Remember Remember

The fifth of November

I love bonfire night and am so pleased that Spennymoor, my home town, is one of the few places to hold its annual firework display on 5^th November, no matter which day of the week it falls.

The bonfire used to be held in Jubilee Park. My aunt would have baked potatoes in the coal oven and we’d all set off for the celebrations with pockets stuffed full of the hot potatoes which both warmed cold hands and were a delight to eat while firework-watching. Once the excitement of the display was over we’d hurry home to a feast of hot dogs and home-made toffee apples. Those were the days...

This year, however, the supper will be pumpkin soup made from a pumpkin grown on the allotment.

Cinderella for the use of ...

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Serves 4

600g (1lb 5oz) pumpkin flesh, roughly chopped

2 celery sticks chopped

1 garlic clove ditto

1tsp each of ground cumin and coriander

800ml (1 pint 7fl oz) vegetable stock

200ml (7fl oz) coconut milk

Put pumpkin flesh into a food processor and whiz for 30 seconds until almost smooth.

Add celery, garlic and spices and whiz for another 30 seconds.

Empty into a large pan.

Add the stock and coconut milk, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for c15 minutes.

Remove from the heat and blend until smooth.

Check the seasoning and ladle into warmed soup bowls.

Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve with crusty bread

We always used to burn our garden rubbish on 5^th November and it was amazing how many times neighbours took the opportunity to volunteer extra items to add to the conflagration! The ash contains potash and is excellent for sprinkling around fruit trees. These days bonfires aren’t encouraged any more. Although still allowed at the allotment, strict rules are enforced so very few allotmenteers burn rubbish, preferring to compost as much as possible.

Beechwood fires burn bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year:

Chestnuts only good they say

If for years ‘tis stored away:

Birch and firwood burn too fast,

Blaze too bright and do not last.

But ashwood green and ashwood brown,

Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.

Oaken logs, if dry and old

Keep away the winter’s cold:

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke:

Elmwood burns like churchyard mould,

Even the very flames are cold:

Applewood will scent the room:

Pearwood smells like flowers in bloom:

But ashwood wet and ashwood dry,

A King may warm his slippers by.

                                              Anon

Tree man seen at The Floriade

Bearing in mind the latest threat to Britain’s ash trees, we may all be very warm this winter!

The cure for all ill ...

 is not to sit still

Or frowst with a book by the fire;

But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,

And dig until you gently perspire.

                                                                   Rudyard Kipling

Every woman should have one

The sunshine of the last few days, coupled with a promised skip to take  rubbish away, has prompted lots of digging and a tidying frenzy on the part of the allotmenteers – myself included.

October is a hectic month for the vegetable gardener, removing perennial weeds and digging over vacant plots to allow the cold weather to help break up the soil in anticipation of spring planting next year. It is hard work but very satisfying.

I guess gardeners must be optimists as, despite the extremely poor harvests this year, here we all are, planning ahead to next year’s crops – ordering seeds, planting Japanese onions and Durham Early spring cabbages to over-winter and get a head start on the 2013 growing season. 

Globe artichokes grown for glory not food!

There will be leeks and Jerusalem artichokes yet to harvest during the worst of the winter and there ought to have been Swedes but mine just haven’t grown – lots of green tops but no swelling bottoms to add to soups and warming vegetable cobblers. How do supermarkets always manage to have them in abundance?

'Jemmer' coourgettes

I have had some courgettes, although again not the crop I’d hoped, but sufficient to make friend Vivien’s delicious Courgette and Cumin soup:-

25g butter                                       

 1 onion –chopped

 1 garlic clove –crushed                  

2 tsp ground cumin

150g potatoes – cubed                 

 350g courgettes – thickly sliced

450ml vegetable stock                   

300ml milk

freshly ground pepper

Melt butter and fry onion and garlic until soft.

Add cumin, stir in potatoes and courgettes

Cook gently in stock and milk until vegetables are soft

Purée the soup and serve hot or cold, garnished with sliced courgettes.

Delicious!

And my personal favourite courgette recipe -

Courgette Provençale:-

Slice courgettes, onions, and tomatoes (they can all be lightly fried beforehand but healthier not to). Layer in a soufflé dish or similar, adding a grating of cheese every now and then together with black pepper (a smattering of your favourite herb can also be a welcome addition). Finish with a layer of courgette slices and cover with grated cheese – I prefer a strong cheddar. Bake in a moderate over for approximately one hour. Delicious served warm with a salad and crusty bread or as a side vegetable. (It also reheats nicely in the microwave for a few minutes if you want to use leftovers later).

Enjoy

What is this life if full of care

We have no time to stand and stare.

So wrote W.H. Davies of Autobiography of a Supertramp fame.

Time to stand and stare

The remainder of the poem is very much doggerel but the first two lines have always strongly appealed to me, so much so that when I ordered my garden bench from Blue Gentian Crafts, and realised I could have a phrase or saying engraved on to the back , I knew instantly what to  choose (complete with book and wine glass!)

After a wonderfully inspiring break on Holy Island, thanks to friends Anne an d Erica from Alnwick, followed by a lovely weekend with lots of sun and thus the opportunity to catch up on autumnal allotment digging and home garden tasks – including weather proofing the garden furniture again – the horrid wet and windy weather today has prompted me to catch up on blogging and soup making to use up over-ripe greenhouse tomatoes and some of the home-grown basil – yummy!

Sun rising over Holy Island

Today’s weather prompts a perfect opportunity to think about drying hydrangea heads as the flowers have just begun to change colour and the stamens are beginning to wither.  Mine are pink and blue fading to a turquoise green. My cousin has glorious deep red hydrangea and I usually manage to acquire a few to add variety. Pop the flowers in an upright vase, add a couple of inches of water. Once this water has been used up, the flowers can then be left to dry naturally. They look wonderful piled into straw baskets and can also be sprayed silver or gold and used in Christmas flower arrangements.

Golden rod and bronze fennel

The golden rod is still in flower and its distinctive yellow colour is a welcome addition to the bottom border. It was believed that secret treasure could be found where golden rod grew and that, in a diviner’s hands, it had the power to uncover hidden underground springs.

 

Sadly neither fortune nor water have revealed themselves in Pablo’s garden, but the golden glory of this flower at this time of year is treasure indeed.