The Garden Society's Competition Day (Alloment entries this year!)

The Carrickfergus Garden Society's 52nd Flower Show was held on 15th August 2009. Andrew and I just happened to be in the town center and though we personally didn't exhibit anything, we were very interested in the competition and wanted to support those from the Lotties with their entries. We dandered around to the War Memorial Hall and although early (the judges were still doing their thing) we were warmly welcomed by Myrtle (yep, she of the lotties and last years chairwoman) who is also on the committee for the Garden society. It was like getting press passes (okay it's only a flower show in Carrick, not a big international musical festival, but it still felt good) and we had free coffee! A couple of other friendly faces were there too - Ivan and Phil, who were stewards for the day.

Ivan, Andrew, Phil and Myrtle

Anyway, as soon as the judges left the hall Andrew and I were in. Straight over to the Veggie section and snap, snap, I took my photos. It was fabulous, such old town charm to see people displaying their flowers and veggies, jams and cakes. We spotted a good number of Eden lottie people's names and lo and behold lots of those same names had won prizes!! I was so proud. Ronnie, Myrtle, Mary and Godfrey were just some I noticed - Congratulations to them.

Look at the cups! Who wouldn't want one of those.

Unfortunately we couldn't stay long as our car parking ticket was running out but boy was I impressed by my 1st ever show. Plus, even though I say it myself, a lot of our own lottie produce could have won a prize too had we been bothered to enter. We generally just eat everything!

Parsley plants looking like Bonsai trees

I leave you with a couple of non-veggie entries..

My.. I was excited to finally find out about plot A01 !

For the longest time I have noticed great work going on 2 plots up from us; to my mind it has always been the 'elusive plot no.1'. It seemed like little pixies were working there and working hard too, but I never actually saw anyone at the site. A mystery unfolded......

I did ask who owned it and if anyone had seen someone working on it, but I kept getting answers like 'oh it belongs to some charity' and all these charities that it was meant to have links with would be listed but everyone said someone different and NO, they had never bothered to go over if they did see anyone there. Maddening!

Then salvation came (sort of) in the form of the Family Fun Day. A group of people turned up and hoisted a flag and a big notice board saying 'Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland', plus another poster went up detailing a charity called 'MindWise'. I really did intend to go over and say "Hello" but as you all know I spent that afternoon running around like a headless chicken. When I did have the time, they had disappeared (again, like pixies...) so I wrote a note and pinned it to the shed.

The next day I got an e-mail from a lovely lady called Helen and all was made clear. Join me as I explain.

So, the plot did belong to a charity, a few in fact (hence the confusion around the place). It was run by Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland with volunteers from Belfast with a group of people from the charity Mindwise (from Carrick) and a volunteer from The Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Group.

Helen wrote: 'Most of the people we work with on the lottie have mental health issues and they also find the work very therapeutic and are happy to tell people about the benefits of working outdoors. We have good craic while we work and the guys all loved the event on Saturday. It was great to meet other lottie holders who we don't normally see on Wednesday mornings.'

So how totally fabulous is that!!!! There's an Ecotherapy group on my freakin' allotments, 2 plots up from me. I was blown away, I was/am so happy that a group of people are there working away, having a laugh and growing as individuals, just like I have been trying to do on my own wee plots. Ecotherapy Rules, my friends!!!! Tell everyone you know, tell people you don't know, grab a random passerby and tell them (yes, the Police may get involved due to you harassing other members of the Public, but wait.... then the papers might get involved and follow the court case - Ecotherapy would be the word on everyone's lips!!!!!) Oh, I'm getting Evangelical about it all I must calm down.

I just wanted to share that. I'm passionate about Ecotherapy and I believe it can work, for everyone, anyone. A connection with nature, getting one's hands dirty, growing food and being around people in a relaxed environment can make you feel better. Okay it isn't going to make you 'better 'and all of a sudden you'll be out there taking over the world, but a smile, a genuine smile on your face and the face of those you care for - THAT is priceless and this is one way of guaranteeing it.

Hopefully I will feel up to accepting Helen's lovely offer to come down of a Wednesday morning and meet everyone. But for now I just want to wish them all continued success and better mental health! xxxx

A Great Day

Thanks for all the Birthday Wishes xxx

My Birthday centred around the lottie! At 2pm Andrew picked me up and we went to the gardens, I noticed my Mother in law's car there and thought ah ha, something is up! I wasn't wrong, there was a super duper little tea party awaiting me. And this fabulous sign that my darling Hubby made all by himself (I love it, I have it here, no idea what I 'm going to do with it..)

I was jumped out at by my niece and Mamma G singing 'Happy Birthday' and wielding party poppers! There were other people down there working a way quietly but we were the rowdy, giggling kids for that afternoon. After opening gorgeous pressies,(one of which was from my little grand nephew for the lottie - a glow in the dark butterfly!) we had sandwiches and loads of cake. Brilliant. Then I got the bumps!!!!! Austin and Pauline came over from next door and Andrew and Austin managed to give me 5 bumps - scary but I couldn't stop laughing.

What a fab time and all a surprise.

Later after dinner out we went back, all of us from earlier and my sister in law and grand nephew, Robert. He dug up some potatoes, so much fun to do with a kid I heartily recommend it. Plus I got 2 more presents! Meta had made some gorgeous Strawberry jam (so good I think I'll hide it from Andrew...) and Bill had made a wood stove for us. Well had I not been laughing so much I think I would have cried a river right there and then.

Of course the family had to go on their merry way but we stayed in A24a and lit our burner. Fire - it is so comforting, do you end up in your own world just staring into the flames? It's like meditation. We stayed until it began to rain and was really rather dark, unfortunately Meta and Bill couldn't come over for cake and tea with us so that was the only sad thing about it.

Allotments rock; a fabulous surprise tea party, presents and laughing with friends in the sunshine. Oh, I love it!

Tomorrow I promise to write up some of the other fab things other plot holders have been up to!

Happy Birthday to me, 21 again!

I'm not staying on line for long today but I just read my good friend Bangchik's blog and he had found out about this cool photo manipulation site; it ages your photo by 100+ years. Of course I had to give it a go. So this is me and Andrew last night (after midnight so it was offically my birthday) having celebratory Cava. Ahh! I'm 30, have to go and lie down, the shock you see, just too much.....

August's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Just some of them! I've got loads at the minute, yippppee!

Finally back to work

We did have that picnic yesterday at the lotties. I was lovely, not too cold and very very quiet, almost as if everyone in Carrickfergus had read the blog and decided to give me some space down there. Thanks guys, haha.

We had a giggle with Maggie and then were able to finally do some work on our plots. For the last few weeks every time we've gone down there Andrew has had to go off and have a chat with someone or a committee meeting about the Fun Day and very little has been achieved. I don't really like being out and about on my own still so when I can't see Andrew well, I'd rather hide in the shed. I am getting better though, sporadically.

So last night weeding galore was done and boy was there a lot of it, half a compost bin full! I also dead headed my flowers and got rid of some poor annuals that had flowered their socks off for me and were now knackered. Then I started what I assumed would be a nice quick job ~ harvesting all the beans. It took forever. A whole, full harvest basket of runner beans, green beans and french beans, boy are we going to have to have another massive blanching and freezing session again this weekend. It is great, don't get me wrong but why do they all have to ripen at the same time?

I also thinned out the stems and old leaves, opening up the wigwams to let in more air and light. I felt rather gardener-y.

We left as the weather started to turn a bit and were shocked to see that we'd been there over 3 hrs, it had flown in and no big panics from me ~ HOORAH! Only 1 downfall and that is the fact that the burst water pipe just above our shed STILL hasn't been fixed, the whole path is a swamp and it stinks too because the manure heap is there and manure-y juices are being washed past us - boke. No birthday party at the Lottie for me then :( It's my big 30 next week (tell anyone and I will track you down and hit you across the face with a wet lettuce leaf, I swear ~ I shall be 29 for a few more years to come thank you very much!!) and I wanted to have cake and tea at the lottie, ah well....

A24a

A14b

Here are a few overview photos, haven't taken them in a while. Everything is going really well, bar the brassicas (damn them) and we're starting to see lots more squashes coming which is such a relief, Andrew was getting pretty peeved with them.

Oh and I made my 1st ever bird box, wee little old me is getting into the wood work :) Hugs for a good weekend, may the weather be a little better x Plus I've just noticed whilst uploading photos that I have lots to talk about and loads of very pretty flower photos too, when is Garden Bloggers Bloom day again? This is my fav

a calendula growing up through the purple kale, wow! I could just go on and on writing but you'd get really bored and grow to hate me and I don't want that!

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 2

So were did we get too.... Ah yes the Allotment Holders Stalls and kids education.

As well as that the Council had it's own tent containing the Beekeepers of Northern Ireland for one thing. Quite exciting really, there is talk of some beehives being put into a field close by to us, I do hope they go ahead with it, it would be great for the pollination of all our fruit and vegetables. Plus if you eat local honey, your hayfever symptoms are supposed to lessen. I really wanted to buy some of the honey they'd brought with them, but I'd no money! Can you believe it, I came only with the float for the stall and nothing for me!

As well as that there were a few stalls and face painting, a jazz band, a bouncy castle (damned unfair that adults aren't allowed on them), the fire brigade and wait for it.....a petting farm!

Good grief I could have stayed with all the animals all day but instead I had to make do with 5 mins here and 5 there to get some photos and then get back to the stalls. What cutie pies there were; pigs, goats, sheep, calves, miniature ponies, rabbits, donkeys and chickens. It was fab and the kids (and big kids) were so happy to get close to them. I made a friend of one of the lovely cow calves ~ it was hiding it's head under my arm and getting sleepy when I tickled it behind the ears. Sweet.

The Council held a scarecrow competition too. The entries were great and I just caught this boy as he ran screaming with his friends to theirs, jumping up and down because they won! Little Weed was 2nd and Cecil's grandchildren's one, called Stanley, was 3rd (our next door lottie neighbours). They're getting a prize in the post, no idea what but I'll find out.

Only 1 more part to go and I think I will get Andrew to say a few words on how he felt the day went. Oh, check out even more photos here, taken by Stephen.

******

P.S This morning I harvested a handful of my own blueberries from the back garden. There has been a war going on between me and a lady blackbird over the past weeks, b*tch. Well today, victory was mine!!!!! Victory tasted good too.

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.

The corn is as high as....

a [baby] elephant's eye! And it looks like it's climbing really rather well this year. Hehe Oh what a beautiful lottie...Oh what a beautiful day.....etc

Please do cast your gaze over our fine display of Sweetcorn this year. I think it's done a bit better than last years due to the windbreak we put up. As I've said many a times ~ it's a wind tunnel down at our lotties.

See how the tassels are going brown and drying up. That means it's almost party time!! I LOVE fresh sweetcorn, each little corn kernel pops so deliciously in the mouth, and they don't half live up to their name, ie. sweet. Yummy. Of course we have to wait until 2 are ripe and ready to go, or there will be a fight in the Gault kitchen, haha.

Underneath the corn we have 2 squash plants. We haven't had much luck with these or pumpkins in the past but this year Andrew was very vigilant and took on the role of baby maker! By that I mean he kept his eyes on the flowers and made sure that the female ones where fertilised by a male. All those botany lessons at school, finally have some use! And viola, we have 2 baby squashes this year! I guess we ought to name them. Super duper pleased about that, keeping my fingers crossed that they go full term and we get big fat juicy fruits. Ummm roasted squash.......

By the way, you can take that idea if you wish; growing the squashes under the corn. It was Andrew's genius that came up with that. It's a great use of space, well done Andrew x

Well that's all for now. I've burnt my blasted tongue with coffee and the phone is ringing too!

*****

Later.....tongue better now thanks.

You know a good while back I did 'Focus on....' Fridays were I wrote about a plant in more detail. I may bring that back after reading this wee note on Wikipedia ~

The fruit of the sweet corn plant is the corn kernel, a type of fruit called a caryopsis. The ear is a collection of kernels on the cob. Because corn is a monocot, there is always an even number of rows of kernels. The ear is covered by tightly wrapped leaves called the husk. Silk is the name for the styles of the pistillate flowers, which emerge from the husk. The husk and silk are removed by hand, before boiling but not before roasting, in a process called husking or shucking.

Interesting, no?

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!

Gardens create 'feel good' factor - BBC News

As if we didn't know!
The National Trust has now 'revealed' that gardening is good for the soul....and the sex life?!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8178203.stm

I love to be vindicated, Ecotherapy Rocks my friends. Get out in that garden, and take your partner ~ you don't know maybe weeding can be sexy. (?????!) Hasn't worked for me unfortunately. Maybe it's enjoying other people's hard work that does it, oh, and a National Trust tearoom helps I'm sure!