Christmas break, December 2023

I do need a break, but with a three year old it's not likely!  Regardless I'll be taking a blogging break for the rest of the month, to return in January with my yearly garden food totals (I've been keeping tally on my calendar in the kitchen).

I've got a few more garden vegetables for Christmas dinner, waiting to be harvested:  a very small Savoy cabbage (I mean, how much cabbage can we eat at once anyway?), a couple of parsnips and daikon radishes (sizes unknown, but probably comparable with the cabbage).  I also have some of last year's almonds for some festive stollen bread, a lovely fresh duck egg went into gingerbread for a house and cookies (made the gingerbread dough yesterday, will bake it tomorrow);  and I have a Christmas pudding made with our dried figs and dried apples.

I'll see you back here in 2024, and until then, a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Growing and eating in December 2023

The son and daughter came with me to do a little sheet mulching at the allotment this weekend, for the first time in about two weeks but we didn't stay long.  Too rainy and muddy (and whiney).  I was hoping the final savoy cabbage might have grown a little in my absence, but it's just as tiny as ever.  Nice and firm head though--we'll eat it at Christmas regardless.  There's one leek bigger than a spring onion, so that is also earmarked.  Other than that, it's slim pickings.  

There's more to eat at the kitchen garden, though that too is mostly past it.  I've picked a few more fennel bulbs which don't look so nice after multiple frosts;  once they're all gone I'll start on the radishes--I can't see them getting any bigger at this point.  I've got both Spanish black and white daikon growing and while the fennel has been ok sized--around 4 or 5 oz each--the radishes look more like 1 oz each. 

We are gradually working our way through the pile of squashes, though to be honest, I think they are going to last us till next autumn when we starting picking them again!  The husband chopped open another big one weighing more than 16.5 pounds, and I made most of it into puree for the freezer, though we ate it every day for a week too (either as a side veg or stirred into whatever slow cooker meal I made each day);  the last of it went into yesterday's chicken and vegetable curry.  It makes an acceptable substitute for tomato in a curry or stew:  a bit of squash puree stirred in and a tablespoon of vinegar for acidity, and it's hard to tell it isn't tomato.  I put a couple dozen of its seeds to dry for next year's planting.  I may save seed from a few others as we eat them (the seeds themselves have thick husks and aren't so good for eating).

Smarter than I thought

I had a surprising encounter with the two ducks last week, when I brought some cabbage leaves home for the chickens.  I gave most to the chickens in their yard, but Girl Duck was quacking at me so I tossed a few down for her, which she set to eating at once.  But then as I walked back to the house, she followed me, quacking more.  Unsure of what she wanted, I waited for her as she walked past me to the water butts and the empty drinking tub there.  She stopped at the tub and quacked again;  so I went over and filled it up.  She backed away quickly, so as not to let me too close to her, but when I stopped she came right over, squeaking this time (the "happy" noise) and got her head right under the water, not even caring about where I was.  That's the first time I've ever had a duck show me what she wanted, like a dog or cat might--certainly I've not had a chicken do so.  I never gave ducks much credit for brains, but maybe they are smarter than I thought.

After months of being locked in their yard, the chickens finally got their first hour of free range yesterday, as our back door has been replaced (it both opens and closes! unlike the old one).  It was too much trouble to walk all the way around from the front door so I didn't bother, but I will let them have an hour a day now as long as no avian flu restrictions come into place.  The ducks themselves have been mostly free ranging all autumn, though I did lock them in before the workmen came with the door--although to be honest, they would probably just hide;  while they are shy of us, they won't even come out if strangers are in the garden.

First frost, November 2023

 Although we were forecast frost last month, and subsequently harvested all our squashes, it's not till this weekend it actually touched down.  The son, daughter and I all visited the allotment that morning to do a little sheet mulch and clear back some of the encroaching brambles and it was cold!  It's maybe a little early for it, but a frost in the garden and allotment means death to slugs and snails.  Or at least a setback in the population, so I definitely need some good hard frosts in winter.

Speaking of slugs and snails, every time I turn something over or pull something out at the allotment, I uncover an unholy amount of them.  I really desperately need some frost, but the best thing would be some concentrated duck action there--and for that I need some secure fencing.  I had hoped this would be the year, but funds don't allow it;  maybe next year.

However, my own garden is well fenced and my two remaining ducks (Girl Duck and Boy Duck) have been free ranging for a few weeks.  I still have some veg in the beds but the only thing I've excluded them from is the pak choy, about five or so heads surrounded in temporary wire.  I would really like to let the chickens free range too, but I don't trust them around the remaining veg;  unlike ducks who are mainly focused on slugs and bugs--and don't scratch up the soil--chickens much prefer plants and I don't dare let them at my radishes, fennel, chard, etc, unsupervised.

Harvesting for Thanksgiving 2023

Nearly Thanksgiving already?  We are hosting some friends, feeding a total of three adults, three teens, and one toddler.  It's actually the husband who does most of the cooking as my workplace (a school) has scheduled vacation days only;  I will be making pies the day before but he'll do most of the rest. This year we are eating:

Pumpkin pie with homegrown squash and our own eggs.  We're still getting a couple eggs a day (unlike in previous years).  And there is plenty of squash.  In fact, we'll be serving it as a vegetable side too, either in cubes or as puree.

Homegrown cabbage from the allotment.  There are only two winter cabbages this year, as the slugs and bugs disappeared the rest, but one is ready to pick now.  I was thinking of saving it till Christmas, but might as well eat it with friends.

I will have a good prod around the rows to find a couple of nice parsnips too--hopefully there are some good sized ones, like the one I dug up last week.

Our turkey came from the supermarket, as did the potatoes, but we'll make some gravy using our garlic and herbs. 

And one more pie:  cherry pie from last year's cherries, waiting in the freezer all this time. 

Root veg

I pulled up my largest black radish only to discover it had been mostly hollowed out by slugs.  What should have been an 8 oz root ended up being just 2.  None of the other radishes seem to be so big, though there are probably several which are around 2 oz.  After this disappointment, I decided I should probably dig up some of my other roots, and accordingly have retrieved one very large parsnip, beautifully unblemished and a whole 12 oz.  Hopefully the rest of the parsnips at least will be equally successful;  but I won't be in a hurry to dig them all up.

Additionally, I've been cutting the fennel one by one, ranging between 4 and 8 oz each.  These have been better growers than the radishes, with only a little slug damage.  Technically not a root veg, but it certainly looks like a bulb.

There are still some small beets at the allotment which I will try and harvest soon--the son and I have been going up maybe once a week to sheet mulch, but the weather isn't cooperating!  I'm going to try and stop by after work in the next day or two.

I had only a few carrots come up, probably because it was so dry after I sowed them in spring.  And then the few I've pulled up haven't been worth much:  small and bug damaged.  Next year I might grow them in the containers I grew cucumbers in this year, though I will probably have to top them up with some sand to lighten the compost in them.  Carrot fly can't reach them if they are 18 inches off the ground, and hopefully I can keep them better watered too.

Keeping the wood stove going

Those kindling bundles I made during the past year have been excellent in starting our wood stove, and far more convenient than rummaging out a handful of twigs from the wood pile.  I trim a handful of dry sticks, up to pencil thickness, to about 30 cm long (a good size for the stove);  I then wrap a strip of a dry yucca leaf around the handful and twist the ends together, tucking them in to keep it nice and tight.  The bundles then go to the wood pile in their own convenient stack.  

It's true they are somewhat time consuming to make.  However, one thing I like to do on nice days is sit in the sunshine in my garden;  these are good days to make a few kindling bundles if I have any twigs on hand.  I'll collect my materials next to my comfy garden chair and make some at my own relaxed pace.

I have a couple of overgrown hawthorns at the hedge at back, earmarked for a hard pruning this winter once all their leaves have fallen.  Although hawthorn is a good dense wood and a quick grower--and takes pruning very well--its slight drawback is it doesn't grow very straight.  It has fierce thorns and can grow in some pretty strange contortions, making it less desirable for firewood.  Nevertheless, it will go into the green wood pile for next winter--and I'll try to negotiate with those thorns to make some more bundles.

As well as keeping us warm, we heat water on the stove for hot drinks, cooking, washing dishes;  we also do occasional cooking (I will hard boil eggs on top, for instance, and we've even baked pizza in the firebox--now that's an exciting meal!); we dry laundry on racks in front of it, and I've even dehydrated vegetables above it.  Although we have to buy in fuel to run the stove, I don't mind spending a few hours throughout the year making the prunings from my garden into bundles to keep the stove going.