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World Roots of Rhubarb
Richard Bell’s Wild West Yorkshire nature diary, Wednesday, 25th February 2009
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MY LATEST BOOK, which I received back from the printers on Friday afternoon was soon on the shelves and got a successful launch at the Rhubarb Festival on Monday.
I’m leading one of the 9 walks from the booklet tomorrow but today we’re getting a bit of a break meeting a group of 12 farmers from Chile who are hear to learn all they can about rhubarb during Festival week.
We’re having lunch at the Café 1842 at Armitage’s Pennine Garden Centre at Shelley where Sue the cook has prepared two of the recipes Barbara devised for the book.
Despite the fact that most of the Chileans don’t speak English, they’re good company and, since my book is so heavily illustrated with picture maps, comic strips and landscape vignettes it proves popular as a souvenir of their visit.
As well as signing the books I draw each person a favourite animal. Dogs, including a dalmatian, are popular but I also get requests for a black panther, a badger, a rooster (a large rooster), an oak tree and a ‘typical’ English farmer; flat cap, tweed jacket, puffing on a pipe and followed by an assortment of livestock. I think that’s pretty typical!
