Mid May...

Finally spring arrived and this time, decided to stay.

With the warm weather, came lots to do. The past few weeks have flown by and suddenly I realised that I had neglected my little blog.

There were trips to local woods with Tiny Girlie and her mama to see the last of the bluebells..

...and a paddle in a woodland stream.

On the allotment, the chives are flowering and attracting the bees which is always good to see.

There is much to do on the lottie and a lot of my time has been spent there.
A few weeks back, I sowed the seeds which I ordered back in January: Cherokee trail of tears climbing beans, Crookneck and Hokkaido summer and winter squash.
On the warmth of a sunny windowsill, they all germinated well and finally last week, I was able to plant them out on the plot.

Inevitably,  the warmer weather means weeding and also watering of the new seedlings.

In the kitchen, I have been tweaking a recipe for sourdough crackers, using left-over sourdough starter.
Anyone who makes sourdough bread on a regular basis, knows it is always a problem finding a use for unfed starter.
These crackers fit the bill and are delicious.

They are also very easy to make:
Mix 1 cup of sourdough starter,
1 cup plain flour,
4 tablespoons melted butter,
flavourings ( I used 1 tsp of sweet smoked paprika, but rosemary or any other herb would be a good choice)
salt and pepper.
Form into a soft dough and leave to rest in the bowl for an hour or two.
Roll out very thinly and cut into squares - a pizza cutter is useful here.
Bake at 175c for about 25 minutes.

Today the weather is beautiful.
There is a certain wedding taking place in Windsor and next week and mr digandweed and I are off to the Chelsea Flower Show.
Happy times!

Annie

x