Tuesday 31 July 2012

Our Garden, thou art a haven...


We're feeling proud this week, as at Green Gathering this weekend we'll be serving some of our very own home grown veggies!
We have been lucky to have expert advice on hand from my parents. Its been amazing to watch the space evolve and grow over the last 5 months, how fast nature is at getting to work....

Our little plot - part of the reclamation of unused land at Monmouth House
 This is after we'd planted 2 rows of Potato's, new potato's Kestrel and Premier, and some of Dad's estima's (second early) from last year. We were in the process of preparing the ground for the onions, they need a fine till so some hours were spent pulling out roots (of which there were many, as just a few months earlier this had been an overgrown hedge!) and hoeing the soil.
March - Watering our onions and garlic

We grew our onions from Onion Sets
  
Late June - harvesting 'Premier' new potato's


Our patch all grown up!

A sea of greens
What at big change! Despite the difficult season, and the slugs getting all but one of the beans, we have had a reasonable crop of Potato's, onions, garlic and cabbage, and we'll be harvesting sweetcorn in a few weeks.  

On the difficult season topic, things really are all a bit messed up. We defiantly need to remember to listen to mother nature when she's giving us a nudge......





Thursday 5 July 2012

Sunrise

Sunrise Celebration, our first official, public event as Pedallers Kitchen went beautifully. It was a proper, thorough test of our set-up and we passed in most regards. It was a hard, 130 mile slog to get there, and hitch, trailer and all survived with barely a rattle.

Towards Glastonbury Tor


Although we arrived on Wednesday, most of the other crafty folks in our area had arrived and set up, so due to a mix up with the site map, there were no real pitches left. Fortunately our slimline nature allowed us to slip onto a small strip on the drag between the main field and camping. This gave us a prime position for preaching, peddling and promoting our low impact cooking techniques.

It was great for us, having spent months building and preparing everything, to have it all validated by people showing a real interest in the project, technology and all the rest. We had spent a lot of time in the preceding months explaining this bizarre concept to people, but actually having it with us changed everything and allowed us to really illustrate the concepts we had been talking about.

On the Wednesday that we arrived, the sun was shining upon us. Fortunately, however, the weather was not going to let us off without properly tested us and our equipment... so for the rest of the time the sky rained and the wind howled. Unsurprisingly, our awning, which although colourful and resplendent, is somewhat reminiscent of a kite, failed to withstand the elements, as one by one the eyelets gave way and the canvas slid down the poles.



Fortunately with the help of our neighbouring leather workers and some gaffa tape, we were able to repair it, but it had to remain down for Saturday due to the risk of further damage. So we spent the day cooking in a rainy gale, with no protection.



But we did surprisingly well. The trailer let in very little water and the rocket stove continued to function well despite burning damp wood and being rained upon. Cooking on an open fire in these conditions would have been nigh-on impossible, so the rocket stove really showed its worth. It burned almost constantly throughout the four days, and used amazingly little wood.





We were lucky enough to be joined by another Pedaller - Harry Woolner, who did a sterling job working along side us. We were also joined by many other colourful friends throughout the days, who gave us great encouragement, support and music.