July

O flower of Scotland, when will we bee, your like again

They say, if you don’t like the weather in Scotland you should wait a minute… It’s very true that you can have all four seasons thrown at you in one day here. So, this month, when the sun was shining we went outside to enjoy the countryside – and when it wasn’t we stayed inside – with the Aga turned back on and the fire lit!

Polly and Ruby enjoy the July sunshine

At the start of the month, my dear mum came to stay for a couple of days with her little dog Bracken. Polly and Ruby were delighted to have the company of their boyfriend while mum and I went to explore nearby Drumlanrig Castle. As the castle is built entirely of pink sandstone, it is known locally as the Pink Palace. Nationally, the castle is known for its history, its antiques, and especially for its fabulous art collection. Drumlanrig was in the news a few years ago when one of its paintings, a priceless Da Vinci known as 'Madonna with the Yarnwinder', was stolen. Happily, the masterpiece has since been recovered and by the end of this year, it may be on display again. The formal gardens are also a great attraction and provide a lovely walk in the sunshine, so before mum and I went inside to enjoy our afternoon tea, I took a few photographs.

The formal gardens at Drumlanrig

Back home, the garden is blooming with annuals. My particular cottage garden favourites are the Antirrhinum or Snapdragon. I have memories of them from my childhood, when we used to pick them and use the flower heads as finger-puppets!

Another flower in the garden at this time of year is the one pictured below. It is a delicate tall, orchid-like plant, that enjoys having its roots in wet conditions. It self-seeds prolifically and, consequentially, the hedges and ditches are filled with them. It’s a breathtaking display to behold on a July day and I’ve seen motorists stop and get out of their cars just to admire them. But what are they? It’s not a trick question - we really do have no idea. So, if you can help us identify the mystery plant - please do!

A mystery plant in the garden...?

The hens have continued to enjoy roaming on the thistle festooned hills around the cottage. Sheep and their fully grown lambs, rabbits and their bright eyed kits, and a full compliment of pheasant and partridge, keep them company. In the July skies above the cottage, it is fun to see the swallows teaching their young ones how to master aerial acrobatics and, in the garden, it is fascinating to see the pied-wagtails demonstrating the best way to catch small flies and bugs from the clover heads and buttercups that cover our lawn.

Kylie, Britney, & Beyonce happily roam on the field and hill

In the vegetable garden, the runner beans are climbing up their bean poles and the little gem lettuce are all looking good. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are doing amazingly, displaying lots of lovely green tomatoes of differing sizes, which with care should start reddening up next month. The pumpkin is growing like a proverbial beanstalk and keeps flowering prolifically. I have to continually ‘nip them in the bud’ to make sure the plant's energy is directed towards the three biggest pumpkin buds to maximise potential for giant pumpkins come Autumn time!

Green tomatoes on the vine

Mid month, I attended a writer’s conference in Penrith, Cumbria. It was the Annual Romantic Novelist’s Association Conference and a wonderful opportunity for me to spend a whole weekend with fellow members and writer buddies. By day, I attended workshops and listened to talks from the industry professionals, top writers of women’s fiction, editors, agents, and publishers. In the evenings, I chatted to friends in the bar over a glass of wine and attended the late night kitchen parties afterwards. On the Saturday evening, I enjoyed the Annual Gala Dinner and on Sunday evening, I returned home to the cottage and to my family, having had an awful lot of fun, while learning much more about the craft of fiction writing. Hurray for the RNA!

While I was away in Penrith, Mr Country-Cottage was kept equally busy. As part of a champion Scottish axe-throwing team, he was booked to put on a demonstration of axe-throwing skills at the Village Gala, an important annual local event. I thought you might like to see a photo of the team, dressed in their tartan finery, and ready for action.

Ready for the Royal Highland Show, Edinburgh

The recipe for July is in celebration of my blackcurrant bushes, which are ‘currently’ weighed down with fruity produce - please do pardon the punnet! I will of course be making lots of jam and freezing as much of the surplus as I can manage to harvest. It’s handy having the boys home for the holidays in times like these. Blackcurrants freeze very well, and I think there is always something very special about defrosting them in the middle of winter, for a cheesecake topping or sorbet, and experiencing all the scents and flavours of a July day that has long gone.

So, here is the recipe for this month. It’s the one I use to make my own blackcurrant ice-cream. It’s a real taste of summer – whatever the weather.

Blackcurrant Ice-Cream
Ingredients:
1lb (450g) fresh blackcurrants
6 oz (175g) sugar
5 fl oz (150 ml) water
10 fl oz (175ml) double cream
You will also need a freezer proof plastic box with a lid and a nylon sieve.

Method.
Pile the blackcurrants, about one third at a time, into the sieve set over a mixing bowl, and mash with a wooden spoon until you have extracted all the pulp and only the stalks, pips and skins are left in the sieve.
Now place the sugar and the water in a saucepan over a medium heat, stir until all the sugar has dissolved, then let it come to the boil, and boil for 3 minutes exactly.
Remove from the heat and stir into the blackcurrant pulp.
Whip the cream until it just begins to thicken.
Fold the cream into the fruit mixture until thoroughly blended.
Pour it into the plastic box, and freeze in a freezer or in the ice-making compartment of a fridge turned to its coldest setting. As soon as the mixture begins to set (after about 3 hours) turn it out into a bowl and beat thoroughly. Then, return it to the freezer (in the box) until set, which will take about another 3 hours. Remove to the main part of the fridge about an hour before serving. Serves approx 6.

Next month, I’m sowing salad leaves and spicy rocket, to enjoy with our late summer salads. I’m hoping to harvest ripe tomatoes from the greenhouse and use up all the basil I’ve grown to go with them. Socially, we have a wedding to attend in early August and a dinner engagement mid-month, with some good friends. So, until the month end, do let me know what you enjoy about the country cottage blog. As you can see, I’ve gone all high-tech by adding the visitor map, a followers listing, and opinion poll that I hope you will all consider voting on.

Love, Janice

June

“And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,

You will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden.”
Rudyard Kipling

I’ve loved being in the cottage garden this month - busy planting bedding plants into pots and planters and, in the sunshine and showers, watching the flowers and vegetables growing as fast as the lawn and the field grass on the bankings. Of course, The Glory Of The Garden in full bloom can be an enormous pleasure as well as a real pain, as Kipling knew, especially when I put myself out of action for a few days after hurting my back lifting a batch of compost. Ouch!

I’ve lots of photos to share this month. Some of the plants I’m showing you have been established at the cottage for many years, like the red-hot-poker plant (Kniphofia) and the blue Lupins (Lupinus angustifolius) and some, like those in the flower border, were only planted out last year but are already giving us a colourful mid-summer display.

Red-Hot Poker

Blue Lupins

The Flower Border

Oriental Poppy

Leafy Hosta

Weigela

Ruby in The Blue Lupins

In the vegetable garden, the early Pentland Javelin potatoes are coming along nicely and their foliage is now filling the raised bed. I’ll be watching out for flowering soon, which will signal the onset of a bountiful and tasty harvest. The tomato plants in the greenhouse are at various stages of growth and I also have pepper and pumpkin to nurse to fruition. In the herb garden, I now have more coriander and basil than I have use for, and so intend to try to dry and/or freeze some of it, for later in the year.

There's plenty happening in the new greenhouse

And I have a old sink full of Coriander...

The hens are currently enjoying long lazy days out in the field. So much so, one of them caused me a little concern this month. Hens , you see, cannot see in the dark and so go to roost at dusk - but this month - it has been well after ten thirty when they have toddled back to the hen house to be shut in for the night. It was around the time of the longest day, when Kylie was not to be found sitting safely on her perch with Britney and Beyonce and I feared she had been taken by a fox. The whole family went out looking for her with torches, calling her name, (yes, she normally does reply when spoken to!) to no avail. Thankfully, as I had hoped, having not made it back to the henhouse in time for nightfall, she had sensibly found herself a place to hide and sleep until daybreak – which was at three thirty am - when she woke everyone by making an awful lot of noise outside the kitchen door. The chicken version of Mummy I’m Home!

This month, I’m thrilled to announce that my novel When We First Love, which was first published in 2004 but has since been out of print, is available once more both at on-line and from high street booksellers.

Available on-line or from highstreet booksellers

RECEIPE OF THE MONTH - Spinach Quiche with Bacon and Cheese.
This month’s recipe is inspired by the success of the spinach-beet growing in the old butler’s sink outside the kitchen door. It’s a hearty summertime lunch dish which I like to serve up with a tossed salad and slices of bread and butter. My Aga is off for the summer and so I cooked it in my stand-by electric fan oven. Hence it's a bit browner on one side. Never mind, it tasted good!
Ingredients:
A savoury short crust pastry to line your dish, part baked.
Bacon chopped and fried with 2-3 spring onions. I used smoked back bacon.
A good handful of spinach-beet or spinach leaves.
A helping of cheese, grated. Use whatever you have including soft cheeses like ricotta or feta.
Eggs, beaten. I used 8 – but you use however many you need to ¾ fill your pastry case.
Method:
Add the spinach to the pan when the bacon and onion are cooked.
Sweat down for one minute. Add to the base of your pastry case.
Beat together as many eggs as you need with a splash of milk.
Grate the cheese into the egg, bacon, onion and spinach mixture.
Cook in a medium-hot oven of around 200 degrees/Gas 6.

That's about it for June. Oh, I've played around with the blog settings again, after folk emailing to say they had tried but given up on leaving a comment. This time, I really think I done away with the complications - so please do feel free to leave a comment or a suggestion. I'd love to hear from you and I promise to reply.

See you at the end of July....?

Janice