Poly Tunnel Pleasure and other stuff!

Hello all.

How is everybody doing? I hope you are coping but if not it's ok to have a wobble now and then, take it from one who knows!

I have to be honest that, in general, we're just keeping on trucking here on our little homestead. Jon is at work for now and I am still stay at home mum. Chatting to somebody on Twitter the other day I explained how I don't have the connections which are normally provided by our Canolfan close to the house. The activities, like the regular coffee mornings and lunches I normally attend, have been put on hold but right now but I'm more than happy to shut the door behind me and stay home after any necessary visits.

I read a blog post here about home by the wonderful Rebecca at Fforest Hill, that is well worth a read when you have a moment, which most of us do at some point just now. It talks about where and what home means to you.

Obviously things are different in a way for the boys; they are coping with the school work really well in general and when that's over for the day they still have their jobs to do around the place; they still want their pocket money so it has to be earned by things like fixing fences, storing logs for winter and helping tidy the garden.

In another admission we are loving actual lockdown. Tracy at Our Smallholding Adventure and I have talked about this a lot over the weeks. Although she is a total super woman, as in a lot of households, where she is having to work from home, manage her animals, keep up with home schooling whilst looking after the children and Steve, she is enjoying the way we have been forced to live just now, too. However using the word 'forced' implies it is a chore and I have to be honest, again, I (we) don't see it that way.

We're still using shops closer to home, more so than travelling to major supermarkets, including the butcher and fruit n veg cabin both just eight miles away. We've plans to continue making a monthly visit to the wholesalers for dried goods but we're baking and making in the kitchen and getting on with growing our own as well as we can, which brings me on to the big even of recent weeks...

We've lived here in Wales for just over 4 and a half years, crikey are those numbers right? Ever since being settled I've wanted a poly tunnel (PT); I was very lucky to have Jon build me a wonderful poly house not long after we moved here. It's been fantastic and will continue to be once it is re-covered because at the moment it's masquerading as a gazebo!

Anyhow, the PT arrived last Tuesday so after tea with the help of the boys we had the frame put together without too much trouble.

I did help but was also chief photographer, obvs!

On the Wednesday night the whole gang were outside again - soooo thankful for good weather at that time, we measured out and made up the lengths of wood for the beds.

We, do you like the royal we, put in the steaks REALLY far down so the frame could be drilled and attached to them; this sucker is going NOWHERE!

On Thursday we put the cover on and that was, surprisingly, not that difficult.

I've ordered a massive bag of compost which will be here on Thursday, squuueal, and this will mean we can put a really thick layer on top of the manure; hope it comes in the morning then me and the boys can get it done. In the meantime I'm getting used to the space so have moved all my sowings and growings in there; still trying to figure out where planting out will go but sowing like a mad woman at the same time, Maryline at Rural and Rustic shares this way of thinking with me, so when the time comes I will be raring to go! 

I made this little video the other day showing of the seedlings etc that I have in there just now. As ever, I apologise for my voice as I sooo dislike it.

In the last few days we have, thankfully, had a bit of rain after some wonderful sun and the first early spuds are really coming on. The first photo here was April 20th...

and here is the same tyre on the 29th.

I was too impatient the other day and, seeing as I had to go out for chicken feed, I decided I couldn't wait for the compost delivery to finish a little project. This bed is in the far right corner of the growing area. I have trouble as things are in the habit of popping up in the middle of it. I properly took the Charles Dowding approach with it and covered it with cardboard and then a really good layer of compost. 

I suppose I was a bit silly planting the raspberry canes where I did but there you go. I'll be planting through the cardboard at the left hand end with butternut squash and dwarf beans at the right hand end. The seeds sown for the squash were those that can grow in a container but it can't hurt to plant them outside.

Back to the 2020 spud campaign, always a source of worry for me like most things in the garden! I began by planting some of the maincrop in our two massive tyres and the rest are going in the top end of the main veg bed, see photo, where the onions were last year. I always forget just how much space they need so have to be careful how far up the bed this year.

Well, today is Friday and the weekend is upon us. Weather is set to be a bit wet but we hope for some sun in between as Jon and the boys have fencing to do and I'd like to get some work done outside. 

Late edit I've been working on a craft project for ages and finally finished it. My 13yr old son put the music on the background for me, I know! 

So take a look at my Vintage Junk Journal Reveal here. 

Best wishes for a lovely weekend, under the circumstances, stay safe and well and we'll see what the next week brings us.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Peace Time, Home Front Feelings And A Change Is Coming.

Good afternoon.

The title of my post is sort of how we are feeling in our house, as much as we are able to empathise with those who lived through the war like our parents. We've never experienced anything like this and seeing images of the UK and European cities without their tourist visitors and general public not being on the streets so much is so strange. The impact the virus is having on every aspect of society is remarkable; the economy in so many ways, social isolation, the NHS obviously and so many others.

My boys are now off school for the minimum 14 days as of yesterday, originally because my eldest developed a new cough on Saturday and we followed the 7 day rule. I'm happy for them to be at home and we are lucky to be managing just fine. 

We're not being lazy. Whilst we wait for access to school resources we are busying ourselves with themes they were covering in classes; ironically Alfie is covering the Black Death and Harry the industrial revolution.They wanted to do something and as far as I'm concerned, and my boys are no different, children like structure and routine.

Although I'm not sure looking after an orphan lamb constitutes routine!

Jon and I have said for a while that the speed of technology is at some point going to make people say no, stop! I think some people will be looking for a simpler life in the years to come. The way we can drop an email, press a button and have what we want at our doorstep immediately is perhaps something people will not want in the future; as Tracy described it, the expectation society - people wanting what they want - now! Pause The System was a demonstration I saw on TV yesterday and I did think, yes!

They are very strange times in which we are living with the new levels of guidance we're now receiving on a daily basis. Talking to Tracy of Our Smallholding Adventure and Jon I said I really do feel after Coronavirus, or AC as opposed to AD as Radio 4 has just described it, the world will be a very different place. I think people will be more prepared for anything else which hits them in the future, maybe learning new skills. Just today I've been baking bread with SR flour because of a trick learned from Jon (former baker/chef) like using a sour dough starter; only bought SR flour as can be used for anything really. The big bag of oats we bought is providing us with lots of oat bakes instead of bought biscuits and we'll be enjoying home made porridge and not 2-minute sachets.

I know a lot of people who will read this already grow their own and are doing their best to be self reliant for reasons other than the current climate. This may be something that will become more popular, if people can understand and come to the realisation that life is not going to be the same for a long time, if what is being said is true. It was mentioned on Twitter yesterday about a new Dig For Victory initiative; not sure there would be a traditional form of rationing but there may be proper restrictions at times.

It is such a difficult time, looking after your own whilst having empathy and sympathy for those you can't help and being there for those you are able to give some assistance to.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Bits and Bobs Into The Weekend.

Yesterday the May issue of Grow Your Own magazine arrived through my door. I am so pleased I decided to subscribe to it as it's helped me a great deal since my journey of sowing and growing began. I love that you get help, tips, advice, offers and free stuff, like peas and beans this month!

Now, a good while ago GYO were asking for readers to submit gardening tips so I duly sent in mine and look what happened!

It's me having one of my letters published, again, so I will be very happily receiving £40 worth of vouchers by the end of the month to spend with Thompson and Morgan. I am ridiculously excited and it couldn't be a better time to buy things for the garden; I think first on the list will be my sweet potato slips but not sure what else just yet. Wish I could get paid to write stuff, that would be just fab.

Another exciting thing happening is that tomorrow I am going on a one-day poly tunnel course. Now I know I don't have a poly tunnel but it will still be a beneficial experience. Even more fab is that it is one of the courses run by the lovely Kim Stoddart at Green Rocket Courses here in beautiful Ceredigion whom I wrote about recently. I shall be setting off bright and early whilst Jon takes care of the boys for the day. I already have parental guilt piling up as I always feel I am skiving off my family duties when I get to do something on my own, but I'm getting round to the idea,  butI am on duty for Alfie's football tournament on Sunday morning.

In other news, yesterday was absolutely glorious here so once the Airbnb guests had gone, washing up done, washing on the line and a quick tidy up I put the boys to work on the leftovers from a fire we had recently; it needed shoveling to fill in a gap where Jon had been doing some building near the tractor shed. 

I then got round to tidying out the shallow sink where I grow lettuce and spring onions, sowing Kale seeds in the old cold frame, Basil seeds for the kitchen window and coriander and flat leaf parsley in the herb loo and sink! I also took out some poorly performing onions from one of the tyres; it was a waste of space for so few and I'm going to possibly put Marketmore cucumbers in there instead - I've never grown them outside so we'll see how we get on.

I had a quick look at the fruit patch; bushes, canes and trees are mostly looking really healthy with lots of shoots so chuffed about that. 

Ok, I think I better get going as probably going food shopping in an hour or so and need to tidy up the breakfast things.

Hope everybody has a lovely weekend and can't wait to report back after my exciting day tomorrow.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Pros and Cons and Keeping Rural Living Real.

This morning I had to go and pay the mechanic who did the MOT on my car yesterday. I needed to drive 2 miles to the post office as that is the nearest place to get cash, then I drove 2 miles home to the turning from where I drove 3 miles to and from the mechanic. Some people may think this is a bit of a jaunt but that is what it takes.

In order for our boys to take part in various activities after school we need to make a 26 mile round trip to Aber but they cannot miss out just because of where they live. Sometimes we are able to take turns with journeys by sharing with other parents but not always so sometimes we have to hang around until the boys have done their thing.

Growing your own fruit and veg when you live in places like we do is something lots of people do for lots of reasons. (I have always wanted to produce and raise as much of our food as we can.)The reasons can be that you just want to know where your food comes from, you see it as a challenge or it can save you money. Now regarding the latter I have not saved us a fortune this year because I am still learning so much about GYO. However, the things I have not had to buy along with the things I have acquired, been gifted, foraged etc. mean that the money we have spent has allowed us to spend money on other things.

Most people feel that wishing to maintain a self-sufficient lifestyle, or as I prefer to call it self-reliant, as well as a different pace of life agree you need some sort of income to run alongside the other parts of that life you are trying to build. We are fortunate to have out buildings which came with the house and with the skills Jon has we are on our way to building a business. The money we have made from the first room has not been a fortune but when Jon needs to spend £40 here and there on building materials or I need to buy extra shopping when guests come it has been a real bonus. Because our nearest, proper supermarket is also a 26 mile round trip you add the cost of fuel onto the food you buy which is another good reason to grow your own. Other people chose to make an income from raising and selling meat, eggs, fruit and veg, any number of things which they are able to produce on whatever land or layout they are working with and what suits their lifestyle. 

I guess I began thinking about all of this as I drove down the hill back to the house, as part of the 10 mile journey, looking at the wonderful landscape we are so lucky to live within. I hope this isn't too much of a ramble but I suppose I was trying to find a way of saying that you have to keep things real. 

When visitors say we have the perfect set up here and you really are living the dream I am always quick to say we do not live our life wearing rose tinted glasses. It IS the perfect place for us to live and we wouldn't change it for anything but it takes work. If you have a lot of money from whatever source then you are more easily able to set things up; if you don't then there is a degree of planning for the future needed and also a certain amount of patience until you are able to get to and....

That's all I think.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Sow, Grow, Harvest.

Hello!

Well what a weekend of weather we've had, bewtiful (in my best Welsh accent).

There is still some sowing and definitely some growing happening here. On Saturday I decided to take up most of the strawberry plants as there is just nothing happening there;I think the cold frame is in the wrong place for them. I have put two of them in planters so I can move them around in the sunshine to see if this helps at all.

In place of the strawberry plants I have sown some pak choi. I really hope this works out as I failed with it last year. At the same time I sown some more Swiss Chard Lights to add to the ones already growing quite well.

I'm chuffed that the courgettes are coming on because I have been buying a couple each week and so this hopefully will be covered by the two plants I have if I look after them well.

I am continuing to sow spring onions alongside the lettuces; hopefully I have my timings right now as I do NOT wish to be buying anymore through the summer! I have sown red lettuce leaves but can't remember the variety just now. 

Tomatoes are coming along; lots of flowers and quite a few fruit so feeding them once a week to spur them on.

Some things are getting close to harvesting, in fact we have a few lbs of new spuds, which have been great, but the onions are not far behind; they'll probably be taken up at the end of the week so they can dry out whilst we are away.

The beetroot looks like a success this year and as they've been sown in three intervals I should have plenty this year.

Finally the climbing peas have quite a few fat pods on them; really hope we can have our own, shelled peas very soon. Eeek, definitely have been on my grow your own bucket list!

Now aren't these pretty? My first home grown sweet peas and they smell just lovely.

It has to be said that Jon and I don't often get chance to sit down and enjoy the garden very often but today we did, just for a little while. This is the view our Airbnb guests have from the verandah outside  their room just now.

As we sat chatting I thought that I rarely take photos of the back of the house so here it was today with a view of the conservatory. We have plans coming together to replace three of the windows and then the rest will be cladded as we want it just to be an additional room and not a hot house! The boys can't play pool in the daytime in summer and we have to keep the door to the kitchen shut or the kitchen isn't kept cool as we like it.

The dehydrator has been in use again over the weekend, this time for bananas. I like them but can't currently eat them so I'm going to keep them in an air tight jar until I can or use them in some baking. Just proves it does the job on them, too, as with the other things we have tried.

Finally, some cooking I have been doing lately. I tried to make wraps instead of using bought ones. They came out well but next time I need to cook them as they are needed or very close to eating as they tasted great but went a little hard when exposed to the air. Good effort though and my three thought they were ok. 

I have wanted to make stuffed aubergines for ages and I was spurred on my a recipe in the Slimming world magazine.

I cut one in half and scooped out the flesh then chopped it up along with onions, mushrooms and peppers.

I cooked some lentils...

and after I had fried off the vegetables I added the lentils to the pan.

 

Once combined I spooned the mixture into the aubergines and put a couple of strips of cheese then put them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

I have to say they were very yummy!

Right, that's the end of today's ramble; hope you've had a good weekend and I look forward to seeing what you have all been up to.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Autumn All Around.

Yesterday I really began to feel that Autumn is properly here. The leaves are changing everywhere and the feel of life is changing, too.

I decided to take some photos which showed the season.

The Rayburn is lit daily now, and will soon be doing its thing 24/7, so the log basket is always full and the chopping of the logs is the boys job to do each day after school.

I always have a warm pan on the top of the stove at Christmas time which evokes the festive season and this has cranberries, cinnamon stick, orange, cloves in it and makes the kitchen and downstairs smell wonderful whilst I am busy doing all my Christmas preparation. Well, I did the same thing for Autumn yesterday; orange, apple, dried peach, star anise and cinnamon and it worked really well. Mmmm.

I roasted a butternut squash yesterday, too, and I just love the colour of the skin and the flesh. This will be made into a b.n.squash and lentil soup today.

The gifts of apples keep coming so some of these will go into a pudding for the weekend but I must get on with some apples sauce soon - but I just love the basket full sitting there!

Now we are fully paid up members of the Grow Your Own club a little time of the season is put aside for planning the the next year....

and some more new seeds arived yesterday, but more of that in another post.

In other news, I bought my new diary which I keep in my handbag. I have my household planner and my big calendar but my diary means I always have somewhere to scribble down a note or two. I normally buy a plain diary and then add my own style to it by covering it but I may keeo this pink one for a change.

Yet another baking request was Millionnaires Shortbread so I went ahead and gave it a go on Monday. Turned out quite well and Jon's eyes lit up when he saw it - not sure there will be any left when the boys get back.

On Tuesday Jon finished some re-jigging of Alfie's bedroom and so I took the opportunity to give it a complete top to bottom clean - it took me three hours and all there is left to do is go through toy boxes and DVD's he no longer wants. Of course I have to do Harry's room, too, but we are just giving his a move round and then it will get a big clean, too.

Oh the last thing I think is Bake Off. Really quite sad that tonight it will end as we know it, but as Mary Berry said this morning it has been seven fantastic series. At least to the very end it had the most viewers of any programme on the BBC and goes out being just fab. Can't wait for tonight!

Ramblings done!

Bye for now.

Lou.xx