300th Post!!!

Unfortunately I'm not in a celebratory mood though. I am in the midst of a horrible day of panic attacks and depressive lows, at the same bloody time. I feel like road kill. Luckily Andrew will be home a little earlier today and we are going to go to the lottie and have a picnic. God willing I will feel better for the company and the air; please let it be quiet down there, any noises are making me jump. Andrew phoned a little while ago and I swear I was nearly off the sofa, just so scared and trying to get away from the noise. Silly girl.

Luckily I have taken meds for this latest panic and I hope (I so hope) I can get sleep or at the very least just lay down and not be shaky and think those bad thoughts for a while. I am writing because I need to keep busy and other people's words on TV or in books don't seem to make much sense at the minute.

This is also the last part of the Family Fun Day write up. I have little left to tell....

The closing chapter:

Field B held its own Pitch and Putt, I saw the green and it was fabulous but I didn't manage to get a go :( And also in field B Ricky had made lottie soup and rolls for sale, I really wanted some; I had heard it was so good but this sign greeted me at the entrance to their field. I was not amused!! I had said the night before I wanted some soup set aside, people, really, they can be a pain sometimes, haha. I did get some fresh soda bread right off the griddle though in field C so all was not lost. In fact I stick my tongue out at the idea of soup (lovely lottie and chicken soup....) and embrace the warm yet crispy soda with vigour. So there.

I'll ask Andrew if he really does want to contribute to the post but I'm not sure if he will. Look out for an Update.

Suffice to say, we all had a great day, raised lots of money (not sure how much yet!) and a good few of us staid at the lotties until it got dark, laughing away like eejits. We even tidied the whole place up, you wouldn't know there had been 100s , dare I say 1000s! of people there all day. Maggie particularly enjoyed the evening, teasing Gus (her boyfriend - sadly they are both neutered) all night, chasing him all over the place, she had him exhausted.

Family Fun Day ~ part 1

Getting ready for our visitors:

(Yuck, just podded a pea there and a stinky caterpillar was inside; I'm trying to fuel myself up to write this, would you believe I've been asleep all day?! Right, enough waffle...)

The very first thing to occur on Saturday was a live Radio broadcast from the site at 8am. Thank goodness we have people like Mrytle and Austin who are good with the media, the rest of us just wanted to kept the head down and prepare for the day. I would freeze and/or stutter wildly if you tried to put me on live radio. Anyway, Andrew and I heard it on the way down to the Lotties and it was good, the interviewer seemed genuinely impressed with the place. But really, when you hear people you know on the TV/radio don't they sound really funny?

When we arrived the interviewing was over and the Council team where there erecting their big tent for the day. We waited and hardly anyone else could be found. Cripes, so much to do!! Here's were the HUGE thanks come in.... Without Bill, Meta and their beautiful daughter Aimee; Dougie, Beefy, Ronnie, Phil, Brenda, Muriel and Linda we would have been lost, worse than that we would probably both have had heart attacks and died on the spot! (N.B. if this ever does happen, compost us please x)

With this happy, hard working group of angels we whipped the place into shape in no time. There were Gazebos to get up (damn flat pack instructions without even a coffee in sight!), an Allotment Holders Stall to build and fill with produce, a plant sale table, my photography display made from scratch (silly girl ~ that had me crying away, the boys were so nice) and a whole children's Education area to set up and kit out! I don't know how we did it but we did and although Andrew and I worked just as hard, I can't thank those people enough.

So Andrew ended up as the unofficial leader and although stressed to the hilt, he was great (if I may say, slightly biasedly). Our shed was surrounded by produce, it was amazing. Eden lottie folk are mighty generous and the fresh onions, carrots etc just kept on coming throughout the day! We also had jams and chutneys, plants and lovely bunches of flowers. Then across the road we had the kids area, with a 'plant your own pot' section and a goodie bag section (thanks to the Northern Ireland Environment Agency) with loads of great stuff to take home.

So look! That is what we created, feast your eyes over what can only be described as evidence of loyalty and pride in the allotments and the friendships made there.

Happy Birthday, little Blog

Today is Grow Our Own's Brithday. It is 1!! Big cheers all round.

I am utterly exhausted today after the super duper Allotment fun day on Saturday, the beach on Sunday and seeing my Dr. this morning. So I'm being a tease and leaving the start of all the story telling from Saturday until tomorrow. Fear not, there is loads to tell you all and of course the trusty camera was with me every step of the way.

For now, however I'm going to bask in the glory of my wee Blog still going and entering a new year. No cake but I'm going to have some celebratory melon and tonight's dinner is all lottie food ~ yum.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, it's only a day away.....

The Family Fun Day is tomorrow. Oh, I hope it's a good one. Andrew was a committee meeting through the week and I think the vibes are good. I think we have almost everything ready to go. Here are some things left to do:

1. Start gathering up other Eden lottie folk's produce for the Association stall. We starting that tonight, oh, I do hope people are generous and give what they can.


2. Get hold of newspaper to wrap up veggies in to sell, oh, crap AND bags from somewhere AND I wanted to pretty up the jam jar tops with quaint material and raffia...


3. Stop constantly checking the weather forecast and just try to believe the man when he says, "Saturday in Northern Ireland is shaping up to look like a nice day". We have clear skies and a lovely symbols saying 14 and 18 (meaning degrees) for the morning/afternoon.


4. Try not to think about the fact that we have our Dublin Allotment friends coming up to see us on the same day!!! They will need to be treated like stars and shown a really good time and we must smile through any fun day disasters in front of them.


5. Tidy up our plots!!!! Good grief the amount of weeds and dead leaves on A24a and A14b are ridiculous; shame on us.

So, Andrew is rushing home from work today and we're collecting things from people (He was on the phone doing committee stuff last night, I try to stay out of private phone calls but he was sitting right beside me and had turned the TV to mute - what was I to do? Stick my fingers in my ears and hum? In my own house! ~ never) on the way to the lotties, where we'll hopefully be collecting other stuff from other people.

Golly, are 'fun days' always so stress filled? Kind of goes against the whole ethos, eh? Ah well the day itself should be great fun, everyone welcome, don't forget 12 - 4 pm. It's going to be, quite frankly, the party place to be seen at.

Potatoes, Beans and Peas

Oh last night was utterly stinking on the lotties - the weather has just been rotten and we're on the final countdown to the outdoor Family Fun Day; it's on Saturday! Eeek. Things have to clear up or else we need to find a 4-field sized marque. At least the roads have improved look at this >

So although working for a rather short, damp time, I managed to tie in all the billowing Raspberry canes and harvest lots of runner beans. The runners are going very well again this year despite the weather. We love these 'Enorma' ones, they live up to the name and they taste excellent. We're going to have a glut soon as this year they are all pretty much at the same growing point and the yield is high on this variety. I cut a good few which we'll eat tonight, the one on the far right is 38cm long, and that isn't the longest we've had.

Although the weather has been bad we have done well so far, bar the fact that the wind has knocked down a good few of my precious sunflowers (no photos of that, just to upsetting, it may even give you nightmares!). I've finished lifting the peas ('Greenhusrt longshaft?', 'Longshaft Greenhurst?' or something completely different; we grew 2 types and head-like-a-sieve-girl here can't remember) now and just have the remaining bagful in the fridge. We have mangetout coming now and boy are they sweet and tasty and more broad bean seedlings and borlotti beans coming along. That's just the start of it! There's also French Dwarf beans and green beans; legumes rule!

We've had some fabulous dinners too. Simple food but done right. The 'Maris Piper' bed had to lifted due to blight starting to get into the tubers, so we'd had lots of lovely spuds. Plus we've also been slowly chomping at the 'Maris Peers' and have some 'Duke of York' for tonight. I took this potato/tomato picture last week, growing on one of the Maris Peer plants. Of course I knew these things existed but I'd never seen it before - nature is marvelous.

So here's a little taster of what we've been eating. A simple dinner, yes but as I said, done right. These are little individual layered pies with our own courgettes (doing very well this year, growing in an old chicken manure pellet bucket!) sliced and seasoned with herbs and white wine vinegar on the bottom, and mixture of thoroughly roughed up boiled potatoes and peas (our own again) and a little cheese sprinkled on top before a light grilling. So good! On my goodness. Andrew (as usual) finished before me and then proceeded to stare at my bowl until I'd finished. Like Maggie I think he was hoping for a little leftovers ~ no such luck!

A 'harvest hat' for a change, I forgot my basket

So, yes, once the raspberry canes were dealt with and the runner beans harvested and photos taken I had to run back to the car. Taking my Strawberry and Mango fruit tea with me. I sat there whilst Andrew had some committee stuff to attend to. It was cold and raining and blowy - this is August. Look at it!! And it just got worse!

Moving on...for now

I am literally sitting here with the words 'mutton dressed as lamb' and scary images of clowns wearing all that ghastly make-up whorlling through my head. Why? Because of my new background. Oh, really I can change it back or start all over again. (I roll my eyes heavenward and ask 'why?, why tamper with something that wasn't broken').

But I must move on and I really couldn't wait (before I went on a design madness trip) to tell you about last night's little jaunt to the Lotties. Andrew had some more leaflets about the family fun day and our association stall to hand out/pin on sheds. We're just hoping the good folk of the lotties will donate a little something to the Association stall to sell to our visitors on the big day. It's next Saturday by the way (8th August) and you'll all welcome; if you're coming from afar I'll put you up in my wee house, as long as you spend money at the day and bring your own sleeping bag!!!

Anywho, the reason I wanted to write about it was because I was so happy with the responses we got. Everyone is now getting more interested in the fact that we're having visitors and a BBQ, stalls, a brass band and a petting zoo etc. They want their plots to look good and some have even been thinking of fun ideas themselves. It's a great little community spirit - the only thing that could dampen it would be the weather and that, unfortunately, may be the case. For instance I am sitting here in my living room with a long sleeved top on, jogging bottoms and a blanket over me, and a coffee in my hand tucked up tight against my chest (my glasses are steaming up intermittently but it's a price I'm willing to pay ~ it has been pouring for hours and the wind is fierce and it's making me feel cold. Maggie refuses to go outside, even though I'm pretty sure she must need a pee by now. She doesn't do bad weather, hahaha, a dog that lived on the streets, I've turned her into a softy.

Anyway, a great big virtual hug to all my fellow allotmenteers and fingers crossed we'll have a good day.

Plus if you don't like the new blog background blame Elle May's Mum, she started it. I love the look of her blog and wanted to be like her.

Beetroot and ginger chutney

I was sent this fabulous recipe by my friend Jo last year, just as we had finished all our beetroot! Well, this year I wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity to make this yummy sounding chutney (even though I personally can't eat it). I'm intolerant to onions and I just simply despise vinegar ~ not a great mix when your about to make chutney ;)

Beetroot and Ginger Chutney

Makes about 5-6 lb.

3 lb beetroot, roasted
1 lb onion, chopped
2 pints vinegar
1 lb dessert apples, peeled and chopped
1 lb seedless raisins, chopped
3 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
2 lb granulated sugar

• Peel and cut the beetroot into cubes.
• Place onion and a little of the vinegar in a large preserving pan and cook for a few minutes to soften the onion. Add apples and raisins and continue cooking until pulpy.
• Add beetroot, ginger, salt and half the remaining vinegar.
• Simmer gently until thick.
• Stir in the sugar and remaining vinegar and continue cooking until thick again.
• Pot into cooled, sterilised jars, seal with a vinegar proof lid and label.
• Store for 6-8 weeks before using.

It takes a good few hours for the mixture to thicken up properly, but it is worth it!

So Andrew and I made it for the fun day, to sell on our own Eden Allotments Stall. We didn't have quite enough beetroot but it was easy to make the recipe work with some maths (which Andrew is good at ~ I suck at maths). We had bought a lovely new thick bottomed big pot in Ikea especially for preserve making and so we were rather excited to get going. Wow, the Gault household sounds so dull if that makes us excited!

It did take a while but nothing about is difficult and we were able to watch bits of tv and then go and stir the mixture; all made better by a glass of red wine in one hand, hehe. We got a lovely full Kilner jar (for ourselves) and 3 jam jars of the glorious food stuff out of our quantities. Okay, the house stank of vinegar for a couple of days afterwards but it feels great to make lovely things out of your own produce, and it will make money for the association on one hand and make Andrew happy on the other (me? ~ I happy to make money for the allotments, not so overjoyed with a stinky house and hubby ;) )

Just have to prettify (is that a word?) the jars with material over the lids tied with twine and they're ready to go. The chutney is the most beautiful deep red/purple colour and Andrew's labels look great, well done us!

Give it a go! Lovely pressie for a loved one, or for yourself x

Little acts of kindness

At the weekend (I have a good bit to write about this week) there were a few random acts of kindness around the lotties, a lovely community spirit.

Firstly Gary's plot was all strimmed down and then mown for him by Bobby, Doug and Andrew. It was hard work and took a couple of hours for the 3 of them but they didn't complain and threw themselves into the task. The sun was blazing on them as well and it was tiring just to look at them. I didn't help because the grass was over my knee height and in flower, my hay fever was bad enough over on my own plots with all that pollen flying around! Through my hay fever meds are a godsend to be fair, sometimes they are just pushed to the limit, hahaha. Hopefully Gary won't find the sight of his plot too heart wrenching now when he gets back, his work has been sending him off to Scotland recently.

Then there was the happy news that we have more preserves being made by Ronnie and Bill's lovely wife and set aside for our stall on the fun day. Andrew and I spent hours making chutney on Friday night (I'll tell you about it tomorrow), so we know only too well how much effort goes into producing stuff and then there is the added knowledge that it isn't all for you to eat!!!

We were given lots of unwanted pavers on Sunday for free for the second plot. They're great quality and a good size but I'll leave that for another day too.

Lastly I was given the most beautiful bouquet of sweet peas, completely out of the blue by Donald. How nice was that?!!! Take note my love, another man giving me flowers! Donald's sweet peas are fabulous, so many colours and the plants are huge, tall and heavy with flowers; after I was given that delicious smelling bunch I was spurred on to gave my much smaller and less productive plants a good feed ;)

My depression was horrendous over the weekend, it helped being down at the lotties on Saturday and keeping myself very busy. I worked so hard and you probably wouldn't even notice ~ don't you just hate that! But Sunday I couldn't even go at all. I sat all dressed to go but couldn't leave the house. How can I hurt so much when there is no wound to heal?

Today is another BAD day so I'm off now to try and calm down on the sofa. Been depressed and uber panicky since I woke up and shaking even with a good dose of meds. Taken a little extra and hoping for peace soon, I find this all very distressing and frightening. I'm tired.

It's a lovely day outside and Maggie is sunning herself on the bench in the back garden; she's such a cutie.



Thank you all for the continued support and kind encouraging words x

Can't believe NO ONE has commented on THAT photo of Andrew from Friday!

I haven't been sleeping the past few nights, plus I've been having to take a lot of tablets to calm down some very very severe panic attacks. So this all equals a very tired and concentration-less Carrie. I did manage to sleep for half an hour in the car at the lottie today whilst Andrew worked away; uncomfortable? - yes but it felt good too.

It was pretty stinky today down there, windy and some heavy rain and damn cold. It feels like February here a lot of the time, I truly find it difficult to believe this is JULY. Andrew is off for a few days for the 12th July national holiday and then he has taken a couple extra, so I have him all to myself for a whole week! Tomorrow we are going to try to go out for the day, away from the the Lottie, the house and Carrick altogether.

Along with the usual gardening work and planning we have had our heads turned with the organisation of the family fun day in August. I've been planting lots of seeds for the kids to pot up and have their own mini-lotties, thinking about games, begging folk to make jam/chutney/pickles and donate produce for the day and doing some photography and framing for the Allotment Association stall too. Lots to think about!

(My preserves group isn't really getting off the ground, so many people have plans to do things like that in the years to come but their plots and the plants thereon aren't mature enough yet. There just aren't enough fruits and extra veggies there to use. But it is something I'll keep working towards.)

August just isn't going down as the best time of year for this open day, most people would prefer spring and autumn events when things are a bit more exciting on the plots. However the Fun day is us taking part in National Allotment Week so it does make sense. However, who knows, maybe we could have more fun days throughout the year, I think it would be lovely to celebrate our work together and get to know eachother better. We are the largest Allotments in the island of Ireland and we have grown in such a short time!

Andrew is off to the Lottie again to continue his work in the shed ~ we have a great working bench in it now and extra storage. I still doubt that you could swing a cat but it does seem larger inside. I'm waiting for another panic to go away and am typing frantically to keep myself occupied but hopefully I'll get a nap in soon, it's terrible taking all this medication but I'd pull my hair out if I didn't (literally). Some days the Ecotherapy thing just isn't right for you, pity, it isn't a panacea.

Don't forget tomorrow (14th July) is the last day for entries into Matron's Worldwide Veggie Show 2009.

Fairies and garlic

Darn it, I think I must have eaten an big red, juicy apple given to me by a witch somewhere. I am so sleepy; I think I could represent the UK in a sleeping competition and totally kick everyone esle's butt.

It's been all go, at least in our heads this past week. We have a fabulous family fun day at the start of August to organise and once you get to thinking about it, well your head just runs away with the fairies and darn it, it's hard to get it off them again. Do not be fooled by fairies, they have their evil ways! Boy, what am I on about ~ so tired = blabbering away.....

So I have been a goddess once again the kitchen. Made more strawberry jam, this time I had a sterilised jar and a label, so this one is being kept for the big day. Looks good, no?! Of course now we're thinking about what else we can preserve, pickle and generally bottle up for sale. So many ideas, but really I think it will take off next year and we'll be far more organised. I want to start a club so it can be coordinated and we get loads of yummy food stuffs for the next fun day. Any money we make goes into the Association coffers so it's important to us that it goes well, money makes the world go round, eh?

Andrew has also been his usual god-like self in the kitchen making yummy dinners for us from our own produce. This is the excited part, no? Look at all that food, first carrots too. And after a quick stir fry and some chicken and noddles - yum, so fresh and tasty.

He is feeling the pressure of the fun day (he's on the sub committee for sales and children's education) but he finds his own way of dealing with the stress....unusual maybe, but it works for him.

The garlic is slowly and tentatively being lifted. Such a thrill to see them, they've been in the ground since November. Unfortunately Bobby said his were far from pleasing, our ones in their pots have turned out well and John's are fab! We were showing off last night. The key is to treat them mean, don't water them lovingly as it all goes into top growth and of course we want big juicy bulbs that will make our stinky breath be smelt for miles across the land, hehe.

Here I am lifting a great one, Andrew with a good haul from 2 pots and John with one of his whoppers.

Andrew is off for the holidays (the 12th July, is a National holiday here in Northern Ireland), his office closes early today and he decided to take extra days off, so we have a whole week together. Time to get this house and it's gardens into shape and go on picnics, maybe a camping trip, who knows...Or course the weather will turn nasty, just you wait and see.

looks like a bald hedgehog to me.

Big hugs to all (the sleepy Carrie talks again), night night. Ooops it's only 1.45pm, well I'm having another dose......NO must stay awake!!! yawn....