Squashes and Apple Pancakes

Another very full weekend.

Yesterday was Malvern Autumn Show and we made our twice yearly trip. It was a great day and we managed not to spend too much, although we did buy a wormery (I've wanted one for ages) and 5 different types of garlic to try - This year I plan to grow it at home and the allotment and see which soil type it does best in.

Today I've spent quite a while down the allotment, I've started to harvest the squashes as the leaves have started to die on some of the plants and they've hardened up nicely. I also started to knock in the fence posts for our next allotment although I had to keep tapping the end of the sledge hammer as the head was threatening to fly off!

The chicks are growing up fast and becoming less cute by the day. Its funny how annoyed Claire now get when people question us for having chickens to eat, saying its cruel or they don't know how we do it, when we both see it as natural and how we'd prefer to get our meat. It's really nice that we both have the same values where food is concerned.

Malvern Autumn Show

Mum invited both Claire and I to Malvern Autumn Show at the weekend. This turned out to be a great day out with gorgeous sunshine, the show was packed and everywhere there were all the countryside stalls and attractions you could want, from fishing to flower pots to ferrets.
My favourite was the vegetable exhibition hall, particularly the large vegetable collections; there were leeks as tall as men and onions like footballs, not to mention pumpkins that had to be brought in on forklift trucks! I’m going to have to try harder with mine next year (although I’ve a sneaking suspicion that some of them weren’t grown quite as naturally as others)!

As well as this there were some great show gardens in the “Plot to Pot” section, I particular like the “dig for victory” garden set out like the old wartime poster. Local school children had helped build it and a lad of about 8 could name all the herbs used, showing what a good education it is for school children teaching them where their food comes from.

The food hall was also really good this year, with the collections of apples and perry pears nestled at the back. I’ve always loved perry pear trees as my parents farm has loads scattered about the place, one of them being about 60ft tall and dominating the farmyard. The perry pear collection was quite impressive but still didn't have the type of pear thats on the farm!