Rain.

After having to water the veg every day for about a month, we finally had rain yesterday. Nothing better for your veggy plot than a good days rain.

These are my tomato plants. We had a good crop last year and expect even better this year.
The chilli's are finally starting to show themselves as are the Pac Choi and mustard greens.

This weekend I'll be processing logs and stacking them to dry for next winter.

Italy and an update on the veg plot.

Everyone does this.
The Colloseum.
Pizza and cappuchino.
Vatican church.
Ferrari dealer.

Got back from our wee coach tour break in Italy on Wedensday. We started from Calais in northern France, travelling through Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany and an overnight stop in Switzerland to get there. That was a long day. First night in Italy was spent at Pisa, including a excursion to the Leaning Tower. Second and third nights were spent near Florence. We never took the optional excursion there, deciding to explore the place by ourselves.

Next day we took the excursion to Roma and the Vatican, very nice but very expensive. 5th night was spent at a resort called, Lido de Jessolo just outside Venice. Venice was nice but again very expensive for ordinary working people like ourselves. The last day in Italy we spent at Lake Garda, then onwards to Austria where we spent our last night.

All in all a very hectic holiday, not very relaxing but a great way to see the highlights of a country in a very short time.

Once I work out how to extract pic files from my phone I will post some pics.....

I cant believe the difference in just eight days. Everything seems to have doubled in size due to the warm weather here while we were away. Temps were averaging low 20's.

Should have some nice strawberies in a few weeks.

Garlic doing well. Shallots doing well.Cabbage, cauliflower, beans and brocolli.Japanese red onions, French white and red.

Its all going rather well with no disease or pests as yet.

Rainbows, and a wee update on the veggie plot.

Heavy rain on Wedensday evening was preceded by this awesome double rainbow. Not too sure if summer has arrived yet or not because its still a wee bit cold in the mornings and during the night.

Not to worry as Sandra and I are off to Italy for a short break on Tuesday.

Heres an update on the veggy plot. Lots of rain and sunshine and we should be eating our own produce by June. Might have a few chickens by then.

This is as far as I intend to go with the raised beds this year. If its a success, and I think it will be, I'll build another four full size and two half size. I have planted onions, shallots, garlic, runner beans, asparagus, carrots, parsnips, swedes, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.
There is still lots of space for scallions, lettuce and salad stuff, maybe some herbs.
Biggest success is the garlic. I planted about forty cloves and most were up in a few days. There are also onions and shallots starting to burst through. Its still a wee bit cool at night but hopefully no more frost. The garden centre has six types of tomatoes so I intend to buy some this coming weekend for the greenhouse. I had to replace four panes of glass which were broken because of recent strong winds. Once the temps go into the high teens I will plant some chilli and bell peppers, cucumber and melon.

Loch Oich and more wood.

Went to Loch Oich at the weekend but the fishing was not very productive. Four of us made the 150 mile trip but only one small fish caught, a wee jack pike of about 2 lb.

When all is said and done its still a wee bit cold as yet, another few weeks and the temps should rise and the fish will start feeding again.

My grandson Josh was with us and had a wee accident during the night. He had eaten 2 Pot Noodles, a beefburger, chilli and potatoes, lots of juice and chocolate. Well, he was sharing Dougs tent, and I was sharing Craigs. At 3 am he decided that he was going to barf, but could'nt find the zip and ended up vomiting all over the tent, Doug, the sleeping bags, the jackets etc. What a goddamned mess. Doug just cleaned it up the best he could, and they went back to sleep.





Took a day off work today so I could catch up on some well needed sleep. It was nice being able to turn over and have another couple of hours.


Had a nice breakfast of free range eggs, bacon, tomato, toast and a caffetiere of espresso before going out to the workshop and servicing the Husqy's.


I've been working on another fallen tree. This one is a beech. Its not a whole tree, just two branches, but both of them are 3 feet across at the thickest point.

As you can see one of the branches is laying across the other. I managed to cut the top one on the point of balance without crushing myself between them. Very scary!!

Cant beat a day in a hardwood forest with a chainsaw. Best way in the world of getting rid of your pent up agression. More on this later in the week.

Traditional Scottish steak pie.

Traditional Scottish steak pie was originally a peasant dish using the cheaper cuts of meat ie shoulder or shin. Shin is a very gristly cut but when pressure cooked for about 40 minutes or so makes a nice filling for a pie. I use aprox 2lb or 1 kilo of shin of beef for this pie.
Start by coating the beef in seasoned flour and fry/seal in a small amount of corn oil a hot non stick frying pan, a handfull at a time till its all done. Transfer to pressure cooker and add 3 chopped onions, 2 large sliced carrots, 3 cloves garlic, 3 beef stock cubes and a pint or so of water or stock. Nothing to stop you changing the basic recipe to suit your own taste/culture.
Pressure cook on blue for 40 minutes, or if you dont have a pressure cooker, a large pan with a tight fitting lid for about 2 hours

. Once the meat is very tender, save the liquid and put the beef in a pie dish.
Top with rolled puff pastry. Using a pastry brush give the top a coat of seasoned egg wash.
Put the pie in a medium hot oven for about 40 minutes or until baked.
Meanwhile add some cornflour to the gravy and season to taste.
Traditionally served with roast potatoes and seasonal veg.

Thanks to Max Campbell for the original recipe.

Raised beds project under way.

Spent the weekend in the garden as opposed to fishing. Weather forecast was bad again for up north so stayed home. Managed to get four of the beds in position as you can see.

The two on the left have each one hundred onion sets. The nearest one has French yellow, the other a French red. If I can get some shallot sets I will do a bed for them also. We love shallots.

I plan to have eight of these beds and a few traditional furrows. Other veg we plan to grow are cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, some beans and peas, swedes and salad such as lettuce, spring onions, Pak Choi, beets and maybe try some exotics depending on the weather.

Last summer here in Scotland was a non event with average temps of about 10c. The previous summer saw average temps in the high 20's.