Tuesday 18 February 2014

Derby Doris

Hello

Welcome  to Vada Wetzel, Sandy Humphreys, Lesley Jourden and Lucy on  Blog Lovin. Glad to have you on board.

I told myself that this year I would do a daily blog and use it more like a diary. As you know, I haven't done any such thing, rather it's usually 3 or 4 days between blogs. I suppose that's enough anyway, considering the rubbish I come out with. I was discussing my posts with YD and she agrees that it is better to do one interesting post every few days, rather than do one each day, with many of them starting "Nothing to write about today" I read enough of those without adding to them! So what you get from me is a longish post that has a heading that doesn't always reflect the content of the post, as it is littered with other random issues!

On Sunday D's Nephew- I'll call him Horace ( you'll know why in a minute) Popped in for a cup of coffee with his wife, whom he calls Doris - NOT her real name! and his mother in law and brother in law. Horace and Doris were married  a couple of years ago and are rubbing along quite nicely.
They are planning on getting chickens for their back garden. They have decided on three, which should be just right. "Have you got an idiot's guide to keeping chickens?" ( clearly for Horace we joked) I found a small book on backyard chicken keeping that I bought from a CS years ago and also lent them my John Seymour, which is not really the best book for backyard keeping of anything, but a jolly good read and hopefully will make them think of a bigger picture re. food production.
Doris is one of my Facebook friends. A couple of weeks ago she put up on Facebook "What does porridge taste like?" D. thought she was joking (she wasn't!) Several FB friends answered with ideas and then someone mentioned Heston's snail porridge. "Who is Heston?" Doris wanted to know! I need to state here that Doris is a bright, intelligent girl, but you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise!
I was showing them my blog and D. says You'll have to put this on your blog and as she comes from Derby, you'll have to call her Derby Doris - so Derby Doris it is then.
The reason I have called D's nephew Horace is because I had an aunt and uncle called Horace and Doris (long dead) and thought they sounded like a couple of mice!!

Anyone who knows me will realise how fond I am of this couple if I lent them my John Seymour . With all it's faults, it is still one of my favourite books and will be in my top ten books that SimpleSuffolkSmallholder was posting about a few days ago.  I have nearly assembled my list (in the manner of desert island discs for books) to share. Gosh, it is so difficult to choose. Do you think that there should be some basic books that are a given as well as the ten of choice? say a faith book like the Bible or the Koran , and The Lord of the Rings and the complete works of William Shakespeare

Now of things vegetable -
  Jerusalem Artichokes -I see in the recent post by Leigh at 5 Acres and a Dream that she is fermenting her jerusalem artichokes. Now while I have many many jeruslaem artichokes and am always looking for recipes for them.. I have always been cautious about fermenting, as in sauerkraut, as I understand that if the process is not followed correctly, there is a risk of spoilage at best and contamination, that could lead to illness at worst.  What are other people's thoughts on this? Has anyone tried making Sauerkraut?
Shallots - Because I grew last year's shallots from my own "seed"  I have bought fresh seed to grow from this year. This has meant that I have quite a few shallots left. If I do not use these soon they will either sprout or dry out, so I will need to process them . I have decided that I will do a couple more jars of pickled onions, some onions a la greque and some to freeze ready for casseroles.
Carrots - Yesterday I bought a bag of carrots (approx.20kg) for £1.50. I have put half aside for the rabbits. Of the remaining half  My friend C. and I have peeled several pounds today, some were cubed and open frozen for stews and some grated for the Carrot cakes I intend making tomorrow. I gave a bag to C. to take home with her and gave a bag to YD for her dog, who loves carrots as a treat.
Onions - There are about 4kgs of onions left in a basket from last years crop. They are starting to go a bit soft now. I will peel and slice this and put them in the freezer. It is always useful to have prepared veg to dip into isn't it?
Gosh what an exciting life I live!

Today, though it wasn't too bright, it was warmer than usual. Bees were seen flying from all 6 hives ! It was lovely to see them. So far so good.

YGD has just arrived to stay the night (it is half term) So we are in for a spot of cooking /drawing/ crafting/ scrabbling and rabbit cuddling. I'm looking forward to that!
All for now
Back soonish
Gill



17 comments:

  1. I laughed reading this, your fondness for Horace and Doris does shine through. I hope we hear more about them and their adventures with their new chickens

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    1. I shall be updating re. their progress, as people seem interested.
      Gill

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  2. Horace and Doris are probably names that have NOT come around to being used again! A child in the village is called Wilfred - poor little fella.

    We used to buy a sack of stockfeed carrots when we had goats and would share them - bargain. Bit too many to eat now - Miss my goats! Someone in the Smallholders Society had one for sale £180!!! and it was a Boer/ diary cross so not really that good for milking. I can buy quite a lot of milk for £180.

    What effect would fermented Jerusalem Fartichokes have on a simple Suffolk stomach? I'm not intending to find out!

    Our neighbour has lost her last 2 hives over winter and is giving up. No more swapping honey for eggs - sad.
    See. Your blog is interesting, lots to chat about.

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    1. And I forgot to say that my book list was rather more than 10 books- no chance of sticking at 10, I was thinking of how many to squeeze into a bag - a LARGE bag!

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    2. Did you see that Simon Cowell has named his son Eric!
      £180 for a goat that is neither fish nor fowl! Don't see the point of that.
      re, the Artichokes ....coward!!
      We are still not out of the woods yet with the bees, but hopeul. It's devastating when the bees are lost. We lost all ours about 5 years ago and had to start again. I can understand your friend giving up it is ery disheartening.
      Re. the books.I shall have a go at 10, with the extra "given" books too to start with and when I give up I will look at using a bag... what soze is yours?
      Gill

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  3. Delighted to be following you and I agree totally that it is better to have something you want to say rather than feeling the need to presence daily.

    I have absolutely no experience of such a surfeit of produce, the freezer space or the culinary skills for that matter. And cats are notoriously picky eaters so I cannot imagine I'd shift a single carrot, much less your mind-blowingly cheap bargain bag. I will however be interested to know the eventual outcome.

    Poor Doris, I do hope you told her porridge should always be served with sugar and preferably avoiding the snail version, for breakfast at least. Looking forward to hearing how she gets on with the chickens.

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    1. My cat is picky too and certainly wouldn't eat carrots.
      It's not too difficult to get rid of stuff when you share. If I didn't do that I would struggle to use them all.
      When Doris brings the book back ( which I am told she is really enjoying) we are going to make her some porridge, instead of offering her cake!
      Gill

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  4. Hi there,
    I wonder if you'd be so kind as to contact me on my e-mail address? There's something i wish to discuss with you after reading the current blog post, and couldn't find an email address for you on your 'about me' page. I don't want to publicly discuss it on here! Nothing to worry about, just something i need to confirm or dismiss sort of thing. Mysterious lol!

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    1. frugalinderbyshire@gmail.com is my google email. You are more than welcome to email me. I cannot find an email address for you!
      Gill

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  5. Thanks for noticing me following.I am a grandmother in Dublin Texas,USA..Small world on the internet,I live with my husband and we are attempting to save for emergencies while eating healthfully.Our pension needs to stretch quite far so I have tried to find blogs for frugal living or at least eating at the lowest cost while keeping quality.It's fun to read about your life in another part of the world but still we are all about our families the world over!

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    1. Nice of you to comment Vadam.
      We are on a pension now, but do supplement it with bits and bobs. However, we may not be able to always do that, so we too are saving for emergencies.
      Family are so important to us too.
      How's the weather in Texas?
      Gill

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  6. Last spring when I went to buy my usual Red Baron onion sets, they were sold out; I'd left it too late. Instead I sowed a yellow skinned variety that are holding-up perfectly. I still have a few kilos and they are all perfectly firm and un-sprouted. I have already bought my Red Baron sets for this year.

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    1. Are those yellow onions medium sozed, instead o large? I think that is why ours are not keeping too well, as they were quite large onions.
      I grow red baron too. ..so useful!
      Gill

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    2. They are medium sized, flattish, and very tear-inducing. They also have a wonderful flavour. I should have made a note of their name; silly me!

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  7. I laughed out loud at Horace and Doris - what bit of alliteration there! I am sorry Redsetter but in our house, porridge gets eaten with golden syrup if we are feeling decadent and fruit if we are trying to be healthy! xxx

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    1. We are going to give some porridge to Doris when she comes next and show her the different ways to have it. That way we can see which she prefers..i any!
      Gill

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  8. Fermenting is quite simple really as long as you follow insructions, keep everything clean and keep the food submerged under the fermenting liquid it is quite straight forward. I have done saurkraut, fermented beetroot and fermented mixed veggies. I make kefir too which is a fermented drink. Give it a try!
    My mum's name is Doris, when my brother was little and learning to write he kept doing the letters backwards and wrote a story at school starting with "my mum is called boris" it sort of stuck from then on as a family joke, lol :)

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