Thursday...

Today I needed some pink...no reason; that’s just what I suddenly knew I needed to see.

I had in mind some of those rosy snowberries at first, but when I went out to the green grocers, the rhubarb had me at first glance!

( ...and thought I’d share one of my tricks to get roses to stand up without cutting off their whole stem! )

Italy ( part 3 )...with Rustic Reds

When I arranged one of my table/trug photos during the week I had completely coincidentally used the colours of the Italian flag...

I often wake up with a sense or feeling of colour and am then drawn to it for the rest of the day, so maybe the Italian colours themselves had inadvertently seeped into my mind...

We walked in and around a farm near to the hotel, which had a guard goose, and when the old man saw me taking photos he proudly led me to a hut of baby goats ( which he appeared to control with a long twig! ).

There’s something about Italy which seems to bring you closer to your food...seeing the abundance of home grown produce and wild fruits daily sort of made our meals a complete part of the day, and I can absolutely see how good food, cooking and the land is such a massive part of Italian culture...

Thursday...veg picking

One of my favorite places in Sussex is Roundstone Pick Your Own Farm...and as always the act of ‘picking’ became a little obsessive. 

Its such a brilliant place to take children too, as they can run for miles and not be out of sight and also taste the vegetables which they’re helping to pick.

I’ve never eaten a purple Kohlrabi before ( the one I pulled up is probably big enough to last the whole Summer! ) but I completely fell in love with how beautiful it looked and then I  just couldn’t leave without a red cabbage...

...sweet peas, mange tout ( which squeak )

...cauliflower, broccoli and broad beans ( which smell like my Granny’s broad beans )

...courgettes

...early plums

...beetroot, camomile, carrots ( which make the best popping sound when you pull them out )

...rasperries

...and rhubarb

I didn’t manage to get to the strawberries, blackcurrents, tayberries or runner beans, but I’ll be going back over the Summer for them, as well as savoy cabbage, gooseberries and blackberries and then pumpkins, plums and marrows in the Autumn...

Picking My Own...

Went to the pick your own fruit and veg farm today....and then ate it all!!!