Hello all,

I just want to give an update of what's been planted in our lovely little patch over at Farm Club. A few weeks ago on a wet and overcast morning we planted in some lettuce, some red onions and some courgettes. Emms and I also got "structural" on it and cobbled together a frame for some pea shoots to grow around. It worked out quite well, considering we didn't know what we were doing! But, for me, that's the best thing about: getting your hands dirty and learning through doing.

Mia and Emms admire their handiwork. 

Looking forward to seeing these new editions thrive in the plot. We're already talking potential recipes. 

Whilst we were there, we took the opportunity to introduce ourselves to a really playful kid. Despite being the no-nonsense macho man I am (*ahem*) even I have to admit that watching this little fella playing with is ma choked me a little. I mean, look at him.

First Sunday breakfast

As Sundays go, last weekend's was a good one. It started with our first trip to Sunday Breakfast at Farm Club. This is a weekly event that is open to all members and their families. The idea is that members bring some brekkie ingredients along, and a cook up ensues that gets everyone sorted with a piled plate of morning goodness. As fairly early arrivals we were charged with overseeing the sausage barbecue. With much wafting, poking and choking we managed to save just enough bangers from the flames to make the contribution count. The breakfast gong was duly rung and we all helped ourselves to sausages, eggs, beans (as well as the breakfast staples; bacon and buttered bread). Between mouthfuls of fried mushrooms and hot tea we got to know some of the other Farm Club members, and took the opportunity to get some much needed gardening advice.

Cremating the bangers. 

All ready to go. 

Once the food was seen off, we went to out veggie patch to harvest some crop and give it a good tidy up. The star of the show was the purple sprouting broccoli that was offering a generous crop at the prime of its life. So prime, in fact, that we needed to dig the poor blighter out before it caused havoc for the plot's other tenants (a phenomenon that we were assured was worth guarding against). Having snipped and bundled the regal broccoli florets, we set about rooting out the stalks and turning over the soil (a perfect opportunity to introduce the neices to some wiggly worms).
Whilst we were in harvest mode, we took the opportunity to snaffle a couple of heads of cabbage that were maturing nicely, and were crying out to be eaten for an imminent Sunday dinner. With our weekly veg quota fulfilled, we paid a visit to the club's resident farmer who was selling fresh pork cuts from his own stock. We bagged some juicy chops and a string of bangers for all of a fiver. The fact that we we'd caked our shoes in think black soil was of no concern; we'd dug and raked ourselves a fine appetite, and had exactly the right set of tools for dealing with it. Roll on next week.