Monday 31 August 2015

Those old Christmas trees

Back in the late 1950s I remember my parents putting a Christmas tree in the garden, intending to dig it up the next year. Did they ever? No, my elderly mother finally had it removed in the early 2000s.  Now it was our turn. In the corner of the garden  (moved here a year ago) was another one!!  Wonder how many more there are in UK?

This weekend with the help of our youngest son it was toppled. Being a shared drive we had to be careful but typically someone turned up next door just at the wrong moment. Some small logs for fire in about 2 years time resulted and the bonfire grew even bigger. Cant have one till the corn next door is harvested but it is now raining heavily today so goodness knows when.

Thursday 27 August 2015

Update on SMART Meter and tin can art

I have written on my blog previously about our efforts to cut electricity bills. We have followed the advice in the Daily Telegraph in the last two months and have turned off our cooker, small Freeview TV and the BT internet hub when not in use.  This, plus careful monitoring of other use via the Smart meter, we have established that in the summer at least we can use less than £1 a day. We have changed to a monthly bill and in July and August periods (not quite calendar dates as the company can,t do that for some reason) we managed to be just under £33 for each month. Winter use is going to be different question!

I experimented further with the use of aluminum drink cans and used a flattened strip to make this butterfly. The pattern came from a quilting/embroidery site on the web.  The pattern scored on back mostly, with a few on the silver(inner) side, were made  with a flat head screwdriver.  It is attached to the conservatory frame with a bit of blu tack.

Another large bowl of tomatoes today from the poly tunnel, the greenhouse and outside. Added some to a lamb stew with some mini courgettes tonight! We have visitor this weekend so I will make a minestrone soup and spaghetti bolanaise from scratch which would have used a total of 3 tins/cartons of tomatoes if I had to buy them in.
Planted some lettuce seedlings in the polytunnel to take us well into the autumn; the previous sowings have not formed heads and I suspect it was too hot for them.


Wednesday 26 August 2015

Recycling cans

I have been experimenting with aluminum cans (cider, on a hot day there is nothing better) and looking at tin can art.  I also wanted to use the cans to make something to frighten pigeons in the veg garden.  I used carrier bags tied to sticks that rattled in a high wind but these bleached out in a few weeks and quickly disintegrated, besides looking a bit tatty. I cut some tin cans open and tied them as curling sheets to string and on to bamboo poles. These rattled nicely in a light breeze and flashed in the sun but quickly cut the string and flew off.

So I am experimenting with a tin can spinning flower cut from half a cider can. Inspired by some of the pictures on Pinterest search. Here is my first try.
I found that I could cut the slightly rounded triangles for the petals using a pair of scissors, which was easier than a box cutter knife.  The petals are just bent out, wearing gloves, and a hole punched in the end for a screw to attach flower to a stick.  I think to have a freely spinning flower I think it needs a central tube over the screw - a drinking straw perhaps?
On the web I saw a few ideas for making these flowers into wall art - painting the petals with acrylics, or pressing a pattern in relief into the metal. I tried the latter with an old screwdriver on a spare bit  and that worked quite well.
Really good people make jewelry and intricate models using these cans - I can see that would take some skill. To get to that stage I will need a lot of practice, far more than our annual summer consumption of cider (24 at most).  I may have to turn into a Womble and start collecting cans along the road.  There are plenty abandoned between here and the village.

I had a look on You tube and saw some other ideas and techniques.  Some people are so clever!

An alternative use of squashed cans I saw this week. Have you ever heard of the chap doing FREE ART FRIDAYs in Southsea. Google it - a very talents artist using found squashed cans!


Tuesday 25 August 2015

Tomato soup

My bad back meant no gardening today so I decided to try again with the soup.  I managed to stand for half an hour to chop up 3 lbs of fresh tomatoes then I needed to sit down for a while. I looked up some recipes on line and got some ideas.

Slow stroll to the veg patch to get some celery to add to the veg I harvested yesterday and back in the kitchen I had bread rising, beetroot boiling and started chopping again.

Into the pot went some chopped celery, an onion, garlic and a chopped carrot and a diced potato to soften in some olive oil. Added 2 lbs of chopped tomatoes and three pints of stock.  I used 2 Knorr stock pots - expensive but good quality and you don't need to add an extra salt or other herbs. Brought to boil and simmered. Added a good squeeze of tomato puree to add colour and taste. Gave it a good 20 mins and then left covered to cool. Nearer lunchtime I went back to hit it with the stick blender and then reheated for lunch.  I had mine with some reheated cheese straws as the bread was still proving. It was much better than before which I put down to using riper and more tomatoes and better stock, I think the potato added some body too.  Rest in fridge and will be lunch for next few days.

Sorry no pictures!

Half way through the cooking one side of my back clicked and felt much better. Unfortunately the right side is still painful.  Anything I dropped had to stay on the floor till the husband came in and bent down for me.

Rest of tomatoes went into a sauce for a diced chicken breast more or less the same recipe but with just a covering of water and I added a fresh green chili. I could really taste that so perhaps will use half of one next dish!  The bush in the poly tunnel has a good crop of chili;s and I am waiting for them to go red and will then air dry them.

Spending the evening propped on cushions with my laptop trying to find a comfortable position.




Monday 24 August 2015

Harvests

We have had a few rainy afternoons so the garden is generally looking green and bountiful. The sweet peas  and the garden peas are finishing but the perennials and sweetcorn are flourishing. Like everyone we have runner beans piling up and a steady supply of sweetcorn.
 Not all the cobs are full due to some lack of pollination. The courgettes have eased off and I am on top of this now and picking just two or three a day at the very small stage.  Butternut squashes are filling out for later in September.  Lots more tomatoes to come but this was today's pick!
Diced 3 lbs up and created a space in the freezer by pulling out a tub of rhubarb for puddings. Tomato dishes are forefront on the menu this week.  I need to find a more tasty recipe for tomato soup as the last lot was a little bland. I tried to add cayenne pepper later but overdid it. Yuk.





Thursday 20 August 2015

Bad back

I am not saying my lovely grand daughter is fat, but she is solidly built for 14 months at 25 lbs and not quite walking, so now I have a really painful pain in the back muscles.  After 4 days they left to go home and then on to the west Country with their other grand parents - good luck guys and keep working on the walking or you will be joining me laying on the floor!

Spent a couple of days on tourist trail in Norfolk. Brancaster Beach and Burnham Windmill; Gooderstone gardens and Castle Acre castle.


Nice water gardens and wild fen area. £6 entry fee, nice tea shop

Deepest moat in England at Castle Acre. Free!

At least with visitors we got on top of most of the excess of veg, especially the baby who manged big lumps of cucumber to sooth her emerging molars. They have gone now and I am back to gardening and somehow the kitchen is full of veg again!  We are still gathering a few raspberries and strawberries to enhance light puddings and today we tried the few plums from the fruit trees we planted last autumn.  Very nice, we are looking forward to a bigger crop next year.

Even though we have had a few rainy days this last week we cannot say that the ground is really wet.  We have managed to join hoses together to get all over the veg garden and now we have invested in another 35 feet to water the fruit trees.  Will save a lot of time with cans and buckets until the autumn rains really set in (oh dear, hope I am not wishing the summer away).


Thursday 13 August 2015

Invention at last

For over a year I have been tripping over an extension lead and a covering mat across a doorway as the only wall space for the fridge did not have a plug. The mess of extension leads  snaked up a cabinet front blocking a door and I broke a good pudding basin fighting the clutter. The mat was disintegrating and I was fed up and considering giving the electrician the terrible sum of money he wanted to install a plug on that wall.

Then this morning with nothing much on my mind except to somehow make the house toddler proof for this weekends visitors I had a moment of clarity. Why had no one put the wire over the doorway?
Fetched the chair, some gaffer tape to hold things in place, and a selection of extension leads I worked it out in 10 mins and used two small pictures to mask a bit of the wire on its way to the socket over the other side!!
My husband says there are some cable clips in the shed somewhere so the black gaffer tape can be replaced. Honestly, I know we have a lot to do in the last year, but why do somethings never occur to you easily??  And better, ha ha, Mr Electrician I am keeping the couple of hundred of pounds you wanted - the gaffer tape only cost £3.50!
And I can now get into the cupboard. So I am (slightly) happier with the kitchen and can wait a few more months until the husband can start the refit he has promised.



Wednesday 12 August 2015

Harvest all around us and local butchers

The crops in the fields around the house and village are starting to be harvested. On the way to suss out a local butcher in the next village that was recommended we noticed a couple of fields had been scalped by combine harvesters. Later as the sun set a harvester appeared across the road from the house. These fields are fairly small and we gather are small plots owned by a variety of local people like workers in the general farming industry who have inherited some land and grow a few crops themselves. Hence they are often ploughed, sprayed or harvested at the end of the day.  Behind the house are very big fields which are "industrial scale" farming. This year it is corn instead of potatoes and our neighbours tell us when the big harvest begins it will be very, very dusty.  In the distance is a field of potatoes which were recently sprayed, this is usually to kill off the tops before they are harvested. We will expect a lot of lorries when they get going as it is amazing the tonnage from these large fields.  Meanwhile we passed several trailers heaped with gladioli in bud - bound for a supermarket near you in the next few days!

the butchers turned out to be a great find, well priced, very fresh and a line in home made pies! Spent £35 for 1kg+ chicken breasts, 1 kg very good streaky bacon, 1 kg diced pork, I kg lamb mince, 6 thick slices of ham, 6 fresh sausages, 1 large pork pie. Which should last over the weekend and feed us and our guests. I squeezed some into the freezer, not a lot of room and those wretched broad beans are taking up all the space.  I am not sure when I will have room for any ice cream!




Monday 10 August 2015

Frugal repairs

We brought a patio set years ago (5 house moves back) to show off an area of the garden while we were selling a house with a particularly nice garden and while its never been a favourite item it has been useful. This summer may be the end of its life though.  Over the last couple of weeks we found two of the chairs had become "un-stitched" so you were practically sitting on the floor!
Can't afford a new patio set so after some thought I started to experiment with repairs. I tried treading a needle with thin string (craft string for beading) but that would not go through the net like material, Looking at the other side the stitching looked like strong thread  back stitched.  I found some black thread, slightly thicker than normal, and found it went through the net fabric easily if you could get the little holes in both layers lined up.  Finding a technique to do the stitching was a bit difficult as I needed to find a way hold the chair at the right angle while I lined the net holes up . My first chair repair is a bit untidy but seems to be holding (visitors under 12 stone only will be offered this chair as I have tested it to that weight!).

Got an idea for the second chair - I need to get the chair up on a table with the light coming through and I need to draw a chalk line to keep the stitching straight.
They should do us for the rest of the summer at least, While I was struggling I did wonder if I could get some deckchair canvas and replace all the fabric bits in the future? May cost about £40 in fabric. A similar patio set replacement would be around £100 and an upgrade to something fancy £200 plus!

Something else to go on the ever stretching wish list!

I wonder what's on most peoples, "if I had the money wish list"?


Saturday 8 August 2015

Birds and butterflies

Our hedge sparrows are behaving a little crazy at present. Rushing around and flocking on the lawn.  We think they are after the ants which seem to be everywhere at the moment.  They are also taking chunks of sunflower heads and are in and out of the antirrhinum bed collecting the fallen seeds. Unfortunately I choose yesterday afternoon to clean the front windows and move a pot plant put of the window area while I re-organised some bookcases. Our lounge is double aspect with front and back windows in direct line - and the (mad) birds often think they can fly from the front bushes to the back bushes.  Obviously the windows were super clean and sparkling and at coffee time there was a loud bang. We found this ghostly imprint on the glass - but could not find any damaged birds.




The other remarkable bird event is a visit to our peanut feeder was a lesser spotted woodpecker.  Apparently quite rare these days. Only ever seen one other woodpecker (green) in about 1985!










Not my picture - was not quick enough!



I have been keeping an eye out for butterflies this week, meaning to do the on line butterfly survey.  Unlike last year when we had loads of peacock butterflies on the buddelia this year we have only seen the odd one or two, a few red admirals and rather too many cabbage whites! This morning while looking at the trees we are trying to develop at the end of our field into a wild area I spotted a pretty blue butterfly.  A common blue (male). apparently from this web picture.
Image ID BB1874 - Common Blue - © Steven Cheshire

Its so hot that we feel slow and tired.  Garden continues to give us more than enough fruit and veg daily.  Not getting a flush of runner beans or tomatoes at present.  Carrots are good and I am harvesting as needed,  The chilli plant has hundreds on it and I am going to leave most of them to go red and then dry them.  Lots of green peppers to come.  The inca berry bushes are big and seem full of fruit which will be ready later on.  No sweetcorn yet - not quite ripe!


Tuesday 4 August 2015

A nice day out

My husband has been selling some unwanted extras that came with our car - a dog guard and a rear step which had to come off when we had a tow bar fitted. On the profits we had a nice day out on The Broads.  We visited our boat at Potters Heighnam to bail out the rain but we have to sort the engine out before we can take her out. So we went on to Hinkling Broad to have lunch at the pub and explore the straithe. There was quite a wind by then so we were glad not to be sailing out on the Broad itself and contented our selves with a walk round the boat yards and the village mooring area.

The yards and moorings have several old boat houses some of which were thatched plus a bewildering set of cuts and dykes for moored boats. Chatted to someone repairing his dingy and to one of the boatyard owners but for a summer holiday period it was not crowded at all and seemed quite laid back.
Amused ourselves over lunch watching the "harbourmaster" (pub land lord) organizing the tourists in hired motor boats coming along side the quay owned by the pub.  His job was to make sure they were coming for lunch and not to go on the sailing club berths. He used a mixture of shouted advice mixed with a certain level of sarcasm - usually justified by the inept handing of the hire boats! We promised ourselves lunch there again when we are out sailing, but not in windy conditions in case we made a mess of things and incurred the wrath of the man in the high vis jacket!
By the afternoon the sky cleared, the wind dropped and the sun made the drive home rather hot. We are trying various B road routes home and got a bit lost - but we did get to see Bernard Matthews very large turkey processing factory down some side road in a little village somewhere in Norfolk!

Monday 3 August 2015

Weirdest complaint ever

I have just written to large high street store with the wierdest complaint ever!
About 6 weeks ago I brought a pack of everyday simple straight forward bras. Exactly the same as the old ones, same size, same colour.  They were fine previously.

I wore one set once and the strap was uncomfortable, Took it off, checked the adjustment,washed it and thought it will be fine now.
Went out the other morning and my husband requested I stopped wriggling around in the shop! My shoulder was killing me!
Got home and one shoulder was sore!  But not the other one??
I checked again, they were adjusted the same, they had stretched, but hang on - were they the same length?  NO.
I got out the unworn set and measured again.  They were NOT MADE THE SAME LENGTH. One strap was a good half an inch shorter!!!  No wonder I was going round the bend!
Wrote to said store and returned the pack - I await an explanation with baited breath as to how they could make such a stupid mistake!
Honestly !   I simply could not believe it"!


Sunday 2 August 2015

Producing lunch from the garden

Yesterday we had a tray of salad for lunch with a slice of ham.

Everything on the serving dish came from the garden in the morning. Beetroot (boiled and shredded with a little onion), coleslaw (cabbage, carrot and onion), mixed leaves with rocket and tomatoes with slivers of cucumber. Just brought the olive oil, cider vinegar, mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
Tomatoes are beginning to get ripe and runner beans are cropping well.
We harvested the onions sown in the spring as sets. They are a really good size and we achieved 50 from the £2.99 pack. It was wet at the start of last week and 5 showed signs of rot so we got them all up and laid them in the greenhouse to dry. Slightly aromatic in there now!
Not all is going well, As the fruit trees are in their first year we have to water them regularly (which is hard work as it is beyond the reach of the 60ft of hose) and we should not really have left them to fruit. But we could not help ourselves - some of apples have fallen off and some is a bit battered and pecked!  Something also ate my blueberries in the fruit garden!  I have a pot with one bush near the house which I shall have to cover!

The cabbage look great and green in the row but by the time I have taken off the caterpillar damaged leaves I have just the white hearts left. Hey ho, more coleslaw or minestrone soup!