Merry Christmas 2018

I know I say it every single time but where did the month go? Not so long ago we were just settling into December to enjoy the festivities and now suddenly it’s Christmas Eve! It’s been a busy old month though full to the brim; busy working, enjoying days out with family and friends, making presents and trying to find time to potter up the allotment in between all the rain…

I actually managed three trips to the allotment in December and two ended up with me getting soaked by a heavy down pour… The last trip however was made on Saturday and my one and only job was to harvest this years Christmas veg. One of my favourite jobs of the year and one which usually has me bursting with pride. There’s just something so special about growing your own vegetables for one of the most important meals of the year isn’t there?

Traditionally me and my Dad and sometimes even more family members would all walk up to the allotments on Christmas Eve to help pick the vegetables. However, as I write this I am currently sitting in the farm house in Wales after arriving here yesterday to have a Welsh Christmas. Therefore I headed up the allotments earlier then planned so that I could bring a little trug of homegrown goodies with me.

First I headed over to my Dad’s plot (with his permission of course!) to pick a few of his leeks and parsnips. He always grows the parsnips although I’m keen to try growing them for the first time next year plus his leeks are proper leek size whereas mine are very much still like pencils! Next it was back over to mine to harvest two swedes, it was my first year attempting to grow these and I was a little disappointed with the size of them. Alas I picked the two largest ones and then it was time for the sprouts!

In all my five years of owning plot 15c this is the first year I’ve ever grown proper sprouts, can you believe that?! I usually grow flower sprouts here which are delicious and rather adorable but this year I wanted to grow ‘normal’ sprouts especially for Christmas dinner. There’s a few bad ones amongst the bunch but I’m so happy with my homegrown stalk! I left the biggest and bulkiest stalk for my Dad to harvest as he’s feeding 7 mouths on Christmas day whereas I’m only feeding 3 and this one here will be plenty for us. We usually make a bacon and chestnut butter to melt over our sprouts once they’ve been cooked and it’s delicious… my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

After spending a mere 30 minutes up the allotment harvesting vegetables I left with a huge smile and a beaming heart. This little trug of homegrown goodness means so much to me, a joint effort by me and my Dad and a year’s worth of hard work. To be able to offer these up for Christmas dinner is an absolute joy and I can’t wait to get tucked in!

Last but by no means least… I just wanted to take the time this Christmas Eve to say a huge thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read my blogs, thank you for following me along on my allotment adventures throughout the year and thank you for taking the time to comment. It means to much to me to have friends to share my plot with and I’m always so grateful for your kindness.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas, may it be filled with laughter, family, friends and homegrown treats! x