Czech chickens!

So here is Ms Tagalong in the Czech Republic wanting snow, not finding much, but enough to cover anything resembling a community garden or even a garden.

Vegetables are not the Czech's strongpoint, especially here in Bozi Dar on the remote reaches of Bohemia about 400m from the German border. Sauerkraut and some grilled veg appear if you ask for them but there is no lack of Huhnchen even if it is only on the menu!

Snowy vegetable garden

Walking into Oberwiesenthal the other day, crossing the border with no guards in sight Ms Tagalong, Mr Ideasman and crew made it into the little ski town and sauntered into a few Christmas shops laden with wooden Christmas ornaments. Trees, snowmen, horses, choristers, wooden chalets, musicians, but sadly no chickens.

Another outing to Karlovy Vary, aka Karlsbad, found the female members of the crew oohing and aahing at some of the Bohemian glass and of course you will be delighted to know that they spotted some wonderful chickens.

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Happy New Year - Chickens of 2012!

So Ms Tagalong comes to the end of the year and looks back at all those wonderful chickens she has seen all over the world.

She was lucky to have a friend who sent some beautiful winter chicken photos who feature as Ms January and Ms December. The others were snapped throughout the year.

Ms January

Ms February

Ms March, Ms April and Ms May

Ms June

Ms July

Ms August

Ms September

Mr October

Mr November

Cheeky Ms December

So that was the year in chickens and they all wish you a Happy New Year! 

Des Res - Cluckingham Palace

Some chooks have all the luck. Some are born into royalty or at least aspire to it. These lucky escapees from a battery farm must have been born with a silver leg tag at the least.

This is their home. Cluckingham Palace complete with blue painted shutters and blue and white polka dot curtains. All the better for spying Mr Fox if he comes calling. He won't be huffing and puffing down this chimney though.

Ms Tagalong was very impressed with the set up. The Dorothys, as all the 10 chickens are called, have the run of a large field occasionally shared with a few horses. The slope of the field means that as you come through the bottom gate into the farm they spy you and race down in that inimitable chicken way, wings outstretched, legs akimbo, falling over themselves in anticipation of a delectable snack.

Ms Tagalong did not disappoint, she took the remains of frozen hot cross buns , soft and pappy from a too long stay in the freezer, perfect chook fodder!

Darling Loggins (she again of The World from my Window fame) bakes their egg shells and crushes them into small pieces with a large white pestle to supplycalcium into the diet, so Tighes Hill garden friends remember to bake them hard before you toss those shells over the fence.

And the chickens? Well, their battery days are just a faded memory...

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A community paella

Now that's a big one

Ms Tagalong and Mr Ideasman were in Barcelona recently. They loved the bikeways everywhere and rejoiced in the citywide Bicing for residents. Way to go!  Wandering down through the back of the Born district on Sunday in search of a sunny spot for lunch they spied a square at the end of a narrow road which seemed to be full of coloured chairs and people.

'Let's look here first,' said Mr Ideasman and off they went.

Healthy growth

A sight for sore eyes indeed, or sore feet as they had been tramping all over town that day. A community garden with notices exhorting them to boycot the multinationals and agri-business and return food to locally grown caught their eye. 

As if this was not enough, two giant paellas were being cooked at the bottom of the garden for community lunch!

'How long has this garden been going for?' Ms Tagalong asked in her best Spanish. The lady in the grey hat said,

Alex and crew hoisting the paella

'I'm not sure as I come from another community garden the other side of the city. You should ask her,' and she pointed to a heavily cardiganed figure gesticulating wildly with a large wooden spoon whilst talking to a couple over the fence. 

And the conversation continued and continued and not liking to interrupt Ms Tagalong resigned herself to not knowing the answer. But it certainly looked healthy, even though it was winter and all around were cold.

Enjoying the big lunch

Now this was definitely the place to be! Tables laid into two long rows (the big lunch) and the community out in force.

Alex from Uruguay was not an interloper, he lived there with his Argentinian wife and loved the community spirit.

Feeling very much in their place Mr Ideasman and Ms Tagalong enjoyed a fabulous lunch and added support to the project management community neighborhood centers. Neighborhood organizations together to propose a management of the nearest house, transparent and participatory fun come to know her well that's what the google translation of the Catalan said!

The second one is nearly ready

Ms Tagalong reckoned they had had their little community injection of participatory fun and they slipped off to marvel at the Picasso Museum.

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Foodie Penpals - black is the new black!

Rationed!

'Any things you really dislike? Like liquorice, who can like liquorice!' said Gareth. So it didn't start well.  Ms Tagalong's foodie penpal turned out to be her arch nemesis in foodie tastes but came up with the goods anyway! ( Sorry folks the formatting on this post has all gone haywire! Don't seem to be able to correct it.)

A black cube emblazoned with the logo Black was   the first thing Ms Tagalong zoned in on. Dark          chocolate coated chili liquorice –a combination       made in Danish heaven! She counted out the            lozenges dusted with salmiak and chili powder,         fifteen days supply if she rationed them out carefully and probably hid them from Mr Ideasman. 

An exquisite wooden butter knife was next to be     examined. Something which will find its way back to Australia, for sure. 

Swedish Pepparkakor biscuits are still sitting in their bright red box waiting for a happy occasion, maybe  Christmas? Lovely to have with cheese maybe.   MsTagalong did her best trying to decipher the writing  on  the box but had to resort to looking at the          pictures!  Looks like they are spiced with ginger,     cinammon, clovesand fenugreek. Yum. 

A little pot of home-made traffic-light chutney, so    named from the different pepper colours and a little bottle of bourbon flavoured gourmet sauce were      also in this wonderful box. Thank you Gareth, says Ms Tagalong. 

Pia Schmedt who was so lucky to have Ms Tagalong as a foodie penpal has sent in a little post about her parcel as she saw it! 

This month I was lucky enough to receive my foodie penpal parcel from Meryl, who lives in Dorset.
I always love to open the foodie penpals packages and this time it was real fun:

She sent me different kind of products, some I know and some I don't know and had to look up on the internet.

It was the nuts &breadsticks for the Romesco sauce, which I didn't know,   but found out that it is a nut and red pepper-based sauce from Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.

You can serve it with seafoods, which is perfect, because guess what, I live at the North Sea just 1km from  the ocean and we eat a lot of fish in our family.

The other thing I had to look up is the tagine spice from Morocco, it is used for the slow cooked meals in a traditional Moroccan tagine pot.

One of the best items was the Paella seasoning, because my family loves Paella and I will use this seasoning  the next time I cook this dish.

Then there were the oatmeal & honey cookies from a local company, which were delicious and disappeared quickly together with the yummy lemon & ginger tea.

But the BEST the absolutely BEST were the real ale chutney together with the cheese bites and the rosquellitas (savoury biscuits, which are so delicious that I have to find a store, where I can buy them or a recipe to make some myself).

I had some tomato chutney left and my husband and I had the perfect evening snack!!!
Meryl sent me a lovely card from the Biddulph Grange Garden in Staffordshire.  

Thank you Meryl for the wonderful parcel, I loved everything :)
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Grow some, take some - Todmorden Incredible Edibles

Ms Tagalong, her friend Darling Loggins (from The World from my Window fame) and her Yorkshire resident daughter Ms Would You Rather, threaded their way up the long narrow valleys into Todmorden.

Ms Tagalong could hardly contain herself. After having seen this TED inspirationalvideo via a newsletter from Changing Habits, Changing Lives recently, the chance to see Todmorden and its incredible edibles in all its verdant glory was opportune.

Outside the police station! 

' I thought this was a village,' Ms Tagalong commented as they drove down the grey, rain-slicked road into the town of 14,941 inhabitants. She looked around craning her neck to spot some incredible edibles in the winter weather.

'Better park here,' she said as they pulled up outside the police station, 'ooh, look, beds and veg – it's a fair cob, I mean cop, says this sign!'

So she sprang out of the car, camera at the ready. Ms Would You Rather loaded up the green route on her mobile and off they went.

La Neige Blanche in the window

Admittedly there was a detour. La Neige Blanche, garishly painted, sitting in pride of place in a window display of every possible piece of themed china produced, pulled the trio into the shop where they met Margaret of the chinashop's husband.

'This is a true story,' he kept saying as he regaled them with tales of royalty and near royalty purchasing his wares and of his wife (Margaret) lurking behind a a bin on the offchance that Prince Charles, who he said had visited the Incredible Edible town three weeks earlier, might wander on down from the market to say hello.

Herb picking at the station

'It's a true story,' he repeated taking off his glasses so he couldn't look them in the eye!

Back on track the trio spotted vegetables, vegetables everywhere, to pick and to share. Onions outside the adult education college, herbs outside the train station, beans in the churchyard and an apothecary's garden by the canal.

Grow it, map it and share it!

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Onion knowledge!

Ms Tagalong has been looking through some of the photos she has taken of various great gardens this past year.

One garden in particular stands out. Another National Trust property, chanced upon as a detour off the great M5 motorway was a wonderful break.

Hanbury Hall and gardens , a William and Mary style house built in 1701, has its share of history with a family including ne'er-do-wells and squandered fortunes.

The stunningly restored parterre garden is a highlight,
'My sister would love that! All that perfection and order,' said Ms Tagalong.

The walled garden is once again a working, producing, viable veggie garden supplying the cafe with its greens, fruit and of course eggs from the happy chickens!

Ms Tagalong has probably mentioned before how excited she is about the course the National Trust is taking with all this sustainability and local produce. Fantastic!

Wandering into the greenhouse Mr Ideasman spied onions drying on a table. He cupped one in his hand impressed by its size, 'I certainly know my onions!' he quipped.

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