Different kind of leeks!

 

I went to the allotment today for the first time this year.  It was a mud fest!!  I was going to plant some potatoes but my plot neighbour John said it was too wet and he wasn't planting his spuds yet!  John is an old school allotmenteer (he calls me dear mainly because I think he can never remember my name!!) and if he says don't plant them yet then I'm not planting them!!  Maybe give it another week if this rain ever stops!! 🌧

Despite the mud, the plot isn't in too bad shape.  My leeks had survived the burst river bank episodes so I harvested them all.  They're now cleaned, chopped up and in 3 big freezer bags!!  We all love leeks and often use them instead of onions 🧅

Despite filling the freezer up with leeks, I am trying to eat down the contents in general by using up what's lurking in the bottom.  I found a ton of unwaxed lemons and limes (slices, quarters and ice cubes of juice/zest) so I simmered them in a big pan of water with some dried rose hips I found in the back of the cupboard.  Then I strained them and added icing sugar (it was all I had!) to taste and simmered it until it was a bit syrupy.  It filled a one litre bottle.  Lemon, lime and rose hip cordial.  It's really lovely hot or cold 😋  I'll definitely be making it again.  I could have added citric acid powder to extend the shelf life but I'm just keeping it in the fridge.

Lots of wee jobs

We went to puppy day care for a visit and Luna was assessed to see if she would fit in with the pack.  I was a bit concerned that she would either be too shy around new people and the other dogs (that's what she's like out a walk) or she would go crazy.  But she behaved beautifully and appropriately!  And she can start next week!!!  HOORAY! 🎉 When she's there I can go visit my Lovely Mum to help her out a bit and get some of my DIY stuff done round the house.  

Luna has been getting more daily walks so she snoozes for decent amount time too.  Which means I can get on with some stuff like knitting socks!  Second one is already on the needles 🧦

I used the last of my stored potatoes from the allotment to make a big pot of mash!  I turned some of it into tattie scones for the freezer.

My DIL gifted me some yellow stickered pork mince that I turned into a meatloaf.  I used up the last of the stuffing mix I bought last Christmas to mix through the mince.  It was delicious with some of the mash!  Several portions are in the freezer.

I strained the gooseberries from the gooseberry gin I started in the summer and bottled the gin.  I used up the gooseberries to make jam.  I used a jam thermometer for the first time and I must confess I feel the jam is over boiled and sticky.  I think I'll stick to my old fashioned method of testing the setting point on a cold saucer!!  I'm just using the jam myself as I don't think it's good enough to gift.

So, there are lots of wee jobs getting done this week.  But that's ok, I'm not in any rush to get anything major done.  I'm taking this time to relax a wee bit before gearing up to getting ready to sell the house.

Chinese Plum Sauce

I popped down to visit my Lovely Mum in hospital yesterday with my DIL to help me puppy wrangle.  Luna isn't used to travelling in the car yet so I need someone with me.  I had made a load of healthy ready meals to put in mum's freezer ready for her when she comes home.  But I had to remove a ton of home grown fruit to make room (with her permission!)

So today I started using up some of the fruit as my freezer is full to bursting and made a Chinese style plum sauce.  I didn't have all the spices needed so I improvised a bit.  I trebled this recipe HERE as I had almost 3kg (6lbs) of plums that my mum's neighbour gave her.  But here's my version.

• 3kg plums, halved and stoned
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 and a half cups cider vinegar
• 2 and a quarter cups brown sugar
• 3/4 of a cup Tamari
• 6 tbsp chopped ginger
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 12 cloves 

I simmered it for about 2 hours as the plums were very watery from being in the freezer.  I blitzed it with a stick blender and put it into sterilised jars.

It tastes lovely but would definitely be improved by having more spices.  I just didn't have any others and as it's a no spend October I wasn't going to buy any!

I still have plum chutney left from last year so wanted to try something different to use up the plums this year! 😋

Stressful week

 

Eurgh!!  It's been a stressful week.  Luna is still testing positive for giardia so she's had another course of treatment.  She's 'clinically well' so was able to get her vaccinations and is allowed out on restricted walks from tomorrow.  She's 14 weeks old now and frankly stir crazy, as am I!!  She still has to be kept separate from Emma in case they reinfect each other so poor Emma is rather stressed too.  And both my son and I have had a serious D&V bug (giardia possibly so we're getting tested too!!)  So yeah, it's not been fun round here.  Fingers crossed we're getting to the end now.

I managed a quick pop down to the allotment to find a rugby ball from the club next door has smashed a window.  New perspex has been ordered but I need to see if they'll reimburse me for it.  I know it was a rugby ball as I have it in my shed as evidence!!!

I harvested the last of the cucumbers in the polytunnel.

And made bread and butter pickles! 😋

The last of the Roma tomatoes ripened so I made tomato and onion sauce for the freezer.

The 1.5kg bags of organic flour were on offer in Waitrose at the same price as Tesco's 1kg bags so I got 2 for the storecupboard.

I made another sourdough loaf, they're improving!

I bought a 600ml carton of double cream and made butter.  Not on offer but still cheaper at £2.30 than a 250g block of butter plus I got buttermilk to make scones.

And someone has learned how to jump up on the chair in my craft room!  I'm at the stage where I don't care how and where she sleeps (I know I'm making a rod for my own back!!) as long as she sleeps because an over tired cranky puppy is a nightmare!

Sourdough and weeds

 

I managed to make a half decent sourdough loaf!  Look at those holes, I'm so chuffed!!  It's chewy and moist with a nice crust.  Almost perfect 😋

I made a very quick visit to the plot and pulled up the brown onions as the green leaves were falling over.  They range in size from a golf ball to a cricket ball in size.  No idea how/why they do that when they all had the same growing conditions 🙄

I picked some more brambles (blackberries) to add to the freezer bag.

I picked some cucumbers and have already started a batch of bread and butter pickles.

There's a lot of debate going on in my allotment site's FB group about weeds.  Mainly what to do with the current over abundance of them!  Many plot holders dump them (and their waste plants) in a semi-designated area on the river bank but it's clear that there's just too much of it.  So we're looking at ways to deal with them.  One of my plot friends is passionate about composting everything including weeds with seeds.  She has 6 compost bins and spends a lot of time turning the contents.  

I like watching Huw Richards on YouTube and he recommends using weeds to make different types of feed.  So I'm going to trial that.  I'm pretty good at identifying the weeds on my plot and finding out if they have any benefits/uses but I'm stuck on these 2 in the above photo.  I think the one on the left is smartweed (?) but the other one I can't identify.  It has a single tiny pink flower and the stalks go wispy once they're done flowering.  See above close up of the pretty 2 tone pink flower.  t's not rose bay willow herb as it doesn't have a flower spike.  Using a plant ID app and googling pink wispy weed hasn't yielded a decent answer for me so if anyone in the UK can identify it I'd be grateful.

Of course I can't end a post without a photo of my pretty girl lying in a patch of sunlight yesterday.  This puppy has caused me so much stress and worry.  Fingers crossed we're almost out of the danger zone and so can get her second lot of vaccinations next Thursday! Then it's walkies and a whole new set of stresses!!!

What have I done?

 

There's usually a day or 2 in the first few weeks of owning a new puppy when you ask yourself "What have I done?  Have I made a mistake?" 😂 And it's usually when you're sleep deprived and the over tired puppy is having a tantrum because you're trying to stop it biting everyone cos it's teething.  I think I've passed that point now and Luna's here to stay!  Having a nasty illness from the get go didn't help her get settled quickly but she's finished all her meds now and seems to be chunking up nicely.  She's smart and has learned to sit, give/drop it and wait (kinda) on command so far.  I think once she's allowed out a walk after her second round of vaccinations I'll be able to tire her out more!!!  

In the end I made pancakes from the yoghurt whey.  They were delicious with the last jar of last year's raspberry jam.  I haven't made any jam or chutney yet this year.  I still have 4 small jars of blackcurrant jam and 2 larger jars of apple and plum chutney from last year.  I'd like to use it up before I stock up again.  I've been eating fruit on the plot and from the garden as I pick it or just chucking it in the freezer.  I picked another tub (about 500g) of blueberries and my Lovely Mum has been gifted a large amount of plums from her neighbour.  So there's plenty of fruit in both our freezers.  I think I'll wait until I have a more settled mature puppy who'll let me get on with it!

I saw this recipe in my frugal FB group yesterday and thought it looked good .  I've got a ton of brambles (blackberries) on my plot getting ready to ripen.  I do love a nice hot sauce. Then I wondered if this would be a good way to use up those apple cider vinegar soaked dehydrated raspberries I have lurking in the freezer.  Brambles and raspberries have a similar seedy structure so sieving the sauce at the end would take them out.  Hmm, I think that's a plan, when I have the time obviously!! 🙄🤣

Settling in

 

Don't be fooled by the sweet photo!  Someone's feisty personality is starting to show and I'm being very strict with myself to not keep giving cuddles to get her to nap.  Or to constantly play with her as she is soooo cute!  She wants to play fight with Emma all the time but she is just too old and grumpy to put up with it for long.  Cue lots of barking and growling 🙄 She's mostly using the puppy pads indoors and loves being outside already.  Yep, safe to say Luna has made herself at home.  However, the lack of continuous sleep for me and early starts is a killer! 😴

Since I'm mostly confined to the kitchen area for now I cleaned out a few cupboards.  Even though I think I'm really good at watching dates on opened stuff, there were a few things that had escaped me.  The pretty gin bottle is my homemade vanilla essence.  It will last years!

This cupboard is for my 'big' jars with things like lentils and flour.  I gave it a good clear out too.  There's something very satisfying about washing out big storage jars.  I usually write the BBE date on the jars if I've emptied a packet but again there were a few dates that had slipped through.  One was even 2021, oops! 😳

I strained out the dehydrated rasps I had put in apple cider vinegar.  Tastes blooming lovely and will go nicely on salad.  I swithered about pushing the rasps through the sieve to add to it.

In the end I just froze them and will decide what to do with them later.  Maybe make some sort of savoury sauce/jelly to serve with meat?  I'm sure Pinterest will help me out!

I've got a Sainsbury's delivery coming this afternoon.  I've just had a text to tell me it's coming between 2.26pm and 3,26pm.  Very precise.  I booked a saver slot which gave me a 4 hour window but since I'll be here any way it didn't matter.  Then I've got some food/meal prep to get on with.  The freezer is filling up nicely with home grown produce too 😊

Overgrown!!

 

This is what my plot looks like after 3 weeks of being away unexpectedly.  It's rained heavily but the temperature has been in the high teens so it's a tad wild and overgrown!!! 😱 But thanks to my lovely plot neighbours watering my polytunnel for me, my tomatoes and cucumbers have survived.  Hooray!  The cucumbers are getting a bit unruly but as I've never successfully got any to this stage before I've no idea if they need staked.  Any tips welcome!!

I picked just over a kilo of raspberries!  Some had gone over but there are still loads left to ripen.  It's a lottery getting to them before the rain makes them soggy and inedible.  When I got home I put them straight into the dehydrator.  The smell is amazing!  I've not done this before so it's a bit of an experiment to find new ways to preserve my fruit instead of jam.  I'll report back on how successful they are (or not!)

Lots of 'stuff' is flowering so all is good.  The daisies have just popped up by themselves but I'm happy to leave them.  Not sure what kind they are (they're about 40cm tall) or if they have any culinary or herbal uses.  Everything needs to have a purpose to earn their place!  Let me know if you know!

My garden is similarly wild and overgrown.  In this bed there are sweet peas, sweetcorn, squash, runner beans (I'm doing the Three Sisters method), Jerusalem artichokes and peas.  I'm going to have to sort them out somehow or none of it will be able to produce anything to eat.  

One of the things I did while I was staying at mum's house in between hospital stuff, was stitching some more of my sock yarn squares onto my blanket.  I added the bottom 2 rows so it's now 12 squares by 13 squares.  This is it laid out on a double bed.  I still need to decide how big I want it to be.  I've certainly got enough leftover sock yarn to make it double this size!!  But as it's taken me (on and off) about 10 years to get to this size, it's starting to feel like a never ending project! 🧶

Plot, preserves and yellow stickers (not mine!)

I popped down to the plot this morning and spent 4 hours digging out the last of the raspberries and the overgrown grass.  Not a great before and after picture but the top one shows the old strawberry/potato patch after I started clearing it.  Then I added 3 of the cheap B&Q raised beds.  Today I cleared the last bit with the overgrown canes.  There's room for 3 more beds.

A closer look at the top end (I took out the random post too!)

I read an article that showed you how to fill a new raised bed without buying tons of soil/compost.  Layer the bottom with cardboard.  Add a layer of dead twigs/branches chopped up (I did some of that today.)  Then add some partially broken down compost (got a ton of that on the plot!!) and finally put some compost/soil on top.  I can get the free compost from the tip!  So hopefully I can fill my raised beds without spending any money! 🤞

I cooked the beetroot from Lidl, grated it (oh my, that was messy!) and packed it into 2 very large pickling jars with hot spiced vinegar.  It tastes amazing already so I can't wait for it to properly pickle!

I also dehydrated some apples my Lovely Mum gave me from her garden.

I currently have a load of calendula in the dehydrator.  They'll be used to make some lip or skin balms.

My friend at school sent me this pic in the late afternoon.  She'd been to M&S to get her usual yellow stickers for the week ahead.  She was delighted with a bumper haul today.  My eldest son said Tesco also had a ton of reduced stuff. I guess with supermarkets being closed tomorrow they have a lot of stock to shift.   I was tempted to visit both places but I don't need anything.  It's not a saving if I don't need it!!

Long weekend

 

Brrrr!!  It was a chilly start to my long weekend, 5 degrees C here.  Very autumnal!  I was woken up by next door's builders tipping a lorry load of tarmac onto their new driveway at 7.20am.  I'm hoping the (illegal) early start means they'll be finished sooner 🙄

First thing on my agenda today is to practise the best way for cooking/keeping bacon warm using my Crockpot.  I'm in charge of making bacon butties for our morning break at school.  We only get 15 mins so I need to perfect a way of cooking it (oven first?) then keeping it warm (or cooking it?) in the crockpot so everyone can get a hot bacon roll in time.  If anyone's ever done it please leave your tips in the comments.  There's no cooker in the staffroom hence the need for cooking in advance then keeping it warm.  Lidl are currently selling these large packs of 24 rashers for £3.29 😋

Other plans for the weekend include pickling beetroot.  Sadly my own haven't grown much but I picked up several bunches in Lidl for 99p a bunch.  It'll be messy but I'll wear gloves! 😂

I've knitted a few more sock blanket squares this week so I'll be stitching them together and adding them to my blanket.  I'll try to get a decent photo of the blanket when I'm done.

I picked up a bag of tulips (30 for £4.99 in Lidl) and I'll be planting these on the allotment at some point.  The weather is to stay dry all weekend so I'm hoping to get a good tidy up session done.  Might even have some things to harvest!

But the biggest job this weekend will be to clear my craft room of all the 'stuff' that came out of the upstairs bedroom!  And that's just 1 room.  The family room next to it is equally full!!  But I'll settle for at least 1 clear room by Monday night! 

Because jam is cheaper than honey

 

I normally have overnight oats for breakfast in the warmer months.  Typically I'll put in oats, soya milk or yoghurt if I have it, flaxseeds or chia seeds and a generous spoonful of honey.  Then add any fruits and nuts if I have them.  I prefer to use honey from small independent bee keepers rather than the blended factory produced stuff but it's expensive.  And rightly so!  Since I'd just finished a jar I put in a spoonful of my home made blackcurrant jam instead.  Oh my, it's delicious!! 😋

Jam is cheaper than honey plus I know exactly what's in it since I made it!  And I have loads in my storecupboard!!  Now I can use my precious local honey to make some fire cider and elderberry syrup like I did last year HERE and get ahead with my Winter preps.

Day 37: Jam, flowers and July Spending

 

I made more jam this week,  strawberry and blueberry.  I found some blueberries in the freezer from last year (I really must get a better system in place!!) and the strawberries were a Lidl bargain (at least they were local Scottish ones!)  They looked fab in the pan and smelled amazing!  

I'm definitely not an expert when it comes to jam but I have made a fair few jars in my time.  And I don't always get it right!  Look at this year's efforts as an example.  The strawberry/blueberry is in the middle (too runny), the blackcurrant is on the right (too thick) and the raspberry is on the left (perfect!) 😋 They all taste amazing despite their differing consistencies.  I could re do the ones that aren't quite right but that would be too much of a faff.  The runny one I can drizzle on pancakes/waffles and the thick blackcurrant one I could just spread on hot toast or use to make a hot soothing drink.  It's all good!

We finally tracked down an Old John rose 💖 They're difficult to buy!  My Lovely Mum bought one for me, my sister and one for herself.

It's a really vivid orangey pink colour 😊  I just need to decide where to plant it now.

I've also discovered another medicinal plant growing in my garden, a gorgeous yellow self seeded goldenrod.  It's another plant I can dry and use in a tea.  Like sage, it's also good for sore throats and colds (occupational hazard!!) so I'm thrilled at the discovery!  It's a perennial and spreads easily so I'll try to keep on top of it.  I'm loving the colour contrast with the Red Hot Poker crocosmia in front!

It's also the last day of July.  Sometimes I remember that this day was the day I got married and sometimes I don't.  It was a FB memory comment that reminded me this morning.  Really doesn't make me think anything other than 'Oh yeah I remember that day' now 😊

So, on to the end of the month totals with some of my more 'unusual' buys 😆

• I spent £25 on some kombucha equipment (large Kilner jar and water filter jug)
• I spent £60 on 3 raised beds for the allotment
• I spent £66.44 on fuel for the car, first time since April
• I spent £29.55 on jam equipment (lids, labels and jars)
• I spent just under £60 on storage boxes for my new craft room
• I also had to pay for my annual car tax £155 but that was already budgeted for back in January

Once all my usual costs and monthly bills were paid I've saved £871.88 this month.  That brings my savings up to £7335.39 😲  I'm really pleased with that, definitely still on target!

I go back to work in 2 weeks!  As always the Summer holidays fly by but I feel I've achieved a lot already.