Ahh, the joy of thinking Spring-y. The flower boxes on the window sill in front of me have little daffodils not only emerging but getting ready to burst open and send their beautiful sunshine yellow glow into the street. It's a waiting game and one I am enjoying. In the back garden we have had sweet little Snowdrops for weeks; I think there is a grand total of 5 single blooms but they are only baby plants and in time I am sure there will be years when it's just a jungle out there :)
Well anyway, back to the wondrous tradition *cough cough* of potato buying and jam eating on St Brigdets' Day.... So as I am sure you are all aware, the 1st Feb is St Bridget's day here in Ireland and thus the 1st day of SPRING. Sing it with me people - Spring!!!!
Side Note -
I'm not religious at all but...St. Brigid represents the Irish aspect of divine femininity in her role as patron of babies; cattle farmers; dairymaids; dairy workers; midwives; milk maids; poultry farmers; poultry raisers and all sorts of people involved in fishing, scholars and poets and the printing press. So she's pretty powerful in the farming community of which us Allotmenteers are pretenders to the throne ;)
So you got your Spuds? We got ours last weekend and they were duly put on the window sill upstairs to start chitting on the 1st :) This year we have remained faithful to Sharpes' Express and are trying a new one to us 'Estima' . We prefer to pick ours by hand; love a good looking at and a squeeze, we do ;) I am absolutely sure that there is nothing wrong with buying them in bags or through the mail but if I can, I love to choose personally.
I LOVED the brown paper bags..
And this is the money shot - the jam. Nothing quite like growing your own blackcurrants, picking them (arrgh the eternal battle with the birds!), washing and freezing them until the horrid winter. Then making jam - so sweet and summery on one's toast; there ain't anything like it. We have lots of Raspberries and more Blackcurrants, so more jam to come :) Yummy.......
Hope to chat again soon, just need the weather to co-operate and then I can get out there and plant seeds and what not :)
There should be a law against pictures like the one with the jam. My stomach is growling or is howling or maybe yowling, like my cat does when she runs out of food?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about St. Brigdet's Day or who she was. I found it very interesting. She does have a lot of people to take care of doesn't she? How did the poets and the printing press get thrown in with the others.LOL
As you can tell, I enjoyed this post very much. Have a great weekend!
jam.... we only have roselle to turn into juice and jam.
ReplyDeleteI never knew about St Bridget's day. The next village to us is Kirkbride or in modern English the church of Saint Bridget. This is very much a farming community and, as I spent most of my working life in the printing industry, I now feel that St. Bridget deserves a special place in my life!!
ReplyDeleteEverything coming up Roses? Good to hear you chirpy again! Chitting is a word that mystifies me ...
ReplyDeleteWe have bought our potatoes but were a little ahead of St Bridget - hope she does't hold it against us
ReplyDeleteLOVE YOU ALL - THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS XX
ReplyDelete@Sara - I don't know how the poets and printing press got thrown in! She is a supper busy woman, an ancient celtic deity and christian saint - talk about the work/life balance! Yummmy jam - may go eat more, hahaha
@Bangchik and Kakdah - i hues it's a trade off - you get lovely warm weather while I'm freezing and have jam :)
@Colin - you need to get yourself a St Brigdet painting or something - she is obviously your patron saint! You caould make corn dolls and crosses in her honour, that's what the kids do here :)
@Elephant's Eye - not just as good as I'd like but Spring is coming - hurrah! Chitting is one of my fave words - so weird :)
@Sue - I hear she's pretty nice - I'm sure your okay with your early spuds xxx
Lovely tulips, there are a few poking through in tubs by the front door so roll on Spring!
ReplyDeleteI too, suffer from chronic depression and found reflief through gardening and photography. Here it won't be spring until March 21 and we'll probably plant our first potatoes around that time.
ReplyDeleteThe photo of the blackcurrent jam is sinful....love it!
So exciting to see all the varieties of potatoes to choose from. I have some ultra early Rocket potatoes chitting as we speak.
ReplyDelete