Oleaster removal

We have started to do something with the hole left by taking down the oleaster in our southern hedge, as reported last May at reference 1. First thoughts having been that the oleaster might sprout anew and that anyway the hole will fill up of its own accord fast enough.

In the event, such sprouting as there was was very feeble and we got a bit impatient. So the first step this morning was to clear away the branches that had been left at the front. A removal which involved deployment of the curious crowbar from FIL, the mattock, the pruning saw and the bush saw from my own father, albeit with a new blade, rather more flimsy than the original. Plus, to cut through a two inch branch resting in the ground next to the main stem, brace & bit, half inch mortice chisel and the mallet. All a bit fiddly but there was not room to deploy the long handled axe. Plus, to cut the removed material up a bit, the saw bench and saw notch, this last being a piece of eight by two with a large triangular notch cut in one end, handy for holding logs of moderate size while cutting them up. All said material now on the large compost heap, the one used, inter alia, for fallen leaves.

Learning on the way that oleaster does not layer very well. A couple of branches had hit the ground then turned up and prospered, but while they had taken root at the point of contact, it was just a bunch of insubstantial fibrous roots. Nowhere near strong enough to sustain the branch beyond - or to offer much resistance to the mattock. With just the one exception, in which a half inch root went out under the lawn beyond.

We celebrated all this activity with a sausage stew, made with the twin of the sausage with holes noticed at reference 2. Usual drill: fry up some chopped onions and tomatoes, onions first, in some oil, seasoned with garlic and black pepper, freshly bashed. Add celery with a little water. Add small red potatoes, halved. Add the sausage, sliced and quartered. No holes on this occasion, so no need to trouble customer services at Waitrose. All this spread over a couple of hours.

Prompted by one of the many mushroom recipes at reference 3, I decided to cook the mushrooms, large and not so fresh, separately. Thinly sliced stalks into a saucepan containing a lump of butter to which I had added a little water and some more black pepper. Cook for a bit. Then added the peeled and quartered caps. Cook for a bit longer. Strain and add to the stew.

The stew did very well, served with macaroni and brussels sprouts. For a change, green salad being the usual form. Gently stewed dessert apples for dessert.

The liquor from the mushrooms, which we thought a little rich to add to the stew, will serve on brown bread a little later in the day.

The day's serious proceedings closed with a game of Scrabble, which I won, going out in style with 'boo' on the triple word. BH challenged but it turned out, inter alia, to a perfectly good word from the early nineteenth century for the sound of a cow or an oxen. Moo not then having been invented.

PS: I thought that the mushrooms were what Sainsbury's call chestnut mushrooms, with the skin of the cups a pale pinky-brown, rather than the usual white. BH disagreed: she thought that they were just a touch past their best.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/05/oleaster-down.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/12/lentil-soup.html.

Reference 3: The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food - Ministry of Food, USSR - 1936.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/11/a-history-of-soviet-union-in-twenty.html. The prompt for the book.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Tasty_and_Healthy_Food. According to Wikipedia.

Reference 6: The great Stalinist bake off: Russia's kitchen bible: In Stalin's USSR, 'The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food' inspired and guided the cooking of generations of women. Among those who recreated its dishes were the mother and grandmother of Anya von Bremzen - Anya von Bremzen - 2013. According to the Guardian.