Books and Clay

Mushrooms - I love them so when I stumbled across a "grow your own" kit from the Espresso Mushroom Company last autumn I thought I would give it a try.  We are a nation of coffee drinkers with over 70 million cups of coffee drunk every day in the UK apparently so instead of discarding the grounds, they are recycled and used to grow mushrooms.  Coffee grounds are collected from cafes around Brighton on a specially adapted bike diverting them from landfill.  During their growth, mushrooms break down the coffee waste and averts greenhouse gas emissions that occurs when untreated coffee grounds biodegrade. They are nature’s recyclers! Each Kitchen Garden contains coffee from 100 espressos and after they've finished growing, you are left with some lovely mushroom-enriched soil enhancer compost. So how did it go?  Well, I only actually got to eat two at a time on average in the end!   The first cycle died, the second produced two very la...

Spring is finally here, I hope anyway!  The last week or so has been warm, well in double figures anyway which is an improvement.  The overwintering onions and garlic are beginning to swell now which is great as I was worried that four months of gales and rain may have killed them.  I've had to redig some of the areas that were dug in winter due to the thistles coming through (amongst other things) from the plot next to me.  It's not been worked since I've been there and I'm finding I'm having to redig the same bit every weekend so I reckon these areas will remain bare for another year.  The bulbs put on a bonny show: However, I do have some potatoes coming through, not the earlies strangely enough but at least something is growing!  I've planted some more onions and shallots as I didn't have enough last year so if the overwintering ones survive, I shall be sorted for the winter.  Believe it or not, the kale was still growing when I dug th...

I started woodcarving classes in October 2012 with a view of doing something different and I find it very therapeutic albeit there are times I'm not able to do much as I still have wrist problems and find it difficult to hold the tools.  I decided to carve a seahorse and the tutor decided it should be two seahorses with seashells.  Unfortunately, Mike (the tutor) died last February but Arthur stepped in and took the class over so the carving is finally finished.  The classes run between October and March each year and below are some photos showing it at different stages. The wood used is lime which is nice and soft to carve.  Seahorse number one (top left) was mainly carved by Mike and I was working on the top right seashell when he died: Seahorse number two is away to be carved and have some scales - he lost some soon after ! Last week, the carving was oiled with lemon oil and was taken off the MDF backing board - this is the before and after: ...

In order to try and make it easier to post more often, I downloaded the Blogger app to my phone but because I have the account linked to other email provider other than gmail, my phone refuses to recognise my account!  So for now, apologies for the lack of updates, I'll just have to try and log into the PC more often.   I have been quite busy recently with work and various groups I'm part of through Church.  I'm currently the Presbytery Elder for our Church and that frequently clashes with Rotary.  I sit on the Ministries and Appriasal Committee and through it, I have visited some other Churches/Kirk Sessions recently which has been interesting.  The bathroom is finally finished.  I had the vinyl laid in January and what a difference it's made.  I didn't realise you could hate a room so much.  The next room on the list is the bedroom though after the trauma of the bathroom walls, I might have to bite the bullet and get someone to do it fo...

I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Aberdeen a couple of days ago.   It was an excellent performance and the first time I seen it on stage after I kept on missing previous tours.  No, I did not dress up as I spent the day wandering around Aberdeen and would have raised a few eyebrows (and been a bit chilly!) but others did in a variety of costumes. Over the last week or so, I've noticed that the cactus below has begun to flower and it has four buds growing with another three looking possible so (drum roll) here is The Little Shop of Horrors plant: Quite a mouthful to say but I cannot think of a more apt name for it!  I am really pleased with it, I certainly didn't expect four buds to appear so fingers crossed they all blossom. Plot update : I'm waiting for the weather to improve before digging up the remaining potatoes.  Something (a slug I suspect) is munching their way through my courgettes so I'm not too impressed particularly as I've not had a "g...

While I've been digging up the odd potato and onion, I've now harvested all the onions and around half of the potatoes: The yellow things are courgettes.  Courgette Number One has produced three so far and Courgette Number Two has produced one (some have been eaten by something).  Not quite the glut I was expecting but still lovely.  Next year, I'll have to grow more onions as these will be lucky to see me into November! There's no way at the moment that I can eat all the food that the plot can produce so I'm going to grow flowers and have started my herb garden.  I picked up a couple of roses for a good price: Strawberries are finally in.  After a few days of heavy rain, I spent the morning digging a patch for them and they're doing quite well (they're in the front of the photo): On another note, I'm on holiday at the moment and have decided to finally bite the bullet and paint the bathroom.  It should have been done a couple of m...

Proof that Mother Nature bounces back.  This is Courgette Number One which I thought had died but no, it has at least thirteen courgettes appearing (you can see a couple of the flowers and a few tiny yellow courgettes). Hopefully Courgette Number Two will bounce back too after being battered by torrential rain as I have a recipe for chocolate and courgette cake that I am desperate to make....!