Now Ive made the leap to feeding Rick on nettles and he's accepted the idea... Im branching out with other ideas on what to do with them, we have a good large patch that Im trimming the tops off reguarly to keep them nice and young and fresh.
Today Im making ravioli... I have a little Parmesan left that a friend brought for us last week... I love it... and its so expensive and hard to find here..
So I'll make the ravioli, and fill it with nettles, garlic and grated parmesan the nettles wilt rather like spinach... a nice gentle tomato sauce and it will be yummy... served with a nice beanpod puree...
Also at the mo, Ive discovered that I can use some of my broad bean pods... I have an old vegtable cookery book that gave me the recipe, make sure you use pods that are fresh, not too big or stringy and tough, chop them finely, cook in gently salted water till soft, then drain really well, add a good dash of salt n pepper, a nice knob of butter and then blitz with the hand blender...
I must admit its not the most fantastic veg Ive ever eaten, but its reasonably tasty, and utilises all those pods that get thrown away... I really hate throwing away food I could use in some way... Im chopping up the bigger tougher ones and putting them in the dog food cooking pot too... Im also using some of the puree as a base for soups...
I heard another good idea the other day and one I shall be using myself , freezing eggs.... something Ive never dreamt of doing but according to Sam over at http://www.boschrealestate.co.uk/ it works like a dream. She has chickens now and is busy being industrious and she beats two eggs together , pours it into little bags and freezes it , then whenever she wants to bake, she has the right quanitity of eggs all bagged up ready to defrost... what an excellent idea for saving up eggs for the winter when they go off laying...
Im busy picking, eating and freezing broad beans, for the first time ever we have tons... its wonderful , we love them and never have managed to grow enough before, now Ive cracked it... I just sling them in, and leave them alone, I always babied them , fussing and weeding and pampering them along , and they never did reward me... this lot... I stuck down the orchard, and forgot abouyt them for weeks at a time, then when we noticed pod coming, a quick weeding to see the light and thats it... we've tons...
Next year... oooh next year I'll plant the whole damn orchard with them...
Frugal living in the Portuguese countryside,Eco-tourism, Agri tourism, recipes,family life, self sufficency, eco living, vegetable growing, tips and self help ideas for country living.
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Monday, 25 April 2011
Wonderful Working Weather
After a few days of welcome rain, its been lovely to see the sunshine again, I know we’d had weeks of dry warm weather and the land really needed the rain, but I do so love waking up in the mornings to sunny days…It really spurs me on to get motivated early and get out there working.
Today was one of those days, I could open the top terrace doors by eight this morning, and it lets the sunshine flood in upstairs and really cheers up the place.
We made a good start by getting out and planting the first batch of squashes on our top level land by the road, we did the peppers aubergines and tomatoes the other day, today was the turn of Courgettes, Harlequin pumpkins, Spaghetti pumpkins, small, medium and large Butternuts, and Uchikiri, I’m sure that’s not quite spelt correctly, but it’s a round winter squash… you know what I mean..
We have more or less finished the planting now, just the odd gap to fill now and again, I’ve tons more squashes coming on, and will stuff them in all over the place, we can never have too many. as they store so well for winter.
I’ve been weeding the Jerusalem Artichokes this morning too, they seem to be sprouting up all over the place, plus my 6 Raspberry canes that I was given last summer but didn’t seem to be doing much… have established themselves and quadrupled when I checked them today, so they were carefully weeded and given a nice feed of comfrey liquid too… I love Raspberries…and look forward to tons in the future.
I finished weeding the Blackcurrants, which are flourishing, I’ll have to split and replant them all come the autumn.
I then managed to pick another large bag of nettles and made some soup and soda bread for lunch, did two loads of laundry and dried it in the sunshine, folded and put away all within three hours… I love this weather.
This afternoon I picked a big bowl full of Broad beans and podded them for the freezer and there will be tons more in a few days, I’m so pleased, this is the first year I’ve successfully managed to grow a reasonable amount of them…
While I was down that way, I picked tons of wild fennel to dry for the winter; I use it in many remedies. I also make gorgeous Liquor from Fennel and aguadente, and will get the first 5-litre bottle underway tomorrow.
I’ve made a start on drying plenty of herbs, already I have some, sage, lemon balm and comfrey hanging up, plus quite a lot of Mullein, I don’t need so much Mullein as I’ve been stashing it away most of the spring and have a big bag now…
My jar of Rosemary is full too, as I’ve been blessed with lots early on this year, The lavender wont be long either…it seems this year will be an abundant year for herbs…
I spent a while down on the veggie patch poking in peas… for the last two years now we’ve had a problem with lack of peas… I plant tons, but only a few plants come up, we think its mice, as we do have a problem with mice down there, so I spend any odd moments I have nipping down and just popping some more in, I just poke a hole with a finger and drop a pea in… and hope for the best. I’ve had to fill in a lot of gaps with the French beans in this way to this year… I’m not sure what happened with them either…
But I try to plant tons of everything to allow for this kind of mishap…
Most things are coming up well though and we look forward to plenty of variety this year…
Today was one of those days, I could open the top terrace doors by eight this morning, and it lets the sunshine flood in upstairs and really cheers up the place.
We made a good start by getting out and planting the first batch of squashes on our top level land by the road, we did the peppers aubergines and tomatoes the other day, today was the turn of Courgettes, Harlequin pumpkins, Spaghetti pumpkins, small, medium and large Butternuts, and Uchikiri, I’m sure that’s not quite spelt correctly, but it’s a round winter squash… you know what I mean..
We have more or less finished the planting now, just the odd gap to fill now and again, I’ve tons more squashes coming on, and will stuff them in all over the place, we can never have too many. as they store so well for winter.
I’ve been weeding the Jerusalem Artichokes this morning too, they seem to be sprouting up all over the place, plus my 6 Raspberry canes that I was given last summer but didn’t seem to be doing much… have established themselves and quadrupled when I checked them today, so they were carefully weeded and given a nice feed of comfrey liquid too… I love Raspberries…and look forward to tons in the future.
I finished weeding the Blackcurrants, which are flourishing, I’ll have to split and replant them all come the autumn.
I then managed to pick another large bag of nettles and made some soup and soda bread for lunch, did two loads of laundry and dried it in the sunshine, folded and put away all within three hours… I love this weather.
This afternoon I picked a big bowl full of Broad beans and podded them for the freezer and there will be tons more in a few days, I’m so pleased, this is the first year I’ve successfully managed to grow a reasonable amount of them…
While I was down that way, I picked tons of wild fennel to dry for the winter; I use it in many remedies. I also make gorgeous Liquor from Fennel and aguadente, and will get the first 5-litre bottle underway tomorrow.
I’ve made a start on drying plenty of herbs, already I have some, sage, lemon balm and comfrey hanging up, plus quite a lot of Mullein, I don’t need so much Mullein as I’ve been stashing it away most of the spring and have a big bag now…
My jar of Rosemary is full too, as I’ve been blessed with lots early on this year, The lavender wont be long either…it seems this year will be an abundant year for herbs…
I spent a while down on the veggie patch poking in peas… for the last two years now we’ve had a problem with lack of peas… I plant tons, but only a few plants come up, we think its mice, as we do have a problem with mice down there, so I spend any odd moments I have nipping down and just popping some more in, I just poke a hole with a finger and drop a pea in… and hope for the best. I’ve had to fill in a lot of gaps with the French beans in this way to this year… I’m not sure what happened with them either…
But I try to plant tons of everything to allow for this kind of mishap…
Most things are coming up well though and we look forward to plenty of variety this year…
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Nettle Soup. Frugal Living Recipe.
As we have tons of nettles coming up all over at the moment, I thought I’d give this recipe a try, Rick wasn’t too keen but he’s a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to trying new things…
Nettles in your garden is actually a good thing, apart from the fact that you can eat them like spinach, make soup or dry them and make a good herbal tonic tea with them. They are just so full of Iron and vitamins.. If you have them in your garden, It means you have plenty of nutrients in your soil …
Only of course use good clean nettle tops, fresh young vibrant ones, don’t pick from near a road or where dogs could have wee’d on them …
Two large potatoes, diced.
1 large onion, chopped,
A couple of carrots diced.
A clove of garlic…
A good slosh of olive oil
A good-sized colander full of nettle tops
Fry off the chopped veg till it all softens, add the nettle tops, stir round till they wilt, cover all with a few inches of water, I added a stock cube, and simmer till all veg is soft and cooked, blitz with a hand blender… taste, season if needed…Its VERY green…
Simple as that… its yummy… even Rick enjoyed it…
Nettles in your garden is actually a good thing, apart from the fact that you can eat them like spinach, make soup or dry them and make a good herbal tonic tea with them. They are just so full of Iron and vitamins.. If you have them in your garden, It means you have plenty of nutrients in your soil …
Only of course use good clean nettle tops, fresh young vibrant ones, don’t pick from near a road or where dogs could have wee’d on them …
Two large potatoes, diced.
1 large onion, chopped,
A couple of carrots diced.
A clove of garlic…
A good slosh of olive oil
A good-sized colander full of nettle tops
Fry off the chopped veg till it all softens, add the nettle tops, stir round till they wilt, cover all with a few inches of water, I added a stock cube, and simmer till all veg is soft and cooked, blitz with a hand blender… taste, season if needed…Its VERY green…
Simple as that… its yummy… even Rick enjoyed it…
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
I read this today...
"I think if we could get Earth in a living and stable state, not a constantly degrading and dying state caused by our actions, then we have won some right to go to the stars. But at present I don't think we'd be welcome anywhere else in the universe. You wouldn't welcome anybody who'd laid waste to their house and wanted to live in yours, I'm sure."
Bill Mollison
It it was so right for how Im feeling about the world... that I copied it... and decided to share it with you all...
Bill Mollison
It it was so right for how Im feeling about the world... that I copied it... and decided to share it with you all...
Monday, 18 April 2011
One of those days
One of those days…
I know a lot of people who read this blog think our life is a Bed of Roses, well yesterday felt like a bed of nails I can tell you.
It was one of those days when everything we touched turned to poo… and that’s my polite version for the Internet…
Rick had a days work putting up a couple of gates that he’d made for some people not too far from here, and we had a bit of fencing to finish off that we didn’t get done the other day… all together we should have been done and dusted by 1-2pm. All the rest of the work having been already done, and the gates assembled here at home… we realised we were one bracket missing, so had to trek into town with the trailer and all the tools to buy another… and from the moment we started those damn gates the day fell apart on us… It took three hours to do the first one… it was very hot, the garden we were working in was very sheltered and a complete suntrap, there was no loo as the house was all locked up… we hadn’t even taken lunch just some fruit… having believed we be home for a late lunch with the job all finished… All in all we didn’t get back to Figueiro Dos Vinhos till 6.50pm and we were shattered …
Neither of us could face all the effort of chopping kindling, and lighting the range, waiting for it to get hot and then making a meal that we’d not get to eat before about 8.30pm We decided to get Frango takeaway on the way home…. Except that the takeaway shop was closed…
Bugger it said Rick we’ll quickly get washed and changed and come back and eat out… we are lucky in the fact that you can get a three course meal in places in town, with wine and coffee for 6.50 euros each..
So… after getting washed and changed off we went… half way to town…. Pop … flap flap flap… a bloody flat tire… another delay while we changed that… by then I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry…
We arrived in town to find it like the Marie Celeste… empty… everywhere shut…
Pissed off wasn’t the words for how we felt….
We tried one last place… just outside of town… yeah… open! We had a wonderful meal and a bottle of wine and managed to get home in one piece… no mishaps…
Boy was I glad that day was over…
Today, we ate our first broad beans… yum…
I’ve a couple of enquiries for the cottage and one for the caravan, things are picking up nicely… only a month now till our friends Alik &Jan arrive from England, its always lovely to see them and we look forward to it for weeks before they arrive…
Ive potatoes popping up everywhere, and corn, beans and beets… the French beans and peas are looking poor, but they have another week and then I’ll start popping in more to fill in the gaps… we have such problems with mice…
I need to translant more lettuce… heaven knows how we’ll eat it all… lettuce soup anyone….
A lovely friend Pam arrived on Saturday and brought me some Parsnip seeds, so we’ll get them in asap… along with some more beets and herbs..
I know a lot of people who read this blog think our life is a Bed of Roses, well yesterday felt like a bed of nails I can tell you.
It was one of those days when everything we touched turned to poo… and that’s my polite version for the Internet…
Rick had a days work putting up a couple of gates that he’d made for some people not too far from here, and we had a bit of fencing to finish off that we didn’t get done the other day… all together we should have been done and dusted by 1-2pm. All the rest of the work having been already done, and the gates assembled here at home… we realised we were one bracket missing, so had to trek into town with the trailer and all the tools to buy another… and from the moment we started those damn gates the day fell apart on us… It took three hours to do the first one… it was very hot, the garden we were working in was very sheltered and a complete suntrap, there was no loo as the house was all locked up… we hadn’t even taken lunch just some fruit… having believed we be home for a late lunch with the job all finished… All in all we didn’t get back to Figueiro Dos Vinhos till 6.50pm and we were shattered …
Neither of us could face all the effort of chopping kindling, and lighting the range, waiting for it to get hot and then making a meal that we’d not get to eat before about 8.30pm We decided to get Frango takeaway on the way home…. Except that the takeaway shop was closed…
Bugger it said Rick we’ll quickly get washed and changed and come back and eat out… we are lucky in the fact that you can get a three course meal in places in town, with wine and coffee for 6.50 euros each..
So… after getting washed and changed off we went… half way to town…. Pop … flap flap flap… a bloody flat tire… another delay while we changed that… by then I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry…
We arrived in town to find it like the Marie Celeste… empty… everywhere shut…
Pissed off wasn’t the words for how we felt….
We tried one last place… just outside of town… yeah… open! We had a wonderful meal and a bottle of wine and managed to get home in one piece… no mishaps…
Boy was I glad that day was over…
Today, we ate our first broad beans… yum…
I’ve a couple of enquiries for the cottage and one for the caravan, things are picking up nicely… only a month now till our friends Alik &Jan arrive from England, its always lovely to see them and we look forward to it for weeks before they arrive…
Ive potatoes popping up everywhere, and corn, beans and beets… the French beans and peas are looking poor, but they have another week and then I’ll start popping in more to fill in the gaps… we have such problems with mice…
I need to translant more lettuce… heaven knows how we’ll eat it all… lettuce soup anyone….
A lovely friend Pam arrived on Saturday and brought me some Parsnip seeds, so we’ll get them in asap… along with some more beets and herbs..
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Property Sale...
While I think of it...
I know quite a few of you people out there who read this blog reguarly, are looking at visiting and looking for property... our good friends over at Bosch Real Estate, where we bought our place from, are having a sale... tons of reduced prices and some beautiful properties... nows a good time to buy... and of course book to come and stay with us while your looking...
http://www.boschrealestate.co.uk/
I know quite a few of you people out there who read this blog reguarly, are looking at visiting and looking for property... our good friends over at Bosch Real Estate, where we bought our place from, are having a sale... tons of reduced prices and some beautiful properties... nows a good time to buy... and of course book to come and stay with us while your looking...
http://www.boschrealestate.co.uk/
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Sunshine... and weeding...
Well the weather has stayed glorious, its been fine sunny and lovely and warm for well over a week now, maybe even two... I lose track of time a bit during spring.
Our lovely Dutch guests left this morning, they have been with us a week and it seemed to fly by... such really nice people... and with a genuine interest in what we are doing here...
The warm weather is really bringing on the garden, I have a few tiny sprigs of corn showing this morning, and peas and beans too...
My Blackcurrant cuttings I took a few weeks ago on the off chance that a few would take are all doing excellently, all are growing, and some actually have flowers coming... alll 59 have taken well... so we just have to keep it up during the hot weather now... It just shows the books are not always right, I took the cuttings at completely the wrong time of the year and just stuck them in and hoped... also the books say it may take 3 good years before you get fruit... mine will fruit this year ... if the flowers are to be believed...
The odd potato is also poking its head up... I keep going and covering them again... in the hopes that it will work like earthing up...
This hot weather 26º today, means my seed house is working like a dream, I have to open it early in the mornings or else my seeds would cook... but I have quite a lot of squash seedlings popping up, and some of my herbs too...
The downside of all this heat , is that the weeds are making an early start too... I spent 3 hours weeding the cabages and lettuce yesterday... I also transplanted 50 lettuce seedlings... yep ... 50... they all grew... I often only get a handful that survive per packet... this year .. all have come on well so I have to plant them somewhere... there is still tons to come, so I'll be giving plenty away... lettuce soup anyone...
Our lovely Dutch guests left this morning, they have been with us a week and it seemed to fly by... such really nice people... and with a genuine interest in what we are doing here...
The warm weather is really bringing on the garden, I have a few tiny sprigs of corn showing this morning, and peas and beans too...
My Blackcurrant cuttings I took a few weeks ago on the off chance that a few would take are all doing excellently, all are growing, and some actually have flowers coming... alll 59 have taken well... so we just have to keep it up during the hot weather now... It just shows the books are not always right, I took the cuttings at completely the wrong time of the year and just stuck them in and hoped... also the books say it may take 3 good years before you get fruit... mine will fruit this year ... if the flowers are to be believed...
The odd potato is also poking its head up... I keep going and covering them again... in the hopes that it will work like earthing up...
This hot weather 26º today, means my seed house is working like a dream, I have to open it early in the mornings or else my seeds would cook... but I have quite a lot of squash seedlings popping up, and some of my herbs too...
The downside of all this heat , is that the weeds are making an early start too... I spent 3 hours weeding the cabages and lettuce yesterday... I also transplanted 50 lettuce seedlings... yep ... 50... they all grew... I often only get a handful that survive per packet... this year .. all have come on well so I have to plant them somewhere... there is still tons to come, so I'll be giving plenty away... lettuce soup anyone...
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Frugal Living. Store Cupboards.
One of the main things that enable us to live here and live as frugally as we do is our store cupboard. It’s a huge part of what we do here. Yes we grow as much as possible and freeze it, pickle it, dry it, make every kind of preserve I can think of. But there are many things we just cant grow and don’t want to live without. Yes I know its probably possible to manage without things like loo rolls, shampoo, and the basic dry goods type of staples… and although we want to live frugally and healthily, I also feel there is a quality of life issue if you start wiping your bum on leaves …
Not that I’m against other people doing that if they so choose… its just not for me until something dreadful happens to the world and then loo paper will be the least of my worries…
So until then I buy it… and store it, our main problems happen during winter and early spring when the rental lettings are few and far between. Which means we don’t have an income… So during summer and when/if we get any money in, I tend to take a little here and there and stock up on basics.
I have a winter stores list, and it covers things like loo paper, flour, rice, pasta, oats, butter (which I freeze) baking soda, Bi carb, washing up liquid, and coffee… all the day to day stuff that makes life and cooking easier… Yes its stuff we could manage without, but mealtimes would be extremely boring at times.
I like to go into winter with at least 3 months supplies… more if possible, so when you add all this to our stored and preserved veggies we could look after ourselves for months without grocery shopping.
I don’t go spending a fortune though, I tend to spend just an extra 5 euros each time I shop, or choose an item from my stores list and just get that… like 4 jars of cheapy Jam (Intermarche 89cents) or 10 bags of flour… (Intermarche 33 cents a kilo) That way, I can build up my stores without missing the cash…
If I see an offer on meat, I tend to buy a couple of kilos here and there, we don’t eat lots of meat so a kilo will do us lots of meals…
Belly Pork is cheap and tasty and very versatile and under 2 euros a kilo, and you get a lot of meat for a kilo…
Liver is about the same, so is chicken. Our main problem is cheese, Rick doesn’t like much cheese apart from English cheese, I like most cheese of any kind…But its very expensive and doesn’t keep, freezing it just ruins the taste, so we generally have to manage without.
I’ve just bought a bag of cheap chorizo sausage, I happened to see at 2.69 for a kilo, there is 10 in there and although I don’t suppose they are the best Chorizo in the world, I use them in winter stews, so they don’t need to be fantastic…
I also use my store cupboard as a way of saving money for paying a bill. When we have a good stock in, it means I can not buy groceries for a couple of weeks without even noticing the loss… and that frees up any money we have to pay a bill…
Even before we came here I did a similar thing, each week when you grocery shop, spend an extra couple of pounds on buying duplicate items. If you do that over about 6-8 weeks, you should end up with extra weeks groceries in the cupboard. Then make sure you put aside the money you would have spent that week on food… save it, pay a bill with it, its like gaining a free week… you’ve not noticed the extra couple of pounds here n there, but it soon mounts up in your food cupboards…
I also every now and then have a use up week… I go through and look at what’s been in there a while, any opened packets, anything I’ve had too long, or got tons of… and get creative, if it means we eat a lot of Rice one week… or pasta sauce… then that’s what we do… I make up my mind not to buy anything and just use up all the ‘use up stuff’ that I have, and its easier if you menu plan too…
When you menu plan, it makes grocery shopping and cooking so much easier. You tend not to overspend or impulse buys if you’ve worked out the menus in advance. You have a specific list and stick to it. I just have to make sure I keep away from the crisps … they are my weakness… I can walk past the chocolate and sweets… but have to be dragged by the aisle with the crisps and nuts…
Not that I’m against other people doing that if they so choose… its just not for me until something dreadful happens to the world and then loo paper will be the least of my worries…
So until then I buy it… and store it, our main problems happen during winter and early spring when the rental lettings are few and far between. Which means we don’t have an income… So during summer and when/if we get any money in, I tend to take a little here and there and stock up on basics.
I have a winter stores list, and it covers things like loo paper, flour, rice, pasta, oats, butter (which I freeze) baking soda, Bi carb, washing up liquid, and coffee… all the day to day stuff that makes life and cooking easier… Yes its stuff we could manage without, but mealtimes would be extremely boring at times.
I like to go into winter with at least 3 months supplies… more if possible, so when you add all this to our stored and preserved veggies we could look after ourselves for months without grocery shopping.
I don’t go spending a fortune though, I tend to spend just an extra 5 euros each time I shop, or choose an item from my stores list and just get that… like 4 jars of cheapy Jam (Intermarche 89cents) or 10 bags of flour… (Intermarche 33 cents a kilo) That way, I can build up my stores without missing the cash…
If I see an offer on meat, I tend to buy a couple of kilos here and there, we don’t eat lots of meat so a kilo will do us lots of meals…
Belly Pork is cheap and tasty and very versatile and under 2 euros a kilo, and you get a lot of meat for a kilo…
Liver is about the same, so is chicken. Our main problem is cheese, Rick doesn’t like much cheese apart from English cheese, I like most cheese of any kind…But its very expensive and doesn’t keep, freezing it just ruins the taste, so we generally have to manage without.
I’ve just bought a bag of cheap chorizo sausage, I happened to see at 2.69 for a kilo, there is 10 in there and although I don’t suppose they are the best Chorizo in the world, I use them in winter stews, so they don’t need to be fantastic…
I also use my store cupboard as a way of saving money for paying a bill. When we have a good stock in, it means I can not buy groceries for a couple of weeks without even noticing the loss… and that frees up any money we have to pay a bill…
Even before we came here I did a similar thing, each week when you grocery shop, spend an extra couple of pounds on buying duplicate items. If you do that over about 6-8 weeks, you should end up with extra weeks groceries in the cupboard. Then make sure you put aside the money you would have spent that week on food… save it, pay a bill with it, its like gaining a free week… you’ve not noticed the extra couple of pounds here n there, but it soon mounts up in your food cupboards…
I also every now and then have a use up week… I go through and look at what’s been in there a while, any opened packets, anything I’ve had too long, or got tons of… and get creative, if it means we eat a lot of Rice one week… or pasta sauce… then that’s what we do… I make up my mind not to buy anything and just use up all the ‘use up stuff’ that I have, and its easier if you menu plan too…
When you menu plan, it makes grocery shopping and cooking so much easier. You tend not to overspend or impulse buys if you’ve worked out the menus in advance. You have a specific list and stick to it. I just have to make sure I keep away from the crisps … they are my weakness… I can walk past the chocolate and sweets… but have to be dragged by the aisle with the crisps and nuts…
Friday, 8 April 2011
Frugal Living. - Batch Cooking/Menu planning. /recycling stuff…
At the moment I’m trying to get into more batch cooking, I don’t tend to cook for the freezer, but if that’s your thing; it’s a great idea. It certainly saves lots of money, fuel and time. We don’t eat a lot of the kind of meals that are good for batch freezing. But what I am doing at the moment is sort of the same thing… almost.
The weather here at the moment is glorious, its turned HOT… the last few days have been around 24-28 degrees… and its lovely, our pool is cleaned and up and running, (we have lovely Dutch guests from this blog actually and they are enjoying a daily swim.)
Add to this the fact that I’m busy in the veggie garden now and we are a tad low on wood… so I am planning our meals with great care, two or three days at a time, and then lighting the range, cooking tons, and then we don’t have to light it or cook for a few days…
For example, tomorrow early morning while its cool, we’ll light the range, and I’ll bake 3-4 loaves of Soda Bread, put two in the freezer, I’m going to make a huge bowl of potato salad, one of rice salad, and some pasta salad. A large quiche, which I’ll cut in half and freeze in separate bags, and also boil a few eggs.
Combine that lot with various things like the odd tin of tuna and it will feed us for days…
We have lettuce ready in the garden, and I even splashed out 88cents on a few tomatoes today, so we can have salad too…
I don’t reckon I’ll have to cook again before Tuesday…Wednesday, if I’m lucky.
In this warm weather we tend to eat whatever is cool and easy… Its really turned warm early this year, generally I don’t think it’s this warm for quite a few weeks yet… it was very welcome though…
I’m also busy cutting up my tetra paks that our milk comes in… those damn cartons are such a pain… I know you can send them to the recycling bins, but I do try to reuse them in anyway I can really. At the moment, I’m opening them out and cutting them up into a sort of fringe shape, then hanging them from the olive trees… hehehe they are shiny inside and act as a great bird deterrent for the veggie patch…
We try to recycle as much as possible, we generally end up with one rubbish bag a month, which I feel isn’t too bad. All our compostable waste is either on the heap like coffee grounds, tea bags, weeds etc. Eggshells are saved for a few days to dry out and then I crumble them around my veggie patch to deter slugs and snails. All food waste goes into the dogs, table scraps which isn’t often, all my veggie peelings are cooked up for them too… so nothing wasted there, cabbage stump is Beesa’s fave snack…
All glass bottles are washed and kept as I’m planning, lots of fruit liqueurs, plus Elderflower champagne, and some syrups this year, glass jars are saved for preserves.
We have a plastic recycling bin which gets empted whenever we go to town, as does the tetrapak one if I’ve not used them for other stuff, I washed a few and froze juice in them, they pack nicely like bricks in the freezer.
All paper and cardboard is burnt on the range, and all our ash goes back onto the land…
The main thing I have a problem finding things to do with, is, the thin wispy plastic cling film type stuff and the same wispy bags you get given stuff in from supermarkets… we don’t get much of it, but it’s a problem. At the mo, I’ve been washing it and using it to stuff draft excluders … I’ve also been told you can wash it and knit washable door mats etc with it… hmmmm not sure about that. Rick already thinks I’m crazy as I have a use, wash, and rotate system with the freezer bags…
As we get all kinds of scrap stuff from the butcher for the dogs, it has to be frozen… and sometimes although its fresh, its unpleasant looking stuff… and I didn’t want to use my freezer bags which would be washed and reused for our food for this …
So I’ve worked out a system… he thinks I’m barmy…
Any yoghurt pots or plastic ice-cream cartons, loo roll cardboard kind of stuff is used for seedlings in the little housie. That sort of covers it really.
The weather here at the moment is glorious, its turned HOT… the last few days have been around 24-28 degrees… and its lovely, our pool is cleaned and up and running, (we have lovely Dutch guests from this blog actually and they are enjoying a daily swim.)
Add to this the fact that I’m busy in the veggie garden now and we are a tad low on wood… so I am planning our meals with great care, two or three days at a time, and then lighting the range, cooking tons, and then we don’t have to light it or cook for a few days…
For example, tomorrow early morning while its cool, we’ll light the range, and I’ll bake 3-4 loaves of Soda Bread, put two in the freezer, I’m going to make a huge bowl of potato salad, one of rice salad, and some pasta salad. A large quiche, which I’ll cut in half and freeze in separate bags, and also boil a few eggs.
Combine that lot with various things like the odd tin of tuna and it will feed us for days…
We have lettuce ready in the garden, and I even splashed out 88cents on a few tomatoes today, so we can have salad too…
I don’t reckon I’ll have to cook again before Tuesday…Wednesday, if I’m lucky.
In this warm weather we tend to eat whatever is cool and easy… Its really turned warm early this year, generally I don’t think it’s this warm for quite a few weeks yet… it was very welcome though…
I’m also busy cutting up my tetra paks that our milk comes in… those damn cartons are such a pain… I know you can send them to the recycling bins, but I do try to reuse them in anyway I can really. At the moment, I’m opening them out and cutting them up into a sort of fringe shape, then hanging them from the olive trees… hehehe they are shiny inside and act as a great bird deterrent for the veggie patch…
We try to recycle as much as possible, we generally end up with one rubbish bag a month, which I feel isn’t too bad. All our compostable waste is either on the heap like coffee grounds, tea bags, weeds etc. Eggshells are saved for a few days to dry out and then I crumble them around my veggie patch to deter slugs and snails. All food waste goes into the dogs, table scraps which isn’t often, all my veggie peelings are cooked up for them too… so nothing wasted there, cabbage stump is Beesa’s fave snack…
All glass bottles are washed and kept as I’m planning, lots of fruit liqueurs, plus Elderflower champagne, and some syrups this year, glass jars are saved for preserves.
We have a plastic recycling bin which gets empted whenever we go to town, as does the tetrapak one if I’ve not used them for other stuff, I washed a few and froze juice in them, they pack nicely like bricks in the freezer.
All paper and cardboard is burnt on the range, and all our ash goes back onto the land…
The main thing I have a problem finding things to do with, is, the thin wispy plastic cling film type stuff and the same wispy bags you get given stuff in from supermarkets… we don’t get much of it, but it’s a problem. At the mo, I’ve been washing it and using it to stuff draft excluders … I’ve also been told you can wash it and knit washable door mats etc with it… hmmmm not sure about that. Rick already thinks I’m crazy as I have a use, wash, and rotate system with the freezer bags…
As we get all kinds of scrap stuff from the butcher for the dogs, it has to be frozen… and sometimes although its fresh, its unpleasant looking stuff… and I didn’t want to use my freezer bags which would be washed and reused for our food for this …
So I’ve worked out a system… he thinks I’m barmy…
Any yoghurt pots or plastic ice-cream cartons, loo roll cardboard kind of stuff is used for seedlings in the little housie. That sort of covers it really.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Frugal Living. Summer skin salves and bug stuff..
As we are having some wonderful warm weather at the moment, and the herbs are growing like mad and its forecast to stay that way for a while… around 25 degrees or more… lucky us. I’m going to crack on and get our summer supply of skin salves made and into jars.
Now Rick always gets bitten badly during summer, I’m not always sympathetic as it doesn’t seem to happen to me much, but he does suffer badly at times… anything within a mile seems to make a beeline for him and have a chew…
We’ve always struggled with anti bug stuff… its extremely toxic stuff, which may be okay if you are only wearing it on the odd occasion on holiday … but for people like Rick who has to wear it every day for about 7-8 months of the year while he works on the land… its just too harsh, it burns the skin and you get very sore in all kinds of places…
So this year I’ve made him some homemade salve and he loves it… I’m lucky enough to have found a good source of beeswax at last (our local honey man gives me the odd sheet for free when we buy his honey…) and some kind guests brought a bottle of Citronella essential oil and I warm up some olive oil, and a few small pieces of the wax, drop in some essential oil and stir, take it off the heat, pour into sterile warm jars and leave to set… I’ve also made some with Rosemary oil in, just olive oil I put plenty of Rosemary springs in and left in a warm place for a month to steep… he thinks the Rosemary and citronella is best…
He’s been wearing it for a couple of weeks now during all our planting… and yes he has the odd bite, they will always find a way or a place you missed … but generally its working very well and the olive oil is great for the skin… it doesn’t wash of so quickly when you sweat either…
So I am getting ready to make the skin lotion we use too, spending so much time out in the sun and wind we get here, our skins get very dry, so again we don’t want to use shop bought stuff when Mother Nature gives us the perfect cure for free…
My Calendula salve works very well and feels lovely on the skin. I pick tons of Marigold heads, put in a large jar, cover with olive oil, or veggie oil if that’s what you like, and leave it to steep in a warm place for a month… mines in the seed house at the moment… then strain, and warm gently, add a few small pieces of beeswax and put into warm jars and leave to set… that’s all there is too it… we put it on every night after we come indoors from working it soothes, and moisturises, and nourishes the skin. I also make a similar one with plantain leaves, not the banana type stuff… weeds from the garden… look it up…
I make a really effective skin salve for cuts, scrapes, sores etc from a mixture of plantain leaves, comfrey and lemon balm … all steeped together in oil and made as above… it makes a great lip balm too. Lemon Balm is a’ must have’ if you suffer from cold sores, as it has a compound in that combats them very quickly…
During the high summer when we have the fridge on, I also make plantain liquid mulch stuff, and put in a jar in the fridge, as it’s excellent soothing mulch for sunburn. We often get guests who over do the sun and need a quick ready soother… this is perfect.
Just pick tons of plantain, it’s a garden weed and grows everywhere freely, mulch it up in the blender or if like me you don’t like to use one, I mash it with the pestle and mortar… put in a jar and keep cool, it only keeps a couple of days but its free so making more isn’t a problem…
Now Rick always gets bitten badly during summer, I’m not always sympathetic as it doesn’t seem to happen to me much, but he does suffer badly at times… anything within a mile seems to make a beeline for him and have a chew…
We’ve always struggled with anti bug stuff… its extremely toxic stuff, which may be okay if you are only wearing it on the odd occasion on holiday … but for people like Rick who has to wear it every day for about 7-8 months of the year while he works on the land… its just too harsh, it burns the skin and you get very sore in all kinds of places…
So this year I’ve made him some homemade salve and he loves it… I’m lucky enough to have found a good source of beeswax at last (our local honey man gives me the odd sheet for free when we buy his honey…) and some kind guests brought a bottle of Citronella essential oil and I warm up some olive oil, and a few small pieces of the wax, drop in some essential oil and stir, take it off the heat, pour into sterile warm jars and leave to set… I’ve also made some with Rosemary oil in, just olive oil I put plenty of Rosemary springs in and left in a warm place for a month to steep… he thinks the Rosemary and citronella is best…
He’s been wearing it for a couple of weeks now during all our planting… and yes he has the odd bite, they will always find a way or a place you missed … but generally its working very well and the olive oil is great for the skin… it doesn’t wash of so quickly when you sweat either…
So I am getting ready to make the skin lotion we use too, spending so much time out in the sun and wind we get here, our skins get very dry, so again we don’t want to use shop bought stuff when Mother Nature gives us the perfect cure for free…
My Calendula salve works very well and feels lovely on the skin. I pick tons of Marigold heads, put in a large jar, cover with olive oil, or veggie oil if that’s what you like, and leave it to steep in a warm place for a month… mines in the seed house at the moment… then strain, and warm gently, add a few small pieces of beeswax and put into warm jars and leave to set… that’s all there is too it… we put it on every night after we come indoors from working it soothes, and moisturises, and nourishes the skin. I also make a similar one with plantain leaves, not the banana type stuff… weeds from the garden… look it up…
I make a really effective skin salve for cuts, scrapes, sores etc from a mixture of plantain leaves, comfrey and lemon balm … all steeped together in oil and made as above… it makes a great lip balm too. Lemon Balm is a’ must have’ if you suffer from cold sores, as it has a compound in that combats them very quickly…
During the high summer when we have the fridge on, I also make plantain liquid mulch stuff, and put in a jar in the fridge, as it’s excellent soothing mulch for sunburn. We often get guests who over do the sun and need a quick ready soother… this is perfect.
Just pick tons of plantain, it’s a garden weed and grows everywhere freely, mulch it up in the blender or if like me you don’t like to use one, I mash it with the pestle and mortar… put in a jar and keep cool, it only keeps a couple of days but its free so making more isn’t a problem…
Washing Powder…. It stinks!
I don’t know quite what’s going on with the washing powder manufacturers lately, but I’m having real serious problems with their products. Not that I actually use them much, ages ago, I decided I didn’t really like the chemically smell of most perfumed washing powders. I’ve tried all the home made remedies, soda, vinegar etc. and while they don’t do a bad job and if I ran out I’d use them, I have settled on a washing liquid I can buy locally, it’s a very, very cheapy brand, so yes probably full of chemicals, but it has a very low level smell, and I only use about a third of what they tell you to put in, and I get a good result… for a fraction of the cost. And once it’s been out on the line to dry, all the smell you get from the washing is a nice clean air smell…
The trouble I’m having is other people’s laundry….
When I’m in the Internet space, or a café. The smell from other peoples washing powder is so strong I find my nose burning, and I often get a headache… It’s so overpowering. I find this sometimes with our guests too. I just have to stand next to people in the street and its terrible…
It only seems to have got this bad over the last year or maybe a little less…
What the hell are they putting in this stuff? Are people over doing it? Using too much?
It’s no wonder that more and more children are growing up struggling with asthma and all kinds of skin allergies and problems…
Its not air pollution outside the home we should be looking at… it’s the toxicity of the home environment…
Just think… the normal average housewife with kids… uses… washing powder, softener, maybe air freshner… all those toxic plug in things they keep pushing on the TV, … tons of cleaning products, bleach, surface cleaners, window cleaners… polish, etc etc. the list goes on and on… the air in some homes must be so full of chemicals its lethal.
Couple that with, double glazing, central heating, insulation… so no fresh air gets in … wow… what are we doing to those children and ourselves… I think the stronger the smell the more toxic it must be… why do women think that washing has to smell strongly of the washing powder to be clean…
I read an article the other week about the recommended dosage labels on powders…
Companies advertise on the box that that size box does ‘X’ amount of washes, on the back or the side they give you the recommended amounts to use for a wash… and it rarely adds up… if you actually use as much as they tell you to… you’ll never get your ‘X’ amount of washes…
I have a friend who uses the strong washing powders, but puts two tablespoons in per wash load… yep, that all… and she gets a perfectly good clean wash…
Are they conning housewives… does anyone really care… or is it just my nose that suffers….
The trouble I’m having is other people’s laundry….
When I’m in the Internet space, or a café. The smell from other peoples washing powder is so strong I find my nose burning, and I often get a headache… It’s so overpowering. I find this sometimes with our guests too. I just have to stand next to people in the street and its terrible…
It only seems to have got this bad over the last year or maybe a little less…
What the hell are they putting in this stuff? Are people over doing it? Using too much?
It’s no wonder that more and more children are growing up struggling with asthma and all kinds of skin allergies and problems…
Its not air pollution outside the home we should be looking at… it’s the toxicity of the home environment…
Just think… the normal average housewife with kids… uses… washing powder, softener, maybe air freshner… all those toxic plug in things they keep pushing on the TV, … tons of cleaning products, bleach, surface cleaners, window cleaners… polish, etc etc. the list goes on and on… the air in some homes must be so full of chemicals its lethal.
Couple that with, double glazing, central heating, insulation… so no fresh air gets in … wow… what are we doing to those children and ourselves… I think the stronger the smell the more toxic it must be… why do women think that washing has to smell strongly of the washing powder to be clean…
I read an article the other week about the recommended dosage labels on powders…
Companies advertise on the box that that size box does ‘X’ amount of washes, on the back or the side they give you the recommended amounts to use for a wash… and it rarely adds up… if you actually use as much as they tell you to… you’ll never get your ‘X’ amount of washes…
I have a friend who uses the strong washing powders, but puts two tablespoons in per wash load… yep, that all… and she gets a perfectly good clean wash…
Are they conning housewives… does anyone really care… or is it just my nose that suffers….
Monday, 4 April 2011
Planting.... nearly done ..
Well we've really worked at it and managed to get the bulk of it done... I still need a few more beetroot, another packet of Basil and Im hoping a friend will arrive from Uk in a week or so, bearing gifts of Parsnip seeds.
We've now got in, all the beans, four different kinds, we eat them in so many ways, as green pods, normal french beans, the portuguese green beans and those we also leave to swell and pod them, and freeze them , I then leave them longer and dry them, I do this with the runner types too... I have Borlotti beans for freezing and drying, and I have Broad beans podding up nicely too... and now the climbing yellow waxy pods that are a heritage variety, which I have high hopes of a big crop...
Peas... a quarter of the main area is now down to peas... and I know it wont be enough... Carrots... two different kinds, Nantes and a bigger tougher one Im hoping will store better... a huge area of those too...
Red cabbage, green cabbage, caulis, broccs, spinach, three large areas of sweetcorn now, Two rows of basil right across the whole width of the garden, two rows of coriander and a large patch of Parsley, lettuce seedlings coming up all over...
In the little seed house, yesterday popped up a Kuchi chiri.. Im sure thats spelt completely wrong.. it joins my Okra as being an early bird coming up... hopefully now as we are forcast a couple of weeks of 24/5º weather , they'll all be up and growing well. Im really hoping on the melons this season... we had a handful last year but only small Galia and this time Im trying the more prolific white Portuguese type...
And about 5 different types of winter squash...
Add all that to the aubergines, courgettes, peppers and three kinds of tomatoes... plus all those damn spuds... and I dont think we'll starve this winter...
Im so looking forward to the whole growing, picking, preserving , drying time this year, last year was so overshadowed by Dad's illness and death that it seemed that I missed it all out... it just didnt register...
This year is a whole new ballgame though...
We've now got in, all the beans, four different kinds, we eat them in so many ways, as green pods, normal french beans, the portuguese green beans and those we also leave to swell and pod them, and freeze them , I then leave them longer and dry them, I do this with the runner types too... I have Borlotti beans for freezing and drying, and I have Broad beans podding up nicely too... and now the climbing yellow waxy pods that are a heritage variety, which I have high hopes of a big crop...
Peas... a quarter of the main area is now down to peas... and I know it wont be enough... Carrots... two different kinds, Nantes and a bigger tougher one Im hoping will store better... a huge area of those too...
Red cabbage, green cabbage, caulis, broccs, spinach, three large areas of sweetcorn now, Two rows of basil right across the whole width of the garden, two rows of coriander and a large patch of Parsley, lettuce seedlings coming up all over...
In the little seed house, yesterday popped up a Kuchi chiri.. Im sure thats spelt completely wrong.. it joins my Okra as being an early bird coming up... hopefully now as we are forcast a couple of weeks of 24/5º weather , they'll all be up and growing well. Im really hoping on the melons this season... we had a handful last year but only small Galia and this time Im trying the more prolific white Portuguese type...
And about 5 different types of winter squash...
Add all that to the aubergines, courgettes, peppers and three kinds of tomatoes... plus all those damn spuds... and I dont think we'll starve this winter...
Im so looking forward to the whole growing, picking, preserving , drying time this year, last year was so overshadowed by Dad's illness and death that it seemed that I missed it all out... it just didnt register...
This year is a whole new ballgame though...
Friday, 1 April 2011
Potato Potato Potato
Potato Potato Potato…
Well we are now calling the back garden, which is a terrace roughly 90ft by 15 ish… the Harley Davidson Garden… cos its full of potatoes… I keep wandering round it going Potato Potato Potato…, which is a joke only people who are into motorcycles may understand…
It’s taken us three days to plant the huge boxes our lovely neighbour arrived with, completely free the other day. Poor Rick, his back and arms are really suffering from digging all those trenches. But it will be worth it come summer when they feed us for months…
And just when Rick thought there was light at the end of the tunnel…when it came to planting, there was our neighbour again today… with another box of seed potatoes…
Last year he gave us two large boxes, we are not sure where they come from as he is quite elderly, disabled and doesn’t grow any veggies at all nowadays, he says he’s too old. He used to breed pigs, so has contacts within that area and I suspect they are actually pig food potatoes…
We really don’t care, they grew and were delicious last year and this year we have tons more…
Obviously we gave him a couple of sacks, and also kept him supplied with fresh veggies all summer and autumn and he is more than happy with the arrangement, and keeps leaving a bottle of Port or the odd cheese on our step… He called in tonight, again with wine and cheese, stayed for a drink and some soup and left. Lovely man. Nearly always part drunk, but lovely.
Today we spent the morning planting again, Rick bless him was up and rototilling at the crack of dawn, before even I was up, so we could get all the bean poles up and all my beans planted before lunchtime. So we have now, tons of broad beans podding up nicely down the orchard, and today we put in, a long double row of runner beans and climbing waxy pods, that the lovely Minxy sent mew when I said on here that my beans had been munched by bugs,
Also planted this morning, were French beans, Portuguese green beans, a bit like a dwarf runner, and some Borlotti beans again a present from Minxy… (Thanks again mate)
This afternoon we spent a couple of hours planting peas… lots of peas, although we always plant tons, there is never enough, Rick loves peas…. I also managed to find a spare corner for some corn, as we have three lots this year, but one lot has to be kept separate, in case of cross pollination. The rest will go in the Harley Davidson Garden along with the tomatoes…. just about…
Tomorrow, after market, I plan to clean the cottage ready for new guests, while Rick puts up more beanpoles, then we’ll plant the final beans. A huge block of carrots, a block of beets, a block of Spinach, three rows of Basil, two of Parsley, two of Coriander, and we have some more cabbage, caulis and broccs ready for planting out too…
Then I have to cook a three-course meal for our new guests… I think I will sleep well tomorrow night…
The rest which is tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, squashes, melons, chillis etc wont go in for at least a couple of weeks yet. I have some Okra just starting to pop up in pots in my new little seed house but again they wont be ready for outside for a couple of weeks yet…
Our strawberry bed looks good, I don’t really expect much this season, but as long as they thrive and establish themselves, I’ll be happy, my blackcurrant cuttings (all 60) of them seem to be going well.. What I’ll do with them all Im not sure yet….
Well we are now calling the back garden, which is a terrace roughly 90ft by 15 ish… the Harley Davidson Garden… cos its full of potatoes… I keep wandering round it going Potato Potato Potato…, which is a joke only people who are into motorcycles may understand…
It’s taken us three days to plant the huge boxes our lovely neighbour arrived with, completely free the other day. Poor Rick, his back and arms are really suffering from digging all those trenches. But it will be worth it come summer when they feed us for months…
And just when Rick thought there was light at the end of the tunnel…when it came to planting, there was our neighbour again today… with another box of seed potatoes…
Last year he gave us two large boxes, we are not sure where they come from as he is quite elderly, disabled and doesn’t grow any veggies at all nowadays, he says he’s too old. He used to breed pigs, so has contacts within that area and I suspect they are actually pig food potatoes…
We really don’t care, they grew and were delicious last year and this year we have tons more…
Obviously we gave him a couple of sacks, and also kept him supplied with fresh veggies all summer and autumn and he is more than happy with the arrangement, and keeps leaving a bottle of Port or the odd cheese on our step… He called in tonight, again with wine and cheese, stayed for a drink and some soup and left. Lovely man. Nearly always part drunk, but lovely.
Today we spent the morning planting again, Rick bless him was up and rototilling at the crack of dawn, before even I was up, so we could get all the bean poles up and all my beans planted before lunchtime. So we have now, tons of broad beans podding up nicely down the orchard, and today we put in, a long double row of runner beans and climbing waxy pods, that the lovely Minxy sent mew when I said on here that my beans had been munched by bugs,
Also planted this morning, were French beans, Portuguese green beans, a bit like a dwarf runner, and some Borlotti beans again a present from Minxy… (Thanks again mate)
This afternoon we spent a couple of hours planting peas… lots of peas, although we always plant tons, there is never enough, Rick loves peas…. I also managed to find a spare corner for some corn, as we have three lots this year, but one lot has to be kept separate, in case of cross pollination. The rest will go in the Harley Davidson Garden along with the tomatoes…. just about…
Tomorrow, after market, I plan to clean the cottage ready for new guests, while Rick puts up more beanpoles, then we’ll plant the final beans. A huge block of carrots, a block of beets, a block of Spinach, three rows of Basil, two of Parsley, two of Coriander, and we have some more cabbage, caulis and broccs ready for planting out too…
Then I have to cook a three-course meal for our new guests… I think I will sleep well tomorrow night…
The rest which is tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, squashes, melons, chillis etc wont go in for at least a couple of weeks yet. I have some Okra just starting to pop up in pots in my new little seed house but again they wont be ready for outside for a couple of weeks yet…
Our strawberry bed looks good, I don’t really expect much this season, but as long as they thrive and establish themselves, I’ll be happy, my blackcurrant cuttings (all 60) of them seem to be going well.. What I’ll do with them all Im not sure yet….
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