First harvest

The perpetual spinach and chard have grown strong enough after recent rainfall. I think we can risk it. I harvest a whole bag full for a spinach quiche. There's enough left over for our plot neighbour, for whom illness has made it difficult to farm his plot as vigorously as he would have liked.

The whole bag collapses into a lovely bed of green sludge once steamed. I've prepared the first shortcrust pastry that I haven't shop-bought yet, and it actually works! It was an internet recipe, something about 1:2 butter-to-flour ratio. Very tasty. Pre-bake it, swamp it with mountains of grated cheese, put the spinach on top, then pour a rich mix of sour cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper and four beaten eggs over it. In the oven for, oh, until it's beige on top. Then more grated cheese. Let that melt and crust over and, voila, the spinach quiche. I couldn't stop eating it. I made a wagon wheel size quiche and it was gone the next day (there WERE two of us eating it, I should say in my defence).

Finally, the strawbs are yielding something. Our favourite is Hapil, gorgeously sweet. But I also like what I think is Symphony, a lemony fruit that reminds me of hot summers' days in 1976 sharing sherbet-powder with my friends.