Saturday Night's Alright for Camping.

Today, we watched Alfie's football game, fetched layers pellets for the chooks and Harry paid his birthday money into his new bank account. Before we came home I popped into a couple of charity shops and ended up with this fab baking bowl from Craft...

and the clip top tall jar is the same design as the smaller one I found last year. The jar was £2.50 and the dish £3. Isn't it just great when somebody knows you so well? I had seen the jar but put it down as Jon and the boys were already outside the shop. When I got outside they were all standing in front of the window and I asked what they were hiding and they said nothing? but they moved aside and it was the jar so I went in and bought it! So funny.

When we got home there was some preparation for a mini expedition. Jon had promised to take the boys camping down in our field, weather permitting of course considering the recent downpours we have been having. Well, the sky looked ok so we gathered sleeping bags, breakfast and snack supplies, gas camping stove (for emergencies only), dry wood and fire lighting stuff and anything else that was needed.

We had friends pop round for an hour but the boys were itching to get to the field so they headed off whilst we chatted a bit longer. When we were ready to go we took everything down to the spot Jon had picked and where they had put the tent up earlier in the day.

Alfie sorted out the supplies...

whilst Jon got the fire going...

and Harry was tasked with setting out the sleeping bags.

I took this photo as I left them...

and this is the view they have down to the bottom of the field.

I'm so pleased they were all, and I mean all of them, excited about their little expedition. Jon has a qualification in outdoor pursuits so is able to pass on lots of skills to the boys and help them enjoy outside experiences like this. 

Me? I've had a bubble bath and plan on making myself some food in a little while, drinking a fairly large bottle of Indian beer I have in the fridge and watching some trashy TV and maybe a film; the night in the field was a man thing!

I will be thinking of all my men sleeping out, enjoying stargazing, maybe shooting a rabbit or two and whipping up and eating their breakfast outside tomorrow morning - Alfie is on cook duty. 

Our life here is fab and I love every part of it. It isn't perfect all the time and I never mean to imply that it is but it is what we dreamed of. That the boys and Jon are able to do this tonight, close to home for this first trip, but hopefully the first of many more, makes me very happy and reminds me just how very lucky we are to live where we do and how grateful we should be to have these experiences.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Pre-Rain Round Up.

The weather here is atrocious, really. The forecast said the rain would be with us hour upon hour upon hour and it surely is. Anyhow I managed to get to and from the room to ready it for a short notice booking we received yesterday afternoon for this evening.

I have some photos to share which as you will see were taken when the weather was MUCH better in the run up to and at the weekend.

Jon has had a couple of quad bikes in the shed needing some work to get running for the boys. He got one working and they both had a good few minutes riding up and down the garden.

Unfortunately they both still need a bit of work but there you go.

Recently I took part in a stationery swap and this was the lovely haul I received; post cards, post it notes, stickers, washi tape - all just lovely; thanks to Fiona my swap partner.

In Aber at the weekend I popped into Craft and looked, as usual, at the glassware, crockery etc and found these two bottles for £1 each. They will be great for when I, hopefully, make blackberry cordial later in the year.

We had been trying to sell the ride on mower recently but found it quite tricky. However, Jon was doing his best Forrest Gump impression yesterday mowing the garden and he has decided now to DEFINITELY keep it; much easier than strimming!

Now into the Poly House. These are the latest three tomato plants to be put in their final pots. If all the plants I have growing come into fruit I will have tonnes!...

and there are flowers on two or three of the plants which is great!

I have planted two piquant pepper plants in a trough but have three more plants. I am running out of floor space so will try and keep all these plants bushy, if I can, so they will fit under the benches a bit.

Here are my gherkins, four in total, which may be too many for the space I have given them but I guess they will support each other...

I had a sneaky look at my Arran Pilot spuds yesterday and found one a bit smaller than an egg so earthed them back up again as they shouldn't be ready for a few weeks yet but very exciting!

The strawb plants are fruiting well and spotted a couple of red ones yesterday.

The spring onions in the sink are finally really looking good with more small ones coming up, too. Shame we have eaten all of the lettuces, which also grew brilliantly in the sink; I have sown some more but need to do them more regularly than I have been.

I think that about covers everything. 

I am soooo excited for the harvest to come. After the rain I will do a post about the veg patches as it is all looking how I could only have dreamed before we moved here. The idea of me really producing a good amount of our own food, trying to be self-sufficient and self-reliant is amazing. I know it will take a few years to get the amounts right of things I grow to keep us fed, getting through the gap where much doesn't grow etc but I hope to keep good records from this year's harvest and into next year so I see how the numbers stack up.

Right, going to get some lunch now.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Spud Campaign 2017 Begins, And Other Stuff.

Good afternoon!

My last post was Monday so I have a bit to catch up on; you might want to get a brew before you sit down to this one!

On Tuesday I had a day in the house baking bread loaves and rolls, cheese scones and cherry oat bake along with a bit of tidying up and bed changing.

In the Poly House on Wednesday it was 26 degrees so I enjoyed sowing some seeds; Jon loves gherkins and I want them to pickle and also put a few more beetroot seeds in to fill some gaps where some had not taken. I also gave the house a bit of a sweep out and tidy up, don't like working in a mess, and outside I beefed up the compost in the sink ready for some more sowing next week. I picked up some more stones in the fruit patch, this is a continual job, and when Jon came home he helped me plant a couple of the raspberry canes and dug the holes ready for me to put in the rest of them. Away from the garden I got round to vacuuming the last remnants of straw from my car and found time to take a walk. (News of my slimming efforts shortly.)

Thursday I sowed carrot seeds in a big pot, hoed the small stones around the onions and raked the duck enclosure to tidy that up a little. 

Now Friday was a heck of a day!

It was the Area Eisteddfod at Tregaron and we had to leave in time to pop to school then be at the venue for just before 9am; I have learned so took a packed lunch for me as well as the boys.

For about two seconds I always think I can be doing something more with my time when I set off for these events, but then I always love them. The boys took part in individual categories for Welsh Learners but also were in the choir made up of both Welsh speakers and learners. My boys both won places, Harry first for his individual recital and Alfie second for his. #proudaspunch!

They were both entered in an Ymgom which is a dramatic acting piece along with two other Welsh learners and were placed first. The choir I think came second and then there were places for some of the girls singing a duet, oh too many to remember. It was just a fantastic day and now some of the children, including Harry I think, will go on to the next eisteddfod which is next weekend, I think. At the end of everything there was a vote of thanks and the Welsh national anthem was sung. I couldn't help thinking that if you asked most English children to stand up and sing the national anthem you would get a "what?" response. The whole event does SO much for the confidence of the children and they deserve all the success for the hard work every one of them puts into the practice in and after school. Yes, I am beaming!

Saturday we didn't do too much in the morning as the weather was pants, then we headed to Aber for the food shop, Alfie to Stage School and new school shoes for Harry. Jon and Harry did pop into Craft and came out with a couple of goodies. I've been looking for a retro magazine rack for ages and hey presto look here, along with a chrome chicken for collecting the eggs.

A few house chores in the afternoon, wood burner lit and that was about it.

This morning we thought the rain may come again so we headed out straight after breakfast to make the most of the dry weather. It was great; a little blustery but not too cold. I planted the first of my seed potatoes - Arran Pilot spuds which are first earlies as well as some main crop called Salad Blues kindly sent to me by Tracy at Our Smallholding Adventure - pop over and take a look at all they are getting up to if you haven't already.

Alfie helped me quite a lot and he put the spuds in the ground once I had forked over the tyres and he had taken out some more stones.

We planted four spuds in each of two tyres; the tyres are just over three foot across and at least a food deep, but as the soil goes right to the edges I figure that four seed potatoes would have the room to grow. (Crossing my fingers as you read this.)

The Salad Blues are in growing bags, one in each, and Alfie helped by putting a sprinkling of blood and bone meal into the bags

 and putting the potatoes in each of the bags followed by a marker.

The spud campaign will continue in a week or so. I am also waiting for sweet potato slips to be delivered, although we all know they are not strictly a potato, and they will be put in growing bags, too.

Whilst Alfie was helping me Harry was with Jon working, again, the fruit patch. More roots of heaven only knows what taken out and dug over to remove more stones!

Our little fruit patch is coming on a treat; we have three trees in, including the couple we bought the other weekend, along with the raspberry canes and we are looking for another couple of trees and have the other soft fruits to go in which I hope to get in this coming week, providing my back holds out.

However, the spot to the left of the stony area you can see just on the right is now going to be the site of a raised bed. We thought of a greenhouse if we could come across one for free or very cheap, then Jon was going to build me an aluminium-framed one but we decided we could do with just a little bit more ground space instead. The soil, with a bit of work and additional compost, should be ok for something robust like sweede so, yet again, I am having to adapt my plans! All to the good, though.

Jon and Alfie had noticed the polythene had come away on a part of the roof of the Poly House so Jon and Harry fixed that.

The poultry palaces were given new name plates today!

I forgot to mention that Jon has built the base of the cold frame to go over the strawberry patch to hopefully improve yield for this year; just got the polythene to put on now.

Right, I think that really is everything, for now. 

Jon and I constantly sit and look out of the top kitchen feeling very proud of how the garden is now looking, after all the hard work it has taken. We are very lucky we have access to the wood from the sawmill as it would have taken a lot longer if we'd needed to buy more of the materials.

Going to have a brew now and plan my new veg patch. Eeeek!

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Spring Is On the Way. I Think!

Storm Doris is blowing her best outside just now and forcing her way down the floo(?) of the Rayburn by the sounds of it!

However, whilst in the garden yesterday, along with the daffs which are peeking through, I could just see signs of the snowdrops which I also thought I had lost with the work we did on the garden recently. Soo pleased.

Yesterday I got round to giving my store cupboard in the kitchen a lick of paint. It was not going to be a big job as the aim was simply to brighten up the space and make it look cleaner. I brushed the walls down and got rid of all the cobwebs then made a start. It is a really useful cupboard but I don't have any more shelves than I need in it as it would then just become a dumping ground. No clutter in there!

The seeds I started off on January 17 are coming into life, especially the Spring Onions on the left, and even the cherry tomatoes are showing signs, on the right. Yesterday I moved all the trays into the conservatory as it really was quite warm in there but put them back in the evening, along with it being 60 degrees in the Poly House early afternoon.

Cooking still involves comfort food just now including pies and casseroles so tonight is sausage casserole; also sausages cooked in Mango Chutney - thanks to Tracy at Our Smallholding Adventure; she is making her own Mango Chutney and suggested this- mmm!

Whilst in Craft at the weekend Jon came across a bargain for the next room we are refurbishing to let out; a fantastic heated towel rail for just £10. Yay!

A few days ago I received the last lot of seed spuds I had ordered from Thompson & Morgan and the Charlottes also came with a pair of potato gloves, a bag to grow each ot the five tubers in and a stack of seeds. The spuds are in the dark in the cellar room until time to chit them.

Right, I think that is it for today - bread is proving and there is baking to be done for the cake tin, again; no sugar-free February in this house!. 

Stay safe everybody with the stormy winds some of us are having and we'll catch up soon.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx