Recipe books from another era



Hello there, I couldn't resist sharing some pictures of these gorgeous old cookbooks, though I'm sure most people have these in the back of their cupboards somewhere or at least in the back of their mum's/grandma's cupboards. Husband's mum sent down some boxes of books for us and these were included so I've had a lovely Sunday evening sitting by the fire and taking a step back in time. 

Easy, effort-free bread recipe to knock your socks off!

I can’t claim credit for the recipe but it is so ridiculously easy, hassle free and above all tasty that I had to share it.  If you’ve never made home-made bread before because you think it is too difficult, time consuming and generally not worth the bother, then give this recipe a try, it is delicious and will give you a huge smug feeling for the whole day! :) It is knead-free and prove-free so even if you already have a good go-to recipe for bread, this recipe is still worth a try on those days when you are feeling low on energy and simply can’t be bothered with it all, we all have those for sure!

Over-winter soil improvement

In the last post I covered vegetables that can be grown, and more importantly harvested, in winter.  The post was quickly followed by a unseasonal chilly spell, sorry about that guys! :)  The cold snap might have persuaded you that you really don't want to be gardening over the winter months or like me, you might not think you will need all of your vegetable beds for your winter veggies.  Rather than letting it all go to weeds I've been researching some soil improvement tips as things don't seem to grow quite as well in one half of the patch for some reason. It gets the same amount of sun so I'm thinking it will benefit from some TLC.

Winter is coming!

Nope this isn't a post about Game of Thrones, but I've been thinking about what to do with the garden over winter.  It seems ridiculous to be planning for winter on a lovely warm summers day (update that was Thursday, 2 days later it's bucketing down with rain and cold, much more appropriate).  We’ve already stocked up with firewood while it was going cheap and I’ve been doing a bit of over-wintering research. It is the perfect time to start thinking about it as a lot of summer crops are finishing and it will soon be time to put in some of the slower autumn/winter seeds or seedlings.

Half the wood-pile, will be sad to leave summer but I can't wait for the first cosy fire!

Glut recipes - Tomatoes

Tomato season is well and truly here, I've cleared out some space in the freezer to prepare for the tubs of sauce that will be taking up residence soon.  The damp start to summer and the fact that I may have slightly over-crowded the greenhouse has caused a few issues of the fungal variety but I think I've caught it in time and the fruit production doesn't seem to be affected, fingers crossed!  

The harvest in just one day, delish!