Caer-faily

Four weeks ago I made a Caerphilly cheese which was all wrong: too small and too dry. Having consulted the Cheeseman in Australia, I’m pretty sure I made three or four mistakes, all of which combined to create what I am dubbing a Caerfaily.

I cut into it today and although it is nothing like intended, it is still good. The rind is impressively thick and chewy, and the inside is firm. It has a mild taste similar to a mozzarella. It will be excellent grated onto pizza.

To prove to myself I hadn’t lost my touch I made another Caerphilly three days after the Caerfaily, and I cut that today too. You can see the difference (extra). That’s what it is supposed to look like. It’s a good one.

Today I decided to tackle the ‘problem’ herbaceous bed. It has poor soil, is very dry and grows excellent weeds. The first task was therefore to weed it. In my head it was going to take an hour or two. In reality it took five! 

It requires copious compost next and I managed two barrowloads before my body told me to call it quits for the day. It can wait until tomorrow when I’ll complete composting it, give it a serious amount of water and then spread the peastraw I collected a few days ago as mulch.

It’s not often I have the luxury of time to spend on the non-productive garden. I’m on top of all the jobs with the fruit and veg at the moment, so the tatty bits of the ‘pretty’ garden finally get some attention.

Baked Bean supervised from the guest deck where she enjoyed the sun. She loves it when I work in one part of the property for several hours: there’s no need for her to look for me every half hour or so.

Thank you for the stars, hearts and comments for yesterdays lovely yellow kowhai flowers. I’m nowhere near catching up yet…