A taste of summer in the depths of all this snow

So Andrew and Maggie were just 'talking' there about how they want it to snow more, hahaha. It's been snowing most of the day and we have had a mighty 3 inches (maybe only 2 but I want this to sound dramatic) - N. Ireland is in the grips of the biggest freeze in 25 yrs and if it continues in the same fashion over the rest of the month, one of our weathermen said it would be the coldest since records began (1910) wow!

So what is there to love about all this coldness apart from looking at the snow from the cosiness of the living room wrapped up in my blanket? I would really to prefer it to go away, it's pretty dull feeling stuck in the house at the weekend. However, I am loving this weather for one reason, one reason only - FOOD. Our squash, parsnips and scorzenera are seeing me through these dark, cold, dreary days when really all I want to do is go back to bed as soon as breakfast is over.

This utter beauty lasted us 3 weeks and goodness knows how many tasty dinner accompaniments. It was so sweet and we always roast ours - it makes it even better :) It has the fun name of  'Chioggia'.

The parsnips are amazing this year - HUGE and the extra cold = extra sweetness; they are so good that Andrew can barely get them out of the ground without them breaking in half. Okay the ground is dead hard but it's also because us Gaults have 'the gift' - it's fact - we grow good parsnips ;) No pictures as I don't want to make you so jealous that you come and find my lottie and steal them all, I'd understand why you did it but it would make be very sad and we wouldn't want that, would we.

A new and super exciting root veg grown this year was Scorzenera - yes, say it again, don't you sound posh!?? It's basically a black, long root that when you dig it up and peel it, cook it and stick it on a fork and into your mouth, tastes like parsnip! only not so parsnip-y. Yum

But last week I had a brainwave - granted, it does not take long for a wave to pass through my humble empty noggin but I think I hit upon a moment of shear genius - getting a jar of Lottie Strawberry Jam out of the cupboard and tasting a little of that sweet summer goodness. It has been a joy, I only allow myself a little every now and then to stretch the affair out but it is so worth it. :) What is a scone without a little teaspoonful of strawberry happiness ??? A sad scone - that's what.

Food = happiness in the winter :)

All's well that ends well..

Maggie is home! The vets rang us this morning and said the little angel was ready to go home, so we rushed off to get her and gave her cuddles galore. On the way back to the house we quickly stopped off at the lottie and let her have a wee run round. She is so full of beans and had a bath to clean up the boke-y beard, so she looks great. This afternoon she slept like a log, but I loved watching her and just felt that everything was alright again. I loves my Maggie!!

Speaking of which I have a cute photo of her 'helping' Andy last weekend when he was planting seeds - hahaha. I thought it was too sweet to be annoyed at her for being up on the bed.

What did he plant there anyway? I know the second row was Scorzonera; cool seeds eh? We haven't grown this before but according to the River Cottage Handbook No. 4 Veg Patch it  is ' hugely popular in France and Italy....look[s] like a size-zero parsnip', and '...according to fable, is reminiscient of oysters [or] simply nutty and sweet'. Mark Diacono confesses here that he is 'shamelessly evanglical about them' so I hope they're bloody good!!

Not to be out done I too did some 'proper' gardening for a change. I pruned back the dogwood [afer a little lesson] all by myself; look at the difference. Seems very brutal but obviously necessary. I'll just use the decarded branches for arty-farty stuff. Plus at the far end of this plot the rhuburb is really starting to go for it!

Lastly I thought I'd share some photos of a few of the window sill seedlings in the sun room /nursery. We're doing really well with germination rates so far in the tomatoes, chillies, flowers for the cut flower border and celeriac and marigolds.