Where did the time go....

Hello again...is there anybody there? The last thing I remember school was breaking up in July, we had a big list of things to do and then what do you know...its September and we're back at school!

We have been busy though honest! I can prove it...

We almost finished the hallway...

Even John Deer is finally in his rightful place,

we made a start on decorating the new build - the room that will one day, finally, be our grown up bedroom!

 despite a dreadful harvest in the garden, the broad beans did us proud...

and this was our best year yet for gooseberries - red ones at that!

 and our dragons egg cucumber - we only managed one, and it didn't taste great but it grew!

and then what with the weather and the kids activities and playdates and packing and unpacking and laundry and putting away...the summer was gone - hey ho!
The plus side for me though is I have time for blogging again - every cloud has a silver lining!

We did have one other big distraction over the summer...I took the following picture there - can you guess?

 to be continued....

And the beet goes on...

As a child I was reknowned for my appetite, no picky eater reputation for me, my mum regularly rolls out the story of my eating new potatoes whole, drinking from the vinegar bottle and climbing on the dining room table before i could walk to polish off a blackberry pie. I do not tell you this out of pride, nor do i recommend such rudimentary table manners, but to explain there wasnt much i wouldn't touch...

apart from

radishes

broad beans

beetroot

and mussels.


My how things have changed...I grew tons of these this year as I was given plants or the seeds were free and the magic of growing them outweighed any reservations I had about the end product. My conversion really started last year but is in full flow with this seasons harvest.



I can't get enough of these radishes in all their Peter Rabbit pinkness. Picked early they're still lovely and crisp and totally gorgeous with guess what...broad beans. Okay, the beans arent from our plot but I couldnt wait for ours to be ready (I never thought I'd be saying that!) When the beans are still young they're tasty in their skins. Mixed with a splash of Olive Oil and lemon juice and then sprinkled with rock salt they're perfect.




But woman can not live on radishes alone - so we also harvested some of our beets tonight, to be honest we've got so many we are going to be harvesting them every night. Last year our beet crop was less than impressive but this year we are more than making up for it. These Boltardys give a perfect little sphere. The only down side to them is that despite successional sowing they're all ready at once!



I'm addicted to beetroot salads at the moment and I cant get enough of this one. The beets are simply boiled until the skins slip off then chopped small. A couple of large dollops of low fat yoghurt are mixed with a good squeeze of lemon juice, a teaspoon of whole grain mustard and a crunch of black pepper. Its that easy. The hard part is getting it to the fridge before it gets scoffed. Oh, and did I mention its fabulously, luridly, shockingly pink!



So whilst i started growing veg to get my children inspired to eat them its had the desired effect on me too.

But I still think mussels are the work of the devil!