No progress has been made in the pursuit of an alternative supplier of organic mushrooms. In fact it has been quite depressing to discover that there appears to almost be a cartel of mushrooms growers that have stitched up the market. Every enquiry that I have made always leads back to one large supplier to the supermarkets that has created a network of growers who funnel their whole production into the same supply chain. Click on the individual websites of the growers and you are redirected back to the wholesaler. This is another example of the ‘big boys’ dominating a market and crowding out smaller players.

This coming week is the last week of full production at Capel St Mary, so unless I miraculously pull a rabbit out of a hat in the next few days that’s it. There may be some mushrooms available in the following week, but I won’t know until Thursday/Friday, and even if there are I might not be able to specify which types they will be. As a last resort there is one option that I might try, but it’s not ideal. There is an organic grower in Northern Ireland, but I am concerned about freshness, and also the price. The beauty of my current arrangement is that I collect the mushrooms in person, directly from the farm, and an hour later they are in my fridge at Moyns Park. However quickly they arrive from County Armagh they will still have been in transit for a few days. I might do a trial order to assess the quality.

My sister’s husband Tony met with some friends in London last week for lunch and a sherbet or two. One of their watering holes happened to be The Lion & Unicorn, a Wetherspoons pub in Waterloo Station. To his (and my) surprise, there on the front of the pub’s menu was a photograph of the Lion & Unicorn sculpture created by my grandfather Fred Mizen for the 1951 Festival of Britain. It was mounted in the entrance to the pavilion of the same name, just along the embankment from the station. After the exhibition it was displayed in the window of Selfridges before perishing in their basement at the teeth of the resident mice. I have told this tale before, but I never expected that old Fred’s masterpiece would feature on a Wetherspoons menu, so I am happy to repeat it.

Our weekend house guest arrived from Pamplona on Friday afternoon and will return home on Tuesday. Esther first visited us as a 14 year old language student and has returned most years ever since. She is now 40 years old, married and has a son aged 2. She slips into family life effortlessly and treats the place as her English home, which is lovely. Last evening we visited the craft fair and the switching on of the Christmas lights in Clare, and tomorrow we are off to do a mystery tour of Cambridge. Last year the three of them stayed with us for 10 days, which was wonderful, but having a 12 month old boy in the house for that long aged me about 10 years! Long may these joyous visits continue. The photo below is of Clare church which hosted a large part of the craft fair. It is bathed in it’s Christmas illuminations.

I didn’t receive any feedback regarding the Spanish cherry vine tomatoes requested last week, so I took an executive decision and ordered some for this week. I won’t know what the quality or taste is like until they arrive on Wednesday, but my fingers are crossed hoping that my gamble has paid off. As well as the greens of recent weeks we have some winter greens this time. They are spring greens….just a few months early. I am hoping that I can cut some Pak Choi from the greenhouse for the following week. There will be a limited quantity of medium sized celeriac. I forgot to order oranges for this week, so you will have a week without them, but the Clementines are very nice.

It’s December, the start of meteorological winter, and only just over 3 weeks until Christmas….eek! So three more weeks of decreasing daylight hours before the tide slowly turns. There is no sign of any particularly wintry weather in either the short or long range Met Office forecasts, so the chances of any tabogganing around the festive holiday appear to be very slim again this year. On reflection I don’t really want anything too dramatic, well not until I am safely home after making my last delivery on the 23rd. You haven’t forgotten I hope? That there will be no deliveries on the 19th and 20th, as I will be doing all of my drop-offs on the Monday of Christmas week.

If you are a follower of cricket, as I am, you may know that the names of many of the players currently have an appendage to them when discussed by fellow players and some pundits. So in the present England team the Captain, Ben Stokes, is known as Stokesey, then there is Popey, Rooty, Brookie and Woakesie. It’s a funny thing that has become the norm, and it’s all a bit silly, but I have found myself drawn into doing exactly the same with my avian visitors. So the Barn Owl that now regularly swoops low above the garden is Barney, the ever present Robin is Robbie, the chattering Wren is Rennie, then there is Blackie and Chaffy. All of these I address out loud in a cheery voice when encountering them, but for reasons known only to followers of Sigmund Freud this does not extend to the Tit family.

I wish you a good week. Please return your boxes if possible, I am running low.

Phil