T-E-A!

"Before I was aware of it, Tookoolito had the 'tea-kettle' over the friendly fire-lamp, and the water boiling. She asked me if I drank tea. Imagine my surprise at this, the question coming from an Esquimaux in an Esquimaux tent! I replied, 'I do; but you have not tea here, have you?' Drawing her hand from a little tin box, she displayed it full of fine-flavoured black tea, saying, 'Do you like your tea strong?' Thinking to spare her the use of much of this precious article away up here, far from the land of civilization, I replied,'I'll take it weak, if you please.' A cup of hot tea was soon before me - capital tea, and capitally made. Taking from my pocket a sea-biscuit which I had brought from the vessel for my dinner, I shared it with my hostess. Seeing she had but one cup, I induced her to share with me it's contents. There, amid the snows of the north, under an Esquimaux's hospitable tent, in company with an Esquimaux, for the first time I shared with them in that soothing, cheering, invigorating emblem of civilization - T-E-A-!"
Being a narrative of an expedition in search of John Franklin, 1860-1862
by Charles Francis Hall

Cock-a-Doodle-do

This morning at about 8 o'clock Henry made his first attempt to crow.
Illustration by Randolph Caldecott

Merry Christmas

Image from Agence Eureka.
Go see some very funny animated dancers at Elliot Cowan's Sandwichbag. Well, it makes me laugh.

Bring Out Your Dead

On mild days in winter, such as we've just had, the bees have a bit of a clear out. And one mustn't be too alarmed to see a pile of a few hundred dead bodies lying outside the front door of the hive. After all, in mid-summer they die (and are born) at a rate of 1000 a day. They just don't all expire at once. In a heap. In full view.

Mrs.Snooke's Tortoise

December 17th, 1774 - 'Mrs. Snooke's tortoise, after it had been buried more than a month, came forth & wandered round the garden in a disconsolate state, not knowing where to fix on a spot for it's retreat.'
Listen out for 'The Portrait of a Tortoise', a Hooting Yard holiday season special on ResonanceFM to be broadcast 12:20 on Boxing Day. I know that I will be tucked up in front of the radio with a turkey sandwich and a cup of tea for the occasion.

Good Bees

"In the first edition of my book, I reproduced numerous photographs of all the annual beekeeping activities, including driving bees from a skep, a job that ends in hitting it with sticks. Now it can be seen from these photos that there are bees in the hive in question; that the operators are wearing neither gloves nor a veil; that they have as their sole weapon a modest Bingham smoker; and finally, at the foot of each open hive, there is my dog sitting peacefully, my dear friend Polo, a cocker spaniel with long ears and long hair, ie. it has everything needed for just one bee to create mayhem if it was dissatisfied... Thus, bees are not bad by nature." Abbé Warré

Top Bar Hives

The bees are out and about today enjoying the 12° temperature. Michael @ Articles & Texticles just sent me this link to a TED talk on the plight of the bees. In summary, Mr.vanEngelsdorp would like to encourage anyone with a lawn to turn it into a meadow and then take up beekeeping. Sounds reasonable to me. But I've been reading some more interesting ideas on sustainable beekeeping here and here. Smaller hives, more swarms, and less interference, allowing the possibility for the bees to be able to evolve in a way that they can coexist with varroa - which they have done elsewhere. In India, the grubs emerge from their sealed cell 2 days earlier than ours do, which means that any varroa in the cell with them don't have time enough to reproduce. I will build some small top bar hives this winter following the design developed by Abbé Emile Warré and perhaps have three or four smaller colonies going by the end of next summer. An English translation of his book 'Beekeeping for All' can be downloaded free here (with plans!).

Portrait of a Hen

Tiny Enid by Emma Watts

Saint of the Day

"Rain and inclement winds, the mists of the morning, the ambushes laid by a hastening twilight, carry off hundreds of workers who never return; and soon, over the whole little people, that are as eager for sunshine as the grasshoppers of Attica, there hangs the cold menace of winter. They gather in the centre of the hive, contract themselves, and cling to the combs that contain the faithful urns, whence shall issue, during days of frost, the transmuted substance of summer. By the concerted beating of their wings - the little sisters that have survived the flames of the summer sun - which go quickly or slowly as the temperature without may vary, they maintain in their sphere an unchanging warmth, equal to that of a day in spring." (a 35° day, that is!)
The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck


Ambrosius - patron saint of beekeepers

Stringfellow

Rather disconcertingly, the rooster is starting to bear more than a passing resemblance to Peter Stringfellow. And he started out looking so handsome, but that's probably what Mrs. Stringfellow said about her little boy.

The Tomato Collection 2008

Here are this past summer's varieties - from the most flavoursome to the least.
As always, click on photo to enlarge.

Inspired

Saul Steinberg retrospective at the Dulwich Gallery until February 15th.

First Sighting

On the left is Broad Bean 'Martoc' head above ground, sown October 14th. A new type for me but it's been around for a while, Heritage Harvest Seed lists it as a medieval variety which cooks up from dry into a brown porridge.
And on the right, Chili Peppers 'de Rata' are still hanging on in the greenhouse.

Today's Outlook

The trees are bare now. But the temperature reached 14° today and the bees are still foraging in the ivy. Saw a goldcrest on the espaliered apple and the hedge sparrow is back for the winter. A gaudy sunset - at 4 0'clock! Dressed the artichokes with straw to protect against the icy weather that the Met has forecast this weekend.

A Tangle of Parsnips

Note to myself - Do not attempt to transplant parsnip seedlings. Just wait patiently until March and sow in situ.

Purple Dragons

More Purple Dragon carrots, this time sweeter than ever, perhaps owing to the light frost we had about three weeks ago. Certainly the best tasting carrots I've grown. Anyway it's high time to dig up the rest of the carrots and beets and get them into storage.

EU Rules, OK?

I couldn't find letter-shaped vegetables enough to spell 'contemptible bureaucrats' so I opted for a more positive response to this bit of news. Cucumbers which bend on a curve more than 10mm. over 10 cm. can now be sold. As can forked carrots. However, strict rules still apply on fruit & vegetables which represent 75% of sales in Europe, including tomatoes.

Oatmeal

"On Sundays as children, if we had been good during the week we had our initials in treacle put on our porridge, and then cream." The Scotsman January 1939
The old custom is to stand whilst supping porridge, walking about the room with the bowl in one hand and the spoon in the other, as if you were ready to start off for the wars, or shooting, or fishing, the next moment. As for cooking it, the oats should be let to fall in a steady rain from the left hand while stirring briskly with the right, sunwise, or the right hand turn for luck. And the salt shouldn't be added until 10 minutes into the cooking as it will have a tendancy to harden the meal and prevent it from swelling.
This and much else have I gleaned from the wee book of Scottish recipes (1929) which I found in the wee cottage we stayed in last week on a beach near the Wee Town (Campbeltown). So many ways to cook your oats! And I will grow them again but I'm not going to sow until spring this time round.


Woman Eating Porridge by Gerrit Dou (in the Netherlands it must be acceptable to sit)

Smokers in Whitehall

This week (Wednesday the 5th) British beekeepers are donning their suits, lighting their smokers and marching to the Houses of Parliament to deliver a petition and lobby for more funding for research on bee disease/health. It's been the poorest honey crop on record apparently. Probably since about 1517. Back when England was Catholic, beekeeping was big business due to the demand for beeswax candles and there was plenty of honey to be had, enough to eat and drink. With Reformation, honey took a nosedive on the commodities trading market and soon beer superseded mead as this country's drink of choice.


Just finished racking 3 gallons of mead, another 3 months and it will be ready to bottle. The initial taste test was very encouraging.
In 1600, Harrison wrote in his History of England, "There is a kind of swish swash made also in Essex, and divers other places, with honeycomb and water, which homely country wives putting some pepper among, and a little other spice, call 'mead'. Very good in mine opinion for such as love to be loose-bodied at large, or a little eased of the cough; otherwise it differeth as much from the true metheglin as chalk from cheese."
Here's to being loose-bodied at large!

On The Sick List

Once again the pear harvest looks like a freak show - actually textbook examples of the Stony Pit Virus, the control of which is the removal and replacement of the tree. This year the tree has also been a victim of Unsightly Pear Trellis Rust. The fungus which causes it needs a juniper as a second host, which I have kindly provided, but even if I remove our juniper any neighboring one within a kilometre would do just as well. Does anybody know of any miracle cures?


Madonna of the Pear Albrecht Dürer