I have complained at length about our new allotment: it’s smaller, there’s too much shade, the soil is in a much worse state. But there’s actually one very good thing about it: the rhubarb plantation. Probably because a good part…
When spring starts 3 weeks later than normal (though what is normal anymore?), mid-April will find the gardener very busy – busier than usual in this busiest gardening month. Throw in an unexpected (but very welcome) writing assignment with the…
On Saturday I sowed the first seeds directly in the ground – finally!- and spinach was the very first vegetable I sowed. So no, this quiche was not homegrown, but hopefully will be in about six weeks. Because I am…
It’s snowing as I’m writing this post. The weatherforcast is promising us the coldest Easter since 1964 – colder than Christmas! But it’s Easter and we’ll celebrate, whether it’s snowing or not. Today I’m baking the Easter lamb. Not a…
When I was little, we used to spend a good chunk of every summer vacation at my mother’s friend’s house in a very small village in the western part of what was then the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. There were always…
I teach Norwegian. Most of my students learn Norwegian because they want to move to Norway. Away from the overpopulated and completely man-landscaped Netherlands into Europe’s last wilderness. They ask me why I don’t move there, too, since I already…