Hello Hide I am back!

 Sorry for the real life absence, a few things got in the way and I ended  up running out of time to actually write a post.

This morning started with walking her Ladyship first thing and I had a good look around to see what was available on the wild foraging front.  Blackberries are just starting so I really need to go out and start foraging.  There are some young nettle heads about shall also collect some of them, and the Elderberries are starting to colour up.  I hope I can get Elderberries this year as for the past couple of years I have missed out.  I need Pontack sauce and also Elderberry jelly on the Pantry shelf.  I had a couple of bottles of Pontack sauce that were over six years old and I ended up dropping them. It did make a mess. They are supposed to be at their best after a lengthy period of keeping them.  Blackberries I always make use of in lots of preserves.  More Blackberry jelly is planned as are bottling them in syrup again for pie/pudding filling during the colder months. I also want to get some Elderberry Rob put up as well.  It is nice as a cordial but especially good if you have a bad cold.  So there is quite a bit on the wild front at the moment.  I have some ideas as usual but first we need the fruit and the wildlings.

In the past few days a lot of things have been going on.  Just little bits not really been building into anything but stuff has happened.  I think I mentioned recently that I was starting to dry my own Black Peppermint leaves for use in Peppermint tea for me during the winter months.  I will not have enough to last the whole winter, but there will be some.  They are starting to build up in the storage jar very nicely.  In the meantime, I am being good and not having it every day like I was doing.  I have also sacrificed some stems for sprouting more plants.  Hopefully next year I will have much more mint to work with.  

This evening I have halved the plant and strung another big bunch of the mint for drying off the Dresser.   Some of it was just starting to develop flower buds so it has been whipped off ready for processing naturally.  Hopefully that should be ready for next week and then I will be able to decant that into the large storage jar I have put aside for this specifically.

Part of last night's tea was a throw it all together soup which in fact started out with a packet of Chicken Noodle soup powder that needed using up.  It then had a tin of chopped tomatoes added, leek, onion, courgette, carrot, Worcester Sauce (Lee and Perrins), veggies added raw and caramelised, Cranberry jelly, stock, salt, herbs, Polish noodles etc. I was a bit dubious about it but it actually turned out very nicely. The noodles thickened it up a bit and based on what was in it really it turned out to be quite a substantial soup for so few ingredients.  I was in picky mode last night as was himself and really did not need much (we had eaten during the day) and this fitted the bill nicely.  Sometimes you just do not need a lot to eat, you just think you do.

We also needed to go to the Butcher and do a little bit of shopping. Have come back today with a chicken (2 to 3 meals plus stock) , a whole tray of Lamb Chops (2 meals), a tray of Mince (2 meals), a small tray of sausages for breakfasts, a pack of bacon, a Slipper Gammon, a couple of Gammon steaks, a Pork Loin joint for roasting.  That should do nicely for just over the week.

Have been and topped up for a few sauces and condiments as was running perilously low.  Still have the vegetable shop to do though.  It is the veggies that make a meal and I do like quite an assortment.  For long term storage I do tend to keep them in the fridge (well the ones I can keep there).  I am also keen to pop up quite a few bits and bobs on the Pantry shelf as things are starting to look a bit bare. I have pottered round to see what veg was available and was appalled what the Co-Op had available.  Nowhere near as well stocked as the Co-Op down the road.  Had some nice stuff at the Veg shop, will probably pootle over and get some stuff tomorrow and build things up as I see them. Also need a tray of eggs.  OH will need to go and get some potatoes at the weekend. 

I am also considering drying some cabbage in the dehydrator to add to stews and soups, throughout the winter,  just so that there is a bit of green stuff in our food somewhere along the line.  You always need the green stuff which is one of the reasons I make the powders.  I think we are going to have a slightly colder winter than last year and I was cold enough so I am trying to squirrel or make stuff to squirrel away so that there is some good food available to us.  I find it worrying that I am not happy with the fresh stuff that is put on the shelves certainly not at the Co-Op near me.  As I say the other one down the road seems to have a better choice and a slightly better quality.

Will see what happens and what I can lay my hands on to do stuff with.  I have some plans but whether they will materialise or not I am not sure at this present time.  

My two Pumpkin plants have flowers on them at long last and seem to be doing very nicely.

The French beans (bush beans) I seem to have lost about five plants through all the bad weather just after having put them out but they are starting to settle and some of the plants have flowers on them so I am pleased with them.

I went down to the greenhouse this morning and the recycled shelf had collapsed and my plants and seedlings were everywhere.  Fortunately managed to save them all, but I am going to have to expand to the other greenhouse rather rapidly.  Cucumbers need potting on into their big girl planters. all my Runner Beans are through and so the garden is going to get a little bit of a digging (just the bit I need for Starters, to get them into the ground and then trellised.  The Courgettes never came through at all.  I normally do not have any trouble with Courgettes but this year just has not happened.  I still have the feeling that I have not found all my seeds yet.  I think some are still missing.  No doubt they will turn up when I do not need them.  It would be nice to locate them though to get everything sorted and together.

Tomatoes are coming along nicely, flowers on the plants at long last including the hanging basket ones.

Peppers are also doing well and the Habaneros are producing quite a bit of fruit.  I have one Cayenne pepper so far,.  I use the Cayenne Peppers quite a lot in my Preserving. Particularly in my Pickled Onions.  In the past I have bought them in and then dried them off the Dresser.  Might have to do this again if do not get many Chilli peppers.  However this is the first time I have ever grown Chilli Peppers and so it is very much a learning curve.  Cress is up and another couple of trays have been planted.  So that means egg and cress sarnies in the next few days or so.

The cabbages two varieties that I set have also come through and I have PSB plants for harvesting next year that have grown from seed.

In amongst everything else, I am trying to sort out my Pantry contents a bit more so that can get the Pantry sorted out once and for all. It is painfully slow going. What with the garden it has been terribly overlooked.  Hopefully will be back into the garden again tomorrow to do some more work weather permitting. Fingers crossed and toes plaited.

Well that's really all that is happening here at the moment.

Hope you have a lovely evening.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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