Is it Spring?

January is supposed to be the coldest month but it has been for the most part mild, the garden certainly seems to think it is spring,

our first daffodil is out, but no sign of the snowdrops in bloom, they should have been out before the daffodils,

 roses have continued to flower all winter

and we have rhubarb almost ready for picking.

There is quite a lot of colour in the garden however there is no sign of the Camellias blooming, they have buds, but at the same stage as they were last October,

  I hope we don't get a sudden cold snap and everything gets set back which is what happened last year.

We were determined that we would not plant seeds too early this year, however broad beans take a while to get going and will stand well in their modules if the weather takes a turn for the worse, we looked at our seed supply to find we only had a dozen broad bean seeds left so a visit to the garden centre was called for, this was a mistake, one packet of seeds would have been fine, but we ended up spending the best part of fifty euros, a visit to a garden centre is always a mistake, and I didn't even look at plants. I normally order our seeds on line but we didn't need that many replacement seeds this year. We have however got the seed potatoes, four different varieties, plus five packets of vegetable seeds and two free packets of Snowball cauliflower. The broad beans are now being pre-germinated, no point in wasting potting compost. Leaks, Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts will be started next month, not too far away now. It seems a long time since we were planting anything, I think we are suffering from itchy planting fingers. The garden is more or less ready for planting, empty beds were fed with compost and then covered, hopefully the worms will have done the rest. Just a light hoe and the ground should be ready to go.

The heritage carrots that we grew last year have been a big disappointment, they grew well but they lack flavour, they might look pretty on the plate but we like things with good flavour, we wont be growing them again. Garlic and onions are looking good, again we are hopeful of a good crop this year. The grass has continued to grow throughout the winter, and most of the local farmers have kept their cattle out, it really has been so unusually mild.
The incubator has been taken out of mothballs and set with quail eggs, they are due to hatch on Wednesday, the first hatch of the season.

Moving on.

Christmas is at last over, it seems to go on for ever here, maybe because it starts so early

. Last Sunday was the Xmas meal for all us old folk, there were quite a few faces missing this year, I guess that's what happens as you get older.

This is something arranged by the local church and all the old folk are invited, you don't have to be a member of  the church. It is always well organised.

Last of the cake.

We have now finished the last of the Christmas cake, it just lasted into New years day, I wont bother with icing again , although I enjoy doing it neither of us likes it so it's a bit of a waste to just feed it to dogs, not that they complain .
The seed catalogues have started to arrive, it's that time again to start planning and to order the seed potatoes. Unfortunately here we don't get a very good selection of potatoes, they are mostly very dull and floury varieties which the Irish like. You will often see potatoes in the shops described as balls of flour, to me a ball of flour is a dumpling.

The flooding here has been quite bad although we have not been affected even though we live very close to the river,

but some people still have feet of water in their homes.

We went to visit friends last week who live less than a half hours drive,

the drive took over and hour and a half, all the roads that would be our normal route were impassable, even the main N road was flooded.

It will take quite a while for these areas to return to normal.
Very little is getting done in the garden, it's just too wet. but the apple trees have now been pruned and when I can get out there I will do the currant bushes. Simon has also built a fruit cage to cover all the fruit bushes, we lost most of last years gooseberries to the birds last year, hopefully this will stop them. It's around thirty feet long by twelve feet wide. The basket willow has also been cut, now I will have to come up with a use for it.

There are plenty of wild birds around this time of year, we have a bird feeder at the back of the house, it sometimes feels as though we are feeding half of the wild birds in the area,

Blue tit.

A sweet little robin

A pair of Chaffinch.

Dunnock.

they eat a lot, they are so entertaining, both to us and to the cats who spend hours watching them trough the window, yet when they are out they take little notice of them which is good. I have even spotted a wren but unfortunately was unable to get a photo of it.

Our lemon tree is growing well, we have had five fruits from it this year

and there is still one on the tree, I have spotted two good sized green lemons hiding away

as well as several very small ones. there is also quite a lot of blossom, hopefully we will be eating our own lemons this coming year.

The winter rood veg are still doing well, we have left the carrots in the ground, likewise the parsnips swede and turnips, even the celery is still doing well, our biggest failure has been the leeks, very skinny, still we will aim to do better this year.

Getting back to normal

Freddy being cute as usual.

Whatever has happened to Christmas weather? It's supposed to be cold, apart from one light snow fall in the middle of December and a couple of frosts it has just been wet, and I mean wet. Nothing like the awful weather that people in the north of England have been experiencing though, so many have had their homes flooded, in areas not normally associated with flooding, what an  dreadful way to spend Christmas. Maybe it was thinking about those who's homes have been affected made us want to celebrate a bit more than normal, I even iced the cake, not something I would normally do as neither of us like icing, well we have discovered that we still don't, so it ended up in the dogs. Next year I will stick to just the marzipan.

Stage one, form a ring of willow.

Stage two, accept help from a cat, Misty, Freddy's sister.

To get into the spirit of the season I made a Yule Wreath for the front door, Misty thought it was something that she would like to join in making,

The finished wreath.

I think between the two of us it turned out OK.

A bit of festive cheer.

Simon, modelling his jumper.

I decorated the fireplace in the lounge, and the candelabra, it has made the lounge look quite festive.

An excellent bird.

The bronze turkey was a beautiful bird, Justina, who reared them did a good job, it was very succulent and full of flavour, although we were hoping for a smallish bird we ended up with a seven kg one, Justina has said that she will start them later next year to get the smaller sizes. I know many people don't like turkey, we do, and for us it is something special, not something that you can buy all year round. We had friends over for a meal on St Stephens day so we managed to make a fair bit of headway into the bird, the disadvantage of turkey is it last so long if there are only the two of you.

A future Sunday roast.

We always remove the legs, then bone, stuff and roll them, they can then be frozen and used at a later date.

Today we needed to blow away the cobwebs and made a trip to the coast, mainly to get more seaweed.

The beaches were quite busy,

there were some nice waves and that had brought out the surfers. We collected another nine sacks of seaweed and had a lovely picnic which included cold turkey. I always enjoy our trips to the beautiful Sligo coast.
Roses are still blooming, we have some out in our garden,

It really is December.

but we spotted a rambler which had masses of flowers plus buds on it, not quite right in December.

A further visit is called for to explore around this old bridge.

We also spotted an interesting bridge, it looks very old, we could just make out the track which would have run over it, not far from this bridge there is also a waterfall, something we will have to explore further at a later date.
So Christmas is over for another year, and we all survived it. Now it is time to start planning next years plantings,

I hope that one of my presents will come in useful for this. When we lived in Spain all the supermarkets used to stock the Moon Planting calendars, not something you see as a rule over here. We have always planted by the moon, but it will be very useful to have a book to remind us of what we are supposed to be doing and when.
I hope you all had a good festive season and that you all have a Prosperous New Year.

A seaside pub.

Conceeding defeat.

A splash of Christmas colour.

We try very hard to ignore Christmas, it's just too commercialised and an excuse to over indulge for many people, however this year we have decided that if we can't beat them we might as well join them, whoever 'them' might be.

The first of many.

Lots of mince pies have been made and eaten already,

         and we have even made a Christmas cake.
 The  turkey is ordered, although we nearly had second thoughts on this as the farm where it is coming from belongs to the same people that have the Organic butchers shop and café in Boyle, it was their Christmas fair that I did last week and nearly froze to death. At this weeks fair  they had some of their animals making an appearance, including two of the turkeys destined for dinner tables. We don't get sentimental about animals reared to feed people, but having once tried to rear our own turkeys for Christmas we have a very soft spot for them. They make the most delightful pets as we found out. Anyway, we were assured that neither of these turkeys were  earmarked for ourselves.
Any gifts that were to be given have reached their destination,

One finished Aran jumper.

and the jumper that I was knitting for the OH's Christmas present is now finished.

I made up a gift package for a friend containing home made goodies, I could only find a very ordinary  basket to put the jars in so decided that I could re-weave the chosen basket with ribbon, it took quite a lot of work but did look nice,

Zara did fit, just.

Zara, my silver Persian also thought it was a great basket and managed to fit herself very neatly in it. As if  there are not numerous baskets around the house especially made for the cats.

The label indicated that these lilies are Irish grown, I wonder?

It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it's so mild, December should be cold, not warm enough to go out without a coat, there is little difference between day and night time temperatures. Even the daffodil bulbs are well above the ground, there's even been reports of daffs. and primroses in bloom.
I have been puzzling for some time as to how supermarkets can sell jam and marmalade so cheaply, they can sell at a price less than it costs me to make and I use free fruit with the exception of oranges, so I have started looking at labels, (yes I know, sad that I have nothing better to do with my time.) Besides all the sugar and fructose that is used, there is pectin and gelling agent. Now anyone who makes their own jam knows that all you need to get a good set is fresh fruit and sugar, and possible in the case of Strawberry jam, lemons. When it comes to blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry and marmalade they all set well without the need to add anything else. Seeing the long list of ingredients on a commercial jam it strikes me that they are missing out the main ingredient, water. It's the only explanation as to how the jam is so cheap, water which is more or less free, plus the gelling agent and pectin and you could make anything look like jam, at a fraction of the cost of the real thing.

A better shot of the pattern.