Bufo bufo

 

I disturbed two healthy looking Common Toads (Bufo bufo) whilst moving some membrane on the lotty this afternoon. The membrane had been folded over a couple of times as I'd opened up the bed and the toads were holed up in the folds. The toad pictured was by far the largest of the two, so I'm going to say she was the female of the pair. Toads are always welcome on the plot, the damage control service they provide is invaluable, the slug empire will be defeated. Though I have to say I've seen few slugs or snails about this year; I wonder why that is? Surely toads can't have eaten them all.

Lotty

The lotty's coming on nicely; the fruits  of the Goddess and the Green Man's beltane activities are becoming apparent. In the ground (so far) we've got runners, courgettes, tatties, onions, shallots, cabbage, black kale, curly kale, purple sprouting broccoli, calabrese broccoli, leeks and parsnips; in the greenhouse we've tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, chilli peppers; and in the fruit cage we've got strawberries, raspberries, gooseberrys (green and red), blueberries, rhubarb, and blackcurrants.  We've been collecting rhubarb for months, though now we're collecting strawberries, raspberries and gooseberrys too, as well as our first courgette, and the tomatoes wont be too long. Nice.

Pyramidal Orchid

Now there's a thing I wasn't expecting to to see today, a Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis), beautiful. We were on our way to the lotty when I spied this solitary orchid in a spot I'd never seen them previously, uncharacteristiclly in a rather shady spot too.  I'd usually have been keeping my eye out for the orchids we'd see across the varied landscapes we roam, of course, not this year. So this was a lovely thing to see, a welcome treat. We're blessed with a wide range of orchids around the places we visit, in fact some rather rare ones. I'm hoping to go watch the Summer Solstice sun rise from Badbury Rings, which is always particularly abundant, both in variety and quantity...hoping.

Minor voyages of rediscovery

Watering and weeding are daily jobs at this time of year and I've been undertaking increasing convoluted cycles to the allotment to ward off the boredom of the short urban rides there and back, and to rebuild my cycling capacity. The rides aren't that long, 14/15 mile round trip, but each has been minor voyage of rediscovery. I used to regularly walk and ride the network of paths, tracks and back roads that criss cross the Avon Valley. I used to know all it's hidden ways and how they all connected, although I've not traversed them for maybe 15 years. Their rediscovery has been a real joy, some have changed nought, whilst others are like different tracks having been renewed and restored; and since we suffered months of flooding a few years back all the ditches and small streams have been cleared too.  Taking the bore or my chore. 

Toady

Although he looks like he's in some form of reptile detention centre, he's not. Mr Toad is always free to visit the lotty, an enemy of the barbaric slug empire is a friend of mine. Hail, welcome and good hunting my warty ally.

Getting in a jam

A couple of years back I made some jam, in fact I made just over 10ltrs of jam...and, I'm still eating it today. Well, it is a preserve. This year I've had a glut of Strawberries, oh the trauma I hear you sarcastically cry, but you can only eat so many bowls of strawberries and cream...can't you. Anyway, I thought I'd make some more jam. When baking/making I like to try and cut down the amount of sugar I'm using, so I cut out a third of the sugar, and increased the fruit by a third, of course altering the recipe radically. Then, I washed the fruit when I shouldn't have, making the mix far too liquidy. Yup, you guessed it, what should have been a simple exercise soon turned into a proper mare, what could wrong, did. I cooked and cooked, and still the mix was failing the wrinkle test, and I cooked some more. Then I turned my back, distracted by Geoff, and boom, it began to stick to the bottom of the pan. Luckily I got to it quick enough to stop it burning, but only just, finally, in my haste forgot to skim it (although that wont effect the taste or quality). As I said, everything that could go wrong had (and everything I could do wrong I did), though at the end of it I still had some jars of jam. Lady luck smiled on me today, and no mistake.  

Down lotty

Geoff has restricted my movements somewhat, he's a ton of work, lovely, but it's like being under siege, you think you've got your defences set, only to find there are more weaknesses for your opponent to exploit than you ever imagined, and you're constantly playing catch up. That said, I've ensured I've got down on the allotment every day, well, you have too, if you're absent from the field of battle, nature will make you pay. Bless her, nature is relentless, and unforgiving if don't tend to her, one years seed seven years weed, and all that.  I've got half the dig-able plot open at the moment (the rest being covered), the onions, shallots, carrots, courgettes, runners, chard, tatties, Hamburg parsley (never grown this before) and leeks are all thriving, with a 9 tomato plants in the greenhouse along with peppers, chillies and cucumbers, and a fruit cage bursting with developing, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants. And I've a range of brassicas and beans still plant to plant. I love the realness of the lotty, the contact with the land and nature, and that timeless feeling you get from engaging in activities our ancestors have undertaken for millennia. Food don't taste too bad either.

And so it begins!

As is my way, I've left it late to start up the lotty. I make the same excuses every year. Most of the seasoned holders are up there all year doing something or other, March to Octobers my season, though adopting that maintenance regime does mean some tough work to get it back in shape.

Spuds

All the work put in on the allotment has really paid off this year with good crops of most of the things sowed/planted. There have been a few disappointments but no out right failures and so many meals have been had to date that I've already easily recouped all my investment several times over.  This years spuds for example are the best haul I've had and with any luck will see us through several months. There's something real about growing or foraging your food, it reconnects you to something buried deep inside, something primal, something human and something we are increasing being discouraged from in favour of rampant consumerism to fill our needs. A few years back research undertaken in primary schools showed that many children couldn't identify vegetables nor did did they know where their food came from, an example being children who didn't know chips were made of potato nor that potato grew underground. How fucked up is that? really!

Ladybird party

Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis succinea), (Harmonia axyridis conspicua), (Harmonia axyridis spectabilis) and a Harlequin Ladybird variant I couldn't find a name for, as well as a Seven Spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata).  All, and there were a dozen or so, were feasting on aphids which had made their nursery on one of my sweet corn plants. Not that I'm complaining, they do a good job, although the growing proliferation of invasive non native Harlequin Ladybirds is a worry.

Give us today our daily wheat based products

Walking through bread basket fields today I had cause to think of how many of our daily ingredients we take for granted. Everything's changing and I don't think many people realize what that might mean. Climate change, falling bee populations, disease, all will have an effect on our food chain, it's reliability and productivity. Then I started thinking from a prepping angle. Take wheat here; we take wheat for granted, relatively new as it is (about 6000 years in these parts), it's a staple in many of our diets. Imagine it gone, or the systems which allow its industrial scale production being disrupted; no bread, no pasta and no pastry. What would people do, what would they eat? I thought, how would I grow wheat and how much would I need to grow? I have no idea about either. I then thought, even with my allotment and extensive foraging experience, how sad it was that I'm so removed from the food stuffs I consume and take for granted. So, next year I'm going to have a go at growing some wheat on the allotment, small scale obviously, but maybe a 4m square or something.

Jammin

I've been jammin, jammin, jammin, I hope you're like jammin too. Well, it is the season, for jam making that is. This year our allotment has so far produced bumper crops strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants (with blueberries and blackberries still to come). We've eaten fresh of plenty but what better way of extending our enjoyment than making jam and I have. I've made strawberry, gooseberry, blackcurrant, raspberry and mixed fruits, I've made just over 10ltr of jam so far.  Preserving's a great way to make the most of surpluses you grow or forage, as well as prepping skill, preserving would be essential for maintaining a supply of food all year round. One thing that struck me whilst thinking down this path was how many of our preserving methods require large supplies of processed ingredients such as salt, sugar and vinegar, all things I'd imagine would all but disappear with the collapse of society. Something for me to think about when planning for social collapse or a zombie apocalypse (which ever strikes first). Still in the meantime, whilst it's there in bountiful quantities, I'm going to enjoy my jam.   

Haricot harvest

I decided this year that I'd focus mainly on a few crops at home and down on the allotment; alliums, (onions, shallots and leeks), of which I've harvested and stored about 250 onions and about 3 or so kilos of shallots, leeks are doing nicely, tomatoes, of which I've had kilos and kilos, and there's still plenty on the vines and haricot beans, which I harvested today, cropping nearly 3 kilos of dried beans. Not a bad harvest.

Lotty

This is the 2011 before photo, still visible are the remaining crops from last season, leeks and celeriac; this years herbs are all shooting up and tonight it's rhubarb crumble. Sweet.

Lotty

Lotty

First visit to the lotty of the year; if only the plants you wanted grew as well as those you don't. There's allot of work to do, back aching digging over, strimming and cutting back; still, it'll look good when it's ready for action.  Now all we need is the retreat of Jack, the ground was frozen solid to cm deep!