behold the holy grail

Still no laptop (booooo!) as it's still off being repaired. All is not lost, however, as my wonderfully kind friend has leaped to my rescue by lending me her little netbook (hurrah!), which means I'm back online at last.

How has everybody's year been going so far? Mine has already had it's ups and downs- just as I was heading off to bed in the early hours of New Year's Day morning I heard a worrying scratching noise coming from the kitchen ceiling, which to my horror turned out to be a family of mice that had taken up residence in there (thankfully our landlord got them sorted out swiftly). So much for the theory that having a cat keeps the mice away- our rather relaxed feline could not have given a hoot!

More suffering then ensued when my eagerly awaited new camera never turned up- I am never going to buy anything expensive online ever again, no matter how much of a bargain it seems. Thank goodness I paid by Paypal and I've just received a refund, so will be trying to buy the same model in the real shops this weekend.

It's not all doom and gloom though, as we had a call from the Allotment Society yesterday, telling us we are top of the waiting list and they are hopeful that they will have a plot available for us in February. I am so excited because, much as I love Pear Tree Cottage Garden, it does feel very strange digging up someone else's land and I'm always panicking that the children are making too much noise and upsetting the neighbours when we are there, and other little things like that. I would be so much happier up at the proper allotments, picking up tips from fellow allotmenteers and swapping produce. If we are lucky enough to get our own plot this Spring, we will still use Pear Tree Cottage this year as we've worked so hard to get it ready and it will allow us time to really get the allotment set up perfectly.

But the highlight of 2011 so far has to be getting my hands on the most beautiful piece of Pyrex ever beheld- a stunning JAJ snowflake gravy boat, which fills me with joy every time a see it...

 Who would have thought the sight of a gravy boat would be enough to shake off the January blues?

the plot thickens..

Today Flora and I popped down to our tiny little square of borrowed allotment to collect some tools. I knew it would be scarily weedy as it must be a couple of months since we gave up on it, after all my brassicas were attacked by rabbits/deer and we got offered Pear Tree Cottage garden. However, we were stunned and delighted to see some cabbages and cauliflowers had survived after all- here they are poking through the forest of weeds...

 

Last time I saw them there was just a tiny little nibbled stalk left- I never expected them to bounce back, especially after totally neglecting them! So I grabbed a fork and lifted them up (note my trusty dm boots that I have had since I was 15!)...

and re-planted them at Pear Tree Cottage...

I do hope they like their new home- my mouth is already watering for cauliflower cheese!

I'm really pleased with the progress we have made at Pear Tree Cottage- after so much hard work clearing and digging, it finally feels like we've got somewhere! As well as the brassicas, I've also planted a rhubarb crown this week and my dad manged to rescue the apple tree that had fallen over and was growing along the ground! We're now going to put the finishing touches to the beds, divide them with some more recycled paving slabs and then cover them up for the winter.

It looks very different from when we took it on a few months back, this picture was taken at about the same place as the one above. I just cannot wait until the Spring when we can sow some seeds. I hope those pumpkin seeds I bought at the food festival grow as big as these beauties I spotted on a neighbouring allotment...

Today I also got started on Flora's Princess Leia costume- can you guess what I made the buns out of?

a pair of Totes slipper socks that I picked up in a charity shop for £1!

 

Happy weekend everyone- hope this heatwave we were promised appears tomorrow!

granny chic

Since we got back from our holiday, life has taking over a bit and I've been meaning to post an update about Pear Tree Cottage for a while now. Steve has been hard at work chopping, digging and burning- it's a huge job and feels a little bit like slow progress sometimes, but there is now a sizable space cleared. The soil feels pretty decent, but is full of stones- removing these will be the next big job. Any tips about how to do this most efficiently would be greatly appreciated!

We were also busy at the weekend with car-boot sales, this time on the other side of the pasting table. We had quite a few bits and bobs to sell (including the last of the baby stuff, sob!) so on Saturday we decided to gently pop our booty cherry and hawked our wares at the annual charity car boot sale, up the road at the very grand Buscot Park. I was surprised how much I enjoyed myself and even more suprised that we made over £70.


However, we still had a whole car full of stuff left over at the end and, rather than unpack the car and load everything back into the shed, I decided to brave a proper hard-core car boot sale on Sunday. So Flora and I got up at 5am and headed off together to Blunsdon to compete with the pros! People had warned me about people swarming the car as you unload, but I still hadn't quite anticipated how alarming and intimidating this is, especially with a child in tow. Despite this, we soon relaxed and got into the swing of things and my dad joined us later armed with bacon sandwiches and a flask of hot coffee. I was delighted to take another £50+ and I took anything that was left over to the charity shop on Monday.


I was quite good and resisted purchasing much off the other stalls, but I do keep seeing these beautiful brightly-coloured vintage knitting needles everywhere I go, so I gave into temptation and bought a few sets.


I prefer to knit with bamboo needles, so I'm collecting these purely because they appeal to magpie tendencies, but don't they make a wonderful display?


Together, they remind me of one of those model atomic structures you always see in science museums.

pear tree cottage

We must be the luckiest novice gardeners alive!

A local woman, who hates gardening, has offered to lease us her 140 ft cottage garden for the ridiculous bargain sum of £1 per year and a small share of our produce. We can do whatever we like with it, she just wants it to be used.


We've been looking round this morning and I am bursting with excitement, but also extremely daunted by the amount of work that needs to be done as half of it is so overgrown that it's impossible to walk through, and bind-weed is wrapping itself around every tree and plant. The owner is a successful local businesswoman and town councillor, who has lived in the cottage for seven years and it looks as though she has never pulled up a single weed or pruned a bush in that time.


There is one slightly clearer area halfway down, which we will concentrate on getting ready for raised beds, and sow our first crops in that space in the spring, and have it properly up and running for vegetables throughout next year. We'll give back our little strip of allotment next Spring and if we work hard and keep learning, there is enough space to be close to self-sufficiency in vegetables.


Then, next year we will begin work on clearing further back, which will be home to some soft fruits including raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and rhubarb.


In amongst the crazy bushes I did spot a few gems that we will be keeping- some plums, brambly apples, hazelnuts, elderflower and a holly bush.

Strangely, there is no pear tree though!