In which I keep my fashion pledge...

Last week I started my PGCE, thats post grad certificate in Education for those wondering. This basically means that someone somewhere decided I am allowed to teach children English. This is most exciting. But a lot of work. With all the PGCE work I have been undertaking I have unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) been a little slow on the shopping front. But today in a brief break from essay-ing I hit the highstreet, well the charity shops. The town I live in is in middle class suburban Surrey and you would not believe the stuff that people give to charity shops- it definitely beats the days I spent trawling in Leeds believe me. With a positive mental attitude and an open mind I quickly slipped back into my former charity shop shopping ways.

I came away with a gorgeous brand new polka dot dress (for when I’m a teacher dontcha know) for a mere £6 (as much as I would normally spend on a sandwich in my lunch break) and a brand new pair of M&S leopard print pumps (I’m a little bit obsessed with leopard print...) for a fiver! Amazing. I will definitely be hitting the charity shops again soon- what a fabulous way to save pennies and reduce the amount I consume! Keep your eyes peeled guys!

I hope you are all well my lovelies- I promise to try my best to keep up to date with you all this year, but stand by I think it's going to be a toughie...the chooks already feel neglected!

a tonne of crabapples and no recipes...

What with starting uni (again) next week and signing over my life and mental health to the teaching profession- I have decided that now is the time to get all my fruit and veggies in storing mode. I am yet to master the art of chutney ( I think I just don’t really like it and I still have jars of the bloody stuff from last years’ marrows going ignored at the back of the cupboards) , jam I am very good at (if you ignore the ill fated rose petal jam which ended up going mouldy and was rejected by most of the family at first sniff). I’ve had a go at drying, I have loaded the cupboards with little jars of herbs from the garden which look very pretty but again will probably be ignored in favour of ketchup (don’t blame me!). Freezing is where I really shine. I have commandeered a drawer in my mother’s precious freezer and explained how the new system will work, she seems ok with this now but my beautiful courgette patties will probably be moved out in favour of oven chips by my brother some time soon. I’ve filled the drawer up with raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, peas, courgettes, a tonne of marrows and whatever else has come back from the lottie to be received with groans of “oh god not again”. My family may not share my enthusiasm but when I’m eating lovely organic veg right into the winter they’ll be singing a different tune I’m sure!

I was lucky enough to come across some gorgeous crabapple trees outside The Boyfs mum’s flat (apparently 1960’s council blocks were always planted with fruit tress- result!) Anyway, as I tend to do I got a bit over excited and ended up dragging a few massive carrier bags full of the little fellas home with me- never having tried them before. The helpful Boyf bought home a huge bag of cooking apples from one of his gardening clients as well so the house is a little over run. I have made (and frozen, naturally) the standard apple pie/ crumble filling to be used at a later date. The little crabapples are actually quite sweet so I’m pretty happy with the result- their pink skin turns the whole mix a lovely girly colour too- I am definitely looking forward to a pink pie to cheer my autumn evenings! Do any of you have any recipes that could use up my glut? I mainly like puddings...

I also thought you might like to see my little kitchen helper. Maude and Mildred my chicken children have taken to coming into the the house to demand food and attention now rather than just screeching in the garden. In truely unhygenic and nosey moment, Maude has discovered this is the best place to scrounge....

My mother would be horrified to know this is going on in the house, let being posted on the internet! Obviously I do not cook when she is on the oven mum, it would be VERY unhygenic and well...a bit dangerous for little Maude.

With a little inspiration...

So, making the most of the long weekend, The Boyf and I headed to Kew Gardens for the Start@Kew exhibition, encouraging sustainable and green living. It was a great day out, the sun was shining as we sat in deck chairs on the lawn and watched sustainable fashion shows, a musical about bees and talks from some of London’s leading eco lights.

One of the most interesting talks of the day was from a group of people who run an amazing network called Project Dirt which is a community of smaller groups who work together to make London a little bit more green. This brilliant scheme includes an amazing project called Food From the Sky, a community vegetable plot on top of supermarket Budgens in Crouch End. These guys not only grow their own fruit and veg but sell it in the supermarket. I’m hoping to get down there soon and have a proper look around so keep your eyes peeled.

We staggered home with more reusable bags than we could carry, samples of green washing up liquid and fabric softener and a head full of ideas. On the way home The Boyf and I established our own Guerrilla Gardening group, we later gained an extra member in the form of my Old Pa...it’s a small group but we’re working on it!

Our first hit was a verge outside our house. This is Resident’s Association territory- living in a private road is like living next door to the Gestapo...(verges to be trimmed, gutters to be cleaned and swept, cars to be cleaned- you get the picture!) anyway we started by using some of the tonnes of seeds we’ve been collecting over the last few weeks, everything from blousy hollyhocks to dainty poppies in every colour from black to pastel yellow. I also threw a couple of butterfly wildflower seed mixes in there for good measure. My initial plan to also plant a few veggies in there (I’m always over run with courgette plants, those buggers are just desperate to grow) and turn the verge into an edible snack spot for the kids walking to school (and REALLY annoy the residents association) was shot down by the rest of my group (Old Pa and The Boyf) but I haven’t given up on it yet! I am now on the scrounge for spring bulbs and new places to plant. My horizons are broadening beyond my front verge!

Come of the Hollyhocks seeds...

Our first spot...