Christmas mincemeat and shampoo presents.

Trimming candied peel into tiny pieces is quite time consuming but making mincemeat is now a Christmas tradition for me. I'd heartily recommend it if you have a spare hour or two.The smell of spices when you cook it is fabulous.

I've also made some more soap, just in time to be ready for Christmas (it needs 4 - 6 weeks before it can be used).I've discovered silicone moulds and just love them. I've made citrus and bergamot soap and lavender and nettle (both harvested from the garden this year) solid shampoo.

Siberian winds in November.

After the coldest night since records began for November the birds were whizzing around the bird feeders. Already we have had to refill them after yesterday's feast. Although Luke poured boiling water into the bird bath there was still ice forming within half an hour and two hours later the entire bowl had frozen solid. Likewise, as you can see, the chicken's water had to be changed twice in the day as it was froze solid.

Robins and snow seem made for each other; I suppose it's the abundance of Christmas images on those soon to be written cards that leads me to say it but it gladdens the heart to see that ball with it's intense red splash. I read this morning of a robin building a nest in the pocket a gardener's jacket which he'd taken off for his morning work. By lunchtime the nest was well under way. Whilst they are territorial and have been known to fight to the death with other robins we still consider them the friendliest of our garden birds.
We had goldfinches, various tits, the return to our garden of the blackbird, a lone nuthatch and chaffinch with it's apricot underside and a teeny wren (hiding in the legs of our garden chair, you may have to squint to find him) eating in the garden today. It's nice to be able to offer them a ready supply of food and we can just sit and watch them from the conservatory which is an idyllic way to spend half an hour. (Do remember, you can click on the photographs to get a larger image.)
 


Minus seven and a half degrees today and a colder night to come but at least we have the wood burner kicking out the heat. Lovely!

Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Woah, that cold spell caught us out, didn't it? Totally unprepared for it, was I. Yesterday morning I was out in a tee shirt, putting the naughty chicken in her temporary run and by then end of the day I was lifting five cms of snow off her house before settling her down for the night. The chicks had the right answer to it all by putting themselves on the perch early and fluffing themselves up to trap warm air. One of the reasons we chose that breed (Wynadotte) was for their hardiness, surviving happily in minus 0 degree temperatures. I still was concerned for Sweetie in her little house though as it was bitterly cold. This morning she proved that despite her diminutive size she is a toughie, she's happily in her run having a dig around.
The first photograph below was taken about 2.00pm, the same scene is captured again only two hours later. The light fading fast, I snapped a few more photographs before huddling in for the evening.

 

The outside tap had frozen as had the water in the hose! I touched one of my old cream coloured roses and it was like the Snow Queen had passed over it. I could have snapped the petal just by pinching it. Just hours later, the roses had become snow balls on sticks. They were completely laden with snow, to the point where some of the branches were boughing over and touching the ground. I knocked off some snow to release three little roses but it wasn't long before they were snow-capped again.

Before it got too bad, I filled the feeders with peanuts so the blue and great tits would have some food and let the neighbour's cat in for a warm. Then, as the daylight crept away amidst a flurry of snowflakes I took some photos to show how beautiful it looked.
My borders were completely blanketed and the bird bath had gone from an ice rink to a dome of snow. The ancient oak behind us looked wonderful against the white of the sky. It really was a majestic sight.

Time to plant the raspberries.

This year Luke ordered some Autumn fruiting raspberry canes (Polka) and out of the twelve he planted only one survived. Having complained to the supplier they kindly offered us some more in November and they arrived on Luke's birthday. I needed to get them planted as soon as possible in order to give them the best chance of survival. I dug over the spare bit of ground that I'd used for the roses but it was very wet and dense so and after digging in some soil improver and sharp sand for improved drainage I planted the canes, fanning out their roots and giving them a good watering afterwards.

20th November

I've been busy with the camera again, just catching a few images of late November. From the top we have the rose I bought in memory of my Dad. Just a week later it is laden and heavy with snow. When the snow melts all I will have is soggy little brown petals left but you can see how spectacular they have been till now; this is their second flowering and they only got planted earlier this year.
Next is the purple of the artichokes and ornamental cabbage that Luke raised from seed then a photo of the nod towards winter with a hard frost, captured here on the chicken run.
More shades of aubergine with the Mahonia and olives (this little standard olive was bought for Luke from my Mum and stepdad, fifteen quid from Morrisons this year but look at it now, already bearing fruit.
Out in the back garden are my white roses, just coming into bud again. If you check a week later they are hidden by a centimetre of snow.