At the end of 2009 moving to HB was still contemplation. I seem to remember posting some rather grand visions for what I hoped 2010 might hold. So what does the year look like with the benefit of hindsight rather than foresight?
Well pretty good really.
Admittedly lots of things remain on the to do list.
There hasn't been much foraging. We found and ate some wild garlic with some help from Matt. And picked a lot of blackberries. I got some great photos of Wharncliffe fungi but a mix of lack of confidence and lack of time meant we didn't get as far as identifying the garden fungi for edibileness.
There haven't been any chickens either. I'm pretty keen that our own fresh eggs will be on the way by the summer but still a bit nervous about the responsibility and the carnivorous desires of local foxes (and dogs). The bees can definitely wait.
Oh and asparagus, blueberries, globe artichokes, another row of apple trees, a walnut tree and a hazel coppice may or may not get planted before next winter. Planting anything requiring too permanent a location might have to wait a bit longer as plans to build another barn to add to the house will mean 2012 might be a bit of a building site.
Lots of things we'll have to call 'learning from experience'.
What should have been an abundance of early planted broccoli and sprouts was, average at best. Tomatoes from the collapsing greenhouses were also pretty poor. And I'm not sure we'll be trying again to get anything through the tough winters we have up on our Yorkshire hillside. We planted up several beds with potatoes, chicory, leeks, kale, cabbages, cauliflowers and various other stuff that might just make it through the darker months. Not when you're up against our local pheasants and night time temperatures in November of -12 you won't. I'm pretty sure the expert digging and pecking pheasants were the worst culprits and the iciness just the finisher. At least someone got fed.
Oh and we realised the importance of time well spent. Reducing the seven hour lawnmowing marathon on arrival to a more manageable 3 hours meant it was even fun on some summer Saturdays. But there are more productive things to be done. So a ride on mower /speedmachine is now on the wishlist. And we might then spend as much time planning, planting and growing species rhododendrons, magnolias, rambling roses, clematises and anything that can bring vivid colour to the new borders we'll create. Oh and the pond. We'll plant something in the pond.
But overall lots of things felt like achievements.
After spending the whole first part of the year in limbo waiting to move, then finally getting an overgrown cottage garden to unleash the spade on in May once spring was in full bloom, getting anything growing felt like a success. We had good crops of peas, runner beans, french beans, courgettes (which we sort of forgot to pick so lets call em marrows), lots of varieties of potatoes, some broccoli, loads of good lettuces and rocket. We also had lots of perennial stuff offered up with very little effort. Apples, raspberries, strawberries galore, black and red currants.
And our store cupboard (and food memories) are testimony to a good harvest. Pickled beans, ice creams, marrow and ginger, blackcurrant, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and rhubarb jams, cassis liqueur, elderflower cordial and, fingers crossed, a small barrel of cider due to be bottled sometime in 2011. With any luck we can have our first few bottles in the company of friends around the campfire. And our lovely new daughter. Thanks and best wishes to all our campfire companions in 2010. And here's a cider tinged toast to many more in 2011. Salut. x
