I’ve missed a few months, in both senses of the word. I know that we all have busy lives and it is just a matter of claiming the time to do things like sit down a write. Happily, it is pouring rain in the garden today, so I am sitting in the outdoor kitchen listening to it, smelling it and savoring it, because although we will probably have the odd shower in the weeks to come, this is likely to be the last real storm we have before our long, hot and bone dry summer.
There are loads of interesting kitchens to visit; if you’re interested, stop by Celia’s blog, Fig Jam and Lime Cordial which is Command Central for IMK posts.0
This is a bit of a May and June mash-up, but never mind. In my kitchen there are:
Cut flowers! And since I never bother to cut flowers from the garden, this can mean only one thing: my mom is back in town. She spotted the snapdragons and was busy with her secateurs in no time. They are a particular favorite of mine. Ali is more concerned with scent when considering plants, and he has filled our garden with fragrant plants. But I love my showy snapdragons because they are a feast for the eyes (the variety is Madame Butterfly. They are hybrids, but these ones have come back for three years in a row, so I forgive them). And besides, if everything were scented it might become a bit much.
My mother went to Paris to visit some friends shortly after she got here, and came back bearing gifts. In my kitchen there is:
this beautiful egg basket that she found at a flea market. Who knew that such beautiful things even existed? Well, plenty of people I am sure, but not me. It is nice to have something pretty to keep our eggs in, since the ladies put hard work into producing them.
On the subject of eggs, we’ve received an exciting gift from our neighbour:
Do you see those smaller eggs in the front? They’re from his Guinea fowl! He heard we have an incubator, so he gave us 10 eggs. We’ll give him a couple of the hatchlings in return. I am very excited to have Guinea fowl, not least because I have heard that they are quite aggressive around snakes; we’ve got lots of snakes here. I like the black garden snakes just fine, but we’ve got vipers too, and poor old Lulu (our dog) just got bitten on the nose by a big one. She is at the vet, attached to a bag of serum. She seems to be getting better, but it has been a pretty miserable few days for her. She’s always been aggressive around snakes, but I bet she’ll tone down her attitude now… Anyway, hopefully the Guineas will take over the snake patrol before long!
On Friday, Ali wandered into the garden and came back with this:
We’ve been here for six years now, and the trees that we planted in those first few years have started bearing fruit in earnest. Not all of them, of course; I am pretty sure we will only eat a handful of our own cherries. But we’ve got plenty of apricots! I’ll have to think of something to do with them all, since I am sure we can’t eat them fast enough.
And that’s a quick look at some of the things in my kitchen this month! While we’re on the subject, here’s the view from where I am typing — if I stand up, I have a clear view of the tub in the rain:
Thanks for stopping by my kitchen!
Garden Correspondent 
What a lovely kitchen! Love the gorgeous basket your Mum found in France- how gorgeous. And very envious of your produce- but how clever…. Thks for sharing xx or should I say allowing me to snoop!
Since I invited you in, you needn’t count it as snooping – unless it’s more fun that way 🙂
Ha x I look forward to visiting more often…..loving that bath in the garden! how serene!
What a great Mother you have!
To be sure!
I Love that you kitchen has so much green in it, It must feel like you are cooking outside! What a wonderful place to create!
It is really nice to have the kitchen in the garden – no need to worry about smells! It can be a bit chilly in winter, but if I keep moving it’s not so bad.
🙂 still sounds wonderful!
Hi Siobhan. Do you ever dry the apricots? That would be cool. I used to make apricot leather when my tree was producing. It would be healthy treat for the little ones.
Apricot leather is a great idea – I bet the kids would love it. And I’d like to try drying them too. This weather makes it hard to think of anything drying, though…
Hi Siobhan, thanks for letting me look it your kitchen. I love how natural all your photos are, beautiful!
Thanks for visiting – and for all of your kind words!
I was wondering where you had been. Glad yr back, I hear the rain is coming in our direction but it a cool 33 here right now.
33 – whew! I hope the rain cools things down a little over there. I don’t know about you, but I’m not quite ready for deepest summer.
We are holidaying in Oz so will leave here for the darkest of winter. Leave day after school ends. Will enjoy this warmth thank you as I suspect it’s going to be cold Down Under.
Hm, guess you’d best enjoy the heat while you can then 🙂
A lovely tour of the garden and outdoor kitchen. Lucky you with those apricots. Cheers! xx
I hope we can make good use of them all. I’ve noticed that the chickens seem to like them, though, so I guess they can help us.
I love your outdoor kitchen with its lush views and what wonderful produce from your garden! We inherited a semi-wild guinea fowl when we moved here five years ago, he was very old but was with us for a few years and such a character. Reading this, very tempted to get more.
Siobhan! Look at those apricots! Will you make jam? My Pete thinks homemade apricot jam is one of the best there is. Your garden always sounds so wonderful – snapdragons are stunning, and the eggs look fabulous – but now you’ve scared me with all the talk about snakes. Hope Lulu is ok, and I hope your new guinea fowls do the trick! 🙂
We saw Lulu today and she is going much better. Looks like she’ll be home by Friday – not a moment too soon, as it’s very quiet in the garden without her (and the chickens keep wandering into the kitchen without her here to keep them in line)!
What a beautiful look in your kitchen! I’m quite jealous of anyone who has egg producers at home! I wish we could. Just not possible where we live at the moment. And apricots! They are quite beautiful. Can’t wait to see what you do with them all!
I know the feeling, as I dreamed of having chickens for a good long time before we could get any. I’ll be sure and post any interesting incarnations if the apricots…
G’day! Thank you for this month’s kitchen view!
Thank you for your flowers brightening my day too!
Cheers! Joanne
And thanks for all of your cheerful words brightening mine 🙂
Sadly our dogs kill the guinea fowls and then play with the snakes. Hope your dog recovers quickly 🙂
Goodness, I hadn’t considered that. Lulu gets along with the chickens, though… We will just have to wait and see !
I always find your posts so interesting. So sorry about Lulu, I hope she is better soon and that the Guinea fowl that you raise will help with your snake problem. I love snap dragons, they always make me smile and yours are very beautiful.
Thanks for all of your kind words! Lulu looks like she’s in the mend, and should be home soon. And I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated on the Guinea fowl situation!
Lots of lovely goodies indeed! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
What a delightful post! Thank you so much for letting me have a peek into your kitchen. I hope you little doggie makes a swift recovery. It sounds like he is needed back on Anti-Snake Patrol.
Lulu is much better now, thanks. I know I will feel better when she’s back making the rounds.
What a delightful post. Thank you for letting me have peek into your kitchen. I hope your little dog is back on Anti-Snake Patrol very soon.
Love your view. And the snapdragons. And very jealous of those apricots. Our guinea fowl gang up on dogs they don’t like.
What great fresh produce. Dogs and snakes are never a good combination, glad to read Lulu is much better.
Your kitchen is gorgeous. I love that it seems to be partially outdoors…what a nice way to cook, going in and out. Do you collect water in the tub? It is very picturesque, but I wonder what you use it for.
Hello there — we actually use the tub for baths in the summer time when the weather is warm enough. We don’t have room in the house for it, but the boys love it, so we just put it in the garden (we have no neighbors)!
I’m always so jealous of anyone who keeps chickens. One day I keep telling myself. Although what will you do with so many I wonder? Your kitchen and garden look idyllic.
I love having chickens in the garden, though I do have to protect the vegetable beds from them. When we have too many chickens in the coop we eat some of them. It was hard to do at first, but I have made my peace with it.
Siobhan, your IMK post was exhilarating! Fresh flowers, fresh eggs (and that cute egg basket!), along with freshly-tended-to snake-bites. Hope Lulu is doing well at this point. (We get vipers here, too… one on the deck last week… so far, so good.) Your apricot crop is causing me to covet good-natured-ly — another friend o’mine just posted a recipe for roasted apricot clafoutis… would love to have some of your home-grown ones to try that out! (Please holler if you want me to share the recipe link.) Is your bathtub merely ornamental or is it functional? What a lovely spot!
love all your eggs and those flowers! What type of chicken gives you the blue eggs? They are very pretty 🙂
Hello! The blue eggs are laid by our Ameraucanas. I guess they are similar to Araucanas, but we got them because they are heat tolerant. They seem to love it in the garden, and they fit in really well because they are the same color as the rocks! (they are what you would call lavender, I guess)
Guinea fowl? The first time that I ever saw one was in West Africa. They were everywhere and much more common than chickens. Hopefully they take care of the snake problem. Vipers would scare me!
Yes, we used to see them in Kenya and as a result they always seemed a bit exotic to me. Unfortunately, none of those eggs were fertilized, but I hope to try again.