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 : )

Fun day out

 We have just dug out all of the sprouting broccoli plants at the allotment. I sat on our bench and went through all the plants and picked off all the remaining sprouting bits, even the absolutely miniscule ones. We have enough for two meals so I am pleased because looking at the plants, I did not think there were that many sprouts left. Hence clearing them to make way for something else to grow. I must say that the allotment looks really good at the moment. If you come back in about six weeks when the weeds are growing in overdrive, it certainly won't be looking so good. Weeding is my job and I have difficulty in keeping up with it.

Last autumn, for my birthday, our kids clubbed together and bought us a day out at the West Midland Safari Park. Our son took us and three grandchildren and we had a fabulous day out together. It is really expensive but you get a free return visit (but avoiding certain key dates). Last Thursday my husband and I went back for our return visit. It was not nearly as busy as on the previous visit and we got really close up to some of the animals. We also visited the parts that we had not managed to see last time. We saw lemurs, meercats, penguins, red pandas, African pygmy goats, umpteen types of deer/eland/gazelle, water buffalo, elephants, painted dogs, hippos, cheetahs, lions, white lions, two sorts of tigers, rhinos and lots of others as well. On the safari tour part, you drive your car around slowly in second gear and can stop and watch whatever interests you. We passed within ten foot of a pride of lions all lying down enjoying a patch of sunshine. We were about six foot from an adult rhino who was grazing right beside the road. On our last visit there were lots of giraffes but they were staying somewhere else while a new house was being built for them. I was looking forward to feeding the giraffes and was disappointed to have missed them. They have just built some lodges (with balconies on the first floor all of which have good views) where you can stay overnight right beside one of the animal areas eg rhinos. You get a two day pass to the safari park, including all the rides (which I didn't want to go near) and dinner and breakfast and an overnight in one of the lodges. The price for two people doing this is a mere £490. If you want to bring children, then they are £125 each extra. I am not sure we will be staying there anytime soon........... But I really really enjoyed my day out : )

                                           

                                            White lioness walking about 10 feet from the car.

                                            

                                            You can see how close the rhino is to the edge of the road.

                                            I thought this was a lovely group with the buck surrounded
                                            by his ladies and children.

Happy meals : )

 I am happy to report that all the members of my family who were ill, have now recovered. However Covid then decimated the numbers at our church, including all the people who do most of the work including the minister. On one Sunday this month we had less than 25 % of our normal congregation attending. I am very glad to be able to report that neither my husband or I have had Covid this time when so many around us got it. The first time was quite enough!

The hens are definitely of the opinion that spring has arrived. Despite supplying all three kids and their families and a couple of friends, I am giving eggs away because I have so many. My husband is not pleased now when I say that it is farmhouse omelette for dinner - again. But we have lots of eggs and various bits and bobs from the allotment so why not? I have to admit that I feel really pleased when we eat a meal that is totally home produced  : )

Our allotment is looking very good at the moment. Everything has been tidied up and dug over and it looks very brown. Later on when we can't keep up with the weeding, it will look very green, but right now, we can see lots of goodlooking earth. We (the royal we as it is my husband who has done the heavy work) have dug out one of the enormous compost heaps and much goodness has been dug into the beds.  

We have started with this year's crop and have planted two sorts of potatoes - King Edwards and Wilja. We also have various seeds started and are hoping that there will not be too much heavy frost in our future. The broad beans are looking good and we are hoping for a good few dinners off those. I like them best when they are really young before that skin on them gets really thick.

We have three sorts of kale now as well as our leaf beet which are all producing well I have just picked all the sprouting flower heads off those to eat in the same way as the purple sprouting broccoli which is just coming to an end. The sprouting broccoli flowered earlier than we had expected so we have not managed to harvest as much off the plants as I would like because I really enjoy it for dinner.

Just off to start preparing dinner now and it will contain lots of the sprouting flower heads from the kale plants - yum.

Things harvested.

We have been back to the allotment today. We have had a few days off while my husband's sciatica eased off a bit. We didn't stay long today but put a few stakes in and I hoed a few rows of the brassicas. One of the other blogs I read has a list of the things that she has harvested and I thought I might find it of interest next year if I did the same. So far this year, we have had the biggest harvest off the leaf beet. We have had dozens of meals from it so far.

leaf beet - larger leaves for cooking as spinach
leaf beet - small leaves to use in a salad (just me as my husband won't eat it raw)
leaf beet flowers (cooked like purple sprouting broccoli)
rhubarb
raspberries
strawberries

And every time we go to the allotment, I bring a mixed salad home for the rabbit's dinner too. Usually there are things I can bring home for the hens too. They all like fresh greens, just like us : )

I have now lost four hens since the lockdown started, including my all time favourite. We don't usually lose so many close together like that but they were all older girls.

More allotmenting

We are making headway on the allotment now and I am confident that we will have a harvest from it despite the late start and the lack of energy to do a lot. The top end and the bottom end are looking ok and are planted up. It is the middle section that looks like a jungle. That is where the currants and gooseberries live and they have been absolutely overrun with weed. However our first concern was to clear some sections for the seedlings to go in to ensure a harvest. The fruit just had to take second place much as I look forward to the fruit each year. I must admit that I am really not looking forward to tackling that area.

My phone threw a wobbly this week. It has decided that the sd card is corrupted and has therefore deleted two of my three games that I like playing. It has also deleted my ringtone which really annoys me. I have been using the same ringtone ever since I got my first mobile phone over twenty years ago. Until now. When this lockdown is over, the first thing I want is a hug from my grandchildren and the second is for one of the younger generation of this family to fix my phone!

Losing a month

My goodness me, where did August go?  I seem to have blinked and missed nearly a month here.

We had holiday club at church. So that took up a week.  I was working with a group of six year old and my husband had seven year olds. My goodness were we tired by the end of the week! We had over 80 kids in total, aged from three to ten but with a couple of twelve year olds as well. It was a good week, though, and we enjoyed it and the kids did too. We had all the parents in with the kids for a bbq on the Friday. That was very popular. I ended up serving burgers. I don't thing I have ever even seen so many burgers in one place before. Think 80 kids with parent/s and sibling/s...

I have been making lots of jam and also a jar of pickled eggs.  I have been updating my previous "Preserving Year" post so that I know what varieties of jams I have made. The family will be pleased as none of them make jams at all.  I have been dithering about investing in some Kilner jars and trying my hand at bottling. I have got as far as looking up the price of the jars on Amazon and Lakeland. The thing is that the rings or metal discs have to bought new each year and that sounds expensive.  I know the food would be fresh and if grown yourself then you know what fertilisers etc have or have not been used. The food used would have to be cheaply acquired but then there is all the gas used and the cost of the seal not to mention the work involved.  Tins of tomatoes are on offer at four for £1 at the moment in Asda. That is cheaper than the cost of the seal and without any effort involved other than carrying the tins home.  I don't know anybody round here who does any bottling and I would love to have a chat with somebody who does. My freezer is always full and this would be a way of preserving some fruit for the winter without using the freezer.

Do any of you do any bottling?

We have also been trying to tackle our wood pile. In the spring, our chop saw broke. Then the chain saw developed a fault and needed a new part. It was still under warranty and we had a bit of trouble but eventually we got the part replaced and had a working saw again. And we got the chop saw sorted. The thing is that we were into exam season by the time we had the saws working again so my husband had no time at all left over to do anything with all the wood we had collected. So yesterday, our son and son-in-law came round and the three of them spent the whole day cutting up wood with both saws and also with the axe. They got through a lot of wood and we are very grateful to have such help and to have a good amount ready to burn : )

Our granddaughter came round in the afternoon and acted as gofer for the three of them. My job was to keep them all fed and watered. No easy job with the amount of physical labour involved in cutting up the wood.  I went shopping on Thursday evening and was delighted to get some of our favourite bread rolls reduced to 10p a pack. I would have made some nice bread in the breadmaker for them but these were posh rolls for less than it would have cost me to make the loaf. My secret weapon was a plentiful supply of cake and a huge pile of scones served with homemade jam and cream. There were only three scones left by the end of the day so I know they were appreciated : )

And then there is the allotment. Blink and you can't see the plot for weeds. The war is on!

And my little hens are laying well now. And eating for England, just like teenagers with hollow legs. Yesterday was the third day in a row that they have laid an egg each. Hence the pickled eggs mentioned above as it is a means of preserving some for the winter (for my lunches, probably in a salad) without using the freezer. I expect I shall be pickling a few more now that they are getting into a rhythm with laying.

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Goodies

I've been given some goodies in the last week. Isn't it nice when people share their gluts of food : )

1. A marrow.  Actually just saying "a marrow" does not do this monster justice. It weighs in at nearly 35 lbs! A friend at the allotments won a prize at the local show with this one but it is so big that he didn't want it so he gave it to me for the hens.  It is in really good condition so I won't cut it yet but when I do then everybody I know will be getting a piece. And the hens will get a bit too.

2. A small green pumpkin.

3. A frilly edged green squash.  I've no idea what kind it is but it is really pretty looking.

4. A spaghetti marrow.  I'm not sure how to cook this one but I'll do my research - the wonders of google.

5. A Chinese marrow.  I've not come across these before so I don't (yet) know what is different about it.  It is a pretty speckled green so it wins on looks but it is the taste that counts.

6. Two overgrown courgettes that were still just small enough to be able to be cooked without removing the seeds. We've eaten these now.

7. Two small orange marrows.

8. A box with about 20 lbs of green tomatoes. I love fried green tomatoes. I gave almost half the box to my friend down the road because her homegrown tomatoes all went brown.  She was very pleased. My son and daughters have all called in and gone home with a little bag of tomatoes too.  They have a wonderful flavour - so much better than the ones from Lidl. I've been eating tomatoes with almost every meal since they turned red very quickly - and enjoying them .

I've also had a medium size pumpkin free courtesy of Topcashback. I think our winter menu is going to have a lot of pumpkin and marrow in it : )

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Busy non-stop days

I've been doing lots of "busy" things recently.  We've tidied up the allotment so that it looks a bit more presentable and have picked more fruit.  This means that I've made more jam with Christmas in mind as well as our year's supply.  So far I've made raspberry, blackcurrant, gooseberry and elderflower, and gooseberry and redcurrant.  There is still plum to come as the little damsonlike purple plums are not ready yet.  My husband's favourite jam is raspberry but mine is damson so we are both catered for.  I'm not sure if the tree is really a damson but the fruit are small and more like a damson than a plum both in size and in flavour.  A kind squirrel planted a plum stone in our garden border and we transplanted it to see if it would grow - and I did and produces a nice crop each year.  I want to have a few bags of stewed damson plums in the freezer for the winter because one of my favourite puddings is to serve them with a dollop of greek yoghurt. Yum!  I've also made lots of marmalade and it should be enough to have some to put in Christmas presents and to keep us going for most of the year.

I'm still beavering away on the tidying and aim to do a little bit each day.  I find the whole process quite stressful so a little bit each day is enough.  Many a mickle macks a muckle, though, and it IS necessary. I'm not at all sure how to spell that phrase but I'm sure you've all heard it said and can understand : )

We've built one and a half more sheds in the garden to house things and now there is a lot less grass available. When I say "we", mine was the managerial role... We were given two sheds for firewood o whatever.  My husband managed to replace the rotten parts from our stash of useable wood and has made them useable again.  He and our son have also rebuilt a trailer which was borrowed from a friend so that our son could use it to go camping.  Three children and a tent plus equipment won't all fit into their car and the top box any more. However the owner said that we would have to repair the rotten piece of wood to make it fit and safe to use...  It turned out that every bit of wood have some part that was rotten so they stripped it down, repainted the metal frame and replaced all the wood - from his great wood stash. (And he has been known to comment about the quantity of craft stuff I have.......)  After a couple of coats of wood preservative, the trailer looks pretty much like new.  The owner came to have a look and took a photo to show his friends at work who have now all asked if we would like to borrow their trailers too : )

Last Saturday was my grandson's birthday.  This Saturday is youngest granddaughter's birthday and the following Saturday is middle granddaughter's birthday. So there is a grand party this Saturday for all three.  Then we carry on into the evening to celebrate our wedding anniversary which is a rather big number. We have about 60-70 guests coming to that and I am surrounded by lists and time sheets to enable me to cater.  I have the feeling that I am going to sleep well after all that.

This week is Holiday Club at church - Polar Explorers. We said that we couldn't help this year but they had a couple of leaders with hospital appointments etc on Thursday so we've agreed to help on Thursday only.  And we've got to go to the bbq for families on Friday.  Well, we don't have to but we feel that we ought to.  And then Sunday is the final holiday club meeting with a revamped service so we'll be helping with the music for that.  So I'll get my good night's sleep on Sunday. I'll certainly need it.

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A little bit of summer

Just a very little bit...

My husband doesn't work on Thursdays now and my daughter-in-law has gone back to work this month so Grandad now gets to look after 10 month old granddaughter every Thursday.  He took her to the allotment and took one of those backpack things to carry a child on your back.  It has an extra bit so you can put child and backpack on the ground without the whole thing tipping over.  He put her where she could watch him and did a little bit of work then five minutes later, moved her and did a little bit more work.  This carried on for over an hour before she got tired of looking at everything.  So he came home.  It started raining heavily after lunch so it is as well that they went to the allotment when they did.

And the little bit of summer?  He brought home the first four ripe strawberries and we had two each for pudding.