Paradise is in Yorkshire!

We recently started to get an organic vegetable box delivered; we used to get one years ago, but haven't had one recently. However, I finally got around to trying out the offering from Paradise Farm, a local farm which delivers boxes in this area.

Obviously this is not really an ad for Paradise Farm - although if you are local and want to try it out, I would say I think they offer a good deal. The thing is, I really like getting a veg box. Under this scheme we only get local veg, so it's seasonal; in the past, with other boxes, we did have veg shipped in from various foreign places, mainly the Netherlands. However, the thing about seasonal veg is that you need to come up with lots of ways to cook the same thing, and in the winter that tends to be root vegetables.

Personally I enjoy the challenge, and as we are all pretty fond of a good curry, it isn't too difficult to come up with 101 Ways with Swede. As Spring is making itself felt now we are starting to see other items such as rocket, wild garlic and Jerusalem artichokes.

The other benefit, apart from the alleged health one, is that I am saving money on groceries. I hadn't realised how expensive their veg was!

But I wouldn't be managing as well if it wasn't for yon t'Interweb providing lots of recipes to try. Progress, eh? This is proof it's not all bad.

March winds

We have been experiencing a breezy few days here in KM. Finally, people say, as they struggle against the feisty gusts, we are getting proper March weather. For as we all know from childhood, "March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers".

The birds have clung to the feeders, blown about like flags. Their approaches have been erratic as a burst of atmospheric energy catches them in mid-flight. With colder temperatures as well, they still need the boost from the peanuts and seeds we put out to encourage them in building nests and getting up to what birds get up to at this time of year.

Elsewhere the world is filling up with daffodils and crocuses and all kinds of bright spring bulbs. Our lilac is starting to show tips of green amid the squabbling sparrows. And when the sun does break through, you can feel the warmth on your back.

The clocks change tonight, so we lose an hour's sleep, but will be rewarded with longer evenings and a promise that summer is waiting in the wings. The world moves on.

Books to the door

I happened to take a day off work yesterday and so was reminded of another rural service we receive, and often overlook: the mobile library, which arrived after lunch and parked outside the post office.

This particular vehicle is my own personal idea of heaven - a large van stuffed full of books which comes to my house on a regular basis. Even better, the driver knows his customers so well he can recommend new books for them to try and make sure that there is a good selection aboard to suit their tastes.

The van is equipped with a lift to help those with achy knees and wobbly legs clamber in and out again safely. The less mobile readers rise in a stately fashion to the van's hallowed interior, and later descend clutching their new armful of reading material. As the van only comes every three weeks, you may need to take quite a pile of books away; and if you can't manage the next scheduled visit, you can send a message to have the loan extended, or ask someone to drop them off for you.

When I do get the chance to go to the mobile library, it's always a good time to meet with the neighbours who are also around that day, and to catch up on some gossip. Our latest entertainment is the possible sighting of a large black animal, which some claim was a puma, while others subscribe to the view that it was Hamish, a substantial feline who lives at the top of the village. I have to admit to being in the Hamish camp myself, but I'm happy to be proved wrong.

Back to the library van though. This is a job I would love to have. As a child I wanted to be a librarian (based on my view of the very nice ladies who helped me find books for school projects). The idea of being able to potter around the countryside in a van full of the latest bestsellers and classic volumes appeals to me immensely. I like reading books, and I like talking to people about reading books - or just talking!

I'm sure it's not quite as much fun as it sounds, but it is one of two ambitions not yet achieved, although it is more likely to be fulfilled than the other ambition, which is to go into space and see the world from outside and the stars in all their glory. If I could go in a library-spaceship, all the better.

The tale of the lone poplar (and other trees)

Following my previous post, here is more information on the fate of the lone poplar in the 1911 picture.

This tree continued in its place until the late 1940s or early 1950s, when it was finally cut down. For those interested (hello, Bruce!) here are some pictures of the day it was felled, with thanks to a former resident who has provided a number of pictures for the great Kirby Misperton Archive.

As the village has grown a number of trees have been lost, some more lamented than others. A main feature of the street until recently was a large willow opposite where this poplar stood. It regularly entangled overhead cables and collared passing pedestrian with its lanky tendrils. However, for all its enormous bulk it was no match for the developers, and is no more. In its place we have a petite sapling of indeterminate species which is, to put it politely, failing to thrive at present.

Other developments also took out this rather lovely old ash tree not long ago.

However, just a the residents of Kirby Misperton come and go, so too do the trees. Near where the poplar stood we now have a winter flowering cherry, which is a real treat on gloomy winter days, and a little further along, a beautiful deep purple lilac tree. Time and trees wait for no one.