Allotment Geekery

There was an Open Day at the allotment this weekend, it was supposed to be on Saturday but with Red Warnings for floods and already sodden ground it was postponed until Sunday.  There were a number of activities including a quiz, and as it turns out I got 100% in the quiz and won a bottle of wine!  Laura and I then worked on getting sloshed so the rest of the photos aren't the best quality, sorry about that.

The big job of the day was thinning out the leeks, if the packet says sew thinly you don't just chuck the whole pack in and hope for the best cos the little buggers grow.  Each leek has to be dropped into a hole and then watered, you don't fill with soil because they need room to fill the space.  I anticipate hating leeks by the end of the year having so many, but I've never grown them before so at this stage I'm still excited.  

The tomatoes are still growing but none of them are turning red, am I just being impatient?  Luckily though the courgettes are finally coming along quite nicely, the yellow variety are a winner and so sweet, definitely growing them again.

And finally there were several little bunches of flowers being sold, with everything from rosemary to sweetpeas in each bunch, they smell amazing and give me a good excuse to get my ice cream cone vase out.

Happy Skippy Purchases

I wanted to share with you some of the things I brought back from France.  The toadstool above is a salt mill found in a beautiful little gift shop in Ruffec and is my new most favourite thing ever.

1. A 1950's vase found at Emmaus, Ruffec where my aunt now works.  It is a charity depot that opens at 2.30pm on the first Saturday of the month, to say it is a elbow jabbing fight to the good stuff is an understatement but happily I've had many a car boot and jumble sale experience and could shove as good as the next person.
2. Another Emmaus purchase, I was in a queue to pay and spotted this little beauty at the last minute, it's been a slow burn of appeal on this one but it is fast becoming my new favourite serving dish.
3. Emmaus again!  This is a slightly chipped but beautiful little glass perfect for a snifter of Pineau des Charentes the local tipple.  Somewhere between a sweet wine and a Cognac I do love a glass of Pineau and now have the perfect glass to serve and enjoy it!
4. Tulip egg cups, these were a present from my aunt, any guesses where it is from?
5. Lovely, lovely enamelware pan, yep you guessed it Emmaus again the pans that I've had for years have started to break so I've decided to collect enamelware pans, we have a lovely butter coloured pan already, I'm not fussy about them matching, life is too short to be all matchy matchy.  Happily all of my Emmaus purchases came to an astonishing 3.20 Euros that's about £2.60!!
6. Toadstool cookie jar, this was surprisingly NOT an Emmaus purchase but from the little gift shop in Ruffec if I could take you all there I would because I know that each and every one of you would find something there that you would love.

Sad that we have had to come back to cold and rainy England especially with the various bits of sad news that have rocked our little world recently.  But you must not dwell on the things you cannot control but focus on the good things still to come so we're already planning our trip next year this time we're taking a couple of Brummies with us...