Sturm und Drang

The weather is wild and windy, in full autumnal storm mode ably assisted by the tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo; we've had gale force winds and driving rain with a noticeable drop in temperature.   It doesn't compare to a true hurricane but the weather is noticeably wild and make a trip to the shops a bit of a battle.

The lawn is full of fallen leaves and the sky full of scattered crows battling their way across the landscape against a backdrop of grey clouds and torrential downpours.  The rain eases and stops every so often (enough so that you almost think about going out but by the time you finish what you're doing and have got your coat on it's pouring down again); but the wind is constant, howling down the chimney and finding it's way through all those small gaps in the doors.

Some of us resort to curling up with a blanky and sleeping the storm out.

Jean-Luc and I will be firing up the central heating this evening and snuggling up in the cosy warmth.

We'll be dining on the leftovers of this leg of lamb, which we roasted on Sunday. 

Jean-Luc has made up a mint and tomato sauce with horseradish and juniper berries to marinade the lamb in.  It'll be cut into slices and cooked up as Lamb Henry.  Yum.  Perfect comfort food for this weather.

Hope you're all keeping warm and safe in this dreadful weather.

On another track, while Jean-Luc was lifting grass on the veggie beds I was making another batch of calendula salve.

I love making this salve; it's a simple recipe and smells delicious.  We use this salve for scratches, bruises, burns, insect bites and for dry or chapped gardening hands.  It's lovely having something in the bathroom cabinet which we know the ingredients of and which works.  

The recipe is from the ever reliable Rhonda at Down to Earth .  

Calendula and tea tree salve

•  1 cup of fresh or dried calendula petals that haven't been sprayed with anything and have been organically grown.
•  1 cup olive oil
•   ¼ cup melted beeswax
•   5 drops of tea tree oil

 Pick petals when they're dry and add them to a white bowl - you can see any bugs better on a white background.  Strip the petals from the flower heads and when you have a cup full, dry them out for a day.  The next day add them to a jar that you can seal with a lid.
(You can use pre dried calendula petals but make sure they're not herbicide sprayed and from a reputable herbalist or health food shop.)

 Pour in a cup of olive oil.   Put the jar out in the sunshine for about two weeks. This solarises the mix and gently extracts healing properties from the calendula as the oil gently heats up every day.
 When the oil has been sitting in the sun for two weeks, take the jar inside and strain the oil, removing the petals. You can use either cheesecloth or a fine wire strainer.  Press the petals with the back of a spoon to release all the oil. Add the tea tree oil tand the jar in a container of hot water to heat the oil slightly so it will mix well with the hot wax.

In a double saucepan, melt the beeswax, allow it to cool down a little then add it to the oil. If you want to add vitamin E do it now. 
Stir the salve to emulsify it. It lightens the colour and completely mixes the oils with the wax. Pour into a sterilised jar and seal. Store this in the fridge. It will keep for at least a year.

Vegging Out

Once again Jean-Luc had been labouring mightily in the garden; it's been a lot of measuring so I was allowed to assist as well as providing tea.

And as usual he did a magnificent job.

 Before

After

Yes we've been laying out the veggie beds.  3 beds, 8 feet by 6 feet = 144 square feet of glorious cultivation space.  We could have fitted in four beds but that would mean cutting down the magnolia tree so No, it wasn't going to happen.

The next step is to put in the raised bed surrounds and fill them up with some grit and compost.

Then comes bark chip footpaths and a compost heap (under the magnolia tree).

Apparently to be self sufficient in veggie production the minimum amount of cultivation space we'd need would be over 630 square feet.  Obviously we won't be anywhere near self sufficient and that's not what we're aiming for.  What we want are tasty seasonal veg, more variety, a greater choice than the supermarkets offer - rainbow chard, Jerusalem artichokes etc.

The two beds on the left will be for veggies and the one on the right will be a fruit bush bed.  I'm aiming to grow rhubarb, gooseberries and currants there; and hopefully fit some raspberries in too.

I also want to grow some salad potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes in containers.  These crops take up a lot of room so I'm looking to grow them in my incinerators which I use at large pots.

There's also a gap between the greenhouse and fruit bed which I will probably fill with herbs - not mint and lavender, which need to be confined to large pots to stop them advancing on the rest of the garden from the opposite end from the lysimachia - a vegetative rock meeting a floral hard place.

These will be oregano, rosemary, sage, chives, dill, tarragon and hyssop to name but a few.

We already have fennel in the garden and lavender, lemon balm and mint in pots.

I can't wait to get growing next spring.

Autumn Equinox

The weather has definitely changed and Autumn is upon us in all its gorgeous finery.  Autumn is perhaps, the most luxuriant of seasons; appareled in sumptuous scarlet, crimson, burgundy, gold, orange, rusts and russets; dripping with the rubies, garnets and carnelians of berries and fruits.

A fantastic crop of hawthorn berries - the wildlife will be very grateful for this bounty.

Normally Autumn accessorises with crisp blue skies and scudding clouds, but as the season progresses it adds the veils and shawls of mists; a subtle counterpoint of pearlescent greys that soften and complement the autumnal riches.

The garden is full of spiders, the ones I most often come across are Araneus diadematus, or the European common garden spider; most of them are the various shades of brown, beige and fawn while a few are a more greys and white - both are beautiful and welcome pest controllers, as well as being one of my secret joys of Autumn - the perfect harbingers of the Autumn equinox.

We've also had this visitor - a beautiful Rosemary Leaf Beetle.

 

Apparently these beauties are migrants from Europe that have been moving into Britain but are mainly found in the south of the UK, so this one's a bit unusual in being so far north in Lancashire.  They like to nibble on the rosemary and lavender but I think they are lovely.

This weekend I spent making up laundry liquid, started steeping calendula petals in olive oil to make some calendula salve - it's great for healing cuts, bruises and burns.  I also managed to rustle up some rolls and a hearty chorizo and chickpea stew using yet more of our homegrown tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients from our store cupboard.  A fulfilling and productive weekend.

Laundry Liquid

1 cup soap - either flakes or grated

½ cup washing soda

½ cup borax

 Add it to 1 ½ litres/quarts of water in a saucepan. 

Put the saucepan on the stove and heat the water and soap flakes. Once it’s completely dissolved stir in the other ingredients; once these are completely dissolved, remove it from the heat. 

Get a large container - a bucket or tub that holds at least 10 litres/quarts, and add the hot soapy mixture, then add in enough cold water to make it up to 10 litres and stir.

That's it! As it cools, the mixture will turn to gel. You can add fragrance at this point if you want to; I usually add tea tree and lime essential oils.

Gather some containers and pour it in. 

Please note: the gel gets quite thick, so make sure you use a wide mouthed container or leave enough room in the container to allow you to shake it well before you use it.

Add about ½ cup of this liquid to your machine for a good wash. It's also fine in a cold water wash.