Busy little hands in the kitchen 2016.

A few snapshots in the kitchen this year...

The last of the beef fat from the freezer for rendering into dripping, October 23rd.

The fat of the land, beef dripping. There's a pot of honey in the photo too, the kitchen was really a mess for a while!

The Tomatoes were neglected in September with many splitting due to lack of water and not being picked regularly! However these Black plum Tomatoes continued to crop brilliantly. The seed came from Irish seed savers many years ago and I grow a couple of plants every year. This year they proved their worth, simply thriving with very little attention, they have good flavour, ideal for passata. We made a last pot of Passata on October 1st with Alfie chopping and arranging the tomatoes in his own particular style!

Berries (from the garden) in everything! Buns to go in the oven on August 18th.


In the midst of shelling peas, several bags for the freezer. July 30th.

Busy little hands love to shell peas, July 10th, and little mouths love to eat peas! ("gobble them up" is the phrase that comes to mind).

Angus makes bread a few times a week and sometimes he has help... Alfie sieving the flour, May 17th.

Little hands busy pulling stalks from parsley leaves.

May 16th.

 
We had a few months of homemade butter this spring and some for the freezer, in the summer I made ice cream with the extra cream instead. April 23rd.

Frittata in the making, A favourite spring dish using 100% homegrown produce.... purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus, eggs (and a little milk/cream) and the first of this years cheese, all ready to go onto the leeks that were sweating in the pan. April 7th.

Yogurt, January 29th, extra creamy on top as this was not long after Amber came into milk.

 Often when I am in the kitchen doing something Alfie will want to help, and I will wash dishes (or take photos!) while he becomes absorbed in the task at hand. Zoe and Tivon are happy when I am out in the garden, then they are free to express themselves in the kitchen without my helpful comments, which they don't find helpful! So no photos of their kitchen adventures.

Emperor Dragonflies.

Lots of Emperor dragonflies emerged from the small pond again this year.

This Emperor dragonfly larvae has lived in the pond for 2 years, here it has crawled up a stem in preparation for transformation, May 28th.

An Emperor dragonfly in the process of emerging. May 28th.

A freshly emerged emperor resting near the pond, the colours develop over the first few days after emergence, May 29th.

Angus and Alfie spotting emerging dragonfly larvae.

There were lots to see, May 28th.

Angus and Tivon, another dragonfly day, May 30th.

No more dragonfly photos for this year, but all the resident specimens were flying about in their usual numbers.

Butterfies

 A butterfly, being the symbol of transformation, is an appropriate subject to resume this blog with, here are a few that we saw in the garden this year.

A Peacock butterfly nectaring on Aster, both looking a little past their best as the days draw in. October 9th.

Small tortoiseshell butterfly and honeybee on Telekia speciosa, Heartleaf Oxeye, growing down at the pond. September 3rd.

Telekia was very popular! September 6th.

This mint has lovely dark stems, it was originally labelled Chocolate mint. September 3rd.

There were up to 20 Small tortoiseshell butterflies at any one time on this mint, the honeybees loved it too. September 6th

Small tortoiseshell butterfly on Eupatorium maculatum atropurpureum, Joe Pye weed. September 3rd. It's a super late season plant for bees and butterflies.

A white butterfly on Knautia arvensis, Field Scabious, this seems to flower all summer and autumn. 

The Verbena bonariensis, also in the photo, is a good nectar plant too. August 21st. 

Small copper on Aster, August 18th.

Comma butterfly on Aster, August 16th.

Painted lady butterfly on Buddleja × weyeriana, August 11th.

Small white butterfly on Brachyglottis greyi, (Senecio greyi). July 27th.

Meadow brown butterfly, July 27th. The meadow was full of meadow browns!

In the spring there were holly blues fluttering in the meadow, too unsettled for the camera and I can't remember what else during the year!