Fereday - Another year and it's all change! - LJN Blog Posts

In the end, we spent Fereday's birthday working with friend Paul on his allotment - the equivalent in gardening terms of a 'Busman's Holiday'. Because our friends have moved out of town, the allotment isn't getting the regular attention it once was, and is getting overgrown. They're planning on turning it in this year as it's now too far away to be feasible to maintain. In spite of that, though, there was still a fair bit of harvesting to do and a particular highlight of the day was seeing Fereday with fork in hand lollopping like an over-excited Labrador over to the potatoes. He hoisted the first plant aloft in a style very reminiscient of those Ladybird book illustrations of a gladiator holding up a decapitated head in the arena - gosh, those books were a bit graphic, weren't they? I particularly remember the one which covered the story of John the Baptist and had an illustration of a chap's head on a platter being presented by another chap who I am sure was holding one of those domed plate covers in his other hand a bit like a waiter ... think I had some traumas about fancy restaurants after that one.Anyway, I picked peas and beans from among plants which had knitted themselves together while Paul dug up beautiful little carrots. An hour's harvesting turned what was going to be a pretty nice roast chicken dinner into fantastic feast - shelled peas and beans steamed for about 1 minute served up with butter and some pea shoots from our garden, roasted purple sprouting broccoli with shaved parmesan cheese and toasted black pepper and herb bread crumbs - absolutely fantastic taste! And we still have half a large carrier bag of spuds.Today we harvested some baby beetroot, chicory and two round courgettes from our raised bed in the neighbour's garden. And there was the usual handful of strawberries from the little bed in our back garden - we put that in for the bunnies because they enjoy the leaves, but there are some useful by-products! Rabbits went in for their second vaccinations this morning, so we should have wildlife back in the garden on Friday evening - bliss, Fereday and I with glasses of wine, rabbit nearby munching on strawberry leaves. With a move pending, we'll no doubt spend the evening mentally allocating plants to family, friends and neighbours. It tugs a bit at the old heartstrings, but we can't take it all with us down South and we need to leave some 'roots' in Yorkshire.

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