Fabulous kind of day

This is one of those utterly fabulous days. I have no pressing commitments (due to still-sore coccyx), I have loads of wood for my fire (thankyou to little brother), 'meatloaf' in the oven, and mum and dad coming up for dinner. I have also planted and tilled and fed and fussed over my garden and am looking forward to the results.

Firstly, this is my evening to be;

Log fire, good company, roast veges (chat potatoes, parsnip, pumpkin, red shallotts, cauliflower, sweet potato and carrot in rosemary, sea salt and olive oil). I will put 'Ladies in Lavender' and 'Pride and Prejudice' on the stereo on shuffle and enjoy eating immensely. I shall lighten the load by providing steamed sprouts, broccoli and grey zucchini with a light balsamic and honey glaze.

I will trot my family out into my garden where I have recently planted a bed of potatoes (nicola, sebago and pontiac), broad beans, spring onions, red shalotts, garlic and a gooseberry bush as well as a bed of my beloved blue cornflowers. The cornflowers will have companions in a few weeks in the form of brilliant red flanders poppies. The red and the blue are a stunning combination and their foliage is complimentary,-feathery and light green/grey.

There is a fabulous salad that I do for summer barbecues with fresh blanched broad beans, toasted slivered almonds, roasted kumera cubes, spring onion and a lime and sweet chilli dressing. Gooseberries make lovely jam but are best eaten fresh from the bush (perhaps with a chaser of fresh raspberries from the canes behind) and a kiwi or two from the vine to the right. The food garden is one of the prettiest things you'll ever see. Everyone smiles amongst an abundance of edible growing things!

I should also mention that I'm very very pleased with my soil efforts. A few months ago I cleared out a large bed, dug out tonnes of yarrow and weed matter, added compost, manure, lucerne and wood-ash (dug through until I was shaky), I then covered the bed with newspaper and more lucerne. When we dug it yesterday it was rich, dark, loamy and FULL of worms with a nice 6.5 PH that my veges will adore. Oh yes, give me poo and rotten veges and I shall show you miraculous things=P

My current obsession with rotting things and dirt may be a trifly unbalanced but I am sooooo enjoying myself...and am having a weird dizzy spell.....odd, might sign off then.