beach foxes
Fox spotting in Stokes Bay, any time between dusk and dawn is best, but this morning a lovely dog fox was just sitting in a neighbours drive being watched by a black cat, till he headed off back to Stokes Bay presumeably for a bit of beachcombing.
Published Date:
14/08/2008
Modified Date:
14/08/2008
bug pets and neighbours cats
We have pets! Best of all they don't live with us.
Our neighbours have two kittens, one each for my boys who have instantly claimed them as their own enticing them into our garden to play with sticks string and overjoyed when allowed to stroke them. Best thing is I don't have to feed them, or pay their vets bills, or worry about who will look after them if we go away. Hurray for neighbours!
Bugs are almost as carefree, no I don't want to stroke him (woodlouse), no I don't want to hold him (ant), and provide hours of entertainment 'look how clever my pet is he can get himself back up when he is upside down', and 'My pet needs a swimming pool' or 'My pet is tickling me'. As long as I listen out for the 'I think my pet is tired now I'm going to take him to bed' and head that project off at the pass, the garden provides.
One thing that does still confuse me is; why are these bugpets always called Freddy??
Published Date:
26/06/2008
Modified Date:
26/06/2008
The Algarve Tiger
The Algarve is not best known for endangered cats, but is about to become the home for the world's most endangered wild cat, the Iberian lynx.
Now thought to be extinct in Portugal - this beautiful spotted cat has only around 150 individuals remaining in total in it's native Spain, where a captive breeding programme began just 3 years ago.
The Portuguese have now begun to build their own captive breeding centre in the Algarve mountains (thought to be the last stronghold of the Iberian lynx in Portugal), and will reintroduce captive bred lynx to the wild in Portugal in
the next 5-10 years.
What a beautiful secret for the Algarve!
Picture copyright El Acebuche captive breeding centre Donana, southern Spain all rights reserved.
Published Date:
15/06/2008
Modified Date:
16/06/2008
Strawberries
Strawberries everywhere. Strawberry ice cream for tea, just what you need after a tough day at the allotment, well morning anyway, and alright all me and J did was to harvest strawberries, onions and broad beans and plant more onions and look at bugs.. and as Stokes Bay is on the way home an afternoon's paddle is just what you need whether you are 4 or nearly 40.
Who said being green was too expensive and time consuming?
Might take a trip to the farm shops near Titchfield this weekend, they have strawberries too, the taste of a British summer is here!
Published Date:
04/06/2008
Modified Date:
04/06/2008
Fuel crisis? Is chip fat the answer?
Watch this space....
Cheap locally produced bio diesel could be coming our way very soon. Local farmers are producing oil which can be used instead of diesel, and will soon be making it available to private individuals (at the moment you have to buy a minimum of 1,000 litres)
Cheap and green.
Now that is cool.
Will keep you posted.
Published Date:
28/05/2008
Modified Date:
28/05/2008
Thanks for the boat!
People use/reuse/recycle all sorts of things on allotments, common sights are old baths used as water tanks, old pallets used as raised beds, old carpet used as mulch. Birds are scared away by the usual scrap scare crows, CD's, foil and police tape (not sure which is the most effective).
My allotment space is a wonderful scrap art collection of all of the above, but to my 4 year old son's joy, when we arrived there last Saturday we found an old rowing boat - yes someone who remains anonymous to us has left us an old rowing boat.
So a big thankyou to you whoever you are!
!
Published Date:
21/05/2008
Modified Date:
28/05/2008
Pompey top of the (green) league!
Pompey are top of the league above Man United. And it’s all thanks to Pompey fans making the most pledges to reduce their carbon footyprint for this FA Cup, see Pompey top of the league here:
http://www.carbonfootyprint.com/carbonleague/default.aspx
With the growing awareness of our carbon footprint, fans of all allegiances were invited to make pledges to reduce their carbon footprint - when travelling to away matches, through lift sharing, using coaches or simply watching with mates at home. With 771 extra pledges Pompey fans came top of the league table, the blues really are the greenest, and not just David James..
Play up Pompey!
Published Date:
12/05/2008
Modified Date:
12/05/2008
does Gordon Ramsey have a point?
Gordon Ramsey has been in the news again, this time for saying restaurants should be fined for using fruit and veg out of season? While calling for a fine has been controversial and done it's job of keeping him in the public eye, does he have a point?
Should we have strawberries mid winter? Should we care where our food comes from at all?
I think we should because a) the fresher it is the better it tastes, and strawberries eaten seconds after picking on our allotment last year were scented and delicious in a way that no shop bought strawberry flown in from abroad could ever be.
b) if it's in season it is cheaper! supply and demand means if there is a scarcity foods will be more expensive. Someone has to pay when food is flown in from other countries.
As far as chef's cooking with the same foods year round, it seems to me that this is just plain laziness on the part of the 'professionals' surely it is their job to be creative. If I am eating out I want the freshest ingredients, and I want the person who cooked it to have thought about what would taste great in any given season.
Can't wait for the glut of the summer foods, delicious British strawberries, crisp apples, picking blackberries in the park childhood memories flooding back as they are reflected in the purple stained face and hands on my children. Summer's here!
Published Date:
11/05/2008
Modified Date:
11/05/2008