Garlic Is Driving Me Wild!

My onion sets (Red Baron & Sturon) arrived this morning, along with four garlic bulbs ( two each of Albigensian Wight and Lautrec Wight). It's all been sitting next to me, in its padded envelope, on the sofa whilst I catalogue it on Folia...and it's making my tummy rumble something rotten!

Torture I tell you!

The scent from the garlic is so strong - I'm sorely tempted to just go and bake one bulb and turn the other into garlic bread! Fortunately, I have some of this year's garlic harvest sitting in my kitchen, so the new stuff is safe. For now! Probably best to get it in the ground at the weekend! :-)

Now then, regarding lunch...!

Weeding and seeding...and some great news!

Saturday 10th October:

Well, the first thing I have to say is that only three hours of gardening so soon after having ‘flu absolutely knocked me for six! Nevertheless, we still got quite a bit done, although not as much as I’d planned. Ho hum.

The Regiment had been over the weekend before – whilst we were away in York – and tidied up the grassy parts of the garden, plus cleared the orchard area and built a delightful little wattle fence around Bed #2. Spiffing!

Our priorities were to get at least two more beds dug out, dig over Beds 3 & 4, weed, and get the peas and beans in. Kevin dug over the beds only to discover some building remains about 6" down in #4! As it is probably Elizabthan, we decided not to emulate Time Team but to leave it be, and only plant shallow rooted varieties in there!

Since the broccoli in Bed 1 was not authentic and had also been munched to near-death by critters, we decided to take it out. We also got rid of the aubergine because it’s now far too late for it to fruit…it had only just come into flower! In their places, I sowed some land cress and broadcast mustard. I think I shall be thinning the turnips next weekend, and possibly getting a second radish harvest.

Bed 2 was a joy to work on; it just needed a little tidying up, and I couldn’t resist taking a photo! Next weekend, I shall be thinning the kale.

In Bed 3, I sowed Aquadulce broad beans, Meteor peas, and some winter butterhead lettuce. Haven’t put anything in #4 yet but am hoping to get some plants in over the next week or so. Kevin marked out Bed 5 but his back was aching, so we thought it best to quit whilst we were ahead! Will be full steam ahead this weekend however, because we should have some brassicas and leeks to go in (I was too late to sow any, so have bought in plants).

Also transplanted three decent size feverfew bushes and a tiny one from the dye bed to the herb garden.

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October 14th:

Today I received some Carlin peas from Manda at http://www.catstripe.co.uk/ . I’d emailed her after reading on her blog that she’d been growing some Carlins (very popular in the 17th C), and asked if she had any to sell or swap. She very generously sent me 95 seeds and said to ‘pay it forward’ next year instead of sending something to her! How wonderful! I love gardeners!

The best news is that today I also received my Heritage Seed Library membership pack! Can’t wait to be able to order my six packs of seed! I’d like to eventually become a seed guardian but that’s going to be a way into the future…I’d like to get an allotment first. Or perhaps access to Holdenby’s kitchen garden! Heheh!

Pictured below;

Bed #2, Snowball turnip, Summer Crunch radish, feverfew, part of herb bed

Ketchup!

It's been far too long since my last post...but there has been good reason. During the last few months I've been working on corset and wedding gown orders, knitting, researching historical foods....and digging. Lots of digging!

Back in May this year (2009) Kevin and I were at the Holdenby House* Garden Show; we were supposed to have a PermOrganics stall there but unfortunately we didn’t have enough ready for it, so we decided to go along to the show anyway.

Whilst wandering around, we happened upon a sign, pointing us in the direction of a cruck house farmstead…so off we went to explore! When we got there, we discovered a reconstructed 17th century cottage (although not a true cruck house) and a very neglected garden. We both thought it was a shame that such a place was so overgrown, so noting the contact details of the people responsible for its upkeep, we resolved to get in touch!

Although the cottage is within the grounds of Holdenby, the owner (James Lowther, descendant of the Duke of Marlborough) has given over the care of it to a regiment of the Roundhead Association (oh, the irony!). We got in touch and had a meeting with them the day before my birthday. The day after my birthday, we began work on the garden! Four of the regiment (the Earl of Essex's Regiment of Foote, which we've now joined to do some Living History with) came over to help clear the land, and together we made good headway.

Since then, we've dug four food beds (planted and sown two, with more to be done today) and one for herbs at the front. The plan is thus;

• Create eight food beds in total
• Plant fruit trees on the slope at the end of the house, with possibly some invasive dyers there too!
• Create a dyeplant bed at the back
• Englarge the herb bed at the front
• Be as authentic as possible (so no potatoes or caulis as they were very much high status foods!)

Fortunately, I have a wealth of information regarding what was grown by the common person during the mid-17th century, plus I have loads of recipes (which fill in the gaps). I also have a facsimile of a 17th cent. seed catalogue!

At the moment however, we’re concentrating on getting the land working, so have put in things from our garden (pepper, aubergine, broccoli) for now but come spring next year, we’ll be growing heritage/heirloom crops!

The best thing however, is how much Kevin has got into this! He’s never been a gardener but now he’s really keen, and even nips up several times a week by himself to check how things are and to do a bit of groundwork! He’s even making suggestions as to what we should be growing! I love how engaged he's become with this!

The rest of the regiment has been great; they organised a work party to go over last weekend (when we’re away in York), and have offered to do a lot of the heavy work which I can’t do very well because of my back. They’re also going to be doing some repairs and restoration to the cottage. :-)

Long-term, we’re hoping to be able to get all the repairs to the cottage done, put some more appropriate furniture and tableware inside, and do some living history there. Holdenby has visitors to the gardens every Sunday in the summer, so it would be great to be able to give them a glimpse of 17th cent. country life! In addition, local schools visit, so I want to put together some fact sheets, and perhaps even some worksheets too (plant identification etc.).

’Tis all very exciting!

These two photos (above and below) are pretty much as we first saw the cottage in May...

Below: By August the first three beds had been dug. From the right of the picture; two beds have crops growing away nicely (although something decided to dig up the carrots in the bed on the far right!).

Above: Bed #2.

Below: The herb bed at the front of the cottage (well, the half of it which has stuff growing!); I have plans to extend it out into a more pleasing shape but it can wait - there's no hurry!

Today the plan is to get the broad beans into bed #3, dig over bed #4 and make a start on the other beds in preparation for getting in the cabbages, leeks, kales, onions and garlic. Once they're done, we'll move over to the dye bed!

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*(Holdenby is a stately home, built in 1583 by Sir Christopher Hatton, Elizabeth I's chancellor. At the time it was the largest privately-owned house in England. After Hatton died, the house passed to James I and then to Charles I. During the English Civil War, Charles was kept there under house arrest (1647), and at some point shortly after, the house was sold to a Parliamentarian who reduced it to the size it is now – still pretty large, despite being only an eighth of its original size! After Charles II came to the throne, Holdenby went back to the Crown, and in 1709, it was bought by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. It’s been passed down the female line ever since.)

All in the Name of Science!

Just out of scientific curiosity, I decided to weigh myself today because I wanted to test the putting on pounds during 'that special time' theory ! If I'm honest, I suspect I've actually used it in the past as an excuse, as opposed to admitting that maybe chocolate-chomping might have been responsible! However...

On Thursday, in preparation, I weighed myself (even though WI isn't until Monday). Aunt Flo arrived yesterday but I felt so rubbish and down, I knew I couldn't have coped with seeing a gain. This morning I stepped on the scales...2.5lbs gained!

So it's true! I KNOW I've been 100% saintly this week, and yesterday was no exception - despite having massive sweet cravings - so what I've been told must be correct - that having a periods can make you heavier.

I feel much better having proven it to myself!

Now....if I could only fix my Linux laptop, I shall be a very happy woman. :-/

Genius!

I just found this....


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Brilliant!

Star Trek XI

SPOILER ALERT: Whilst there aren't many, there are a couple...you have been warned!

Although I wasn't expecting anything dire, I really wasn't prepared for the absolute brilliance of it all. Not only was it well-written and wonderfully directed, but the casting was top-notch too. Quinto & Pine have Nimoy & Shatner's nuances and mannerisms down to a tee. So much so, that it really was as though we were watching their younger selves! Even down to McCoy's sniping at Spock! Plus, the humour was very natural - it certainly felt more like the originals than the oft-forced banter of later Treks. The chemistry was definitely there!

I thought it was very well-paced too; there were no "Skip to the end" moments ('Spaced' fans will understand this!), no slowing down, no boring bits. It was relentless...but in a strangely relaxing kind of way!

I suspect the bit with Scotty materialising inside the silo thing was a nod to the the Scotty TNG episode. Also, Deep Roy had a cameo (I saw him briefly on the bridge of the Enterprise), so maybe that was an explanation for the Willy Wonka-ness of the scene. Simon Pegg was genius (we gave a little cheer when he finally appeared on screen!), and I suspect that he enjoyed playing the part just as much as we loved watching him. I also loved all the little homages to earlier Trek (Orion slave girl as a cadet, banging head on overhead beam, Delta Vega, ubiquitous hairy monster fight...although I did think it was going to get kicked in its knees!), and I loved the other sci-fi references too - particularly Cadet Vader, and one gribbly being swallowed by an even bigger one! They were a really nice touch, and a definite geeky crowd-pleaser! Apparently there were some Lost references there too but since I've never seen the show, they were....well, lost on me!

Visually, the film was stunning. It wasn't just a case of excellent SFX - although they were pretty darn fab - but more one of brilliant design and crisp contrasts. I absolutely loved the drab harshness of the Narada in comparison to the almost sterile environment of Spock's ship. The Romulans were pretty cool too actually, and it was great that they were gnarled and hard-bitten miners as opposed to the shoulder pads and psuedo-Vulcan hairstyles of TNG. For that alone, I think Nemesis did a good job! The tattoos were brilliant as well! I like tattoos! The Enterprise too, looked amazing - you really got a sense of scale and magnificence that I don't think has ever really been present before. I have to admit to getting a little goosebumpy!

I also really liked that the classic uniforms were kept. Yes the fabrics may be 21st century (and I'm glad they ditched the ric-rac braid!) but the style and the colours were faithful...and very cool! And it's great to see that a red shirt still means you're going to get bashed up (and certainly don't ever wear a scarlet skydiving suit!)!

All in all, a thumpingly good film; well written, well acted, well directed. A finely crafted piece of sci-fi....and a jolly good romp around the galaxy to boot!

As for Bones – definitely swoonworthy! He was my favourite character from TOS (and The Doctor is my favourite from Voyager too!); it was great that Karl Urban managed to recreate that curmudgeonly attitude so well. And I am sooooo pleased we got a "Dammit, I'm a doctor not a physicist" line! Of course, it would have been good to have a "She cannae take it Cap'n" from Scotty but I suspect that's something for another time! Apparently the next one is already in progress! Yay!

I heard on Friday from someone in the know that the SE DVD will be an extended version, with over an hour of restored deleted scenes, including, I presume, the sex scene between Kirk and Uhura.

I think there is every probability that I shall have to see it at least twice more at the cinema!

Fast food - should the law be changed?

Bry has just posted something about fast food which got me thinking:

Call me a fascist but I really do think that fast food should be more strictly regulated in some way. The laws applying to catering and FF are not the same as those for food which we buy from shops/markets etc. This means that a gazillion types of rubbish is legally allowed to be put into this 'food'.

For example, a caterering supplier around the corner sells drums of pomace oil to restaurants/takeaways. Pomace is non-food grade olive oil. It's the worst kind of olive oil you can get, and is most commonly used in the cosmetics and soap making industry. It's what's left after all the nutritional goodness has been squeezed out of the olives. It's essentially a by-product, and generally deemed unfit for human consumption.

Because laws pertaining to supermarkets are pretty stringent, Waitrose for example, couldn't sell it to its customers for cooking use, but a caterer can. Yet this stuff will clog you up, and give you a bad tummy...to say the least.

As may be assumed, I'm not a fan of fast food (although the odd pizza has been known to pass my lips) - probably because I was brought up with good, healthy, home-grown food. I've always cooked from scratch too, and frankly, I find it utterly frightening that legally, companies are allowed to put so much crap into food.

Beef connective tissue anyone? Trans fats? Chicken feathers?

Even more frightening is how non-resistant some people seem to be to the appetite-stimulating chemicals which are pumped out of these places and into the surrounding air. Think they don't do that? Think again. Even a certain high st. chocolatier pumps out chocolatey scents in an attempt to get our receptors dictating to our purses. Add to that the flavour enhancers and other almost addiction-inducing chemicals, and what you end up with is a nation of junk(food)ies.

It's not just the obesity issue, although admittedly it is a huge problem, if you'll forgive the pun. It's a question of health too. I go into town and I see leagues of greys at McSatan's. Their skin is dull and lifeless, their hair is manky, and they generally look like extras from Shaun of the Dead. Food is supposed to be good for you. It is supposed to maintain health, not destroy it.

There has to be a level of responsibility because if as Bry says, people are unaware of the damage they are doing to themselves, then the onus must surely be on the food suppliers to ensure that risk of damage is limited. I don't expect for one minute that your average person walks into JunkBurger and asks for nutritional content and an ingredients list for the Big Whoppa they've just ordered. In fact, I'd be surprised if the staff could even furnish said customer with such a thing! How is it so difficult to make a healthy and delicious burger? Surely people's health is more important than profit?

People are always going on about their civil liberties and the Nanny State, but if they are not capable of looking after themselves, then it's time surely, that someone stepped in to lend a hand. We all accept that alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs can be hazardous, so why do we still close our eyes to the damage that food can do?

And don't even get me started on the ecological implications...

Of course, when I rule the world, there will be no fast food outlets. There will be no junk food sold in shops. There will be no wearing of sports clothing unless a sport is being participated in. (The latter will be easy enough to implement however, due to the chavs having been exchanged for fine upstanding citizens from less wealthy nations, who are more than willing to work for a living.)

Furthermore, it will be illegal for Microsoft to try to turn the 360 into a Wii.

Or for Michael Bay to make any more films.

Or for Tom Cruise to call himself a reasonable human being...much less an actor.