OH finally dismantled what remained of the greenhouse today ... the plot looks much bigger, but so empty without it :( :(

Wonder if anyone can make use of it or whether I should just take it to the tip. At least it doesn't take up much space :(

The hedge bonfire pile is ridiculous - there are now 4 enormous piles ... taking up almost a quarter of the plot !! Hope it's dry enough to burn next weekend.

another call for all Sheffield alloment holders - rent increase !!!

eek - here is copy of an email from Rob Hawkins, President of the Sheffield Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Federation about allotment rents doubling in Sheffield from April 2013 onwards:

Dear Allotmenteer

Last Thursday (Jan 12), the Allotment Advisory Group passed a motion recommending that the rent Allotment tenants should pay for council allotments will double in April 2013. The income the allotment office will receive from allotment rents will more than double.

This report will be presented to the City Council Cabinet for approval in February.

The 4 federation voting members abstained from voting as we were only sent the report the day before and didn't have time to consider or discuss its implications. The five councillors (Green, Labour and Lib Dem) voted en bloc in favour of acceptance of this report.

Our first concern is that allotment gardeners across the city will give up their plots due to this level of increase, some of these paying the full amount, some discounted.

If you or some gardeners on your site will be unable to continue due to this level of increase, please could you let me know. We have agreed to reply to the Allotment Advisory Group Chairman before the end of January.

Any further concerns will be discussed at a later date (in February).

Rob Hawkins
President, Sheffield Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Federation

I have uploaded the report to this site (well hopefully I have as I really have little clue what I just did LOL):  www.wix.com/mc55mcd/duckdinnerdash

Here's another shiney new year filled with hope, joy and new beginnings ...

... or then again !

... just before Christmas the greenhouse panels next to the door blew out and smashed leaving it very vulnerable. I didn't get chance to do anything about and sadly we've had gale after gale after gale ... here is the result :(



pretty catostrophic huh :(

The frame has lifted, twisted and collapsed. The base was cemented breeze blocks and the frame was screwed to said breeze blocks, but the wind was so strong it's actually torn the frame from the breeze blocks and even lifted some of the blocks.

OH helped me remove the glass - we've filled a wheelie bin and a couple of plastic tubs. Out of all that glass we managed to rescue only three pieces ... it would have been four, but I smashed it trying to remove it from the clips ! grrrr ... or is that Doh !!

OH thinks that the frame might be salvageable, but it's twisted pretty badly, so I think I might be giving the scrap man a call. It looks OK in this shot, but it's pretty bad in reality ... and of course I don't have any glass !


With the greenhouse gone, I had chance to access the hedge behind it. Lopping at the branches yet again for what seems like the 99th-million time, I got really cross and decided sod it ... let's just say that I have have 'thinned' my side of the hedge a little. Well a lot. Actually rather drastically - very drastically in fact ! haha ... take that hedge !!

I now have an enormous bonfire pile once again :)


I've been trying to get some manure delivered over the Christmas holidays, but our regular contact has run out ! So that is on hold temporarily, but I must get some this season - the soil is really poor.

As usual I have a growing list of jobs to attend to; next weekend, I'm planning to thin and perhaps move the raspberries to a different bed. I'm also going to dig up the tree behind the greenhouse that has so far produced three apples ! I've been given some beautiful blackcurrants, so need to plant those once the soil has thawed out. Then it'll be cracking on with all the usual maintenance jobs.

OH and I were almost casualties of the weather too ! On Christmas morning we thought we'd go for a lovely stroll to one of the local beauty spots, Stanage Edge. Oh yes ... lovely stroll LOL.



We fought against the wind to get to the top of the edge and then once there we fought to remain on terra firma !





Not surprisingly we only saw a few hardy fools and one dog .. we soon beat a retreat to the warmth and quiet of the house :)

So happy new year to everyone, hope you all enjoyed the holidays ! Looking forward to catching up with what everyone is doing - here's to another year ... off we go again !

Halloween

Some friends threw down the gauntlet for scariest outfits for a Halloween party ... be warned, they are a bit gruesome ... but no one was hurt, it's all makeup and paint :)

This is my practice makeup practice run. Unfortunately for the poor delivery man, I forgot I had zombie makeup on and a zombie baby eating it's way out of my fake tummy went I went to answer the door - I've never seen anyone throw a parcel and run so fast LOL. At least I hadn't added the fake blood at this stage ;)


Here we all are at the beginning of the night:


Me and OH in our final makeup. I'm a zombie and he has 'unzipped' his face:


You can't actually tell from these photos, but we shaved a wide stripe in his hair all the way around the back and painted a fake cut and stitches - as if he'd had a Lobotomy ... it was a little too effective and I'm sure that some people actually thought he'd had surgery :)


This is my final outfit with fake blood added. I drew lots of gasps and double looks when people saw zombie baby ! You wouldn't believe how many people asked if I was actually pregnant (and before anyone gives me any cheek that's half of a pillow stuffed up my top ...)

Food Glorious Food !

I have lots of cookery books - although I seem to spend more time looking through them than actually making anything. I've been busy looking up recipes for the last of the allotment goodies and came across my 'Cranks Bible' recipe book. I was disappointed when I got it all those years ago as it doesn't have many photos, but spurred on by a tray of beetroot I decided to make beetroot risotto. OH and I are currently in heaven. It was amazing. So good we made it for friends at the weekend. They joined us in heaven - we've pretty much got that market corned ;)

It was so good we scoffed it without drawing breath and didn't manage to get any photos ... sorry :) :)

Spurred on by that success, tonight I made Chickpea Salad with Coriander, Sunblushed Tomatoes and Haloumi (a very firm Cypriot salty cheese). It was even better than the risotto.

So good I thought I should share it with you, as if (unlike me) you have had a successful season at the allotment there are quite a few ingredients that you can grow yourself.

Here's what you do - you will not be disappointed, I promise you:

Into a serving bowl put:

2 cans of rinsed & drained chickpeas, 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, 2 tablespoons each of chopped parsley, coriander & extra virgin olive oil, 1 crushed garlic clove (from the allotment - yippee), half a very finely sliced red onion - season & mix.

Now the recipe also calls for 100g of Rocket leaves ... but we didn't have any of that in our fridge, so I chopped up spinach - about 4 handfuls. Mix that with the other stuff. It also calls for a dash of tamari (but we don't know what that is) and a dash of Tabasco (but OH doesn't like that LOL).

Add sunblush tomatoes to your taste (recipe calls for 24 pieces) and then set aside to infuse.

Just before you are ready to serve, cut a 250g block of Haloumi into strips - brush with olive oil and cook for 1 mins each side on a hot griddle (to get lovely lines) - cheese should be golden & crisp on outside, hot & molten on inside - don't cook too long as it will go rubbery / tough.

Place on top of your salad and serve immediately.



We drizzled ours with Balsamic vinegar and ate it with a lovely baguette. Boy it was good :) :)

The photo doesn't do it justice, but in fairness OH was half way through eating when I suddenly demanded a photo ... hope you enjoy

Workshop Update

Well the workshop that I attended was pretty good and very well run. Participants were surprisingly well behaved and listened to what was presented.

Highlights from the presentations !

- There are 76 council owned allotment sites in Sheffield and one private site !
- Over 3,000 tenants and 2,200 people on the waiting list. Wow.
- Issued 59 notices to quit (which doesn't seem terribly high to me) and 593 letters about cultivation etc in 2011 to date.
- The budget has been cut by 10% for next year - no actual figures revealed.
- Sheffield is the only major city not to have any self managed council sites.

Following the presentations we were asked to consider two questions: what did we think about the current Council Subsidy (75%) and Rent Levels and what were our thoughts on being Self Managed.

We had to put our responses onto post-it notes and stick them to pieces of flip chart paper. All the input is being collected and analysed and will be fed back to plot holders.

The only negative was being harassed at the end of the meeting by one of my former idiot committee colleagues ... he managed to stop short of following me into the ladies loo, settling for waiting for me and my friend outside the door. Unbelievable. Perhaps he views me as an easy target, being female. You'd think he'd have got the message by now that I resigned from the committee to escape the lunacy that is their world.

Anyway I digress, if you have an opportunity to attend, I encourage you to do so. They've had 600 responses to the questionnaire so far (current tenants & waiting list - so 5,200 people)

Sheffield Council - Allotment Workshops

Bit late I know, just getting back into the habit of blogging ... you wait for months and then get spammed with three posts in three days :)

In case you haven't seen the letter, here are the brief details:

Sheffield Council will be running 4 workshops to address key themes for the future of the Allotment service:

1 Provide an update on the workshops that were run in 2009
2 Consult and inform customers on the allotment rent review process (remember this is the proposal to rise rents quite dramatically over the next 4-5 years)
3 Identify and discuss issues facing us in the future.

Aim is to understand both current and prospective tenant's views.

Tuesday 18 October (Norfolk Heritage Park)
Wednesday 19 October (Hillsbrough)
25th October (Meersbrook) - almost full
25th October (Mosbrough)

I think all timings are 6.30pm, but as that vital piece of information (along with half of the dates) was missing from the letter (DOH !) you might want to call the office and double check.

I believe if you are interested in attending you need to call the office on: 0114 2734528 or email: pwc.allotments@sheffield.gov.uk