Autumn gone, winter coming

 It is definitely getting colder. Summer ended, autumn stuck its head in and disappeared as quickly as it came and now winter is upon us. We are wearing lots of extra layers when in the house and I find that a blanket over me when watching tv is just great. My husband is a Man. Apparently Men don't use blankets or hot water bottles to keep warm. Well, if I am cold, then I am very happy to use a blanket.

We are not going to the allotment so much. Maybe once a week now. We are still getting some crops from it though, which pleases me greatly. There are still a few courgettes coming, and the carrots are ready. After some pigeons ate the tops off all the peas and beans that we had planted, we planted some more French beans even though it was very late for doing so. We had the seeds so we thought it was worth a go. We have not had a marvellous crop but we have had beans for five dinners and will certainly have them for a few more so I am deeming that a success. We have got some potatoes left which are very small. All that hot weather and lack of rain over the summer have meant that all the potatoes are small but what they lack in size, they make up for in flavour. They are just lovely and as I don't tend to peel potatoes, the size is not such an issue. We also have onions and leeks there to be picked. And lots of spinach and kale still, too. We have to pay the fees to the allotment committee this month so it is nice to know that we still will have a few meals from the allotment before it is put to bed for the winter.

Has anyone tried Olio? I have been a member for a couple of years but have not had very much from other members mainly because nobody seemed to live near me and mostly it cost more in petrol to go and fetch something than it would have cost me to go and buy it new/fresh in the local supermarket. That is neither environmentally friendly nor purse friendly. However there are now a couple of Olio "heroes" (who go and fetch leftovers from supermarkets in the evenings) one of whom lives within walking distance of our house and the other one I visit lives around the corner from my daughter. Now getting things from them is both environmentally friendly AND purse friendly. Now I can think smugly that I am keeping food out of landfill while not costing the earth anything : )