One Week Eating Local(2) Part 5

It rained here yesterday morning so no boot sale. The only rain for days and it falls on a Sunday morning! Ho Hum

The eating locally produced is ongoing and so easy with all the garden produce.When I made the Bacon and Egg Pie last week I saved a small bit of pastry and rolled thinly, just enough to do a pastry case for a mixed fruit meringue pie with odds and ends of fruit from the garden.


Some almost past-it  gooseberries, last of the redcurrants and a couple of early very sharp cooking apples, all cooked up with quite a lot of sugar. Stirred in some cornflour (sadly not local) and  egg yolks. Then used the egg whites and sugar to make meringue for the top.

It's very pink and divides into 6.I've been eating for lunch instead of a sandwich some days.





These were a surprise from the garden

Two of the 4 calabrese plants have produced a head already, much earlier than they should and very small due to dry/chilly weather I guess.

I made a little cheese sauce and fried some of my potatoes..........After peeling - as this is the damage ants have done to some of the lovely Charlotte spuds. Every year I threaten to stop bothering with potatoes as this always happens.

Then it gets to February and the East Anglian Potato Day and there I am again getting some seed potatoes as usual.

Breakfast was toast and the very local honey which I'm enjoying as a change from toast and marmalade.

I keep forgetting to welcome some new followers - Hello, thank you for pressing the follower button  hope you like reading my ramblings.


Back Tomorrow
Sue

Halfway Through September......................

..................................... already.

And this last week has seemed very long because of being sink-less. The sink bit is the first, longest and worst part of the kitchen to be done. The kitchen fitter man had to alter the pipework a bit and he also cut the new worktop so that it fitted better around a bit of pipe boxing whereas the old worktop hadn't - he's a bit of a perfectionist I've found, so seems to work very s..l..o..w..l..y. I've got a 1½ sink now - just the one before, and  two  extra cupboards underneath because the lady before us had a dishwasher which she took with her. I've never had one and didn't want one - just another thing to go wrong in my opinion. There were also some open corner shelves - dust collectors - now a cupboard with door. He's coming back at the end of next week to do some bits of tiling where there wasn't any before - luckily there were about 40 tiles in the garage, and to do the skirting and luckily again there was a bit of matching skirting board in the workshop.
Here it is, one third done and  my lovely new sink

and he'll also come back sometime in the next month or so to do the next bit. ( My choice to have it done in stages to lessen the hassle a bit). Except the hassle continues next week because the plumbing company are coming to alter things in the downstairs bathroom and add the bath.
By the way this is what the units were like in the kitchen - missing kick boards and draw front and ancient worktops and mock wood doors. Leaking tap and very old stained sink in the bit that's been replaced.

 A week of good weather for working outside so  I've rescued the strawberry bed from the weeds and it doesn't look too bad,  thought  the plants were lost because of the drought but it looks as if most have survived. Wish I could say the same for the raspberry bed. Lots of the canes planted last year have died, they were planted in a hurry in poor soil just as Colin went into hospital for the donor stem cell transplant. Neglected for almost a year plus 3 months with no rain is not a good start for young canes. I've weeded and fed and cut them back and will see what happens next year. The ride-on mower came back on Wednesday afternoon. It wouldn't start when it was supposed to come back the Friday before, but the mechanic got it going after charging the battery again. The repair cost £70 but as they collected, checked the blade and cleaned the whole underneath bit as well as mending the steering arm before returning it, that's not  as much as I feared. Really must be more careful around the garden, don't want it to happen again.

Another job done while waiting to get back into the kitchen was painting my shabby chic plant ladder which was much more shabby than chic after 4 years standing outside. I searched the old blog to  find a picture of it at the smallholding when I first had the idea of doing it but couldn't find one. It's put it away for the winter and will be planted up with pots of something in spring.

I'm still doing some clearing of bits, just a little every day. OUT of the house this week

Another 2 bags of books to the charity shop

Another box of books to Ziffit  (£21 worth this time)

A bundle of old padded post bags pulled apart so they can be used to light the fire

An old solid tub of weatherproofing stuff that was here when we came.... from the garage into the dustbin

2 broken screwdrivers from the workshop into the dustbin 

Some Christmas card making stuff has been turned into cards

More Christmas craft bits have gone into the car boot box

More good weather forecast for the weekend
Have a good one wherever you are.
Back Monday
Sue

Another Week Passes

 Monday
I found 2lb of last years strawberries in the freezer and Brother-in-law brought more from his garden at the weekend (and I have enough of my own to have some everyday for a few more days) so I made some strawberry jam, chucked in the half pound of gooseberries that were all I rescued from the 2 new gooseberry bushes (ruined by ants I think) to help it set and a packet of pectin too, just to be sure. I don't eat much jam, brother-in-law is now diabetic so can't eat it - I'll take some with me when I go anywhere and give it all away.

Then swimming. 4 lengths straight off (it's a small pool so that's only 80 metres!) and then about another 15 lengths with rests quite often. The 32 lengths without stopping I used to do years ago will be 40 lengths here and a long time away I think.

Home again and the first thing I noticed at the end of the lane was some cardboard boxes and a bin bag near the workshop door. "Surely not fly-tipping right up here!" was my first thought and then saw they were full of wood-off cuts, some bits my sister and BIL didn't want to store for winter. They were quickly chucked on the massive heap in the wood-shed. Winter alone but warm!

Time for lunch and the week of Queens Club Tennis started at 1pm on BBC2. The signal for me to get out some  cross-stitch and settle down to watch.

England Football in the evening. Whoop! they played until the end and won.

Tuesday -
A drive from Mid Suffolk to near the coast to see youngest and Florence. Took strawberries and jam. We had a walk round the charity shops. Lots of shops closing or moving in Leiston. The town needs Sizewell C Power Station to be built but from the health and safety point of view the people don't need it. Youngest said the last Building Society in the town - which closed a year ago will be opening as a charity shop soon. Just Barclays Bank left for all the businesses to use.
I had a Co-op voucher for Subway BOGOF so we had one each for lunch. I don't really get Subway.............it's just  a bread roll with a choose-you-own filling! but almost every Co-op in Suffolk has a Subway concession in it now, so perhaps it's a way to keep the East of England Co-ops running and young people seem to like them. (That makes me sound old!)

Home and a card through the door "We tried to deliver a parcel, you can collect from Debenham Post Office" - Bother, just drove through there on the way home.

Sat out in the sun and read for a while then it clouded up so in to watch tennis. Andy Murray back after a year off for hip surgery. He looked good for two sets but faded at the end. Britain's new number one - Kyle Edmund won his match, he has come on well over the last two years.

Wednesday
Decided to have a fight with the front path. The slabs are two feet wide but the grass had overgrown them so much that there was only a few inches of slab to be seen in places. Didn't take too long with the lawn edger spade and a bit of tugging to clear the path. One slab was a bit on the huh (as we say in Suffolk) potential "Trip Hazard", so I levered it up with a draining shovel  (the only bit of school physics that has come in useful in life was learning about levers!) and found big roots of something underneath, got rid of them and it still wasn't flat, repeat two or three times until it's level but a bit rocky. Oh well - best I can do, at least there's nothing for the postman to trip over.

The darker bit down the middle was all that was visible before I got busy with the edger spade

Afternoon to the dreaded dentist, for a big filling to rebuild the tooth that broke. It might not work for long and I've still got toothache from the filling he did a month ago although he said it looked OK, I may have to go back for a root canal thing on it if it doesn't stop aching. Oh Joy Unbounded!

Picked up the parcel - it's a fly screen for the back door, made of chains but I seem to have bought industrial quality as it weighs a ton so I'm going to need help with the fixings -Bother. I need to master the art of using a drill, I'm OK with using it as a screwdriver but never got the chance to try drilling holes.

Thursday
Longest day or to be precise longest daylight hours. Forgot to do a Summer Solstice post - must remember - Next Year.
Absolutely Freezing cold North wind this morning. Had to get out of bed and pull in the windows during the night. It doesn't seem like June at all, I put a hat on when I went out early to fill the bird feeders - woolly hat in June - ridiculous!
At home all day, the on and off toothache was worse, probably aggravated due to the scale and polish he did, at least I hope that's the reason.

Vegetable Garden Harvest today

First French climbing beans and  courgettes. It's always best to cut the first courgettes when they are very small as that helps the plant to grow stronger - same with cucumbers, in fact I always pinch off the very tiny cucs when they first appear and don't let any grow to full size until the plant has really got going. Although saying that, I have 3 plants this year so did the above with 2 but let the third keep going with it's first fruit.

 I needed CAKE! Preferably with cream and the new strawberry jam so made a mini sponge as I only had 2 eggs left.

Rang to check the work in bathroom will start next week....... taking out bath to replace with shower. That's the first part. Then they'll take the grotty shower out of the bedroom and I'll see what's underneath it. May need new carpet, may put a small bath in the bedroom instead, might not!

Rang a local man who advertises in the Parish Magazine to get him to come  for ideas and quote for new kitchen units.They are 1970's or 80's mock wood, kick boards missing, a draw front missing and generally old and tired.

Tennis again, Oh dear Kyle Edmund knocked out by the same bloke who knocked out Andy M. The commentators keep saying how entertaining Australian Nick Kyrgios  is but although he played brilliantly today with loads of un-returnable first serves, I find his on-court antics a bit childish and his swearing isn't necessary either, and I know that's sounds like I'm too prim and proper but I really don't understand the need for constant efffffing!


Friday
 First cucumber and last of the strawberries - due to lack of rain the plants have flagged. It's too far down the garden to water them and with a water meter I'm wary of using the hosepipe too often.

Out shopping to Stowmarket. Quite quiet in town for a Friday morning..........except in the bank........always a long queue there. Bought myself a new pair of shorts AND trousers in M&Co - a very, very rare event. Some of my shorts are so old they are falling apart- despite mending. Now I can ditch the worst and I needed a pair of lightweight trousers, now that I'm out at things like WI in the summer months.

A gloriously sunny afternoon but the wind from the North is keeping temperatures down here so no good for sitting out ............. Tennis on TV instead  and Nick Kyrgios again,( serving aces like crazy and not so much mucking about) and more stitching but with so much time fiddling about on the blog it's not growing very quickly .................."it" being a Christmas card for a small person.


 So that's another week  gone, and that's what I did to fill my time, sometimes I feel I'm still waiting for Col to come home other times I'm OK........mostly OK.

Many thanks to everyone who clicked the follower button. I'm so easily made happy by seeing the numbers go up! and thanks for comments too.

Back Monday - Have a Good Weekend.

Sue

How Does My Garden Grow

The patio between back of house and garage and the corner with pots and the shabby chic ladder which after 4 years is looking much more shabby than chic. I'll need to give it a coat of colour stain sometime

The Greenhouse with tomatoes on the right, cucumbers straight ahead and peppers and aubergines on the staging on the left. Also in there are pots of Basil, a pot of parsley, French Marigolds to attract in the hoverflies that eat greenfly, some small Heuchera that will go out when they are a bit bigger. There is also an Abelia which I got last year, it says it's slow growing and that's certainly right as it's taken a year to get from 3 inches tall to 6 inches tall and I bought it to go in a pot on the patio as it's a shrub - Ha! Might have to wait another 3 years until it's shrub size!

The Vegetable beds on the part of the garden behind the garage. Colin sowed a whole bed of beetroot, so there should be enough! I have mangetout peas in the next bed plus climbing French beans, with canes up ready for the runners.The next bed is courgettes and leeks plus the last couple of spring cabbage. I need to take down the frame work of netting that's round it. The fourth bed is potatoes with rhubarb at the end and in the distance the bigger soft fruit bed.
The House is next door neighbours, almost all their land is in front of their house beside my garden. They want to buy part of the field behind the house but other neighbours in the lane have tried to buy a bit of field without success. Apparently the farmer who owns it is a grumpy bloke who won't even discuss it!

The old raspberry canes that were here when we came, they are covered in fruit this year, I'll need to chuck a net over the top in a few weeks time, that's what the stakes are there for.

Orchard and Polly. These trees were here when we came. A family apple, another apple, 2 pear and a plum. We added 3 more various apple and 2 apricots - one of which is looking very sorry for itself.

Looking back at the veg beds from the soft fruit bed, with the garage on the right and the back of the house. The oval rose garden and my cutting garden are on  the other side of the greenhouse.
There are sun flowers surrounded by canes and string in the middle of the fruit bed because I couldn't find anywhere else to put them

There are also lots of shrubs over the other side of the orchard and mustn't forget the meadow and new trees. The tall poplar trees in the centre of the picture with Polly in the orchard are down the right hand side of the meadow. Our land is L shaped with the house in the corner where the two bits of the L join. The garden is the bottom of the L and the meadow is the upright of the L. I'll draw a map one day!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Cousins

Cousins  altogether.

While eldest and SIL and Jacob were staying here for a few days they met up with son, DIL and Willow plus youngest and Florence at the beach.

Eldest took photos for me (I stayed at home resting, been running on adrenaline for about 3 weeks and it's catching up on me and Jacob is like the cat........they both like to make sure everyone is up early!)

  

at Thorpness Mere they saw swans and geese  and son in law snapped this one of me and Jacob at home in the garden, I was cutting a few roses to bring indoors and found Jacob  a red strawberry from the plants in the cold-frame. He is very interested in everything and talks non-stop in proper sentences. I've completely lost track of what age children develop and do different things but as he was only 2 last week I think he is jolly clever!

They'll all be back again in a weeks time  for the funeral.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

How Does Our Garden Grow.................. Part 2....... Fruit

We arrived to find 5 trees in the orchard and a few bushes in a soft fruit bed and a small rhubarb plant among the weeds.

The trees are a plum, two pear and two apple, one of which is a family tree with two or perhaps 3 varieties grafted onto one tree.

The fruit bed had one white currant, two other un-identified currant bushes, a dead gooseberry bush and a few raspberry canes.

We've planted more rhubarb crowns, two gooseberry bushes, the cheap blackcurrant bush and the bargain raspberry canes from Poundland and Wilkinsons and six strawberry plants from Aldi. In pots I have a small Apricot tree and a patio pear tree, both are alive but no fruit this year.

Apples looking as if they might be a  good crop

Pears look promising

Soft fruit bed. A few raspberries and currants from the established canes/bushes this year. More next year we hope Just 2 of the very cheap raspberry canes didn't survive. The largest currant bush - back left, colour unknown, has No berries at all, I'll cut it back and give it a chance next year. I need to find a way of covering the raspberries soon. There is netting left behind by Mrs F so it will be some sort of makeshift thing. Not a bit  like the huge walk in fruit cage we had at the smallholding.

The strawberry plants are in pots and will give us a small bowl of berries soon. I want to sort out a proper strawberry bed if possible before next year - raised would be good. All the rhubarb plants are still very small, I hope they put on growth for next year.
Both the Fig (£3.99 Wikinsons) and the Grapevine (£1.99 QD) have suddenly put on a foot of new growth in the last fortnight and even the mini lemon tree - as mentioned the other day - has suddenly sprouted a new leaf.

This is next door's elderly cat, she removed herself from the corner of the soft fruit bed quite quickly  when she realised I had crept up on her!

Back Soon
Sue