Thanksgiving, 23 November 2006

Thanksgiving is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks to God for the close of the harvest. It is generally celebrated in America on the fourth Thursday in November, in Canada on the second Monday in October. This is what happens when the colonials reject the mother country; they go to pot and can't agree on anything.

Thanksgiving is based upon the British custom of celebrating Harvest Festival, usually in late September, when the last of the crops, particularly wheat, are safely gathered in. The tradition of Harvest Festival was taken to the North Americas by the early Puritan settlers, when merely surviving their first year was enough to thank God.

I am a gardener and a cook; any major achievement or family event is celebrated with food, and preferably with a feast. Makes perfect sense.

On Standing at the Dining Room Windows Eating Cake, Whilst it Rains

... Our sea-walled garden, the whole land,
Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up,
Her fruit-trees all unpruned, her hedges ruined,
Her knots disordered, and her wholesome herbs
Swarming with caterpillars.

Richard II Act 3 Sc 4,1 L 43-37

... I still haven't cut out and tied in the fruit canes, cleared the pond, potted up the spring bulbs for the house, moved the fruit trees, tidied up the roses for the winter winds, or cleared the fallen fruit from the June drop in the glass house. Mind you, we gardeners are all the same, even Shakespeare understood this. So I'll leave things a day or two longer and eat this gingerbread instead. Recipe to follow, eventually.

Remembrance Sunday 2006

This Year's Bean Crop

Well who'd have thought it! Quite a few of the beans survived the rabbits. And not only that, they survived the latest spring for decades, condensed when it finally arrived into a magnificent three-week explosion of scent and colour; and the longest, hottest, driest summer that brought about green growth at the expense of flowers and pods. Except there were pods, hiding under all that lush greenery.

The photo above is one of my favourite pictures this year. I shall save every one of the blue beans for planting next year and do a taste test in twelve months time.

Left to right in the picture above we have white beans, good for winter soups; the pale green beans, some lightly speckled with red, are a dwarf Borlotti that bore much of the brunt of the early feeding by the rabbits; then a few small ochre beans, these are Canadian Wonder and a great substitute for kidney beans, but smaller and sweeter; then a huge range of pink and purple splashed beans, large and juicy; then large purple/pink beans, again great for autumn and winter soups. To the back of the picture are the glossiest black beans you will ever see; and the stangest blue beans, that darken to an inky midnight blue on drying.

Seed Stratification: Cowslips and Bluebells

"Stratification is a technique designed to mimic nature by exposing seeds to the cold of at least one winter. You can stratify your seeds by mixing one part peat free compost, one part bark chips, sand or grit, and one part seeds in a pot, bucket or dustbin, then cover with mesh and place outside. Check the seeds regularly in spring to see if any have germinated and need potting on - some seeds can need two winters!" BBC Gardeners World website

Alternatively, if you have neither the time, the inclination nor the volume, sling a few seeds into the coldest part of the fridge and leave for 3-4 weeks.

Actually there is a bit more to it than that. Talk to your head gardener over a fag (hers) and cup of tea (yours). Listen to what she says. She knows more about this than Monty Don. Empty a packet of seeds you bought from a world famous organic garden (this season) into a small-size plastic sandwich bag from Sainsbury's, containing a small handful of perlite. Add a teaspoonful of water and jiggle about to dampen. Place in bottom of fridge for 3-4 weeks, then plant out as per instructions on back of seed packet. Pictures to follow. Here's the laundry list;

Bluebell (Endymion non-scriptus) Bell Bottle; Suffolk Herbs wild flower seeds,

Cowslip (Primula veris); John Chambers wild flower collection.

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November...

Squaddie injures backside launching firework By Michael Horsnell of The Times Online

November 08, 2006

The blue touchpaper was lit and everyone retired immediately, just as the trusted Firework Code recommends. That is, except for the squaddie recently returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq who thought Bonfire Night needed enlivening.

The soldier was on all fours with his trousers down and a certain part of his anatomy pointing at the stars with a black cat thunderbolt rocket firmly in place. The stunt, which mimicked a scene in the controversial film Jackass: The Movie, went off with a bang at the end of the display in Sunderland but it backfired on the the intrepid squaddie.

Named locally as AT, aged 22, he did not take off and land in the adjoining county of Northumberland but ended up in his local hospital where he is being treated for a scorched colon and other injuries.

In the under-statement of the year, safety experts warned yesterday that launching a rocket from the backside is a practice that contravenes the Firework Code.

Lists, Lists and Again I say Lists2

Here are some things I've done since Hallowe'en;

Planted up the south facing long border with remontant irises;

Harvested far too many beans than might be expected after my early summer diatribes about fecking rabbits;

Dug and stored the last of the maincrop potatoes, more about this and the beans, later;

Cleaned out the freezer and found some sun dried tomatoes I made during a very gluttish hot summer in 2005. These are just great, eaten barely defrosted with some olives and a glass of cold chardonnay. An edible memory;

Drove 2hr30m to Addenbrookes, found ward C9, stayed for one hour laughing and gossiping and taking photographs, chasing away the gloom, then got back in car and drove all the way back;

Stopped off at Cambridge Waitrose and bought merci beaucoup enfant deux a very large tray of sushi to eat on the way home. If I win the Lotto I shall only shop at Waitrose, check out their website and you'll understand why.. http://www.waitrose.com/index.asp

Clapped my way though Prize Day as both beloved first-born and merci beaucoup enfant deux were carried shoulder high from the room;

Went out for a very fine pint of Spitfire at a Derbyshire pub I must have passed hundreds of times on the school run and not once been in in seven years;

Started drinking lemon and ginger tea again... oh dear winter's on its way.