more even than my first attempt! There are about 8 different colours gone into each of the singles. The colours came from a stunning postcard picture of a hosta, but the darker turquoise reminds me of a kingfisher.

(The yarn pictures were taken on the sill of our new double glazing...they're really nice but there is still a layer of dust over the whole house from when they were installed). (Sorry to go on about something as dull as double glazing).

Here is a small section of Poppy's weaving...I reckon she's bloody brilliant at it!

Mum came along too (for she is the Lady with the Car) and made a plate with Angela and a beautiful little woven piece on a pegloom.

The garden is stunning but I don't have any pictures yet, so I will save that for next time.

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REVIEW: "iNTERTWINED" by Lexi Boeger (Pluckyfluff)

This was my holiday read and I love it. The instructions don't cover the basics of hand spinning but even if you are a beginner, as I am, this boko will be a really inspiration. It covers a load of techniques, has some beautiful patterns and some really good advice in it. It's a fun book - easy to read, colourful, and with a nice layout. There are also beautiful photographs and really clear diagrams. Above all this book is truly inspirational - the technqiues are really interesting and combined with some of the unusual materials used in the book the effects are STUNNING!! If you're a spinner, or even just like textiles and fibre, buy this book, and discover what yarn is really about.

An affliction

I think that the ferry journey on the way back from my summer hols in France has done me in a bit. It was a really awful journey: the boat was full to bursting with people, one of the engines blew up, and when my dad and sister went to the cinema it looked like they'd never come out again (the only good thing about their cinema trip was that my father managed to restrain himself from singing and dancing to the entire Mamma Mia soundtrack). I am afraid to say that motion sickness claimed me. And now I can't get rid of the blooming thing.

Motion sickness is the sort of thing that I have always thought was made up by people who wanted attention or were seriously mentally ill, along with allergies to peanuts, oranges, donkeys, etc. I assumed it was just plain moaning designed to compensate for people's weakness and stupidity. I suppose I have been proven wrong; either that or I am turning into a hyperchondriac. It could well be watching too much New Tricks.