Hello All
An especial Hello to Janice over on my followers bar, nice to see you here. Drop us a comment to tell us about yourself. There is also a new follower on Blog lovin , but I have struggled to work out who it is.. sorry ...you are most welcome.
We have been socialising a little more than usual away from the smallholding over the last two days. Yesterday we attended the funeral of one of the men from the village. This guy would sit outside his house all day in the good weather, passing the time of day with all who passed. he was the village newscaster, exchanging information with everyone. D. reckons we will know little of the coming and goings of villagers now that he has gone. After the service we were invited back to the village hall for what would have been called a "Good Ham Tea" in my younger days. Many of the villagers were there and it was good to catch up with them.
Today we returned the trailer we had borrowed from a friend in Derby. We were within half a mile of some dear friends who we do not see often enough. So after a gossip about the state of farming, we called on M and D. Deteriorating health has meant that they can no longer drive and as they live on a rather isolated smallholding the opportunities to see them must be made by us. It was lovely to see them again and we are determined that we will ensure we call again soon. I'm afraid we do rather cut ourselves off from people as we always have so much to do and rarely look for something to do or somewhere to go, which makes us rather anti-social, unless folk visit us, we need to make more of an effort.
After visiting M and D we called at ED 's house to drop off some post that she had had delivered to our house. While we saw our granddaughter and son in law we missed ED who was later returning home and we needed to get back to lock up the hens. I need to contact her tomorrow to firm up plans for Sunday when she is taking YGD, her other grandma and myself to watch "Strictly Come Dancing - the Show" at the NEC in Birmingham This is another Christmas present. haven't I been spoilt?!
Needed to go shopping today. I only spent 50p last week - on a plain yoghurt. At Lidl I bought milk, butter, brown sliced and white sliced loaf, a tin of tomatoes, a tin of sweet corn, cat food and two bottles of cheap lemonade for D. This shop totalled £5.80.- Ooooh last of the big spenders!
We are still eating out of the freezer. Last night we had the last of the Christmas roast pork and stuffing with mashed potatoes, carrots and brussels. Tonight we had the last of Sunday's curry, as I had no naans I used oatcakes that were in the freezer, and very nice they were too. Tomorrow we will have fish - pollack from last years fishing trips - with fried potatoes and peas. For lunch tomorrow, when we have friends and the shared lives guys, I have made a chicken and vegetable soup and will rustle up some bread rolls in the morning.
In the afternoon I shall fetch the two lambs back from the butchers. After D. has helped me to cut the carcasses in two I can manage on my own and my friend will weigh and wrap and label the joints as I do them.
I am typing this blog while in "my" room. This room is always warm as I share it with Percy, the parrot. The warmth of this room makes it perfect for the newly made wine. As I sit here I am almost deafened by the plop, plop, plop from the air locks of 9 gallons of wine. There is also a fairly strong smell of alcohol in the room and I won't be at all surprised if Percy starts to sing "Nellie Dean" with slurred voice sometime soon!
On Sunday we extracted 30lb of honey from the few frames we got from the bees last year. We are really pleased with this as we had so many swarms. We will sell half of this crop and keep the rest for ourselves and family.
Still in the garden - Brussels, Swede, Kale, Perpetual Spinach, Beetroot and Jerusalem Artichokes.
Today for the third day running we had 8 eggs. Hurrah! they are starting to get back into lay.
Yesterday, after a tutorial from Dreamer, I deleted a closed blog that had been taken over by someone (don't know who).. Today I am disturbed to find that the blog has appeared in my side bar again, even though it is no longer in my blog list... what is going on here I wonder?
All for now dear blogging friends
Gillx
You certainly like to cram a lot into. Few days, I feel exhausted just reading your post :-) its great that you are eating home produced foods and I can see lots of lovely lamb dishes appearing on your future menu plans. I think lamb is my favourite meat, so tasty. Hope Percy doesnt fall off his perch drunk, he might start saying plop plop plop!
ReplyDeleteTake care x
D. did say that he wondered if it was good for Percy to be in such an atmosphere. Like many people we don't heat the whole house, so this room is the only one that the wine (and often rising bread) and a parrot can be sure of a constant warm temperature.So there really isn't an alternative. I hope Percy doesn't develop a drink problem... " Hello, my name is Percy and I'm an alcoholic"
DeleteI echo Karen, I thought I had a busy life but you certainly manage to cram a lot in!
ReplyDeleteThe thought of a drunk parrot is quite funny!
Bridget, you home school and have five children !!! I suspect you are busier than I !!
DeleteLooking at Percy as I type, he has his eyes closed.. Is he asleep or in an alcoholic stupor?!
Do you remember when you sowed/planted the Perpetual Spinach that you are eating now? I need more winter greens.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth reminding ourselves that anything on the net (including blogs) that doesn't look right, should never be opened. There are IDIOTS out there!
My planting diary tells me that I planted the Perpetual spinach directly into the ground on the 13th May at the same time as the beetroot. It is important that you keep picking it and if you have free range chickens, that you net it, as they love it!
DeleteDon't know if you use kale, but the black tuscan kale that I am still picking was sown into a tray the week before (9th) and planted out in June, and yet again, needs picking from the base to keep it cropping.
I can't understand some folk in blogland and I guess some are idiots or crooks!!
Thanks. Yes I have the same Kale (cavolo nero). It's almost our only green veg now, although I do still have sprouts, chard, and PSB to come.
DeleteHi Gill,
ReplyDeleteI left you another comment on the last post about the side bar :)
Envying you the bees, I would love a hive at some point in the future. That's a great crop of honey you managed to get x
Thanks, just found it an it is now sorted.! I'm not too good at this am I?
DeleteHope you get your bees, they are fascinating.
Again , many thanks for your help.
Gillx
You sound to be eating jolly good, healthy food down there in Derbyshire. You are lucky to be getting eggs again - up here in North Yorkshire we haven't seen a single one yet but for the first time last night it was quite obvious that the days are getting longer, so I live in hopes.
ReplyDeleteAfter bragging about the 8 eggs yesterday there were only 4 today. However, like you, we are hopeful that the days are lengthening and that the egg signs will be out again soon and the hens paying their way.
ReplyDelete