Once again

Once again it’s been ages since my last post. Seems this is the way this year will be I’m afraid. In this case its darn ear infections keeping me distracted, so bad I am now referred to the ENT so maybe they can come up with an answer!

I didn’t get around to posting any photos from our Beltane celebrations. A lovely weekend as ever filled with fun and friends, plus the Fella came over for it and we had a lovely few days for His first Beltane.

Am also sorting out a summer fayre for Littleuns School, the first it’s had for years. A few of the staff and other mums are helping too which is great, lots of ideas and fun but trying to get it all pulled together is taking time. Still think my favourite idea at the moment is the scarecrow corner: each class is to make a scarecrow and the best wins. We have also been up at the school showing the reception year how to grow and care for runner beans and sunflowers. Was lovely to see the enthusiasm for it from them, lots of questions and they look after them every day too. Fingers crossed that the flowers develop into beans for them.

So as you can tell its busy here, not having much chance to sit at desk and write blog posts, but as my old school teachers used to say, will try harder…

Our new visitors

Well littleun wanted a pet and has a huge interest in the unusual so instead of going for a dog or cat he wanted Stick Insects. We have 4 at the moment but having had these as a child I am well aware how quickly this type, Indian Stick Insect - Carausius morosus, can breed. They seem to like the ivy but apparently will eat bramble too, which is just as well as that stuff is going mad on my allotment!

Rocky Road in a Stocking

Littleun has made quite a few new friends and he has found it difficult to choose who he would like to give gifts to this Yule. So we came up with an idea that meant he could give out a few without breaking the bank. Rocky Road in a bag. We were lucky as last year in the sales I managed to nab a brilliant deal on stockings (no not my leg coverings but the sort you hang up for Father Christmas). Lovely deep red velvets with fun appliquéd characters and just the right size. Well the idea is get all the ingredients (minus the butter) for the recipe, put them into the stocking with the printout on how to and tie the top with a ribbon. Hey presto, you have a gift which Littleun has helped put together and which his friends can make and do with their own families. If you fancy doing similar this is the recipe for Rocky Road (and yes couldn’t resist had to make some for ourselves, boy am I putting the weight on this year!).

Rocky Road Cake

400g bar milk chocolate
1 tin of condensed milk
100g butter
Bag of marshmallows
Tub of glace cherries
Packet of digestive biscuits
Raisins or sultanas

Put the digestive biscuits in a thick plastic bag and roughly crush so that you end up with nice chunky biscuit pieces, then set aside.
Melt the chocolate and the butter together on a low heat (or in the microwave), then once melted, add the condensed milk, mixing thoroughly.
Take the chocolate mixture off the heat and add in the digestive biscuit and all the other ingredients. Mix well. You can add as little or as much as you like of the other ingredients and vary it to suit your tastes.
Tip the mixture into a tin lined with cling film (this well help you later!), flatten out into the tin, and place in the fridge to set. When set, cut into pieces and turn out.

my camera has stopped working so photo credit is Tristan Tristan

Stained Glass Ginger Biscuits

Ok it’s still rubbish weather wise here so have warmed the house with the smell of ginger. We often make goodies as gifts for friends at Yule and this year is no different. We have hampers ready with yummy things like our chutney from the summer and the apple schnapps soon ready to be poured into individual bottles. But one of the other things we like making are decorations and if that can be combined with food all the better.

We have put together some bits and bobs that the Littleuns can make (with a bit of help from the adults) and our first foody one are these delicious biscuits. Make them, hang them or just eat them.

To make you will need:

Cookie/biscuit cutters, we used stars, bells and house. Two of each is helpful, one smaller than the other.
Baking sheet.
Greaseproof paper

For the biscuits:
350g/12oz plain flour, extra for dusting
1tsp Bicarbonate of soda
½tsp salt
2tsp ground ginger
100g/3½oz butter
175g/6oz soft brown sugar
1 free-range egg, beaten
4tbsp golden syrup
Packet of fruit flavoured boiled sweets, different colours.
To decorate:
Tube of readymade white icing
Narrow ribbon
Ice sugar/dust

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/Gas 4
For the biscuits mix the flour bicarbonate of soda salt and ginger together in a bowl.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, and then stir in the sugar.
In another bowl, beat together the egg and golden syrup, pour this mixture into the flour mixture and mix to make a smooth dough, kneading lightly with your hands.
Crush the sweets in a bag using a rolling pin.
Roll out the dough on a floured work top to about 5mm/¼inch thick, and then cut into the shapes chosen. Transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet lined with the paper.
Cut out the centre of each biscuit making sure you leave a good edge all around the biscuits, completely fill the hole in each biscuit with broken sweets.
Make a hole at the top of each biscuit so that you can later thread the ribbon through. Bake for 10-12 mins or until golden brown.
Remove biscuits from oven and whilst they are still warm check that the holes are still there if not gently re-make. Leave on tray until cooled. Once cooled pipe icing in patterns wanted around the biscuits, you can dip in the ice dust if you want a snow-ish feel to it. Thread ribbon and hang.

Snowflakes for littleuns

Well our snow was there when we went to bed, all 1½foot deeps worth and when we woke up this morning it had all gone and was replaced with rain, lots of it. Littleun was a bit upset so we decided to make some of our Yule flakes ready to go on our tree and windows. If you would like to make some, this is how we did it.

You will need:

White paper or card,

Scissors,

Glitter,

Glue,

Sequins,

Coloured tissue paper,

anything pretty and sparkly basically

Draw around a circle object. Cut out the circle you have drawn, fold it in half, then half again. Using a pair of scissors cut out little shapes from the paper.

Cut out a circle of the tissue paper, putting dots of the glue onto the back of the snowflake push the tissue paper onto it.

Decorate the front of the snowflake as you wish, stick on sequins or use glitter etc.

When finished tape or white-tac it to your windows or hang on tree.

Sorry about the naff quality photos, am having problems with both the camera and uploading to blogger :o/

Pumpkins and Witches

Well Samhain was cut short, really couldn't make it past 8.30pm but we did have a go at giving out treats for the other kids in the area. Also managed to carve out some pumpkins, not nearly as many as last year but hopefully still good. Seems funny that we spent the whole summer growing them for this one evening only for them to go on the compost but then again, that's part of the circle. They will help next years grow and hopefully being back on form next year then we will have lots more. Our witch made another outing with her spells and potions and littleun changed his mind and wanted to be a pumpkin too as you can see above.

So there's some photos, sorry for the blurry fuzziness to them, the camera really isn't good enough for night time shots but hopefully you'll get the gist.

Samhain/Hallowe’en Marzipan Canapés

So your guests are turning up for your party and you want to have something for them as they come in, just a little something to make them HYPER!!!! Because what’s a party if it hasn’t got a load of kids bouncing of the walls? And these canapés are just the perfect start. Your Littleun can easily make them without much guidance earlier in the day as you get things ready.

You will need:

250g Gold Marzipan (makes approx 18)
200g White marzipan (makes approx 8)
Red or/and Black food paste dye
Orange paste dye
Green paste dye
Wooden spoon
Toothpick/cocktail sticks

Marzipan Skull Method:

Using a knife carefully cut the block of white marzipan into 8 equal sized squares.
Using your fingers shape each piece into a chunky rectangle. Then squeeze the lower part of each one to make a chin making the edges as smooth as you can.
Taking the handle of the spoon press two eye sockets into each skull. Then use a toothpick to press in a nose and mouth
Using the end of your tooth pick dip into the red or black dye pastes and infill carefully the eye, nose and mouth until really dark.

Marzipan pumpkin method:

Unwrap the block of gold marzipan cut of a corner and wrap and put aside. Place the rest onto a clear smooth surface, take the end of a pick and add some of the orange paste to the marzipan then kneed until all mixed in to dark enough colour (don’t forget some paste colours darken after sitting for a while).
Roll a piece of marzipan to make a small ball, flatten slightly on top. Make the rest into small balls of a size you prefer. Put on plate or tray and set aside
Taking the piece of uncoloured marzipan you had set aside at the beginning repeat colour action but this time with the green paste. When done take small bits and roll into stalk shape. Make a hole on the top of the pumpkin part with a stick and add stalk.
Use the end of the toothpick to press two eyes and a row of teeth into each pumpkin.

WARNING MARZIPAN CONTAINS NUTS SO BE AWARE FOR ANYONE WHO MIGHT SUFFER ALLERGIES

Samhain/Hallowe’en Parties things to do

For the first half of October I am mainly concentrating on the things we will be sorting for the Hallowe’en side of the 31st. And for the second half of October I’ll be posting a bit more about what we will be doing for our personal Samhain celebrations. The two in my mind at least being very different from each other.

As such here is something about one of the props we are going to be using; Wizard/Witches Brew.

It’s very simple for all to do though if very Littleuns are helping watch out for splash back as the vinegar can irritate eyes.
You will need:
A clean glass jar/bottle
Clear (distilled) vinegar
Food dyes
Glitter
Washing up liquid
Bicarbonate of soda

Half fill the jar/bottle with the clear vinegar. Add several drops of food dye, then sprinkle a little of the glitter over the top of the vinegar.
Add a good squeeze of washing up liquid to the mix. Gently stir with a metal spoon.
Put the jar/bottle onto a tray (which can be disguised as something else) and then add a heaped teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to the jar. Stand back slightly!

Samhain/Hallowe’en Parties, What do you wear?

Littleun has been invited to a friend’s birthday party and as it is the day before Samhain his friends mum has gone with Hallowe’en as a theme for it. Well looking at his fancy dress box and the fact he seems to have turned into a giant overnight none of it is going to fit him. Unfortunately having a few financial issues at the moment means that I am not capable of buying some of those fantastic outfits you see in the stores so together we are going to make one. And like a few years previous Littleun wants to be a skeleton.

from a couple of years ago

We used:
Some white clothing paint
Paintbrushes
Tape
Newspaper
Old Black long sleeved t-shirt, leggings, socks and gloves

Put clothing on Littleun so that you can mark the elbows and knees with tape and mark the middle of the t-shirt at the bottom vertically.
Take of the clothes and lay flat. Roll up the newspapers and stuff the arms and body of the t-shirt.
Using the paint on bones shapes, don’t worry too much about being symmetrical.
Stuff the leggings and repeat painting.
For the hands paint smaller little bones on each finger of the glove and a bigger filled semi-circle on the area which covers the top of the hand.
With the socks we found it easier to put a small food bag onto his feet first then put the sock on, stopped the foot getting covered in paint.

When all done follow paint instructions for curing the clothing.
Paint up face and have a fun time.

Seed box gifts

Over the last few weeks we have been gathering the seeds from our flowers and veg ready for use next year. This is something the gardeners used to do a lot but in this “must buy” society is something you don’t hear about that often any more. So far we have several packets drying out and apart from being in brown bags or envelopes haven’t done much with them. Cue the need for a box to put them in. Now we could have just got a box and that be that but Littleun said he fancied making one for his grandfather too so we have come up with an idea for cheep but meaningful gifts. A seed box with home-grown seeds.

You will need,

A shoe box
Pictures from mag’s, papers, seed envelopes etc of flowers, veg or anything you can think of that you would associate with gardens.
Glue
Scissors
Sticky backed plastic
Seeds, envelopes and pictures

Cut out the pictures in non-uniform shapes. Glue onto the lid and the base, cover with the plastic so all smooth and slightly water-drip proof. I have added a couple of recipes that we love doing jams and chutney.

With the seeds we have split them and decorated each envelope with pictures of the plants to show what is inside them ready to add to the box.

Simple but effective little gift for the Littleuns to make.

Busy busy times

Well the last week has seen my littleuns birthday (party was noisy, Pirate themed) His first week at the new school and a whole lot of work at the allotment. And we have loved every minute of it. But it has meant that I haven't a clue what or where I am so you can imagine my surprise when I looked up the date today for some work, eek! where has it all gone? I thought I had days yet to get ready. So this year we are having a slightly scaled back Mabon and what with the Harvest moon to celebrate too the answer has yet again been bake.

Today we made some biscuits for littleun to take into school, the teacher there has read a little of his casefile and found the small word half way down the page that indicates we aren't quite like the others in his class. Fortunately she seems to be very positive and has asked us to provide some things that would show his class mates what we do. And for all my ramblings I found it very hard to do so. Opening up to her our rituals and patterns wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. Bizarre when you consider that I write it all here for anyone anywhere to see!

However fact sheet, photos and biscuits now done, littleun excited at sharing it all and to top it off a blog entry, finally!

Hope you all have a brilliant Mabon and Full Moon. We will be heading up the allotment for ours, hoping the weather holds, to sit in the glorious moonshine.

To the Rescue...

What a week. September is always busy for us. We have Littleuns birthday, Littleuns Mad Aunt birthday, start of Littleuns new school, Holidays to enjoy oh and the Harvest to continue. Blimey exhausted just reading that little lot!

a few of our apples...

Well the Harvest is normally longer than now but this week we had to do a mad rescue as the allotment got blown down by a rather horrible turn in the weather. Sadly we have been forced to gather in the tomatoes before they have ripened as the wind and rain are starting to cause damage and rot. So look out for green tomato recipes soon as that is what I will have to do with the 3 large bag loads of them we managed to save. As for the cucumbers well they are fighting back, have found another 5 hiding in amongst the damage so more salad any one?! As for apples, well don't get me started, the whole of the kitchen has been covered by them as we have washed and now are drying them off. We have Bramleys, Coxes and Crabs, guess tomorrow includes sugar on the shopping list!

Birthday parties are being planned too, baking and cooking to happen. This year we have gone for a cinema type party, lots of Tom and Jerrys etc think it will be good but I can't believe how much Littleun has grown, seems like only yesterday I brought baby home from hospital. And not long before he starts school. Ooh do I cry now? boohoo!

So a busy month, with Mabon to enjoy as well, ahead.

Meditation for Littleun

We are half way through our Summer Break and the strain is starting to show. Littleun is getting more and more bored no matter what we do and it’s mainly because he wants to get to his new school. In despair I thought lets head to the allotment. He is normally a lot calmer there anyway. Once there looking over the wonderful views we have, the noise cut down and surrounded by plants grown with love and care He did indeed seem to calm, but not enough. Now at home during term time we have often headed out to the beach and held some meditation time so why not here on our patch of earth too.

I find a good way to start with the meditation is to sit him down in the open grass, give him something to hold that he can concentrate on, in this case a lovely set of red sunflowers given to us by our allotment neighbour, and to tell him to focus on the petals. For each petal he then calls out something which he finds happy, the love of playing on the beach or going for walks, seeing his Grandparents, collecting pine cones, making things with his meccano etc by the time he has finished his mind is normally starting to calm down. You can see in his body he is relaxing. When he has got to a certain stage I normally sit behind him and gently massage his shoulders whilst he sits in silence. Finally he drifts off so much that he is dozing lying against me in the sunshine.

Listening to the birds, watching the bees with a beautiful lad asleep, in peace and quiet. What a great way to meditate and spend the afternoon.

Lammas/Lughnasadh, The weather held...

Well despite having a sea fog roll in the day before and slight rain first thing in the morning by the afternoon the weather was bright and sunny, in fact rather hot!

At sunset on Saturday we held our small family ritual welcoming in Lammas, the bread just freshly finished and warm on our altar, we gave our thanks for our good harvest. We have had the allotment only a short while but we have been very blessed with the abundant crops we have had in such time.

On Sunday we had headed to Eastbourne and joined the crowds at celebrating Lammas. Sitting with my family and friends sharing the Dwarfs loaf/Lammas Loaf I had made (anyone who reads Discworld will know what I mean by that!) and realising that although it looked great it was in fact an ickle bit on the tough side, was good. Soon delving into the pies and quiches I had made from our home grown ingredients, we were surrounded by the lovely sound of music and sight of Morris Dancers.

The great thing about Morris is that they encourage anyone to have a go and I have to say those children really did show us adults’ sense of timing and rhythm up! Finishing our feast and wondering around we came across many a craft from Pottery to Ironwork, Painting to Carving. Stopping to say hello to folk we knew and to congratulate those we didn’t know on their hard efforts took us to the gentle point of needing a refreshing drink so off to the music/hop tent.

Eventually though it was time to go, a fair journey home and a sleepy child to contend with. Hoping you all enjoyed your celebrations.

Say hello, wave goodbye...

Well it is Littleuns last day at his nursery and there is mixed emotions from us all. Mr & Mrs H and the Ladies who work at the nursery have always been fun and friendly, helping that extra bit when we have had a problem or two and we shall miss them all greatly. There will be many stories to remember, fun days that were had; The Summer fayres and the Christmas party, the child covered in paint running for a hug as you arrive, the carnival floats made in secret then revealed on the big day triumphing as usual and the general laughter and joy so loud that you hear it through the windows that is always coming from the nursery. Not to forget the massive hello’s said with genuine feeling every time Littleun rang the doorbell and now our sad goodbye as we leave for “big” school. Thank you all!

But the prospect of starting his new school is very exciting for Littleun.

He had what they call a taster day a couple of weeks ago. It’s where the kids go in for a couple of hours and get shown their new surroundings. Littleun was understandably nervous by this on the morning but by the time I came to pick him up he didn’t want to leave and had already made a new friend! The new school is a community school and takes aspects from its surroundings to help teach the children. One part that appealed to us is the nature section. The school has built a bird hide so the kids can sit and watch. They have a nature area with ponds and wildlife, allotments for growing things and despite being in the middle of the town lovely big playing fields for fun to be had. We can’t wait: We have 7 weeks until he can start and he is counting them down already...

Lammas Lughnasadh: Altar-gether

He he please excuse the silly name for this post, just in one of those moods!

Right what I’m going to ramble on about in this post is our altar. I always try and involve Littleun in the making of our altar and we often start putting it together in the days leading up to the relevant celebration. Although it isn’t ever difficult to find something that Littleun wants to add, this particular celebration being for both Lammas and Lugh makes it easy for him to join in.

Last years small altar, got more space this year

There are so many little crafts that can be represented by him ranging from the corn dollies to drawings, berry bracelets, Apple candle holders or just candles made to look like apples, to name a few. This mixes both the arts and the harvest at the same time.

This year we have befriended a local famer who has been growing corn and wheat and has kindly given us some sheaths. We will start by making a horn for a cornucopia, then Littleun has said he would like to add the plastacine fruits we made (bunches of grapes) and some of the flowers from the allotment.

The colours for the altar are going to be golds, oranges, greens, representing the time of the year with the golden growth but that there is still more to come so the green for the continuous growing season.

If you would like to make your own apple candle holders it is very easy to do: (from about.com)

"Rinse and dry the fruit or vegetable thoroughly. Polish the outside with a soft cloth until the apple is shiny. Stand the apple up on its bottom, and use a knife or a corer to make a hole in the top where the stem is located. Go about halfway down into the apple so that the candle will have a sturdy base. Widen the hole until it’s the same diameter as your candle. Pour some lemon juice into the hole and allow it to sit for ten minutes. This will prevent the apple from browning and softening too quickly. Pour out the lemon juice, dry out the hole, and insert a sprig of rosemary, basil, or other fresh herb of your choice. Finally, add the taper candle. Use a little bit of dripped wax to secure the taper in place."

Right am off to find the maize maze with Littleun, more (if you aren’t bored yet) about our lammas celebrations later...

Strawberry Jam

Oh where has this week gone? I turn around intending to keep up a regular post and oops suddenly the joys of being outside has meant a whole week has passed!

One of the things we have done a fair bit of this last couple of weeks is make jams. Littleun is a strawberry addict, he enjoys everything to do with them from picking to munching as long as there can be a bit of cooking in between with them then happy days. As such, with the strawberry season in full flow, we headed off to the local PYO which is nicely hidden away so always has lots of juicy red gems.

Having picked our fruits we headed back home to dig out the jam boiler. You will need 1kg of sugar to every kilo of strawberries, Lemons and butter.

First you need to wash the strawberries and hull them, cutting out any overripe or bad/bruised parts. Then I like to cut them in half or quarters, put them in the pan with about half the sugar and leave them overnight. this gives them chance to break down a bit and seems to work better for me when starting the boiling process the next day.

Now this is something that obviously gets hot so if like me you have a littleun keen to help but also on the clumsy side you can get them drawing the labels whilst the boiling happens. You also need to sort out your jars and sterilize them. This can be done by washing them in hot soapy water and then rinsing thoroughly before putting them into the oven on a low temp for about ½ hour. Wash lids and boil.

Slowly bring to the boil so the sugar dissolves, then add the rest. You will also need to add pectin if you aren't using the pectin-added sugars but are using ordinary granulated. Pectin is something you can buy in jars (normally made in that case from apples) or you can use lemon juice. Once the sugar is completely dissolved bring to a roiling boil and stir to stop the bottom burning out. You can add a knob of butter to help reduce the frothing. Boil rapidly for 10-15 mins and then test for setting.

To test for setting you need to have put a plate in the chiller. Take the cold plate out and drop a bit of the jam onto it, if after a min or so you run your finger through it and it is wrinkly like a jelly then it is set, if it doesn't do that then you need to return to the boil for a bit longer, testing every few mins until reached.

When set, leave to cool for a few mins, stir a bit to mix any fruits evenly. Pour into warm sterilized jars and the add the wax disks leaving to cool. When cool use cellophane disks to seal tops and the lids.

Of course once you get going if you are like us you'll end up with tons of jams from all fruits. Looking forward to making some with the blackberries we currently have growing on the allotment.

Boo!

Bet that made you all jump, hehe.

Right I haven't been ignoring you, or worse without computer, I have just been on Holiday and then working like mad to catch up when I got back!

As soon as I unpack the camera I'll load some photos showing you what we have been up to and the fun we have had in Normandy.

Allotment update: I lost the shed but gained the ground, so fair enough trade off. Have currently got loads growing, several pumpkins now showing as are the cucumbers and beans;

Have also been strawberry picking and jam making plus tried my hand at making marmalade, though no idea if its any good as I really don't like the stuff.

My friend has had her baby, a lovely little girl, so welcome into the world littlelass.

And lastly littleun has his taster day at his new school this week so nerves on my side and excitement on his.

Promise to do a better post soon.

Keys to the Secret Garden

Finally got the key to the allotment today so have been to see where I will be spending my time for the foreseeable future. Its right at the top by the water, so yippee no major treks there then! Five rods by five and slightly sloped, I have a small shed and a lean to shack and a load of potato plants left by the previous tenant. There is also an established Rosemary which is great as that was one of the plants I wanted to grow as I use it a lot in my cooking and infusions.


We met our neighbours-but-one who have two lovely little dogs for littleun to get used too. Seemed like nice folk who were brimming with advice, so much of it that to be fair the only bit that sunk in is "Don't grow Carrots!!!!" apparently the local badgers sit and wait until the beautiful tops show readiness and then trundle along to have a midnight feast nabbing the lot. Look forward to meeting the others who I hope will happily advise this green newbie.


Littleun danced happily about loving the thought that this was where he can play and grow things. We haven't had our own space before, have always had to borrow the garden at my parents or at friends in order to grow things, so for him its novel to be able to call something truly ours.


Can't wait to get there tomorrow to start clearing the space back...

Been Camping, New Forest Style

Last week we headed of to the New forest for a weeks worth of camping. Lovely, no tv no radio, on a site run by the forestry commission so strict rules about behaviour, and lots of horses!

Shetlands and their Foals

I had been feeling run down for a while, busy all the time and without a lot of time to get back to nature and enjoy life without all the mod cons. So we had set aside this week (thinking May, weather will be nice) for some meditation, walks and fun with littleun and his aunt. Well we got it all except the weather, just happened to be camping when the coldest May nights for a long time happened. After the first night it was definitely a hunt for more blankets!

Our tent and Neighbors (yeah I know, really poor joke!)

If you have never camped in the New Forest before and you get a chance to then I really recommend it. Sitting by our tents the horses wander in front of you. The cows lazily move about, sheep bleating and the squirrels watching, and waiting... for the moment when you go out, having stupidly left the bread and crisps on the table. Came back to find they had raided the tent. Apparently not big fans of wholegrain bread, but they did love the packet of giant chocolate buttons my sister had been wanting all day!

"You cant find me..."

Littleun loved it, spent all his time playing around the trees, pointing out so many different things and for once actually managing to be quiet for more than a couple of seconds. He really is a lad who is most comfortable in the wild with nature. Even waited a day after getting home before finding the tv again!