Gardener Turned Baker!

I know that this is a gardening blog but with all this wet weather and half the country under water, Chief Blogger had been turning her hand to more baking.  On the 2nd attempt, she has managed to match Jan's Saturday success today, having realised that yesterday's slightly heavier bread was completely the fault of inaccurate scales!!  My Aga (Yes!  Aga) scales are 2oz out.  That's a whole 56 grams!!!  This meant that I was using more flour to the stipulated 250mls of water than Paul Hollywood states thus making the dough heavier and drier.  My new 'digital' scales arrived today and hey presto!!  A pretty perfect loaf!  It's made me wonder - just how accurate are the average kitchen scales?

Misshapen and heavy

Better shape and much lighter

Ingredients - 74p's worth!

It was a tad interesting to work out the exact cost (minus the salt!) of a homemade loaf in a 1lb loaf tin.  Waitrose probably isn't the cheapest place from which to buy Canadian strong bread flour but, hey - these loaves don't contain any preservatives, the Aga's always hot and they're such fun to make.  I know some folks say it takes too long waiting hours for the dough to rise and prove but1, be positive!  Think of the time you have to drink gin or, get out in the garden - if it ever stops raining!

Role Reversal!

Whilst the boys were all outside battling the storms and still managing to make good progress with the major conifer topping project; the girls were inside baking bread - never before heard of on a Saturday!  Jan came over with her Paul Hollywood book and the result was the most perfect loaf of bread in the world!  It definitely take a professional baker to write a book on baking and many of his vital tips are all (suspiciously) missing from other bakery books. The loaf of bread was so delicious, it was consumed with olive oil, Balsamic vinegar and herb dips before a pretty perky chilli con carne and Aga baked rice with Bay and Cardamon.  This was topped off with shared out Belgian chocolate eclairs (courtesy of Chris) and fresh raspberries with cream!  Meanwhile there are only 4 conifers left - another all round successful Saturday!

Paying the Price!

Beaten but not broken!

Since the still and mild sunny day on Sunday, have we ever paid  the price? More storms, high winds and lashing rain.  Water running off the fields and out of hills as it just has nowhere else to go. Pity the poor people in Somerset. Despite the incessant battering and an all too fleeting window of sunshine; it was a real lift to see the little cross face of a viola bloom braving these violent elements. These, along with pansies, were planted back in the autumn and as they were in so early and the temperatures were really mild, they established really well and have been flowering really well all winter long.  The only trouble is; the constant squally rain just keeps beating them all down...............sigh!

Chicken Chit Chat

Wild Winifred!

Eggsell !

Since Head Gardener and Chief Blogger has been trying her hand at using Excel spreadsheets for the first time, she's come up with a few statistics - eggsact of course!

Firstly (and I didn't need Excel for this statistic!) since the first 4 girls arrived in June 2010, we haven't bought a single egg.  Not only that but, despite losses (including a fox strike) and gains in the hen department, they have produced a total of 3799 eggs in 3 years!  Last year's monthly average was 65 eggs.  Now I  reckon that's pretty good going for 4 hens!

Bravest of the brave!

Look what I found hiding in the Woodland Border!!!  Can this mean that winter is nearing its end?  What a joy to find loads of clumps of these little beauties pushing up in the darkest and wettest of winters!  I so wish I didn't have such difficulties photographing snowdrops!  The bright white of their petals means that they're always over exposed even in dull and shady conditions.

Sunny Sunday Slog!

The oak rescued from Leylandii sprawl

Burning off that breakfast!

After a hearty Aga* breakfast, it was back to work in............yes, sunshine!!  This time clearing away all the brash from the dead elms and piling the conifer brash on the other side of the fence.  Doesn't sound much of a job BUT, we were working on a slippery 45 degree slope with lengths of cunningly concealed rusty barbed wire underfoot!  Despite these difficulties, we weren't about to complain given the earlier atrocious weather conditions of Thursday and Friday!

Dead Elm brash before clearance

After the tidy up with Elms stacked for later logging

As usual, it appears always that the photographer makes no contribution but she was doing her level best to help her trusty friend!  The dead elms will provide a few logs for the woodburner but most was brash. The Hazels can now see daylight again and a completely one sided oak now has a little more elbow room. Now the lovely thing is that, having cleared the bank, Chris found a few bluebells coming up and they had never before been visible.  We all know that bluebells love light early in the year with dappled shade for the summer.  Now! Is a carpet of bluebells and primroses too much to hope for?  If so, at least we'll have some catkins next year!

* We had been to another of Marcia Poole's Aga demos earlier in the week and, as usual, came home totally inspired!

The Battle Continues!

A tidy row of reduced Leylandii

Chris & Kyle have been slaving with their arboricultural reduction and do they ever have mountains of brash down on the ground!!  It doesn't look much from a distance but close up, it's tons and tons!!  Kyle also took a couple of shots from an unusual angle which shows their neat handy work and the fact that we really do live in an orchard!  Meanwhile, the Under Gardener (and Hunter Gatherer!) is fed up with all this wet weather as he no longer has the kitchen to himself on gardening days. Head Gardener has been making soups and lunches for the arboriculturalists and disrupting his routine because it's just too wet for her to work in the garden!!

Pear Tree Cottage in an apple orchard!