Green Fingers? I think not

You may remember how excited I was back at the beginning of July when my first courgette flower opened. I’ve never grown them before and was hoping for great things. Unfortunately, although I’ve had 11 flowers most have been male with no chance of developing into courgettes. The 4 female flowers that did grow started swelling into nice baby courgettes but within a couple of days 3 of  these withered away and fell off.

withering courgette

So far only one has managed to grow into anything edible.

I had no idea what was going wrong but a quick Google (on one of the rare occasions when the internet actually worked here) told me the problem was that the flowers weren’t getting pollinated. Now that’s really not too surprising as there aren’t many insects around because there are just SO many spiders. Every morning it's a battle to get out of the boat as there are webs all over the pontoons. Chico has to go out first to break through and often gets covered with web fibre all over his face. The spiders are the biggest I've ever seen too,  most are an inch across, YUK!

I’ve now learnt that I need to do a bit of pollination myself so when the next lot of flowers open, hopefully tomorrow, I need to strip the petals off a male flower to expose the stamens and pollen and then tickle them inside the female flower. Powerful stuff eh?

male flower on left, female on right

Piggies

During a long walk the other day we came across a large field with several pig pens. At first we thought they were deserted but then noticed that most were occupied by sleeping pigs. In the corner of the field there was a deep mud wallow, kept wet by a water feed and being used by 2 very contented HUGE piggies. They were fast asleep and snoring softly. It was a very hot sunny day and they were covered in the mud, using it as sunscreen.

The weather has continued hot and sunny and we haven't had any significant rain since we've been here. The harvest is in full swing and the sound of combine harvesters can be heard most days. The only draw-back is the dust they produce has covered all the boats. Even the water in the marina has a film of scummy dust on the surface. The first thing I intend doing when we leave next week will be to wash and polish the boat. It's not possible to do it here as the water level is so low that the pontoons are too high to work from, they come half way up the boat sides.

Lazy Day

I don’t have much to tell you about today.  We had heavy rain this morning so I spent the time baking bread and flapjacks and doing the laundry.  The sun came out this afternoon and so did the whirly-gig dryer . The washing dried in no time so we went for a walk down by the river where we came across this beautiful heron fishing.

It didn’t seem at all bothered by us but didn’t catch any fish while we were watching.

Swan Rescue

An RSPCA van turned up at the marina this morning. There’s a family of swans living in and around the marina and one of the four cygnets had got a fishing hook stuck in it’s beak with the line wrapped round it’s neck.  The RSPCA man had a special ‘swan hook’ which was a bit like a shepherd’s crook but 10ft long and while I helped distract the parents with food he tried to hook the cygnet. No such luck. The parents were too clever and kept the injured cygnet well back behind them and the other three youngsters.  As the heavens opened the RSPCA man decided to give up and said that as the cygnet was eating with no difficulty it wasn’t in any immediate danger, so he’d either come back later in the week with a colleague and a boat, or he’d send for someone from the local swan rescue centre.

fishing hook stuck in its beak and line wrapped round its neck

This afternoon we walked the mile and a bit each way into Bidford to the Post Office and then collected Chico and headed off along the River Avon footpath with the intention of walking to Welford on Avon about 3 miles away. After about 2 ½ miles the path became too overgrown to continue. It obviously doesn’t get used very much so we gave up battling with nettles and came back. 7 miles was enough for one day. We haven’t done much walking since before Stratford Festival and boy do I know about it now. My feet are killing me!

The road outside the marina is about 10 feet above the current river level but obviously floods quite regularly, judging by the road signs.

Sunday lunch

We set off early this morning and were in Evesham Lock by 9.30. We'd just got roped up when a short narrowboat and a plastic cruiser turned up wanting to share the lock. We were quite happy to share but found that the reason they wanted to come in with us was that they wanted me to do all the work for them! It's Sunday and I was in a good mood so I just got on with it, after all they were quite a bit older than me and the guy on the narrowboat claimed he was single handing. They followed us into the next lock and low and behold a woman appeared on the narrowboat, looked like she'd just got out of bed but at least this time she steered the boat while husband got off and helped with the lock. The guy on the cruiser still did nothing except flap about ordering his poor wife who was in the boat holding onto the rope.  You certainly meet all sorts on the rivers and canals.

The reason we'd set off early was that we wanted to go to The Bridge at Bidford for lunch. We hadn't booked and when we went in at 2.00 it was very busy. We got a good table and I have to say it was probably the best Sunday lunch we've had for a long time.  I had salt cod fritters with aoili for starters. They were very light, extremely tasty and just melted in the mouth. Main course was roast beef with all the trimmings. The beef was so rare it almost had a pulse, just how we like it.  I'd noticed that the veg on the adjacent table looked a bit crunchy so asked for ours to be cooked a bit longer as we don't like it like that. We got a large bowl of assorted greens, cabbage, broccoli, peas and broad beans, all cooked perfectly to our taste. For desert we shared a raspberry and rum trifle, well Roger had a couple of small spoonfuls and I had the rest. This was all washed down with a very good bottle of Aussie Shiraz. I'd certainly recommend this place and hope we can make a return visit before we leave the area.

The Bridge at Bidford

We're now back in the marina at Barton, luckily the boat next door has gone so we've got a much better view and it doesn't feel quite as claustrophobic.

Barton Moorings

There’s a major draw-back to this marina. Limited internet reception and a phone signal that depends on which way the wind is blowing.

We’ve not done much today, just laundry, housework and a bit of gardening.  The roof garden is coming on a treat. The tomatoes are starting to ripen, we have one baby courgette and the herbs are growing like mad. The sun and warm temperatures are working their miracles but it’s St. Swithin’s Day on Friday so keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain.

tomatoes, basil & chives

Into a marina

We’ve decided that we like the River Avon so much we’re going to stay a bit longer and explore the surrounding countryside. Free public moorings around here are usually only available for one night so we’ve booked into a small marina for a few days. I’m not too fond of marinas as I find it a bit claustrophobic being in between 2 other boats, but it’ll do for a short while.  As marinas go it’s actually quite nice. It’s recently been developed, is only small, has good facilities and so far everyone I‘ve met has been extremely friendly.

The only kitchen gadget I have on the boat is my Magi-mix ‘Le Micro’ mini food processor. I use it frequently for everything from making breadcrumbs to chopping onions.  I find it particularly good for using up leftovers and yesterday made these lamb rissoles from what was left after Sunday’s roast lamb dinner.

This is based on one of Delia Smith's recipes which I've been making for years. It actually came from Book One of her Cookery Course, which my mother-in-law gave me when we got married 32 years ago.  I've made it so often now that I don't weigh anything so I apologise if the quantities of ingredients is a bit vague.

Chop a small slice of bread into breadcrumbs and put in a mixing bowl.

Chop the leftover meat (lamb or beef) from the Sunday joint (in this case shoulder of lamb) and add to the mixing bowl.

Chop a sprig of rosemary, a clove of garlic and a handful of parsley and add to the bowl along with a beaten egg and salt and pepper.

Mix everything together, divide into 4 and squeeze into burgers.

Beat another egg in a bowl and put some flour into a separate bowl.

Dip each rissole first into the egg then into the flour to coat all over.

Fry gently for about 5 minutes on each side till golden and crispy and serve with leftover gravy and fresh veg. or as a burger in a bun.