Now that the clocks have turned back and the nights are continuing to draw in, everything is beginning to slow down here on the smallholding. We’re no longer rushing to harvest and process vegetables from the raised beds, or fruits from the orchard. The honeybees are hunkered down for the cold months so, aside from…
herbs
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,…
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…
Rhubarb, Wild Watermint and Ginger Crumble
Wild watermint grows along our stream edge. It quietly rises from the banks and within the shallows in swathes during early April. We’re usually alerted to it’s seasonal arrival by accidentally treading on a patch of emerging leaves, releasing a heady aroma into the air. The flavour is reminiscent of peppermint, but perhaps with a…
Gorse Flower and Raw Honey Mojito
Last weekend we made gorse flower rum. High up in the hills and woodland, the gorse bushes were blanketed in bright, canary-yellow petals. The individual blooms have a fragile scent that echoes a combination of coconut, vanilla and pineapple. And the collective fragrance of a whole gorse bush, amplified by the warmth of sunshine, reminds…
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.