That is to say preparing the garden to receive the seeds for this year’s food crop. Hopefully it will be better than last year’s which was pretty much a washout. Today has been about putting some goodness back into the soil. I’ve also planted the first spud crop (assuming the frost doesn’t get them) it’s a beautiful day. The sun is high and I’m pleasantly tired.
Yesterday was a scuba day with the club giving up it’s time to support a local men’s emotional support group. The guys are always so lovely and so grateful to try something scary with people who are not going to judge them. They can be openly afraid and that is a huge thing for many men. Masculinity can be so very toxic. No stiff upper lip when you’re facing your fear.
There is a saying that you should do something that scares you every day. I’d say do something that challenges you instead. No point in being scared all the time. It’s challenging to pick cat poop out of the raised beds when I’ve spent years trying to chase them off from using those as a litter tray. It’s challenging to talk to a stranger who is about to put their life in your hands. It doesn’t always have to be jumping from an airplane scary!
Next week sees the transfer of seedlings to larger pots and the plants that can go outside being planted. It’s time to look forward again after a tough year. The cycle goes on.
Well, not quite fruitless but weird. We grow food in our garden. Usually. Thus summer in the UK the weather has been very odd. I know the soild was prepared. Co.post had been composting. We have a worm based bin where the little critters push the goodness out through the holes in the bin. Extra cow poo was added. The ground was turned over but boy have We had a lousy crop.
The lettuce was eaten alive by pests despite all natural deterrents deployed as usual. The broccoli never made past 3 inches because of hungry slugs and caterpillars. The beetroot have done ok but still on the small size. We had 4 or 5 meals from the spuds where we usually have double that. Whilst there are tomatoes on the vine they are not ripening. We’ve done nothing differently but the weather…..
I’m still hopeful that there will be peppers. No chilli this year, we didn’t get any. I think I’ve sat out once, eaten an outdoor meal once. It’s been lousy.
Don’t get me wrong, there have been sunny days, but few and far between. Yes, we go on about the weather in the UK. Even by UK standards, this year has been strange. This morning ing it rained heavily. Now the sun is shining and there are clouds overhead. Yesterday was cloudy where my parents ts live and sunny where I live less than 50 miles away.
Usually, I have more blackberries that I can use for jam. This year, nothing. I guess it happens. We have a warm, comfortable home and enough to eat. I have nothing to complain about. I’m just intrigued as to what’s going on.
I know it’s been a while. I’ve been distracted by going to stay with my elderly dad. He’s not too steady on his feet but won’t sit still. Mum, on the other hand, is arthritic but won’t stay still (largely because it hurts) and it heavily involved in the WI (Women’s Institute) and the Trefoil Guild of the Girl Guides. Those organisations have conferences. These may involve a long, bust meeting but they also involve a chance to go away with your chums to a nice hotel and have a change of scenery. Mum has been to a couple of these lately. I’m called in to stay with Dad. It’s not a chore. When you consider everything my parents did for me it’s my turn to give back and I do it happily.
Our plan on this occasion was to make some black puddings as well as the usual gardening and running about in the car to fetch this and that. (Dad seldom drives these days and never beyond the village). I’d ordered dried blood, seasoning and groats. Pig fat would be acquired once I’d arrived. The groats were put in to soak overnight. Dad has it in has head that his mum made black puddings with more groats (barley) than blood. This was to be the basis for our attempt. Sadly, the skins we got hold of were not edible, but cleaned intestines do not keep well and can be pretty dangerous if not cleaned thoroughly. We could peel the skins away once the puddings were cooked. We treated back fly on the broad beans, did a run to the farm shop for bird seed and to the butchers for the aforementioned pig fat, picked blackcurrants, and watered the tomatoes. Enough for one day and there’s cricket on the telly.
Day two.
The resulting black pudding
Yep, we succeeded in making a black pudding without making too much mess in the kitchen. It was a little of the recipand a little by dad’s memories, so the resulting out was a little unusual but not bad. It weighed in at close to a kilo. We let it cool and had a slice for breakfast next day. Notes to self : more blood, less barley, and cook the barley first. I still have a stack of ingredients so I’ll experiment with them til we get this as he remembers. The whole thing basically came in kit form and it’s not as hard as you think its going to be. The great thing was to do something he really wanted to do and to try together. Cherish your parents, they will be gone before you know it.
Apart from being an excellent Doors song, it is true as we approach the longest day already (unless you are Aussie chums). Its been a bit on the warm side for the UK i.e. over 30 degrees. Occasional thunder storms have definitely not helped l, in our area at least. I did note that we may actually be growing mashes potatoes. This has proved not to be true as we had a great crop from one of the tubs earlier this week.
Spuds
This year we moved things around in the beds to see if they might grow better. On the whole.it seems the brassica may be better where they were and the potatoes like being in tubs not the purpose built boxes. The blackcurrant looks like it will crop despite only being put in late Feb. No gooseberries this year though.
Then came the thunderstorms. It’s not so fierce as predicted.
I did get a bit soggy earlier as I drifted between buildings at the local university where I’d gone to use the WiFi in the library for a PhD meeting online. The storms seem to have devastated our home WiFi. Not sure really but it’s been slow to none existent. Good meeting BTW. Its about now that I begin to think what has happened since I were young and how little we now seem able to do without the damn www. In fairness I’m a reader, as our local charity shops and library can attest so it wasn’t too bad but all the doctoral work is stored in the ‘cloud’ as they say. I do have backup copies, but infuriating all the same. I implore you all to save local copies of your documents. Indeed a pencil and paper seldom fail even if you run out of paper or break your pencil.
Which takes me back to the garden. My non digital starting place and a note to self that it’s impossible to rely on technology all the time and important to have some skills that don’t involve electrical devices. I’m going outside now to play my tongue drum.
The big day is on Saturday 13th May 2023. Liverpool us hosting the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine on account of Russia having invaded and Kyiv not being safe. The city is buzzing as they say here abouts. Everyone is having a boss time. Liverpool is always a friendly city and this event shows it off to perfection. So many local groups and artistes involved in really putting on a show. There’s the usual big screen and a stage with free live shows. There are special buskers stations for local and Ukranian artists. Everywhere you can see blue and yellow flags and the tee shirts bear the slogan “You’ll never sing alone” styles after the local football anthem (borrowed from the musical Carousel) You’ll never walk alone.
Food. Writers workshops. LGBTQ+ safe spaces. Soap making. Sing alongs. Children’s events. Special exhibits at all the museums. Vloggers for miles. TV crews. Sunshine (OK and showers). Vogue dancing. Parades. A yellow and blue submarine. You really can feel the love. This is not about Liverpool, though. It’s on honour of a country torn apart by war. Those attending are decked out in both their own and Ukrainian flags. Sunflowers and the pink bucket hats we have come to associate with last years winners. It’s exciting.
Whoever wins this contest (and as I write several countries have already been eliminated) and whatever you think of Eurovision (people tend to love it or hate it) I can honestly say that it’s been one helluva party.
To be honest we had only a couple of days here and day one was major travel tiredz and a thunderstorm but we made it to the famous Mindl Beach Sunday market. Now we are spoiled and come from a great little market town so it has to be pretty spectacular to impress and, whilst it’s lovely, Mindl was a tad disappointing.
OK the storm light was spectacular but most of the market seemed to be food stalls we couldn’t eat from because of our respective allergies. We ended up with sushi rolls which were lobster and cheaper that tuna is at home! There were a few clothing stalls and some interesting alternative medicine things not to mention a significant number of the Larakita people trying to make their grog money by posing for photographs and begging. I spoke to some of the women (they approached me) who told me they are not happy when they are in the city drinking but its different when they are ‘out bush’ hunting. We owe these people more than an apology for what we (Europeans) have done here. Australia is not eight states, one federation but over 200 tribal territories that have existed over 65,000 years as far as we can tell. I personally learned a lot about these cultures whilst touring this great continent…. trust me you are gonna wish you knew what they know.
Darwin was the last place in Australia to be invaded. The Japanese Imperial Airforce rained bombs on the city in February 1942. If you want to hear the full story take yourself off on a harbour cruise at sunset. It’s glorious.
The ‘Gaze and Graze’ platter for two was more than enough food for us and we waddled off the boat after an entertaining couple of hours. Our host and commentator was from Croydon!
One thing I would say of the city or, more accurately, the CBD feels a little off somehow, dangerous? Can’t put my finger on it but I’d no sense of wanting to hang around there. The suburbs, in particular Parap, I enjoyed. Parap has a thriving artistic community (although we did meet Larakia people up and drinking, they were happy) with some pleasant coffee shops and interesting places to eat. It’s tropical. Being outside even for a short while was sweaty and made me long for air con! We had a small yard in the unit we stayed in and no way could I sit outside for more than 10 minutes without needing a drink and a shower. Water is so very important. It becomes an obsession.
But that’s enough for now… next stop our chauffeur driven ride to the Ghan.
Homemade sourdough with blackberry jam and tomato chutney
OK so I didn’t make the Lancashire cheese or the butter…there’s always next year. The preservation of our home grown and foraged food goes on apace. The neighbours who have had some ate asking for more…sorry folks, next year on the jam.
Yep. Three floors of video games set to free play…say what! I mean if you’re going to a party but you’re not a party person and then this happens. Hidden in an old industrial area now full of up and coming artists and shops and clubs in a part of Liverpool known as ‘The Baltic Triangle’ is a pub. Hidden within that pub is a video game need fest. ArCains. (No, they’re not paying me to write this)
Moments after the first lager had hit my lips I found myself battling at Pac Man, then shuffleboard which, being a physical game required a different kind of skill. Onwards to the haptic interface that is a ride upon plastic motorbike for a race or two through snow and pixelated jungles. In a moment of quiet I found the old school original Space Invaders and remembered very quickly how bad at it I’ve always been! Pong was next. This time a physical representation of the OG of all video games. Too easy. It was about now that I realised a)I had not eaten and that lager was going to my head and b)there were two more floors of games. I had originally thought the £18 entrance a bit steep for one room but nooooo there was so much more. All the games were set to free play and as such you’d well ‘ad your money’s worth (as they say in Liverpool) by the time you left. TBH we are planning another visit once the schools have gone back. Less kids embarrassingly beating me at Mario Kart although the fact that it was more like actual driving than on the console at home meant I was able to win a few rounds which never normally happens. The top floor had a wall of PC games hoked up. Clearly this was for the serious players who seemed somewhat less boisterous than the rest of the place. My advice, take earplugs or, better, just join in with the screams and squeals be a kid again (or at least a moody teenager)
Onward to the Baltic Market inside another of the old brewery buildings. Grab a table scan the number with the app and place your order. All four at our table ate from a different street food stall. All meals delivered to the table as they were prepared. Naturally everyone was eating everyone else’s food. There’s a drink selection too. Saturday night it was rammed and loud and we were, at least, outside avoiding the worst of the pumping sound system.
Falafel. Humous. Fries.
The ‘party’ was dispersed across several tables including those who represented the vanguard at our next venue, Sugar and Dice (nope, not sponsored) hidden behind Liverpool’s Nordic Church and a haven of sweet treats and coffee (although they have upped their bar game since last I was there). cake, yes please, tea for me I’m diving tomorrow, and a round of Cockroach Poker, Fluxx and something suitable for the kids on the next table that I never did learn the name of. Board games havens such as this often form a focus of any visit to a new town. Usually the coffee and cake is excellent and the clientele are happy to chat and give you great hints about local (possibly hidden) places of interest. The premise is simple buy your refreshments pay a small deposit or rent a chunk of time at a table and you may try out any of the 100s of board games they have in stock. Many such places will sell games too. I can get very boring about board games but board games are never boring. If you find yourself in a given location see if they have a board game café. I bet you’ll make a new friend and learn a new game.
I wonder if we’ll find a games café on our big trip…(I just checked. the answer is a definite yes) I know there’s a pack of cards on the carry on…do we have room for another one… just a small one…
By which I mostly mean bramble thorns. Autumn is coming in fast enough and the season of mists may not yet be hear but on the pastway behind the house we have ‘mellow fruitfulness’. For reason don’t understand there are raspberry canes but mostly blackberry brambles. So far I’ve had around 3 kilos and these have even dutifully turned into jam (or jelly if you’re American although technically since these have not been sieved to remove the seeds its jam.)
Jam and bread. Home-made
You’d be surprised how many people stop to talk when you’re out foraging. Family groups who want to encourage their young. Older folks who want to share a memory. Some cheeky types who feel it’s OK to stick hand into your tub and taste the fruit! Mostly I go alone and take a small plastic dish and my grandfather’s old bamboo cane. I can remember him using it to bring down the taller branches to my height so I could help when I was small. Now I use it to do the same even though I can reach higher. Its good for thrashing away nettles too. I’ve just the one serious scratch from a particularly springy ground level branch. Should’ve worn long pants.
My brother donates bags of home grown chillies so there’s chilli jam too.
In other needle related news I went for a new tattoo or two this week. Maybe I’m old enough to know better but I’m also old enough to not give a damn. They’re small enough and covered much of the time. They’re for me not you.
ffiftypluses 