Carrot, Orange Juice and Raisin Muffins

Since moving into my new home, I have made muffins three times.Twice with ripening bananas and once with carrots.  For once, I was able to bake and share them with family.  In the past the muffins used to last us about a week, either  for working breakfasts or tea breaks.  

The last lot of carrot muffins I made was just before Christmas and they contained fresh ginger, well this time - its fresh orange juice. Sure to wake you up.

I am still getting used to the electric oven.  I am noting some uneven golden baking and one of the batches had been overdone in less than 20 minutes of baking.  I also don't like the fire alarm in the kitchen, its so blinking sensitive.   

I forgot to mention in my kitchen garden post that there is also a bath in the garden to be disposed off. I think we will be keeping it back for recycling and using it potentially as a carrot tub. D is keen to grow carrots once again. Like tomatoes, carrots home-grown taste completely different from those you get at the supermarket and even at the farmers markets.  Homegrown by far are superior.
Carrot, Orange Juice and Raisin Muffins
Makes 12
Ingredients
280g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
110g golden caster sugar
Finely grated rind of 1 large orange
Juice of the orange, add water to make up a total of 180ml
110g carrots, grated
90ml vegetable oil
65g raisins
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 5/190'c.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, soda, salt and cinnamon. 
In another bowl, beat the egg with a fork.  Add orange rind, orange juice, sugar and carrots, followed by oil.
Pour all of the liquid mixture into the dry.  Stir until just combined, adding the raisins to the end. 
Spoon into muffin tins.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until the tops spring back when pressed and a toothpick comes out clean.

New Kitchen and Garden

Some of my fellow bloggers have been nudging me to show my new digs.  So here are a few pictures. 

This is my new kitchen, albeit it rented for the next couple of years.

None of my crockery, pots or kitchen related things match the faint apple green colour.  I'm not that fussed though.  I am just thankful for the space to both accommodate an display my kitchenalia, many of which was once hidden in cupboards.

I am for once able to get out my white kitchen gadgets: bread maker and food processor.  I will use them a lot more now.

Looking back from the kitchen, you may notice that the food processor has been moved.  I am still shuffling things around.   The kettle has been moved five times already.
In this house, you can actually step out into the garden.  I think this is wonderful.  I have always dreamed of a herb or kitchen garden, and the dream is coming true.  This morning, D dug out the herb patch by the backdoor. No herbs in it yet, I know but it won't be long.  Ah I wish I could have brought that rosemary plant with me, the lavender, the sage....

Around the corner from this seat arch is the patio area.  Oh I do feel rather privileged.  I've never had a place with a patio before.  Now I feel like bit of a madam. I can get some deck chairs and just chill under the sun.  Highly unlikely, as I do not like sun bathing.    

The patio area is presently occupied by my rescued pots and containers from the old flat. I am so glad I insisted on bringing them along with me. We even managed to bring our bird bath with us. Its of sentimental value to us really as we inherited it from D's late father. I dare not show you what's over the wall: a mattress, rotting wood, bricks and rubble.  The landlord has assured us that these will be disposed of.  He has been true to his word, the pile is shrinking slowly, but surely.

If you keep walking round the patio area, you will find where I have put my recycled cold frames.  I mentioned them yesterday.  They are made from an old bed frame that came in two pieces, and then stapled with recycled plastic sheeting.

Here's a peek underneath the cold frame.  I've sowed loads of seeds this afternoon: beetroot, squashes, peas, climbing beans and so forth.  I would have continued, but I had run out of both seed trays and compost.  We will start up again with trying to make our compost.  My father has an extra compost bin that he is happy for me to have.  Making compost will take a while, and as we are starting of growing again, we will need to get some, so  its going to cause a bit of a dent in our pockets.  As its one of our shared hobbies we've agreed that its an essential expense and worth it in the long-run.  We don't need to worry about getting manure though, we've sourced a place that gets rids of the stuff for free, only you have to go and get it.  I'm looking forward to shovelling the stuff and stinking out our little silver car - not!    

We also have all this space to grow in.  I haven't measured it yet, but its massive and goes right round to the front door.  It has lots of potential.  I am already seeing lines of bean and pea frames. 

I  have to share, there is absolutely no way that we would have been able to afford living in such a house with such a large garden. There are two reasons why it has been made possible. One the landlord is a friend of the family; secondly the house (as you may be able to see in one of the above photographs) needs rendering, so rent was negotiated. It's not perfect by any means, but it suits us for now and the last couple of weeks has been heart and home warming.   Its not what the place looks like  that makes it a home, its the people inside of it.  Just moving here has lifted our spirits. Let's hope good and fair employment comes our way too (and the flat sells soon).   For now we have plenty of new distractions.  The weather has been reasonably good to us too, as we have been out and about exploring.

The Recycling Gardener

Here is some of our harvest from plot 45 except for the Autumn raspberries, they came from plot 11. The climbing/french beans are starting to go a funny shape now, I think they are nearing the end too. The baby carrots were pulled out from one of our recycled plastic tubs.
Oh talking about recycling, one of my fellow bloggers Jenn of Recycling Gardener is giving away a book. It's called "Welcome Home For The Holidays". I am not familiar with the book, but according to Jenn it has a lot of Autumnal and Winter Ideas, so how could I resist! I regularly comment on Jenn's blog so entering the competition was not that difficult for me, but if you want to be in with a chance to win this book, this is what you have to do. 1. You must share a recycled tip not already posted on her blog. 2. Share her Blog and the competition with others! And then this is the tricky bit, Have your friend post a comment and say that you told them about the competition. Jenn will pick the winner on the best submitted Recycling Tip and announce this on the 1st October 2009. She will also write an entry about the winning idea and try it out herself!

So what recycling idea did I submit, well it had to be Welly woof woof!

If you do decide to visit her blog, please be sure to let her know that your came via A2K it would be most appreciated.

Welly woof woof

I’ve mentioned before that a couple of new families have been given plots not far from plot 45. One of the new plot holders is an architecture who has constructed a large wooden building within a matter of weeks, while his Mrs and children toil the land. It is already thriving with nasturtium flowers, courgettes and strawberries. The other new plot holder is an industrial worker, who is actually very creative and arty, I am in total awe of his skills. He made this dog out of recycled rubber wellies.
He said he saw it at an art gallery somewhere and thought to himself. ‘I can make that’ and so he did, now proudly displayed at the entrance of his plot. Isn’t it lovely and innovative? I want to make one too. I took a picture of the recycled Wellington dog, so we could create one if we ever got enough donated recycled wellies. But I thought, just in case any of you would like to own your very own welly woof woof, here it is.

He has also made these windmills, out of empty beer and soft drink cans. Really groovy stuff that just makes you smile. I am watching him very closely – to be inspired.

flying fish and plastic bottles

A little bit of recycling going on here. These plastic fish used by many children up and down the country during their fun bath time, were being thrown away a little while ago by a nephew or two, as they had lost they bounce in the water bubbles.

So, I rescued them and decided to make them into cane protectors. They have a dual purpose: to stop D and me getting our eyes poked out by sticky out canes; but also to cheer the plot up a little with a bit of colour. I have also been given some ducks. They will soon find a home on the plot too.

Here is my ex oil can full of large plastic bottles that I re-use for covering transplanted plants: protection from the cold and protection from the slugs.

Building a compost bin and a water feature

This morning we spent time on my plot. While I was busy weeding the pathway and raking over the soil in some of the beds. D got himself busy, building me that long overdue compost bin to be made with recycled wooden planks we had acquired a while back. So here it is, my very own compost bin. I am so pleased with it. Thank you D xx. On the side of the compost bin, D decided to pile up some broken slabs and stones, not just to make it look tidy to the eye, but to create some wildlife space for the critters to crawl and hide.

After doing this, he mustered up some more energy to design me a water feature, again with another piece of recycled material, this time a large plastic tub. After balancing the tub on a barrel plant pot, he filled it with water and then carefully placed pebbles on the side, so that the birds would feel comfortable coming by to wet their beaks and maybe even a dip. He also drove to a local plant shop and picked up an aquatic plant - you can just about see it there.

This is a photo of the greenhouse from a side. I am so pleased to have it on my plot. D thinks I must be the only person on the allotment site with so many buildings. I think he maybe right.

I have moved the tomato plants into their new home, but they have not gone into grow bags yet. I will do that when they are a certain height.

That's me - raking the ground. See the plank of wood in front of my plot. This was the wood used by the thieves for the break in at the factory a little while ago. As the wood is rotting a bit now, I have decided to leave it outside of the plot. If any other plot holder wants it for firewood, they are welcome to it.

Tomorrow is another working day at the allotment, and the plan is to spend the morning at Ds plot and get some of those broad beans in. By the way, tomorrow is the start of my holidays. I have five working days off and I am so looking forward to them.

Walking Greenhouse

We finally moved the greenhouse from Plot 11 to Plot 45. Although it was light (not made of glass), we did need a couple of extra pair of hands. Thank you. The lifting was not the hard part, it was the manoeuvring through the tight pathways and dodging the low tree branches above. Once we got past that the rest was easy peasy. The greenhouse slotted perfectly into the space we had been clearing up the past few weeks. There were two reasons for moving the greenhouse. The first is, D may finally decide to give up Plot 11 in September (no signs of that yet) and as this greenhouse cost me a couple of hundred pounds, I wanted to keep hold of it. The second reason is, when we are both rushing home after work, watering and tending to growing plants in two plot greenhouses in two different directions can be tiring, so we decided to have them on the same plot. This in the long term will save us both time, especially on rainy days - when all you want to do is get home, eat and rest.
Look at the empty space on Plot 11 now where the greenhouse once stood. As there are paved slabs there, D said he wants to keep it as a seating area. We have decided on Plot 11, we will be growing veg and fruit that will need low maintenance.

After putting the greenhouse in it's new home. We got back over to Plot 11 and continued with our weeding and digging. You may have noticed that Ds plot is greener than mine. D likes to have a bit of grass for the wildlife and bugs - but this means cutting grass, and it is already needing it. We have a manual grass cutter, I can see that coming over in a couple of weeks time, not this weekend as I we are off down to London to see my in-laws and go the Incredible Veggie Show.

I had already weeded this plot, but D was forking it over ready for the broad beans to be transplanted - maybe tomorrow - if I have any energy.

We also placed this bit of heavy wood donated a few years ago to the allotment from one of the shipping yards. We decided to use if as a border. I rather like it, it's au naturale and rather pleasing to the eye.

Sometimes, I am bad for nabbing things. I dragged this old dirty bath over when I saw a new allotment holder dumping it in a corner. D thinks I should be realistic with what I want to do with it, otherwise I may end up becoming a hoarder of junk. He is right. I have to think about it NOW, I have till tomorrow to think about it as it will be my chance to return it back to where I dragged it from, after that it becomes my responsibility.

This is D's scrawny gooseberry plant. Mine is not looking any better, (maybe I will show you tomorrow why), but his rhubarb is looking starting to look good. The rhubarb crowns on my plot do not seem to have burst from the ground.

There are many benefits about having two plots including more choice of vegetables to grow: all those varieties. The drawback, more work, more weeds and more digging. 'It will all be worth it in the end' she says through gritted teeth. Follow us and see how we cope.

Delicious strawberries to come

Ooh sometimes I like doing the Early shift, as I get a chance to spend unexpected time at my plot.

A few months ago at work, they were getting rid of these large plastic containers on wheels simply because they were superfluous. The little recycler in me said I would take them off their hands for my plot, hence redirecting their journey to the allotment site rather than the councils tip. I thought with a little bit of creative artwork on the outside (when I have time on my hands), they would make good carrot containers, especially as they are well over two feet above the ground to distract that dastardly carrot fly.

So in one of the tubs, I planted some purple haze carrots and in the other I transplanted some strawberry plants given to me by Polytunnel Alan. This should keep the slugs away. Last year, most of my gorgeous, juicy red strawberries had been nabbed by some of these beastly creatures, this year I am determined to keep them protected the best I can.

Below is one of my raised beds, half of which has strawberries and the other half has asparagus. I weeded the bed and then surrounded some of the strawberry plants with plastic pot containers, which have had their bottoms cut off. They are rather raggedy, but hopefully they will keep those slimy slugs from trespassing. I just don't have enough plastic pots to surround each strawberry plant. So I will have to go and get some more fat balls for the birds in the garden, which come in these large clear plastic containers, and then recycle them for my strawberries.

I know the plastic containers make the patch look a bit unsightly, but flavour comes before beauty and if you want good looking and tasty fruit from your plot, you do have to protect these from those little beasties, who are just as tempted by your good looking grub. For me this is both economical and organic.