Love This #64: Markovitch Shaker Boxes

Aren't these boxes beautiful? 

Well, yes I know I have a bit of a thing for boxes, but with boxes like I think it's understandable. Sadly not all of my boxes are as beautiful as this, and since I saw them I've been wondering about how I could wangle some of these for myself.  As yet, I haven't managed it and the yellow handbag I saw put paid to one of these sewing boxes as a Christmas present.

It was at Made London in October where I saw a whole stack of these boxes and spent quite a while speaking to Murray the Shaker boxmaker, who's based in Romsey, Hampshire. He makes his boxes in the traditional Shaker way, without glue and using copper rivets and tiny wooden pins to fix the tops and bases to the sides. The swallowtail detail at the front of each box - that's the shaped design element - is more than just design; it helps prevent the wood splitting and helps spread the pressure where the wood bends.

As well as stacking to form a tower (see the last image below) the clever boxes also fit inside one another so if you're not using them they store easily too. They're available in American maple (the lighter colour shown) and red cherry which was a deeper, richer colour and I think my favourite, just.

Murray says they were the Tupperware of their day, now I'm wondering why Tupperware didn't just sell these instead?  Anyway... The design dates back over two hundred years and their first use - by the Shakers - was as food storage containers, which soon became a must-have item in many American kitchens. I can see why, but surely too nice just for food?  

The Shakers thought so too, and the bigger boxes were used for sewing and other practical purposes around the house. Murray makes and sells the larger sizes as dedicated sewing boxes (or as boxes for anything that you need compartments for I guess). At first glance you might think they're costly at £150 for the medium sized box and £200 for the larger box, but given the amount of work that goes into making these by hand in the traditional way, I don't think it's so bad.

And even so, they look a good way of storing your materials to me...

Black and White photo: Oompah!

As I looked through my posts of 2015 to share my 2015 in photos I realised I still had some photos, and stories to share from our trip to Bavaria back in June. So as January is generally my "worst" month I thought it would be perfect to share some of my photos from the summer.

It's also been a while since I've linked up with Charly at PODCast and her Black and White Photo Project, so I'm putting that right too.  These photos were taken on our last evening in Füssen, which was the start and end point for our cycle tour around Bavaria.

It's a pretty town and we ventured out for dinner. We found an Italian restaurant in a pretty courtyard and it wasn't long before we noticed band members wander up and hang around on the other side of the square.  

Soon they were set up - seemingly out of nowhere - and started playing the old favourites and the more traditional German fare too.  It was lovely to have their accompaniment as we enjoyed our meal and some German beer - a fitting end to the first part of our holiday, as the next day we were heading back to Munich for a few days before heading home. 

PS. THE CYCLIST IN THE BACKGROUND ISN'T MOH, JUST A RANDOM CYCLIST ALSO ENJOYING THE BAND!

I have Purple Sprouting Broccoli!

On the allotment I mean, rather than in the fridge! And it's very exciting. Look...

Yes, it's got a little way to go before I'll start to cut it, but I'm hoping it won't be too long now before we're picking our purple sprouting broccoli instead of buying it. We've five plants and a hearty appetite for this vegetable which has been a long time coming. The little plug plants, along with the cabbages were the first thing we planted last June.

In slightly more disappointing news, we also have a lot of weeds. That's one thing not in short supply.  On our New Year's Day visit I made these two amazing discoveries, and more.

MY MOST PHOTOGENIC CABBAGE, WITH WEEDS

AND THE EQUALLY PHOTOGENIC CAVOLO NERO, THIS TIME WITH WEEDS AND GRASS

As well as the photogenic brassicas, the onions and garlic were coming along well and holding off the weeds, just. The broad beans are up about two inches already. I suspect they may be about to slow down, but it was pleasing to see something growing.

The small apple tree that we moved in November is still alive and I'm hopeful it's happy in its new home.  The strawberries I planted alongside the edge of the plot are thriving, which is good news as I've more to plant when we've cleared some more space.

It was useful to pop over to the plot and take a peek at what it's been getting up to, and let's be honest on New Year's Day we were never going to be up for more than just taking a look.  With seed catalogues seemingly arriving each day tempting me with their possibilities it was a good reminder that we need to be realistic. 

We've still lots to do before our plot is fully operational, but seeing things grow has fired that enthusiasm to get going again. Now where's my fork?!