Hi, all.

One of the things Neville and I have got used to in the year we’ve been here is funny food. Winter is much the same as we were used to, but in summer, we get all sorts of stuff.

When we arrived, I don’t think Nev and I noticed what we got, to be truthful.  We got fed, and we seemed to be in a nice place, and settled, like.  I suppose it took us a month to start to relax, thinking we might be here for even longer than the last place we’d been at.  We liked it there, mind, it was very nice.  We got veggies and pellets and hay, and went out on the grass sometimes, so it was good.

We got veggies and pellets and hay here, but it tasted different and so did the water.  Nowadays it’s just water, mind.  I can’t tell you what the difference is, and I’ve forgotten anyway, it just was different.  The pellets are fine, too.  Yummy, in fact.  I look forward to getting them in the morning after we’ve had our run.  Builds up strength to tackle the veg.

I didn’t really notice that the veggies we got were different to start with, until we stopped getting them from the garden and settled to what I would call ‘normal’ food in winter. You know, cabbage, carrot, swede, that sort of stuff.  I don’t think we’ve had swede more than once here, though.  Lettuce, of course.  We get lots of different types of lettuce here, which is nice, nosing through the different flavours and textures. And carrot tops!  Those are yummy.  Maybe they’re my favourite.

But Mam throws in weird things, like pepper. It’s mostly red, but sometimes it’s orange or yellow.  I see Biggles and Bertie wolfing it down and I nose it a bit, and maybe nibble it, and Nev does too, and we exchange glances and leave it.  Although last week I did spot Neville eating a whole slice.  I got through about half of mine, so maybe it’s an acquired taste and we’re finally acquiring it.

We’ve discovered broccoli.  I thought it was posh cabbage to start with, but the others say it’s normal, and what’s cabbage, so I go along with it. It’s pretty yummy, really. Mam realised we liked the cabbagey things, I think.  We get kale, which we all like, and sometimes she does an ordinary cabbage, which we like but Biggles and Bertie turn their noses up at.  Strange boys.

What’s best though, is the weird things we get from the garden. We’re getting them again, now.  Mam apologised when it had been hot for ages that all the home grown things had run out.  Now they’ve grown again and we’re eating posh spinach called chard, which has interesting colour stems, and posh lettuce called frizee, which has crinkly edges to the leaves. And we get loads of herby things and some leaves from the fruit trees and bushes.

And beans.  Now, who on earth wants to eat beans?  Berties and Biggles, that’s who.  The leaves are great, mind, I like those, but the long pods and the beans inside, no thank you.  Mam even pulled a trick on us on Saturday when she gave us the pods without the beans in.  They were a bit crunchy, and again, those other piggies munched them down, but Nev and I tried it politely then peed on it. I mean…

There’s this new thing that came this week… paper outsides of corn cobs.  I’ve realised that the tiny corn cobs that haven’t grown up to be big and sweet are actually edible, but I never knew the corn came in a delicious wrapping.  I’m looking forward to some more of that, I can tell you.

Who’d have know there were so many nice things to eat?

And I haven’t even mentioned root celery and stalk celery… another time, maybe.

See ya!

Roscoe