Back to "normal"

Well today saw the boys both back to school this morning after 2 long weeks of holidays. I am also back at work today; could have quite gotten used to not having to go in.

Although this week we are on a 3 day week owing to a bank holiday monday and the Royal Wedding on friday.

The seedlings are coming on in leaps and bounds in the greenhouse and just need to be bit bigger then they will be put to harden off outside for planting on towards the end of May.

We are also creating a wild flower area in one corner of the back garden which will hopefully attract some beneficial insects especially bees.

I need to get some jam made to use up the remainder of the blackberries and gooseberries from the freezer from last year, although I may just save a couple of bags of blakberries just in case i don't get any this year.
Dave wants me to put a stall outside selling it, good idea in essence but we are on a no through road so no passing cars, but maybe if I make some and if it doesn't go could have a stall at the next carboot sale in the village.

Meals this week are from Summer Menu 1, but if the idea for a bbq takes us then obviously things will be jigged around.

Catch Up Time

I have had a little break from here due to Dave being off work, and us enjoying some natural wake-ups rather than an alarm at stupid o'clock.

We have cleared the back garden and the beds have been dug over ready for when the seedlings need planting out; all the seeds have been sown and are in the greenhouse covered with bubblewrap overnight to help with some extra insulation.

Tom has now turned 16 (where does the time go) and we had a bbq/campout party for him and approx 12 friends on Friday night.

Dave has now gone back to work this morning, and myself and the boys will continue this week to just potter about, although I would think they will have some more lie-ins.

I still haven't got around to tweaking the menu plans but yesterday we had salad and today will be mince and tatties as I have some veggies that need using.
This will be a job for me to do this week, I'll be making do for meals using odd bits up before having a meat stock up again at the end of the week.

Into the Last Week before a Break

We have started the last week of school/work before we all have some time off.

Myself and the boys get 2 weeks as school holidays and Dave has a week off taken as annual leave.

This will be good in that apart from one day where I arranged an appointment for first thing we can get up without the alarm, which will be so much better for our bodies.

Dinners this week are from menu 2. I will probably during the time off have a revamp of these to incorporate some lighter type meals.

I have been looking at our household budget to see if we can make any savings on the day to day expenses, not just the normal monthly bills which I already try to keep as low as possible. I know that one area will be better once we start getting some produce from the garden, as obviously this will reduce the grocery bill again.
Another area which I have been monitoring closely is petrol, I try to incorporate as many things into each outing as possible, thereby keeping the consumption down.

I have been baking more snacks etc for the boys and Dave to eat either as part of their packups or when they need something but its too far from dinner. I have made sausage rolls, corned beef & onion pasties, weetabix chocolate brownies and fairy cakes as well as the daily loaf of bread and extra garlic bread when we need it for a meal. The boys will often have a sandwich as a snack which is a good way of filling them up enough to keep going , but not too much that they don't want thei dinner. There is also always fruit and yogurt available.

Has Spring Finally Sprung

Now the clocks have gone forward, we are getting that extra hours daylight at night, although losing it in the mornings at the moment.

I can see the start of lots of things coming through in the garden and hedgerows.

The wild garlic which I moved last year has come through with more vigour than ever before, and as I left it to seed alot of it has self set creating a lovely bed approx 2ft x 3ft which is nearly full of the wild garlic. We love using this in salads and even mixed in cooked dishes, where you want a hint of but not lots of garlic. The gooseberry bush is coming to life which is a miracle in itself considering that it was just put in and left approx 5 years ago, I dug it up last year and replanted it much deeper, hopefully this will mean that it might bear some fruit.

Dinners this week will be from Menu 1 but with a little swapping about due to the boys activities.

The boys are both going through growth spurts and now as well Tom has hit that stage where needs approx 3000 cal just to maintain his weight never mind that he is really active.

Organic Veg Boxes

I have a weekly organic veg box delivered by a wonderful company http://www.woodlandsfarm.co.uk/.

The contents are always, have always been lovely and fresh and are very good value; I have been using them for approx 5 years now; and apart from one week during this last bad winter when we ourselves were snowed in they haven't missed a delivery.

I tailor my box to suit our needs as a family but they do standard boxes as well.

Take a look and maybe you might find they are a company who could deliver to you.

Bright Sunny Day

This week we will be eating from menu plan 4, with possibly a couple of tweaks.

There was only a small carrier bag of landfill rubbish to go into the wheelie bin this week which I'm very pleased with. I have been trying to catch a few stray items which should be recycled but have been ending up in the landfill bag, and it seems to be working.

As Dave is still working some extra hours I need to get some more baking done as he needs extra packup and the boys both seem to be in a growth spurt as can not keep them full.

Got some cream yesterday so am making ice-cream this morning.

The weather is starting to look a bit more hopeful for getting seeds planted and into the greenhouse to germinate under bubblewrap. So I need to sort what compost etc I need i have all the seeds ready.

Week Commencing 14 March 2011

We are eating from menu plan 3 this week.

We have had very changeable weather over the last few days going from warm bright sunshine to dull overcast with showers and the temperatures have been like yo-yos as well.

The rhubarb is really coming through now, and I moved some daffodils which had grown up in the rhubabrb area; my plan is to make this a dedicated rhubarb patch which will make it easier to maintain, so this year will also see the horseradish being moved into a different separate area which can be just for it.

I have sorted out what seeds I will be growing this year and and am just waiting for the overnight frosts to cease so I can get some seeds in, I don't have a heated area so they go in trays in the greenhouse with bubblewrap as insulation over the top, this worked fairly well last year.

Today has also seen the landill bin go out for only the second time since the start of the new year, so that is a similar timespace to what we were when I was recording everything; again the weekly landfill rubbish has fitted into a carrier bag and as much as can be has been recycled or composted.