Well that is another year done and dusted and we see ourselves starting this new one afresh in our little home. My one main aim for last year was to grow enough vegetables to keep the pair of us going through the summer and to feed the whole family for Christmas. My other aim was to have our living room all decorated and homely and ready to welcome everyone here. Happily, I managed both.

December was a busy month, making up and delivering all my little hampers of the goodies I’ve been busy stockpiling over the summer and autumn months. This year’s bumper selection included courgette chutney (which I must say everyone turns their nose up at until they try it and realise it is in fact absolutely and completely delicious!), apple chutney, summer BBQ relish, blackberry jam, jumbleberry jam, plum jam, apricot jam, pickled onions, sweet chilli sauce, blackberry spiced Christmas vodka, mince pie vodka, and my raspberry and jumbleberry gins. I have already had repeat orders for the sweet chilli sauce which seems to be everyone’s favourite and already the first photos text to me of empty jars of this and my pickled onions.

I made a fabulous Christmas wreath for my front door with holly from my hedges and oranges that I’d dehydrated from my mulled vodka. It not only looks, but smells amazing when you walk past! I had a little help from a lovely lady at the Cambridge flower school as I wasn’t sure quite where to start and there seem several ways to make a base, but I must say I do like the old school moss method and it has lasted a good four weeks. I will admit to having an urge to make another dozen of them and flounce off to the local farmer’s market but honestly there are just not enough hours in the day. I loved doing it and next year I am already planning to get a few friends around and turn my kitchen into wreath heaven so we can all have a girlie afternoon making them together.

My mince pies were as plentiful as ever, all the better for the homemade mincemeat. They were washed down with a little tot of mince pie vodka, which folk were not quite sure how to take to start with, so they seemed to keep trying it, over and over again 😉

Christmas here was a busy affair, with family travelling from the other side of the country to spend the festive period with us. I achieved that goal with  my Christmas veg, and as an added bonus, because of the mildness of the climate, I was actually able to dig it all up on Christmas eve. There was much oooh-ing and aaaah-ing when it was scrubbed up and brought into the kitchen. The parsnips and carrots weren’t pretty I’ll admit, as well as being an absolute bugger to peel, but they were the best I have ever tasted and I felt a real warm fuzzy feeling of pride inside as I carried the dishes through to the table to feed everyone. So I guess that this will be my annual thing now, and maybe I can add to it next year? Better get the old thinking cap on.

The gammon from the farmshop proved a total hit, having been cooking in my leftover mulled wine for a full twelve hours on Christmas Day. The flavour perfuses the gammon so well and it is moist and tender and literally falls apart. This could not be any more simpler of a recipe, and I emplore you to try it – the ‘recipe’ (for it can only loosely be termed a ‘recipe’, I feel the word ‘instruction’ more appropriate on account of it’s overwhelming simplicity) can be found right here.

And then there were the dogs… my four, one visiting, plus the two next door. They couldn’t be left out so I boiled up the turkey giblets and made them some Christmas doggy biscuits of their own. To be honest, these have been such a huge hit and they go so nuts for them that I’ve already made three batches, and handed out the recipe to countless people. In fact, I’m about to bake a loaf of bread for us and another batch of biccies for the bears right now…

I’ve already started planning my vegetable garden for next year – a day was spent over New Year digging and adding soil improver… I shall plant seeds on my windowsill from next month and am most excited about trying a variety of coloured sweetcorn that I picked up in Italy in the autumn. On the list we have courgettes (but of course!), leeks, tomatoes (trying again as last year was such a disaster with them all stubbornly remaining green), broad beans, mange tout, spring onions, parsnips, carrots and of course some super spuds. I think I’ve decided to leave the broccoli and cabbages as they were a bit of a flop, coming up blind and taking up a lot of valuable space. And I can buy them for 60p from the little cart at the end of my road from someone who knows far better than me how to do these things.

So goodbye Christmas, and goodbye 2015. Thankyou for the sunshine and the harvest, and the happiness we have enjoyed in our new home. Here’s to 2016 being another fruitful one filled with laughter and fun for everyone.

TTFN, I’m off to bake a loaf in my new bread tin (thankyou Santa Claus!) x