The stall, broodies and harvest in full swing

Hello Dear Frugellers
I'm just about standing up, tho' I could keel over at any moment from exhaustion!
The gardens are giving of their bounty thick and fast and I couldn't ever waste the produce, so I'm pickling and jamming and wining and drying and freezing like crazy. The buckets in the kitchen don't seem to get any less, while the space in the freezers is shrinking and we took Shaun the Bully to the (unmentionable) yesterday. I will collect him on Wednesday and sort him out into joints that suit our family and freeze them . "When will he be ready?" I asked. "At the weekend"  he replied. Ah! bit of a problem there as we are at a wedding in Cornwall this weekend ! " Can you make it earlier.. like Wednesday as we are off on Thursday?" He then remembered that he doesn't have to joint it for me , as with all the other stuff he does, so it will be okay to pick up on Wednesday Phew!!
 The stall was sort of so-so on Saturday. There were not many people there to buy really. However, we did as well as most and better than some. We cleared £55, which wasn't a fortune, but not to be sniffed at either. The other smallholders were very friendly and helpful and we would probably do it again sometime. While we were there YGD put some punnets of damsons outside the shop she works in on Saturday and made £20 !! I have taken a (poor) photo of J at the stall, which I'm struggling to load. We used the lovely old laundry basket that she bought me for Christmas to but the beans in and placed a vase of Bishop of Llandaff Dahlias on the table. They looked really nice and I could have sold several bunches of the flowers!
 A neighbour just popped round to ask about chutney. She has just made some chutney, in the usual way ( I checked out her ingredients and it was a perfectly normal recipe and method). She had made it as presents for Christmas and then read that the chutney keeps in the fridge for a month! After discussion, we agreed that the chutney should not even be started for another month at least and that it would keep for years if left unopened. When opened it should keep for considerably longer than a month, well mine does anyway. So what that was all about I don't know.
 Committee meeting last night at ours for the Civic Society. Took me some time to make room for them, what with all the buckets and baskets, as we always meet around our kitchen table. The next few weeks will be busy with walks and an exhibition we are holding on the industrial history of our area. The week before that we are holding a dedication evening for the re-siting of a small war memorial that was in the empty and up-for-sale little church. We have rescued it and it will soon sit in the village hall. So we are trying to trace relatives of those mentioned on the memorial that fell in World War I and II. As the secretary I get to do all the letter writing and reports for the papers etc. As my mother used to say "If you want something doing, ask a busy woman"
 J. and I dug up the potatoes yesterday as I saw the early signs of the dreaded blight on the outdoor tomatoes. from one pound of Pink Fir Apple seed potatoes we have 44.5lbs of potatoes and from 2lbs  Sarpo Miras seed we got 98lb. They wont last us the whole of the winter, but will go a long way towards it.
The tomatoes in the greenhouse, which went in late and have been very tardy this year are finally giving out the little red beauties. Hurrah! Don't you just love home grown tomatoes?!
 Bubble and squeak with cold lamb, beans and mixed veg for dinner last night, with heated up rhubarb crumble.
A broody with two eggs bought off a chick on sunday, I put her in a broody cage with said chick and egg so that she could have some peace.. Yesterday I found an empty shell and no second chick. The whole cage was in disarray and I finally found one expired cold chick under a pile of wood shavings. I took it into the house gently blew into its little beak and put the hair dryer on it. I turned on the incubator and we did finally manage to bring it round even though it looked dead (moral;-Never give up). A couple of hours later when it was cheeping its head off we sneaked it under mother while distracting her with a crushed apple and some chickweed. We didn't see it again and hoped that she wouldn't crush or murder it. This morning the two chicks are sat under mummy's chest cheeping away. Don't you just love a happy ending?
We have never had chicks born so late and we still have one more broody sitting.
Off to start some more jam.
Take care Frugellers
Gillx