I’ve been gardening today (as, rather unwillingly, has DM!!!). I am really torn between being in my beloved Cornwall – now that we can go there whenever we want to, it seems more and more like torture to stay away and do the stuff that needs to be done here.

The veggie garden looks so neglected at the moment because I’m so rarely here when I’m not actually at work – the plants from all of the summer’s harvested crops are still there – dead or dying. I’ve been tidying up by starting the planting for next year’s crops and picking up the millions of apples that have fallen. I can’t abide apples but we have four different varieties in the garden, all planted before my time, all heavy croppers and so the fruit just falls onto the floor and ferments or gets eaten by birds or wasps.

Today I’ve cleared the bed where this year’s courgettes (zucchini) were, added home-made compost to the soil (our soil is so sandy it’s in constant need of replenishment of its nutrients) and then planted half of the bed with broad (fava) beans that will over-winter and provide a nice early crop next year. In January I will plant the rest of the bed with more of the same so we extend the season. I invented a new cannelloni dish with broad beans last summer – one of these days I’ll get round to writing that recipe book.

When I came in, clutching a bowl full of home-grown food, I got cleaned up and put on my new Simon Drew tee-shirt (as pictured) then set about cooking meals for two days – because we’re out tomorrow, I’ve done tomorrow night’s meal today so all I need to do tomorrow is bake it. This is it – quark (very low fat cheese) and home-grown spinach cannelloni, flavoured with nutmeg and covered in a home-made tomato, basil and garlic sauce with veggie parmesan on the top – all ready for the oven tomorrow night after the footie.

I’ve also made a coconut, split pea and vegetable curry for tonight’s supper and it’s just finishing off cooking as I type. Yum – it smells heavenly. I bought the coconuts for the birds and when I’d cut out the wedges to give the birds access to the flesh, I kept the flesh from these little bits and they are now in the pan, grated and with accompanying milk.

The idea for the shot came to me while I was cooking – I know it’s just a snapshot of my chest and tomorrow night’s dinner but it’s perfectly symbolic of my day. Simon Drew is one of my heroes – wonderfully clever word-play cartoons. I am a regular shopper at his on-line store and he’s an artist from the South West too so I can keep up my support of our local economy by buying his stuff.

This time last year.....