The breath-taking beauty of a floating, flower- strewn pool, swirling with candy-coloured spring blooms.
Flowers fit for Ophelia, for drowsy bees and as a little gift to all my friends as I wish you all a GREAT WEEKEND!
World Peace and a new Tiara, or…Frogspawn?
There are things a girl really wants (world peace and a sparkly new tiara spring to mind). But nothing could bring me more HAPPINESS than discovering that, for the first time and in my messy, weed strewn, choked up with old leaves and shamefully neglected pond, I have………FROGSPAWN!
Fabulous; it’s Friday
Let’s have some fun every week on Fabulous Friday and get together to celebrate something seasonal and special.
This week, a chic, new, bijou residence with flowers around the door and a view over Dartmoor tells me that spring is just around the corner!
Happy Weekend!
‘ Take a Chance on Me’…..
I am back in the garden, turning the soil, getting close to the silty, stony, heavy, wet scent of the water-logged soil after months of rain. And the sky clears and the warmth of the sun tries to ease my straining back as I try to turn ground which really would be better left alone.
I have been deprived of this elementally satisfying task for too long, an activity which soothes, distracts, unravels and calms my peripatetic mind. Like meeting the eyes of a loved one when in need, or being offered a drink when parched of thirst, my whole body and soul is hungry and thirsty to feel this good again. Feeling the best I can be, in my garden.
A rebel at heart and no lover of the long dark winter months or the traditional Christmas ‘Turkey and Tinsel’ festivities, I celebrated Christmas 2013 in Scandinavian style.
Breaking the mould with my home-cured gravadlax, meatballs and cloudberry dessert, close friends and I partied away with Abba and Aquavit as we slipped out of our everyday personas and into those of the glamorously gorgeous, Sven, Saga, Amund and Karen (ah….that’s my name) it was just one very short step before we were singing ‘Dancing Queen’. A joyous time, creating new customs and dishes, some of which I have since repeated again and again.
Gravadlax is the perfect way to showcase any sweetbabyveg or beetroot pickle and it’s a great lunch dish or starter. Fabulous with Aquavit, iced vodka or a glass of chilled Pouilly Fumé and so much nicer than the kind you buy.
Go on, “Take a chance on me”…………
For the recipes for Gravlax and Sweet Dill Mustard Sauce, please click here.
Just Like a Squirrel…
Just like a squirrel that wakes up to gigantic pile of cobnuts, I find myself with an unexpected bounty of positive messages on sweetbabyveg.com and I am full of wonderment at this unexpected good fortune.
Just as the squirrel would move each single nut with loving care to a safe hiding place, I too have taken every carefully crafted fragment of praise and recognition to my store.
This is food for the future, for the beginning of a fabulous new world where light falling on the fern-like fronds of a carrot, or on the dazzling colour of summer Cornflowers and Calendula creates a connection between people all over the world. A place where a bad day can be turned around by sharing in another’s passion for cooking with fire (patronsofthepit.wordpress.com), or where visiting the world as seen through the eyes of a fabulously talented photographer, and creative free-spirit, (2me4art.com) can change the way we see and feel, in a heartbeat.
Thank you for all the connections we are making as we reach out to express our individuality and creativity and for all your ‘likes’ and comments.
I have squirreled them all way, for they are my treasure.
I do not know who created the sweet photograph of the squirrel, but whoever you are and wherever you are, I would like to say a big THANK YOU.
Purple Haze, Pig’s Snout, Money Meadow…
Evocative, romantic and poetic, the amazing diversity of named varieties in the Kitchen Garden, Orchard and Landscape, bring life and colour to our world and make our locality unique.
In Devon and Cornwall apples such as: Cornish Gilliflower, Pig’s Nose, Snell’s Glass Apple and Queenie are all special varieties which suit our mild wet climate.
Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Martin
The fields around my house were once all known for their names, but only by the oldest residents of the village. When there was no one left alive who knew the names, I researched old records to capture them and commissioned a map to be made, revealing field names such as Money Meadow, Salt Field, Little Weedy Park, Furzy Meadow.
Alan Cracknell
In my own small way, today I celebrate the unique colour, flavour and individuality of produce in my Living Larder in the Kitchen Garden by making three single variety vegetable purees from carrot which suit my location. These are, Purple Haze, Amsterdam Sweetheart and Yellowstone.
Amsterdam Sweetheart Carrot
Yellowstone Carrots
Purple Haze
Yellowstone Carrots
Cream being stirred into Yellowstone Carrot puree
Do you have any favourite named varieties which are special to you and your locality?
My Gardening Guru….
Inspirational, solitary and inscrutably silent (apart from the occasional sigh or purr) my cat Otto is the perfect gardening companion.
He oversees all yet questions nothing and his soothing presence amplifies and intensifies the comfort and pleasure of every gardening task I undertake.
Equally at ease striking a perfect pose on the summerhouse roof, or playfully rolling upon freshly germinated seed, his presence is of inestimable value to all my horticultural pursuits. Therefore, I have no hesitation in elevating him to the exalted position of Gardening Guru.
Big, Beautiful, Blowsy Brussels Sprouts….
A quiet February day in the Kitchen Garden gets supercharged with colour when I pick the ‘Red Ball’ Brussels Sprouts. Their vibrant, passionate shades from ‘Opera Rose’ to ‘Winsor Violet’ evoke warm Mediterranean days. Just soak up that life and intensity for a moment or two…..it feels so good.
A Little Gift of Love, from Me to You x x x
Fabulous flowers, shortbread hearts with kisses and lots of love goes out to all my friends and followers on St Valentine’s Day x x x
Beetroot, Borshch and Babushka……
Rooting around in a dark and dusty corner of the attic I re-discover my ever- happy, sweet faced Russian matryoshka doll; a memento from a pre-glasnost trip to Leningrad. One thing leads to another, a shot of iced vodka here, a few blini there and before you know it I am calling my friends ‘comrade’ and quoting Bulgakov. This has to lead somewhere, but not too far as it’s a long, wet winter here in England and I want to stay cosy at home.
There’s no caviar in the fridge and quite frankly, some grounding is required before this over identification with Anna Karenina and all things ‘ruskie’ gets out of control and sees me coming to a sticky end on a railway line.
Getting outside in the living larder brings me down to earth and I dig some beetroot, like the simple gardening peasant that I really am. Yes, borshch is what I need, ‘the soup of the people’; a warming, fabulously flavoursome and ruby like coloured gem of a soup to unite me with my romanticised and imaginary Soviet roots and the motherland!
I hold a true passion for the good natured, easy going beetroot, which is happy to be partnered with citrus juices, vinegars, honey and spices. These humble roots are flavoursome and comforting when roasted with sprigs of thyme and a sprinkle of olive oil or, when made piquant and sweet, to serve with smoked salmon or gravadlax
Roast some in the oven, remove the skin and keep in the fridge so they are ready to slice and sauté for a quick supper with pan fried fish and mash. Just a squeeze of balsamic glaze is all that is needed to turn this humble vegetable into something special if you are in a hurry. And, of course, they make heart-warming soup, which, with the addition of some beef stock and sour cream to finish, results in a dish which is far greater than the sum of its parts. And all this without having to suffer temperatures of minus 15 and wearing a big fur hat!
For the recipe for Winter Borshch, please click here
For the recipe for Pickled Beetroot with Lime and Green Peppercorns, please click here
Dartmoor Flower Shed 