Spring Blows Hot and Cold

February was playing games. It was frosty, it was foggy and it has also been unseasonably sunny and warm.

We have been out in hats coats and gloves and we have been out in shorts and t-shirts.

Plum Blossom is filling the hedgerows with a white bloom, Blackthorn and Hawthorn will soon follow. 

Meanwhile Daffodils and Crocus are painting the road sides and gardens. Flashes of colour to fill in between the new growth of trees and bushes.

We have been on some lovely walks, including down Hurst Spit and around the Keyhaven nature reserve. 

When the sun has been hot and the tide good, we have been messing about on the river with boats from St. Deny's Boat Club.

 

March looks set to start with a good old fashioned storm. How it will turn out after that, only time will tell, but I hope the prevailing wind stays Southwesterly.

Ransom Capers

Although we are often looking out for blossom, as a way of identifying useful fruit trees at this time of year, the first thing we pick is Wild Garlic. Last year we were lucky enough to dine in the Riverford Field Kitchen and, amongst the other delights we were served tasty Wild Garlic Capers with our meal. 

Of course, we decided to have a go at making our own. First we picked plenty of fresh seed heads from Ransoms, in a damp valley of the ancient woods, close to where we live. Wild Garlic is the gift that keeps on giving, you can eat the leaves, then the flowers, then the seeds! 

A week or so before, I had a go at pickling Ransom and Wild Garlic flower buds, I had heard about this process before. I ate a fresh one, still in its sheath, after one of the children dared me. It was very tasty, so we will see what they are like pickled, later.

While picking our Ransom flower/seed heads, we also spotted a vast amount of Skunk Cabbage, which is a strange and interesting swamp loving plant. Apparently it was used by native american Indians for various herbal purposes and to eat, when food was scarce, we left it well alone.

To make the ransom capers, is quite a lengthy process. Initially, we separated the seed heads from the main stalks, then, after getting home we removed the individual seeds from the heads, each one packs a zingy garlic punch and that night, I put a handful into a home-made pasta sauce, as surprise taste bombs.

1. The Capers initially need to be sealed into clean jars with plenty of salt layered amongst the seeds.
2. After a period of about three weeks to a month - you can use a sieve to wash the salt away and then gently dry them on a towel.
3. Once dried you can re-bottle the capers, immersed in vinegar, using small sterilised pickling jars. 
4. Now you will need to wait for a further two to three months until they are ready to eat.

Who knows, they may make nice Christmas gifts for the more patient pickler.

Ransoms & Flapjack

The plum and blackthorn flowers are wilting, and being replaced by cherry blossom, cheerful daffodils are giving way to beautiful bluebells. When walking in local woodland, bright green leaves are beginning to fill the hedges and trees, and the dappled shade is punctuated by the pungent aroma of wild garlic and ransoms.

April showers had persuaded us to work on some long overdue decorating jobs. The house was still in chaos so the kids and I decided to take a break from the mess and put some of our stored nuts to use, by revisiting one of our favourite recipes for delicious flapjack. 

We had baskets of hazelnuts and Walnuts left over from last summer and often had cracking/nibbling sessions but this little lot had me sat down with the nut cracker listening to the radio for a quite a while. I find this quite relaxing.

Other than the shelling, the kids did all the baking, and after a couple of hours weighing, mixing and cooking, they had created a superbly scrumptious result.

We have also been experimenting with various Ransom/Wild Garlic recipes. After a quick trip to the local woods, the kids made some delicious Garlic Butter. This is ingenious and can be stored in the fridge, then spread upon toast to create instant Garlic Bread!

We also tried scrambled eggs with shredded Ransoms, this turned out to be a simple but delicious twist on the traditional healthy snack.  We then combined Ransom leaves with further Walnuts, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to make a very tasty Ransom Pesto to have with pasta. Our next project will be to pickle some Ransom Capers.

Meanwhile, the children have found an alternative use for our nut stash, hand-feeding an increasingly tame local squirrel!

Triangular Leeks or Wild Garlic

We visited Devon for a short break in April and as we walked around the countryside and woodland paths, we could frequently smell the pungent aroma of Wild Garlic.

There are places where whole banks are swathed with Garlic plants, many of them now in flower.

There is a plant in Devon that is related to the Wild Garlic and seen by some as an invasive weed; locals call it the Triangular Leek, it tastes and smells very similar to the garlic.

Our children like to make Garlic bread by finely chopping Wild Garlic leaves, mixing it with butter, then spreading it on toast. It makes for a very tasty substitute; we have also done this with chives that we found growing wild at our Southampton allotment, we toasted the bread on a fire this time.

Elderflowers are now blooming in the hedgerows, heralding the onset of the Summer months. Plums are ripening and I have already seen red cherries in some early trees.

Bluebells Held To Ransoms

Pale Splendor

The yellow glare of daffodils that bought us through March has now faded. However, if you frequent your local woodland, you may find that there is green & blue baize of bluebells currently making an appearance.

White Bluebells

The pale splendour these quintessential April flowers will not be with us for long this year, apparently, due to the drought conditions. Having said that, I have seen at least a months-worth of rain this week already; it certainly felt like that on my cycle to and from work.

Mauve Bluebells

We have bluebells in our garden but both Grandmas tell us that they are part of the Spanish Armada of invasive/non-native types.

A Carpet of Bluebells

This year, I have made a special effort to locate the ephemeral and suitably delicate, native variety on my wandering and photograph these pretty little beauties while I can. Bluebells appear in many different pastel shades including blue, purple, pink and white.

A Rainy April Walk Atop Welshbury Hillfort

Also available around this time, Ransoms (Wild Garlic) are ready for picking. These plants are easily located by their strong fragrance, if they are growing in your vicinity.

Wild Garlic aka Ransoms

Chopped Ransom leaves can make a perky addition to your kitchen – my daughter also enjoys just chewing on a freshly picked leaf when we are out.

A Green Carpet of Ransoms

A delicious recipe for Ransom Quiche can be found on our Community Website.