Our petition is growing faster than I could ever have dreamed,some wonderful people, they know who they are filled a page and a half with signatures. Pa toured the village today and every one he asked declared their support and signed their names. Peoples response to the idea of our garden being built on has been one of shock and anger and those who have lived all their lives in the village,are very upset that this last cottage garden is to disappear. We hope that those who make the decision will take this in to account, so far not one person has been in favour of the new build.
I am still working in the garden whenever jam making and baking permits, things are doing wonderfully at the moment and it looks as though by next week we shall be making damson jam, jelly and of course chutney, a gloriously rich concoction which is perfect with cheese. Many of the recipes I use have been in our family for as long as any one can remember. When I was a child at home it was my father who made the chutneys and pickles, it was a job he loved and he was very proud of the variety of relishes which our larder could boast. During late summer and autumn the kitchen would reek of boiling spiced vinegar, I hated it then but now that smell sends me back to my childhood and I love it for the happy memories it evokes.
During the past week a succession of fist sized beetroot's have been boiled, skinned and bottled, for some reason they have grown much larger than usual this year. Yesterday I boiled up a cauldron full of apples bullaces, sloes,blackberries Rowan berries and elderberries to make a special fruit jelly, having strained through a jelly bag it was ready for the final stage of boiling with sugar and bottling, this does not take long and soon I had a dozen jars full of rich ruby red jelly with all the flavour of the wild fruits within, a jar of this will grace our Christmas table, if it lasts that long!
The effects of my late bout of flue are taking a long time to clear up, I feel permanently tired ,still cannot sleep for coughing and the sore throat comes and goes. My son is experiencing the same symptoms, he is a hardy soul and keeps going but the effects of sleeplessness are beginning to show and he is crotchety and just plain weary as am I. Pa for once is the only fit person in the house, a distinction of which he is very proud, he has been such a help today both in the house and in trundling around the village with the petition,bless him.
Sometimes I feel that we have a good chance of winning and some times I think quite the reverse. Most of the estate workers and quite a few of the tenants on the estate are afraid to sign the petition or become involve as they fear they will lose their jobs or be have their tenancies terminated. These threats are not new and many people on the estate have been told that if they ask for repairs to their property bad things could happen, it is like living in the dark ages and difficult to comprehend in these enlightened times.
Not-with-standing we are organising revolt, expose the blatant lies and half truths and we shall not rest until we have struck a blow for the peasantry. I pinched that speech from Robin Hood,and paraphrased it slightly
. In the last ten years I have thwarted the closure of the local allotments on three separate occasions and each time every one said that it was a lost cause, then there was the battle of the church yard , the illegal hotel and now this. I should add that the allotments are under threat once again and you will not be surprised that the land is lease to the council by a certain titled gentleman....you know who! It seems as it they are determined to build on every green space there is. The local hospital was recently rebuilt and is now much smaller than formerly because over half the land was used to build houses, guess who owns the land that the hospital is built on...........that's right! I could go on but I think that I have said enough to illustrate the type of skulduggery that has been going on, it makes my blood boil!
My son had a craving for chicken with forty cloves of garlic, a vintage Floyd recipe which Pa and I both detest and so Pa had mozzarella and prosciutto crudo with fresh tomato and basil salad
and I had I very large prawn and salad sandwich. The café Avie is now CLOSED.
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