I’ve been a bit neglectful haven’t I. Since my last post, I haven’t really done all that much. You see, I’ve had a teeny break in my work schedule, and have become quite obsessed with reading Harry Potter. This week I’ve devoured three books and am currently wading my way through the Half Blood Prince. I just LOVE them. I can’t believe I didn’t read them sooner. If someone can find a recipe to match the description of the fictitious ‘butterbeer’ in the Harry Potter books - please drop me a line and let me know. Sounds scrummy. I also kept reading the name Cornelius Fudge, and in the end had to go and buy a box of fudge to eat. Subliminal or what.

I also was explaining to Rich about all the different things you can do with a wand. The thing was, it was whilst we were preparing dinner, and I was standing quite close to him, waving my knife around like it was a wand, saying things like “expecto patronum!”, “lumos!” and “expelliarmus!”. I’m a bit like this, I tend to really get into an idea and take it further than I ought to. Rich seemed a bit non-plussed, and told me to put the knife down. Probably as much for my own safety as his, given how accident prone I am.

Anyway, I digress.

Everyone else in veggie/goodlife/self-sufficiency blogland seems to be mega busy with this and that. At the moment I’m just sort of waiting for things to happen. Perhaps it’s because my choice of vegetables and fruit that I’m growing tend to be ready to harvest around the same time. I’m a bit rubbish with all this continual sustained harvest output of veg. As I’ve said before, it’s something I feel I need to get to grips with next year.

However, onions are still coming on with a treat. I am poised with my knife (not shouting spells, you’ll be pleased to read), reading and willing to gobble them up as soon as they’re ready. In fact, my onions are possibly the *only* thing I’ve managed to plant successively - this year I should have enough fresh onions to last me well into Autumn.

The sweetcorn have been an out and out failure. Of the block that I planted, a measly two plants germinated. And one of those has been almost nibbled into oblivion by the naughty bunbuns. I let them out to ‘free range’ amongst the cats and chickens, and have on occasion caught them sneakily nibbling some carrot tops or suchlike when my back is turned. I even think they may have located, dug up and consumed the sweetcorn ’seeds’ (kernels?) from the ground. Ah well. Rich’s Dad told me about how easily and quickly he started his sweetcorn off, so I think I will give it another bash. It might be late in the season, but at the moment I feel like throwing caution well and truly into the wind and just at least trying. What have I got to lose? A few seeds. Kernels. Whatever they are.

Lastly, I have found myself very much in a baking mood. Specifically sweets and cakes. Not quite sure why. I think I blame all the sweets mentioned in Harry Potter. And I keep seeing recipes everywhere for elderflower drinks, cakes, savoury snacks, champagne etc. Before we sold off a thin strip of the Smallest Smallholding, we had an elderflower tree. Then they cut it down - are they mad?!!?!?

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 7:37 pm and is filed under seeds, veg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.