Emley Show 2013

A couple of weeks ago was the Emley show. Last year I managed to win a class in the honey section but this year I was unable to enter the same class; it was for novices and can only be entered once. This year I had to go up against the people who have been keeping Bees for much longer. I'll cut straight to the chase and say that this year I didn't win anything in the honey class. One of my friends did enter and he was a lot more successful getting 3 awards and it was his first time showing honey. Comparing his honey and mine it was clear his was superior. My honey is clear but his is super clear; he used a much finer filter than I did so next year I will try to get hold of one myself.

My Dad had good results in the horticulture section winning in the cucumber and broad bean section and getting various 2nd's and 3rd's elsewhere. The full results are here. I entered a couple of exhibits in the flower section and got a 2nd and a 3rd. Next year my Dad will probably enter even more.

I didn't take as many photos as last year but the ones I did take are below. There seem to be more chicken pictures than anything else!

Oca Harvested

Last week we had a day that was warmer than it had been in the previous days, I think it got as high as 7°C. Compared to the weather we've had it was almost tropical. The temperature had dropped below freezing on several occasions and as a result the tops of my oca plants have died off, so it was a perfect time to harvest them! If you haven't heard of oca then here is the Wikpedia link.

Oca is a crop from South America that forms tubers under ground that grow when the days start getting shorter. If I had to compare it to anything it would have to be the potato even though it does have it's own taste. It can also be eaten raw and has a slight sweet flavour and crisp, almost radish like, texture. In this years crop the tubers are much smaller than last year and as a result I doubt that much of it will reach the table, although I will have plenty stored to plant out next year. I have also purchased another South American tuber crop called Yacón to grow next year, which will probably be the feature of one of my next posts  

Vegetable Mission

My father has recently gone on holiday and left me in charge of watering his tomatoes in the allotment while he's been gone. I also took the liberty of helping myself to some of the harvest. Some of the produce is from my seeds but most is my Dad's however he always grows more than needed. Next year we aim to get more involved with the planting and weeding of the allotment.

In the above picture there are tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, spring onions, borlotti beans, beetroot and achocha. The potatoes are of the variety desiree. I'm not sure of the variety of the spring onions, carrots, tomatoes or beetroots. The beans are borlotti beans and are similar to kidney beans only not red; they are creamy white with red dashes. The spiky green things are called achocha; they grow on vines and have taken over 1 of my dads greenhouses, they are kind of like a cross between a cucumber and a pepper but are reported to have several health benefits including lowering cholesterol and anti inflammatory effects. Another great thing about them is that they are none hybrid seeds which means that I can keep the seeds and grow them every year, with hybrids there is no guarantee that your seeds will grow from year to year. 

I will be growing as much as possible next year and hope to report on my success (and failure) as well as showing what we have done with some of the veg.