wild strawberries

Found a real surprise on the wild strawberry bush; a good handful of fat, juicy berries that hadn't been pilfered by pigeons. With friends coming this weekend, I think they might make their way into an Eton Mess. Their flavour is far less tart than the usual strawberry taste, almost like the strawberry sweets of childhood. I've never managed to get more than a couple before the birds got to them, so this will be a rarey treat.

beet it

It's a year since I first pickled my own beetroot. A year to the day in fact, as I discovered when I sat down to write this entry. I liked it so much I ate it all very quickly, so this year I decided to grow two crops and to grow it from seed. The first lot have come up and been pickled (see last June's entry for recipe) and the second lot are enjoying the cycle of sun and freezing rain that we call summer time. So even if I eat everything I've pickled today, the beet will go on.

eggcellent news!

A few weeks ago we were delighted and disappointed to discover that we had a nest in the wisteria beneath our bedroom window; disappointed as it was empty and we'd missed our ringside seat. Today I opened the windows and spied a brooding wood pigeon sat in it, so I left well alone, but when I went to shut them this evening, the pigeon flew off and revealed a pair of very lovely eggs! Let the Meadowside springwatch commence...

ps: no birds were harmed during this photography, I checked a while later and the wood pigeon was back on the nest.

fin-garlic-king good

Excuse the terrible post title; you may remember my bad gardening post from December, when I planted garlic for the first time. I feared that I had left it far too late and it took a long time before any shoots appeared. They grew, but it was hard to tell if their late planting had unduly effected them until they were dug up. They're not exactly whoppers, but they are good and garlicky and, most importantly, they are ours.

Pictured here in my new vintage (I think) trug, purchased on our recent trip to Porlock. Big, bargainous and beauteous in equal measure.

buried treasures

With all the garden work going on interesting things are being dug up all the time, from crockery to a victorian glass collection (all broken, sadly). The best bit, however, has to be our growing collection of ammonites...

owls about that

My very kind friends Marcus & Sophie bought me the biggest treat imaginable for my decade defining birthday earlier this year; a trip to the Exmoor Owl Sanctuary to fly owls! Actual owls. With it was the generous gift of a stay in their family's holiday apartment in Porlock, Somerset, a stunningly pretty sport.

Myself and the best beloved got up early and headed to the sanctuary discovering, to our joy, that we were the only ones flying the birds. We took out four, including Caspar the Barn Owl and Nada, the Indian Eagle Owl. Each was weighed before flying, to ensure that they were hungry enough to cooperate. Food was an array of chick bits, including feet, thighs and wings. As a long term veggie I blanched a little at handling them, but nature is red in tooth and claw...

The birds were beautiful, graceful and light as air. They were also unintentionally comical and gave us the greatest morning of fun that either of us can remember.

robin

All babies are commonplace miracles, but there is something even more special about the eventual arrival of a longed for child after many years. Sharing a name with the best of the birds here, at last, is little Robin Stephenson...

hat's the spirit

The Winchester Hat Fair is an annual event celebrating the best in busking and street entertainment. As first timers, we wandered too much and saw too little, but the atmosphere was lovely and it was brilliant to reconnect with good friends. Highlights included the random pedal powered hippo and an impromptu tea dance under the disapproving gaze of King Alfred.