The other C word

Walking past the magazines in Asda - not buying - I noticed Cross Stitcher Magazine had a Christmas kit for the free gift on the front. Christmas Aaaagh!

Better get started on the hamper gifts then.

When we moved from the smallholding I was very worried that without all our fruit and vegetables there would be no hampers for the 2 sisters and brothers-in-law this year. So I made a list in the front of the diary of things I could think of that didn't involve buying items that were too expensive. What I didn't know about back then was that Aldi had special offers and I would be walking under an overhanging Bramley apple tree on my way to the shops.

First make has been Mango Chutney. The recipe is on the separate recipe page, you don't have to scroll down too far. Yesterday I adjusted amounts to use the 2 mangos in a pack (on offer at Aldi) and the apples I picked up under the tree (had to add one more from the Greengrocers)
Made just enough for 3 jars

BTW hexagonal jars are the most annoying for filling as air bubbles get trapped in the corners and then you have to sterilise a spoon handle and slide it down to release them. I bought a big box full of these jars years ago when I was making chutney to sell and lots are still around, even though I keep giving them away.

Weather here much warmer today than forecast and less rain overnight than forecast too. I went to the beach hut again and then back to visit Colin on my way home, over the last two days he has become very poorly, they are doing more tests to try to find out why he has high temperatures and spells of shivering every day. There must be an infection somewhere. He was about to be wheeled off on the bed  for another chest Xray when I left. He's not eating but drinking plenty so that's OK and has no energy at all, even sitting up to drink a cup of tea wears him out. The doctors said infections are more of a threat than the stem cell transplant. Just have to hope it hasn't affected his heart.
A worrying weekend ahead. Need to keep myself busy.

Back Soon
Sue

Another thing for the hampers (and the cupboard)

Just occasionally, I see something with a yellow reduced sticker in Tescos that is actually worth buying.  Last month it was 4 mangoes at 50p each and thought a-ha - mango chutney.
 Ages since I made any, back in the days when Col went to the office in Ipswich and I got  a lift to town and the chance to look at proper market stalls where they often had mangoes at 4 for £1. Now they are £1 each or even more.
Straight home and fetched some jars in from the shed to wash and got the ingredients into the preserving pan.
An hour and a bit later and 6 and a half jars were made.

 The recipe is on my recipe page. This is a mild fruity recipe to make a contrast when it is served with curry unlike some I've seen which are hotter than the curry. If you wanted it hotter some chilies could be added.

Welcome to Victoria -  a new follower but  not a new follower! and Greta, there may be someone else too but I'm not sure who. Hello anyway

Back in a day or 3
Sue

Monday to Thursday

Welcome to Joanne, Lisa and Dr stevie  new followers to reading my ramblings.

I got quite a surprise when I switched on the computer on Tuesday morning to find the Marrow and Apple Chutney recipe was posted on Monday as it wasn't meant to be there until Wednesday. I'd written it a few days ago and had gone into draft to copy it onto the recipe page and must have pressed publish instead of save before switching off. So there were 16 comments to a post I didn't even know was there - Duh!

Anyway

Monday
The Great Suffolk Pastry Bake

 When I'm making pastry it seems sensible to do several things at once. 5 pastry cases, 2 Apple and Blackberry Pies, 1 apple and apricot flan and a few mince pies with the pastry trimmings and the last of last years mincemeat. All my flan cases, pie dishes and casserole lids have been collected from charity shops and boot-sales over the years. Everything except the flan went into the freezer.

Tuesday
Finally, At Last, all the junk useful items Col put on Ebay  have been posted or collected. They were all bits from the workshop that he didn't want to take with him when we move and didn't sell at the yard sale and the car boot. He's added up the total income which is £121. Another useful addition to the winter kitty.
We had to go to Ipswich to take the gel bike seat cover back to Halfords as it wasn't big enough for my bike. While we were there we nipped into Lidl again for another joint of their delicious ham. At £3.97 for a 1Kg joint of real proper ham it's a bargain. I also bought some limes as they were reduced to 10p each. They've been popped into the freezer until I can buy a tin of lemon Mamade, which will become Lemon and Lime marmalade. I wish we had a Lidl a bit closer than 25 miles away.
There are 2 charity shops next door to Lidl so of course we had to pop in and I found these two for £1.49.

At the back is a pad of crafting papers but I was more interested in the 11 mini coat hangers which I can use for card making. I've got some peel off clothing stickers that I can use with them.
The book looked interesting, I'm currently reading one of Ronald Blythe's books - River Diary - about his and the churches year at Wormingford on the Suffolk Essex border.
On Amazon, one of the reviewers says of this book " You don't have to have any religion to appreciate his descriptions of life in his corner of Essex/Suffolk; his faith informs his life and writings, but he expresses it without proselytising, and places it in the context of the mainstream of English cultural life" 
I'm not clever enough to write like the bloke above! So will just say I enjoy his writing.I've read several of his books of essays and can recommend 'The Bookmans Tale'  to anyone who likes books and reading. In fact I think I'll order it from the library again to re-read.

Wednesday
The Autumn Equinox and the last swallows have gone. We had one family with 2 late youngsters nesting in the wood shed but today when I went in there I didn't get dived bombed as has happened every day before.
 In my Pagan Book of Days it says - depressingly-  "A time when darkness overtakes light, and nights grow longer than days" but it turned into a sunny day until 4 o'clock after several grey dreary ones.
Colin has been cleaning out the guttering - one of the advantages of being a chalet bungalow(or any sort of bungalow for that matter) is that the guttering can be reached easily. I spent the morning making bread and deciding on a recipe for red tomato chutney. After lunch Col took our elderly friend to see his wife in Norwich hospital again.

The Dahlias were knocked about by the heavy rain last Friday and now there's not many flowers left in the garden to bring in except these Sedums, I don't like to cut too many as they are useful food for bees and butterflies. Last week I got a bunch of flowers for £2 from Lidl but they only lasted about 5 days,  I must go searching round the field for some teasels and add them to some evergreens.

Thursday

 This really is the last chutney I shall make this year.My usual recipe for using red tomatoes has lots of red pepper in but our peppers have been really poor so I looked through all the preserving books and then ended up altering a recipe for Red Tomato, Celery and Apple Relish. Mine became just Red Tomato and Apple Relish by increasing the amount of onion. I left out the crushed coriander and mustard seeds that were in the original recipe and added a tsp of chili powder instead.
I used 2 and a bit pounds of Red Plum Tomatoes, 1lb of onions and just over 1lb of Apple. 1½ pints of a mix of Red Wine and Distilled White Vinegar, 8oz white sugar, tsp paprika, tsp chili powder, 2 small dried chillies chopped.
The tomatoes had their skins removed by covering them with boiling water and were roughly chopped,(also removing the hard stalk end) the onions were peeled and chopped small. The apples were peeled,cored and chopped. Everything except half the vinegar was put into a preserving pan, brought to the boil slowly and then simmered for an hour.Every now and again I stirred the mixture and added a little more vinegar. After an hour and a half the relish was still not thick enough to pot up so I stirred in half a tube of Tomato Puree and kept stirring for another 10 minutes. I then potted into sterilised jars and popped on the lids. This made 5 and a bit jars but I have no idea what it's going to taste like or if it will be a good keeper so if you make it I suggest either eating within 6 months or processing in a hot water bath. The recipe book had two extra ideas for using this relish, one was to mix a little with sausage meat when making sausage rolls or to spread a little on the pastry case when making a quiche.

I seem to have been inside making things for weeks. Outside we've had quite a lot of damp or really wet weather and the garden has been neglected, lots of things have finished and need clearing and the strawberry bed is full of chickweed. I think I heard that the forecast is better for next week so hopefully we'll get out and get on with tidying for winter. We are rushing to the end of September far too quickly for my liking.

Back in a while
Sue

Marrow and Apple Chutney

2015's cooking apple crop has been brilliant. 100% better than 2012 when it was a disaster and I went begging for windfalls, not as good as 2013 when we made a lot of money selling them but better than last years when we only just had enough to put some in the freezer.

Time for chutney making - Marrow and Apple
Easy, cheap and tasty. Keeps for ages, goes well with cheese and dolloped into a curry.
Autumn in a jar x 9!

 Marrow and Apple Chutney 

4lb prepared marrow ( peel and seeds removed, cut flesh into small chunks)
3 tablespoons salt
2lb prepared cooking apples ( peeled, cored and cut into chunks)
1lb onions peeled and chopped
1lb dark brown sugar
2pints spiced pickling vinegar
1tsp ginger

The day before you are making the chutney prepare the marrow and layer it into a bowl with the salt.

The next day rinse the marrow and leave to drain while you prepare the apple and onion.
Put HALF the vinegar into a large preserving pan add all the other ingredients and bring slowly to the boil, cook, stirring regularly until everything is pulpy.
Add the rest of the vinegar and continue cooking and stirring until there is no loose liquid ( probably about 2 hours in total)
Pour into sterilised jars, cover and label.
Keeps well.

Back Soon
Sue

Tarting up the house without spending too much.........

.............plus cooking from the garden.

Today was busy,busy.

 It started with me doing the ironing and looking around the small bedroom while I was ironing and thinking "Oh Good Grief now I've moved all the car boot stuff out this room looks very tatty". That means it really needs a coat of paint in case we do put the house up for sale. So after finishing the ironing and putting everything away, I cleared out the room which was easier than it sounds because apart from the ironing board and iron and the now empty ironing basket, the only things  in the room were 2½ packs of new egg boxes, one old dining chair and one small recliner.
We still have some paint left from the living room so that will do and means another room done without any cost.
The single bed that's currently in the craft room will go in here as Estate Agents always like rooms to look right for what they are.

 About  a month ago I suggested we get an off cut of carpet to cover the porch floor, the laminate is very scuffed and rough looking but Col said there were some carpet tiles left over from the conservatory, so I cleared out the  porch, only for him to say that he couldn't find them and then remembered we had used them under the dart board in the campsite recreation room. But while I was ironing on Saturday morning Col was in the workshop sorting out some things for the car boot sale and he came across a piece of vinyl flooring left from doing the utility room and upstairs bathroom 4 years ago. Just right for doing the front porch.
 No time like the present, so I cleared out the porch again and a couple of hours later after a bit of cutting and sticking and huffing and puffing  we had a nice tidy porch floor.
Another job done at no cost.

So far we have done one bedroom, the dining room, touched up the living room and kitchen and I've painted the front door all for the cost of a small tin of red gloss and a small tin of satinwood.



Also today I made 2 lasagnes ( a 2 portion and a 4 portion) using a variation on the recipe on my separate recipe page that's titled Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagne.
This time the variation on  main ingredients were:-
Instead of Pumpkin I used the larger part of our last two butternut squash ( forgot about these the other day when I listed what we had of our own food remaining from last year). A big bowlful of chard from the garden replaced the spinach,  Green Lasagne sheets ( Approved food). A tomato sauce made using 3 of our own leeks, two tins of tomatoes and tomato puree and a white sauce using dried skimmed milk and cornflour. Everything layered up and topped with grated cheddar.
The 2 portion Lasagne was eaten for dinner - and was delicious-  and the 4 portion has gone in the freezer.

Another part of the squash had already been eaten on Friday in a veggie curry. Our other meals last week were an asparagus quiche and  cauliflower (our own) cheese. So no meat eaten but lots of food from the garden. Not forgetting the salad leaves and radishes for lunch everyday. Not too bad at all!



Welcome to Sandra and Dorothy new followers in the Google Pictures

Back Sooner than later
Sue

Gooseberry Jam and 5 Old Books

Due to putting loads of fruit in the freezer last Autumn, plus the half lamb  plus Christmas stuff we have had 2 chest freezers on for the last  5 months. Now both are about ⅔ full, so I need to sort out, use up and squash everything back into one.
Therefore today was gooseberry jam making day, it all went well which makes up for the redcurrant jelly disaster last week. Seven and a bit jars added to the cupboard. I don't eat any myself but Col likes a slice of toast and jam everyday. Gooseberry is one of his favourites and so is Plum and Greengage and Strawberry!

It's still mild here again today but rather grey and dismal. Col did a few odd jobs over at our neighbours and has started getting 4 more IBC tanks-in-a-frame ready for delivering next week.
After the jam making I didn't really do much at all.



Up on the top of the next bookshelves are 5 very old books.These were my Mum's but the Toytown Frolics dates from 1946 when Mum would have been 20 so I reckon it was something she bought for  her youngest brother  who died of Leukemia when he was very little.  I think Mum had one book a year for her birthday given her from her Auntie because most of them say To Joyce From Auntie Gladys!

The Bookano on the right includes a few pop up pictures, which fascinated me when I was little. These books have really thick paper and were much read by me many years ago which has made them very tatty.
 I'm glad I've managed to hold onto them as I got rid of all my books from childhood several years ago at a car boot sale when we were a bit hard up.

699 + 5 = 704

Welcome to Tess, Alison, Megan, Caroline, Catherine and Rosie who are new followers by Bloglivin'.

Back Soon
Sue

Family Fame and Vegetarian Christmas Fare

A week or two ago I wrote about our Archaeologist son being on local ITV news when he was showing some schoolchildren around an old WWII  airfield as part of his latest job. I tried to work out how to put the TV clip onto the blog but failed so if you want to see what the Eighth In The East Community Archeaology project is all about you can Find it here . 
Yesterday we found our eldest daughter was also making a tenuous claim to fame as she had put this picture on her Facebook page. This lady appears almost at the end of the full length  Lidl Christmas ad on TV  and our daughter was the print designer who designed the bird design on her blouse. I had a look and there it is on the  Phase Eight website.

 

Meanwhile back on the Simple Suffolk Smallholding we are not getting carried away by our children's fame and  our feet are truly on the ground .............very wet ground......... everywhere!

C had to go to the dentist this morning, then he worked in the poly-tunnels getting all the stakes that had been holding up the tomatoes, out of the tunnels. Next job will be to barrow in as much compost as possible ready for forking in.
I spent the morning playing in the kitchen; Baking bread, making a mushroom quiche and concocting a recipe for individual  nut and vegetable roasts ready for our future daughter in law R and her sister who will be here on Christmas day. I've layered a breadcrumb/cashew nut/celery/onion  mix with a parsnip/carrot mash with some cranberries in between. The mix I used today was just enough for 2 and  I cooked them until they were firm and golden. I'm going to put them in the freezer, take them out in a couple of days time and reheat with some mozzarella on top. We will have them for dinner and if they are tasty enough I shall then make more and freeze ready for the 25th. I will probably do 3 then I can have one as well, which will leave more chicken or turkey for the rest of December. R says that sometimes Christmas vegetarian meals in pubs or restaurants are just a pasta or something equally un-Christmassy, which means she misses out on the roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts and all the other things which go to make a proper Festive meal. I will also get some veggie sausages so R and G won't have to miss out my special honey and mustard glazed chipolatas which the meat eaters in the family all love.

This afternoon I shelled out the climbing French beans which have been drying in the kitchen for a few weeks. This resulted in half a jar full which will be plenty for sowing next year.

That's another November day done and dusted, we are certainly  rushing towards  December now.

Back Tomorrow
Sue ☺

It's Christmas Pudding Time

Last year I used half my Christmas Pudding Recipe because there were still 2 in the cupboard from 2012, this year I used 1 and a third times the recipe to make 6 puds of various sizes, some will be given as gifts.
  With the Rayburn alight it means I can steam them for free.

3 puds steaming and some fruit de-frosting with a pasta/salmon bake in the oven

 The suet, mixed peel and raisins were from Approved Foods, flour is Aldi - the cheapest I can find, value sultanas from Tesco,  eggs were thin shelled or odd shaped ones we can't sell, apples were our own windfalls, all these are small ways to keep the cost down. I'm still using some brown sugar that I had bought before I saw Dawns tip on making brown sugar. Something I shall certainly try.

I've had 3 or 4 Christmas catalogues in the post so far this year but I doubt I will be buying anything from them even if they are charity ones. Things always seem so expensive.
The Friends of the Earth Catalogue has a bag of 15 pine-cone firelighters which seem to be a cone attached to a a small wax circle with a wick to light them for £9.00, mind you, that's cheap compared to some I looked at on t'internet which were £16 for 12! There's money to be made from fir cones obviously, but £16 - Heck! If you look HERE there's info on how to make them. But why? because  a bit of scrunched up newspaper and a few pine cones would light a fire anyway without faffing about with melting wax and cup cake cases. This is a no faff household!

Today's post brought yet another voucher, the 4th in 2 months, from Wyevale Garden Centre. I'm beginning to think they are desperate for our custom. We had a £5 off £15 spend for September, same again for October, and another £5 of £15 to be used during the last two weeks of October and now £2.50 off anything. We will be popping along there again soon for another Christmas present.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Not a menu plan

Lots of people do a menu plan for the week/month ahead, and then go shopping for what they want but after years in the not distant past when we raised all our own meat  and ate whatever we had in the freezer, I've always worked the other way round. I'm here every day with time  to cook, So we eat what we have in the freezer or cupboard and then shop next month to replace it. I also never know if our youngest and her bloke will be around to eat or not until the day before they come so my way is easier for me. During the winter most cooking is done in the Rayburn which uses free wood and is alight for heat and hot water.

I've noticed there is lots of interest in what other folks have for their dinner so here is a reverse menu plan - what we ate LAST month!

Home grown vegetables last month were potatoes, onions,parsnips, leeks, squash, swede, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. I buy value range carrots from Tesco, celery and a little salad stuff for lunches and we bought a sack of potatoes when our home grown ran out in late January.

Main Meals
Smoked mackerel fillets with baked potato wedges,seasoned with pepper and paprika and frozen peas. (Under £1 per person)
Cheap value pizza but with homemade tomato topping added and mozzarella.(Under  75p per person)
Bacon Chops (  from pack of Sainsburys value cooking bacon) and leek fritters(Under 50p  "    ")
Neck of lamb stew( Co-op Yellow sticker) including lots of homegrown veg with  dumplings ( Under £1 per person)
Herb omelet ( Almost free apart from a little sunflower oil)
Fish Fingers and home made chips and mushy peas ( Under  50p per person)
Cheap chicken and veg pies ( Tesco, small but actually quite good) + home grown veg ( under 50p per person)
Leeks, cheese and pasta bake with home made tomato/herb bread roll ( Under 75p each per person)
Roast Leg of Lamb ( Special treat with 2 guests) Home grown veg Not counting cost!
Shepherds pie - using left over lamb and home grown veg             
Home made  Tomato and Veg soup then baked potato (Under 50p per person)
Homemade Traditional Beef Lasagne + salad ( with 2 visitors)  ( Under  £1.50 per person)
Roast pheasant ( free!) with homegrown veg ( Almost free apart from gravy )
Veg curry using all home grown veg ( Under 25p per person)
Pork belly slices in Hoisin sauce with rice and stir fry veg - Mainly home grown ( under £1.50 per person)
Home made Celery soup then baked Potato ( Celery is bought for lunch crunch this soup uses the outside sticks so under 25p per person)
Home made meatballs ( mince and sausage meat and bread crumbs) in spicy tomato sauce ( Not sure of price)
Baked frozen fish in crumbs and home made chips and mushy peas ( Under £1 per head)
Tuna, pasta and calabrese bake ( Under £1.25 per person)
Roast Chicken ( with 4 visitors) home grown veg ( gifted chicken)
Cold chicken with home grown veg
Toad in the hole ( with 2 visitors ) plus Home grown veg( Vegetarian sausages for visitor, not sure of price)

Plus a few days when I didn't make a note
Plus some Sundays when I don't cook and we have scrambled eggs
Plus the Giant Takeaway for 8 people when all the family were here. ( A rare event!)

I've not given much information about our meals before as we tend not to count the cost of food as much as some folk do, preferring to cut back in other areas. I have the housekeeping in cash for food, cleaning stuff,chemist things etc. etc. in my purse each month. I don't spend more than I have!

***********

We had about 18 hours of continuous rain/drizzle that finally stopped around midday today. Our flat grassy field is waterlogged and big pools of water stand in every low bit. We are forecast more storms tonight, but  we won't be flooded  or have to move out so we are the lucky ones.

I'm looking forward to watching the winter Olympics over the next two weeks, if the jet stream had been in a slightly different place for the last 6 weeks all the rain that's fallen might have been snow instead, we would have needed skis to get around here too!

Back Tomorrow- Potato Day!

A Low Tech Gadget and more meat stretching

Over there in one of the columns on the right it says that one of the ways we are frugal is to avoid gadgets- the sort that are run by electric and are really unnecessary.

But here is one of the low tech gadgets I have - it's very old and I've had it since before we were married. It takes apart for washing up easily too. I think they are still made in an updated version.

 You just put your carrot or potato inside the bottom bit and bash the handle up and down  and hey presto tiny bits of veg are produced. Just right for mixing with minced beef to make a batch of pasties.

Yet another good way of stretching meat. 9 pasties made using 12 oz mince, 4 carrots 5 medium potatoes and a good dollop of brown sauce. All squidged together by hand. Home made  shortcrust pastry, rolled out and cut into rounds with a small saucepan lid. Cooked for about half an hour on highish temp then another 15mins a bit lower. ( I'm vague as I just do them until I think they look right).
I wrap them individually in foil and freeze them. Then pop them into a couple of plastic boxes. Him Outside prefers his cold but I usually reheat mine in the microwave for a few minutes. Lots of good gravy and some green veg. Delicious.





Thank you to everyone for comments over the last few days and welcome to new followers on bloglovin. I see I'm heading towards 100 little pictures, click and follow - make my day!

Plus I think a small fanfare is in order as this is post number 200!!
And they said it wouldn't last. :-)

Slaving over a hot jam pan

The weather today has certainly warmed up and it was a bit too hot in the kitchen when I made the Greengage Jam turning these

into this

According to an old jam making book if you want greengage jam to stay green you need to use a copper jam pan, but as mine is stainless steel it went the same colour that plum jam always is. Shame really but I know it will taste OK.

I went to cut the cauliflower for dinner tonight and found there were 3 ready so 2 went out on the stall along with more small pumpkins, squash, greengages and plums and everything sold very quickly. We've finished selling tomatoes, cucumbers and runner beans. Next will be cooking apples. It is all so different to last year when there was not a single bit of tree fruit to sell.

Early in the year we had a caravan on the site belonging to men working at Sizewell Power Station where they were putting up security fencing. Today one of them called in and asked if they could come back on Monday for 3 weeks. They've been working elsewhere all summer but are now back to do more at Sizewell. That will be a handy bit of unexpected income. All bodes well for saving for the winter months when regular income will be down to just the egg money and some for hay.

I managed to 'forget' the ironing again today, so I MUST get it done tomorrow!

Another chilly day

Listening to Ken Bruce on Radio 2 this morning made me so glad that we have a wood burner and no central heating. People were contacting him about putting on or NOT putting on their central heating. He always says that he doesn't put the heating on until much later how ever cold it is. If we get cold it is very easy to just light a small fire. A bit of newspaper, a few of bits of kindling and a couple of bits of pallet plus a log will do to warm the room. Then the fire can be left to go out again. Easy Peasy. I HATE being cold, and yes I have got a cardi on as well.

Thanks to Morgan at Growing in the Fens for the Beetroot Chutney recipe. I made 9 jars this morning and it looks really good. I managed to do it without getting in too much of a mess- beetroot is mucky stuff! According to one of my preserve cookery books:- A Chutney is pulpy and a Relish is chunkier. So my recipe for Red Hot Relish last week should correctly be called Red Hot Chutney, but it doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
I had planned to do Greengage jam on Friday but not enough of the gages are ripe yet so that will have to wait a week.

Thanks to Buttercup I have now I have been side tracked into re-reading some of my old copies of The Penny Pincher Paper and I haven't looked at them for several years so that will be a happy evening

I was just walking back across the field from checking chicken water before dark when I had a thought
"Maybe Frugal living at our age is knowing that you could live on less than you do but not having to, because for many years you did live on less than everyone else did."

From summer to winter in 5 days

Thank you to Sft.,Sadie, Pam in Tydd, Karen, Attila and another Pam at Winkle Crazy Ideas for comments yesterday. I seem to be failing dismally on the replying front and have hardly left comments on anyone elses blog for days, time seems so short at the moment.
It seems everyone liked the chicken tea-pot cosy which was a present from our eldest several years ago and too nice to keep in a drawer.

  I've been saying all summer we are in the driest part of the country but today a bank of cloud has sat across East Anglia and we have had rain, although not as much as predicted. What we have had though is strong winds and a drop in temperature down to Blinkin' Cold! It is hard to believe that last Thursday we went and sat on the beach. Today its back into trousers and cardi.We lit the wood burner yesterday evening and will again tonight and the Rayburn was lit for hot water.

I've had a couple of  days of tidying, cleaning and odd jobs which has got lots of things sorted so tomorrow I'm going to have a go at Beetroot and Ginger chutney which was on someones blog a few weeks ago ( As usual I've forgotten who it was - hopeless- sorry!).
Apart from the cooking plum tree and the eating plum tree we also have a couple of old greengage trees in the hedge right up the top of the field. They only have a crop about every 4th year and this is one of those years so I'm planning to do greengage jam on Friday.

Not a lot of excitement here again today although I had to turn away a campervan who arrived without a booking because we already have our allocation of the 5 vans we are allowed. I think we have never before in 18 years had 5 vans on site on a mid week night in September.  Our income this year has certainly made up for last years wet weather disaster.

Now a special plea to Buttercup. Sorry I only found your reply re the Penny Pincher letter yesterday. We do our letters by post so you wouldn't need to be too computer literate. Some of us type and some of us write by hand. Now how do we get in touch?
Does anyone know Buttercup? Does anyone know how people contact each other not on public view? How do I find out if anyone has emailed me on my google mail- I can't seem to work it out? HELP!

New Tricks on soon, must do some reading first.
Back tomorrow

Life is too short to plait onions

Thank you from both of us for all the anniversary good wishes yesterday. We celebrated by going to a car boot sale , doing all the regular jobs and reading. Who needs cards and flowers?

I'm having to do this blog all over again as the first time I posted it it came out on top of the previous post - very odd.

Our onions have been out of the ground for a couple of weeks, laying on mesh shelves in the greenhouse with both doors open, to finish drying them off and today I started the job of sorting them out and taking off the dry skins.
In gardening books they often give instructions for plaiting the onions with a piece of string but we just put them in net bags and hang them from the shed roof. No faffing about here! I've often wondered if people are put off growing stuff because they think they have to do complicated things with them afterwards.

After the onions, I did a bit of Autumn cleaning. I don't do spring cleaning because I would rather be outside in springtime. I moved some things around on the worktops, cleaning as I went around, cleaned out a couple of cupboards, sorted out some dresser drawers to make more space, whipped around the house with the feather duster until the feathers started falling out  and then took all the things off the dresser to give them a wash. When they were all clean and shiny I thought I would take a picture of  all the eclectic mix of things I have collected over the years from car boot sales and charity shops.

The chicken tea cosy stands guard and along with the sheep jug on the top shelf are the only things that were bought new.

It was blinkin' cold here this morning and very chilly now, we shall be lighting the woodburner later I think. We've also got some rain at last, although it's been dry all day there have been black clouds all around. A motorhome arriving on the campsite had driven through heavy rain in Essex.

Him Outside has been rolling fields again today that makes a total of 27 hours, which will be a handy income when he gets paid.

My original post had a bit of a rant about a camper wanting me to tell off his 3 year old little poppet because she was noisy. I hate that " be quiet or the lady won't let us stay" NO, I didn't play along. I hope I never used that ploy with our lot. Perhaps they will tell me if I did!

Hope this posts in a new box and not half on top of yesterdays.
Back tomorrow.

When I'm cleaning windows

Anyone over forty-five will remember Windowlene. A thick pink stuff that was rubbed onto windows and then rubbed off again to get them clean. I think it was the only thing available at the time. I hate cleaning windows and I'm sure it was because my Mum, who was extremely houseproud, was often window cleaning and we would be inside the house telling her where the smeary bits were and then she would spend ages going in and out trying to get rid of all the Windowlene marks. So boring!
Cleaning the house windows has always been my job and I would have started out with Windowlene, and  moved onto a spray stuff when that became available. I've tried all sorts of things over the years but now I just use hot water and white vinegar and lots of old rags.
Anyway, I'd put off doing them as long as possible so got on with it after doing other jobs this morning. Him Outside came home after finishing the field rolling job and volunteered to do the insides while I was outside- he can reach across the kitchen worktops easier than I can. As I had help I carried on all around the downstairs outside, so he had to as well! He reckoned it was the hardest physical work he had done since he came home from hospital - poor old thing! As for the upstairs windows, they will have to wait a while longer.

First thing this morning I got on with some more preserving. This time I made 4 jars of Marrow and Ginger jam, and also made 2 loaves of bread. Home made bread and jam what could be better. At lunchtime I had a look at the blogs I read and there was Karen at Chelmarsh Chunterings also making bread and jam yesterday, strange coincidence.

My way of making Marrow and ginger jam differs from any recipe I've seen, putting bits of two recipes together- I do that a lot with jam and chutney making.

Marrow and Ginger Jam
3lb Marrow flesh cubed. ( Chickens will love the middle seedy bit and the skin)
Ginger. - Can be a piece of root ginger grated, 2 tsp ground ginger or some stem ginger preserved in syrup whichever you want.
2lb Gran sugar
Either the juice of a lemon or few tablespoons of bottled lemon juice.
1 sachet of pectin

Cover the marrow cubes with water, bring to boil  and then cook gently until they are starting to go soft and translucent. About 10 - 15 minutes.
Tip into a colander and leave to drain well for several minutes.
Into a preserving pan put 3/4 pint water, lemon juice and the sugar and heat gently until sugar is dissolving.
Add the strained marrow and cook until thickened. Keep stirring frequently as there is not much liquid.
I usually mash the marrow cubes up a bit as I'm cooking it rather than leave cubes.
Add sachet of pectin and boil for 4 more minutes.
Pot into sterilised jars and cover.

There are variations to this. Like using preserving sugar, grated zest of lemon and rest of lemon cooked in a muslin bag in the jam, instead of a sachet of pectin. Also one recipe where you use more water, the cubes are left quite big and then strained out into the jars with a slotted spoon. Then the remaining liquid is boiled hard to reduce and poured over the cubes in the jars.
I've had years when this has gone a bit mouldy.  It needs keeping in the fridge once opened.
Just realised that as this only makes 4 jars there is half a pound of sugar in each jar!

  This afternoon we sat out catching the lovely sunshine for half an hour but I got driven nuts by the noise of a loud whining tractor ploughing over the road. He then went off to pick up chicken feed before going to the first farm sale of the Autumn. It's unusual to have a sale starting at 4.30pm, I don't think there was anything we wanted up for sale but he will look for smallholder stuff going cheap which we can sell on via the Suffolk Smallholders Newsletter.

It's supposed to be very hot tomorrow and we've just heard that there might be muck spreading on the field all around us. That should be nice and smelly- we may have to go out!

 

Getting some work done

After 3 lazy days when the minimum of work was done, it was time to get back to normal.  So I started the day by doing some baking. I made a big batch of currant shortcakes mainly for putting in the freezer for Him Outside.

 SHORTCAKES
8oz SR Flour
4oz Butter
4oz Caster Sugar
3oz currants
1 egg
Egg  for brushing on and caster sugar for sprinkling.

Rub fat into flour stir in sugar and currants, mix in egg.
Roll out as thin as the currants will let you. Cut into squares, oblongs, whatever.
Put on greased baking sheets. Brush with a little beaten egg and then sprinkle just a little sugar.
Bake in medium not TOO hot oven for 10 - 15 minutes until golden. Watch them to make sure the currants don't burn. Leave for just a couple of minutes to cool then use a fish slice to move onto cooling racks.

I also did a plain sponge in square tins. This will also go in the freezer either to be used as a sponge cake or cut into fingers to use  for trifle bases.

My other bake was a packet of the carrot cake mix that came from approved foods when I got the Bread Flour.( Did anyone else take advantage of that offer. I still can't believe I have 12kg of flour in the cupboard for £2 !)
I NEVER usually buy cake mixes but carrot cake is one of my favourites that I don't bother to make very often. So when I saw 4 packs for £1, I thought they were worth a try. They are actually very nice. I was puzzled by the smell of the packet of icing mix - bad feet! It turns out the icing has cheese powder in it to imitate the cream cheese that would normally be used to ice carrot cake. I wondered whether to use it but decided to give it a go and used a few drops of lemon juice to add a tang and that turned out OK too.

I am not converted to ready made cake mixes as I'm not keen on the list of weird ingredients on the packet. But I'm hoping that as a one off ( 4 times!) they will not do me any harm.

After baking it was back to the fruit cage to do some more pruning of raspberry canes. Summer fruiting raspberries have to have all the canes that fruited this year cut out at ground level and the new growth of canes that will fruit next year are gently bent to go up between the wires to hold them in
place. I managed to get to the end of one whole row. So just one more left to do.

While I was baking and it was still foggy outside Him Outside did the downstairs hoovering for me ( he is getting quite handy with the hoover, since he has been helping indoors more so that I can help  him outside with more jobs ) Then he got  busy clearing a veg bed that had finished, covering with compost and turning it in with the rotavator, and finished off the day by transplanting some lettuce plants.

We had three caravans leaving and 3 new ones arriving so quite a busy day on the campsite. By this time next week we will be empty for the first time for months. The September diary is very quiet although we might have a group of teenagers and their teachers coming here while doing their Duke of Edinburgh award.

We had a Once-a-Year dinner tonight!

Pasta, Aubergine and cheese bake.
 For 2 people
1 Large Aubergine or two small.
3oz Pasta penne
3 Tablespoons Tomato Puree in third pint hot water
4oz grated mature cheddar
Salt & Pepper

Cook pasta as usual
Slice aubergine fairly thin and fry in olive oil ( I use rapeseed oil) until browned.
Layer aubergines, pasta, puree mix in a baking dish, with a little cheese, salt and good twist of pepper
Save most of cheese for putting over the top.
Bake for 25 minutes in hottish oven.

Forgot to take picture until we had started eating, so this looks a bit messy but tasted lovely

 The reason we only have this once a year is because it is a bit greasy as the aubergines absorb a lot of oil. Also aubergines are not something I buy as we try to eat only our own vegetables most of the time, so we can only eat this if we've grown them in the first place! Which we did this year and have a good crop mainly to sell or we also roast them in a mixed vegetable roast.

Tonight we will be watching New Tricks. We only "found" this programme about 2 series ago and have no idea why we didn't watch it in the earlier series. I'm interested to see how Nicholas Lyndhurst fits in as he is much younger than the other actors in it. There's also a repeat of Only Connect on in a minute - good brain testing quiz.
Better go and put the TV on and the kettle too I think.

Good news at last - fingers crossed.

Him Outside should be having a CT scan tomorrow morning and off to Papworth in the afternoon. I say should, because you never know with hospitals. With luck he will be home by the end of the week,which will be good as it is beginning to get a bit lonely here.
I thought I had an empty campsite tonight and then two phone calls- first was for a group of friends in 3 motorhomes probably just for tonight, maybe tomorrow too and second was for someone who suddenly had the chance to get away for 4 nights-Very handy bookings. Then a couple on cycles turned up with a tent for the night. So from no one to lots all at once!
Spent part of the morning,( after the picking and packing of veg to sell) making some strawberry and gooseberry jam. It is a brilliant combination as the gooseberries make the strawberry set. I used 4 pound of strawbs and 2 pound goosegogs. Cook separately to start with and if you cook the gooseberries down to pulp then they mix in to the strawberries and sugar without anyone knowing there are gooseberries in it. Clever!
I needed to get the jam done to make room in the freezer for cherries and later for apples. The cherries are morello cooking cherries so are very sharp. Some years the blackbirds move in but they've left them alone so far this year. I tried making jam with them one year and they were still sharp. Now I put some in the freezer to mix with apples in crumbles or pies and then sell the rest. They are such a pain to prepare as the stones need removing and however I do it I always seem to get me and the kitchen covered in cherry juice.
We had about five minutes of rain- gee whiz. Everybody who came on site said they had driven through thunderstorms and heavy rain and here we are on the edge of Suffolk and nothing. So when the sun goes down I will be out there yet again watering as much as I have energy to do. Even worse we have strong wind which will just dry the topsoil even more.
Finally got around to taking a photo of my hollyhocks now coming into flower. These are some I bought from a cheap catalogue to fill our new flower bed. The 'annuals in a container' that I mentioned several weeks ago which we got to fill up the spaces didn't work. I guess the new bed didn't have fine enough soil for the seeds to get going.There are now a few weedy marigolds and many more weedy weeds! Must get the hoe out if only I had a minute to spare. ( More hoeing less blogging maybe!)

And finally a warm welcome to new readers and followers and thank you for all the good wishes for Him Outside. Perhaps in a weeks time I will not have to mention hospitals or arteries ever again.

Pictures of big irrigation systems- growing onions for the nation!

Him Outside went out three times yesterday to sort out the irrigation system on a field of onions for our farmer friend W. who was away working elsewhere, the last time he went out at 8pm and didn't get back until 10.15. Something had made the massive pipes twisted, everything had come to a halt, by which time W. was back from where he had been hay making right out by the River Deben, so was able to help work out what was wrong.
Here are some pictures of the big system that big farmers use.

 Here's the winding up end, it tows the squirty end slowly up the field  by winding  the pipe around the drum

 Here is the squirty end that starts off at the bottom of the field and gradually gets wound back up to the winding bit then it stops squirting and turns itself off, ready to be moved across the field, towed to the bottom of the field ready to be start all over again.

The big field of light sandy soil where onions are being grown by a huge farming company that farms thousands and thousands of acres, including all the land around our little 5 acre patch and most of the fields to the right of us from here for miles.
If all fields were a nice regular shape it would be easier but this morning he had to go out at 11.30 to switch a switch to stop the spray going all over someones house on its right hand sweep( I went too to take the photos)
Then back again at 1 o'clock to do the big move.
Meanwhile back at the simple Suffolk smallholding, I've been doing all the usual stuff. Starting off by making a couple of jars of jam with the few red gooseberries off our 1 red gooseberry bush. My entry in class 77- Jar of Gooseberry Jam - for the Knodishall flower and produce show.
Picking and preparing more gooseberries for the freezer and more raspberries too, cleaning the loos on the campsite, collecting eggs - the list goes on as usual. It's a good job I don't have any sort of house cleaning fetish as nothing much has been done indoors for weeks!

We can't see the raspberries for the leaves!

First job of the day is always putting yesterdays eggs out on the stall at the gate, next letting the chickens out and checking their water, then it's a zoom around the garden picking and packing stuff to put out for sale with the eggs.Today there were three bags of courgettes, two cucumbers, three bags of fresh dug potatoes and two small punnets of raspberries (and enough for us to eat too of course!)
The problem this year is finding the darn things amongst the leaves and next years new growth which is really lush.

They were far enough apart when we planted them in the autumn before last - little canes about a foot tall. Last summer with all the rain there was plenty of new growth which is now fruiting for the first time this year. At the end of the summer this years fruiting canes will be cut out and all the new canes will be put between the wires to hold them upright.

Something else that's having a good crop this year is the tayberry. I'm not keen - they have a sort of perfume flavour but Him Outside likes them. There are never enough to sell.
Before the kitchen got too hot I made 4 pastry cases to go in the freezer and a batch of peanut biscuits.

Pastry cases made for taste - not for their good looks!

 Then the next job was picking lots more gooseberries ready for our friend P to collect as a swap for redoing the picture frames and glass.  This afternoon I sat out and topped and tailed the gooseberries just in case P doesn't get here tomorrow, then they can go in the freezer until we can do the swap. I may pick a few more when the temperature drops tonight to make it up to 12lb.

Meanwhile Him Outside has been turning the hay at Saxmundham, checking the irrigation system for our farmer friend ( and one of these days I'll explain why our farmer friend W has to be away working some where else so that he has to pay Him Outside to move the irrigation system on his own land), rowing up the hay behind the second home just up the road, Moving the irrigation system when it was time, baling the hay and then driving around the field with a trailer so the person who is buying it ( and his family) could load  it. Then bringing some back here and some to another barn for storage. Then he had just had half an hour sit down tonight  when the phone rang with a message to say that  someone had noticed that the irrigation has stopped so off he has gone again to see why. They are irrigating onions at the moment on the light sandy soils down the road. I wish we had enough water to irrigate our onions, they really need it but our water has to be saved for the polytunnels.

Jam Today

I started the day by using up some odd bags of fruit that were still in the freezer and made some jars of Summer Fruit Jam. I used 2lb gooseberries, just under 2lb redcurrants, a small bag of raspberries and a few fresh strawberries that we didn't eat yesterday.

Then I stretched half a pound of mince to make a cottage pie for today and a spaggi. bol. to put in the freezer for next week.
These jobs made lots of washing up by which time it was almost lunch time. So I nipped out to pick a few more strawberries and found that the sun yesterday had ripened lots more so that we had them for dinner too.
A bit of a wander round with the camera to take some garden pictures.

And finally, after  all the usual egg and campsite jobs, time for a Friday afternoon sit down to finish another good book.
A new discovery spotted on the shelves of the mobile library last Friday.

Turns out to be 5th in a crime series set in 1733. Now I need to find the earlier books and order them from the library ready for me to pick up next month.
That's my Simple Suffolk Friday. Cost = nothing. Satisfaction = Lots!

PS. Just editing this post to say that I've just found some comments from blogging friends on a blog a couple of days ago, that I didn't know were there . So apologies for not replying before, will do it now!