Miscellany

A few final images from 2009. The medlar tree yielded nine kilos which we bletted - basically left to rot - and then made into a 'meh' medlar cheese. A good harvest of beets, especially Cylindra, but Egyptian Turnip Rooted were the finest tasting so I'll grow more of these next year. It was a first for Yacon and Oca, the latter seems the most versatile for cooking as it is very like a lemon flavoured waxy potato. Yacon is sweet and quite tasty raw, I just don't know what else to do with it. I'm overwintering the crowns in the potting shed so will hopefully have shoots for anyone wishing to try growing them. Thanks again to Belgian Frank and German Klaus Peter for sending me cuttings.

In A Bleak MidWinter

I'm off to the fens for a week to chill out.

Wing-ed Things

Herds (Mutations?) of song thrushes have been passing through the garden, feasting on the fruit of our Cotoneaster frigidus. As many as 20 to 30 at a time. I was out in the snow briefly today foraging for some kale and parsley and unearthing a few tubers. Unbeknownst to me, the robin, never far away when I'm digging, followed me back into the potting shed. How different it looks indoors, and how different the room looks with something wild trapped in it.


Song Thrush, Starling, Wood Pigeon and Magpie from the Featherbook (Il Bestiario Barocco) of Dionisio Minaggio, Chief Gardener of the State of Milan, 1618