Fresh Carrots!

OOoh I just LOVE carrots fresh out of the ground.  There is absolutely NOTHING to beat the taste...forget the large bags of carrots in the supermarket - well until MY stocks run out I admit.... but ohh these are so....um... carrotty!  Just a light scrub and crunch.  Yum.....  I've been blanching and freezing some, hoping they retain some of their youthful flavour.  More in the ground to be dug up, along with tatties (potatoes).  The final crops to be gathered in.  Not a great year, not a great harvest, but still well worth the effort!

Meanwhile in November one or two hardy plants continue to show some flowers. Not much frost yet, and these are reasonably sheltered from the wind.

I love the blue of this cornflower

Not sure what this little one is but I know it comes up each year and has lots of these pretty pom-pom flowers that last for ages.

This is a soft red

And another soft pink.... I like pink!

Um.. I said I liked pink....

And I love this bright orange - this is a wildflower of some sort and spreads quickly - which I like in my garden.

The rose hips on the Rosa Rugosa are gorgeous at this time of year.  There have been flocks of Waxwings in Orkney recently. They are winter migrants and normally winter much further down the UK on the East coast of England, and further inland. But there are lots in Orkney at the moment.  Of course I have yet to see one for myself....sigh.. But they are pretty birds.

The St John's Wort (Hypericum) has lots of berries which are also a great food source for birds.

And on calm days the hens still enjoy "taking the air", and having a wee sit down and preen. (Though not today as it's pouring with rain!)