The heatwave of spring has made way for rolling thunder storms.
A bright lit early evening was swallowed by a swirling mass of darkening clouds gathered directly above our garden. It was one of those heart racing moments when my count between the lightning and thunder is zero. (The photograph below is not monochrome.)
After one of June’s many sudden downpours had slowed to a drizzle, I spotted this fellow crossing the path. From my normal perspective, snails can be something of a greyish-brown nuisance. We often find ourselves having to collect them at dusk from our vulnerable seedlings, or otherwise sigh as we spot tell tale trails across our raised beds. Up close, they can be fascinating to watch as they carefully choose their route and their shells have tinges of shiny gold. A little biodiversity goes a long way, so I let this chap, who was a fair distance away from the veg plot, continue on his journey.
My onions are equally puzzled by the drastic changes in weather and have started to bolt, putting forth long flower stems before they have had time to fully fatten the bulb. They are therefore a touch smaller than last year but we do not mind. There are always changes from one summer to the next, depending on the weather. I am just so glad they made it through a winter of constant flooding and the unrelenting dry heat of early spring.
I spend an afternoon going through recipes and counting how many glass jars I have free. On Sunday the kitchen will smell like the ocean, whilst half of the onions sit in brine before pickling. The remainder are destined for salads and large batches of sauce.
As the weather clears, we start to prep what was the over-wintered onion bed for what will become our pumpkin patch. The sudden bolt of the onions is good timing after all, as the Jack o Lantern and squash seedlings, spurred on by the soggy conditions, are starting to outgrow their cardboard egg boxes.
Artichokes are included in our local vegetable box delivery this week. I love my veggies – how have I never tried them from fresh before? I soon discover that raw artichokes do not want to be eaten. These pangolin-like oddities have armour plating and spikes. A curious crowd gathers in the kitchen to watch. De-barbed and steamed, the leaves are then snapped off and dipped into garlic mayonnaise.* Later, when I peel the carrots for dinner, it feels as quick and easy as a ready meal.
A much simpler kitchen experiment this week was our first attempt at making our own bird feeders, complete with little perches of homegrown bamboo. We saved the coconut shells from shop-bought versions and refilled them with mixed seeds and melted vegetable suet.
After a few wary days of hopping gradually closer, the local wild bird population and our resident pigeon family give them a seal of approval.
The sunshine is due return next week and the forest pathways have reopened after the lockdown. Early morning woodland walks through the dawn mist? Soon it will really feel like summer.
*All artichoke recipe and preparation suggestions very much welcomed 🙂
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Great photos!!
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Thank you very much 🌿
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You are most welcome!
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My red onions bolted too! Wonderful snail picture. Artichokes are only for those with infinite time.
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I’m so glad to hear you say that, because I thought I must be missing a trick with those artichokes 🙂 🌿
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We are having a strange June. Things are growing that shouldn’t be and vice versa…. maybe in a month?.
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Hopefully so 🙂 Given everything is out of synch, I’m going to plant some very late seeds and see if I can extend the season a little bit 🌿
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Gorgeous photos! Everything looks so wholesome, even the snail. We adored artichokes. We boil ours until tender and then peel the leaves off and dip them in vinagrette, slowly making our way to the heart … which is the real treasure. They are the essential slow summer lunch, best enjoyed outside in sunshine of course. My mother-in-law unpacks hers completely, forming a flower round the outside of her plate, removes the choke and pours the vinagrette in the central hole. She then eats it from the inside out, which was how she was taught to eat them by a french family she au paired for back in the day.
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Thank you so much! 🌿 Now you’ve painted the picture I can imagine how delicious that would be, on a lovely summer afternoon. I shall try both versions! I like the idea of using the space from the choke as the dip 😃
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I love artichokes. I am going to try this French way of eating them next time.
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Such a beautiful blog and a lovely garden too. Looking forward to following along!
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Thank you so much Marlene 🙂 I’ve bookmarked so many recipes from your lovely site, everything looks so tasty 😋 🌿
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What an amazing garden! Love the photos – I really liked seeing the snail too!
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The snail picture is sensational.
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My garlic is doing well, even during the winter here in Australia’s Southern Highlands. I have tried working on raw artichokes but gave up and will never even try anymore. I would rather vacuum the house, even though I don’t like that either.
Great post again, lovely photos.
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Great post, love the snail and cloud pics 👌
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Great onion crop.
I love the snail shot. Very nice photo and you’ve captured the light behind the snail perfectly.
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My, your garden is productive. I really enjoyed the comparison to the pangolin.
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The snail is a rock star.
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I’ve tried artichoke and next time I’m growing a ready bottled variety. As for all that faff preparing them, I believe the army runs a course on domestic bomb disposal that includes artichokes… oh and that rain… anyone would think the cricket was due to start.
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What a lovely garden. Your onions looks amazing and I love artichokes. Once boiled I peel them and dip in warm melted butter. And then there is the heart… mmmmmm!
The snail picture is phenomenal!
Oh have you ever left your artichoke go to seed? It’s quite beautiful!
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Beautiful writing and photography – as always. I always like those not monochrome photos.
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It’s nice to know that I am not the only one that counts between thunder and lightening – LOL. You could send some of that rain our way. It’s been way to dry here lately, and all of the weather forecasters reports have been way off. We were supposed to have a 60% chance of some measurable rain last night and the storm split right around us again – boohoo.
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I lie the photographs of the storm clouds and snail.
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What a gorgeous garden you have!! Gorgeous photos!
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I’ve had great luck with recipes from Tasty – you asked for artichoke recipes: https://tasty.co/recipe/easy-baked-artichoke
Love seeing photos of your garden and got a kick out of the snail’s photoshoot (was it ready for it’s close up? 0:-)
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That is a really great photo of that snail! And…those are A LOT of onions!
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Thank you! Yes! It took me all week to process all those onions into pickles and sauces 🙂🌿
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I really like the picture of the two rows of harvested onions. They turned out really well.
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Thank you! They’re a bit smaller than last year – we’ve had such perculiar weather that I think they got confused 🙂 I’m onto harvested the garlic next! 🌿
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What a great thing to taste a fresh artichoke.
Glad Tierney sent the recipes.
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It was – I love trying new veggies. The veg box is useful for getting me to try things I would never think of buying 🙂🌿
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Hello from “Japan”– I recently came across your blog in my “you might be interested” section- and yes, I am! I agree with everyone else who says the snail photo is awesome! I also loved reading about your gardening and cooking adventures. Lovely blog.
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Thank you very much Mrs N 🙂 I can very much say the same in return – I’m learning Japanese at the moment and am very much looking forward to reading through all of your lovely articles and photographs 🌿
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Thank you so much! What a lovely comment. 🙂
You are learning Japanese! Excellent! I’ll keep that in mind… 🙂
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Interested that you are pickling half the onions, and using the other half for sauce. Don’t you just store some as is, for winter use? And what kind of sauce? I can’t imagine using that many onions made into “onion sauce” but if so, what do you eat it with or use it for? I pickled a bunch of shallots last year because with all the rain I knew they wouldn’t store, and the jars still sit on the shelf….
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Hi Carolee – there’s so many of us and I use onions so much, that at the moment I can’t quite grow enough to have them left over (a future dream 😀 ) … I use homegrown onions as a base for pasta and pizza sauces, combined with the free tomatoes I get from friends’ allotments. When I make my own sauces, I can sneak lots of surplus veggies, like courgettes, in too. Pickled onions and shallots don’t last very long here – they are my husband and eldest son’s faves, so I make a ploughman’s supper with them once a week 🙂 Saying that – I have just plaited and stored all of my garlic in the garage.
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Lovely garden.
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Thank you very much 🌿
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Wow you have a wonderful garden. Thank you for visiting my blog. I am pleased to meet you. I read your family story. I too love the simple life. We live on a ranch in Texas. We mostly live off of our land and the members of our community trade products and help each other. I love it. I am Hindu, but grew up with the Buddhist people who were exiled and came to live in India. I grew up learning how to live in harmony with Mother Nature. I still live that way and looks like you do too. 💕
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Thank you very much! I was searching for a recipe on WordPress and I found your lovely site 🙂 A ranch in Texas sounds idyllic – looking forward to your future posts 🌿
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Thank you. I have a new post published every Saturday at noon Eastern Standard USA Time. Right now I have posts scheduled through August 8th. Hopefully, I can be organized and efficient enough to keep with with my life and my posting schedule. ☺
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I keep trying to get a schedule going … but I usually write quite randomly, when inspiration suddenly hits 🙂 I will definitely watch out for your posts – have a lovely weekend 🌿
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Good job 👏👏 . my father like gardening
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Your onions look great!! Great job keeping up with their growth.
Nice picture of the snail visitor. They’re interesting creatures, that move faster than expected, and have voracious appetites. I personally think they make great pets. 😀😀
Have a great start to a new week! I’m inspired by your artichoke experiment. It woukd be fun to get the kids involved while investigating how to cook and eat it.
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Nice onion crop. I’ve never wintered onions before. We grow ours beginning very early in the spring and harvest them in summer. Prior to that we enjoy eating plenty of green onions.
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Lovely to hear from you SuZan – I hope you’re having a lovely summer. The overwintered onions taste much mellower than the spring ones to me … it might be all the frost we get? I love both types though 😃🌿
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