Every couple of weeks during the summer and early autumn, we make a big pot of soup with fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden. Whatever is in plentiful supply at the time. That way none of our surplus veg go to waste. We usually squirrel some portions away in little freezer tubs, ready for…
Savoury
Herbed Omelette with Griddled Courgette, Halloumi, and Nasturtiums
One of the lovely things about growing our own food is being able to pop outside and literally pick our own meals. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners are built around whatever is flourishing or newly appearing in the veg beds, orchard and herb patch at any given point in time. Yesterday morning, before the rain came,…
Kale, Radish, Avocado and Crumbled Feta Spaghetti
Kale has always been a staple in our veg plot. This year we’re growing two types: a lilac stemmed variety with frilly leaves called Red Winter and the classic dark silver-green Nero di Toscana. We sowed seeds directly into the soil in April and should be able to harvest the cut-and-come again greens from late…
A Spring Salad
Chive flowers are top contenders for our favourite edible bloom. They taste great – a gentle, onion-like flavour, but without the sharpness or pungency of an actual onion. And they look pretty. The rounded heads of blossom break into tiny handfuls of translucent, papery flowers, each one striped dark lilac, with a little grassy tail…
The Asparagus Bed
One of the first things we did in the vegetable garden was plant an asparagus bed. It takes three to four years to harvest a crop from asparagus, as the plants need time to strengthen and develop, so we wanted to get started as soon as possible. We ordered fifteen crowns, made up of four…
Wild Garlic, Nettle, Dandelion and Goose Egg Tart
Spring is fully under way here in the hills of rural Somerset. Everything is fresh, green and hopeful. The first of the orchard blossom is decorating the plum and cherry trees, swathes of wild garlic line the stream, and masses of feathery young nettles have appeared along the hedgerows.