Saturday, 14 November 2020

Week 35 of Strange Times

Apologies......................... This post is just a whole lot of lists!!

 This was  Week 35 of Strange Times and 9 Days of our second lock-down have passed = 19 left until hopefully things are relaxed a bit.............getting through.

 First of a winter harvest this week - Brussels Sprouts and very nice they were too. They are from one of the four plants that I bought as part of a 16 plant  Brassica Collection from one of the seed companies.

I didn't get many heads from the 4 Calabrese plants and the 4 Cauliflower plants only produced a couple of small Cauli's but I've had two big cabbages and 2 still standing and out of the 4 Sprouts plants  2 have decent Brussels sprouts. Conclusion  = Probably not worth growing next year! Although it is so good to have fresh Brussels Sprouts. If they were available 'on the stalk' all winter rather than just at Christmas that's how I'd buy them.

And that reminds me...............what happened to my "Food Produced by One Old-ish Woman on Her Own" list?.................. Forgotten since 5th October.


All these are finished now

  • Lettuces
  • Rocket and small beetroot leaves as salad leaves
  • A few asparagus spears
  • Lots of rhubarb
  • A surprising amount of strawberries from 6 new plants and a few from the old bed.
  • 3lb of gooseberries
  • Lots of raspberries and 3lb put in the freezer
  • 2lb Redcurrants
  • Few mange-tout peas  - put in the freezer
  • Green beans  - some put in the freezer
  • 2 small calabrese heads.
  • 2 small cauliflowers 
  • Figs 
  • Courgettes
  • Aubergines
  • Cucumbers
  • Plums
  • Runner beans
  • Plenty of tomatoes from greenhouse
  • A few potatoes
  • Beetroot
  • Onions 
  • Cooking Apples (Some left in the freezer)
  •  Eating Apples
  • Few peppers left in the greenhouse (lots in the freezer)
  • Pears 
All I have left are
  • A few leeks
  • 2 Cabbages
  • A few Brussels sprouts 

Quite a successful year.

*************

I enjoyed re-doing the 30 ways to save £1 posts from 2013 and seeing if they were still relevant and thanks to everyone who commented. The reason for pinching pennies in some places is so that I can spend on more interesting things. This year I'm not buying an Advent calendar, an expensive diary or the Almanac book and that's freed up some money to use for my 12 days of Christmas Treats to cheer up the days alone after Christmas and I've already stashed a few things in the cupboard. It might seem a bit self-indulgent and it took me a while to "allow" myself to spend this way but it seemed a good idea this year when everything is so weird. 

No spend November is still ongoing


(Direct Debits for Council Tax, Phones, Car Breakdown Insurance,Charity Donation Total £260)

1st.        No Spend
2nd        Food  £33 + Cat £6 +  Diesel £18 + Printer Paper £4.          = £61  
3rd         No Spend
4th        Swimming £2.25
5th         No Spend 
6th        No Spend
7th          No Spend
8th         No Spend
9th        No spend
10th       Food £18 + Cat £5 + Kitchen stuff £2.50 + Pharmacy £3.80 
               Christmas bits £3.50      = £32
11th        No Spend 
12th      Whoops forgot I'd pre-ordered a book published today from up the amazon £8.19
13th       No Spend

 This week I'm Grateful for

  • Sorting out the Ride on mower when it stopped working -again
  • Making an important decision


Have a good weekend, I shall be back Monday

Sue

28 comments:

  1. A highly successful year, I would say. Good for you.
    xx

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    1. It's surprising how long the list is when written down. Not much of some things but every little helps

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  2. Are you going to tell us about your twelve days of self-indulgence?

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  3. Good for you! As my daughter struggled with working from home and the other pandemic problems, she introduced a "Payday Treat" each month. Nothing huge, just little things (a fancy cheese, special soap etc) which helped her feel better. Enjoy!

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  4. Wow, you had a lovely lot of produce this year. But I doesn’t just happen on its own, so well done Sue on your hard work. I notice parsnips weren’t on your list, do you not grow them at all? I know not everyone likes them.
    Good on you for planning some treats for post Christmas. I wouldn’t call it self-indulgent, more like self-care :)

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    1. I love roast parsnips but they are cheap to buy so better to use the limited space for other things. The same for carrots

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  5. Treats to cheer up the days alone after Christmas

    I think that's an excellent idea!

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    1. That week between Christmas and new year is the worst, just hope things get back to something like normal by then

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  6. Your treat idea is a great plan. Having overindulged due to lockdown/illness/moving I intend to avoid 'treats' in December so that I can appreciate then over Christmas.

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    Replies
    1. That's a good plan too - I really do need to eat less.

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  7. It's good to write a list of everything you've grown it really does show how productive you've been and how much you have cut costs AND eaten better by having homegrown.

    I like that your treats are mostly going to be readable or edible ... most good treats are :-)

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  8. I love the feeling that I get when I finally make a decision re: something that I've been turning over and over in my mind. Relief!

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    Replies
    1. The decision was a big one - more on that next week............

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  9. Nice to have home grown, but I think I'm like you, small crop, so not worth the effort. We still have lettuce all under cloches and cabbage growing, ever so slowly!

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    1. I love to fetch in fresh things during the summer

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  10. Decision making is good. I have found making decisions helps better than any pills and potions. x

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  11. What a great list of garden produce. Nothing tastes quite as nice as your own, picked fresh from the garden.

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    Replies
    1. Especially things like green beans - which are 100 times nicer when really fresh

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  12. I am a big list maker and I love to see your lists! You are certainly to be congratulated on that long list of delicious food you have grown this year! Home grown food tastes so much better, is healthier and of course saves you money.

    You are brilliant to collect up treats for yourself for the days after Christmas! So much has been changing and we all need to find new ways to give ourselves a little lift, especially during the holidays!

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    Replies
    1. The week between Christmas and New Year are always a bit empty when alone so I thought I'd cheer things up a little

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  13. What a lovely lot of produce you managed to grow, I only grow salad leaves and silver beet /spinach, chard and a few tomatoes just to have them handy everyday. Most of my shopping is fruit and veg from farmers markets because they are grown locally here, very well priced and organic.

    If you like to have a diary/journal the Bullet Journal is an awawesome concept, lots of setup info on Utube from simple and basic to very detailed and creative.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When all my fresh stuff is written as one long list it certainly looks worthwhile,

      I do love a good list with bullet points but it tends to be just on the blog

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  14. I love the idea of 12 small indulgences for the time after Christmas.

    We are just going to be starting a very loose lockdown here. Mind you our provincial government just made masks mandatory as well. I am keeping my fingers crossed that our sons will be able to come for Christmas.

    God bless.

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    Replies
    1. Readable and edible treats!

      I do hope your sons will be able to get to your house for Christmas.

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