den building and other mischief

Inspired by the lovely Emma Bradshaw's recent post about the wondrous art of children's den-building, the girls and I set about constructing our very own half term hide-out. We went for traditional chairs and blankets as our building materials and held it together with a few clothes pegs.

We had the best fun chilling out in it all morning- reading, singing, wordsearching and generally lazing about.

 Other special half-termy things we did today included indulging in a scrambled egg brunch...

making Hama bead animals...

and Steve made the first of the raised beds, down at the lottie...

Aren't they fab?! I'm so proud of him for making them absolutely perfect. There's loads of room for more beds too- I think we'll make another six in a couple of months' time and then save the rest of the space for fruit. I need to re-jig my plan as I think we're going to have the space for twice as much as I'd originally thought. I'm going to add some purple sprouting broccoli and a few other brassicas to my list, as well as a whole extra bed of strawbs.

There's loads more half term left to enjoy- tomorrow we're off to Bath to look round the shops and play in the park that the girls love so much. We've just decided that we'll need to pop over to Bristol's Ikea afterwards too as the girl's old bookcase has just collapsed under the weight of their vast library, and there are always plenty other things that we 'need' from there.

Then we've also got a trip to a farm with Flora's Rainbow group lined up and Flora has a sleepover to go to on Friday night. This afternoon we also had a call from the girls' besie uncle, letting us know he's randomly dropping by for a few days from Brighton. We all can't wait to see him- the girls are going wild with excitement!

Happy half term everyone x

the apple does not fall far from the tree

We took a trip up to our allotment this afternoon for the very exciting task of planting our new apple tree. Lou from Little Green Shed had pointed me in the direction of Aldi, where they have a number of different fruit trees, all for £3.99, so I had popped in earlier in the week to pick up this sweet little Braeburn tree.  

I chose Braeburn as it's one of our favourite apple varieties and also because it's supposedly self pollinating. However, I have since read that they don't do so well in cooler climates, so I hope we get lucky with it.

I am just evaluating the space at the plot at the moment, to see if we can fit in any more trees, as I fancy a couple of pear trees too. We have raspberry canes coming later in the week and Steve is going to build our raised beds tomorrow, having gone to buy the wood this morning. We couldn't afford to buy enough wood or all our beds yet, so we're building six this week and then another six in a couple of months' time.

I think we're all crying out for some fresh air and sunshine- just look how pale the girls are looking at the moment. It really does feel as though we've had the longest winter ever!

uk veg gardeners

I found this super site the other day and thought some of you might be interested in joining. I'm still getting the hang of it all, but it looks like a brilliant place to meet other veg growers and pick up some handy hints.

I'm hoping it will pacify my lottie cravings until the weather brightens up!

tragic tulips and sprouting spuds

I'm feeling pretty cross with myself and my big ugly car this afternoon. I somehow managed to run over the lovely pot of crocus and tulip bulbs on my doorstep, smashing it to pieces.

It's such a terrible shame, because I think it's going to be very hard to re pot them at this stage, now that the roots are so well established. Big hairy bums.

On a more chirpy note, I've started chitting my early seed potatoes and am looking forward to watching them sprouting up, ready for sowing.

I've never grown potatoes before as they take up so much room and are so cheap and readily available to buy. However, as we still have the use of Pear Tree Cottage garden this year I thought we'd try some out up there and see how they get on.

Thank goodness it's half term- work has been entirely relentless for the last few weeks and I've been looking forward to having next week off since I went back after Christmas. Let's hope the weather cheers up- we have lots of outdoor plans lined up.

lottie longing

I can't stop thinking about our allotment and how much I want to get stuck into it. I spent all weekend badgering Steve to start building the raised beds so I can sow our garlic and onion sets- that will be his project for half term next week. Poor man never gets a break in a house full of girls!

Meanwhile my note book is brimming with all my ideas, inspired by the beautiful sunshine we've been having today. I can almost taste the strawberries!



a spring in our step

Today I took a much needed day off today to take Pearl to her taster session at preschool- my baby's growing up! She had such a wonderful time playing with her new friends and wouldn't have noticed if I'd dropped her straight off there and gone!

Once she'd finished we made the most of our time together and took her scooter to blow away some cobwebs with some fresh Spring air.

We walked up just enough appetite for some delicious freshly baked cake- well, it would have been rude to walk past a tea shop without sampling the goods.

I had the perfect accompaniment to my tea- some lovely new seed catalogues to browse. I just can't wait to get sowing!

It's been a perfect Spring day- if only every day could be so relaxing!

porcini mushroom and spinach risotto

It must be said that I'm not much of a cook. I go through fads of being interested in cookery, but generally I have quite simple tastes and lack the time or inclination to rustle up intricate cuisine after heavy a day at work. However, this recipe ticks all the boxes- it's simple, delicious and foody enough to cook for even most distinguished guests. We have lots of vegetarian and vegan friends, so it's perfect for them too.

This recipe serves two in our house, but will probably stretch to four non-greedy people.

Ingredients:

1 small onion

2 cloves of garlic

a generous knob of unsalted butter (skip for vegans)

a glug of olive oil

12.5g of dried porcini mushrooms

2 litres of vegetable stock

250g of arborio rice

a generous glug of dry white wine

4-5 large handfuls of spinach leaves

grated parmigiano-reggiano (skip for both vegies and vegans)

Soak your porcini mushrooms in boiling water as directed on the packet. While they are soaking, you can get on with other things- prepare your stock (I use Marigold Swiss bouillon, because I think it compliments the unami of the mushrooms perfectly) and leave it lightly simmering on the stove. Finely chop the onion and garlic.

When the mushrooms have finished soaking, strain the soaking liquid into your stock and roughly chop the mushrooms. Heat the butter and oil in a large pan and gently fry the onion and garlic until soft. Then add the mushrooms and fry a bit more.

Pop in the rice and stir it about until it's coated in the butter and oil and then pour in the wine (personally, I don't really drink white wine, so I only buy a mini bottle and then drink red with the meal).

Now it's time to start adding the stock. The trick to this was taught to me by a true domestic goddess and it makes the difference between a delicious risotto and a soggy, tasteless one- only add a ladle full of stock at a time and make sure the stock stays simmering hot throughout the cooking process. Slowly let each spoonful of stock soak in before adding another and keep stirring like mad all the way through- I use a silicone spatula, because you can scrape it right along the bottom and make sure nothing sticks.

Keeping tasting it every so often to check the texture of the rice- stop adding stock when it is still slightly al dente. When all excess liquid has soaked in or evaporated, stir in the spinach- it won't need any more heat as the warmth of the risotto will be enough to wilt it.

Dish it into bowls, sprinkle it with the parmesan and serve with hunks of rustic bread.

Enjoy!