Months of preparation are beginning to pay off as the first real crops are maturing at the allotment. From the time when the tiny seeds were planted in seed trays and tended daily to see how they progressed, to planting them out in raised beds or their specific areas at the allotment, it has been a journey with both triumphs and failures and lessons learnt for next year. Growing your own vegetables is at its most rewarding however when you can begin to pick your crops and enjoy meals made up of your own fresh homegrown fruit and veg.
The Green Village Blog for July, 2009
Homegrown Goodness – The Start Of The Harvest
Lily The Goat Was Just Kidding After All
So after months of wondering, waiting, trekking up and down to the farm where the troublesome trio spend their days frolicking in the field, it turns out that our lovely four year old pygmy crossed with toggenburg goat Lily was just kidding all along.
We took her off to be serviced in November last year and have been keeping an eye out for signs of the impending pregnancy for the last few months as we didn’t know whether she would have been serviced by the billy goats early on or towards the end of her time away from home. We had been hoping to get Lily in kid, become proud parents with one or two beautiful baby goats running about in the midsummer sun and the opportunity to milk mother goat, potentially providing us with the main ingredient needed to make our own homemade goats cheese.
Bake With Compassion Cake Sale Was A Roaring Success!
The efforts to bake yummy cakes and encourage my work colleagues to join in, crack open some free range eggs and do some free range baking with compassion themselves were a success in the end. I’m both pleased and proud to say the collective figure raised by our efforts was a respectable £58.28 which I hope Compassion in World Farming will be able to put to good use in campaigns to promote free range and putt an end to battery egg production.
Throughout the week we had lemon drizzle cakes kicking the fundraising efforts off. The homebaked goodies on offer continued with cherry and chocolate cupcakes, cherry and ginger loaf cake (which sold out very quickly!), mars bar slices, chocolate and walnut brownies (a definite crowd pleaser), chocolate and courgette muffins, coffee muffins with optional rum icing, and to round the week up, chocolate and vanilla cup cakes.
Busy Baking With Compassion
I have to say I’m glad it wasn’t has hot in my kitchen as it has been all week, otherwise I may have found it a little harder to bake with compassion this afternoon! While Chris was busy watching the men’s Wimbledon final, I slaved away in the kitchen preparing my cakes to sell to colleagues in order to raise money for the Compassion in World Farming Bake With Compassion campaign (well I say slave but it was fun really!) and put my super duper mixer to the test creaming and beating and sounding like it was about to take off.
I settled on a cherry and ginger loaf (delicious recipe courtesy of Chris’ grandma) and some choc and cherry mini muffins. I had to try a sample of each to check they were OK, and I can confirm both are very tasty, even if I say so myself! Should sell like hot cakes to the office tomorrow.
