Chilly Day Catch Up.

Hello!

Today we woke up to a frosty start but a clear sky across to the church and the Canolfan.

I thought I'd take a few pics of what's going on around the place; nothing too exciting but just a record of the start to the year.

The Alliums are ALL doing really well so I'm very pleased about that - the garlic,

onions

and shallots.

I have more onion sets to plant out in Feb but soo not yet sure where I'm going to put them!

Yesterday Jon started the tree-cutting-back project that we have in mind before Spring arrives. He began by starting in the far corner near the small veg patch and hopefully within the next couple of weeks he'll get the roadside done; he also plans on taking a couple of trees down in the chicken enclosure ready for when we replace the taken ones next month.

Now, Spring cabbages, these will, hopefully, be ready to harvest in May or thereabouts; I was quite worried about them when I first planted them as they took ages to look like they were doing anything!

The temperatures in the greenhouse and poly house respectively were

In the poly house I planted the dwarf Meteor peas and really pleased with them.

These will harvest in around May with any luck, too.

A few outdoor shots - down the side of the poly house

and over the wall to the field across the road.

and I love the view over the gate of our neighbouring farm.

The flat leaf parsley has bounced back after it was cut back...

and I'm chuffed the snowdrops I moved from the bottom of the garden last year settled well

and the ducks continue to be happy.

My niece had an operation recently so I've made this card for her and l'll be posting it today.

Ok I think that is it for now.

Bye.

Finally!

Finally I dragged my bum outside and got some jobs done yesterday. I have to acknowledge the return of Tracey from Our Smallholding Adventure who shamed me into it after being so flippin' active on her return from hols! I admit to having found it hard to get outside recently and I also am not keen on the way the garden is looking at the moment but such is nature.

I dug over the area where the beetroot had been, gave the failed ones to the chickens then as I knew there was a good chance of frost my Spring cabbage is now out. Due to the state of the Poly House I think I can say they have been hardened off recently! I also covered them with a couple of cloches I had so was pleased to get them in the ground.

I also took up the courgette plant as it had come to the end of its natural, dug over the bed and covered it, using some of the polythene off the Poly House😊 I hope to grow cauliflower here next year. I had covered up the turnips here but took it off later for the cabbage as the turnips were well established; I just hope I get something out of them for a few stews. 

Oh, something I did when we lit the Rayburn; I moved the coffee and tea things from the top kitchen and I really quite like them here. I've swapped the microwave up to the top as I'm doing my best to use the Rayburn for little things like defrosting meat and warming beans for breakfast instead so I don't use the gas and this way the microwave is out of sight!

Now All Hallows is almost upon us we have a few decorations up. These tags come out every year; I made them in 2011 using on this one the orange foil wrapping from a Smarties sweet amongst other bits and pieces. 

This simple candle will dress these cones for a little while until it is turned into a decoration for December.

Here is Alfie carving these two pumpkins all by himself and was very chuffed with the results.

I took the boys to Aber to catch a coach for a trip to Swansea today with Urdd and they won't be back to Aber until 5.45pm; I'm making sausage casserole tonight slow in the Rayburn as I can do other stuff whilst it is doing its thing.

This is not a very interesting post, more of a bit of a record of the time of the year. Jon is doing amazingly well on the second room; bathroom is painted and we have a special backing for the sink which looks stunning so will share some photos when the floor goes down and a few other bits are finished.

I've done a lot this morning, upstairs and down - bread proving, bed changed, kitchen swept and mopped, washer on etc. so once I have the casserole in the oven after lunch I'm not sure how I will spend the rest of the day. Feel like playing hooky with the boys being out during half-term and me being on my own!!

That's it I think.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Oh What A Beautiful Morning!

Oh my what a morning! 

Glorious compared to what we've had, and the day continues to be fab. I love it here!

The above photo is the field on the other side of the road which runs parallel to our back garden and below is the lovely view to the hills about our neighbours house. I went to ask him if he wanted some of my spare onion bulbs and stayed a while for a brew and to pet his sheep dog, Meg. Lovely, really lovely to be able to do that.

I have soooo struggled to get outside and do some necessary jobs due to the weather and procrastinating a bit to be honest. However today I have achieved some good things.

I planted my onions; I have two varieties which are:

red onion Electric - 

An overwintering variety producing shiny red skinned, semi globe shaped bulbs with crisp, pink-tinged flesh. Onion 'Electric' makes a lovely addition to salads and stir fries.

white onion Radar - 

Plant these top performing onion sets from September for harvesting in May next season. Onion Radar is a long standing favourite, chosen for its reliable cropping, bolt resistance and winter hardiness. The short, wide bulbs produce rich straw coloured skins with crisp white flesh. 

and garlic, too - Lautrec Wight.

this is a classic 'hardneck' variety named for its place of origin in South West France. Garlic 'Lautrec Wight' is widely regarded as France's finest garlic producing very pretty bulbs with white outer skins and deep pink cloves.

Really chuffed I've got this done. I have one tyre left to sort out and cover. No photos as I think you can picture these jobs!

I have, after the storms, finally got round to covering the main veg patch, properly!! The only area left open is where the beetroot is; that is going to the chooks as it has not grown well then I will dig that over and plant my Spring Cabbage - that should have gone in a bit ago but what with the weather....hope it isn't too late?

Just a little update.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Foody Photos Inside and Out.

Hi!

I've tried a couple of new recipes recently as you really can get a bit bored with the same old same old sometimes.

I sat down and had a good root through my Save With Jamie book, which I love, and I've been a little inspired due to watching Celebrity Masterchef just now, too. 

I made Koftas but with turkey mince instead of lamb and also rustled up some flat breads to go with them. They went down a treat so will definitely be making them again. (Unfortunately no photo.)

I had some puff pastry in the freezer so made this with a filling of chicken, peas in my homemade mint sauce, tarragon and all put through a bechamel sauce. Mmmmm.

Then I decided on pork belly-filled ravioli which was ok in the end but I have misplaced the bracket that holds my pasta machine to the island! I had to roll by hand but it came out alright.

I've taken delivery of a kitchen gadget which I've used for tea last night - a meatball maker and I love it! Jon cooked the meatballs whilst I was watching Strictly and he said they cooked really well; the texture seemed to have been improved by the pressure of the gadget making the balls into a really good shape.

Now, I've finally got round to processing, almost, all of my garlic which I took up when we came back from our holidays. It has taken ages for it to dry out as the soil was so very wet but it looks great and I am so very pleased with it. I have it in the basket I bought in Menorca hanging in the kitchen as most things I read say it should not be kept in the dark incase it sprouts so that is why I didn't put it in the cellar store room.

I have on order a small amount of garlic but need to get some more.

Yesterday I had a bit of a tidy up in the Poly House. It looks a bit better...

but there are a few jobs to do yet.

I also need to clean out the planters etc before I store them away for the winter.

My next door neighbour works at our local plant nursery and he brought me these two thyme plants. They are now in the herb sink and I was very grateful for them as mine had not grown well this year.

In the Poly House these are the broccoli raab and Spring cabbage; I intend to get them outside quite soon before they get too leggy and spoil.

Also yesterday I took up the last of my Maris Piper spuds, as I was worried the blight may get to them, and left them to dry until today.

I brought them inside this afternoon along with something else!

I have some in the kitchen to eat at tea tonight and the rest I have stored in the cellar. Don't want the precious few to spoil. I am very pleased, though, that I have these, the Christmas spuds and also the sweet ones.

Oh this really is turning into a ramble, sorry. I just remembered the mum of a friend of Alfie's, who spent the day with us yesterday, gave me a huge courgette she grew on her allotment. I am chuffed to bits as I wanted to make some of the courgette and apple chutney as I did last year but only had the apples. I've put some of the many cooking apples I was given in the cellar, ones that are not bruised, on a flat box as most of them have been put to the compost heap or the chickens. That is a job for next week I'm looking really forward to.

Right I think I should stop now or there will be no end to this!

Bye for now.

Lou.

New Camera!

Hi!

This post is a little self indulgent as I wanted to properly try out the new camera we have just bought, Ebay bargain for a great point and press - suits me just fine.

I decided to take photos of the Poly House to give a good outing. 

These are the three main varieties of tomatoes I have growing.

Cuor di bue, an elongated beef variety

The above are beef toms, obviously, but not sure if they are the Costoluto Fiorentino or regular beef! Monty is growing Costolutos.

These are the Capriccio F1 variety I am growing for bottling but leaving them as long as possible, keeping an eye on them not splitting, before I pick them as want to do as many as possible at once.

Onto the beans and squash. The beans are growing really well so hope to harvest some of those in a week or so as would like to have some to go in the freezer but I only have about four planted, I think, so not sure what the yield will be.

The squash was really overgrown and no light was getting to the underneath so.......

....I gave it a good haircut and there was a pile of leaves for the chooks.

Next up is the corn. I checked back and ;ast year I was harvesting the small amount I did manage to grow at the end of September so this has a bit of a way to go, but looking good.

Here is something which is off the shopping list; these are looking good....

as the gherkins continue to do, too. I have pickled some but we are using them in stir fry and I hope to dehydrate some if the weather is good over the weekend. Talking of dehydrating, I have dried this oregano for the kitchen and today put some sage leaves in.

These are something I am chuffed with, look at my piquant peppers! Dawn, anybody, what colour should they be as I did not have a packet; the seeds were a gift from Dawn.

I am very confident my Sweet potatoes will be a much greater success than last year. They are getting watered well and having had a little root around I can tell they are a good size at this point already; I LOVE Sweet spuds.

I usually say that I only grow things which we can eat, however I love the sweet peas and even more the freesias I have managed to grow!

Finally my broccoli Raab is coming on well...

as are the Spring Cabbages.

Yesterday i spent some time preserving some of the damsons by making jam, courtesy of Marguerite Patten.

All the damsons were put in my preserving pan along with the water - soooo excited about using this as I had it as a present last Christmas!

When the fruit had gone quite soft.....

I added the sugar.

I had to fish out stones, did get most of them but won't be entering this in the preserve section at this year's horticultural show!

Then it went into jars...

and I have a few to keep in the cellar store room and one has gone in the fridge.

That is about it I think. I love the camera and it is super easy to use. I just put the card into the laptop and download really easily instead of having to plug my phone in or email them to myself. I just have to get out of the habit of grabbing my phone when I want to photograph something!

By for now.

Lou.xx