Save Sipson

This is a snap of the lovely Tracey from Sipson village. Although she probably won't thank me for uploading it, as it was taken on Monday as she was packing up from Glastonbury, and believe me there was absolutely no one looking at their best!

Sipson is the village that will be demolished if BA gets away with its stupid Heathrow expansion plans. Tracey was down at Glastonbury on the Green Peace Air Plot garden to tell people about the vibrant community in Sipson. I think she really touched people and was very inspiring.

If you haven't already (tut tut) sign up to help Tracey and all the other people in Sipson keep her community http://www.airplot.org.uk/

Bumper Fun Blag of the Year!

Woop woop I have just spent the last week at the Glastonbury festival all courtesy of work.

Before I get carried away, it wasn't all about having a mad one, we went down to build an orchard and an air miles garden. We were based in the Green Peace spot where the focus was against the stupid Heathrow expansion. We took the apples trees down to highlight that the Cox apple comes from Sipson, the village that will be demolished if the expansion happens.

The idea behind the Air Miles Garden was to show people how much stuff is flown in and how many diverse things you could actually grow yourself, even out of typical season.

It all went down well but more importantly we all had a wicked time. Dizzy Rascal was fab but the best music was definitely Peaches, it was a right waste that she was on in the Dance Village on Sunday night. The main soundtrack to this years festival though will be 'pshiisstt'. That's the sound of balloons being filled with nitrous oxide. They were bloody everywhere!!

Ta Da

This is what the labels Ro printed for the parsnip wine look like.

Printing Wine Labels

There is nothing like a good old bit of child labour. The Victorians weren't all bad!

This is a snap of Rosa silk screen printing some labels for my home made parsnip wine. She has printed me some lovely labels mixing inks together as she dragged the squeegee across and leaving a leaf shaped blank bit in the middle for me to write the description.

Allotment Update

Right check this out people!

Its will only be 3 weeks this Saturday but look how far we have come on the allotment (please take a look at the earlier post about the allotment to see what I mean).

We have actual signs of broad beans and tomatoes!!!! Not just that, the spuds seem to be doing very well, as do the courgettes. The runners aren't looking to healthy, but sod it, its all about having a go!

We have done it on a non existent budget, so most of the seeds and young plants have been rescued from work and the beds are very much made from what we have been able to skip dive. But Dave, Kaz and I are all feeling pretty chuffed!

Woo Hoo Back On Line

Finally the old tintyweb thing is sorted!

Check out the snap of my first try at Red Onion Marmalade. I made it for a colleague's birthday (I did also put in for the collection, I'm not that tight!). Lovely Verity drew a nice label for it too. I have seen a recipe for Red Onion Marmalade before but I didn't have one to hand when I made it so I winged it. Its worked out pretty well too!

Basically to make about 3 average size jars I used a bag of red onions, a packed of light brown sugar, 3 or 4 red birds eye chilli's, almost a whole bottle of red wine vinegar and about two and a half glasses or red wine, some good sprigs of thyme from the garden and a few bay leaves. I gently sauteed the onions & chili (for quite a long time) till they were very soft then added the herbs, sugar and everything else. Bring to the boil and then tern to a rolling simmer for about an hour. When its all nice and congealed and sticky, stick it into steralised jars.I think it shouls keep for a couple of months.

I had some with veg sausage in a wrap for lunch. Yum!

BT Have Mucked Up My Tintyweb Connection

Sorry for the delay in updates! BT have managed to upgrade the speed of internet connection for the whole of my area but have somehow managed to knock out a wire that only affects my internet connection. Its four days since I have had a connection. Argh!!!!

In the mean time please enjoy the picture of a lovely Vegan Cherry Choc Cupcake.