Long May It Last

Just two girls sat sewing their ballet pointe shoes in our messy living room. 

 And long may it last! 

Compost From the Compost Bins

I'm fairly lazy when it comes to compost. I'd rather leave it an extra year than turn it over! But the one bay of my big compost bin was ready to harvest. Some round the edges needs to go on another run, but the middle was absolutely beautiful! 

I had my young garden apprentice helping me. We dug out all we could and put it in the greenhouses. Hopefully this will give us some good crops in each of those this year.  

It's bene lovely having my eldest in the garden with me. It feels very natural to have her just doing stuff. On Saturday she spent time in the garden, then picked dandelions to make a preserve, and then went and picked wild garlic and made pesto! I joke I don't know where she gets it from, but I think I have a fair idea...

Thai Cooking Course

 Today I went on a cookery course with my brother. Both of us are really into our cooking, and this was a present from mum. 

It was at Harts Barn Cookery School, where we've both been to a few different classes now. They've always been really good and I feel I learn lots. 

This one was no exception. the teacher was great and really knew her stuff. We started with Pork toast - which I will be cooking this week for the family! It was delicious! And surprisingly easy. Like most Thai food though it does need a few ingredients I might not normally keep in the house. Luckily the children are very adventurous when it comes to food, so we can try a few different things. 

We then made Pad Thai (no pictures for that one sorry). I love Pad Thai, and realised that I'd been cooking rice noodles wrong my whole life! Apparently I should buy the dried noodles and soak them in cold water for an hour or so before cooking, not buy the ready soft ones like I have been - it's tips like that that make it worth while. 

Lastly we made Thai green curry, making the curry paste from scratch. A bit of work but well worth it. I'll be making it again. 

Like the other courses I've done there, I was well fed, and came home full of ideas for meals to cook - I'll certainly be going to more courses in the future. 

What world food do you like cooking?

Leather Workshop

 A few weeks back I went on a leather workshop for a morning with my mum. 

Each year she buys a course that we go on together. It's been a great thing to do and I have so many fun memories of doing different things over the years. This one was brilliant. 

It was a beginners one, just making a leather belt. 

This involved cutting the leather, skiving it, and stitching it together.

Funny as my old belt had broke just the week before - it must have known! But the lady taking the course repaired that one for me as well. 

I always love learning about different crafts, and having a bit of a go is a great way to learn. Many transferable skills from what I already do each day in the cutting and shaping of the leather. I was surprised I found the stitching so easy, I really enjoyed that part of it. 

I have a feeling it won't be the only bit of leather work I do, and a big part of me would love to take the children (and my wife) on a similar course to this one, I think they'd love it. 

Ever made much with leather?

Beehive inspection - first of the year

So we did our first inspection at the start of the month, on a nice warm Monday evening. 

 We filmed it, but I've only just got it edited and up on YouTube. It's more for our records and my memories, but some might like to watch it,