 A cooling simple supper 20 June 2025 (Friday) We're up early again, in fact Richard was up about 4:30, opening windows to let the cooler air of the morning in. However, the cooler air is only cool compared to yesterday's daytime temperature and how the rest of the day will be, so it's still pretty warm. The good thing is, there’s a bit of a breeze today so that’s helping with the temperature feel at least. There's an amber warning for heat, which means that there's a threat to life, particularly for those with underlying health conditions. The reality is, human-induced climate warming is here to stay; it's not going to go away. As long as the world carries on burning fossil fuels at the rate that we are, we’ll continue missing all the revised targets that we’ve been missing since the Paris Treaty years and years ago (2015). Also, people will still keep on having more and more kids which is adding to the population, which in turn adds to the draws on the natural resources of this planet, which are all finite. Hey, ho… rant over… Richard’s trying another recipe for lunch today, and it's another salad, this time made with red quinoa - a seed rather than a grain, though still classed as a grain by many. Now quinoa is something that we both rather like, though in the past we’ve found that it tends to overcook pretty swiftly; one moment it's just under done and needs a little more time… the next second it's glooping at the base of the pan as a thick unwelcome slush. Anyway, Richard's got his way now of cooking it al dente, which gives the salad a nice crunch and texture. Of course, he's done a video of it and that will be up next Tuesday and I'll link to it here when it is. There's been work today and also work work, with various challenges on the work work front; it seems that as we get closer to Midsummer Revels on Sunday, the overwhelm for some is increasing. I have to say, I'll be glad when Sunday is over, as we then have a little respite over the next couple of months with only small Head, Heart & Health sessions going on at the Great Green Barn and gardens, and no major events or shows. Despite the overcast nature of the day, it’s again pretty hot and one of my fellow plotters is still away so I’m watering her plot. She's asked me to keep an eye on her beans and her tomatoes, and a cucumber, and a few other things, though in reality with the heat that we're having and the sun blazing down her whole plot needs a really good water, so I'm backwards and forwards with my watering can about 20 times… and then I need to water my own plot too! I have to say that with the heat, I'm not really feeling in the mood of getting on and doing work and would much rather just grab a pint at the pub and sit on the plot and enjoy the heat. However, if I don't actually get on and do things then things just don't get done, so I got on with tomatoes. We've got a bit of a busy weekend next weekend, so I decided to film this and then I'll refer back to it in next week's A Week at the Plot. Basically though, the first thing that I did was give the bed a little weed of any perennial weeds that are coming through, which in the case of this bed is always mainly bindweed, then cinquefoil. I then looked at any side shoots that were pretty large, and took them off and put them into a glass jar which had some water in it. I'll look at them more closely tomorrow, though with some beds empty and with the brassicas being mullered by pigeons at the moment I think it might be sensible to root some of the side shoots to put into a bed for a later crop of tomatoes. I then got on and took all of the remaining smaller side shoots off, using my fingers, though in doing that I noticed that a few of the plants had already split into two growing tips, and as both tips are pretty established I let them be.
I'm still pondering on how to stake the tomatoes this year. I'd love to do a frame and string them up; I think it’s the best way to stake tomatoes, though it seems quite a few of these tomatoes aren’t going to reach a great height so I pondered whether that’s just overkill. The other option is to put a bamboo cane next to each of the plants and then tie each tomato into the cane. As I was mulling this, a fellow plotter came along with a pint of Amstel from The Fox, and I looked at it lovingly. We had a chat and as we talked about our growing year and the heat of the moment, we also discussed staking of tomatoes, and I sort of made up my mind there and then that I'm going to initially put a bamboo cane in and tie them in. Also, with the heat that we have at the moment, I didn't fancy building a huge frame which would take me half a day under this glaring sun. If needs must at a later date, I’ll build the frame.
Once my fellow plotter had moved on to walk to his own plot, I got on with removing the lower leaves of the tomatoes - doing this with a knife as I find any wound heels more swiftly. Just with side shoots taking energy from the main growing stem, having too many lower leaves on a tomato means that that tomato needs to take up more water to feed that leaf. By taking the lower leaves off, and the unnecessary side shoots (if it's indeterminate, do NOT take too many off if it's a bushing variety), the plant can hopefully put all its energy into growing taller and producing fruit. With the sun beating down, I decided that staking of the tomatoes would wait for another day, though I was pleased that I’d at least got this tomato cares job started. Back at home, I found an old birthday card in the bowl on the coffee table of our middle room and wafted myself with it. Apart from also getting a big drink of Vimto, it was the only thing to do at that moment to cool myself down a little. Richard had had a nap whilst I'd been at the plot, and woke up to get ready to do his live at 6pm, which all went fine. Supper was made up of leftover salads, a quick homemade coleslaw and cottage cheese, and then it was time for some TV and bed. Weather: Hot at 30°, though more overcast and a breeze so feels JUST a little cooler than yesterday. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Quinoa & Cucumber Salad with Halloumi Supper: Leftover Bulgur Wheat Summer Salad & Quinoa & Cucumber Salad, homemade coleslaw, and cottage cheese with two Ryvita rye crispbreads
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 The Dell area of the land of the Great Green Barn 17 June 2025 (Tuesday) I had a pretty decent night's sleep, and was up before the alarm went off at 6 o'clock this morning. It was going to be a Vanessa day so I generally set an alarm for these days, otherwise we only ever set the alarm if we’ve something that we NEED to be up really early for. The day is already warm, and on the way to hot, and by the time I've had a cup of tea, a little wash, and had my bowl of cereal, it was time to get in the car and get down to Shamley Green. Richard waved me off at the front door, as he normally does. My first stop was at the local garage. We had more than a sixth of a tank but less than a third of a tank. Now, Richard never likes to get too low on fuel, and much prefers to keep the tank full… “Just in case”. In this rather bizarre world that we seem to be now living in, “Just in case” seems to be a good reason for doing things, so I filled up Fenella, and then went on my way. Now the journey to Vanessa, particularly on a weekday, can take anything from an hour and a half to two and a half hours, and I had no idea that today was going to be one of those longer journeys. Oddly, for once, it wasn't actually the M25 that took up most of my time, though there were quite a few speed restrictions along it, but thankfully everyone seemed to be driving pretty sensibly and the flow kept on moving so I wasn't really delayed on the M25. The M3 and the A3 also were both pretty OK, so neither caused any time issues either. The issues this morning were leaving my area to get to the M3, then getting off the A3 and going my usual routhew through Guildford; satnav was redirecting me as there’d been an accident, so further down the A3 I went, and found myself going down towards Farnham and then round to Godalming to actually get to Shamley Green. So yes, it turned out to be one of those two and a half hour drives, well, almost two and a half hours… And the sunwas beating down on Fenella, so it was sticky and hot... When I got to my destination, I parked up, and then went to find Vanessa. She's moved from one barn that she used to live in into another barn, and also often goes for a walk with her cat around her property first thing. Or she’s at her desk in her office, which has also moved barns recently, or might be over at the shop doing things, or speaking to the various carpenters or workmen that might be on site. Today it took me a good 10 to 12 minutes to actually find her; she was at the shop sorting out cardboard. The thing is, with our main suppliers, we have an arrangement that at delivery they take back any of our packaging from previous deliveries that they can recycle. However, any cardboard needs to be flattened, any containers need to be stacked and contained, and any plastics need to be in a box and clearly shown to be just plastics. Also, what we can't do is put the packaging of one supplier to be taken away by another supplier. This means that as we have three main suppliers, each supplier’s packaging needs to be contained within a separate pile or area . With Suma delivering today, we had to ensure that there was only Suma packaging to be collected at the point of delivery. Additionally, Vanessa had also agreed to meet Debbie of Debbie's Jams to get our latest order, and the meeting point was about 20 or 30 minutes away from where the shop is. She was also keen for me to go with her, though someone would have to wait for the Suma delivery. Fortunately, Suma turned up really pretty swiftly within the time it had specified, and we were able to take in the delivery, give back the packaging and then get on our way for the Debbie's Jams collection. The rest of the day was very much as is normal, and there was also an Afternoon Tea in the Great Green Barn which I helped Vanessa set the tables for and get ready for. She and another helper did the main serving of the afternoon teas, which allowed me time to get to her desk and to the For Earth’s Sake shop to do some additional work that I needed to do. I did take a few minutes out to have some quiet time in the Dell, which was delightfully sun-drenched with lovely cooling dapled shade too; I decided to take some footage of the Dell and environs in which I work, as several people have asked in comments on A Week at the Plot. Vanessa was going off to see Derren Brown in Woking, so with her picnic packed and Vanessa ready to go, I left around 5:15 and it took me until 7 o'clock to get home. I really had to take a round about route too as again I was being diverted by my Google navigation system; quite a bit due to congestion, roadworks, and an accident.
I got home knowing Richard had made some Sun-dried Tomato Pesto as I’d seen a post about it on Facebook. He'd also done a video of him making it, so I will link to it. He cooked some wholewheat spaghetti and was soon spooning some into my bowl with some salad, and some grated cheese; we sat down and watched some TV whilst eating our supper. I have to say, the pesto had a really fabulous umami taste to it, in fact it was quite a taste sensation and there's definitely some left that can be frozen and then defrosted at short notice to bring about a really swift and tasty meal again. We watched the last episode of the current series 6 of Canal Boat Diaries, and as when a series that I've enjoyed comes to an end there's a little bit of sadness, in some ways almost a tiny bit of bereavement that that show is over. Hopefully, it will be recommissioned and Robbie Cumming will be able to show us his future journeys as he’s done for the last six series. We started watching something else, I can't actually remember what it was, and then with Richard dosing on the sofa I decided to finish an episode of Endeavour that I was halfway through. It was then time for bed, and a few pages of Louise Penny’s How the Light Gets In before lights out. Weather: Hot, reaching about 28° Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Veggie Breakfast from a garden centre Supper: Richard’s Sun-dried Tomato Pesto with wholewheat spaghetti, cucumber and tomato - plus some grated cheese  15 June 2025 (Sunday)
A bit of a funny Sunday as we’d yet to record Sunday Chat, which we did late morning, though before that Richard fancied a cooked breakfast - he pulled out almost all the stops and did an absolute banger of one! The sausages were Lidl’s Vemondo Cumberland Veggie ones, and there was also grilled tomatoes, pitta, scrambled eggs and baked beans - If we’d had mushrooms, they would have been on the plate too! It was bloody delish, and set us up for the day! I finished editing A Week at the Plot, after breakfast, then we recorded Sunday Chat quite late in the morning. After having a big breakfast, there was little need for lunch other than a mid-afternoon snack, so after a little house-keeping at my desk I went to the plot to water and do a few jobs. A relatively relaxing afternoon, including for me a bath, and then Richard decided he’d make his Quick Soya Burgers for supper, and I said we had two baps we could use for them, and I made a salad. We watched an intriguing programme on how organs (the instrument kind!) are being lost throughout the UK - with them either being saved (and most going to France) or just dumped… Organ Stops: Saving the King of Instruments, it’s well worth a watch. Then we dived into Happy Families, though Richard fell asleep halfway through episode 5 so I pressed Stop, and we’ll pick up on it tomorrow. Instead, I watched half an episode of Endeavour, which I’m again working my way through… it must be about the sixth time! Undoubtedly there will be a seventh time… and an eighth… and a ninth… Weather: Cooler than yesterday by about 6°, though still warm in the sun. Breakfast: Richard’s Cooked Veggie Breakfast Lunch: Rice cake, yeast extract and peanut butter Supper: Quick Soya Burger in a Bap, lettuce and mixed salad of olives, cucumber, red onion and tomato  Richard made my Hummus recipe for a video, and I made the salad 9 June 2025 (Monday) Awake at 6am and up soon after, though a tea in bed from Richard first. At my desk by 6.30am doing the usual Monday work work routine, and also the usual work routine which is adding the upload of A Week at the Plot that will be live at noonish today to my own website (the Richard & Paul website links to it), and also various other housekeeping tasks, like scanning in any documents that arrived over the past half week, as I keep 99% of anything important we receive by post as scanned documents. Vanessa’s off for a check-up on the eye procedure she had about a month ago, so before she does we’re chatting over WhatsApp and doing the ordering that we need to do. There’s also a get-in today as Man in the Moon is performing this week with the show Winnie-the-Pooh, adapted from AA Milne’s books by Vanessa’s husband Glynn Robbins who sadly died a decade or so ago. Once Vanessa and I are done, I do more work work at my desk, and then take a break - though not from work, as I just shift to our other computer, the Richard & Paul one (ie not my work work computer), and look at what segments of this week’s upload of A Week at the Plot I can use for a short, and decide I’ll do the planting of tomatoes, including the preparation of the bed prior to the planting; I do one version as landscape and the other as a portrait, specifically how they are wanted as Shorts. It’s all more work, though hopefully worthwhile! Richard’s took my recipe for hummus - which is unbelievably simple, and does that as a video, so not surprisingly that’s one meal sorted today! Yay!! After lunch - which was a delicious concoction of leftovers - it’s back to my desk, and then off to the plot for an hour or so… just pottering…though I do end up having our first indoor cucumber and outdoor courgette as a harvest, which go into supper!  A lunch of leftovers - curry sauce, cooked rice, and a tin of drained butter beans Supper’s hummus and salad and pitta - rather simple and rather nice. This evening Richard Cumming’s travelling up through the Grand Union Canal with his Canal Boat Diaries and passing our stretch, going through Hanwell Locks… so of course, we watch, as we watch each episode. It’s somewhat strange watching someone experience for the first time an area that you know so well… maybe Vivi felt this when we went on our walks of Swanage a few weeks back. Weather: Bright start, though seemed to have rained overnight. Grey through the day then bright with sun late afternoon - though still feeling chilly. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and sultanas (banana’s still too green…) Lunch: Soup made from leftover Curry Sauce, two portions of rice, a drained tin of butter beans and some added water - a lovely risotto-style dish Supper: Hummus, pitta, mixed salad of red onion, tomato, cucumber, olives and basil
8 June 2025 (Sunday)
Both up early - and overall a quiet day. I started the day finishing the edit for A Week at the Plot, then went to the plot for a few hours mid-morning - I just weeded, tidied, and checked on things. At home, Richard did a video of a Warm Chickpea & Couscous Salad (YouTube video now up!), which we had for lunch when I got home and which I was ready for - it filled a gap in a very tasty and healthy way. Whilst Richard had a nap, I did some desk work work, then put the hot water on to have a nice bath, something I have been wanting to do for ages! After his nap, Richard edited his cookery video and I read my book, Peter James Picture You Dead which I’ve found a tad long and convoluted, and got confused between a few names and characters, though I am getting through it. With the warm salad for lunch I made Butter Bean Smash Wraps for supper… Butter Bean Smash Wraps I drained a tin of butter beans, discarding the liquid (aquafaba - yes I know I COULD use it for something, though today I won’t) and put them in a flattish bowl, so that I could mash half of them. Then in went half a red onion diced, two sticks of celery diced, one dessert spoon of miso paste, and a ¼ teaspoon bouillon powder. I mixed these all together with the fork I used to mash the beans. Next, in went two two-inch long gherkins, chopped relatively finely, about a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice and the same of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (use soy sauce or whatever liquid aminos you have), and one tablespoon of yeast flakes, then mixed all together. Finally two rounded tablespoons of mayonnaise, and I gave it all a good mix. I warmed four wraps for 30 seconds in our microwave, then filled each wrap with several lettuce leaves with a quarter of the mixture heaped on top, and then rolled the wraps up, tucking one end in. Weather: Brighter than yesterday, though feeling quite chilly still, especially in the breeze. Breakfast: Rye loaf toast, Flora ProActiv. Yeast extract and peanut butter Lunch: Richard’s Warm Chickpea & Couscous Salad Supper: Butterbean Smash Wraps  NOTE - this is the sauce mixed with rice and butter beans, a dish from leftovers had on Monday 9 June! 7 June 2025 (Saturday)
The day started grey and cloudy and largely remained that way, though a few spells of sun did come through. Lots of rain had been forecast, and through the day I was waiting for it, hoping it would rain so that I didn’t need to go to the plot and water the French beans and Borlotti I sowed yesterday. After us both doing work in the morning, and a baguette lunch with fakon (fake bac*n - it was OK, though I’ll do our tofu bac*n next time), it was time to record Sunday Chat… and later, whilst Richard was editing it, the sky's clouds unburdened themselves… the rain came… at first heavy… then steady… no need to go to the plot today! Instead I watched some TV, then got on with supper… I was going to make a curry-type of thingy… Quickish Tofu Curry Yesterday, I took a block of firm tofu out of the freezer, let it defrost in the fridge overnight and then earlier I took it from the packet and gently squeezed it between my hands, to get rid of as much moisture as I could without the tofu splitting or breaking up. I then popped the block into a clean T-towel, wrapped it up so it was a tight bundle, placed on a surface and then pressed gently down on top, so that some of the remaining liquid came out into the cloth. After taking it from the T-towel, I then quartered the block lengthways on a chopping board, and cut the four sticks into cubed blocks. Putting into a bowl, I then dusted the cubes in a tablespoon of gram flour, though use any flour that you have to hand - cornflour gives a really crisp texture. Set this aside for a short while. I then cut two onions into 1/8th wedges, and added them into a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and the same amount of water. Turning the heat on I left to fry for a little, turning the heat down though leaving the onions to brown slightly. I then added two carrots cut into 1cm thick coins, a heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds, a tablespoon of miso paste (use bouillon powder if you prefer), and let these all brown together a little, with a lid on. If the mixture looks a little dry add another tablespoon of water. When the carrots were still al dente, I added a tablespoon of tomato paste, two frozen blocks of garlic, and the same of ginger, a heaped teaspoon of ground cumin, a heaped teaspoon of ground coriander, and a heaped teaspoon of a Madras curry powder, though use whatever curry powder you have or choice of Indian spices. Stirring constantly, I cooked these on a medium heat for about two minutes, cooking out the tomato paste and all the spices. I then added a tin of tomatoes, cutting them up with a knife once they were in the pan, and a can of coconut milk - I washed out each can with an additional 1/4 can of water, adding the extra 1/2 can liquid to the pan. I brought this all to the boil and then turned to a low simmer, for about 20 minutes, stirring every now and again. I then took a frying pan and added a tablespoon of olive oil, and when this was up to heat I re-dusted the tofu and then added to the pan - frying on each side for a few minutes until all was brown and a little crisp. I then took 200g of frozen peas from the freezer, and added these into the curry sauce mixture, bringing the sauce back to a heat and continuing to cook for the rest of the 20 minutes. I’d already cooked some brown rice, so I reheated this in the microwave, popped into two bowls, topped each bowl with half the tofu, then spooned over a quarter of the curry sauce. At serving we both added some liquid aminos, which we like doing, so I did not add extra salt before this time. And yes, I forgot to take a photo!! The rest of the curry sauce cooled in the pan, and when cold went into a labelled plastic container and into the freezer to use another day. UPDATE - 9 June: Though I enjoyed this meal, I felt it was not quite right, though Richard really enjoyed it. I'd been thinking since making this that actually the base sauce, maybe with grated carrot, would be good to batch cook, and that me not thinking this was a real winner was down to my mood rather than anything else. Today, Monday 9 June, Richard made lunch having recorded my hummus recipe video, and he made lunch - he used the leftover sauce, added a drained can of butter beans, and two leftover portions of cooked brown rice from the original meal; I think he also added some boiling water. It turned into a really, really delicious dish - something akin to a lovely risotto. So... I will be making this again, though as a base sauce to have portioned in the freezer for future use. We can then add the protein of our choice, and the starch, be it potatoes, rice, coucous, bulgur wheat... Weather: Grey, threatening rain all day with weather warnings, and then the rain finally came late afternoon Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Lidl baguette with Lidl fake bac*n, lettuce, tomato and a little mayonnaise Supper: Tofu with a Tomato & Coconut Curry Sauce, served with brown rice  4 June 2025 (Wednesday) Up early and at my desk doing work and work work. As I've said before, ‘work work’ is what I do for Vanessa (ie Great Green Barn and For Earth’s Sake) and two other clients - in other words what I send out an invoice for to my clients of Paul Savident Limited. What I call ‘work’ is everything else that I do that relates to earning money (or not!) which could be writing, or doing segments of A Week at the Plot, obviously doing Sunday Chat etc, etc. In the afternoon, it not being the brightest, I got down to the plot and decided that I’d sow some seeds which I’d brought down from home - two types of lettuce and also some additional dill. When I got down to the plot, there were quite a few things going on and I decided that it was most probably best to get the seedlings of mixed lettuce, parsley, coriander and rocket, all of which were residing in modules on a bench in as well as the one one dill seedling that we have. These went into the bed where I pulled out the chard, large chicory and common mallow a few days ago, maybe Sunday. The ground here isn't ideal, and there seems to be quite a lot of stones in it, though it'll do for this crop. We’re due a lot of rain tomorrow, but of course, I still give them a really good water once they’re in. In the poly I prick out our tiny lettuce seedlings into modules - these are our own saved seed which does really well for us, and some Lollo Bionda (I think I’ve been saying Bionda Rosso… oops…) which is fresh seed bought over the winter.. Tomorrow, with it due to be very wet, I'll do the further sowing of the seeds I intended to do today quietly, whilst in the poly.
Unusually, I give Vanessa a quick call when I'm in the shed. The allotment is really a sanctuary space for me and I don't do any work calls there now… though she’d called me about something and then texted to say “Ignore”, and me being me I wanted to make sure that I should ignore it for a particular reason, that reason being that Vanessa had found that what she was calling me about had already been done. So, I did give her a call, and indeed it was fine to ignore it because it was about the thing that she’d found out I’d already done.
Back at home, Richard's editing for either his vlog or a recipe that's going up tomorrow, so I leave him to it. In the evening it's an old black and white film on You Tube, and bed, and my book, and lights out. Weather: Brighter start than yesterday, though still feeling a tad chilly. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Carrot & Lentil Soup (from the freezer), Egg Mayonnaise, crackers cucumber and radish Supper: Quorn Garlic & Herb Fillets, and a delicious salad of tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olives and radish  Richard's No Olive Pasta Sauce 2 June 2025 (Monday) Up early, some work at my desk and then off to Lidl… which I knew was closing for refurbishment though looking at the shelves I realised it must be closing soon, so I ask and sure enough, it closes on Sunday. Coming home, I check when the new one opens in Brentford, and it’s Thursday - AND it will be opening at 7am so when I need to shop again I can drive down really early, do our shopping and still be at my desk early. And talking of my desk… It’s a desk work work day for me, with the usual ordering with Vanessa via a face call on WhatsApp. For lunch Richard made a truly delicious No Tomato Pasta Sauce which I really enjoyed - I love being cooked for (as long as the taste is good or better!), and some things become a real favourite, as this one has already.
After lunch Giuseppe from Tom Boswell Trees popped by to give a quote on some tree work we need doing in the back garden - including taking down the height of the big eucalyptus. We also chatted about woodchip and how his allotment in Acton and our allotment is doing this year, and some rather severe work done on a neighbour’s hedge that before this time had been managed by Tom Boswell for years!
For the rest of the afternoon I was at the plot watering, and putting in some squash I bought from the remaining plants of the Gate Sale, and also chatting - everyone down there wanted to chat today. A simple supper due to pasta for lunch, and another episode of Canal Boat Diaries, a film called Looper, and then halfway through it was time for bed and a book… we’ll watch the rest of the film tomorrow. Weather: A greyer day today, though still feeling warm. Breakfast: Bran Sticks, yogurt, and banana Lunch: Richard’s No Tomato Pasta Sauce Supper: Cottage Cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and radish, and a rice cake  Monday 26 May 2025 Where did yesterday go? I know Sunday’s often referred to as a day or rest though I was sure I wrote something!! Anyway, today's the late May Bank Holiday, though with being in Swanage for a few days last week the order for one of For Earth's Sake’s suppliers needed to be done this morning so that the delivery happens tomorrow, so… I'm at my desk checking on things for that quite early, and also updating my blog and doing some writing. I also popped to Lidl first thing, not because I really wanted to but because I'd rather do it today than do it tomorrow, which for me will be a full work work day. After breakfast, I get on a call with Vanessa and we do the order both for the delivery that needs to arrive at the shop tomorrow and also check through all the fruit and vegetables we still have; doing this, Vanessa can have a think about what we need before she puts the order through tomorrow to arrive first thing on Wednesday - usually about 6am! Whenever we do the ordering from our three main suppliers there's always a bit of checking that we’ve the right product; it can be quite easy sometimes to order the wrong one! Since I’ve been involved I’ve kept and updated a spreadsheet which has the individual codes of each product that we order from each supplier. By doing this it means that ordering the wrong items has been greatly reduced. I also keep track of when we last ordered each item, and if we think that there might be very little stock of a particular item left, I can check back on the date that the last order was put through and pull a report to check sales from that date to the present. Sometimes we might think we’ve little stock though by checking we can see we should have more, and a more thorough check of the cabinets in which we store items brings about a small amount in the bag of whatever we have left; often it’s been hiding invisibly behind a few other large packets of other stock. At the end of the week we’ve a friend and past work colleague of mine, Gerald Dickens, bringing his two shows Mr Dickens is Coming! and Doctor Marigold to the Great Green Barn. Now, for the events there’s always a bar at the back serving wine and soft drinks, plus some snacks, so we also need to ensure we’ve enough stock for the bar, which Richard and myself will run. I also need to do some socials and a newsletter which will be going out tomorrow. So, getting ahead of the game I decide to try and sort this all out before lunch, which largely I do.
After lunch, I do another hour at my desk, and then get to the allotment to look at all the plants that are on my plot and leftover from the Gate Sale on Saturday. There's a whole load by our communal shed, which people can take and leave a donation for in a jar; all monies going towards the allotment associations funds. The plants now on my plot will either be planted out into communal areas of the site or into the wildlife area and along the river bank, or if they can remain in pots until next year, like young fruit bushes can, they’ll be looked after by myself and a few other people. During my mooching of the plants and occasional very heavy showers, I noticed that my wheelbarrow was missing and couldn't quite work out where it was. I searched the whole plot twice before realising that I used it for the Gate Sale on Saturday - moving plants that had been overwintered on my plot since last year down to the tables. So, down I went to the communal area where all of our site wheelbarrows are kept, and sure enough there was my wheelbarrow tucked in between all of them. I quickly repatriated it back to my plot!! At this point, a person who’d been ill and unable to come to the Gate Sale but had asked me to keep some plants for them turned up, so we had a chat and I helped her to her plot with the plants… then another plotter turned up who I'd promised some of my squash and courgettes and cucumbers to, and was delighted to geta lovely red lettuce in exchange… and then one of my immediate plot neighbours turned up and asked whether there were any fruit bushes left, which of course there was, and she bought six of them… So, step by little step the funds being raised from the Gate Sale are increasing day by day. Anyway, given all of this activity on the plot and lots of people and chatting, plus lots of heavy rain showers, I didn't actually get round to doing the things that I’d planned to do, so the plot remained festooned with various boxes and plants and drugs. Maybe tomorrow… Sweet Red Pepper Twice-baked Potatoes I knew we had some really large potatoes so I thought I’d do twice-baked potatoes; something I really like yet something I rarely do. I pricked the potato all over with a fork, and then put it in our microwave on high for eight minutes, and then turned it over and cooked for another 4 minutes which for this size potato meant it was cooked through. Using a clean T-towel I removed it from the microwave, put it on a chopping board and cut it in half. Cradling the uncut side of the potato in the T-towel with my hand, I scored across in two different directions almost to the edge, and not deep enough to cut through the skin. I then used a spoon to take out the cooked potato and added it to the bowl which already had three or four tablespoons of leftover homemade tomato pasta sauce (which I now remember I made for supper yesterday!), half a chopped red onion, two chopped long red peppers, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a heaped teaspoon of miso paste, and some cracked black pepper. I gave it all a gentle though good stir. I’d already grated about 80g of cheddar cheese, and added half of it to the mixture and gently stirred it through. I then spooned the mixture into the now empty cups of potato, which I’d already put onto a baking tray. When all the mixture was spooned out between the two halves I topped off with the rest of the cheese, and baked in our combi-oven at 180c for 25 minutes. A nice few salad bits completed this yummy meal. Weather: Grey, breezy with some heavy showers, and around 17°. Breakfast: Lidl Rye Bread toasted, with Flora ProActiv and yeast extract Lunch: Hmmmm… can’t remember Supper: Sweet Red Pepper Twice-baked Potatoes, lettuce, cucumber, radish and lightly vinegared beetroot  Richard, the master photographer at work 22 & 23 May 2025 (Thursday & Friday) Thursday morning, and I was up early, making a cuppa or two in Vivi’s kitchen, taking one out onto her patio garden which we’d gently walked through yesterday. Standing still, slightly honey sweetened tea in hand, the view is just divine; the still waters of the bay, imposing chalk headland, borrowed landscape of rose covered walls, rooves and chimneys, a steeple and crenellations - this is something I’d not tire of, ever! Back in the kitchen, Richard joined me and we had breakfast, starting with our cereal then putting on some thick toast for us when Vivi joined. Lots of chat, a little more chat, then a little more chat, then up, dressed and out, walking further up Cardiac Hill, along, then up Cardio Hill which seems even steeper. Our mission… a not so little walking tour up to the South West Coast Path, down along to Peveril Point, then carefully step by stone step down to the harbour-to-headland promenade, across the fronts of houses and backs of marine businesses, over a small beach and then behind the Yacht Club with its glimmer of exclusivity and warden-manned gates, then breathing in the sights and glorious scent of roses and mallow in an elevated border as our feet trod along at ground level once again. All the while the breeze blew gently, the sun shone brightly and the salty smell of the sea brought back happy days of buckets and spades, and seaweed and sand… and grease-proof paper wrapped sandwiches in Tupperware with no branding. Happy Days indeed! With Vivi and Richard taking a seat in the sanctuary garden, I went off passing restaurants and day trippers to the seafront facilities to do what seafront facilities allow before returning to the two of them, reading a few restaurant menus on the way back as time was less pressing. Back at Vivi’s and after a delicious lunch we were out back, in the garden, pulling ivy and planning a lightbulb change which required a quick trip down the street and across town to the hardware store, where we met the lovely Wendy and her sisters; she’s a subscriber to What Vivi did next and was just so delighted to have met Vivi whilst on her holibobs with her sisters. Lightbulb bought, we popped into the train station to watch the smoke rise as a steam train left the platform, then off to the Co-op and up to the Mill Pond, then down again back to the High Street, passing on the way a hotel that was once a nunnery, and antique and bric-a-brac shops, and pubs… there are quite a few pubs! Then it was home to change the outside bulb, which we did and found out worked once it was dark… although Vivi told us by the next evening the lower one wasn’t working though the upper one we changed on Friday morning was - maybe a loose wire. A delicious bits and pieces supper with a glass or two, much chat, then bed.
Friday, and again I was up first, though not as early as yesterday, and then Vivi, and then Richard. Cups of tea for Richard and me, and the same routine of breakfast as yesterday and then we were back out in the garden with the view pulling more ivy, gently though firmly; it’s a fabulous plant, but you really don’t want it to take hold in and through your Purbeck stone walls, of which there are many thousands in the area! After a vibrant, tangy, and salty Greek Salad a la Vivi, it was time to wend our way back up Cardiac Hill and Cardio Hill, check Fenella was fine and dandy, depress the clutch, turn the key and start our journey back to London, leaving Vivi and a little bit of ourselves in Swanage. I doubt it will be long before the three of us, Fenella included, will be back south to visit once again Vivi’s Cottage by the Sea. Thursday 22 May Weather: Swanage was a little warmer and gorgeously sunny. Around 18° Breakfast: Bran Sticks, oat milk, and Richard's bread machine wholemeal loaf as toast with Flora ProActiv and honey Lunch: Vivi’s Chickpea Curry with thick slices of Richard's bread machine wholemeal loaf Supper: Crackers, oat cakes, hummus, blue cheese, cheddar, orange Friday 23 May Weather: Swanage was a little cooler and greyer than yesterday. Around 16° Breakfast: Bran Sticks, oat milk, and Richard's bread machine wholemeal loaf as toast with Flora ProActiv and honey Lunch: Vivi’s Greek Salad Supper: Wholewheat Spaghetti with broad beans, basil pesto and grated cheese, and radish |
Paul SavidentFollowing on from A Guernsey Gardener in London, I've decided to try and write a regular blog, and we'll see how it AND 2025 go! Archives
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