From Everlasting to Everlasting

I'm listening to the Dream of Gerontius. It is the perfect mix of melancholy and hope . I'm feeling maudlin with due reason , as my Aged Parent died a good death last night. For the 9 years of this Blog I've often written about my trips to Beverley to visit her , take her to Communion, to Tesco's , to the Hospital , to the bank , and then just to see her. 

This perfect little town, a hours drive across the Wolds from here, has been a welcome and interesting stimulus for putting thoughts to e-paper. I drive  from Filey,through Hunmanby ,Burton Fleming, Kilham, Driffield and Leconfield. I was going to say I know every hedge and pond, but it would be better to say I know every place where the speed cameras catch One. I know that most of the way I have to drive quite slowly as the potholes at the edges of these country roads are lethal, I've already had to have the Volvos suspension( if thats the word) seen to. It could be that I went over the bumps on the allotment road too quickly, but I blame the stretch of road between Kilham and Rudston. On my return journeys from mother when I drove past the site of the Roman Villa on the Kilham to Rudston Road, always stopped and admired the view.  From Driff to Beverley it is the Leconfield road that catches the most speed merchants. I did get some points on my licence once  for going 37 miles an hour. I thought that a bit mean , but it did make me cautious from then on . The 50 mile an hour speed limit from Hutton to Beswick seems so slow. Often I opt to go by train to Beverley. If I went  to Hull to visit my sister and Primark  I always disembarked on the return journey and visited Mother  , had a coffee in CaffeNero , a walk round M and S and then back on the train . Beverley had everything for a daughter visiting a Mother in a Care Home, and was responsible for 2 years of good visits . The ambiance and History of the town always delighted me . (Note to self -keep going back , get to know the town in a new context!)

Whilst Beverley town  has been my balm in difficult days, my allotment remains as my constant and necessary balm for everydays and alldays.

Dave's Everlasting Flower bed

Many times I go from home to water the greenhouse in hot weather, to pick berries in the mellow months, to weed in the verdant ,weed frenzied months and to generally just look around and sit alone all the months . Its my place of SPACE, my retreat , and the place where I tell the time by the passing of the trains from Beverley every 2 hours, realise Ive been gone 2 hours and hurry home hoping Herons is still open .They are used to me with a basket trailing soil and full of assorted flowers and veg which I have to move on to  the counter whilst I find my purse.
My neighbour has been growing Everlasting Flowers,  now called Xerochrysum bracteatum  since they were got at by the taxonomic botanists in 1990 . I still call them Helichrysums , but then I still call the Mint Family, Labiatae instead of Lamiacea. I know what I mean.

My Clary Bed

I sit on my white plastic chair outside the greenhouse  and look out across my plot , Dave's Plot, Bernard's plot and Eddie's plot . I know it looks colourful at the moment as my sister went passed on the train and then told me so. My Clary and David's Everlasting flowers, Bernard's Michaelmas Daisies (just in bud), all our Sunflowers, and most importantly our free seeded Nasturtiums which David and I like, and Brian two plots away hates with a Vengeance.
Its been a good year for the Everlasting Flowers. I remember when Flower Arrangers like me would spend hours wiring them all, for the Dried Flower Arrangements I so loved in the 80s, but now  hate  . I hate them even more since visiting Aged Parent in Care Home . Everywhere one went they would be lurking , the shelf in the Visitors Cloakroom, the side tables in the sitting rooms , and in Mother's room when she first arrived . I caused that particular vase to have an accident .
Now I LOVE the way my allotment neighbour has dealt with them . Having grown them so that without blemish the large flower heads , just open enough to show their symmetry and beauty they are then picked and the heads thoroughly dried .They can make the summer last till the next time summer comes . And last they will in the way that Casa David and Jen are using them . They put them in a Goldfish bowl.

I am growing Kale for the first time ever. My Aged Parent grew it in row after row in Sutton on Hull in our large garden . I used to dread her saying just go and cut some Kale for dinner please Margaret Mary. I did not appreciate the way it was cooked. It would be boiled to death in lots of cold water brought up to the boil , and then a plate would be pressed on it to get the water out. Spouse remembers his mother cooking and straining the water off cabbage in just the same way . Thankfully nowadays we realise that the young Kale leaves  may be quickly stir fried, and it is a cut and come again veg for summer through to next summer  , everlasting till everlasting . M and S it must be said do the most delicious Kale crisps which are deep fried in Cashew Butter, but at £2 a small 30 gm bag they are not going to have my money very often .

As David remembers the sunshine all through the winter , I am going to remember my beloved Mother everytime I pick some Curly Kale .

I am a cynic I know.

Apple kale and lime juice.

 PUT it in a bottle with Apple Juice and Lime juice and charge a lot for it. Thank you Waitrose, you know I love you dearly, I miss you, I wish you were in Filey , or even Scarborough as I would shop and shop but not drop as I do in Tesco BUT  why bottle Kale Juice?

We grew row after row of it in the clay soil of Holderness when I was young. It was about the only vegetable one could hope to do well with  all through the winter. How I dreaded the words would you just go in to the garden and get me a picking of kale for dinner.  Mother would cook it to death and press a saucepan lid over it to get out any remaining goodness. The dog under the table never liked it either .

Have you noticed everyone how the food Police have recently discovered that some very cheap products are good for you? Have you noticed everyone ,that vegetables that are really easy to grow, easy to store and easy to spell are becoming the staple add-ons for the Baby Lead Weaning generation . Here they are then

• Beetroot , obvious red or orange: NB very expensive crisps
• Kale , tough as old boots green , or black if using the Italian variety:NB very expensive soft drinks and  oh so exciting vegetable when fried or something awful ,but freshly picked from the restaurants own veg patch
• Swedes, orange and easily grown  NB very expensive microwave ready to eat puree (with the addition of black pepper I know)
• Not a veg, but have you noticed how Black Pudding , the cheapest of meat products is now going gourmet ?
• Broad Beans are back , only they are called Fava beans in posh places. The frozen variety taste just as good from Herons , and I damned if I'm going to skin them and puree them .

My allotment continues to enthrall me, yes! really. I have tried Celariac this year as it's always expensive to buy, but its a real pain to grow. Celariac mash just doesn't do it for us anyway, we prefer Parsnip Mash and that root is always cheap in Filey, and takes the addition of Jerk seasoning to make it taste really delicious and different.

I wonder how long it will be before Chard Juice hits the shops. Perhaps its already in Neals Yard or Daylesford in Pimlico Road, both places where spouse and I like a good snoop .If anything is good enough for the Stockpot in the Kings Road just past the Fire Station its good enough for us, and they are not serving Chard. I am however growing it in abundance because it is foolproof, lasts through the winter and comes back smiling and verdant. 

My wonderful Italian vegetarian cookbook from the 80s is still used frequently. Chard is the star of many of its recipes that are now firm family favourites, often used in place of spinach. Spinach and Rice Pie is the most used.  I wonder how long before my simple Italian peasant food becomes the best thing since sliced bread in Waitrose, after all it will feed a family of 6  for about £1.50.

Chips and Crisps

If like farmers trading futures on the price of wheat, farmers also sell ahead at a fixed price their Potatoes then it makes sense if they take note of trends in weather patterns. I don't have the right lingo here or probably  not even the right grasp of the situation. My knowledge is gleaned exclusively from my daily newspaper and BBC Countryfile. 

I do know that what I see on my weekly trips across the Wolds tells a story. For those of you who live in USA and other far flung places I will just explain about the East Riding of Yorkshire. 

• between Filey and Beverley the topsoil is on Chalk
• At Kilham the topsoil  drains very well indeed
• the Cotswolds always reminded me of the Yorkshire Wolds-same type of soil and flora
• the Romans built villas like the one at Rudston in the E Riding
• east of the Chalk Wold land the soil is CLAY,CLAY CLAY to the coast

2 clicks makes this much bigger

This Google map was made when the Oil Seed Rape was in flower, this year that was about 3weeks ago. Last week I took pics of the poppies now in the Rape seed fields at Rudston.  Barley for the brewing industry is grown too, wheat  and some flax and field beans, but mostly POTATOES.

Kilham Potato field

My parents grew all the potatoes we could eat , only occasionally in the winter was I sent to the village to buy half a stone . Our soil was clay in Sutton in Holderness, but a ton of manure was delivered every spring from the nearby farm to spread .

Bartindale near  Rudston

So here we are -June 2011. I have not seen farmers irrigating so early around here for all the time we have lived in Filey.  I can hear my mothers words ringing in my ear-

'get a sack now the potatoes are going to be dear! '