Five things that made me smile today

1. My homemade gooseberry and whitecurrant jam, spread on organic toast, at breakfast. Yum.
2. Discovered that the Gnome, of the blog Down on the Allotment, has written a lovely review of my book on allotments.
3. I finally learned, thanks to some very clear instructions in Organic Gardening Magazine, how to string onions properly. My crop is mow hanging proudly in the pantry rather than lurking in the garage to fall prey to the local earwig heavy mob. (Unfortunately this article isn't online so you'll have to go and buy the magazine, which is no bad thing - it's recently been redesigned and increased in size, and it's even better than before. There's a good article on edible hedgerows I'd recommend, too).
4. The aforementioned magazine, my favourite gardening-related periodical, has also started a blog, here.
5. I visited Garden Organic HQ at Ryton today and checked out my dream glasshouse, ate a delicious lunch at their restaurant and lay in the cool green grass with my two favourite people, dreaming of next year's growing scheme.

Comments

[Joanna]

What a good list. I made bread this morning, and that made me feel happy. So I made some more this evening (the morning's lot was all eaten up by other people who were happy to find it on the kitchen table!). I ate it with the last of last year's quince jam. It made me think of this year's quince jam making session. But I didn't get to Ryton, and I've never been there. So now it's on my list. Thanks for sharing.

Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com

[laipai]

Ah, yes - I was lucky enough to visit Ryton last week too and it was simply fab. The glasshouse was definitely the stuff of dreams and their roses were glorious too. The allotment garden reminded me of what my plot should look like, instead of the acres of weeds it actually looks like. But the highlight of my day was the organic flapjack sold in the coffee shop ... I bought two extras and have been rationing them out all week. Exquisite!