It’s beginning to look at lot …
‘The key to a stress free Christmas is to plan ahead’, writes Sara Ward in November’s guest blog on the Good Life at Hen Corner.
To be fair, Christmas things are beginning to get booked up. So here goes, this is the full-on Christmas edition: how to make special food for Christmas, Christmas wreaths, the whole nine yards.
There’s so much to celebrate at Christmas: time with family and friends, faith-filled moments of joy, thankfulness for the year that’s ending, hope for the year ahead. And, for those of us who have been carefully nurturing plants throughout the year, it’s our time to shine with the festive feast!
There was some consternation in our house at the weekend when we were given quinces from a friend’s allotment. What to do with them? How to cook them? How even to cut them without slicing your fingers off (they’re really hard!).
It turns out they’re very nice poached in apple juice with a baked ham. For Sara Ward at Hen Corner, quinces are the final harvest of the year. She reckons they need cooking with sugar. They do have a considerably sharper in flavour than their orchard cousins apples and pears.
Read my guest post on The Chiswick Calendar website.
Clinging, climbing, creeping… ivy certainly knows how to make itself at home! It scrambles up walls, wraps itself around tree trunks and, left to its own devices, it can get a bit too much. I know the temptation this time of year – grab the secateurs and pull the lot down. But please, don’t cut it yet – wait a little longer!
I do like a bit of gardening in the autumn, be that at home or the allotment, it’s a good chance to hunt out any last harvests, there’s still some squash to gather in, clear away spent plants and get the garlic and broad beans in the ground to germinate safely before the first frosts.
We are feeling festive in this month’s column, The Good Life in the City, in Country Living Magazine. With Christmas crafting and a wonderful celebration recipe, join in and be jolly!
It’s certainly getting a bit more chilly and, as one season makes way for another, we have a couple of Shows to Tell you about (not on TV this time)……
We have been delighted this Christmas to partner with our friends at Omlet to bring you some scrumptious recipes using eggs from our hens and honey from our bees.
Hen Corner – Christmas Treats: Choc Chilli Triangles
Hen Corner – Christmas Treats: Amaretti Biscuits
We’re making a list and checking it twice As Christmas approaches, we are planning presents for family and friends and always find it lovely to receive a well-chosen gift from…
Somehow, we’ve managed to enter three big competitions in three months, which takes time and energy, but have fortunately found it to be more than worth it.
