We're growing!

Now that we live some place with a place to have pots outside, I'm trying out growing some food plants. We've been fortunate to have lots of nice weather, which helps a novice like me.

I wasn't holding out much hope for my success, but most things have been growing nicely (I think despite my husbandry, rather than because of it!).

I've been really pleased with my tomato plant, but it turns out that it's too bushy - apparently you get more tomatoes if you pinch out the branches before they grow too big. That's ok, I'm just pleased that I haven't killed it yet and it looks healthy. Any tomatoes it might produce are just a bonus!

I'm most pleased about the strawberries. I remember trying once, when we lived in the house in Richardson, to grow strawberries. We had one of those clay pots with the holes in the side, and I was so excited. But the Texan sun and the neglect of an adolescent (I can't remember how old I was) meant that they burned up and died. And I think that was the last time I tried to grow anything to do with food. Consequently, I was excited all out of proportion when I noticed this:

And fortunately there were two ready to go, so we each got to have one.

Hooray for strawberries!

What next? The Gruffalo joins as Personnel Manager?

If you go to Google Maps and look at the satellite picture of BS8 3RA (or if you've visited, like Dad and Jenny), you'll see that the head office of the company I work for has woodland around three sides of it. (Apparently the house was built by Bristol's first millionaire. Unfortunately, I think he made his money via the slave trade. I haven't yet confirmed this via wikipedia.)

So I'm used to seeing rabbits (there are loads of rabbits) and sometimes deer, either when walking around at lunchtime, or even when driving in.

But yesterday, I was driving out along the road, and saw a couple of cars stopped up ahead. I slowed down and looked at the road, and I saw the most exciting thing ever. The cars had stopped so a momma duck with three ducklings following behind, in a straight line, could cross the road, just like Make Way for Ducklings.

It was the awesomest thing ever.

I think next time I'm out walking near work I'm going to scour the woods, because The Giving Tree must be around somewhere...

Hornucopia 2010 - some photos.

We didn't take that many photos either, but at least enough to show some here, in addition to the highlights I think we're going to put on the Hornucopia yahoo group. So here are some to get us all started...

Check out Grandpa's blog.

I was catching up with blogs after getting back, and noticed that Dad has set one up about Grandpa.

M H Huber

The most recent post is really interesting - a story about Grandpa saving a guy from back when Marty was a kid.

Everybody come! Come now!

It looks like because of the current uncertainty resulting from last night's election, the pound sterling is dropping like a stone against the dollar.

Maybe we should relocate Hornucopia to the UK? Only oil over here is in our engines and politics...

Are we going to Wii?

Where is the Horn Wii at the moment? Is it in Clemson?

Will it be coming to Hornucopia 2010?

Looking for opinions - charcoal grills

Mark and I are in the market for a BBQ grill, now that we have some place outside to put it. Although it would be nice to have the convenience of gas, I think we want to go with charcoal for the flavor. Plus I think I might try smoking meat some time - I found a place here in the UK that sells wood chips, including hickory and others.

But I'm having a hard time deciding what shape to get.

So far the ones I like are:

Weber Traditional (everyone seems to love it; it has a lid; you can buy lots of accessories to go with it; maybe a bit more expensive because of brand - not sure if that's worth it?; no adjustable grill levels, but does have the air vents to regulate temperature; pretty easy to clean, I think)

Barbecook basic or master (it's a Belgian brand, but looks really convenient to use; and it looks pretty; but I'd either have to have smaller cooking space, or it's a bit more expensive; it doesn't have a lid, but it does have adjustable grill levels; really easy to clean; but do Belgians really know about grilling, I mean, really?)

Kingsford bullet smoker (it's a smoker, but can be used as a grill as well; I guess would be better if I was going to smoke more than grill)

Non-brand barrel shape (cheapest option; has lots and lots of grill shape; can either use the lid or not; doesn't have adjustable grill levels and I'm not sure if it has air vents; more difficult to clean)

What kind of grill does everyone have? Do you like it? Thoughts?