Backwards, Forwards and Further Forward

 Looking back at May.

A busy, busy month.
Cool, windy and not a lot of rain

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers and Aubergines planted into the poly-tunnels

New potatoes, beetroot,radishes,strawberries and salad leaves from the tunnel

Rhubarb and asparagus from the garden
6 Jars of red gooseberry jam made using fruit from the freezer

Selling at 2 car boot sales cleared out quite a lot of unwanted items

The campsite has been OK but not as busy as 2014, about £300 down
Tax refunds and news of a very small pension for me from my County Council library days
Various brassicas planted out into the garden
Visit from Blogger Pat - The Weaver Of Grass
Very few books read from the library haul 

A youngest daughter moved in and then moved out on the last of the month

A husband with more health problems and 2 nights in hospital was the final straw for deciding to have a change of lifestyle

A trip to Sussex for our eldest daughters wedding ( and Thank you to everyone who left comments saying they enjoyed the photos )

Looking forward to June

Our house will go up for sale

We will clear out more stuff ( especially from Cols mess workshop) to sell

We will keep the garden going
I will watch as much tennis as possible

We will sell as much fruit and vegetables as possible

Now all the excitement of special birthday and wedding are over we will be able to cut spending because we need to save as much as we can while we still have an income.

Looking Further Forward and We Have a Plan

When we have a buyer for the house, we plan to buy something small, probably in  Stowmarket - the town in Mid Suffolk where we started our married life.

We will get it ready to let out, spend some time visiting places we've been wanting to visit for years.

At the same time we will start to look for a small cottage with a bit of woodland anywhere in the country but possibly Wales, where we can buy for about £100,000 less than this house is worth. Therefore giving us something to live on until pensions kick in.

And finally I must welcome a new follower on Google - Hello Jayne M and also followers on Bloglovin' welcome Mair, Anne, Elspeth and Chrissym.


Back Soon
Sue

Was February frugal?

No!
 Not with buying a car to replace the gas-guzzling jeep with the dodgy electrics. The car dealers took the Jeep as a trade in - thank goodness - as we didn't want to sell it privately.

Although apart from that things were OK.

Here are the ways we spent less in February -

 Food spending was well below budget for the second month in a row.
21 out of 28 days were no spend days

Fresh from the garden we had leeks,parsnips, kale, brussels sprouts and chard

We ate our own potatoes (until 24th) beetroot and onions from store and

apricots, cooking apples, pears, plums and peppers from the freezer

I made all our own bread again

Free heat from free wood again

Washing dried outside and over the Rayburn

Free library books for reading

8 books rescued from the man-up-the-road's rubbish, cleaned up and added to car boot boxes

Started making Christmas presents from fabric stash

Gooseberry jam made from gooseberries in the freezer

Tidied lots of cupboards and added things to car boot boxes

Used Tesco vouchers for cheap top up shopping

2 Free shopping bags from the Potato day and 1 from Tescos.

Our own compost into poly-tunnels

Using paint we had to do bedroom.

We have a freezing cold wind here today, I'm still debating if I should venture out to a very rare Jumble Sale or to stay at home in the warm and do some sewing.

Thanks for comments last time

Back in a few days

Sue

Review of the month, looking back at November

 At the beginning of last month I shared my list of November plans, by mid month 6 out of 17 were left to do.
At the end of the month..............

1. Continue eating our own fresh apples and fruit from the freezer so that we spend no money on fruit apart from an orange and a lemon for the Christmas cakes.✔
2. Make a double batch of Naan bread✔
3. Make a batch of Tomato and Herb rolls✔
4. Do the main monthly shop✔
5.  Sort the seed/veg plant order and make sure it is less than the £100 that it was last year.
6. Get chicken feed on the way back from Ipswich when C has his 24 hour heart monitor fitted✔
7. Christmas cakes to make, 1 for us and 3 small ones for gifts ✔
8.  I need to find out what Cs Dad and Brother would like for Christmas and get them sorted     out ✔
9. We need to clear the 2 runner bean beds and store the canes away and pick off some beans for drying.✔
10. More clearing in the 3 poly-tunnels ✔
11. Chop a few more sacks of kindling wood✔
12. Clean out the empty chicken shed✔
13. Clear a few veg beds - at least 3 ✔
14. I want to fit in  some cycling or swimming or both for fitness
15. Go and see the sea✔
16. Visit charity shops in a different town✔
17. Confirm how many people will be here on Christmas day✔

I've done a list of what we want for the seed order but I'm hanging on for one more seed catalogue to arrive to compare prices.
So that just leaves cycling or swimming - whoops!

Apart from the list above we also

•  Hired a breaker and got the rest of the old shed base broken and rubble cleared. And thanks to help from our son we got the soil moved in to fill the hole and C leveled it.
• Loads of good books read and another lot collected from the library van
• Spending well down on November last year
• We still have leeks, parsnips and Brussels sprouts in the garden for winter
• 20/30 days were no spend days
• Payment received for hay sold in the summer
• Christmas present shopping started  and almost finished
• Christmas card writing started and almost finished
• The house has been valued and we've decided to do nothing about moving for the time being
•  Found a way to clear out the big chicken shed between us without too much effort
• We've been cutting wood to build up the wood store - all heating free as usual.
• I'm now doing more driving which has built my  confidence.
• We went quizzing after a 18th month gap since last time
• Vegetarian recipe devised for Christmas day and a new pasty recipe tried too.
• Opened the 5p tin and 'found' £30 for Christmas meat.

On the down side
The cat cost a small fortune
We have had so much rain, the field is waterlogged and we can't move the chicken sheds to somewhere dryer until we have a hard frost or a week of drying wind.
I've not had time for swimming or cycling for exercise ( although I have had time for blog writing....... that's odd!)

Thank you to everyone for comments over the last few days.
Back Tomorrow
Sue ☺

Review of the month - looking back at October

Mainly because of Cs 10 days in hospital with the "hardly" a heart attack, October was a bit of an odd month.
Other things of note from the Simple Suffolk Smallholding were

• An expensive month with both electric bill and water bill for the campsite. Electric bill made even worse by being 4 months instead of 3 due to the meter reader reading it wrongly.
  
• Extra expenses such as car park and phone top ups due to C being in hospital.
• To make things easier for me working here we had to sell off the oldest 60 hens earlier than we would have done. 
• The campsite has been tidied and everything put away for the winter. 
• Christmas puddings and mincemeat were made.
• also a batch of sweetcorn relish 
• C brought home 10 IBC containers and sold 2 straight away the rest  he will be able to wash out and sell as soon as he gets back to normal.
• We sold almost all the squash and pumpkins including the 5 Giant ones giving us a total income from gate sales of just over £200 this month.
• A little money was added to the ISA
• Lots of good books from the library van ( but not enough time to read them)
• A warm month, so less wood used for Rayburn and wood-burner and the Alstomeria in the garden gave a late burst of colour to bring into the kitchen

• I've used my £10 Craft Creations voucher received in July  to order some card making things from their catalogue
• An unexpected prize of £20 worth of greetings die cuts also from Craft Creations
• A rosette from the Camping and caravanning Club 
• Another free copy of Home Farmer Magazine to review
• We have been able to give our eldest a money gift towards her May wedding
• Eating our own apples and our own fruit from the freezer all month means that  the only fruit bought was  lemons for the puddings and mincemeat.
• A quick overnight visit  from both eldest children which means we got to see all three of them this month.
• Vouchers from Wyevale Garden Centre used for Christmas presents
• I didn't win the old stripped pine dresser that I left a bid on at the auction ( probably a good thing, I didn't really need it but it was so much nicer than the modern chest of drawers and shelf unit that makes up our current 'dresser'.)
• Sold a small load of hay = £25 income.

 I think that's covered everything that's happened here this month.

Back Tomorrow with the library book photo and Year In Books link
Sue

Review of both August and September

I didn't get around to doing a review for August, so here's a quick catch up, it seems a long time ago already.
Both lists have the good, the bad and the ugly all mixed together!

• Plenty to sell at the gate during the first two weeks before things started to slow down.
• The campsite shower broke down but we had the spare ready to fit.
• We were busy with campsite visitors all month
• Money put aside for winter
• Round bale hay delivered 
• Straw baled and brought home
• Plenty of library books
• C got down some dead trees from the field hedgerow.
• Wheat, for chickens  bought off ebay for a good price
• Approved foods delivery, stocked up on noodles,lasagne,bread flour, powdered milk.
• Went swimming for the first time for years :-)  but haven't been since :-(
• I went down with flu like symptons which turned into pneumonia and finished the month with a couple of nights in hospital.

   And September

•  An expensive month but all budgeted for.
• We were able to put some money into savings
• A lovely warm month with dry weather, so plenty of work for C moving the irrigation stuff
• My health and strength returned as the month progressed
• Good income from pumpkins
• Lots of good books again
• A terrible apple crop from the 2 cooking apple trees, some apples rotting on the trees and others falling too soon 
• Sold our old greenhouse and got it moved to it's new home.
• I only got to 1 boot sale all month which is both good ( less spending) and bad (I might have missed lots of bargains!)
• We've been given 3 large bags of cooking apples
• A lovely family get-together with all C's side of the family 
• And good news on my side of the family as my sister and bro-in-law are going to move closer to us.
• Lots of pears from the 1 old and 2 young trees put in the freezer
• Campsite not as busy as it is sometimes for September. 
• I did my first ever Giveaway for the 500th post and posted off some books to the person who's name was drawn out - and never heard a word to say if they got them or not! 
• I asked if Home farmer Magazine would like me to do a review on the blog and they said Yes.

 That's about all I can think of. August and September seem to have gone in a flash.

 Thank you for lots of comments yesterday, so many, I shall make a list!

Bridget

Angela

Dawn

Countryside Tales

Out my window

Chickpea

The reason I save

Bovey Belle

Fran

Jean

Karen

Em

A Suffolk Girl

The saver of Suburbia

Julie

Morgan

Sally

 Starting a craft club is something I couldn't do, as I've said before, because of where we live I've never got to know many people even though we've been here 22 years. We only have two neighbours! So many other houses around are second homes, standing empty most of the time, and villages are over a mile away. For instance-- I bike to the library van where it stops in Friston our nearest village - just over a mile away, I am the only person who uses the van there, I sit in the bus shelter to wait and never see a soul walking about the village. There are no shops, no post office, no pub. So many villages in Suffolk are like this.
 The children were already school age when we moved here so the friends I made through playgroups and Scouting were all left behind in Mid Suffolk.  Once we moved here they went to school by school bus so I never got to meet people in the playground.  I'm not a great joiner of clubs and all our energy went into the Suffolk Smallholders Society when we were involved ( C was vice chair and chairman for several years, I did membership for yonks and we helped to organise the shows too)  so the friends we made  through that tended to be spread all over the whole county. The Society no longer has a social aspect to it - sadly.

Anyway,I shall write the date of the  first needlecraft group in my diary and see what mood I'm in on the day!

Back tomorrow
Sue

Review of the month- Looking Back At July

So how did things go on the Simple Suffolk Smallholding during July 2014?
This is my usual look back at the month just gone

1. We had good weather once we got past the two weeks which were cold and wet.
2. We earned more than enough for next months budget requirements
3. Money has been saved for winter 
4. Several good library books have been read.
5. The campsite was busier than we thought it was going to be for most of the month
6. Lots of free wood delivered.
7. Plenty of vegetables in the garden to eat:- lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, beetroot, potatoes, onions, peppers, green beans, runner beans( just starting), carrots,  aubergines, courgettes, so only 49p spent on veg all month (for a head of Calabrese for a change.)
8. Lots of vegetables for sale, everything we put out is selling everyday.
9. Raspberries to eat all month and apricots for two weeks, so only punnets of nectarines/peaches bought.
10. Approved Food order with cheap bread flour = cupboards full.
11. Best ever apricot crop nearly 40lb, lots put in the freezer for winter
12. 2 lots of chutney made- Gooseberry and Date and also Apricot
13. 2 lots of jam made. Strawberry and gooseberry and also Apricot
14. £10 voucher to use for Craft Creations card making bits because I had a card featured in their Readers gallery.
15. Hay cut, baled and stored
16. Sold lots of unwanted odds and end at a Car boot sale.
17. We enjoyed watching several different sports on TV 

Not so good is the fact that the campsite bookings for the second half of August are few and far between.
The newest batch of chickens have gone off lay
The cucumber plants have shriveled up much too early ( should have looked after them better!)
We've been so busy the weeds are getting away from us
and there has been no time to start on taking down the old shed.
Plus I forgot to do anything about entering the village  produce show tomorrow - stupid woman!( It crept up on me, even though I've had the schedule here for months)

Overall it's been a good month, in fact every month is a good month!
  I'm sure there are some people who would like to see dramas and disasters, it would make more interesting reading but I'm just glad things jog along gently, I couldn't be doing with living in a soap opera!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Review of the month - Looking back at June

Here is my regular look back at the ups and downs of life on a quiet Suffolk smallholding.

1. We have earned enough for what we need in July.
2. Some money from campsite and gate sales have been saved into ISAs
3. Some money has been saved for winter
4. Campsite was busier than we thought it was going to be
5. Gooseberry sales produced income of £330 and some put in freezer and the recent rain means the small ones left are now ready for picking.
6. First pickings of French climbing beans, tomatoes, raspberries,courgettes,broad beans
7. Offer of 24 Strawberry plants  for £4.95 postage from Home Farmer magazine
8. Kitchen Garden Magazine with 6 packets of 'free' seeds
9. Chickens laying well
10.  Lots of good library books read
11. New garden/potting shed finished(more or less) and everything moved in.
12. Planted out Verbena plants grown from a gifted packet of seeds.
13. Lots of lovely tennis to watch on TV
14. Bulk buy of muesli, baking powder and peanut butter from Real Foods saving over £20 on shop prices.
15. A few items of smallholding equipment bought from yard sale
16. Some bargain finds at car boot sales
17. Friends around to visit for the day.
18. 5 Builders bags of wood split and seasoning for winter 2015/16

Not so good

1. Some of the potatoes out on the field are looking like they have blight
2. We destroyed 3 tomato plants with blight, some others look sad.
3. Paneer cheese doesn't work with powdered milk!
4. Group of caravans who were coming for  a 70th birthday party in July cancelled the booking.
5. We could do with a better weather forecast for haymaking.

I can't think of anything else.

Many thanks for lots of comments yesterday about managing finances. It's interesting that lots of people use online banking. We are avoiding it at the moment but I think banks would like to do away with branches if they could. Not sure what we would do with all the small change that comes in from gate sales. I can't imagine many places would welcome bags of 20p or 50p coins to pay for something. In fact I think they could refuse to accept it.

Welcome to new followers - Lisa in the Google pictures and Jo, Amy, Jane Natalie and Lizzy on Bloglovin'. I hope you enjoy reading about our quiet Suffolk life.

Back Tomorrow, when I must do the Link up for A Year In Books
Sue

Review of the Month - Looking back at May

Here is my regular look back at the ups and downs of life here on the simple Suffolk Smallholding.

1.  Enough money  was earned to cover what we need for Junes budget
2.  Food spending under budget
3.  Other general household spending well under budget with £50 left in my purse, so.........
4.  The Roberts radio was sent for and arrived.
5.  A steady stream of campsite visitors all month 
6.  21/31 were no spend days ( 5 spend days were car boot sales)
7. We didn't travel far so no diesel put into Jeep all month
8.  An offer of free delivery resulted in getting £63 pounds worth of goods for £27 from Approved  Foods
9. 6 Jars of mixed fruit jam made using fruit from the freezer
10. Lots of good books enjoyed
11. Poly-tunnels  planted up
12. A gift from a new blogger friend
13. First potatoes and beetroot from poly-tunnel
14. Peppermint tea from own plants
15. Pumpkin and squash plants were planted out onto the field.
16. New shed base done and framework started
17. Several useful  things found at car boot sales
18. C collected 6 more IBC water containers and sold 3 straightaway -quick profit
19. Spare income saved to cover standing orders etc during the winter
20. Able to borrow log splitter
21. First strawberries of the season

BUT
Wind and heavy rain damaged the climbing French and runner beans, setting them back by a few weeks.
I made some Garlic Focaccia bread from a mix and burnt it!
The Camping and Caravanning club upped their prices for adding extra words to the entry in the Big Sites Book which I found extremely annoying.
Lots of nasty critters damaging plants this year.
Very few campsite bookings for June

I think I can say May was a good month for us. June brings Gooseberry picking and more Tennis on TV and the end of the hungry gap when the garden begins to be more productive.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Review of the Month - Looking back at April

Here is my regular look back at the ups and downs of the month on a simple Suffolk Smallholding.

1. Our income was enough to cover the budget for May.
2. Food spending just under budget
3. £5 left in my purse for the Red Roberts Retro Radio fund ( now at £95)
4. Lots of lovely cards and books for my birthday
5. A lovely surprise in the post of card making stuff from a fellow blogger
6. Our son and girlfriend are now living back in Suffolk ( although right at the other side of the county)
7. The campsite was busy over Easter
8. Poly tunnels are almost planted up
9. The new flower garden looked very colourful all month
10. A couple of small cheques have been saved into the ISAs
11. Our Eldest daughter fixed a wedding date ( June 2015)
12. Local Car boot sale season started and a lovely big mirror found  for £2
13. 60 new hens laying well
14. Main-crop potatoes are planted
15. Front fence repaired
16. Eating asparagus all month
17. A good day out visiting friends
18. Our missing Mabel cat is definitely still around and eating the food we put out for her.

On the not-so-good side of the equation
 

1. Very little fresh veg available from the garden
2. We both caught colds - first we've had for at least 3 years

That's about it  for April, I wonder what May will bring us.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

PS. Welcome to Penny, Margaret, Laura and Val who are all new followers on Google friends or Bloglovin' . Thank you for clicking the button and  I hope you enjoy reading about our quiet Suffolk life.

Review of the month - Looking Back at March

It's been a lovely sunny day here, with temps up to 19 degrees C.
We've been without internet connection all day, so I was beginning to wonder if I would get to do this post. But we seem to be OK again now (she says with fingers etc crossed) so better do this quick.

If ever I do disappear at anytime it won't be because anything's wrong but because we live in Suffolk where  sometimes everything can be a bit slow. Local MP's have been campaigning for years to upgrade broadband in the area.
 At least it's better than it was before broadband when we had to switch the computer on and then go off and do half an hours work somewhere else before the darn thing was ready.

Anyway, Here is my look back at what happened here during March on the Simple Suffolk  Smallholding

1.  We had enough income to cover April Budget
2. Food spending under budget
3. £20 left in my purse to go into the Roberts Red Retro Radio fund ( now at £90) 
4. 21 days out of 31 were No Spend Days.
5. I made some papercraft cards for birthdays
6. We saved over £100 by changing the House Insurance 
7.  Our son's girlfriend has a new job in Bury St Edmunds so they will be moving back to Suffolk.
8. Our son has been offered a 6 month contract with an archaeology company in the area.
9. Lots of gardening tidying done
10. Some good library books
11. An interesting painting by a local artist bought for £3 from car boot sale.
12. Finished knitting 7th dishcloth.
13.  It was a very dry month almost no rain here on the Suffolk Coast
14.  Bookings for campsite beginning to trickle in
15. Lots of seeds sown outside
16. 48 "Hungry gap" brassica plants arrived and were planted and covered
17. Conservatory is full of  plants ready to go into  polytunnel.
18. First tomatoes have been planted into polytunnel
19. We put the newly made stall out by the gate and found £1.20 under the old one!
20. Still plenty of last years fruit in the freezer.
21. C. visited our eldest daughter and her partner and helped with lots of repair jobs on their home.

On the other side of the coin

1. The Archaeology company that our son has worked for for many years has gone bust ( but see 8 above) he might get some redundancy money - eventually.
2. No money was saved this month due to it being a month with extra expenses for stuff for campsite loos.
3. 1  Rescued cat gone missing.
4. Hardly any winter vegetables left in the garden- just a few leeks

I think that's about it for March
Many thanks for comments yesterday, sorry I didn't get to reply individually, due to reading a very good book all evening and then no connection all day.

Back Tomorrow - as long as we are connected to the internet!

Review of the month, Looking back at February

It's the 1st of March so time for my regular look back at the ups and downs on The Simple Suffolk Smallholding. The good and the not-so-good of February 2014.

1. We just scrapped in enough money to fill the virtual envelopes  for the March Budget ( see it here)
2. £20 left in the housekeeping going into the Roberts Red Retro Radio Fund ( Now at £70)
3. £30 cheque into an ISA
4. Food spending fractionally under budget.
5. General Household spending well inside budget.
6. 2 small cats re-homed here after a  few years without a pet.
7. We went to the annual Potato Day and bought our early seed potatoes.
8. 2 Free jute shopping bags from the potato day 
9. We are still eating our own stored eating and cooking apples.
10. We  ate the first Purple Broccoli and still have Brussels sprouts, parsnips, leeks, chard and parsley available from the garden
11. We still have onions from store
12.  Plenty of our own fruit still in the freezer
13. Lots of good reading from this months library books
14. I relearned how to knit after about 50 years and started making dishcloths.
15. I stitched 2 small cross stitch pictures and fitted them into 'things' for Christmas presents
16. Most Chickens laying really well, still over 7 dozen to sell everyday
17. Progress on the new toilet shed for campsite has been made
18. Visited Family for lunch
19.  Him Outside spent a few days visiting our son and girlfriend

On the other hand

1. Our son - the Archaeologist - has had to go down to a 4 day week and his company have some cash flow problems- worrying news.
2. Another mainly wet month 
3. We have finished all our stored beetroot
4. We have eaten all the pears from the freezer
5. Oldest chickens laying a lot of odd shaped and thin shelled eggs that we can't sell.

That's all I can think of for February- Roll on spring!

Thanks to Bridget, Victoria, Fran, Cro, Gill, The Weaver of Grass and Bovey Belle for comments yesterday
( and re the bulk buy of Bicarb - it came off E bay)

Back Tomorrow

Review of the month - Looking Back At January + todays news

It's the first of February so here is my usual look back at the month to see how things have gone -  The Good and the Not so Good.
I think you can sum up January in one short sharp word - WET or two words VERY WET or three words Absolutely, Awfully WET!

 But I have to look at the positives first.

1. Unexpected and very good income from County Council work.
2. We have enough money for February's Budget
3. We managed to get all three children and all three partners here together.
4. All spending ( except food) was very low
5. We are still eating our own stored apples, pears etc from the freezer and dried apricots and prunes so only £1.50 spent on fresh fruit.
6. The butternut squash stored in the craft room are still OK
7. We still have cooking apples stored in the shed
8. Plenty of our own fruit still in the freezer
9. Still eating leeks, Brussels sprouts,parsnips, cabbage from the garden
10. Loads of lovely library books
11. Just over £100 added to an ISA
12. Total savings towards the Roberts Red Retro Digital Radio = £50 ,so I'm a third of the way there.
13. The chickens are laying very well - over 8 dozen eggs to sell every day.
14. Friends came to visit for the day.
15. I got one small bit of cross stitch done and made some papercraft cards.
16. We used a voucher to get multi-purpose and seed compost for the year.
17. More wood has been added to the log pile.

 On the other side of the coin

1. Everywhere is so very wet, a very depressing month
2. I went down with a flu type thing just when the family were here.
3. Food spending over budget but  that was because of the traditional giant takeaway when the family were here so I don't begrudge it at all.
4. We finished eating our own potatoes so had to buy a sack  =  £6.40
5. County council work now finished - no more income from that job

Today's news
 We had another huge rainfall last night - it seemed as if it was all night long. The beds in the garden are now all surrounded by water and as for the chicken runs - Oh dear.
But this morning we had blue skies and sunshine so Him Outside went to help our elderly friend with some tree pruning at the second home across the fields from us.
There was some shooting going on in the wood near us yesterday and when Him Outside went onto our field later he found a pheasant - still warm - so sorting that out was one of my jobs this morning. That makes 3 we have in the freezer. I rootled around outside to find a few herbs ready to make  omelets for tonight's dinner. This is all I could come up with

Parsley, a few tiny new fennel leaves and even fewer new shoots of welsh onion.

This afternoon we popped out for 15 minutes to a jumble sale at the Guide Hut in Leiston, nothing very exciting there really. Him Outside found a small kit containing car light bulbs and fuses for 50p.

Then it was time for a cuppa, a biscuit and the beginning of the 6 Nations Rugby.

Welcome to follower  134 - The Vintage Kitten, she lives somewhere on the north of the UK where they had snow overnight . Also welcome to three more followers on Bloglovin, Phylis, C Gunn and Lesley, taking that total to 96.  I hope you enjoy my ramblings from Suffolk.

Back Tomorrow with February Weather Sayings

Review of the month - looking back at December

Before we get stuck in to 2014, just one more look back with my usual review of the month just gone.

I try to always make the positive list longer than the negative list so.......

1. We earned enough money in December for January's budget
2. We caught up on news with our Sisters and Brothers in law.
3. Our son and his girlfriend came to visit for the weekend.
4. Buying the bargain trailer that hooks on the mower will make life much easier for Him Outside.
5. Food spending for Christmas and December was well down on other years leaving me some bonus money.
6. We had a quiet Christmas with just Father in law,brother in law, youngest and her bloke here for Christmas dinner and just us four oldies for the rest of the day.
7. We had lots of lovely Christmas presents, books, chocolates, a watch each, a red microwave!
8. We still have vegetables in the garden for the rest of the winter.
9. We still have enough meat in the freezer for nearly 2 months.
10. We enjoyed some Christmas Specials on TV
11. Our eldest daughter got engaged
12. We were given 2 pheasants
13. Lots of good books from the library van
14. The chickens are back to laying well, despite the muddy field
15. The potato/squash/pumpkin field has been mucked and ploughed
16. Him Outside doing more work for the County Council - a bonus income.

On the negative side of the equation

The middle polytunnel was damaged by the storms, needing repairs to the frame and a new plastic cover. Then another bit of fence blown over 4 days later.

My Christmas present cupboard is bare. So I shall be searching car boots, charity shops and doing a bit of making ASAP.

Everywhere is very wet and muddy and some jobs that should have been done haven't been started.

So once again less negatives than positives, I hope this continues into 2014.


Before I go I must say a big HELLO and WELCOME to several people who have clicked the follower button over the last few days. Hope you enjoy reading about our simple Suffolk smallholding.


Back Tomorrow to start a month of normal  posts - Keeeeep Frugalling!

SSS

Review of the month - Looking Back at November.

1.  We earned enough money in November for Decembers Budget.
2. The tractor repair is hugely successful and the bill has been paid
3. Christmas shopping for presents has been finished
4. We had a visit from our lovely eldest daughter
5. We went to visit friends in Essex.
6.  The garden has been cleared of summer crops ( almost)
7. All 3 poly tunnels have been cleared.
8. A good load of muck has been spread around all the fruit bushes.
9. I made some paper-craft cards for 6 friends birthdays in 2014.
10. We have cabbage, Brussels sprouts, leeks and parsnips in the garden for winter
11. We have squash, beetroot, apples and onions stored.
12. Next years vegetable seeds ordered and arrived.
13. We have enough meat in the freezer for 2 months.
14. Christmas cakes all made( for us and gifts)
15. We were almost self sufficient in vegetables in November, only £4.50 spent.
16. We have been eating our own fresh apples, pears from the freezer, plus dried apricots and prunes so Nothing spent on fresh fruit all month.
17. Both of us feeling well all month ( tablets working!)
18. Lots of interesting sport to watch on TV plus the Monastery Farm and Strictly to enjoy.
19. Plenty of good library books to read.
20. The weather wasn't as cold/snowy/icy as predicted.
21. Over 100 people following this blog and over 100,000 page views - Wow!

The only negatives I can think of are

1.  The chickens aren't laying as many eggs  as they should be.

Review of the month - looking back at October

The last day of the month so time to look back at the ups,downs, ins and outs of another month on the Simple Suffolk Smallholding

1. Him Outside continued to get his strength and stamina back and is now back to how he was at the beginning of the year- Fit and Well.
2. We earned enough to cover next months budget ( see our budget here)
3. A couple of cheques were popped into the ISAs for winter
4. We've sold almost all the squash and pumpkins - an income of over £100
5. We've sold bags and bags of cooking apples, spreading appleness all around!
6. Lots of  pears and cooking apples have been put into the freezer.
7. We have enough eating apples to last us for many weeks, or months if they will keep that long.
8. We now have 4 chicken sheds ( 3 out on the field) so will always have enough grass for our chickens. And we will be able to have one empty in rotation for good  health and hygiene.
9. Egg sales are still very good.
10. I made a few jars of Red Onion "marmalade" Chutney.
11. Wood has been bought for building 2 new sheds.
12. Christmas puddings have been made.
13. More Christmas presents have been bought or organised.
14. We received another rosette for being nominated in the "Friendly Welcome" category, from the Camping and Caravanning Club.
15. Lots of good books from the Library Van again.
16. We had a surprise visit from our son.
17. We were almost Self- Sufficient in vegetables again this month ( less than £2 spent for carrots)
18. We were almost self-sufficient in fruit again this month.( less than £6 Spent on fruit all month)
19. We were able to buy some cheap coal from a friend in case of very cold weather.
20. We gained a builders bag of oak logs from the fallen branch across the road.

On the other side of the coin

A huge amount has been spent on more things for the smallholding for chicken sheds,tractor repairs, pressure washer, campsite and the garden shed. We seem to have been pouring money into this place since we moved here 20 years ago!
Our son didn't get a job he tried for in this area.
Food spending was over budget. ( Christmas stores)
The  wind blew the fence down - more expense.
The mild weather and rain has made the weeds grow everywhere.

Review of the month - Looking Back at September

1. Him Outside had the second stent done with no problems and is feeling very well.
2. We earned enough money to cover everything for next month (here is our budget)
3. Some money has been put into the ISAs for winter.
4. The campsite continued to be busy
5. Lots of lovely weather
6. We spent less than we had allocated
7. Food spending was well under budget
8. From the garden we had aubergines, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, runner beans, cauliflower, potatoes, onions, cabbage, peppers, beetroot, lettuce, radish. So..................
9. We were almost self sufficient for vegetables - spending just £1 on carrots and a punnet of yellow ticket cress.
10. From the garden we had plums, greengages, autumn raspberries,figs, pears, cooking apples and the first eating apples.So....................
11. We were almost self sufficient for fruit - 4 punnets of nectarines and a few apples early in the month were all that we bought .
12. Lots of lovely library books again
13. A nice big cheque for the field rolling job
14. We spent a few hours sitting on the beach and listening to the waves.
15. We came home from the coast via Sainsburys and found some reduced meat, value bacon and very cheap engine oil.
16. 3 Really big bargain buys- His work boots for £6, 5 Epson ink cartridges for £10 and a pair of almost new Crocs for £3.
17. Lots of chutney and relish has been made.Plans in hand for more.
18. We have a huge tree full of Bramley apples, lots of Squash and several pumpkins to sell.
19. New chickens are looking well and have started laying.
20. We went to the Suffolk Smallholders AGM and met up with folk we haven't seen in a while.
21.  Thanks to the blog we have a new writer for the Penny Pincher letter writing group that I belong to.

It was such a good month that I can't think of anything at all to put in the negative list. How lucky we are!

Review of the month - Looking Back At August

1. Him Outside came home from hospital  and is now feeling very well.
2. The weather has been wonderful.
3. Campsite income was excellent, making up for Him Outside not being able to earn any money from odd jobs for most of the month due to the heart thing.
4. We were able to buy 9 chickens from a friend and 24 new point of lay today to replace hens that are getting old.
5. We got a years supply of wheat from the same friend.
6. The vegetables have been brilliant and selling well. We've had tomatoes,cucumbers,courgettes, marrows, aubergines, chilli peppers, peppers, runner beans, onions ,potatoes, carrots, red beet, lettuces.
7. NO vegetables have been bought this month( self sufficient for the second month running)
8. I had a lovely supply of good books from the library van
9. I entered the village flower show for the first time in several years and achieved a couple of Firsts and a few Second and Third placings
10. The Jeep passed it's MOT without a hitch.
11. We got a handy income from a load of scrap
12. Our 3 children and 2 out of three of their partners came  and we shared a big take-away treat.
13. We got the raspberries all pruned and I made a start on the gooseberry pruning
14. Him Outside got some of the vegetable beds cleared and covered with compost.
15. I got a £10 voucher from Craft Creations to spend on card making supplies.
16. Our friends came to visit for the day
17. I tried out Approved Foods and got a good bread flour bargain.
18. We had some nice afternoons sitting out and making the most of the good weather
19. I carried on enjoying the blogging

BUT
Income apart from campsite was low.
Only a tiny bit of money has been saved in the ISAs for winter.
Food budget was overspent.

Belated Review of the Month- Looking Back At July

On the plus side first

1. We earned more than we spent - always a good start to the review of the month.
2. We were able to save some into the ISAs
3. The weather was lovely and sunny at last. ( Longest sunny spell since 2006)
4. Despite numerous machinery breakdowns ( and a useless hay turner that will have to be returned to the place we got it from) The HUGE haymaking job was done. The first 70 bales were sold. There is still money for 230 bales to come, plus 350 more bales will provide us with a small income through the Autumn and early winter, - the man who is having  them  needs to spread his cost and we are happy to do it that way too.
5. The campsite income was good and has been saved for winter.
6. The path along the back of the house was finished.
7. There were some excellent tennis matches at Wimbledon,  and Andy Murray triumphed and seemed a much less grumpy person than in previous years
8. An excellent gooseberry harvest resulted in a grand total of 286lb. Some were put into the freezer, 12lb swapped for picture framing and the rest were sold bringing an income of approx £375!!
9. No vegetables were bought during the whole month - we were completely self-sufficient. 
10. The new raspberry rows gave their first good crop so with strawberries available early in the month, the only fruit bought were nectarines/peaches.
11. Numbers 8 and 9 meant the food spending was well in budget leaving some spare to give to our youngest and her partner for food on the days they took me to hospital, and didn't have time to cook.
12. Another lovely pile of books from the library van( most of which I haven't had time to read yet - can't think why?!)
13. Loads of tasty fruit and vegetables to eat and to sell on the stall at the gate including Salad stuff, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Runner beans, Climbing French Beans, Chilli peppers, Beetroot, Raspberries, Courgettes, Marrows, Morello Cherries.
14. Lots of Best wishes from fellow bloggers helped to get me through the 10 days on my own. Special mention to Bridget who sent so many positive vibes that there were none left in Dorset and her minibus failed it's MOT!
15. Emails and a gift from my Penny Pinching friend S in  Hagley and an extra letter from my penfriend W on Tiree, also helped me through.
16. Him Outside got small cheques for moving the irrigator,grass cutting and for rotavating at Friston allotments.
17.  Got my paper storage sorted in the craft room for £10 after finding the drawer units at a car boot sale.

BUT

• Little did we know that when Him Outside returned from hospital after the angiogram he would then be rushed in by ambulance and be stuck there and at Papworth for the next 10 days!
• The hot weather and their age resulted in some of our chickens going off lay.

Looking Back at June

Before I forget, must say welcome to 2 new followers recently, now up to 40, pretty good after just 3 months I'm told.
Looking back at June

1. Oh dear, we spent more than we earned, mainly because of paying for a years pre-payment prescription card for Him Outside, the electric bill, ballast and cement for the path and the dreaded dentist( although campsite income is not counted in the above earnings)
2. The electric bill money and dentist money were already put to one side so we didn't need to dip into savings.
3. The income from campsite and Him Outsides cheque for the 2 months grass cutting at the second home have been tucked into the ISA for the winter.
4. We have STRAWBERRIES!
5. Lots of things in the vegetable garden and poly tunnels are doing well, despite the cool weather.
6. Him Outside has tested out the hospital service in Suffolk for the first time.
7. Egg sales are still eggsellent!( Sorry, I must stop that awful pun every month) bringing an income of about one third of our total monthly requirements.
8. We have started to sell gooseberries, strawberries, courgettes, cucumbers, early potatoes 
9. Have put a small amount of broad beans and 4lb strawbs into the freezer.
10. Thanks to the help from two ex-work friends, half the pathway at the back of the house is finished.
11. Decided to make the effort to enter things in the local Flower and Produce show.
12. Made 1 small cross stitch card, plus a small cross stitch Xmas decoration for the above show.
13. Wrote a poem about A Village also for the above show.
14. Had a wonderfully large pile of good books from the library van. 
15. The raspberries are constantly covered by bees of various sorts and look to be very prolific
16. Found some interesting and hopefully useful card crafting stuff from Car Boot sales
17. Lots of lovely tennis to watch on TV with Andy M. winning Queens, just sad to see Rafa knocked out of Wimbledon so early.
18. Him Outside was able to get the parts for doing the jeep brakes off ebay, and got them fixed- saving a fortune on garage bills.

Conclusion:- An odd sort of month, weird weather, weird health issues. But we got through.

Raspberries to look forward to in July

Looking back at May

Oh dear, in some ways May wasn't a good month, but they are at the end of the list!
Here is a look at all that happened on the Simple Suffolk Smallholding  in May

1. Once again we earned more than we spent- always a good start to a review of the month.
2. Thanks to the guys working at Sizewell Power station, the campsite income was our best ever start to a season. ( Campsite income is not counted in the above )
3. Income from campsite has gone into ISA ready for winter.
4. I earned some money working as a Poll Clerk 
5. We got the new poly tunnel covered and planted full of tomatoes which we will sell later
6. We also got everything else planted out ( except for pumpkins and squash plants - we are running late with them)
7. Him Outside got another regular bit of work - looking after the grass cutting and strimming at a second home.
8. Egg sales were eggscellant!
9. We got rid of 3 years worth of unwanted odds and ends at a car boot sale - income £85
10. I managed to sort out all the small pots of herbs, and prepared them to sell at the gate.
11. We re-potted or chucked all my huge pots of weedy Hostas - something that we should have got done at least 2 years ago!
12. Some good boot-sale bargains have filled in lots of spaces in my Christmas present book.
13. We were able to eat the first and only (so far)  mini cucumber from the poly tunnel.
14. I've had lots of good books from the library and done loads of reading.
15. Co-op divi and Tesco voucher both arrived at end of the month- handy saving  of £29 for June  food spending.

BUT
Him Outsides sudden health issues are worrying.
 The awful weather means that lots of things in the garden are running very late or looking sad and things are on go slow in the poly tunnels.
Another month has gone by and I've done NO cross stitch again.
The food budget was way over because of trying some different things from  different places and having almost nothing from the garden.( Although the food cupboards are now full and June food spending will be down).
Campsite electric hook-up annual test found things that needed repair = Big Bill.
There had to be some spending on working boots for him and clothes for me.
We had nothing to sell at the gate except eggs and a bit of rhubarb.
Conclusion - Not a very frugal month. Must do better!