The Christmas Chronicles, Part I – Door wreaths and horticultural projects

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#Christmaskitchen, Christmas, gardening with children, Our Flower Patch

I’d forgotten how much full-time teaching is so all-enveloping. You find yourself spinning in a vortex of lesson preparation, marking, exams, reports, meetings, extra revision sessions for keen students and duty nights for weeks and then, at the end of term it spits you out and you land with an almighty thud, able to pick up the pieces of the rest of your life which have had scant attention since the last school holidays.

Term ended earlier for me than for my children – one bonus of teaching on Saturdays – and since then I have had time to mooch around Bath doing some Christmas shopping, watch the middlest child’s football match, clutching a thermos mug of coffee and wearing a bobble hat on a foggy Sunday afternoon, buy a Christmas Tree at vast expense (but Woodland Trust certified), decorate the house and buy a holly wreath handwoven by Joe, who has learning difficulties but has found his niche on a horticulture project. I’m so pleased to see that gardening still has the power to transform the lives of young people who don’t always fit into a rigid school system. If you want to make your own wreath then you can always visit Our Flower Patch (our educational project which seems like light years ago) where Sara will guide you through the process.

And so ends episode one of my own Christmas Chronicles, (name inspired by Nigel Slater’s new book). In addition to the above I’ve made Christmas pot pourri, written and posted most of the Christmas cards, had the annual conversation with my sister about whose turn it is for the Christmas wreath on our parents grave and reminisced about dad opening the Christmas chocolates early and the year Mum bought such a monster of a turkey that we had to saw off its legs to fit it in the oven, hunted down a mini-poinsettia, decorated the fireplace with some new red baubles, dug out the wrapping paper and ribbons and thought about the Christmas foodfest….. at a relaxing pace.

Today the whiff of just made red onion marmalade scents the kitchen and my typing is frequently interrupted by the son with a throat infection looking for hot drinks and ‘food I can eat’. Homemade soup, apple crumble and stem ginger cookies await.

Betwixt and Between

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Christmas, firelighters, homemade gifts

I’ve been getting creative in the downtime between Christmas and New Year. A more organised woman would have done this before Christmas and given away a few scented bags full as homemade gifts but organisation has escaped me this year.

And so a basket full of scented firelighters graces our own hearth to create a delightful orange-scented blaze throughout the twelve days of  Christmas and beyond.

To make them couldn’t be simpler. Melt a tealight minus its foil casing in a paper cake case in the oven for a  few minutes. Then add a drop of orange essential oil to each case along with a slice of  dried orange, a pine cone and a cinnamon stick.  Leave the wax to cool and harden. Then pop them into a basket to sit alongside your hearth.

Oil of cloves or myrrh work equally well at this time of  year. For Sumner firepits try lavender or rose oil. Pack up in cellophane wrap and tie with a pretty ribbon and gift label if you want something homemade to give as a gift.

Simple, practical and creative. The perfect way to while away a Winter afternoon.

Plant potions

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calendula salve, Carl Legge, cooking with flowers, Home made remedies, pot pourri, The Courts Gardens, things to make from the flower patch

Calendula salve, an easy make for children

Today at The Courts, despite a forecast of torrential rain and thunderstorms we had a lot of fun under the trees making ‘plant potions’. To many children ,particularly those who have experienced the delights of forest schools, plant potions usually means mixing up mud, sticks, leaves and water to make a sludgy brew. It’s great fun. Today however, rather a lot of children and quite a few interested adults went home clutching bags of beautifully scented pot pourri and recipes for comfrey feed, calendula salve and hints and tips for drying flowers, cooking with lavender, how to make dandelion jelly and why nettles are good for you, good for the wildlife in your garden and have dozens of uses. There are a thousand and one useful things that can be made from your flower patch

I promised a few people that I would pop up links to posts I’d included previously. Just click on the appropriate highlighted links above. I also said that I would include the recipe for calendula salve, which is one recommended to me ages ago by permaculturist and all-round good egg Carl Legge. Click on Cally’s Plant Potion Recipes for the recipe sheet we handed out today. Thanks to Jane Ingram for the design.

With a little supervision, even young children can make something useful and which looks professional enough to give as a gift. Calendula is one of those plants which has been used by herbalists since ancient times. It is known to have anti: allergic; inflammatory; microbial and oxidant properties. So it’s perfect for treating cuts and grazes bruises, sores and rashes. We always keep a jar handy in a kitchen drawer.

Calendula is one of my favourite flowers. It looks so jolly, is great for bees, cuts well for the vase and as well as made into a salve it can be eaten in salads or, as my granny used to do, added when making butter to make it beautifully yellow. The seeds are rather quirky too and look almost as though they might crawl out of your hand. They are easy to sow, grow well and self seed prolifically. Children can also collect the seed very easily and pack them up to give away to friends. A perfect addition to any garden, as far as I am concerned.

The remembrance of things past

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Cambridge Latin Course, lavender polish, twilight fast track GCSE Latin

 

the Roman past viewed at The Ashmolean

I’ve been using lavender furniture polish for the first time in decades. It’s startling how the aroma it leaves around the house can recall so keenly all the Sundays of my youth spent sitting in the choir stalls of a rural Pembrokeshire church. Is this true of everyone or am I peculiar in remembering events best on the strength of what they smelt like? (See below).

Perhaps it’s natural for a woman of my age, whose children are fast growing into young adults to think back a little more than she was wont to do. Or perhaps it comes as a result of returning to the study of Latin – and more specifically the Cambridge Latin Course (Chanel no. 5)- which was one of the highlights of my school Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with double hockey (muscle rub) and spiced apple crumble (cinammon and cloves). As you see, all my memories are carefully intertwined with the odours surrounding them.

My return to the Cambridge Latin Course comes as a result of funding from the DfE which is there to encourage non specialist teachers to train to make Latin available to state school pupils. Universities love a student who has studied Latin apparently, especially those hoping to study Law, Medicine, Languages, Ancient History and English Literature. And with a dwindling number of specialists able to teach Latin, it makes sense to find more creative ways to make it available. My recent six day course at Oxford University was one of these. It wasn’t a PGCE course in six days  (This was what the visiting lady from the DfE suggested!!!?) but a week’s intensive study for those who were already qualified and experienced teachers with some knowledge of Latin.

I started teaching a fast track GCSE course last week in a Wednesday twilight session for A level students. (I’m not one to hand around as you know.) We’re using the Cambridge Latin Course but (as ever) I’m tweaking it to make it a truly worthwhile experience and giving value for money by using it to hone A level study skills and to make links between Latin studies and that of their other A level subjects. There’s space for a few more students on Wednesdays in my kitchen (which will smell of freshly brewed coffee and cake of some description). Email me for details if you or someone you know might be interested.

And if you’re interested in lavender furniture polish, here’s how…..

Homemade lavender furniture polish recipe

I had some beeswax leftover from making calendula salve over the summer and grated that into some olive oil from my cupboard. 2 parts olive oil to 1 part grated beeswax or thereabouts. Fill a jug with olive oil up to 200 mls and grate enough beeswax into it to bring the measure up to 300 mls.

Place the mixture into an old saucepan and melt very slowly… the work of minutes. Add about 12 drops of lavender.Take it off the heat and stir gently. Leave to cool for a few minutes, stir again then pour it straight into a shallow wide mouthed jar.

And that’s it! Smells great, no nasty chemicals, useful and inexpensive. Packaged nicely it would make a great addition to a Christmas hamper for a friend or a present for a teacher.

 

50 things to do in the holidays

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50 things, Big Butterfly Count, calendula salve, National Trust, The Courts

haunts of the summer holidays

This holiday was always going to be a busy one with trips to family we haven’t seen since before Christmas, promised beach trips, rugby camps, youth club camps, a study week (for Mum), decorating and work to be accomplished. There’s been little time to get bored.

Thursday work space at The Courts

As you see, I’ve been back this year working for the National Trust on Thursdays running free activities for explorer families who have a whole summer to fill with great memories and plenty of material needed for that all too familiar first homework *Write about what you did in the Summer Holidays*.

We’ve already taken part in the Big Butterfly Count and made colourful butterfly feeders, found out about bees and explored the benefits of growing one of my favourite flowers Calendula. Did you know that it was used on the battle field in the civil war to help the wounded and that my great granny used to use it to give the butter she made a fabulous golden colour? These days it gets used by me as a cut flower or to make calendula salve but whilst it’s growing on my allotment the bees love it. It’s a great plant for children to grow because you can collect the seeds so easily and grow more next year….and spread the love to your friends by giving them some seeds in a pack you’ve decorated yourself.

This week whilst I am on a study week at Oxford University the Wild Art session is being run for me by Lucy but I’ll be back for the last Thursday of the holidays to tour the kitchen garden at the Courts, with its cucamelons, electric daisies, red flax and quinoa and to show children how to make an edible pea shooter.

summer fun – 50 things to do

Drink to your health

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foraging, health drinks, oxymels

To misquote The Fast Show…. this week I have mostly been making oxymel. Despite the hideous name it has little to do with acne and laboratory preparations but everything to do with health and homespun goodness. Obviously!

I’m a prolific elderberry cordial maker at this time of year but have only recently discovered oxymels which are old-fashioned remedies blending vinegar, honey and fruits or herbs. Anything in my pantry needs to be useful as well as tasty and if at all possible beautiful and these drinks tick all the boxes. Those of you who share virtual coffee and cake here regularly will know that if a recipe allows improvisation it’s also good. Win again!

In its simplest form an oxymel is made by mixing 4 parts honey to 1 part vinegar and pouring onto fruit or herbs to infuse. You can also mix 1 part vinegar, 1 part water and 2 parts honey, boil it down and skim off any scum if you want to make work for yourself. Or you can go your own way – as I almost always do. 

So here’s my contribution to getting you all facing the winter in tip top condition….  two of my favourites.

Blackberry Oxymel…good for children with coughs and colds

Put a few handfuls of blackberries into a clean jar and cover with cider vinegar. Leave for about 2 weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain through muslin, squishing out as much of the juice as possible. Pour into a sterilised bottle and store in the fridge. Use 2 – 4 tsps in boiling water and sweeten with honey. Drink slowly when warm.

Keeps for 1 year in the fridge. Substitute the blackberries for raspberries if you prefer.

Elderberry and Ginger Oxymel

Mix equal parts honey and cider vinegar. Put a small handful of elderberries, one slice of lemon and two slices of fresh ginger into a sterilised jar and pour on the honey and vinegar mix. Leave a little room at the top. Store in the fridge. Drink a spoonful before and after meals for heartburn; dilute a tablespoonful in hot water as a cold remedy or sprinkle on your salad.

You can substitute blueberries for the elderberries if you prefer.

Quick, easy, home remedies using what’s seasonal and ready just when your children get their first sniffles of the school year.And  if anyone can come up with a better name than oxymel I’d be very grateful!

Postcards from the plot #10 *Rosemary…that’s for remembrance*

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rosemary

Some while ago a friend, who is revamping a border offered me a large rosemary bush from which to take cuttings. He even said he’d help but somehow we never got around to it. Ever a man of his word I found the bush  (now dug-up)  adorning my front doorstep with a note

“There’s rosemary…..that’s for remembrance” Xxx

Serves me right, I suppose. I set to it with the snippers.

I usually take rosemary cuttings earlier in the year but the appalling weather has slowed down growth quite a lot. Even the sainted Monty was doing his thing with herb cuttings last Friday on Gardeners’ World. The upshot is I have loads of viable cuttings from the bush  and  a huge pile of sprigs. Perhaps I should wander Ophelia like throught the streets of Bradford on Avon showering them on unsuspecting tourists.

Rosemary is one of those plants that keep on giving.  It looks good in the garden, smells great and  has multiple uses. Shakespeare wasn’t wrong about its mind-clearing, stimulating properties. by the way.  It was  burnt in sick chambers to freshen and purify the air and strewn in court to protect against gaol fever on account of its antiseptic properties.

The Elizabethans also used it  in wedding bouquets to symbolise fidelity. I had it in my own wedding bouquet. No wonder poor abandoned Ophelia was so fond of it. 

Wonderplant!

Whilst I wouldn’t totally subscribe to the medieval view that boiling the leaves in clear water and inhaling the vapour will make you feel young, it  is a good thing.

• Pop it  in the tin with roast veggies 
• Use it in cut flower arrangements
• Spice up your  pot pourri with it
• Infuse it in some olive oil to trickle on pizzas
•  Burn the twigs on the fire or barbeque to perfume the air
•  Use it in a steam bath to clear the sinuses and help get rid of tension headaches.
• It makes a great hair conditioner too for brunettes keeping your locks covergirl glossy.

How could I forget?

Postcards from the plot #6 *On days like these…*

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food for the soul

On days like these I’d recommend a workout battling with ground elder and bindweed for a few hours in someone else’s garden – and being paid for the privilege – followed by a thermos of coffee whilst you watch the waves roll in.

Perfection.

Cabbage soup is the new Rock and Roll!

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immune system booster, jetlag cures, kale and cannelini bean soup

My family are obsessed with cabbage soup at the moment! Two of the apprentices are studying the Anglo Saxons and the Vikings at school and seem convinced that this formed the bulk of the diet for your average  Dark Ages dweller. The third is struggling with a chesty cold.

We cook with cabbage and kale a lot at this time of year – although cabbage soup features but rarely. However last night I did dabble in a bit of an upmarket variety – Kale and cannelini bean soup. It’s a great immune system booster and also fab for jetlag, incidentally. (Members of the jetset, take note!) Here’s how…..

• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 4 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 can cannelini beans, drained
• 1/2 bag of kale, chopped
• boiling water
• salt and pepper
• red chilli flakes

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan and cook up the onions, carrot, and celery. Once the onion is transparent, add the garlic and chilli. Cook for a few minutes, then add the beans and kale.

Add as much boiling water as you think you will need – less is more! 

Season with salt and pepper, and add a dash of red chilli flakes if not spicy enough.

Fortunately for me my boy loves kale. Not all children do. But you can’t go wrong with bubble and squeak, a hot juice and a big hug for more fussy poorly lambs.

Three cheers for fennel!

Tags

fennel, fennel tea, home remedies, Roamn herb garden

It’s that time of year when a bit of over-indulgence may tip you over the edge. Listen up people! Forget New Year’s resolutions of abstemious diets. What fun is that? Think of me as your post-Christmas fairy godmother and let me introduce you to the wonders of fennel tea.Not uber-exciting at first glance, I grant you but

1. it’s good for you
2.  it works
3. it’s very pretty growing in the garden AND
4. it avoids the angst of having failed by January 7th.in your calorie- counting resolutions………………… What’s not to love?

To make fennel tea take a teaspoon of seeds (gathered and dried earlier in the year or shop-bought) and pour on boiling water. Let it brew for 5 minutes, strain and drink. It aids digestion, prevents heartburn and constipation and will help with that post- festive  ‘no more food and drink ever’ feeling. It’s an acquired taste. (I never drink it but not everyone is blessed with female Celtic ancestry and consequently the constitution of an ox.) 

But that’s not all. Fennel tea is also good for tired eyes, and skin that needs a bit of a boost. Use it as a facial steam bath (seeds and leaves), mix with honey to make a facepack or make a cold compress and bathe the eyes.  Apparently the facemask is great for wrinkles too – if you worry about such things.

I’m a big fan of common fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and of her more attractive bronze sister (Purpureum)  but less enomoured of Florence. To be frank we never grow it as none of us really like the taste. It’s easy to grow in sunny, well-drained, fertile soil. If you garden on clay – like me  -then it will be happier if you mix in some sharp sand. Pick the flower heads in Summer to maintain a steady supply of leaves and cut back old growth in the Winter, when it will die back. It only needs protection in really cold conditions and can be sown in Autumn in a heated greenhouse for use in Winter salads.

I grow it at home mainly for flower arranging and as a companion plant as it attracts hoverflies and therefore is great at keeping aphids at bay. But it’s also a must in the  gardens I design for schools and nurseries – particularly snacking and sipping gardens or Roman herb gardens. Children can munch on the seeds and try to identify the taste. Some love it – others don’t but they’ll all want to try.The Romans were very keen on fennel and used it in salads, bread or cakes. Roman  gladiators took it for good health and strong constitutions. They even wore wreaths made from fennel and Roman ladies chewed the seeds to prevent becoming fat as it staves off pangs of hunger. Presumably this is why it was also eaten by American puritans during over-long sermons in church. 

So if you are in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions plan to grow some fennel in your garden this year – even if you won’t be drinking fennel tea.