Photographs

I’ve not posted on here for a long time… and it’s been getting a tad neglected, so today I decided to put this to rights.

My hubby bought me a new camera last week, its a Nikon Coolpix L100, i’m still getting used to it and have had a few really beautiful pictures and some real disasters lol….

So my post today is pictures from around Scotland.. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did snapping them

A Jacob Ram snapped with his little lady friend… (Joan over at Mudranch would prob like to see this one )

 

Some fungi growing up in the top corner of my garden…

 

A ruined building in the middle of a field just outside the village of Strathmiglo.. notice the crow sitting on the top right ledge.

 

Finally a close up shot of Hovis, my birman cat… I just love the expression on his face, the sun was shining in his face so he kinda screwed his face up a bit…

 

Tomatoes and the HUGE Potato

Well… I decided to clear out the greenhouse at the weekend and give it a good old scrub out.

We picked the last of the tomatoes, including the green ones…. they look fab in the dish together, the colours are so vibrant.. I would really like to make some tomato and chilli relish, so if anyone out their has a tried and tested recipe that they would like to share, i’d love toi hear from you

Next I dug some potatoes from the 3rd bed for our dinner… and look what I dug up…. the organic Lady Balfour variety that I got reduced to 50p at the local garden centre turned up trumps…. with this whopper

I took it into my workshop to measure it … it was a whopping 6inches long and weighed in at 1lb 12.1 oz!!!

The Edible Garden..

I have spent a fair bit of time out in the garden today, mowing, strimming harvesting, hanging out numerous loads of washing, taking loads of pictures and generally just keeping busy and the garden tidy.

Here are some of the pictures taken from around the garden today : -

First of all we have the rogue sunflower, this beautiful big flower is the result of a seed falling out of the bird feeder and managing to land in a big flower pot, survive all winter and then germinate to produce this : -)

Next up is the final harvest of Peas for this year, we had these with our tea tonight, nothing went to waste as the chickens and rabbits got the remainder of the plants that I cleared from the garden…. theyre all stuffed full with pea leaves and stalks now

Then I harvested some broad beans, this is the first year I have grown them and I love them, they will be back on the planting agenda for next year!   Still have one more harvest left then I will clear the area.

I found 1 solitary onion that had been left in from last year, I actually thought it was garlic, that was until I lifted it out of the ground, I accidentally pierced it a wee bit, so i’ll use it this week… Once I washed all the muck off it I hung it up to dry on the washing line

Can you spy the springer spaniels tail in the picture lol…. he managed to get in the act all the time!

Finally we dug up some potatoes… some of them were absolutely HUGE… and a couple of them were stinking and rotten for some reason, so we will be lifting the rest of them this week and having spuds for tea all week

Peas and Broad Beans

Picked some more broad beans and peas from the garden for this evenings dinner.. I reckon there will probably be enough left in the garden for another two more harvests.

This is the first year I have grown broad beans and i’ll definately plant more next year.

Picked our first tomatoes today

I have no idea what type these tomatoes are, I got the plants from my mother in law, and I think she mentioned that they were Sungold, but they came out a different shape from what I was expecting, I grew sungold last year and they were round lol.

Name the Birdie!

This is our Lemon Cuckoo Pekin Bantam girl, isn’t she gorgeous!

She needs a name and I thought i’d ask my ask all my lovely townie blog followers if they would like to come up with a name for her…

Sooo… all suggestions welcome

She’s just tooo cute

Really looking forward to hearing your name ideas

Tomatoes & Peppers

Just a small update from the greenhouse this afternoon…

The tomatoes are looking really really good and wont be too long before they are ripe and ready to be harvested.

The peppers are looking fantastic too… plenty of flowers and a few fruits forming, I have another 5 plants just like this one so we’re going to have loads of peppers

Parmesan and Basil Omlette

Parmesan & Basil Omlette

4 tiny pekin bantam eggs
1 small egg courtesy of chicken little
1 large egg from Daisy
2 handfuls of grated parmesan
1 tablespoon of basil leaves ripped up
salt and pepper
a splash of milk

I have to say if was very yummy indeed and my son even comented on how lovely it tasted… miracles never cease

Potatoes are Flowering

Wandering around the garden this afternoon I noticed that out potato plants are flowering…

Arn’t they just the the most delicate and pretty white flowers?

Homemade treats for dogs and cats

Homemade treats for dogs and cats 

Taken from the book “The Natural Way for Dogs and Cats” by Midi Fairgrieve – isbn 0-85207-344-5 

2 tablespoons bran/bran flakes (eh wheat, oat or rye) 
2 cups wholemeal flour (eg wheat, rice, rye etc) 
1 heaped tablespoon brewer’s yeast (if no yeast allergy), or crushed vitamin B complex tablets 
1 cup wheat germ 
2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses (1 teaspoon for cats) 
1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
30g butter (cats) 
1 teaspoon fish-liver oil (cats) 
water 

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and add enough water to make a firm dough.   Shape the dough into small, flat biscuit shapes and bake in a moderate oven for about half a hour until dry and hard. 

The biscuits will keep for at least a week if stored in a cool, dry, airtight container.   All of the above ingredients can be bought in health food stores.   (Substitute wheat bran and wheat flour for an alternative grain if you suspect an allergy to wheat). 

These make a really healthy biscuit and are also a fun treat for children to make for their pets.