One Butternut Used

 The first recipe I came across while looking for other uses - apart from curry - for the butternut squash was on the BBC Good Food website and made a lasagne. It used squash and spinach and I swapped fresh spinach defrosted frozen, squeezing out the water; a white sauce, plus 3 cheeses - mascarpone, mozzarella and parmesan and pine nuts on top. 

Made 7 portions and 6 went in the freezer. It was OK but a bit of a disappointment. Not a lot of flavour as I didn't have enough sage or garlic. Something with a stronger flavour needs to be mixed in with the squash.

 When I reheat the other 6 portions I'll grate some strong cheddar on top before shoving into the microwave. 

Back Soon

Sue

Photos From The Week

 My new header photo is the vine that's on a bit of trellis hiding the shed. I didn't notice the spider until the photo was on the computer. The colours now are gorgeous but the rest of the year it's dull green and I have to keep cutting the darn thing back as it grows like crazy.

Nearly the last of the roses? brought these in last Sunday while it was fine before we had a wet Monday morning.

Wiped all the dirt from the butternut squash and piled them up in a basket on the kitchen window sill.

Mixed up a batch of pizza topping  for freezing in portions- onions, two tins of tomatoes without the juice, tomato puree and dried oregano.

Loaf of bread - 50/50 wholemeal and white.

Cheese scones for my garden helper

Brought in the last decent sized apples from my Falstaff tree. They are just SO good!

Hope everyone has a good weekend, I shall be back Monday.

Sue

The Kitchen List

 The problem with doing so much painting over the last month means I've spent virtually no time in the kitchen.

I really need to............ 

Make pizza bases for freezing

Cook up some pizza Topping ditto

Make Red Tomato Relish

And bread as usual

Turn some cheap wholemeal bread and saved crusts into breadcrumbs and dry some for freezing

Plus making cheese scones for my garden helper

and something with some of these Butternut Squash - last year I had 2 plants that produce one squash this year my two plants have given me all this lot!  There are 9 here and a couple are Giants - I will use some in a  big batch of veggie curry but what the heck to do with the rest!

Thank goodness they will keep.

I looked back to see when it was that I'd written that they weren't doing well  - it was early September, then they really got going and more than I thought were lurking under leaves and beside the heating oil tank. 

Further back on the blog I'd put a photo of the squash and pumpkin plants after planting out  at the smallholding. May 2014 this was - ten years ago - an age and yet no time at all.

They always sold well.

Back Soon

Sue

Mabon/Autumn Equinox

This year the Autumn Equinox happens tomorrow, the 22nd. Mabon, as the Autumn Equinox is called, is a word from modern Pagan folklore, thought to be named after the Welsh god of mythology. It's a turning point in the wheel of the year and means Autumn is really here.

One old weather saying says.............

 A quiet week before the autumn equinox and after, the temperature will continue higher than usual into winter.

Ways to celebrate Mabon according to a website (you can tell by the missing letter 'U' in some words that it was a website from the US!)

1. Create an Altar:  Set up a Mabon altar with symbols of the season. This can include autumn leaves, acorns, pinecones, candles in fall colors, and representations of the harvest like fruits and vegetables.

2. Harvest Feast:  Prepare a feast using seasonal ingredients like apples, pumpkins, squash, and root vegetables. Share the meal with friends or family, expressing gratitude for the abundance of the harvest.

3. Nature Walk:  Take a walk in nature to observe the changing colors of the leaves and connect with the energy of the season. Collect fallen leaves, acorns, or other natural items to use in your rituals or altar.

4. Rituals and Ceremonies:  Perform rituals to honor the changing season. This can involve meditation, candle lighting, and expressing gratitude for the abundance in your life. Consider incorporating elements like water, fire, earth, and air to represent balance.

5. Divination:  Use divination tools such as tarot cards, runes, or scrying to gain insights into the coming season. Focus on themes of reflection, balance, and transitions

6. Crafts and DIY Projects:  Engage in creative projects that connect with the season. Make autumn-themed crafts, create a wreath, or decorate your home with symbols of Mabon.

7. Bonfire or Fire Pit Gathering:  If possible and safe, gather around a bonfire or fire pit. Fire is a symbol of transformation and can be used for rituals, storytelling, or just enjoying the warmth of the season.

8. Gratitude Journaling:  Take time to reflect on the things you're grateful for. Start a gratitude journal and write down the positive aspects of your life and the blessings you've received.

9. Feeding Wildlife:  Since Mabon is a harvest festival, consider sharing a bit of your harvest with local wildlife. Leave out birdseed or set up a bird feeder to attract birds to your yard.

10. Visit an Orchard or Farm:  Spend a day at an orchard or farm, picking apples or other seasonal fruits. Enjoy the experience of being close to the land and appreciate the hard work of those who cultivate it.

 

I hadn't thought about my seasonal display being an altar! but as soon as I put the room back together I'll be getting the Autumn bits out of the cupboard. 

Then I could bring in the first Butternut squash and cook up something and I need to walk up the lane for the September following a tree photos ASAP. That's numbers 1, 2 and 3 taken care of.

Not sure about rituals and divination? but I looked up 'Autumn Wreath Making Workshops in Suffolk' and there are a couple happening at  £65 for the experience - so I'll pass on that!

Not a good idea to have  bonfires here in my village garden - so that won't be happening and the only journaling I'll be doing is here on the blog.

I've started bird feeding again and not had an invasion of starlings - so that's good and for number 10 my Falstaff apples are almost ready - there are about a dozen decent sized apples to enjoy and lots of smaller ones. I checked their proper ripening time and it's early October but we've had plenty of sunshine so I'll be trying them this weekend.

Mabon Sorted!

Back Soon 

Sue

Garden And Meals Since Returning from Holiday

 Came home from holiday on the 23rd August to a very overgrown garden -in just a week - with lots of things finished. I cleared off 8 small aubergines - the biggest about 3 inches long and the last of the runner beans. Just a few tomatoes left now but cucumbers all finished  The aubergines sliced and fried plus cooked pasta and a sauce made simply with tomato puree, boiling water and minced garlic from a jar and then all layered up with grated cheese made me two meals.

There were no more peppers to cut as I'd sliced and frozen all that were there before my holiday but a bowl of small tomatoes were brought indoors before I cleared all but one of the plants out.

Then I popped over to BiL's for some beetroot - I'd given him a packet of beetroot seeds so he could grow a few extra for me - and he gave me a sweetcorn cob (mine are a few weeks behind although I have had one now) and a cucumber as his greenhouse did far better than mine - so I'm blaming the compost.

 I used one large beet for roasting, it was peeled and cut into chunks and went in the oven with potatoes and carrots and  with one sausage made into a toad in the hole. I'd saved and frozen a rolled out  scrap of pastry left from making a quiche a few weeks ago, this was turned into sausage rolls, with another sausage and eaten with the rest of the roast veg. the next day.

Other meals have been my home made batch cooked from the freezer - Thai red fish curry, spinach and ricotta lasagne, aubergine and tomato sauce over pasta and another day I had a warm mackerel pasta salad. 

As a couple of the leeks had run to seed already although still small I thought I'd better start eating them and used two as fritters. Plenty more for later which had recovered from next-door-neighbour's cat trying to dig them up earlier.

Lurking among the courgette leaves were 6 marrows so I put 5 of them out the front with a 'help yourself note' and they soon went. One remaining came into the kitchen to make Marrow, Apricot and Ginger jam. I was going to do the jam last Thursday but forgot to put the apricots in to soak on Wednesday night, so I left them out right ready to soak overnight to use on Friday but forgot again -Duh! Finally got them soaking Friday night and the jam made on Saturday. Six jars made, this jam is a good replacement for marmalade.

Despite being covered and completely protected from birds and butterflies, I came home to find the three kale plants were just skeletons - and I'd put slug pellets inside the cage too. The slugs must have feasted on the kale before dying!

 This is the third year winter 'greens' have been a complete fail - I've learned my lesson - not trying again. At least I have more than one small butternut squash this year. They got going late so I hope we don't get early frosts and have plenty more sun. I'm watering them a lot now to try and fatten up the few small ones. Fingers crossed for fine weather for them to ripen for storage.

There are a few  this size and smaller

Just one proper sized butternut

The raspberries that were here when I moved in are doing their thing - appearing at an odd time of year - late for summer but early for Autumn. They've given me 3 bowls full to eat since I came home.

I was down to just half a loaf of bread in the freezer so the bread maker has been on a few times since returning from holiday for a 50/50 white and wholemeal, a 50/50 white and granary and an all white loaf. They are cut in half and frozen, so I'm re-stocked. Also made a Focaccia loaf which I cut into chunks before freezing.

There are lots of the big plum tomatoes in the freezer - ready skinned -  to make my Red Hot Relish sometime and that will be all I'll do this year. I'm not doing Christmas Hampers for anyone this year so no need to make other things.

I don't seem to have much to write about at the moment so have dropped down to 4 posts a week rather than 6 - so apologies if you look for me everyday!  I'll see how it goes.

Back Soon

Sue

The Early May Bank Holiday Weekend

For Star Wars fans........................ May the 4th be with you! - and if you aren't a fan then you'll wonder what the idiot woman is talking about!

I can't remember what Easter Bank Holiday was like weather wise without looking back on the blog, but it was probably cold and wet.

Hopefully  this Early May Bank Holiday weekend is good as there are several things happening in villages around that need dry weather to be successful. A bluebell wood open, a flower festival, a Tudor reconstruction day, car-boot sales (of course) and village yard sale. Not sure I shall get to all of them and after it poured with rain all day yesterday some might be a bit soggy underfoot.

Other than yesterdays wash out, this week has been a good week, much better than the week before when I felt a bit under the weather on a couple of days and missed the Over 60's meeting and wasn't able to look after the Grandchildren after school one day - very annoying.

The World Snooker Championship on TV has been interesting as so many of the top seeded players were knocked out, and only one - the 12th seed-  got to the semis. More importantly in the World of Sport is the chance this weekend for Ipswich Town Football Club to get automatic promotion to the Premier League - that means a lot for the Town in many ways. If they end up in the play-offs for the the chance to go up then I fear a match against our Norfolk rivals - Norwich City FC - in which Norwich will win, get promoted and be able to gloat for another year!

Thursday evening was eventful as a fire engine raced by the bungalow and then 30 minutes later two more with blue lights went through the village, then an ambulance went by one way and another a few minutes later going the other way. I wondered what on earth was happening. Heard later that the fire engines were for a fire in a commercial building  a few miles away but no idea what the ambulances were doing - don't think they were connected to the fire.

I've been grateful this week for.............

• Some good fine, sunny and warm days at last
• Being able to get the pots for the greenhouse plants filled and ready
• Planting out the two squash plants and getting them cat and bird proofed
• More leek plants found in the pet/garden shop in Diss, planted out and protected as above
• Getting the sweetcorn seeds sown in their peat pots in the greenhouse. 
• Lots of good reading
• Finding a church open to visit after finding one locked
• Getting a 'foot lady' to sort out a problem - no more info on that one - Ugh!
• Sorting more photos from their old albums into the new storage boxes.

Here's a favourite - me on my big trike aged about 4. I didn't have a two wheeled bike (and no such thing as stabilisers)  until quite late as there was nowhere to learn to ride it. Our house was right beside a busy A road and the back yard was a rough builders yard - as you can see in the photo.

I'm  shall return on Monday with some more old photos - you have been warned!

Have a good Bank Holiday Weekend for everyone here and a good ordinary weekend for those elsewhere.

Sue 

The Royal Funeral and the Garden

The village was incredibly quiet here yesterday morning, everyone was inside watching the funeral and procession. I turned on the TV just before 11 to see the actual service but then turned off again later after they had all walked to Green Park  - quite a spectacle - I've never seen so many people in so many different uniforms before. Loved the flowers on top of the Queens coffin - beautiful and colourful. Pomp, Pageantry and Putting on a Show are something we do very well in this country. Then a bit of me thinks what all the money spent on policing this could have been used for!  I do hope the new King and the other Royals have a few days off now - they must all be shattered.

Up until turning on the TV I got some more gardening done outside, gradually clearing and cutting back. I fill the council garden waste bin, wait for it to be emptied fortnightly and then start to fill all over again. The compost in my own compost bin filled last year has rotted down and shrunk to a third, so I emptied it into the wheelbarrow and today I'll put it on the border out the front, which is very poor, rock hard clay. Then I'll have the awkward job of turning the compost from the bin I'm using into the empty one to mix it up a little and then it will be left to break down until this time next year.

The 3 Butternut Squash plants produced these as their first crop a couple of weeks ago.

The small ones are smaller than a tennis ball. There are 5 more, a wee bit better size and shape, still ripening. Not too bad considering how little water I was able to give them.

I made a big pot of vegetable curry with this lot, although once peeled  and deseeded there wasn't a whole lot of flesh to use! Luckily there were courgettes and peppers and a windfall apple from the garden plus spinach from the freezer to add to the mix.

Divided to make 7 portions and frozen. Had the first for a meal last week - lovely! 

Back Soon

Sue

Food Production in Early July

 Things are coming along OK - although we need rain. I filled up the big water butt from the mains a couple of weeks ago and now it's empty again.

Had the first picking of French Climbing Beans yesterday. I discovered one of the plants absolutely covered with Black Fly - never had that on this sort of beans before. I filled a spray bottle with water and washing up liquid and tried that - hope it works as I don't want to lose the plants so soon and also don't want to use anything nasty.

 

Sweetcorn plants - too close ( a common theme) , behind them is the space where I shall put the Kale and Brussels Sprout plants when they arrive. I've got the wire netting frames BiL made for me and enviromesh to put round and over them.

 

Beetroot - too close with a couple of rows of leeks squashed in behind them and 4 courgette plants - Two too many!

 

Onions in front - which I won't bother with again ( don't know why I grew them this year as I'd decided not to grow them again a few years ago - cheap to buy and too dry is the reason). There are 3 squash plants - with room to trail - just about! and empty canes for the runner beans on the right some have been sown here and some in a small tray and the French Climbing on the left.

In the greenhouse are too many tomato plants, 3 cucumber plants at the end, one aubergine standing on the water butt and one more on the ground. I moved one tomato plant to outside a few weeks ago but could really have moved two more out before they got too big to move.

Four pepper plants, the basil and two more aubergines standing up on the staging

 

Pointy peppers beginning to get pointy

 

Some of the aubergines flowers have set but others just fell off. There will be enough to a big batch of make my favourite aubergine/tomato pasta sauce

Nice to get back to growing food again after my enforced year off last year. 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Butternut Squash

Up until about 10 years ago I'd never grown butternut squash. Then we stopped growing Brassicas out on our field at the smallholding because of the increase in pigeons and other pests, leaving us with space for something else. Pumpkins and Butternut Squash were the best solution, they didn't need much care after planting and extended the vegetable selling season.

 I found a photo from the old blog from May 2014. The Squash and Pumpkins, planted out on the field. Each one has a little 'wall' of soil pulled round them to protect against the wind twizzling them out of the ground.


 Since we moved here I've grown a few plants each year with varying success, last year after good germination the plants didn't do well at all - the didn't seem to like being in the same bed as courgettes, and I think I ended up with about 7 small squash. To make the most of them I roasted several with lots of other homegrown chopped vegetables and stacked meal sized boxes in the freezer - I've still got a few boxes left.
I'd almost forgotten there was one squash left sitting in a basket on the kitchen widow sill until I moved the basket the other day......best use it quickly.

That last squash was strangely shaped but actually that makes more useful flesh than the usual shape.

I chopped it all and added to a pan with chopped onion, a couple of chopped leeks from the garden, a few small potatoes peeled and chopped and an apple. Softened everything in a little rapeseed oil

Added curry powder, a tablespoonful of flour and stirred the mix up 'til the flour and curry powder were cooked then added a splash of vinegar, a spoonful of sugar and boiling water. Cooked that all for a while covered adding boiling water and stirring often. Finally chucked in the last three frozen spinach balls I found in their pack  tucked  in the corner of a freezer draw.

 Once the spinach had defrosted and I'd stirred it all in I ended up with 5 portions of curry, one to eat and 4 for the freezer.

Not many days later I was going through the seed catalogues deciding what I needed this year and found a  variety of squash called Tahiti Melon  - HUGE fruits with a long neck and small seed cavity.

Even if I only get a few it will be enough for loads of roast and tons of curry!

I do love trying things I've not grown before - all part of the optimism of gardening.


Thank you for comments yesterday and Monday, welcome to some new followers, hope you like reading my ramblings about a quiet  Suffolk life.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

The Seed Catalogues

They've all arrived, so I went through the seed tin and wrote a list (always a list!). I don't need much but do like to pick the varieties.

D.T Brown are local to Suffolk, have some good choices and cheapest postage. I need beetroot,  tomato, cucumber, sweet red  'pointy' peppers, leeks, curly parsley, nasturtium and basil. Then maybe sweetcorn...... and here's a weird thing........... I could have sworn that sometime last year  I bought a packet of mini sweetcorn to grow to use for stir frying BUT the packet in the seed  tin are ordinary corn cobs. I even mentioned finding them at a car boot sale in a blog post. So why aren't they what I thought they were? ............No idea.

I'm ordering a big plum type Tomato that I've not tried before called Big Mama , a mini plum that I grew last year - Sungrape. and for something completely different a yellow grape variety called Ildi . I've just 2 cucumber Euphya seeds from last year so have ordered some Louisa, another variety I've grown in the past. Sweet Peppers will be Bullhorn Mix. I have a few very old leek seeds so I'll get some new and a new large pack of beetroot to add to the pack of Bolthardy left from last year. The rest  - parsley, nasturtium and basil I can get from anywhere and probably cheaper - as long as I remember to write them on a shopping list.  D.T Browns don't have a mini sweetcorn so I'll look elsewhere for them, my Essex friends love to grow lots of corncobs so I could pass the packet onto them because I don't want to grow the big cobs.

Apart from the above the other things I'm planning to grow are the same as last year...... French Climbing beans and Runner Beans - both from seed I saved from what I grew. Aubergines, chard, Mange tout peas, lettuces and courgettes.I also have  4 butternut squash seeds to hopefully grow better than last year when only 1 plant survived and produced just 1 squash!

Back Soon
Sue

Squashed in

3 tyres filled with compost and planted up with 1 butternut squash plant in each tyre and hey presto.............

After a huge downpour last Friday and more over the weekend and more forecast, I thought I'd bring these in as the skins had hardened off nicely. We've already eaten one small squash and on another plant, which we shoved in a compost heap down the meadow, there are 3 more not quite ready yet. Pleased with these as all we did was water them and let them sprawl over the driveway. Whatever variety I try they always end up much bigger than supermarket squash which cost anywhere from 70p to £1.50 for something a third the size of mine.........or costing even more for ready chunked.
 So I have here over £15 worth of squash- lovely.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

How Does Our Garden Grow........... Part 1.... Vegetables

The first lettuce from under a plastic cloche (Mrs F left 2 tunnel cloches here which have been very useful) was cut a few days ago, so that's lettuces, radishes and chives to eat - not quite self-sufficiency but better than nothing. In a year or two there should also be asparagus (we planted 10 crowns and see signs that 8 are alive) and rhubarb at this time of year.

The runner beans have begun to climb the canes and I've also planted out my climbing French beans and put a little fence made of sacking around them to keep the wind off until they get going as I did with the runners.  Three courgette plants are under a mesh frame to keep next door's cat from laying on them...........she prefers our garden to theirs for some reason. Polly rarely lays about outside, preferring a bed or a chair indoors! There are several rows of beetroot under fleece for the same reason.............and to stop birds pulling them up. The first lot sown were sparse so gaps have been filled with new seeds which are now all germinating.
Our 20 potatoes plants are all looking healthy. They were all under fleece protecting them from the late frosts the other week but I've pulled the fleece back to slow the second-earlies down a bit.
Then under the other little polythene tunnel cloche are the chard and mange-tout peas with room for more later in the season. I started the peas in pots in the greenhouse in the hope they will survive all pests. I've got a heap of sticks there ready for them to clamber over when I take the cloche off.
16  Brussel sprout plants arrived in the post yesterday (Yes I've Cheated) 8 for us and 8 for Col's brother as that number is the cheapest way to buy and we don't need them all. So a while after the top photo was taken I was outside planting them and had to take another photo.

Mrs F left several wooden frames covered with wire netting and also lots of clay pots, and that's how I've covered things...........using the pots to support the frames. The sprout plants also have fleece over the frame to shade them until they get established. (The house in the picture is next door and is up for sale...........for £100,000 more than they paid for it 18 months ago! I know they had a new kitchen and bathroom, but good grief, things haven't gone up that much). There is space for another tripod of Climbing French beans, runner beans  and for 8 Purple Sprout Broccoli plants which will arrive in July. They will be our only brassica plants, being the things that produce the most from least space. Sadly no room for cauliflowers, calabrese or cabbage.
 

On the edge of the driveway, so they can trail without getting in the way, are three squash plants which I put in 3 tyres filled with soil and compost. Each tyre is sitting on some material stuff we found in the workshop, it lets water through but not the soil. I hope when the squash have finished I'll be able to clear away the tyres and drag the soil on the cloth stuff across to the veg beds - that's my plan anyway. To keep the plants from being blown about I pushed a tile upright on the side of the prevailing wind.

Into the greenhouse and there I have some Basil, 5 plum tomato and 4 cherry tomato plants and 4 cucumber plants, although I shall only keep 3 as there isn't room for more.........and I've run out of big pots anyway... ......the greenhouse has a solid floor so no borders to plant in.

 On the staging on the left I've got 4 aubergines and several pepper plants - hopefully more sweet peppers  than chili peppers but I'm not sure as some didn't get labelled properly (oops). Two sowings of leeks eventually produced a few seedlings and I've potted 2 dozen into bigger pots with more to do later and I've also just sown more runner beans.  There are a couple of spare courgette and squash plants.......just in case.......... and last but not least the fig tree which is looking well and my £1.99 grapevine - which I picked up from QD in Stowmarket a few weeks ago.

It's been an interesting challenge to work out what not to bother with in the limited space and we may regret something and change plans next year or we might find we have more room for things this year and pop in a few extras later. Actually it might be interesting to do a post on what we're not growing and why .............well, interesting for me!

I've just found my penfriend from Michigan has a blog HERE

Back Soon
Sue

PS Thanks for nice comments yesterday