Interesting Beets

I've got quite a few beds of beets in this year and I love trying new and interesting varieties. 

So far I've got three beds I can harvest from at the moment and these are the beets from each one that me and the children pulled up for tea last night.

From left to right Golden, Di Choggia and Albino! 

Only the middle one has got a decent name! Shame really, who'd call a plant Albino! 

The Di Choggia is really beautiful when it's cut up but they all taste amazing. I think I need to do a blind taste test really to see which is best. 

This lot got made into soup and due to the selection it didn't have the deep red colour that you'd normally get from beetroot soup but still tasted amazing served with fresh baked granary rolls. 

What's your favourite variety of beetroot?

My Week In Pictures

 Sorry I've been rubbish on the blog this week, It's been busy to say the least!

Here's a few pictures of what we've been up to! 

The hot days have meant every meal has been eaten outside on the new patio

Breakfast in pyjamas

Couldn't ask for better company! 

A sneak peak at the new chicken coop I've designed this last week or so! A blog post and video coming up on this next week! I'm really pleased with it!

Child labour podding broad beans for tea

Made up some more veg boxes this week to sell to people I know. I was really pleased with the selection

The sheep have been moved a couple of times this week. The boy loves the stock! 

The two younger ones playing nicely together, here playing mum's and dad's. Considering he's only 18 months old he's really good at playing the games the girls come up with!  

Some baking - Here's some more pesto swirls I made

Some summer crops are ready now - Syrian Cucumber 

Yellow Courgettes ready as well. I don't have a poly tunnel so I was pleased to get these so early.

Some lovely red cabbage ready as well in the garden. 

Trying to stop my biggest garden pest from stealing all my veg! She spends the whole time down there eating! 

Some brought in eggs for hatching - trying to bring in a bit of fresh blood for breeding. Bet the hen won't stay broody now! 

Harvesting potatoes with the girls today! Is there a better job to do with children?

Another compost bin completely filled! Shows the garden is in full swing at the moment! 

The Chance To Win A Shed

I think most people who know me know I love a good shed! So here's chance to win a little one. 

I'm not being sponsored to have this competition on my blog but I do win a small prise if the winner is directed from my blog, that said I'm going to enter the kids Wendy house so I doubt anyone else will have a look in.... 

I'd love to see your sheds as well to be honest - send me them on my facebook page so I can see them as well!

Details below:

Vlog Episode 6 - Walk Round

The next Vlog is on YouTube now!

Join me on a walk round the sheep and a look at my very productive veg gardens! Everything is growing like crazy and we're harvesting so much at the moment! 

Let me know what you think! 

Identifying Plants - Feverfew

There's a clump of feverfew that's growing by my chicken feed shed all spring. 

I know it's feverfew but I don't know how I know that (if that makes sense). I can't ever remember looking it up, maybe I saw it in a book once and it stayed in my memory. But my daughter was asking me just the other day what the flower was. 

I thought it was a great exercise to confirm the knowledge in my brain, that it was the right plant, and show her that looking things up in a book is a good way to identify something you're not sure of. So we picked a sprig of flowers and went to one of my identification books (I have many) that I brought from a carboot sale years ago for a couple of pounds. 

This book is called "The Wild Flowers Of The British Isles" by Garrard & Streeter and although I know that these days most people just post a picture of a plant on a forum or a Facebook group and expect someone to come up with an answer, I still think it's great to look it up in a book. To me it seems a much more accessible medium to a young child. 

Luckily I was right, my daughter seemed to really enjoy the process and it was a fun five minute activity to do together. 

Apparently this plant is a great migraine preventative along with other medicinal uses. 

Anyone use this plant? I have loads growing!