Living The Dream in North Devon
This year we are ahead of the curve. Taking advantage of a few dry days, we have managed to remove crops that have finished, weed, mulch and cover the beds in preparation for the spring. The brassicas all had club root this year (NOT good)! So this bed, we are going to make into...
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Freshly plucked from the soil, these carrots and leeks are going into tonight’s sausage and bean casserole! The Veg patch has been quite good this year. Apart from the May frosting of the beans, courgettes & pumpkins. These were resown, then the beans were eaten by rabbits, and resown again! The freezer is packed...
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We have a number of old apple trees in our walled garden. One is an unknown variety and could not be identified by the RHS. However, this has proven good for juice and cider making and normally ripens September. The other varieties are Cox, Beauty of Bath and Bramley. All varieties that relate to...
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This year we have had the chance to net the strawberries properly. I built a fruit cage from some galvanised pipe and blue water pipe. Its proved to be quite affective. The peasants pace up and down outside and this year the crop loss has been low. We have been picking (or rather Barbara)...
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The greenhouse is bulging with plants š±. We managed to get compost before travel was restricted, so have enough for seed rearing. We use grow bags and compost for cucumbers š„ , tomatoes š and chillies š¶ in the greenhouse. Currently I am not sure if we can get these. Hopefully we can find...
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We’ve picked the squash and pumpkins and put them all away in the store. We had our first frost last night. Even though I had picked them all and brought them up to the house, they needed washing. Today was cold, but warm, so this morning I washed them all and this afternoon put...
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Going back a few hundred years, mincemeat included meat seasoned with spices. Overtime it has evolved into a seasonal blend of dried and fresh fruit with mixed spices, sugar and fat. The fat is warmed and coats all the ingredients preventing the fruit from fermenting. This year my challenge was to try and make...
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As we move toward the end of October, the weather has been quite beautiful over the last couple of days. When I checked the walnuts a week ago, they showed no signs of emerging from their green shiny casing. Cracking up This week there had been a transformation, the husks had all split and...
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Just picked my nuts! Well Hazel nuts, the Walnuts will come later in the year. I have planted up a little nuttery (an orchard where nuts are grown) in one corner of our field with cultivated varieties of nuts. Currently Walnuts, Hazel Nuts and Horse Chestnuts. These being my favorite, I probably won’t plant...
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So the nectarine jam was not what I would consider a success. I thought it might produce a jam similar to apricot, but it just didn’t have the flavour. The jam tasted sweet with a slight hint of a peachy nectarine flavour. In my opinion, it would have been nicer with a higher acidity....
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