Sportswear Collection
Look out for a chance to win one of four vouchers for £100 each 
to spend on ZOCA activewear through Belvoir Fruit Farms instant win game between 13th-20th May 2013
This happens to be with ‘Walk to Work Week’, so all the more reason to get kitted out and active by nature!
http://www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/win-things/lovely-oclock
Every year at just this time,
In cold and dark December,
Families around the world
All gather to remember,
With presents and with parties,
With feasting and with fun,
Customs and traditions
for people old and young.
- Helen H. Moore
Yes it is cold and it is dark, however, we will soon be with family and friends having fun, festive times. With the approach of the shortest day, 21.12.12 the birds have less time to feed and longer nights to roost – they will come eagerly to your garden for food so please put plenty out for them. You may get to see mistletoe in the trees, bright green leaves with white berries – sticky food for thrushes. [Read more...]
“All the cabbages in our garden are robust and green to the core;
All the peppers are dead and black, not red anymore.
The onions are thriving, the tomatoes all gone,
The lettuce is rising, the pecans all stored;
It’s wet now in Red Bluff, Winter’s knocking at the door.”
– Mike Garofalo, Cuttings
Winter has definitely arrived. You will notice flocks of starlings, redwings, fieldfares and other birds around the remains of the orchards and as the days become noticeably shorter and frosts become more frequent the bats, hedgehogs and dormice will be forced into hibernation. [Read more...]
After an exceptionally wet summer and September we jump straight into autumn. The leaves are already changing colour here in Yorkshire and the fruits of autumn provide plenty of food, as the birds ravage the hedgerow berries and wood mice collect fallen hazelnuts. Dormice are quite agile and are able to reach the thinnest branches of the trees. Next time you are walking through the woods look at the nutshell remains and see what wildlife you can discover.
Read on for Dawn’s medicinal recipie for Pea and Roasted Garlic Soup [Read more...]
“By all these lovely tokens,
September days are here
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer.”
One vegetable plentiful right now is Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea). The name means ‘cabbage flower’ coming from Latin caulis (stalk) and floris (flower) and it is a member of the cabbage family – along with Brussel sprouts, collards, mustard, turnips, kohlrabi, kale and watercress. Read on for delicious two cheese cauliflower mash recipe [Read more...]
- Henry David Thoreau
Birds will be heard more than seen as you walk through the dense woodlands as migrant birds will be busy feasting on the abundance of insect life in preparation for their long journey south. Try and encourage butterflies into your garden by having something for them to eat. Adult butterflies feed on nectar and they like plants with long tubular flowers such as Buddleia, red valerian and verbena. However, you can help them by providing a feeding station. Fill a cereal sized bowl with ripe chunks of brightly coloured fruit (apples, bananas, strawberries, oranges) and top with some fruit juice (pineapple) to intensity the aroma and release the sugars. Choose a sunny spot – you could even hang the bowl in a hanging basket. The fruit can be left out for three days before it needs to be replaced. [Read more...]
Well here we are – July, midsummer and definitely barbeque time – that’s when if ever it stops rainning. Let’s hope so. Blackcurants are the way to go so read on for a zesty vinaigrette marinade… [Read more...]
The countryside is awash with lovely wildflowers, daisies, buttercups, etc. All the orchards are draped in apple blossom and the bees are humming. In a few weeks the petals will start to fall, the noisy spring birdsong at dawn will start to subside and become more subdued as hopefully the midsummer sun shines a little bit more and it becomes a lot warmer. Lookout for the first dragon flies as they flutter over ponds.
What an amazing start to this month with the Jubilee celebrations. I am sure everyone at some point over this weekend will have spent some time outdoors at a street party, family picnic or just getting together with friends. The start of many more gatherings I am sure as Summer officially begins on 21st June.
The swallows arrived in April so now it is time to look out for the one of the last migrant birds to arrive, the swift, which travels north with the progression of summer. The first butterflies to appear are those that overwinter, such as brimstone and small tortoiseshells. [Read more...]
In the wild the primroses and cowslips are in bloom and if you are a forager then there’s wild garlic, nettles, morel and St George mushrooms to be found.
Both these mushrooms have a very short season. Morel mushrooms are the most expensive and most sought after spring mushroom. However, there is unfortunately a false morel which is poisonous and potentially deadly, so my advice is that if you do go foraging for these mushrooms go with an experienced hunter. If in doubt do not eat!