I am into memory keeping. Apart from fitful diary writing, I also take a lot of pictures and even occasionally organize them into photo books. This year I started the biggest memory-keeping project to date – a Project Life album.…
Most of the recipes that I share are centred around seasonal produce. We grow a lot of what we eat and eating with the seasons is a pleasure, not a restriction. But I like how my birthday cake this year…
Broad beans (or lima beans) are some of the most reliable, easiest to grow vegetables, at least in our climate. The large seeds are easy to handle and undeterred by cold, they can be sown very early. They’ll do well…
Right at our back door grow three kinds of raspberries: gold, red and black. The plants are as pretty as any ornamentals with their serrated leaves and coloured fruits. The black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) are especially ornamental, the canes turning…
The problem with July is that the summer holiday starts. Because who wants to leave the garden behind right after the first tomatoes started ripening? I don’t, not really, but being bound by holidays scheduled by the Dutch ministry of…
When we moved to our new allotment we had to leave many fruit bushes behind, because our current allotment is quite a bit smaller. Therefore we only moved 2 out of our six gooseberry bushes, the two we like most:…
It’s funny how the core of who you are and what you like to do is set at an early age. When I was about 8 or 10, I loved playing with plasticine. Together with my older cousin, we used…
To end what turned into a week of strawberry recipes, I bring you a variation on the cherry bubble cake, where cherries were substituted with roasted strawberries. The roasting, an easy extra step that is less work than pitting cherries…
You know how many ice cream recipes have so far been published on this site? Zero. That is not because we don’t like ice cream. We do. A lot. But we don’t have a freezer and that is a fairly…
Sometimes I wonder how big a portion of our garden I would have to devote to strawberries if we were to feel like we have enough. Enough to eat as many as we want, enough to make tarts and smoothies…
After the past very late and very cold spring, we do not trust the weather. Even if the sky is blue and temperature high, we don’t dare to trust it will stay like this and suspect the weather gods are…
The thing you should know about the Netherlands is, that most of the country is bellow sea level. Which means it would be under water, were it not for the ingenious dams holding the sea back. Therefore, if you live…
Summer solstice, the longest day of the year, is an important date in the garden calendar. Besides some vegetables that are especially sensitive to day length, being better sown past this date (fennel, Oriental brassica’s), it also marks the end…
June is the best of times. The days are long and there’s enough daylight to go to the allotment even after dinner. There are extravagant peonies to pick for the vase and first strawberries to cherish. There are crisp lettuces…
Last week one of my best friends came for a visit. She lives 900 km away and this was the first time she and her family visited us here in the Netherlands. She’s one of my oldest friends and one…