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Showing posts from 2008

Iwade Christmas Fair

On Sunday 16th November 2008 a pre Christmas Fair was held in Iwade Village Hall in aid of the Church Heating Fund. Over £500 was raised on the day with lots of people donating prizes to the raffle including local businesses Costcutters, Opies and Budgens. Thank you. Organiser Dave Manning would like to thank all the people who took part in making the day a success, including the members of All Saints Church for their cakes and jam stall, Father Christmas, Gaia Angelicus, Green Grub, Usborne Books and Buttonwhole to name but a few.

Dare to Wear it Pink 2008

An information pack was delivered to my boss at work and he gave it to me as I am always raising money for charity. So on Friday 31st October 2008 I encouraged my work mates to dress in pink and put a few pounds into the little box provided. As it was half term most people were away so it was down to a handful of people to join in. Some did and some didn't, nothing new there! So here is a picture of me and Dr Mark Hodgetts entering into the spirit of the day. It was taken by me on my mobile! I went out and bought pink iced cakes for people to buy (as some people forgot to wear pink, how can you forget!) Anyway last count we raised about £50. Thank you to everyone for raising money for such a good charity.

Saturday morning October harvest

I was putting out the washing this morning in the autumn sunshine and thought I would check my late sown carrots. To my amazement I had managed to grow a healthy bunch ready for tonights dinner. I wasn't going to try to grow any in my first year but I'm so glad I changed my mind! The ones I grew were Suttons F1 Maestro £2.75 a pack. I have left some more in the ground for next week. Next year I will grow lots more. The Tristan T&M courgettes are still producing fruit, not as many but I never thought they would last into October. I managed to make a batch of spicy courgette chutney in August so that will be good for Christmas with cheese & biscuits. Everyone that has eaten my apple and tomatoe jam has said it was really nice. My dad ate the whole jar so I gave him another jar today from last weeks batch. The celeriac that Anne gave to me as seedlings have given me four little plants. I thought they would be bigger but as its the first attempt I don't think they have

Celeriac soup recipe

I have some celeriac to harvest this weekend and I found this recipe to try. For lunch today I am making chunky vegetable soup out of the leftover veggies from this week plus fresh beans and courgettes out of the vegetable patch this morning. I've taken down the runner beans and the French beans and courgettes are still producing, not bad for October! I still have some carrots to harvest but thought I would save them for Sunday dinner. Sunday I intend to sow the broad beans as I was advised to start them off in October. The bed is ready with home made compost that I dug in weeks ago. Enjoy the sunshine this weekend and make the most of your garden. Ready in 45 minutes 25g butter 1 leek white part only thinly sliced 350g celeriac, roughly diced 150g potato, roughly diced 600ml vegetable stock, hot 5 tbsp single cream, to serve Fresh chives, to garnish 1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the leek and cook for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Add the celeriac, cov

Tomato & Apple Jam

I visited my sister today and she gave me a bag of cooking apples from her garden. Then my mum gave me the last of her home grown tomatoes. So I intend to make this on Sunday morning. Ingredients 500g tomatoes (skinned, deseeded and diced) 500g apples (peeled, cored and diced) 1kg granulated sugar Juice of half a lemon 1. Put the tomatoes and apples in a large pan with the lemon juice and gently cook on a low heat until the fruit turns into a pulp mixure. 2. Add the sugar and bring to the boil, and boil rapidly for 5 mins stirring to prevent burning. 3. Reduce the heat, and simmer very gently for a further 15-20 minutes stirring to prevent burning. 4. Allow to cool then pour into sterilised jars.

WILLOW 1991 - 7th October 2008

Sadly my wonderful cat Willow died in her sleep this morning. She has been with me and my family for over 17 years and was one of a litter of four kittens that we watched being born by her mum Wilma. Her sister Pipa sadly died yesterday morning, she was my mums cat. She will leave a huge gap in our lives and our dog Moss will miss her too. Recently Willow started to sleep in the dogs bed and the often shared a plate of left-overs together, spagetti was their favourite ! She will be buried today next to my vegetable patch in my back garden so that she can be with me when I am out there pottering. I have ordered a small silver plaque to be put on an old chair that we used to sit in together. Goodbye Willow

25 Miles and 17 Churches

Our team of four Iwade residents cycled for this year's Church Cycle on Saturday 13th September. (L-R Stephen Beard, Amanda Hurrell, Nicola McKenzie and Rowena Beard. We visited 17 churches in total and the Sittingbourne Cemetry as part of the 2008 Friends of Kent Churches Cycle. We started at All Saints Church Iwade at 10am and after a hot cup of tea made by Sylvia and then made our way to Lower Halstow via Raspberry Hill. Another warm cup of tea was waiting for us followed by lots more tea and refreshments! We then cycled to Upchurch, Newington, Hartlip, Borden and stopped for lunch at the Maypole pub. Hartlip to Borden was the hardest bit, beautiful but very hilly! Thank you to the landlady for making some last minute sandwiches for the team after lunch had officially closed. So we had a rest in the beer garden before heading off into Sittingbourne to add some more churches to the list of those visited. It was then onto Sittingbourne and then back to Iwade Church Milton and Bob

Cycle Ride 13th Sept 2008

Just to remind all of you out there that I will be cycling for All Saints Church Iwade this coming Saturday. There is still time to sponsor me by clicking on this link http://www.justgiving.com/iwadechurchcycle2008 I will also except email bids with your full address and postcode for the extra gift aid donation. Thanks for all your support. Amanda
Well its been a while since I wrote something, due to being on holiday (at home) and finding lots of other things to fill my time, gardening being one of them. I went along to the Sheerness Flower and Vegetable show on Sunday, and now I wish I had submitted something! I've been making jam and chutney for the last month and my cherry toms may have even stood a chance! So I've asked Dave if I can enter next year. He said they need new blood so I may just put Iwade veg to the test next August. And its only about £1.40 for the annual membership, so no excuse really. He also mentioned a gardening talk being held this Thursday 4th Sept at 7:30pm Tunstall Village Hall. Andy Garland from BBC Radio Kent will be there to give the talk. Anyway its only £1.25 to go along and this includes a cup of tea! I'll be going and I hope to meet lots of other keen gardeners. Maybe I will see you there! My runner beans seem to be doing a bit better now, lots of new flowers on both varieties. Frenc

Iwade Plum Jam

Whilst walking the dog on Sunday evening I noticed some windfall plums in the old orchard at the end of my road. So after making sure my Jack Russel followed me I managed to collect about 4lbs. I collected some jars from my mum today, on the understanding that she would receive one back full of jam! And of course one for my sister Danielle. So I search the internet for recipes and came across this one on the Lakeland website. It's easy to follow so I am going to give it a try today. Makes seven 454g (1lb) jars2kg 4lb plums 500ml (¾:pt) water 4lb sugar ~ warmed on a baking tray in the oven Wash, halve and stone the plums. Crack a few of the stones; blanch, skin and halve the kernels. Cook the plums and water in a Preserving Pan for about half an hour, until the skins are soft. Stir in and dissolve the warmed sugar, then boil briskly, adding the kernels towards setting point. When a set is reached, skim if necessary. Pour into sterilised jars and seal . That's it! Happy cooking.

Carrot Cake

I was in the mood for baking this morning and searched the internet for a carrot cake recipe. I found this one and made it in under and hour. Shame it didn't last that long as it was eaten before it had time to cool properly! I took some round to my friend Paula and we ate it with a cup of tea sitting in her garden catching-up. Fool proof recipe as I have never attempted to make carrot cake before and it was really nice. I missed out the icing for my first one but will try that next time. Ingredients 175g light muscovado sugar (I used normal brown sugar!) 175ml sunflower oil 3 large eggs , lightly beaten 140g grated carrots (about 3 medium) 100g raisins grated zest of 1 large orange 175g self-raising flour 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon (I used mixed all spice instead of cinnamon and nutmeg) ½ tsp grated nutmeg FOR THE FROSTING 175g icing sugar 1½-2 tbsp orange juice Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin

Summer spiced courgette chutney

Here is a good recipe I found on the BBC Good Food website this morning. I am going to make this today as I have lots of fresh courgettes and red onions from the vegetable patch. I kept a few clean jars and will buy a kiln jar to keep some for later in the year. It’s the easiest recipe that I have found so thought I would give it a try. I am leaving out the root ginger as I’m not that keen on it! 2 onions , chopped 500g tomatoes , chopped 500g courgettes , diced 300ml white wine vinegar 2 Granny Smith apples , peeled and diced 250g brown sugar 2 tsp mixed spice 1 tbsp mustard seeds thumb-sized piece root ginger , grated 4 garlic clove , crushed 1. Put all the ingredients in a large pan. Bring slowly to a simmer, stirring to stop the mixture sticking. 2. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours until dark, thick and chutney-like. Pour into sterilised jars and leave for 2-3 weeks before eating.

My week off

I've had a busy week at home. On Monday I had breakfast in Minnis Bay with some friends and walked along the beach. We took my friends nephews who really enjoyed thier day. I was really lucky as the weather was warm, sunny and dry. On Tuesday my sister came over with my niece Yazmin and we went to the Lees in Minster to do some beach combing. We found lots of shells and stones and I put some together and hung them up in the garden. A nice reminder of my beach visits this week. In the evening I took my mum to see Mama Mia, it was a brilliant film. I decided to take the dog back to the beach on Wednesday morning and we walked for an hour and a half. Moss slept for the rest of the day! On Thursday Ian's parents came over for dinner and we had a big Victoria sponge cake for Jack's 16th birthday (08-08-08). Then on Friday we visited London Zoo as we hadn't been for ages and it was one of our favourite family places to visit when Jack was little. We packed a cool bag with lun

A sample of what I have been eating this week

There have been: courgettes, French beans, my first patty pan (picked too early I think!), first cucumber and a handful of runner beans! The picture on the left shows the vegetables I picked fresh this morning. The others were harvested earlier this week and in between there have been more French beans. They say the more you pick ..... I'm a bit disappointed that the dwarf beans seem to have exhausted themselves which gives me space to grow something else now! I picked up a packet of turnip Golden Ball last weekend so I will put them in this weekend. I have all next week off work, so I am looking forward to visiting some friends, popping to the beach and having a rest. Enjoy your weekend.

A Lazy Saturday morning

I didn't fancy tackling the housework this morning so I decided to water the vegetable plot again. I had watered it really well the night before. Luckily I did as I missed a courgette and it was huge, a baby marrow! That will teach me. We have been eating French beans all week and they are so nice. We had so many that I even took some to work for Jean to eat along with some spare courgettes. I checked today and there should be enough beans for Sunday lunch. I'm so pleased I decided to grow more this year than last year. The runners got a bit wind swept and are now picking up with lots of beans. Hopefully I can eat some soon. The cucumbers are doing really well by the back door and I have three that are big but have to wait a bit longer, have to be a bit patient. Same for the tomatoes, there are loads of them but none ready to pick as they are all green still, shame. I'm pleased I grew them myself this year as they were so easy and far more rewarding. But I think I will stic

What's going on

Thank you to Dave for inviting me and other Iwade residents to the Sheppey Horticultural Society Flower and Vegetable Show. It will be held at Delacey Hall, Esplandade Gardens, Sheerness (next to the Leisure Centre) Saturday 30th August 3pm to 6pm and Sunday 31st August 11am to 4pm Refreshments Available Admission 50p I am looking forward to going to my first flower and vegetable show this August and have invited the gardening club in Iwade to join me. We can use this time to see how the experienced allotment holders do it and to ask any questions we may have. And for all you serious cooks out there, Debenhams have a special offer on all Le Creuset cookware this weekend http://www.debenhams.com/ I haven't bought any of this range for ages and I really needed a large frying pan. So with the voucher I was given recently I treated myself to one! I just need to track down the lid now, I think John Lewis have them. So its going to be courgette & pea frittata for dinner tonight! I&#

Summer Vegetable Soup

There were lots of courgettes, French beans and a handful of peas today so summer vegetable soup it had to be! With the left over carrots and red onions from Sainsburys :-( and some new potatoes from a local farm shop I was ready for action. I haven’t made soup for a while and just fancied a warm bowl before setting off to the church for the summer concert. Due to the unsettled weather it’s now planned for inside the church, such a shame. I’ll let you know next time how the concert was. The new shop opened on Monday and it was good to meet up with some friends and enjoy a glass of wine and some food. The report missed this weeks KM and Gazette so hopefully it will be in next weeks papers. Not much happening this week in the garden apart from harvesting courgettes almost daily and French beans. Almost finished the broccoli and looking forward to making way from something else. My carrots are doing well in the long pots from a couple of weeks ago, so I may try some in the vegetable plot.

French beans and broccoli with my dinner

I am looking forward to Sunday lunch tomorrow so I can eat some fresh French beans and broccoli with my dinner. I checked on my leeks today and they should be ready in a couple more months. I’m so inpatient and can’t wait to pull some of them up and cook them with a cheese sauce! I made three Frittatas this week with courgettes and herbs out of the garden. They were really good. I made and extra one and left it in the fridge to chill overnight and it was just as good cold as it was hot. My sweetcorn has gone mad. My sister popped over today for lunch and said they will get a bit bigger yet. I think I might have to forget them next year to make way for something else. I am now planning to extend the vegetable garden this year as I’ve enjoyed it so much. Plan is to order some more wood in September in time to start growing some winter veg. I will probably go for some plug plants as they have been so successful and saves me time and space. I planted up the carrots last weekend and they ha
After a hectic week at work it was nice to come home on Friday night and water all the vegetables and chill out before dinner. After the windy weather we have had some of the climbing beans and runner beans have a bit of wind damage, but I'm sure they will pick up again soon. I did manage to harvest some French beans this week and there are so many little ones everywhere I am sure to have lots more next week. I had eight courgettes this week so decided to take some into work for the girls. They were delighted and I took Katy in some fresh farms eggs so she could try the recipe I found on http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/ She tried it with my home grown spring onions and fresh parsley 'Envy' and said the onions were really hot and the recipe was lovely. It’s a shame I didn't sow another lot of spring onions, as I had no idea how good they would taste! As luck would have it when I got home the Marshalls seed catalogue arrived. So I decided to order some seeds and I will try t

So far so good

It’s hard to imagine that this vegetable project of mine only started at the end of April 2008. It was a stop gap until we get some Iwade Allotments. I didn’t know at the time if I would stick to it, like it or ever eat anything out of my back garden. After digging up most of my flower border I am now totally hooked. I am constantly researching to check to see if I am doing it correctly and what to grow next. I planted my first carrots (Maestro) today from seed that should be ready in October, and left it to the last minute as I thought they would be a waste of time. After seeing the prices in the supermarkets escalate weekly I decided to give it a go. I have never been a very patient person but I am learning gradually. If the packet says 12 weeks then that’s when they will be ready. There is nothing to beat the satisfaction of saying “I grew that” and of course it tastes much better as it’s fresh from the garden to the kitchen in seconds. It also makes you realise how much we take foo

Courgette Recipe

Here is a good recipe for when you have some of your own home-grown courgettes! I now have two courgettes that are big enough to harvest so I may try this recipe. I made a similar frittata last week and they are lovely if you have things to use up in the fridge. I never knew what they were called but always make these instead of an omelette. If you put a layer of potatoes on the bottom its even nicer. Courgette Frittata Ingredients 1 small red onion halved and sliced 2 medium courgettes sliced olive oil for frying 6 eggs 50g mature cheddar cheese (grated) Fry the onion and courgette gently in a little olive oil for 10 minutes until softened and turning golden. Beat the eggs then mix in the cheese and veg. Heat some oil in a small non-stick frying pan and pour in the egg mix. Cook, moving the egg around until the base is set. Slide under a hot grill until puffed and golden. Cut into wedges and serve with a leafy salad. I found this recipe through http://www.eattheseasons.co.uk/ and it

A busy day pottering about

I spent quite a few hours pottering about in the garden today and made the most of the warm weather. Managed to go to my favourite garden centre Millbrooks this morning and only bought a new pair of gardening gloves. We have been going to the restaurant the last couple of months and now the weather is warmer you can sit outside. http://www.millbrookgc.co.uk/ The courgettes have gone crazy and are so big, its hard to believe that I only planted them a few weeks ago! There are fruits showing, so I should be eating quite a few. As I ordered some new patty pan seeds a bit late from Suttons, I only planted a couple of plants today. They look so small compared to the courgettes but the promise of the little white fruits is something to look forward to. I guess they will catch-up soon. The summer squash also has some fruit. Me being new to this, its all quite exiting. All the rain we've had made everything grow so well. Now I have started to feed everything. The Iwade gardening club met

Raindrops and wishes

Well I was thankful for the couple of days of rain we had, so I didn't have to do so much watering! Mind you it's keeping me fit filling up the watering can so many times. Must get a water but this year and tap it into the down pipe at the back of the house. I managed to eat some fresh spinach this weekend in a salad and some radishes! They grew in about four weeks and I just couldn't wait any longer! Have sown some more around the garden and also a few weeks ago another variety with my pots and they are growing quickly. Get well soon to Ann and hope you make a speedy recovery and get back on your feet soon to enjoy your lovely garden. Get well soon to my grandmother Eve who is rather poorly in hospital in London. I hope that my trips to see her this week helped a little. If it hadn't been for my sister I don't think I would have been so strong, thanks Dan. And of course good luck to Jack (my son) for his GCSEs this week, dreaded Maths on Monday morning. I've pr

Garden Festival

I am off to the Garden Festival held at Cozenton Nursery in Rainham on Saturday 10th May. This is where Medway Council’s nursery are based, Cozenton Park, Rainham. Every year they produce 175,000 high quality bedding and decorative plants are produced for the council and demonstration gardens. And each year they hold the garden festival over two weekends in May. I have been going for the past five years or so and I am going tomorrow with my mum and sister. We get some very good bargains and then all go home to do our planting! I decided to plant some sweetcorn last weekend. Whilst visiting another garden centre they had some at seedling stage for around £2 for 20 plants so I couldn't resist! They are all planted and seem to be doing ok. The French beans are outside now and planted up. They grow so quickly that they are already going up the cane supports. Anyway have a good weekend and enjoy the warm weather we are having.
I spent the afternoon digging in some more compost, I had to buy some as I didn't have enough from my composter. The soil is much better this weekend after all the rain and I managed to put in some Broccoli and the shallots that I forgot I bought a few weeks ago. It's a good job I looked up how to plant them as I would have planted them too close together. These are the vegetables that I will be growing in my first year. I didn’t realise how many things I would be growing until I typed this list! I was going to try sweetcorn, but due to lack of space I will have to give this a miss. I have cheated and bought the leeks as small seedlings and the broccoli, but everything else has been grown from seed. I have to say the tomatoes were easier than I thought and the beans grow so quickly! I am trying a new courgette as it has less leaves, saving a bit of space I hope. I have only chosen things that we eat as a family. No doubt we will have too many beans, but they can be given to fri

Seedlings

With all this rain over the past few days everything is doing well in the garden. I took a photo of the French Breakfast radishes this morning and they are looking ok. I didn't make it to the pub last night, so apologies for my absence to all the others. From reading various emails today; it seems that most of us were ill. Get well soon to Lynda, Nicola & Paula and sorry to Ann and Janet that I couldn’t make it. I am looking forward to the long weekend and more pottering about in the garden. The weather forecast is good so I intend to make the most of it. It's a little too early to start planting all the beans etc so they will have to stay in my little greenhouse and my dining room for a little while longer. The peas I planted a week ago in my recycled toilet rolls are doing well, with signs of a good root system at the bottom. Thanks Danielle for the tip, I will use this in future as it will save a fortune on plastic pots and will keep the roots undisturbed for planting. A

Reading up

Thought I would buy myself a couple of books on how to grow vegetables. Have found one called RHS Vegetables in a Small Garden and it looks quite good. Unfortunately it's out of stock at Play.com so will try eBay! My sister has Grow Your Own Veg by Carol Klein, so no need to buy a copy of that one. If anyone has any good suggestions, I'd be really pleased with the advice. Iwade Gardening Club meets in the Woolpack Pub on Thursday night this week. It's where you can meet up and exchange plants/seeds/cuttings etc with other keen gardeners. And of course it's a good excuse to have a drink and a natter! I think it's the fourth meeting. I'm not sure as I've only managed to get to one, and that was late due to the Annual Iwade Parish Council meeting being on the same night! Writing for the local papers means I go along to take notes and of course see what's happening in the village. I lead a very exiting life! I'm looking forward to the long weekend so tha

How it all began

As you can tell by the name, my little raised vegetable garden is only 8 x 6 foot. It was created on Saturday 26th April 2008 by my talented husband Ian! It all started last year when a group of friends decided to find some space in Iwade for allotments. We have not been that successful to date, but we keep plodding on with the help of developers and local councillors. So to get me started I decided to dig up my recently completed garden, to make way for something edible! My friends and family thought I was crazy to dig up what I had just finished, but when a woman knows what she wants you don't disagree. From January onwards I started to lift-up all the plants and give them to friends. There is no going back once it’s gone, it’s gone. I have to admit that some doubts crept in recently when I looked back at the area before I dug it up, but the finished results have made me realise my idea was the right one! I now have the bug and eat and sleep vegetables! I hope you will follow my