It only takes a second to read that but the actual job took us the whole morning. It went like this 6 times.
Take net covering off big bale,
unwrap big bale, bit by bit
shake forkfuls into the baler,
wait for bale to come out,
shift bale into shed.
And then finally clear up all the loose straw and take baler back to the farm down the road.
Followed by - have a shower to get rid of all the dust and chaff that got into every crevice!
We now have 80 small bales of barley straw in the shed and a sign up at the front gate " Barley Straw £1.50 a bale". Before I was able to help move the bales into the shed I made a batch of Gooseberry and Date Chutney. A lovely dark chutney
The recipe is here. With some more pictures. I'm trying to use up all the odd bits of fruit still in the freezer before it's time to start picking again.
I left a comment on Frugal Queens blog the other day where she was talking about stocking up and using food from store to menu plan. It made me think that a lot of our meal planning relies on what vegetables we have available from the garden and what's best to go with them. This is what I wrote
We are coming around to the most difficult time of the year for food from the garden, Parsnips and Brussels sprouts are finished. Stored potatoes finished a month ago. Just a few more onions then I shall have to buy until August. We have a purple sprouting broccoli and some leeks left and a few cauliflowers if only they would grow a bit.The asparagus is just peeping through. Still have peppers and broad beans in the freezer. Pulled the first of the forced rhubarb today - delicious. I also bake bread every week. We still have apples, pears,plums and a few odd bits of other fruit in the freezer, but now rhubarb is available it's time to use freezer fruit up. I do a rough meal plan each week but not for definite each day. I try and bulk buy staples while on offer enough to last until the next time on offer.I like to keep full cupboard.
Today it was a brilliant blog post at Happening upon Happiness that caught my attention and it reminded me of something I wrote a while ago. I found it HERE. There has been a change since I wrote it as now Col is beginning to feel the same way. We might find our quiet place after all.
I was also reminded of another post earlier this year about living more simply inspired by a new book about the Amish You can see it HERE.
It's the lovely thing about blogging - it makes you think about the past and the future.
Just Editing to say thank you for all the comments yesterday, have now replied to them all
Back soon
Sue
