With 40-50cm of snow in the farm fields, grain-eating birds are desperate for food. Today, some 30 yellowhammers (gulspurv) and many hooded crows (kråke) and jackdaws (kaie) were at the bird feeder where I’d put out some grain this morning!
All posts by Stephen Barstow
Perennial shoots in the snow
Plenty of greens as perennial vegetable shoots are now in season here!
Snow scenes
Several days with snow showers and we now have the deepest snow for this time of year since 1986!
Under the thick layer of snow the soil is unfrozen, a good winter for the plants! Difficult to believe I harvested some 15 plants from the garden earlier this week!
Gamle Norske Humle
Medlemmer av Norwegian Seed Savers (KVANN) får igjen mulighet gjennom Årboka som kommer i februar å bestille stiklinger av de gamle Norske humleplantene som er samlet i en klonsamling hos NIBIO Apelsvoll Forskningsstasjon som ligger på vestsiden av Mjøsa i Østre Toten kommune. Nedenfor finner dere tre artikler som forteller mer om samlingen og analysene som er gjort (noen sorter skal være gode sorter for ølbrygging).
KVANN etablere plantelaug for flere nytteplanter (deriblant kålvekster, frukt, hvitløk osv.). Det kan også være aktuelt å etablere en Humle-laug for å koordinere og kvalitetssikre vårt arbeid med humle, en fantastisk ølplante, urt og et av de beste vårgrønnsakene på høyde med asparges når det gjelder smak! Om du er interessert i å være laug leder, ta gjerne kontakt med oss!
The first morning of 2019
The sun finally appeared today briefly above the southern hills and I saw my first sun shadow this year!! Whoohoo! We made it through the long night again!
H for Hablitzia Extreme Salad
The Less than Extreme Salad Man has been in action with the year’s multi-species salad! A few hours before the polar low storm hit and snow covered the greens, I did a forage around the garden, finding about 15 species, mostly onions, but there were fresh dandelions, perennial kales and the first Hablitzia shoots. These were added to a selection of stored vegetables from the cellar, including blanched dandelion and chicory shoots which had grown in the above average temperatures. About 30 different veggies!
January storm
It was a dramatic night here with high winds, snow, hail and there was even a thunderstorm at 4 am (not common in winter here!)….a Polar Low (polar lavtrykk).
Long Horseradish root
We’re nearing the end of a very mild period with no frost in the ground, so I’ve been doing a lot of unseasonal work in the garden. Yesterday, I dug over the horseradish (pepperot) bed and excavated this one root that was trying to escape into a neighbouring area as carefully as I could!
I cut off the top with a bit of root for forcing the delicious young shoots and the root will be ground!
Sally Gap
On my last morning in Wicklow, Orlaith took me on a spectacular wild drive over the Wicklow mountains through the Sally Gap pass stopping off to look down on lough Tay, locally called the Guinness lake!
Bay swans
Six whooper swans (sangsvane) resting in the bay this morning!