Putting the potager to sleep

Well, it's almost Christmas and one of the last chores to do before the holidays begin was to batten down the hatches so to speak in the potager. All that is left in there growing are some herbs and 4 celeriac plants which we will surely finish off soon.
S the G has done a great job of covering the beds with thick black plastic sheeting to keep the soil warmish and keep the weeds to a minimum.
Fingers crossed, when the weather starts to warm up next Spring, we will have a good start for the new plantings.
I have enjoyed working in and eating from the potager so much more this year than ever before, due mostly to the new layout and the fact that S the G has been around to do the nasty heavy stuff.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Discovering Smilebox

Early in October I began to scrap book a memory book for my sister Kathryn's 40th Birthday.
It was a very steep learning curve but so much fun.
Yesterday I discovered smilebox, what a treat! It's about to take my creations to a whole other level.
Watch this space for more postings from smilebox, meanwhile check out the first one that I made as a souvenir of my Lancaster County trip in October, with my great pal Diane.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Where did the time go?

I cannot believe that it has been over 2 months since last I blogged!!

What have I been doing you might well ask?

Well..................

In September I flew to the States to visit friends in Dallas, TX for a few days before travelling with them to Philadelphia for the Quimper Club International's annual meeting. The photo is of several fellow Quimper nuts outside the Betsy Ross House (she of the first flag) in Philly.

We all had a great time, the organisers did a fabulous job of arranging tours & museum visits and I saw more original artwork there than I have ever seen in my life before.

Afterwards my friend Diane & I had a mini adventure in Lancaster County, PA visiting with an Amish family and generally having a great time.

Harvest time

I can't believe how quickly August has flown by.

We have been enjoying the fruits of my labour (o.k. S the G did some too!!) all month long, here are a few pix to show off our produce!

The potatoes have been a resounding success, we're eating fresh tomatoes & salad everyday and the courgette casserole is on the menu every week.

The beans just keep on coming so there's been plenty of activity in the blanching & freezing departments too.

Potager update

We are well and truly enjoying a bumper crop of vegetables much to my surprise!!

The new (to us) yellow beans are wonderful, so soft & creamy.

As is usually the case I have far too many to eat all at once, so I have been busy blanching & freezing them and also handing them out to all & sundry.

The tomatoes are doing well after a slow start although I'm hoping there will still be some green ones left so I can try a recipe from the Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe cook book soon.

The same cook book has a great recipe for "summer squash casserole" which I have made twice with some extra large (ok, I forgot to pick them in time) round zucchini. My other half who always maintains that he hates courgettes loves the casserole and wants it on the menu as often as possible. Go figure!

a bientot