Tag Archives: Easter

Today’s Treasures – A Taste of Summer

Posted on by

Today’s Treasures  A TASTE OF SUMMER

In these dreary days before Spring really gets going it’s nice to look back on summer and the flowers that bloom in our English Country Gardens.

Daffodils, hearts ease and flox
Meadowsweet and lady smocks
Gentian, lupine and tall hollyhocks
Roses, foxgloves, snowdrops, forget me nots
In an English country garden – according to the song by Jimmie Rodgers

And poppies and evening primroses, cosmos and sweet peas with their vibrant colours and heavenly scents, which all brightened us up during 2020.

evening primrose

It looks like Easter is going to be as exciting as the non-event that Christmas turned out to be, but at least we have a vaccine now – and our most vulnerable people have some protection.

Whilst we wait for the celandines, coltsfoot and primroses to follow the snowdrops and crocuses as spring unfolds, we look to the herb garden to brighten up home-cooking which I am sure we are all getting heartily fed up of doing.  Take-aways are simply not the same as sitting as a table with a glass of wine and a beautiful view and being presented with a menu that you don’t have to shop for or cook.

Some herbs grow through the winter – rosemary, thyme, sage and bay leaves – others are very effective as dried herbs – and make delicious flavours for the simplest meals – tarragon chicken, garlic and parsley bread, minted peas, pasta with basil and oregano.

In the summer I always freeze some fresh herbs in ice cube trays – chopped mint and parsley and grated horseradish for sauces, and basil and marjoram to add to pasta dishes, chopped coriander for curries.

Herbs – fresh or frozen – also make excellent herbal teas – hyssop regulates blood pressure, peppermint helps digestion, chamomile for stress relief, lavender helps sleep, sage is stimulating, fennel is relaxing.

lovage

Published in the March edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

New Zealand White Rabbits like Chives

Posted on by

New Zealand White Rabbits like Chives

s_DSC0088

Eny’s babies are 4 weeks old now and they are hopping about happily.

Chives are growing quite well in the garden and the rabbits love them – just a few stalks each day along with their piece of apple.

s_DSC0022

The original Easter Bunny was the Hare.  The Anglo Saxon’s believed that the hare laid eggs in its form to signify the imminence of the year’s rebirth.  However, the church changed the hare into a ‘bunny’ in order to lead the people away from pagan stories and ways.  The Spring Goddess was often depicted as a woman’s body with the head of a hare.

 

Coltsfoot

Posted on by

Coltsfoot

s_DSC0012

One of my favourite spring flowers is coltsfoot – unusual in that the flowers appear before the leaves.

The Christian word ‘Easter’ is derived from the pagan word ‘Eastre’.  Eastre or Ostara is believed to have been the Saxon Goddess of the Dawn, hence the reason why Easter is celebrated at the time of the Spring Equinox.

The connection between Easter and the ‘egg’ symbolising new life also originates from pre-Christian times but fits perfectly with the Christian belief of the resurrection.

Although our youngest son is now 15 (and the others are 25 and 22) we still have an Easter Egg Hunt each year – but now with cryptic clues and riddles they have to solve rather than a trail of tiny Easter eggs.  Clues like:

What has to be broken before you can use it – and where can you find some?  The answer is of course – eggs – in the hen house.

Family time is so important – and often so difficult to organise with so many computer distractions – but it’s always worth it.