Community Market - Blairgowrie

On Saturday was the first community market for this season at the Wellmeadow in Blairgowrie and the sun shone.  A few snapshots for you of a couple of the non-foody stalls.  Fortunately I didn't have any money on me as I am rather partial to sheep and highland cows.

Heather Hills Honey

Well I finally got around to adopting a bee hive from Heather Hills Honey Farm up the road at Bridge of Cally and the kind lady dropped off my box of goodies.  One of the highlights for me will be going on a day out to learn all about beekeeping which will happen around August which is also when the heather will be looking bonnie, can't wait.

A massive Scot's Pine - King of the Forest

I went back down the road to Langedge/Muirward Wood last week in search of a massive Scots Pine - King of the Forest and wasn't disappointed when I found it, it was huge and took 18 paces to walk around the base of it.  Difficult to get the scale of it from the photos.

Kinnoull Hill Perth (again)

Just over a week ago I had another wander around Kinnoull Hill at Perth, unfortunately not the best of days to enjoy the views from the top, but an enjoyable stroll.  If you look back on my blogs of 15th January 2012, 24th October 2010 and 7th October 2010 you can read about my previous visits to the walks in this area.

Scottish Tablet

A couple of weeks ago I made tablet for the first time ever.  Tablet is  Scottish sweet and is not another name for fudge despite similarities, tablet has more off a bite to it.  Was probably a mistake to make it as it was so delicious and not very good for the waistline.  I found this brilliant tablet recipe online and if you follow the instructions you can't go wrong.

Don't panic when stirring if some caramel like blobs appear as they will disappear. Next time I make it I will have to smooth the top better and I should also use a sharper knife to score out the pieces and probably make the pieces smaller as it is extremely rich.  Apart from that very pleased with how it turned out and everyone enjoyed it.  Afterwards if you find cleaning your pan is a problem fill the pan up with water and washing up liquid and let it simmer away and anything sticking will come away easily.

Litter Picking with Blair in Bloom

Was pleased to be able to help out again at this years Blair in Bloom Litter Pick on Sunday.  On the Saturday there had also been a little pick at the Loon Braes and Davie Park area in Rattray where a lot of work is going to be carried out by the Loon Braes Partnership to tidy the area up.
Great to see so many people turn out on a cold but sunny Sunday morning.  As there were plenty people I chose to go along to a local wood which is part of the Ardblair Trail which unfortunately has a bit of litter/ bottles strewn around and the bizarre 'sport' of hurling your dog mess bag into the undergrowth when there is a perfectly good bin up by the road.  Also sad to find a dead mouse which had become trapped inside a plastic bottle. 
After the litter pick there was a bbq held at Davie Park for all the volunteers, very nice it was too.

 Great Centre spread in this weeks Blairgowrie Advertiser