Tuesday 9 April 2013

Challenge, lambs, fishing and planting

Hello Again .. remember me ?!
Back from Cornwall and into the swing of things here on the smallholding.
Better do a quick update on the Challenge. I realise that the last update was last friday , but that I hadn't itemised the meals from the monday before, so I will bring you up to this LAST WEEK of the challenge.
Last Tuesday - beans on toast for lunch ( no Breakfast - not hungry) Potato wedges, roast carrot and onion with strips of bacon ( Frozen bacon steak) for evening meal
Tuesday - porridge;  egg cob; lentil burgers and rice for evening meal.
Wednesday - porridge; egg cob ( I mash the egg with salad cream, which is tasty and negates the need for butter)  cheese and onion pancakes with pasta, with shredded ransoms from the river bank.
Thursday - porridge, lentil soup (from new batch made yesterday) Out for a meal at a friends , but would have had the last portion of sausage and bacon casserole.
Friday - porridge; egg sandwiches for the journey to Cornwall; evening meal provided by our friend in Cornwall  ( would have had the remainder of wednesday's pasta, with the last of the cheese grated on top)
Saturday - meals with friends all day. Will adapt the supplies at end of challenge to cover for this. While in Corwall bought a nice green cabbage, some potatoes, a couple of carrots and 2 large onions. = £1.50- this will need to be added to the cost of an extra 6 eggs and a half bag of sugar at the end of the Challenge..
Sunday - porridge; toast; sausage and mash with cabbage.
Monday porridge; lentil soup; bubble and squeak and an egg.
Today - no breakfast, not hungry; it will be beans on toast for lunch (along with our friends who will be here and have either cheesy beans or egg) and tonight I have savoury rice ( rice, a little onion, ransoms, finely shredded cabbage) and the last 2 sausages.
PHEW !! thank goodness that's up to date! On count down to the end now.

The Lambs have started to improve and have finished their injections. They are still under heat as it remains bitterly cold here. YD and I had them out in the field on sunday as there was some sun, but they are now back in the barn. I took some pics of them in the field surrounded by chickens, but didn't realise that the lens was smeared, so they look as though we have them out in the fog!

Similarly I took pictures of the fish catch and what I did with it, so have no pictures of that either! Sorry about this as a picture is so much more attractive than my burblings!. In brief, D's catch wasn't as large as  his last catch, but useful non the less. he bought back two ling, weighing 5lb and 5.5lb and a 2lb pollack. From this catch I made two generous fillets of pollack, which I have frozen skinned and ready to poach or fry. From the ling I made 30 breaded cougons and 6 large fishcakes - cooked the scrappy ends in milk in the microwave and added to mashed potato left over from YD's meal the night before. There was even a little fresh parsley in the garden for these. As usual all the heads, skins etc were cooked in a little water and given to the chickens for a treat.

It is still a little cold to sew or plant much outside , so I continue to plant in trays and containers. Over the last couple of days I have sown peas in short lengths of guttering. ( I seal the ends of the guttering with gaffer tape) In trays I have sown  cabbage, broccolli, celery, more broad beans, celeriac and  more parsnips. Yesterday I pricked out the maincrop onion seed into larger pots and some early tomato seedlings. I sowed more tomatoes under heat. I stagger the growing of the tomatoes to ensure a longer cropping season. we grow a lot of different tomatoes in our main (34 foot) greenhouse, trying one new type each year.
Yesterday D. progressed with the new chicken run, which meant that I was the labourer, which means sand, gravel and cement measurer and mixer ( he knows how to treat a woman!) We are racing to get it finished before planting as the Buffs need to be housed separate to the others (because of a breeding programme) who are in the orchard, and away from the veg plots.
I have done little sewing over the last few days and unlikely to be doing any either by the look of things. The shared lives guys and our friends will be here for the day soon, then we have a civic society committee meeting early evening, before meeting  friends at the pub later.
So off the get lunch ready and make up some more bottle for the lambs. Sorry about the Pics and hope all this wordage hasn't been too boring.
Welcome Katra
Thanks for reading. Keep warm
Gill




1 comment:

  1. I wish I had a youngest like yours. She sounds amazing!!

    ReplyDelete