Kombucha Brewing I first stumbled across kombucha, that lightly fermented fizzy drink made from sugar and tea, and a culture called a scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) when in November 2019 I gave up booze and was looking for a grown-up drink that wasn’t sweet and sickly and didn’t cost a fortune. Not […]
Fermented Vegetable Stock Pot. As I sit down to write about making my own fermented vegetable stock, a weak winter sun peers through the pines opposite. It doesn’t even clear the tops in these long dark days, and in this Northumbrian frost pocket, warming food is called for. Tim’s just come in from the garden […]
I have been thinking over the past week and chatting with followers on The Bridge Cottage Way’s social media pages about our favourite warming winter soup and wondering which recipe to share with you. However, I wonder if we could think first about the basics of soup making to give you the confidence to experiment […]
Last week, in Part Two of Christmas Needn’t Cost the Earth, we decorated the house with gathered grasses and seed heads, and during the cold snap in part one, we made ice art for the front door. This week, we share some Bridge Cottage recipes with you for making your own Christmas morning brunch of […]
Natural Decorations Christmas decorations that are sustainable, homemade and natural have got to be winners in our book, and when they look as good as this Christmas star and are easy to make it’s a no-brainer. I hear that pampas grass is having a comeback in interior design. I remember when pampas grass in a […]
Christmas Needn’t Cost the Earth. Christmas really does not need to cost the earth. In this article, I’d like to share some eco-friendly ways to decorate your home, welcome guests and make presents without a glimpse of plastic, imported crap or throwaway junk. Just like the Blue Peter advent crown, I’m going to add to […]
Are you a fan of hot chilli sauce? Do you grow chillies? Here at Bridge Cottage we make our own fermented hot chilli sauce which has no nasty additives, is sugar-free, great for your gut health and very easy to make. If that wasn’t enough, you’ll be producing food at home, without lining the coffers […]
Apples are in abundance this autumn. As I write, it is October 2022 and the apple trees are full, the boughs bent with the weight of fruit like I have never seen before. We inherited six old apple trees when we moved here, twenty years ago, varieties unknown, and have planted half a dozen new […]
There’s a nip in the air as the autumn equinox opens the garden gate and a new season enters. Apples are falling from the trees, crying out to be juiced, dried and turned into crumbles. A bucket of green tomatoes sits in the kitchen waiting to be made into chutney, and the last of the […]
Plums Plums always remind me of a good friend who, when wincing on a hospital bed after a vasectomy gone wrong was bought a pair of plums in a brown paper bag by his visiting mate. Enough! Sorry. Are your plums dripping this year? Last year we had four, whereas this year we have four […]