My Tree in August and not much else.

A very quiet day here on the smallholding. We had sunshine then rain and then sunshine again. C worked at our neighbours- more hedge trimming, here doing various odd jobs and also went to collect feed. I just pootled around here, housework, scotch eggs and trying to get a book finished before the library van comes tomorrow. The only excitement was finding a cauliflower ready!

Here's the pink Horse Chestnut in August. It's leaves are darker green, one or two brown patches on some leaves probably due to lack of rain over the last few weeks. As I said last month very few of the lovely flowers turn into conkers. I can only spy about a dozen or so over the whole tree, they're still quite small,  so you really can't call this type of Chestnut a Conker Tree and it would be very disappointing for small boys wanting to take part in a conker match.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Joining in with Loose and Leafy; Following a tree through the year

Wet morning, hot afternoon

Luckily the rain didn't really get going until after we had picked everything that was going out for sale, but by 9.30am we were having some really heavy downpours that went on until after 1o'clock. Then the sun came out and by the time I went around the field to collect the eggs is was sticky humid hot.

C got the big hay bales shifted to our friends field, and now we can be paid! We've already settled up the rent with the owners of the two fields, so we are just waiting for the bill for cutting and round baling. There will be a good profit when everything is sorted.  In a couple of weeks time we will get the call to bale the barley straw.

I said yesterday that we had no blackberries, it's not because we have no brambles - they are everywhere in the hedges. Its because instead of the flowers turning into plump juicy berries they are just small brown shriveled things with maybe just 1 tiny drupelet forming.

Welcome to 2 new followers in the Google Friends pictures and thank you to the 8 people who commented yesterday.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Moving hay

 16 big round bales of hay, from the field at Saxmundham  have been moved to their new home this morning.
 17 big round bales of hay, from the field up the road have gone to the same place this afternoon which just leaves 10  to be shifted tomorrow.

I had to drive the jeep and trailer to and from Saxmundham this morning so that C could take the tractor  there and back but as he's only up the road I wasn't needed this afternoon and I spent some time putting some more of the huge tomatoes into the freezer and did a bit more housework.

I see Ilona at Life after Money has a lovely picture of blackberries and someone at the car boot last Sunday had lots for sale, yet around our field where we have plenty of brambles that were covered in flowers, there are NO blackberries - and this is for the second year running. I may have to get on my bike and see where I can find some. Tonight while I was searching for a wasps nest I came across a small pile of hazelnut shells, so the dratted squirrels are after them already. The shells were under the walnut tree, they'll probably have them for dessert!

Kev at An English Homestead has asked everyone a question.

What book changed you most?

I thought I knew the answer to that one - John Seymour's Complete Self Sufficiency, but then I thought again and now I'm not sure. Did it change me? or was I already heading in that direction? What about the Magazine called Practical Self Sufficiency that appeared about the same time or maybe Hovel in the Hills and Garden in the Hills by Elizabeth West. I wanted to live somewhere quiet and remote  and grow our own fruit and veg but then we had 3 children so it wasn't practical to be halfway up a mountain and we eventually ended up here (NOT quiet - the B* great big combine was running on the fields around our plot until midnight last night! and combining and baling nearby all day today) Or maybe it was even earlier - Arthur Ransom's Swallows and Amazons, that's about being self sufficient and doing things for yourself too.
So I give up - no idea is the answer to the question.

Has anyone else heard the dire weather warnings for the weekend or is it just for here? Hail and gales have been forecast,the tail end of a hurricane  we've been told and we have 5 caravans and 2 tents booked in. Oh dear.


Thanks to everyone for comments yesterday.
This is post number 480, twenty to go until my giveaway.......counting down.........

Back Tomorrow
Sue

4 days diaries in one post

I had better catch up on what's been happening here over the last few days.

 First job of everyday except Sundays is to pick, pack and put everything out for sale. I'm not sure which day this was, but everything is usually gone by midday.

On Friday I went to Mr Ts supermarket to use up a £3 off £30 voucher before it ran out, as usual no bargains. C was busy in and out twice to move the irrigation system down the road.Just after 11am the female part of a family - mum and 2 small daughters-who are staying on the campsite came to the house in their jim-jams to say they had put the shower on and there was no water, just a funny noise. So what a good thing we had bought an identical replacement last time we went to Ipswich. C was able to turn off the electric and water, unscrew, dismantle and replace and get it going for them to use in less than an hour. Now we need to buy another replacement next time we are at B&Q.

Overnight we had several huge storms which has cancelled out the irrigation work for several days.

 Saturday saw several arrivals onto the campsite and one non- arrival. A caravan was due in for a weeks stay and hasn't appeared. We've tried phoning - no reply, This doesn't happen often - thank goodness.
 It was cloudy first thing and we were able to do lots of weeding in the polytunnels and decided to get rid of the cucamelons. They are rampant, prolific but nasty! Imagine just eating the seeds and rind from a bitter cucumber and that's what  they taste like.
 Anyone want a packet of Cucamelon seeds?

Sunday = car boot day of course. C found some bits and pieces, wall brackets and sliding bolts for 50p each and a roll of electric cable for £2
I found these

 2 more new tea towels for 50p each. Wooden freestanding towel rail for £10; A brand new Next hat,scarf and glove set for £2 ( this will be a Christmas gift - it's OK they don't read the blog). The books are brand new and are on the subject of WW2 Archaeology along the Suffolk Coast. I'm sure our son won't have seen these yet and they could be helpful for him for his new job. There are 4 in the set but the man only had 2,3 and 4, he said he hoped to get the 1st one soon.

C went and saw a man to get a better heavy duty hitch for his trailer so that he/we will be able to shift the big round bales for the bloke who has bought them. We thought he would collect them but he has offered to pay a bit extra if we move them to where they have to go. It's only a couple of miles away so not too much time will be taken up to get them sorted ( she says hopefully, although from experience things involving tractors always take longer than expected).

Today C went off early to drive the jeep up and down the dual carriageway to warm it up ready for it's MOT at the garage and Hooray it passed, including the emissions test, so that's done for another year.  He was then  working at our neighbours, fitting the hitch on the trailer and grass cutting.

For me it was just a normal bread baking and housework day.

Late this afternoon I had another delivery from Approved Foods I think I've got the hang of the AF saving money thing, after dissing it in THIS POST. I've now got quite into stocking up on a big scale, trying to buy enough of something when its cheap so that I never need to pay full price. Todays order included egg noodles to have with stir fry Chinesey things and more bread flour. I've run out of cupboard space so I'm using a big plastic Really Useful Box (which is now empty thanks to the doing the carboot sale.) We bought 2 several years ago when we thought we were moving house and although we didn't move they've still been Really Useful!

We will be joining in with the Lights Out Event marking the commemoration of the start of WW1. It starts at 10pm and as I'm usually in bed by then with the lights out it will be easy to take part!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

I Love Books!

C went off to see a man about a trailer hitch this morning and I spent a happy hour or two looking at what books everyone linking up with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees had been reading in the last couple of months. I've ordered several from the library  and one from Amazon( Shhhhh don't tell anyone!)
Back Tomorrow with a proper catch up with whats been happening here.
Sue

A Year in Books Link July/August

The regular link up with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees for the year in books, where lots of bloggers are sharing their enjoyment of books and reading each month.

 The books brought home from the Library van in July were these

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From left to right
Which People's War = Published by the Oxford University Press, which should have told me that this was a heavy weight scholarly book, not something for evening reading.
How To Profit From Car Boot Sales = I borrowed this just to have a quick look at, only useful for regular booters.
The Shroud Maker = Modern crime fiction, latest in a series by this author, set in 'Tradmouth' which is really Dartmouth.
Skipping to School = Memories of a Liverpool Girlhood 1937 - 1948. I haven't started this yet but it looks good.
The Cleverness of Ladies = This is from a collection of books called Quick Reads. Well known Authors have written small short books presumably for people to dip into to try a new author. This one by Alexander McCall Smith has some short stories about The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency. As it says- a Quick Read.
Denial Of Murder = The latest modern crime fiction by this author.
Casting The Net = The second in a series by Pam Rhodes. Quite light fiction about a young curate, the village and congregation of the church.
Working Class Wives = First published in 1939 by the Women's Health Enquiry Committee and reprinted with an updated introduction in 1981. This looked at how things were for women in the 1930s before the war, NHS and when women often had a baby every year. Unemployment was high, incomes were low and bread and jam was the norm for two or three meals every day. You end up thinking how lucky we are!
The Crowded Grave= Crime set in France, 4th in a series by this Author. I haven't read this yet.
We Can Take It = I'm ploughing through this. It's the one I mentioned the other day and it looks at how the memories of WW2 continue to affect life now. Comparing how memories of the war were created through films and books between then and now.
I also read a couple that were left from Junes Library Book haul. 'Falling Angels' by Tracy Chevalier, looks at the years just after Queen Victoria's death mainly through the eyes of two girls from different families. Touching on the suffragette movement and attitudes to death.
'Summer at the lake' by Erica James is light fiction  set mostly on Lake Como.

August library van due next Friday, hopefully with some more good reading plus the two left from this month.

Welcome to new readers, new followers and thanks to everyone for comments yesterday. I'm glad no one else wants high drama from my blog.

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