My love of root beer comes from 1980’s McDonalds trips, you might think it tastes of the dentist, but I love it. Unfortunately for me, it’s a love not many of my countrymen share and so it’s not a popular drink. Getting it from the US became harder because there is an additive in US soft drinks that is banned in the EU (yes I know the UK isn’t in the EU anymore but as with all of the promised ‘sunlit uplands’ promised by Brexiteers, root beer has not materialised on our shores.
Which is why I’m so happy that we have Soda Folk. I came across Soda Folk Root Beer in Bryon. Basically if I go anywhere that has root beer on the menu, I order it, then I discovered that they deliver! I’ve been in the office a bit more and have been finding myself resorting to a 3pm diet coke and snack. It’s not the world’s best habit and so I decided to buy some Soda Folk cans and bring a snack in from home. It’s the same thing, slightly cheaper and with slightly better ingredients but with an added bonus of root beer! I bought root beer and a couple of other sodas to try. (I like the Cream and Cherry sodas, really not keen on the Grape).
24 cans is £23.99 plus delivery so it’s not cheap but ordering it every other month and making it a treat is probably the way to go!
So it’s not Friday but I thought that Thursday might be a good day to post about a cocktail so if you’re not doing Dry January, you could gather the ingredients for this for Friday!
Taken at my desk
January for me is about clearing out the kitchen, and that means using things up, I had some Aperol and I’m not in the mood for Spritz. So a quick google let me to this. I was not in the mood to be shaking things and egg white, so this is the lazy person’s version. You can be as elaborate as you like
Gin (I used Roku), Aperol, lime juice, honey simple syrup, orange bitters. I used equal amounts and a dash of bitters but play with the amounts until you hit a combo you like, I stuck it in a glass with ice and took a photo halfway through drinking it when I realised how nice it was!
In January and February, work has and will slow down, Ma is only coming over every other week, we’re only collecting produce every other week and I won’t be near the plot for at least half of February. All of this is a long winded way of explaining why there isn’t much to write about the plot this week.
However, although doing things on the plot is slowing down, my brain isn’t. So I thought I’d write about our plans for this year and to do that I’m going to talk a bit about how last year went.
Overall it was a pretty decent year, it was extremely hot. Keeping up with the watering was difficult and I did most of it and I basically did it every other day. The plant death due to heat, included some of the camomile lawn planted in the ‘wild area’, the sweet peas, the wild garlic I bought in the spring and the viola bought at the same time, just didn’t survive.
Some things were watered but didn’t do well at all, the Jacob’s Cattle beans managed to produce about six beans, the french beans were the same, we got loads but only for a few weeks. The winter squash suffered a bit too, we got more squash than the 2021 season but they were tiny in comparison. In 2021, I took 9 squash home in a wheelbarrow, but this year I took 20 home in two buckets! The summer squash had a weird year, we grew a crookneck and a straightneck squash, and two patty pans which did well, but the courgettes were a problem. I used one of the many packets of free seed and they were a cross with a winter squash I think, we had 4 plants and got three different shapes and colours and they ran all over the allotment, like a winter squash . They were edible and we used them but sometimes that’s how it goes, in terms of supply some weeks we were over run and some weeks we didn’t get any.
The soft fruit had an amazing year, we got decent amounts of gooseberries given that the poor plants were almost smothered with cornflowers, the blueberries really produced and we had a great crop of blackcurrants (about 4 kgs), even the strawberries and the new blackberries did alright, prompting our expansion plans this autumn! Speaking of expansion I bought myself a cherry tree and a small lemon and, a lime tree, I don’t know how they will survive the winter yet so the jury is out on that!
The garlic and onions also did well, it was dry when we picked them and having the polytunnel to dry them really helped. Last year we grew a ‘long season’ collection but we do have leek rust on the site and it really showed with the early garlic doing really well while the later garlic no so much. The onions were great too.
The potatoes started well but also suffered in the heat, but we grew so many we had good crops!
We grew more beans for drying up the arches in the winter squash beds last year and that was partially successful. The ‘lazy housewife’ did better than the gigantes, but we didn’t get the masses of beans promised, I think the heat really affected pollination too, because on the gigantes, the flowers just fell off before we got to bean stage.
The tomatoes suffered because of my watering regime, I had more tomatoes with blossom end rot this year, but more tomatoes over all. In terms of what we’ll grow again, the Amish Paste, Tigerella, Gardeners Sweetheart and Tumbling Toms are all on this years list, but I’ll talk more about that when I talk about what we’re growing next year.
The polytunnel was a huge learning experience this year. We got some early crops (including some surprise potatoes!) and I do think having the tomatoes in the poly helped when they were seedlings, it wasn’t without some hiccups, May was very warm and some of them got a bit fried when we were in Newcastle! Overall though, the tomatoes went out stronger than usual. The sweet potatoes did not do all that great in the polytunnel and it was a lot of space for not much result. But we did grow a melon, which I was very excited about!
The brassicas and leeks, haven’t faired so well this year and that’s largely down to me. I didn’t manage to grow anything from seed last year. We bought plugs and then they languished in the polytunnel, because most of the time I spent on the plot in the heat was spent keeping up with the watering and collection, so they went in late and while we’ve had crops they’ve not had a fantastic year and the leeks are still very small and thin. On the plus side we grew sprouts! So I have some learning points for next year and while I’m not over the moon about how we did, I’m still pretty pleased with it.
That’s the food side of the plot, the flowers did really well too. There were all the usual suspects, verbena, california poppies, calendula, borage, cornflowers, knautia and the bulb flowers (daffodils, narcissi, grape hyacinth, hyacinths, blubells, crocuses, irises and the alliums. The roses didn’t do so well but the peony and the bleeding hearts came back which I wasn’t convinced about. The flag irises finally blossomed too.
I had some petunias and zinnias this year too and some nasturtiums but they suffered in the heat. The lavenders did well as did the thymes and it was nice to have things for the bees through the year.
It wouldn’t be a review of the year without mentioning that I won a silver medal for the state of the plot (and I wasn’t even trying this year!)
I learnt a lot this year and it’s going to affect how we do things this year, but this post is long enough right now so I’ll waffle on about that another time!
I’m back in the office for some of this week and I’m deeply unhappy about leaving the house in the dark, it’s not one of my favourite things to do!
I’m really back in the thick of January again and the only way out is through, but I will admit it’s a struggle to find the energy and enthusiasm it requires. However, I did struggle through last week and I’m sure I’ll survive this week. Although I have to say that Chelsea’s woeful performance this weekend as well as the news that Gianluca Vialli died last week haven’t improved my mood.
Last week’s highlights were a walk with Sue, taking the Christmas tree down and catching up with Yellowstone, now I can watch the prequels! I also managed to properly food prep on Sunday which should make this week easier!
This week is going to be about being in the office, getting back in control of work and thinking about and starting to pack things up. There are nicer things to do too, some time on the plot with Ma and lunch at friends on Sunday!
The first week back to work has hit with a bump, the country is in chaos and the Prime Minister is going to solve it by making children do more maths! I’m not sure that Keir Starmer is going to do much better, but it’s got to be worth a try? Towards the end of the week, the new became dominated by Prince Harry and all I have to say about it is that a period of silence from him would be most welcome..
Here are this week’s links…
What would you do to support the NHS? My mother gave up her festive tipple. I’m finding this, I had a bout of cystitis the week before Christmas and rather than call the GP and try and see someone and go in with a sample and get a prescription for antibiotics. I paid £21.99 and used Superdrug Online Doctor to get antibiotics. Yeah ok it was easier for me but part of me thought that I shouldn’t clog up the doctors with something I could sort.
Someone I know at work has been on an allotment waiting list for ages and she just got a letter telling her that she’s in the top ten of the list and did she still want a plot. She does and she asked me if I had any advice on having an allotment. I told her that she should start saving! Aside from that, the best piece of advice on having (and keeping) an allotment plot is show up. Especially during the winter because even if you go for an hour a week, being there means that you can see what you need to do.
All that to say that Ma and I spent Boxing Day and New Year’s Day on the plot. We didn’t get everything on the list done but we did quite a bit.
On Boxing Day, I knew that I needed to turn the compost, because the critters had turfed a lot of the material in it, out of it. I don’t know what’s causing it but I do know that the more I turn it, the less it happens!
We had already done a fair amount of woodchipping on the paths in December but there was some woodchip left over so I decided to take advantage of it. I turned the compost, layering it with woodchip, I then finished covering the paths by the compost bin and at the back and I filled the black bin with woodchip. We can keep it there and use it to supplement the compost or top up paths.
I was completely on a roll then, so I started to hack back the ivy on the back path by the boysenberry bed, which really needs some attention, I’m wondering if I should cut the whole bush back, really work on clearing the grass and weeds and mulching that area over the next year so that in 2024 it’ll be tidier and we’ll have more control over it. I’ll think about it over the next couple of weeks.
While I was doing that Ma was cutting back the winter savoury and (much harder work) the raspberries.
On New Year’s Day, we carried all the equipment Laura had brought round. She’s decided that what with the more than full time job, the children, house, husband and dog, an allotment that she needs to drive to isn’t something she can cope with (which is sad but understandable, plots are a huge responsibility), we got some more blue pipe, netting, weed fabric and netting. All of which will be really handy, but now we really need to tidy the shed!
Ma was determined to get all the raspberries done, so while she did that, I started the year with seed sowing. In trays for the polytunnel, I sowed leeks (Elefant), sweet peas (singin’ the blues) and broad beans (super aquadulce). The first year I grew leeks, I sowed them in January and everytime I’ve done it later, they haven’t been as successful, the sweet peas are the ones I should have sown in October but didn’t get around to and the broad beans are to replace any that died in the big freeze before Christmas. They can sit in the poly and should be fine. While it’s a nice thing to sow something on the first day of the year, I won’t be sowing anything else until after the building work in the house is done, so later in February. At which point, I’ll set up my shelves and sow peppers and aubergines for the polytunnel.
That done, I got to tidying up the polytunnel, the really cold weather before Christmas may have done for my citrus plants, but I’ll keep an eye on them, but even in the polytunnel, the salad leaves got some frost damage.
It’s the first time I’ve had things growing in the polytunnel over winter and the first time we’ve had a really cold snap in winter, since I’ve had the plot, so it’s been a learning curve. Next time, I’ll use some fleece and bring the citrus indoors, you only know it, when you know it! Anyway, I spent some time removing damaged leaves and generally making that bed tidy again although I might need some slug nematodes or maybe some beer traps in the poly as there were lots of the little buggers in my lettuce!
I’ve really enjoyed the lettuce and endive in the polytunnel beds and they’ve done better than the chard. The parsley, rocket and pak choi are little but appear to be bomb proof as they came through the frosts with hardly any damage!
That done, I finished produce collection, mint and thyme for Ma to make tea with, kale and finally I cleared the back bed of the savoy cabbages. I then topped that bed up with the last of the ericaceous compost in preparation for moving some of the raspberries in it.
Ma and I have been considering this move for a while, one of the raspberry beds is right next to the path that runs from the front to the back of the plot and we keep getting caught on it. So moving it seems a good plan. Our current thinking is to add another blackcurrant bush there but we’re considering moving the actual bed as well to give us some room for the blueberry bushes. I’m still thinking through the implications..
Ma was not leaving the plot until she had deal with the raspberries, so as she continued to cut down and cut up the canes, I decided to weed the turnip beds and make a start on clearing the cornflower seedlings around the gooseberry bushes. Also known as dealing with the consequences of my own actions!
Turnips and weeds and cornflower seedlings in all the paths
It’s my fault, I sowed some cornflowers as part of a white mix of flowers about three year ago, and they were pretty and I let them go to seed, so we had mallows that went from white to pink and cornflowers come up, but last year the cornflowers exploded and the mallows more or less disappeared and although we pulled the ones up right near the gooseberries, they’ve seeded there again. So I made a start on that while also dealing with some of the borage that was reduced to slime by the frosts.
Which got me thinking and planning stuff for the wild area, which I’ll talk about at a later date, but for the next couple of weeks, I really need to work on keeping the beds weed free and on the areas of the plot the grass is trying to colonise, especially the bulb bed, the wild area, and the rose and iris gardens.
I’m rubbish at New Year’s Resolutions and goal setting generally. I’ve done it, this space is littered with my attempts. I work better under external pressure, than I am at internal pressure but the weird thing is that over the last few years, without setting big goals, I’ve stuck to my general aims better.
This is because I changed my attitude to my goals and aims. Working towards them became a gift to my future self, so doing them was a good thing, while not doing them wasn’t proof that I was lazy and weak willed, I assigned no morality to failure.
This year is the year I turn 50 so there are some things I want to work towards this year and rather than set massive goals, I’m going to list some small things every month that I’d like to do. It has to be monthly because I may not be able to do continue to do all the things in February as at least the first two weeks of that month are going to be full on as I move to my mum’s and the flat gets a make over! So small things, that will help me feel saner, calmer and more in control of my life!
So in January, I want to try and do these things each day:
Stretching and Yoga
In 2015, I had a scarf and akin osteotomy on my left foot. At the appointment to sign me off and send me back to work, I asked the surgeon if there was anything I could do to prevent the bunion coming back and help the one on the right foot for getting worse. He told me that I should learn to walk on my hands because my feet weren’t that good for walking on! All that to say that the mechanics of my feet, legs, hips and back aren’t great. I’ve noticed recently that my hips and back are tight and sore, admittedly some of this is age and weight but I know that yoga and regular stretching help me and reduce pain, so rather than do them when everything really hurts, I’d like to make it a daily thing, to see if it helps.
Walk more
I work from home 2-3 days a month and that means I can go a whole day without leaving the house, while there have been days when I haven’t left the house and have done 6k steps (according the the fitbit) it’s rare. So I want to set an intention of getting 70k steps a week. The fitbit records it and if the weather is filthy, then I can do a walking workout.
Sleep and Golden Hour
December has done a number on my bedtime routine, I need to get back to it because over Christmas, I got more sleep and it’s been lovely. So more ensuring that I get to bed relaxed and in good time for a decent amount of sleep.
Low Spend Janauary
I don’t need to do this, but it’s good practice after the excess of Christmas and the shock of £300 on varifocal glasses (my glasses are always expensive and varifocal’s make it more expensive – getting old sucks). I also need to run the freezer down this month before the kitchen renovation starts, so the only shopping I want to do is for food and I want to spend no more than £48 which happens to be the exact amount of cash I have in my purse right now. The only other spending will be for bird food for the plot but that comes out of the allotment budget.
Meal Planning and Food Prep
If I can’t throw money at it, I need to take the time to cook and work out how to use the food I have in the house. At the very least, I need to make sure that I have food ready to go for the days I’m in the office.
None of these things are revolutionary, it’s all basic stuff that I’ve done for the majority of last several years, this is just me setting the intention to make it habit again. Small stuff…
It’s the first Monday of the year, I think I probably say this every year, but the last 12 months flew by, and I’m surprised to find myself at the start of another year.
December felt brutal but this last week to do Christmas and New Year has been a rest. It’s been a lovely time where I’ve managed some time to rest and to be social.
Christmas Day was just Mum and me and we did manage to grow most of the veg for Christmas dinner! We caught up with Ben and Lu and the boys on Thursday and it was a really lovely relaxed afternoon.
Although January is underway, I don’t go back to work until tomorrow, so I’m taking today to get myself ready for it, with housework and prep. January isn’t a terribly busy month, but once the tree comes down, I need to start packing up the flat in preparation for leaving it at the end of January. Yes, finally the builders are coming to replace the kitchen and do a bunch of other things that my landlord feels is necessary (fusebox replacement, new lights in the hall, replastering of one of bedroom walls, acoustic underlay in the kitchen). It’s great that it’s being done but it does mean that I have to pack up the kitchen, cupboard of doom and bedroom and fit it all into the living room and move out for a couple of weeks. On the plus side, I’ll be in the office every day for a couple of weeks and it’s a great opportunity for me to paint the bedroom and sort out a wardrobe (finally – only taken 13 years!). It’s just a hassle, working out what I need to take to Ma’s and imposing on her for a couple of weeks, we’ve done it before but we were both working then but this time the commute is easier!
Nic Dempsey 