Windmill Christmas Fuddle

Thanks to everyone who came to our wonderful Christmas Fuddle today. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

We need to thank the Gateway to Nature folk who arrived at10am to help get the clay oven lit and the  polytunnel decorated. Well done to our main cooks - Paul for amazing spinach bajis, Joyce for her lentil burgers, Lynn and Karen for the biscuits, Tracey for her pumpkin brûlée and pear frangipani and last but not least, Shona for the pumpkin risotto. Thanks to everyone who chipped in to make a pizza too, and to Mark who did sterling work in keeping the oven cooking nicely (in fact better than ever before!). Mustn't forget everyone who took a turn keeping the rocket stove going too, under the guidance of Chris who is now an expert in handling this tempramental beast. Volunteers Mark, Guy and Lizzy (returning now her ankle is mended) all supported us wonderfully too, and it was great to get visits from friends old and new. We even learned how to say "cheeky" in French!

We wish everyone a great Christmas, and look forward to seeing you at the Lohri Festival in the New Year on Saturday 11th January from 1pm. NB our Wednesday and Thursday sessions will go on as usual! restarting on 8th and 9th January.

Wild, windy and wonderful!

That was a bit windy! Fortunately I was there when we buried the footings for the polytunnel, so I had every confidence it would stay up, but some of the other volunteers were a bit nervous as gusts tried to lift the canopy off. Further up the road, a 10 foot tree snapped off at its base, so we were probably quite lucky being a little bit sheltered.

It did mean we had to abandon our cooking plan, as rocket stoves don't work well in swirling gusts, and you risk cooking your knees as the flame can come out of the fuel loading tube at the base! However, Paul, who was delighted to take over the cooking duties again, did a wonderful job in the relative shelter of the polytunnel, delivering a delicious lunch of indian-style omlettes and spiced rice.

Paul, our chef for all weathers!

 

Before that, we managed to get a surprising amount done, given how much stuff was blowing sideways across the site. Paul did double duty, first helping Hassan to give the herb beds a good tidy up. Mark took the sage that we clipped from there and hung it up to dry in the loo, so that now smells amazingly nice! Hassan also got to grips with the parsnip patch which has produced some whoppers this year. Tracey has promised to turn them into something delicious for Thursday food soon!
 

Hassan vs. mega parsnip

Elsewhere on the site, new volunteer Lawrence joined Joyce in giving the area outside the poly a really good weeding, as it had turned into a couch-grass growing factory. Mark and Guy helped to pot up the strawberries we didn't manage to do last time, so we should have a really good set of plants for events next year.

New volunteer Lawrence helps Mark
to de-couch the path.

Next week we will be getting ready for our Christmas fuddle. If you are in Nottingham, and fancy coming along, it will be on Thursday 19th December, from 12noon to 2pm, with lots of lovely grub to enjoy and decorations provided by Robert Shaw Primary and Gateway to Nature, so the place will look amazing. Hope to see you there!