Fruits of our (and others) labour

Well the Summer Solstice passed quietly in glorious weather and everyday domestic pottering.  The sun rose, the sky as blue, the flowers showed off their best frocks and danced in the breeze.  We drank elderflower cordial, white wine and a rather lovely commercial bottled cider flavoured with berries and other fruits.

Jean-Luc cooked from scratch: spicy turkey meat balls and pappardelle with lime pickle sauce, a recipe from John Torode - I know this sounds really weird but tastes divine; roast leg of lamb; lamb rogan josh (leftover lamb) and Moroccan lamb tagine (more leftover lamb).

We've also found a really handy and frugal way of using up old bread, we crumble it down into breadcrumbs and pop it into an airtight container and into the freezer - handy for meatballs, toppings, and crispy crumb coatings when ever it's needed.

I bravely ventured into the greenhouse to water the small Amazonian jungle that has appeared in there - note to self: 19 tomato plants may be a few too many!

Rumour has it that a lost civilization  lurks somewhere in this vegetative paradise - possibly of ants building temples from sugar cubes a la Terry Pratchett;  I know there are ants in there as they come out to protest every time I water.  I'm hoping for a harvest of truly epic proportions.

My peppers, Jalapenos and Scotch Bonnets - growing with differing degrees of success.

Courgettes - resistance it futile,they will assimilate your greenhouse.

Heavenly, heavenly Rainbow Chard, pretty and delicious.

Our first and probably only cherries this year from our new cherry tree.  It's only young so I'm very proud of it.

Tiny baby apples on our apple tree, newly released into a garden after 5 years in a (very large) pot.  Hopefully the apples will grow in size as the tree matures otherwise it's going to be very small apple crumbles.

Delicious gooseberries that a lovely friend from the village left by the front door - I can't quite make up my mind what to do with them - gooseberry fool or crumble.  Given how hot it is at the moment Fool may be winning.

I hope you all had a lovely Solstice and are enjoying the glorious weather at the moment.  

Right, off to annoy the ants again; I'm expecting tiny placards and an organised march any day now.