March 2021 newsletter

From the Chairman: 

Zooming into spring

Zoom talk - 'How to Grow a Dried Flower Garden' 

March 17th (Wednesday) – join at 7pm for a 7.15pm start
 
This month we are holding our talk slightly earlier in the month than usual – March 17th.
 
Our speaker is Bex Partridge of Botanical Tales, a floral artist who has recently moved to East Devon with her young family. Bex grows, gathers and then dries her plants to design ethereal flower arrangements which reflect the seasons. Bex will be showing us the plants that she is sowing in her garden now, for collecting later in the year and using to create her unique floral arrangements.  
 
Bex works with half an acre of land to grow and dry flowers and seedheads to create wild, natural, long lasting and entirely sustainable designs for everyday use, special occasions, weddings and events. Longevity and sustainability are integral to Bex’s approach, which is further described in her book ‘Everlastings’.
 
The invitation and link for this session will be issued separately.
 

Zoom talk – ‘British Owls’

April 28th (Wednesday) – join at 7pm for a 7.15pm start
 
 
Chris Sperring, a professional wildlife conservationist with the Hawk and Owl Trust, will be talking about British Owls, their Natural History and Practical Conservation. There will be a live owl on camera too!

The invitation and link for this session will be issued closer to the date.
 

May Zoom talk

Zoom talk – ‘Murder Most Florid’

June 25th (Friday) – join at 7pm for a 7.15pm start
 
Please note the change of day for this event – on the last Friday of the month.
 
For something completely different, join Dr Mark Spencer, forensic botanist, on our June talk. Mark works as a specialist crime scene investigator with various police forces to interpret crime scenes and analyse trace evidence that can link a suspect to a crime. He’s advised on all sorts of serious crimes against the person, the environment and plant trafficking. As he says, “Plants hold secrets.”
 
Mark originally studied horticulture at Kew, was botany curator at the Natural History Museum and currently is responsible for Linnaeus’ herbarium for the Linnaeus Society, as well as his work as a forensic and consultant botanist.

Native Plants as Garden Flowers

In February we held our eighth Zoom event, this time with Bob Brown of Cotswold Garden Flowers. Bob is an accomplished plantsman and more than 50 members dialled in to take advantage of his extensive plant knowledge.
 
Bob took as his start point a genus of native plant, such as Aquilegia or Campanula, and then looked at six or eight species or cultivars within that genus that made good garden plants. He covered an enormously wide range of plants we could grow, all based on his own personal experience of running his nursery for 30 years. Plenty of plant ideas for everyone and much appreciated by our audience. And we all enjoyed his anecdotes and thoughts on gardening that really brought his talk to life.
 
Bob offers mail order plants at www.cgf.net. 
 
 

 

What gets you through these difficult times?

Ideas for ‘lockdown survival’ ...

• Reading… Maybe a genre you have not tried before. Maybe something you remember you read years ago and enjoyed or made you laugh. Poetry or plays. Art or history or exploration that you have always wondered about. 
•  Music … Listening to something you enjoyed a while ago. Something to dance to. Something new.
•  TV and DVDs …… Again something new or that you know will make you laugh or even cry…. We all need a good cry from time to time. 
•  Exercise … Apart from walking or cycling how about dancing, Pilates, yoga, skipping, juggling, bouncing a ball around, ping pong …. Even on the kitchen table?
•  Making things … Sewing, knitting, embroidery, crochet, patchwork. Make something for someone else. 
•  Puzzles and games … Jigsaws, sudokus, crosswords…. Games like Monopoly, Triominos, Scrabble.
•  Plan the garden … is there something you need to change or something you would like to try to grow for the first time? Swap seeds with friends or neighbours. Give some seed to younger people to encourage them to grow their own food.
•  Explore those cookery books. Something new or that you haven’t made for years.
•  Write a long letter to a lonely soul … Hardly anyone writes a proper letter these days.
•  Light a candle … it smells good and gives some special light. 
•  Spend an extra minute or so in the shower … or try a cold one…
•  Zoom or link with computer, ipad or phone … facetime with young and old alike; read or tell a bedtime story to a younger person; chess, bingo, battleships, tasting the same food/wine; joke telling; helping with lessons; quiz designed by different ages in the family; looking at photos together; remembering happy holidays; whole family get togethers when each family can have a cake with candles, all sing together and blow candles out. 
•  And every day … Try to spend some time outside. Try to laugh. Watch the birds as they start to nest build. Rejoice in the spring flowers. Plan some celebrating for the summer. 

Recipe from Pam Corbin – Simnel Cakelets

 
These little Easter cakes are inspired by brilliant local cake maker Kerri Spong.  In fact it’s Kerri who makes all the gorgeous cakes we serve at our much celebrated teas at The Summer Show. Kerri kindly shared the recipe with me some years ago so I could include it in the River Cottage Cake handbook.  They make a lovely change from the classic marzipan-topped Simnel cake, and are quick to bake, fun to decorate and delightful to eat.  You can use ready-mixed dried fruit or a mix of your choice, and the fruit can be soaked in a something a little stronger than orange juice.

I like to decorate them with mini chocolate Easter eggs; alternatively you can cut out small marzipan shapes — rabbits, chickens, tulips — and pop those on top of the icing.
 
Makes 12
 
For the cakes
250g mixed dried fruit
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed orange
250 self-raising flour
1 tsp ground mixed spice
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
175g caster sugar
175g softened butter or similar cake fat, cut into small pieces
3 eggs
75ml milk
 
To fill and decorate
150g - 300g marzipan depending on decorations - home-made or shop bought
250g glacé icing
Small chocolate eggs
 
Equipment
12-hole muffin tray lined with paper cake cases
 
Put the dried fruit into a bowl with the orange zest and juice. Leave in a warm place for an hour or so to allow the fruit to plump back into life.
 
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.  Sift the flour, mixed spice, nutmeg into a large mixing bowl.  Add the sugar, eggs and milk to the bowl and using a hand-held electric whisk, beat for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy.  Then fold in the juice-soaked fruit.
 
Half fill the muffin cases with the mixture. Take 150g of the marzipan divide it into 12 pieces - flatten each piece into a disc and place on top of the mixture in the cake cases.  Spoon the remaining mixture over the top of the marzipan.  
 
Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until the cakes are nicely golden and spring back into shape when lightly pressed.  Leave in the tray until cool enough to move to a cooling rack. Meanwhile, roll out the remaining marzipan, if using, and cut into Easter shapes with a biscuit cutter. 
 
When the cakes are completely cold, top with the glacé icing and decorate with 2 or 3 chocolate eggs or a marzipan shape. NB - remember to put Chocolate Mini Eggs on your shopping list! 
 

Quiet contemplation

Silent auction for super prizes

Interested in testing your soil?

Have you had your census invitation yet?

Your contributions welcome and a look ahead