A couple of weeks ago I started work on my honesty shop where I can sell my duck eggs, any spare seedlings I have and flowers. I used an old small “greenhouse” for the frame of it and replaced the plastic panels on the front and sides with plywood. I then painted it with outdoor wood paint. To make it easier to write the prices of items I used black chalkboard paint on the inside of the doors.

I then decorated the outside of the shop with flowers and ducks using tester pots of paint I have left over from choosing some interior colours for our house.

I love seeing different peoples honesty shops, what they sell and make and how they draw people to them. I regularly go to our village and buy local honey from one honesty shop and then go buy chicken eggs from Carol’s honesty shop (for my husband as we have discovered is intolerant to duck eggs, which he is very disappointed about). Some honesty shops can be simple boxes with just a single item in or others can be almost mini shops selling homemade produce and bought in items.

Is my honesty shop too big for what I will be selling - yes… but I still love it. It is ultimately the play shop of dreams that my siblings and I would have loved to have had when we were growing up. I’m sure my children will use it to play shops with and I don’t mind that at all.

We don’t live on a road with lots of passing traffic as we live on a farm track so I suspect that most of what we produce will be sold to our immediate neighbours unless I manage to turn our little shop into a destination shop. If that is to work I think I will need to fill it up on a Saturday morning and publicise in the local village, which is just over a mile away, on the village notice board. I may even add in the occasional baked good too, like my lemon, cardamon and poppy seed buns.

I have yet to fill it up as we have been away on holiday and now have my sister and her family staying with us this week as I’m now recovering at home from my first reconstructive surgery since my accident in the autumn. My face is tired, sore and swollen but I have started my long road to recovery and I am grateful to have my sister here to help during the initial recovery phase.

This weeks recipe

L E M O N C A R D A M O N A N D P O P P Y S E E D B U N S

Makes 14 twists

Things you need…

Sweet Roll Dough

• 7g instant yeast

• 1 cup oat milk

• 1/4 cup honey

• 50g vegan butter

• zest of 1 lemon

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 10 cardamom pods, crushed

• 600g strong white bread flour

• 1 tsp salt

Lemon Poppy Seed Filling

• 100g vegan butter, softened

• 50g granulated sugar

• zest of 2 lemons

• 1/4 cup ground almonds

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• 2 tbsp poppy seeds

Method

1. Place all the ingredients for the dough into either a bread machine on the dough setting or into a free standing mixer with a dough hook. Mix for about 10 minutes until the gluten starts to activate. Leave to rise for 45 minutes.

2. While the dough is proving mixed all the ingredients for the filling together in a bowl.

3. Once it has proved, knock back and roll into a large square until the dough is 5mm thick (roughly 50cmx50cm).

4. Spread the filling onto all of the dough, then fold the dough in half and give it a very gentle roll with the rolling pin to squish it together.

5. To make the rolls, cut a 1 inch strip of dough, then cut that in half nearly all the way, leaving a little attached at the top. Twist the two bits together, then roll up to form the twist. Place on a baking tray. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

6. Cover with a tea towel and prove for a further 20 minutes.

7. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.

8. You can add icing if you wish once they have cooled!

I hope you enjoyed the tale of my honesty shop and I can’t wait to fill it and start selling our duck eggs. I am hoping to still be writing regularly during my recovery but please bear with me if I am too tired sometimes to get my newsletter every week during this time. I also apologise that I haven’t done my own voiceover this week as I am struggling to make quite a lot of letter sounds but hopefully my own voice will be back in my next newsletter. H xx

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