Winter sun

We haven't had snow, just icy sleet and freezing grey fog. So today's sunshine felt like a surprise gift. There's nothing like winter sun to lift the spirits; the temperature may still be 3C but the world is transformed, the subtle colours of winter sing out against the clean blue of the sky. I marched out across the fields at lunchtime with the grasses crackling under my boots to take some photos. This was my favourite – the spiky dry Teasel heads among the pale ochre dry grasses and the purpley, greeny, browny hedges and woods on the horizon.


Working in the studio late this afternoon I noticed that the setting sun was illuminating the giant Miscanthus grass just outside the studio window, I grabbed the camera and dashed outside to try to capture the burnished colours . . .


Also glowing in the fading sunset were the Dogwood 'Midwinter Fire' and the skeletal framework of the Hazel archway.



The under-gardeners had eaten their fill of mixed corn and were promenading around the icy pond before retiring for the night. That's Ginger camouflaged behind the iris leaves, safely out of pecking reach from the senior hens!

Saffron Walden Arts Fair 2008

If you couldn't get along to the Arts Fair at the
weekend, you can see what you missed by looking at
Gordon Ridgewell's photo's of all the exbitors here

Thank you Jill for keeping us all in order!
We'll be back next year!

Come on the 'Stutes!!!!

I'm not not a big fan of football, occasionally it's diplomatic to 'support' Liverpool because I'm married to a Liverpudlian, apart from that I rarely watch a match on TV. BUT had I not been behind my stall at the Saffron Walden Arts Fair yesterday, I would have been watching 'THE MATCH' on the telly yesterday afternoon. I'm talking about the FA Cup second round match between Histon FC and Leeds United. If you were around in the 1970s and took a vague interest in sport you will know the mighty Leeds United - not quite what they were but still a force to be reckoned with. But Histon . . . "who? what? where?" you are probably asking, is a village just west of Cambridge with a football team which has been climbing up through the lower rungs of the English football league tables and is riding on a wave of local pride.

A phone call to a neighbouring stallholder spread the news round Saffron Walden Town Hall like wildfire - Histon 1 - Leeds 0. Smiles all round and fists punched the air, we forgot that we were a bit chilly and that punters had dwindled during the usual lunchtime lull. Well done the 'Stutes (short for Histon Institute) this was the most exciting day in Histon's history since Mr Chivers opened his jam factory. I loved the poetic match report in The Times today. The village can keep the flags up alongside the tinsel and Christmas lights – the next round is also at home against Swansea City in the new year.

So why do I support Histon ? . . .

This is a picture of the Histon Branch of the Co-op in about 1930. The man on the far right wearing a long white apron is the grocery manager Kitchener Hart, my paternal grandfather, he set up home in Histon after he married. The shop looks fabulous - look at the window displays!

These rather serious portraits were probably taken just after his engagement to my Grandma. I wonder what the badge is that he's wearing? Sadly Kitchener died aged only 35 from infection after appendicitis. My Grandma never remarried; her neice still lives in Histon.


Postscript: After a few minutes searching on the web I found this medal (above right) on the Red Cross website, it looks very similar to the one Kitchener is wearing in the photo (above left). The discription reads:

British red cross society
County/Branch badge

Instituted: 1911
Discontinued: 1956

These badges were awarded to officers and members of any Branches of the British Red Cross or its voluntary aid detachments (including Overseas Branches) while a connection with the Branch was maintained.

The badges are worn on the left side with either uniform or civilian dress.

There is more about the work of the 'Voluntary Aid Detachments' or VADS here.

To do today . . .

1. Write a checklist of things I must not forget to take to the Saffron Walden Arts Fair on Friday.

2. Write a list of prices of all the things on my stall.

3. Write a list of things to do before Friday.

4. Make the Christmas cake*.

* I intended to make the Christmas Cake at the weekend, there was a delicious sounding recipe in the newspaper the other week. I'd bought all the fruit and spices from Daily Bread and appropriately on Stir-up Sunday** I weighed out all the fruit as discribed in step one of the instructions. Step two was "leave for a minimum of two days" . . . oh! So I changed that to read: "add to Wednesday's 'to do' list". The cake is now in the oven, and as my cake tin is slightly smaller than the one recommended in the instructions, the mixture has already risen right to the top of the tin! The uncooked mixture tasted divine :)

**Stir-up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

The collect for the last Sunday before Advent in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

Ring out the bells for St Edmund

Today, November 20th, is St Edmund's Day. I'm listening to BBC Radio Suffolk this morning in my studio, and apparently Suffolk is ringing out the bells from steeples all over the county for our patron saint. If the wind's in the right direction I might hear distant peals, but the bells in the tower I can see from the window have long been silent.

The Martyrdom of St Edmund by Brian Whelan
which hangs in St Edmundsbury Cathedral

Edmund ruled East Anglia between 855 and 869, during a period we used to call 'The Dark Ages' and skip over in the history books, but we now know it was a time of great creativity, trade and culture which were shared across Europe; as well as a time when Kings and Queens vied for power. In the 9th century Danish raiders attacked East Anglia, there were horrific massacres and the rulers of the various English kingdoms tried to defend their lands. Edmund king of the East Angles probably died in one of the battles, but a more interesting version of his death turned him into a Christian martyr. The story said that during one raid Edmund hid under a bridge, but his shining golden spurs reflected in the water below and he was captured. The Danes (or Vikings as we used to refer to them) tied Edmund to an oak tree and fired arrows into him so he resembled a hedgehog. They then cut off his head and threw it into the woods.

The story gets more fabulous in the next episode . . . Edmund's friends came looking for him and heard something calling "hic, hic" (you all knew that means 'he is here' in latin, didn't you!) and they found a wolf protecting Edmund's head between her paws! There's more – when they reunited Edmund's head with his body it welded together with just a faint red scar – must be a saint then! The king's body was buried in a monastery in a small town called Bedericesworth, pilgrims traveled from far and wide to visit his shrine and began to call the place 'St Edmund's Bury' (a nice little earner for the abbey church and the inn-keepers).

My first task today is to do my bit for the community in this far corner of St Edmund's realm – wearing my 'Editor's hat' I'm completing the pages, and sending the file to be printed, for the bumper Christmas and New Year edition of our village's magazine. After that I have to make sure that everything is ready for my stall at Saturday's Christmas Bazaar in the local Village Hall.

The archers

Dum-dee-dum-dee-dum-dee-dum . . . "Er, hello Ruth, that sheep's looking a bit off colour if you ask me." "Oooooh noooo, Bert" . . .

NO NO NO !!!! Not those Archers, I'm talking about this sort of archer . . .

The Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Library), c. 1325-1335

or to be precise, THESE archers . . .


The huge Yew tree just outside my studio door has been admired by many visitors, not least those whose hobby is archery. One visitor to my studio last July was convinced the tree must have been especially coppiced to grow bow wood – I'm not sure whether this can be true, but there's no doubt it's got some long straight branches and that's just what a bow maker needs. So when we obtained planning permission to have some branches trimmed from various trees in the garden some long-bow enthusiasts were able to have one of the long, dead-straight branches for bow making.

This Yew tree is like a cage of giant poles surrounding its ancient stump. The experience of climbing up within the tree will probably give the tree surgeon nightmares of being trapped in a wooden cage and being swallowed by the Druid's tree – hope he doesn't have cheese for supper.

The branch was carefully extracted in 3.5 metre sections between large knots. Now the wood needs to season for three years before work can start on the bows – a long term project, you can't just knock up a bow in five minutes! I've requested an archery lesson using a long-bow made from our Yew wood – in 2012!

Peck! . . . you've been tagged

Phoebe used to be bottom of the pecking order among the under-gardeners, she is now revelling in the fact that there are three young, naive pullets for her to put into line – and she can peck all three of them! She supervises meal times like a strict governess and makes sure 'The Spices' don't eat until the second sitting. She chaperones their walks around the garden and watches them with her beady eye. Sometimes she becomes 'missile-hen' and in a blur of beak and feathers homes in on one of 'The Spices' to give her a sharp peck. Things are calming down a little each day, but who can blame Phoebe, she's had life-time of being bullied and knowing her place. She has endured Bumblefoot and had the misfortune to have a thin-shelled egg break inside her (something she was lucky to survive).
Then she moulted – two months ago she looked like this . . .

. . . now she's a girl with a brand new frock and a new job, you go girl!

Peck! – you're it!

I've been tagged by not one but two bloggers! Thank you Nan (and furry friends) and Karen. And not only that, Brenda has presented me with an award – Brilliante Weblog Premio 2008. Thank you! I accept the award, it's a huge thrill that PPPs inspires you!

Now I'm supposed to list 7 random things about me in no particular order:
1) I like mushy peas
2) I like to walk across the fields humming The Lark Ascending to myself
3) I think Jools Holland is a national treasure
4) I can happily listen to Test Match Special on my little personal radio while I'm gardening without knowing the score
5) I love the smell of Angelica
6) I love Autumn – my favourite hedgerow colours are Field Maple leaves and Spindle berries
7) I listen to The Archers

I tag and award anyone who is listed on my 'blogs I love to read list'

I'm supposed to post the rules and let you all know and stuff, but I'm doing some illustration corrections this morning and then printing the designs for new Christmas cards – so if you find you've been pecked, I mean tagged, then play along if you fancy – no obligation.

Celia
x

Remembrance

For the past two days I've been working in my studio to the accompaniment of the whine of chain saws and the grind of shredders – the local tree surgeon has been working on some of the trees in our garden. Two large side branches have been removed from the huge Yew tree in our courtyard, you'd hardly notice because the tree still looks majestic, but there are two large log piles under the tree. Among the logs I found this beautiful disk of Yew wood – my Dad was a joiner so I have a thing about wood. I brought it into the studio to count the tree rings: 105, that's back to 1903.

This year is the 90th anniversary of the Armistice after the World War I, not many years ago there was talk of Poppy Day dying out, despite recent conflicts it seemed irrelevant to most young people. For many reasons the 90th anniversary seems to have a resonance as it never had before.

Here's just one remembered story traced across the tree rings . . .

c. 1908
a boy (left) helped in the fields cutting flowers for market

1914
war broke out and his brothers went to fight

at home with his sisters he helped
his widowed mother in her grocery shop

c. 1916
he too joined the regiment and went to war

he saw things in Belgium and France he
chose to keep unsaid


he was lucky, he came home

1929
he married a young school teacher

they grew flowers and fruit
they worked hard and lived through another war

they were my Grandparents

(and yes, that's me looking very thoughtful c. 1963)

Some beans

I hope you enjoyed watching that clip from Blackadder II. I hunted it out, not just to see Rowan Atkinson with a beard and wearing a rather gorgeous black leather doublet (although that was quite a treat) but to introduce these . . .


top left: Mrs Fortune's (thank you Rebsie for the seed swap) you can read a thorough review of this bean here. The mature beans (fresh and dried) have a deliciously full flavour and great meaty texture – definitely one to grow for casseroles and vegetarian recipes.

top right: Negritos this was my 'lucky dip' packet from the Heritage Seed Library this year. From the name and the appearance I assume it's a Mexican turtle bean. I tried the green pods and they were OK but not special, I haven't tried cooking the beans – they deserve a good Mexican recipe I think – any ideas?

centre:

The squash report (part 2)

I ALMOST!!! made a Hallowe'en lantern out of our big orange coloured Squash. But then I came to my senses and realised that I wanted as much of the flesh as possible to use in soups and other warming autumn suppers. This Squash shouted "I am full of dense deep nutty orange gorgeousness!"

So last night I stabbed our biggest carving knife into it and sliced it clean in two. I scooped out the pithy flesh and seeds and put the two hemispheres, cut sides down, onto a large baking tray and popped them in the oven. (I did try to take photos of the uncooked stage but they came out rubbish!)

While I was busy making pork meatballs flavoured with sage and chili from the greenhouse, the Squash was busy in the oven turning into this . . .


. . . and inside was loads of the richest, densest, tastiest Squash flesh . . . mmmmmmmm!


After supper there was lots and lots left – we're not that piggy! Three generous bags have been put into the freezer, the rest is in the fridge ready for my lunch today (with a couple of the meatballs in a pitta bread), for supper tonight (not sure how it will be served yet) and for soup for lunch tomorrow. Seeds saved for growing more next year.

Introductions . . .

Saffron

Ginger

Nutmeg


(The Spice Girls)

Well . . . hello! (200th post)

Three days after starting this blog we collected our four new hens from Kirsty of Hens4Homes, the under-gardeners (Ruby, Sylvie, Phoebe and the much missed Dawn), have delighted us and their many admirers ever since. Our garden, and the deluxe hen-house they live in, is big enough to accommodate more than just three birds, so I've been looking around for junior under-gardeners to join the team.

On Saturday we returned to Hens4Homes to select three birds from Kirsty's beautiful 17 week old 'Heritage Skylines' – that's a very naff name for a hybrid based on the Crested Cream Legbar. A melange of Brown Leghorn (Italian), Barred Rock (North American) and Araucana (South American). With that mix they can definitely strut their stuff!


It's been rainy and dull all day so it's been tricky taking decent pictures – but you can see their smart hair-dos!


And their super-model posture!


Over the next week or so I'll gradually introduce them to the senior under-gardeners and they'll move into the hen-house. There will be feather pulling and girlie fights before the 'pecking-order becomes re-established. Phoebe is so looking forward to not being bottom of the pile – she's already had first peck of a junior under-gardener!

To celebrate my 200th post on Purple Podded Peas I'm inviting suggestions for names for our junior under-gardeners . . .
Come one all those lurking – say hello!

Situations vacant

Brrrr! a frosty start to the day but the under-gardeners are already busy. There's so much to do in the garden this autumn. The mild yet excessively wet summer has resulted in rampant borders and overgrown shrubs. There are plans to redesign parts of the garden so more help is needed . . .

JUNIOR UNDER-GARDENERS WANTED

To assist three senior under-gardeners
working in a walled garden in Suffolk.
Duties will include raking leaves, pest control,
trimming grass and compost turning.
No previous experience necessary –
a training programme and shared chalet-style
accommodation will be provided.
Applicants should be enthusiastic
and hard working.

Apply to Magic Cochin before Saturday 25th October.

Name that veg

Another glorious sunny day and another chance for an outdoor photo shoot. This time I was taking photos of the painted garden labels I made last week. A trip to the local timber yard – a great place to shop with helpful staff who round down the price – and a few happy hours cutting and painting and I have a basket full of bright labels to cheer anyone's vegetable plot.


The tags feature scans of my 'Leaf Doodle' papers in different colours and space to write inside – all ready to go in the Christmas stocking. They will be for sale on my stall at the Christmas Bazaar in Withersfield and the Mayor's Appeal Arts Fair in Saffron Walden at the end of November . . . oh, and they're for sale in my Etsy shop too.


I've kept one of each colour for myself and written the names of some of my favourite vegetables on them so they are ready for next spring.

The squash report (part 1)

When I posted a photo of our 2008 squash harvest from the Three Sisters bed, someone asked if I could post photos of the insides of the squash. An excellent idea! Here are the two squash we have already cooked and eaten . . .

First is the long yellow squash, grown from saved seed from last year's 'Winter Festival' squash – a delightful prettily striped and spotted yellow green and white acorn shaped squash. At first I thought I had muddled up the plantlets and planted one of the 'Gold Rush' courgettes in the Three Sisters bed by mistake. But as the fruit developed I realised last year's 'Winter Festival' had cross pollinated with the closely related courgette and had produced a hybrid. We used one of the 'squourgettes' chopped up in the Picallili (a triumph!) and left the other to fully mature into a large dark yellow marrow shaped squash. I was concerned that it may be more courgette-like than squash-like and so it was the first to be taken to the kitchen . . .

. . . and here it is cut in half, oozing juices and a beautiful pale orange in colour!


I used half to make soup. I softened some chopped onion and a few chopped sage leaves in some olive oil and then added the roughly cubed squash flesh and some ground mixed peppercorns.

I then added some home-made chicken stock and simmered until the squash was tender. A quick whizz with the stick blender and we had a delicious light squash soup. There was a hint of cooked courgette flavour alongside the light nuttiness of the squash, the colour was a glorious sunshine gold – an excellent Saturday lunchtime soup. The remaining 'squourgette' was boiled until tender and served as a tasty side vegetable with the Sunday roast.

Now for the 'Marina di Chioggia', grown from seed saved from last year so maybe not quite true to the original. This isn't the most attractive of squash, being green and warty but the smooth texture and intense flavour of the flesh was my favourite of last year's harvest . . .

. . . here it is cut in half

Lack of sun this summer probably accounts for the flesh having a tinge of green rather than being deep golden orange, but nevertheleass a fine squash!

I made soup with half of the 'Marina di Chioggia', as above but using pheasant stock and thickening it by adding two broken up rice cakes (thank you Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – top tip!) just before blending. The colour wouldn't win any prizes – a sludgy ochre – but shut your eyes and the flavour and texture was wonderful. With the remaining squash we mashed some with potato to top a Shepherd's Pie and roast the rest to accompany pork chops. The texture of the flesh is quite dry and would suit recipes needing a firmer flesh – risotto or gnochi maybe

We have another larger 'Marina di Chioggia' squash and the nameless giant orange one (earmarked for Hallowe'en) left. Recipe suggestions welcome!

Autumn sunshine

Thank you for all your suggestions for recipes for our Saffron harvest. The one that tempted me most was Zoe's suggestion of Cornish Saffron Cake. I found a recipe on that wonderful blog Baking for Britain.

I'm afraid my efforts didn't live up to the brioche-like fluffiness of texture I was hoping for and eagle-eyed domestic goddesses will notice it's a tad under cooked, BUT it tastes pretty darned good with a nice cup of tea in the autumn sunshine in the garden.


I've just harvested more Saffron and there are at least three more flower buds emerging :-) There will be enough Saffron to try a savoury recipe too.

Hens, bears and angels

It was a perfect sunny day today – just right for taking photos of the tree decorations I've been making. They are linocut designs printed on some lovely Indian and Nepalese papers, I designed them last summer and they quickly sold out! This year they have the 'Leaf Doodle' paper on the reverse. They look lovely on a Christmas tree or a tree branch, and they looked great in sunshine in the garden – so they're not just for Christmas!


I'm selling them in packs of four different designs – each pack will have at least one angel, bear and hen plus one more. I had fun selecting the colours and designs that looked good together.

And here they are, all packed and labelled and for sale on Etsy.

Growing gold

A few years ago I spotted a little bag of tiny crocus corms in the tourist information shop in Saffron Walden – Crocus sativus, the flower that gave it's name to this market town in north Essex. I bought them and planted the six tiny corms at the end of our asparagus bed.

Each autumn I wait for the tufts of crocus leaves to break through the soil like upturned green paint brushes. How many will be hiding a pale sheath from which a flower will emerge. and when it does will the slugs or birds see it before me!


Those firey dragon tongues are the prize, the reason why for over 3,000 years Saffron has been cultivated and the precious stigmas traded for untold riches. Golden cloth, exquisite illuminations, medicinal potions, culinary delights, sweetmeats . . . all gilded with the aromatic gold.

You will need a field of crocuses the size of two football pitches to collect one kilo of Saffron! In the supermarkets Spanish Saffron sold in those teeny weeny packets inside a glass jar, costs £2.50 for 0.4g!


A precious pinch of fragrant Saffron and more to harvest . . .
what shall I make?

Tea time treats

On Saturday we met friends for lunch at The Dyke's End in Reach, the pub lived up to it's glowing recommendations. We wanted to try all the 'light lunches' on the menu – so we did! We ordered all six and shared them between the four of us and we had room for 'afters' – sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. The waitress probably spotted we might be 'trouble' when I was egged on to wear my birthday present . . . a Gisela Graham felt hen tea cosy.


Later in the afternoon we went to Anglesey Abbey to see the water mill. Although the mill was still open the millers were just packing up for the day, so we missed seeing the corn being ground, however we did buy some of the flour freshly milled from Hereward winter wheat grown on the Wimpole Estate south of Cambridge. The bag of flour came with a recipe leaflet, one in particular sounded especially delicious:

Patrick Anthony's Sultana & Pecan Nut Bread
This was demonstrated on 8th July 1996 in Anglia TV's live broadcast from Anglesey Abbey commenmorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the 1st Lord Fairhaven. It also celebrated his rescue of Lode Watermill from dereliction, it's repair and landscaping. This recipe celebrated his American roots.

mix together in a large bowl:
400g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mixed spice
75g sultanas
50g chopped pecan nuts
50g brown sugar

then add:
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 tablespoon honey
500ml buttermilk with 2 teaspoons of baking soda mixed into it.
(I used semi-skimmed milk as that's what I had at hand)

mix thoroughly and pour into an oiled loaf or cake tin
and bake at 180C for an hour

serve buttered

Even better, serve toasted and buttered with a nice cup of tea :-)

Cracking the code

I had set myself a date for when my life should be getting back to normal – 2nd October (easy to remember as it's my birthday). The hospital consultant told be to be careful but otherwise everything is fine and signed me off – hurray!!!! We celebrated with a meal at Alimentum in Cambridge, I can thoroughly recommend the Bramble cocktail (Plymough gin, blackberry liqueur, lemon juice and sugar served over crushed ice) Yummy! Clever fine dining isn't usually my scene, but my first visit to Alimentum last year dispelled my preconceptions as the food was simply great ingredients, beautifully cooked and stylishly presented. Things have now changed and the new head chef 's style is to make unfashionable cuts of meat look like works of art - cylindrical shapes predominated. The food was undoubtedly very good, but apart from the cocktail I didn't exclaim 'oooh that's delicious'.

So, as normal service on Purple Podded Peas has now resumed, I'll tell you about our day out yesterday . . .

If I were to ask you to imagine the 'National Museum of Computing' what would come to mind? Steel, concrete, a glass atrium, hi-tech lighting, lots of gadgets and buttons to press, crowds of excited young visitors . . .

. . . er, no!


Yes this is the building that houses the proud history of Britain's contribution to the invention of computers. Sadly we couldn't look at the more up to date exhibits because the elderly gentleman looking after the museum was on his own and could only keep an eye on half of the museum. It's fascinating and deserves better.


The National Museum of Computing is part of Bletchley Park, if you saw the film Enigma or read the book by Robert Harris, you'll know all about this amazing place. If you visit you get a year's pass for the entry fee, which is just as well because there's so much stuff on display and there's so much to to take in you'll need to go back for another visit.

The story of the people who worked at Bletchley Park during the war and how they managed to crack the codes is what makes this place so fascinating. Some of the best mathematical brains from Oxford and Cambridge universities were recruited, alongside those called up who had happened to admit to an interest doing the crossword puzzle at breakfast.

This contraption was called the Bombe, it was one of the vital code breaking devices built for cracking the coded messages sent by the Germans in WWII using an 'Enigma' machine.


And here's what it looks like inside – this is a working replica . . .


One of the foremost brains behind this was Alan Turing. Like all the others who worked at Bletchley Park his work was top secret until the truth about what went on at Bletchley was revealed in the 1970s. Tragically Alan Turing commited suicide in 1954, his homosexuality was considered a mental illness and a crime and to escape imprisonment he had undergone hormone treatment, his security clearance to enable him to continue his work on code breaking had been withdrawn.

Alan Turing is commemorated at Bletchley Park with an intriguing slate statue by John Herring.


Tips on saving fuel and money aren't new – the posters and information leaflets in the 'Home Front' exhibition had some tips that could be handy for all of us today! I love this useful advice about how to make a new frock out of two old ones, and you can make a pair of knickers out of the leftover material!

Sunny delight

PPP-lite . . .

This is our 2008 squash harvest from The Three Sisters bed (not a bumber crop). What will the giant yellow 'squarrow' be like inside? We'll try this one first.
The other three will provide lots of lovely nutty squash for risottos, mash, soup, muffins . . . what's your favourite squash recipe?