Apologies

Where has the time gone.

RL has just taken over so for the moment I will put blogging on a back burner.

This doesn't mean that I don't still read others blogs but I just do not have the time to keep mine up to date at the moment.

Best wishes to all who read

Maisie

Back to Normal

Well as normal as we can be.

Tom has settled into college althouigh there was an initial hiccup in that one of his 'A' level subjects was no longer being offered (Sport of all things).
David has settled back into school ok; and myself and Dave are now both back at work.

There has been a definite coolness in the air the last few mornings and certain veggies are no longer growing, so it is time to clear out these and look at the next stage.

We have chopped down a couple of trees and cleared a good space in the back garden as we need to have a new oil tank and it has to be sited in a different place.

We still have swede, parsnips, carrots, spring onions and leeks in the garden and tomatoes, cucumbers and both bell and chilli peppers in the greenhouse; there are also some all year round cauliflowers which we are trying under a netting cage.

We have been fairly lucky in that although some crops haven't produced huge amounts it has been enough for us as a family, and we have given some away of others as well.

The potatoes we grew in old compost bags were delicious, so we will be doing that again next year.

I will have to have a look at my menu plans as some days we need an evening meal which can be served at varying times due to Tom's time of arriving home and other activities.

Catch Up

Apologies again for the absence in posting.

We have been away on holiday and also have all the usual things going on in school holidays.

The garden has been producing well, although a little slow at times.

I am looking to concentrate on using things we have in the cupboards and freezers again for the next couple of months and only buy essential fresh items. I have just stocked up the freezer with a big meat order so we are set with that for 2 months; I also noticed that there are a few things in the tins cupboard that have been there a while, so if in date I may well donate for the village Tombola stall if not then they will get incorporated into meals. I need lunches just for myself again once back at school so that is an easy way to use things up.

The boys and myself have just over a week left before we return to school and Tom starts college, he also gets his GCSE results tomorrow, hopefully he will get what he wants.

Dave has next week off as holiday so will be doing a few tidying up jobs outside etc.

I hope to get back into more regular posting once things have returned to "normality".

Tom's Handy Work & Dave's Crazy Paving

Tom decided yesterday that he was going to take down a tree at the bottom of our side grass area, which although not over big was overhanging the road and was generally getting in the way.

Here is the result of work so far, he will strip the branches and saw them into logs for the log pile for winter.


Dave has been laying some crazy paving using some broken slabs he has been allowed to take from the farmers land next to where he  works.
Here is what he has done so far.

Apologies

I feel I should apologise for my lack of posting, but life has just gotten in the way.

We have been getting the garden sorted, trying to fill as many gaps with produce  so that we can reduce our grocery bill. The idea being that we grow enough veg so that the veg box delivery will incorporate fruit as well so that is taken off the supermarket list.

I am still making 99% of our bread, buns, cakes etc it is only really when I'm short on time that I purchase items.

As myself and the boys have been off school this week and there has been a day out with friends dinners have not been from the menu plan, but have still used bits up from the freezer.

Another thing we need to look at is that we have to pay for the college bus for Tom now instead of it being a free pass, so that is another £300 per year to find, plus books and along with an increase in car insurance of £130 per year and then general increases as normal, so we need approx an extra £500 for normal living expenses. So this is where I'm hoping the garden will help.

I'm hoping to have a stall at a local car boot sale in a couple of weeks time which will hopefully get rid of some clutter and also be an outlet for some of my jams that i have been making.

Wet & Windy

Well  the weather has changed to wet and windy, the rain is very welcome as it means the whole ground will gat a good drink not just the areas we choose to water.

All the veggie seedlings are doing well despite the lack of water.

Dave had a work trip to holland last week but is now home safe and sound; and Tom starts his GCSEs today properly.

Both boys decided to measure their heights at the weekend, Tom is now 171cm so 1cm short of 6ft and David is 163cm so 5ft 5 inches.
They are both still eating for England and I can never seem to keep them full.

Dinners this week will be taken from summer menu 4 with possibly a couple of changes due to the boys activities.

I hate to say it and wish the time away but I can't wait for things to be ready in the garden, there is so much enjoyment from picking and eating something you have nurtured from a seed which then provides food for the table.

Hopefully things will continue to grow as they have and we will see the benfits soon.

Planting out & Jam Making

I've over the weekend planted out the green beans, courgettes, cucumbers and chilli plants; the cucumbers and chillis are in the greenhouse but the others are outside.
Just need the tomatoes to get a bit bigger then they will go in the greenhouse as well.
The parsnips are coming on lovely and will be planted out within the next week hopefully.

Dinners this week are from summer menu 2, although we did have a bbq on Sunday and used up the leftovers on Monday.

I'm just waiting on the strawberry plants coming so I can get them planted out and hopefully we will get some fruits this year.

I have been in jam making mode over the weekend, I found some fruits in the freezer and some reduced to silly prices in the shop, so I have made 10 gooseberry, 4 strawberry, 2 seedless blackberry(pulp is back in the freezer to mix with apple for a crumble) I also made 5 apricot jam using dried apricots, and I reboiled the pink grapefruit marmalade, which never set properly when I made it earlier on.

I still have some more blackberries in the freezer, so will make some more of that when I get the chance.