About Me

We moved out to Portugal to live a frugal but better , simpler and peaceful life, our house is a very basic, semi ruin, up in the hills outside Figueiro Dos Vinhos, where we work our land, enjoy life with each other and our dogs, and hope to make the smallest carbon footprint we can,

Thursday 30 September 2010

Hammocks,helpers, wood and even more chutney....

Yes folks, Ive made more chutney, heaven alone knows what we'll do with it all, but I just cant let the produce go to waste and Ive still maybe one more batch worth of ingredients left... never mind I'll barter with it if nothing else... Its getting to be a slightly different recipe as the days go on, the green toms I picked are ripening in the basket so its becoming green & red tomato and marrow chutney, with some apple thrown in for flavour, Rik is even scraping the pan and eating it straight... he just loves it! but whether he will by the end of the winter and numerous jars later...

Ive been catching up on yet more jobs that were on my mental list to do before winter...
I spent two days tidying the cottage guest area, the gravel was a bit scrappy and weedy, its a pig of a job but I have to keep on top of it as long as possible or by mid winter there is no gravel to be seen just a wilderness... like last year... it took two or three of us days to re-sort it... I dont want that happening again.
Luckily we have plenty of helpers coming this autumn so it shouldnt happen.
Between now and Christmas we have a French woman coming to experiment with me with making soap, cosmetics and herbal remedies... Im so looking forward to her visit, not that much work is likely to get done outside....
Plus another young English woman who just wants to experience how we live... hehehehe hopefully she'll not be too shocked...
Then a young couple coming during Nov, plus our big strapping Canadian who wants to chop logs...
We´ve also got two lots of friends coming at some point....plus my brother in law John arrives tonight for two weeks.. its all go... looking forward to lots of fun and food...
The dogs are doing fine, Beesa growing bigger almost while you watch... she's getting very affectionate now, and good with housetraining .... just the very odd accident now and then... usually at night, if we go to bed too early.. She's very, very vocal, she speaks when she wants a cuddle, and when you get up in the morning or have been out for a while, and even when she wants her dinner... she's sooooo funny!

Ive also been stacking wood, we are starting on the fourth row across the barn now, plus I collected four sacks of pine cones and bundles of bark for fire lighters... If the weather stays good like this we may even manage the winter without running out.... hehehehe I say that every year and we always do...

 So tomorrow this is what I plan to do... all afternoon with my new book...
My last job was to put another coat of varnish on our lovely wall sculpture, its a slice of pine, given to us by friends Paul & Barbara, we love it, its very special and decorates our home perfectly. And I did have a lovely shot of it, but it wont load.... damn.

Thursday 23 September 2010

Bean Burgers

No pictures today, sorry. I forgot to bring the camera into town with me. I just popped in for a few moments as Im cooking and preserving again today, madly just trying to get it all over and done with...
I'll be making a last batch of pasta sauce.... hehehe are we going to be sick of pasta this winter or what!!
Good wholesome food.... made from fresh pure veggies though...
Right. Im also making a batch of my Bean burgers for the freezer, forgive me if this recipe is already on here somewhere... I dont remember ...
Again, I dont actually measure anything, so quantities are a bit vague, but you can adjust to your own tastes...

I half fill a large litre and half jug with dried beans, I use a good mix of different beans and green lentils or split peas depending on what I have. Fill jug with water and leave over night to soak.
Next day drain and put in a pan with fresh water, a couple of bay leaves, a couple of garlic cloves and some dried herbs of your choice.
Cook till soft. .
Drain, and put in a LARGE bowl. Then mash slightly, should be soft but still a bit lumpy,  then,
 add ;

2-3 large handfulls of oats, dont skimp!
A finely chopped medium onion.
1 small tin of sweetcorn or equivelent fresh kernels if you have it..
A good grating of cheese, at the moment Im using Parmesan cos I have it, but any good strong cheese will do... not too much, its meant to enhance not make them cheesy flavour...
A couple of beaten eggs .
Seasoning of your choice, I use thyme and a dash of dried sage as I have my own.
Salt & pepper.

This should be a bit soft now... add flour . wholemeal is good... white works just the same...
while they are still tacky... in a bowl put a little more flour, with seseme seeds and I use flax seed too.. form rounds with your hands of mixture, roll in the seeds and flour and make burger shape...
My mix usually works out to be around 30 burgers.. I open freeze them on a large tray then pack into bags .
Fry from frozen... takes a few mins... and costs pennies...

My all purpose winter herbal remedy.

I mentioned in another post about the herbal remedy I make for Rik for the winter . He suffers badly from Sinisitis, and what he calls a 'claggy' chest. He seems to have a slight allergy to wooddust/sawdust type of stuff which sets it off too especially if we have been doing a ot of logging, as we are at the moment.
I make him a big mug full at least three times a day and it really helps clear his tubes.
The ingredients are as follows. -you'll have to ajust the amounts to your own cup size and tastes...

Dried lemon verbena - wonderful for nasal congestion and smells & tastes lovely.
Dried Mullein - for bronchial tubes.. plus mild pain relief for the pain he gets in his face and head.
Dried Lavender heads (2/3) to ease congestion and for headache.
A nice fat slice of fresh ginger, pounded with the pestle &mortar till flat and soft.( for inflamation )
A teaspoon of clear runny honey to taste.

### Last thing at night if he's bad, I'll add a good dash of Tilia (Linden Lime flowers) as they have a wonderful sedative effect and help him get off to sleep. (Great anti-spasmodic stomach brew too) ####

Leave at least ten mins to brew, and dont drink coffee within half an hour of each brew, before or after...
Coffee and strong tastes and smells can affect the natural remedies adversely...

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Chillis... again

As well as doing the herbs, I also picked chilis again today, we seem to have a huge amount, considering Im not really keen on them at all... but they make a lovely decoration while they are drying...

Herbal Remedies Preparing for Winter


Mullien Leaves

Today I have been cutting and preparing some of the many herbs we use a lot during the winter, and also some Ive never used before but want to keep in store just in case. The first one, and very important one to us is Mullein. A wonderfull plant and one rik would find hard to manage without during the damp days of winter. I cut and dry the large furry leaves and use them for an ingredient in the herbal mixture I give him as a tea for his chest and  sinisitus that gives him so much trouble. Mullein is a great non narcotic pain relief, a mild sedative, as well as being wonderfull for all things bronchial... use as standard brew.


Mullein drying
Cornsilk.
Cornsilk is something Ive never tried before but always wanted to, and as we had a good crop of corn this year I remembered to save the silk and dry it, it took a while to get it completely dry but it finally is.
Cornsilk is an excellent remedy for all things to do with the urinary tract, cystitis, bladder infection, water retention...  for infections, double strength brew.


Raspberry leaf.
Again a popular one, we use it for sore throats and mouth ulcers, but for all 'womens problems' it can be wonderfull. It strengthens the muscles of the womb and helps during labour, and can often help mentrual pains if taken reguarly a few days beforehand. Can also be useful for constipation...


Tuesday 21 September 2010

Lovely Autumnal Morning...


This is the lovely misty morning we awoke to today, its the view from the steps to our house, looking right across the valley. Sadly we also awoke to the sound of chainsaws, the loggers have moved into my view, they are hard at work across the valley from the house, luckily not directly in our view but a tad to the side, still it will change the landscape for us for a while, thats not too bad a thing , it is always varied here, the loggers chop one bit, then by spring its green and glossy again, it makes the colours much more vibrant for us, so many different greens.. luckily for us, the main bulk of our bottom valley is oaks and holm oaks and rough shrub so its of no interest to the loggers so its pretty safe... I hope! We also have a pretty good stream down there which inhibits their trucks and wagons..
Last night was distinctly cooler than we've been used to, it seems autumn is creeping up on us, Im about ready for it really, thats the joy of being here and the hot hot summers, it makes you really enjoy the autumn when it comes, the cooler weather is really appreciated, mind you, I like all the seasons since we came here, the winter is good too, I look forward to the cold wet days so I can snuggle up by the kitchen range and read and not feel guilty for not working... I also enjoy the more relaxed days of winter when we have less work to do and I can spend time baking and cooking and making the house smell fragrant... theres nothing better on a cold wet day than coming in to a warm kitchen to the smell of baking ...
To make sure we can do that we have to work epecially hard now to accumulate the vast amount of wood we'll need. Somehow this year we just cannot seem to find the time to get more in...

Im still harvesting tomatoes... we actually stopped watering them as most were finished and I picked all of them... but .... they keep coming. I have some jars left so I'll make a final (I hope) batch of pasta sauce later this week. I still have at least two more chutney days to do, and then I hope to be finished with the preserves for this year. The shelves are groaning...
Last night I spent time threading all my chillis left over from making chilli pastes, onto cotton to hang above the range to dry, and then spent the rest of the evening scrubbing my hands trying to remove the 'hot' from them, it lasted through doing the dishes, and having a bath....
'note to myself for next time' ... wear bloody gloves!! 

We planted the 30 cabbage plants we had, and half a packet of swedes, so hopefully they will all take off now. The caulis are still looking good and  healthy but dont seem to be hearting up... I have still got high hopes of them... generally you can tell how big the heads will be by the size of the leaves... well mine will be massive... if they ever come!! I'll be soooo dissapointed if they dont!

We are madly trying to tidy the house a little as my brother in law John arrives on the 30th for two weeks, not that he's bothered about it, but we like to make at least a little effort, and Rik likes to show any work we've accomplished since his last visit...
We've also got two nice helpers coming in mid Oct and Im looking for more too ...

Saturday 18 September 2010

Chutney...

Well this morning I picked all my last lot of tomatoes, all the ripe ones as well as the green ones. I had a washing up bowl piled high with green ones and have a few apples, some marrows and some dried fruit and tomorrow I'll make chutney... mountains of it! But we do love it with cold meat or cheese and as there are next to no beets this year for pickles then chutney will have to do...

I'll probably roast the remaining red toms for puree, as Ive already started using mine and its so yummy...

Ive made lots of chilli paste too, with still more chillis left to pick than have already been used, quite what I'll do with them Im not sure. They are the tiny piri-piri kind, but extremely hot, as I found to my cost, I was told by 'someone' the way to test a chilli for heat is to cut it and just tap it on the tip of your tongue.... stupid Pat, stupid, stupid stupid Pat.... its a long way to the tap when your mouth is on fire you know...

Doesnt my range look lovely and clean and shiny... I didnt clean it for the pics but it really does shine... Im impressed... It wont look like that after Ive been cooking on it all day tomorrow... Im a really messy cook...

The veggie garden, herman and great progress

Well yesterday we spent a very productive morning down on our main planting level, while we still have the caulis and plenty of cabbage and a few small rows of carrots, the rest is all finished, so we pulled everything, strimmed the weeds  and then Rik went to work with Herman our new cultivator...(well new to us, its ancient but still works well) .what a wonderful thing it is... Rik worked for almost two hours and completely changed the plot. The work would have taken him days of backbreaking effort with our old rototiller, its going to make a remarkable difference to our lives. The place changed from a overgrown mess to a tidy tilled plot all ready for winter planting within the short space of a morning... we are so chuffed !!!


Im now ready to plant the next two dozen cabbage I have, which will come ready for eating by Christmas, Ive also got a packet of swedes Im going to try too.
The Grelos (turnip greens ) will go in a little later.
We are soooooo pleased, we'd never managed to go into winter this well sorted before, it looks so tidy!

Rik will try to get time to have a quick tidy of the orchard too before the winter, again Herman will mean he can till all that within a couple of hours too. This also means we save so much money of fuel. Although we have to use diesel, the short time it takes means we use a tiny amount compared to the old rototiller. So its cheaper and also greener...

Better brighter blogging...

We've finally managed a new camera, so Im hoping this will make our blog a brighter more interesting place, as I'll be adding pictures all the time...

This is our lovely Beesa, she is now 12 weeks old, and an absolute bloody monster, dont be fooled by that butter wouldnt melt look... she's a horror...and now weights around 12kilos...
our lovely Bonnie girl.
This beautiful blonde in the small picture is Bonnie, she's now almost 5 years old and a wonderful friend to us now without our handsome boy. She's taken to our latest arrival very well and plays happily with her all day.
Bonnie waiting for treats...

Tuesday 14 September 2010

The veggie Garden.

Well we've been working very hard down on our 'Horta' again this morning, I love this time of the year, it satisfies my 'squirreling instincts' looking around us and everyone is doing it, harvesting, picking, storing, drying , just squirreling food away all over the place, Ive got a big heap of Butternut Squash on the balcony curing in the sun, Ive dried some runner beans for next years seed and this morning we pulled tons more leftover green beans, french beans and yellow waxypods to dry for eating in soups and replanting next spring.
I've been and pulled a huge bunch of carrots , that I'll freeze later today, and also weeded another 4 rows of younger ones. I picked a colander full of cherry toms that Rik said had finished producing....
So I'll be making roasted tom puree tomorrow when Ive got the range alight.
Our new cultivator, is now forever to be known as Herman.... as he's a monster... will be out chomping away at the area we pulled all the beans from to make room for our winter garden.  Time to plant cabbage for Christmas, Im also going to try swedes again, yes I know completely the wrong time of the year, but Ive tried every other time and as soon as they get a little warm... they bolt... so I have one last packet left, and I'll give them a go now, maybe they'll love the winter...
We still have caulis to come, they are really getting huge leaves now, thats a good sign, also about 30 odd cabbage nearly ready...
The odd aubergine still keeps appearing too so thats handy, but we've pulled all the peppers to give the chillis and aubergines more light and sun.

Our main focus from now on must be wood... we have half a barn full, which isnt bad.. but we'll need lots more to see us through the winter, especially if its as wet as last year.
Winter seems such a long way off at the moment, today its 32º  but a little hazy, but at this time of the year it could change at any time... just not yet I hope... still tons to do...
Grapes will be ready to pick soon... we are just waiting for our neighbours to start, apparently its still too hot at the moment, the wine will go off...
Then after that will come the olive picking, we have so few this year... I'll be scratching all round everywhere to get all I can... Im having to buy oil now!!! First time in over 3 years... cannot let that happen again...

Monday 13 September 2010

Quick 'n' easy Chicken/Veg Rice.

Serves 4. (Or two if you are very hungry)

A large handfull of cooked chicken (or pork)
One large chopped onion
2 large chopped carrots
1 coffee mug full of frozen peas.
a good handfull of frozen green beans (or fresh if you have them)
2 big coffee mugs of  uncooked  rice.
2 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped.
mixed herbs
Salt and peper to taste
olive oil

Put water on to boil,  when boiling add rice and chopped carrot and any other fresh veg you are using, if using frozen veg, add a little later when rice is part cooked.
In a large heavy bottomed frying pan, sweat the onions and garlic in the olive oil, when nice and soft, add the cooked meat (cut into small pieces) and fry untill nice and brown, add plenty of salt and seasonings, .
When rice and veggies are cooked, drain and add to frying pan , stir well and keep turing untill all mixed and coated, I often add a little butter at this stage...

New members welcome!

Just a quick hello today to our new members who have joined us recently, thank you for bothering to stop by and read my blatherings...
Ive been reading the last post on Ireland and it sounds a little harsh, but it genuinely was how I felt about the place, vastly dissapointed and at times actively disgusted, I can only assume that I just hapened to spend a month in a not so good part... some areas must be better than that surely... heheheh oh dear... Im at it again arent I?
I'll be getting lines to write soon...
I must not write nasty things about Ireland
I must not write nasty things about Ireland......

On a good note, the sundried tomatoes have turned out beautifully, and I have some more starting off today, Rik will make me a huge drying rack for next year, as our toms are almost finished for now so wont need it this time. It worked so well, the weather is still so hot... 34º today..
Im off to make a quick and easy rice dish for dinner tonight. Im trying to make time to post the recipe here...

Friday 10 September 2010

Ireland, not so green or pleasant...

Before any Irish readers start protesting, I can only comment on my experience in a small part of the 'green isle'
Well it certainly is green in colour, thats probably due to their huge rainfall... yes I was there during the whole of August and it generally rained at some point every day... it may have been a slight drzzle which cleared up early or a light shower in the afternoon... but it was still wet stuff falling from the sky...
The scenery was lovely, beautiful green hills, rolling countryside and lush greenery.... but the area I was in people did almost nothing to conserve this... the recycling schemes they run are not used very much, no one grew vegetables, all those huge rolling lawns, acres and ares of it... not a veggie to be seen... or a compost heap... what do they do with their rubbish... you have to pay huge amounts to take it to the tip... according to my dad, most people burn it in the yard in specially purchased bins... how disgusting...
For a very rural area, the lack of public transport was terrible... but as dad says, no one used it...in a country of quite large families, the parents buy each teenager a car as soon as they are old enough... some families having 4-5 cars !!! And the death toll of young people on the roads is shocking! in just the small town I was staying in 6 in a month, 4 in one car in one day... The roads are all small country roads, very few even as big as a duel carriage way... the police were almost non existant... . It was all very shocking, I was expecting a lovely quiet rural country, and it really wasnt... the effects of the 'Celtic Tiger' are really showing now, the cost of living has soared, food is hugely expensive, they have the highest childcare costs in THE WORLD ...

More tomatoes and cultivators... and things..

Heheheh they just keep on coming, we have vastly reduced the amounts now though, and as Ive almost run out of jars, I was reduced to buying some new ones for pasta sauce the other day, I've rigged up a tempory drying frame this morning so I can sun dry whats left. Its not something Ive tried before, I just assumed it would be tricky and fiddly... suprisingly, its not. And as we love sun´dried tomatoes and seeing how expensive they are, I thought Id have a go. Again, a way to use produce, keep it for winter, and all without cost... So we'll see, in the temps we have at the moment, Im assured it will only take three days or so for the first batch... I'll update you all later ..

I picked the first batch of chillis yesterday, they are the tiny Piri Piri ones, and boy are they hot!!! I stupidly cut one and licked it to test the heat... not something I'll ever try again... as our tap in the kitchen is a tempory one and particuarly difficult to turn on and off... the dance and mad dash I did to the water bucket was by all accounts quite amusing to see... Im not a great one for hot spicy food like that anyway, so it was really stupid... but hey, you live and learn...
I made some hot chilli sauce, to put by for the winter, as we do use a little now and then in soups and stews for flavour more than the heat.. the rest I'll give to friends... or barter for things we dont have.. which luckily wont be much this year. We seem at the moment to be quite well set going into winter, I think better than almost any year before, I was really worrying earlier in the year but things have really picked up.
I just hope Im here to enjoy it and not in Ireland looking after Dad, he's still in hospital, his health is pretty good but mentally he's struggling, he wont come and live with us, or go to the rest of our family in England, yet there is only my niece to care for him in Ireland and he doesnt think she will cope... so he's lagging with his physio so he stays in hospital. He's so stubborn, he has people who love and want to look after him, yet he wont move... and then cant go home to his house because of lack of care there... its all pretty tricky, no one wants to give him any upset or tough choices but it may well come to that soon.. I just hope it wont be me...

Well, lots of progress on our economy drive to reduce our vehicles and the expense of insurance and fuel to us and the world...
We've done a straight swap with our much loved motorbike... for a LPG hybrid car... although we dearly loved the bike and will miss it terribly during the summer months, having a van and a bike just wasnt working for us cost wise, or my eco ideals either. So its gone... We now have a car that still seats 7 at a pinch, and runs on LPG at 76cents a litre most of the time, and gives very low immissions, and to top that we sold our great old van too!! We are serious van people, we've always had vans, great vehicles, you can go shopping, pick up building supplies, wood, people, and even sleep in the back if you need too... but... again, we now didnt need it, so it had to go... a tough decision, but Rik took it like a man... heheheh Bless...
Now today we are taking proud possesion of a large cultivator. We've part ex'd our smaller rototiller which was killing rik's back, for an older but better and bigger cultivator that is self driven instead of him having to push it round. It will hopefully revolutionise his work on the land and cut the time and effort in half... It will also fit onto our small trailer so we can use it as ..... transport to the village !!!! hehehehe it will pull up the hill so much better than the old one did...
And all that with a little money left for me to stock up with winter stores ...
What could be better...

The dogs are still coming along well together, Beesa is growing so quick, if you watch closely you can almost see her doing it... when shes not digging up the yard that is...the little bugger, she's terrible, we were happy that Bonnie seemed to have grown out of digging now she's almost 5 years old... but now Beesa has started, Bonnie seems to have renewed her enthusiasm and is going at it too... hanging out the washing has become a dangerous occupation... and impossible at dusk... I went head over heels last night when I went to fetch some in late...
But the good news is I seem to have cracked the house training ... nothing at all for the last week... I do still get up during the night once to take her out, I get up myself , so its no hardship... the hard part is getting her out of bed to go... I sometimes have to carry her downstairs... and thats not easy given her increasing girth... she's such a pig, she has decided she doesnt like the puppy food, and snaffles Bonnies biscuits at any chance she gets. She can hear the rustle of a bread wrapper or bisuit packet from out in the garden. She does at least sit, to ask for one though...

Monday 6 September 2010

Comments

Ive now changed the comments area again...
Too many people were not being able to post, sadly I have to now moderate the comments, it may take a few days for your comments to show as I dont get in to check internet every day, I'll do my best and be as quick as I can.

Working hard...

Well its been full on non-stop ever since I got home, harvesting, preserving, storing, pickling, cooking ... sorting tons of food for the winter, despite all my worries early in the year, apart from peas and beets, we've had a massive crop.
The peppers are still a little behind but will keep on producing for weeks yet untill the frost puts an end to them, I may pull them soon though as they are so badly overshadowing the piri piri plants and they need sun to ripen..
The toms are more or less finished, we still have a lot of green ones, but just cannot manage any more, we've frozen them, eaten then, given tons away, Ive made soup, pasta sauce, tomtato sauce, roasted tomato puree... and we still have loads. So we have stopped watering them, and will try to make some green tom chutney this week, I also have a lot of overlarge marrows to make chutney with too... Jars are a real problem now... Ive almost run out ..

So much food everywhere, its wonderful, yesterday we had a roast pork, our roast potatoes, our cabbage, our yellow wax pod beans, our carrots, and a melon from our garden as desert... you just cant beat the flavour, picked straight from the garden...

Still to come are tons of cabbage, time to plant winter ones soon too, about 40 caulis looking good... still loads of carrots, Ive tried again with beets and maybe we'll get a few. The squashes are poor compared to last year but we'll have enough for winter, Ive plenty of jerusalem artichokes come up too, they'll make a nice change.
Yesterday we pulled all the runner bean plants and dealt with those, we leave them to fill out and then I pod them and freeze them as loose beans, instead of as sliced beans , as we have so many green bean type s we use the small hard beans in soup during winter as a substitute for dried beans. Ive also got enough to dry and save as next years seed, the same with the yellow waxy pods and french beans... next year I should halve my seed costs..
I brough back some packets of sweetcorn seed for next year as its hard to get here, you can get maize seed but its never as good for eating...

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Simple roasted tomato Puree.

Fill a roasting dish with cherry toms, or chop in chunks other toms, a good sprinkle of sea salt.. peel and leave whole about 10-12 cloves of garlic, peel and cut into chunks a med onion scatter on top, then add tons of shredded basil, a good drizzle of olive oil, and a nice big splurge of balsamic vinegar... mix it all in together and roast in a med hot oven till its all thick and gloopy... take your time dont burn it...
Blend with a hand blender, pour into hot jars, cover with a drop of olive oil and screw lids on tight.
Leave to cool and then label... in a cool cupboard mine keeps all winter...

Use a couple of tablespoons to toss spagetti in... just add Parmesan and fresh basil..... mmmmmmnnn
Or use whenever you would use shop bought puree... its so much more yummy..

Home at last..

Well hello!!! Im home and so glad to be back I cannot put it into words... I'll try really hard to sort out this blog again now, to bring things up to date and have a little re-organisation around here too.

Firstly, Ive changed settings so sadly only followers on this blog can leave a comment, maybe that will deter the spammers, if it doesnt work or makes life difficult for REAL people who wish to comment, please email me, patricia@livingthedreamportugal.com and I'll try to sort it out.

Dad is doing really well at the moment, his health is never going to be great again, he's almost 80, has smoked, drank , not exercised and generally abused his body over a lifetime... so its about normal really. He's hoping to leave hospital over the next couple of weeks and I have other family menbers there helping out and looking in on him. I may have to go back towards the end of the month but I'll worry about that then. Now Im just enjoying being home...

Ricky has done so well coping alone, the freezer is jam packed with produce, so much so, Im trying to use up a lot to make pasta sauce so I have space for all our carrots still to come, I picked three washing up bowls full of tomatoes yesterday, plus peppers, aubergines, courgettes, and butternut squash. Bless him he even made some tomato sauce himself, 12 kilo jars!!
Yesterday I made a dozen jars of roasted tomato puree, yummy... I'll post the recipe later.
Today we are making more pasta sauce... we pulled the last of the french beans... and Ill add them to the pasta sauce, and use them up. We'll certainly be eating a lot of pasta this winter!!
Im also putting in tons of basil , as we have loads, wonderful stuff too...
Plus still loads of cabbages, the caulis are looking good, Im hoping they will heart up soon... and chillis... the small Piri piri kind.... literally hundreds!! Im going to start picking the red ones later...
Im also hoping to sweet pickle a few beetroots today too... its all full on now!

The log barn is looking good, Rik has tried to continue on with that , but obviously itsa slow job on your own, but its half full ... we must look to that next week... once I have the food situation under control..

Beesa the puppy is gorgeous, rik still having problems with the house training at night, she's good during the day but at night still poops.. Im now taking over the night duty and making a few changes to her routine that I think will help... I hope so...