Another Quick Update

hehehe Im updating this again very quickly because certain people are nagging me.... Yes Betty... I mean you!
I do realise, Ive neglected this blog most of the summer. But its precisely this time of the year where I barely get time to draw breath let alone get my thoughts together to write this blog... Sorry.
So... well Rick is back, the working in the UK thing just didnt work out for us, he didnt earn enough to warrant the heartache it caused us both being apart. (Everybody say AHHHH)  luckily the cottage and caravan have both paid their way the last month, plus with more bookings to come, its enabled us to live and start to put a tiny bit by for the winter.
Rick is off to Germany the last week of August to run a Softball training clinic over there, and hopefully again to Madrid in late Sept... so thats looking promising too...
The garden is starting to wind down a bit now, all thats left to come is tons more beans... french ones and runners and portuguese ones too... we are eating as many as possible, giving them away and making them into veggie pasta sauces, as the freezer is more or less packed to the gills... Ive saved enough room in there for the late peas, some more apples, and some more aubergines...
We will soon have our second crop of peas, yummy.... the basil is still going strong, as are the tomatoes, kilos and kilos... and the peppers and aubergines too...
In the freezer we have, chestnuts from last year, jerusalam artichokes, peas, carrots, broad beans, french beans, sliced runners, sliced portuguese beans, podded pt beans, sliced yellow american beans, leeks,  toms, aubergines, peppers, corn, tons of it, coriander, basil and sage, parsnips, apples, blackberries, and grapes, figs. Probably much more I cant think of right now...
We still have three sacks of potatoes in storage, I managed to produce 7 Galia melons... they were fantastic... so sweet...
All the winter squash is ripening up nicely, Ive tons of marrows to be used as bulk for chutney, im madly processing the toms into roasted tomato puree, tomato sauce, with basil, or with onions and garlic... pasta sauce with veggies.... Ive sundried a huge jar full too.... made 12 litres of Fennel liquer...
I have a massive crop of wild blackberries all around us, Ive frozen some, and made eight jars of blackberry and apple jam, but have a huge batch to make within a day or two. Then will come chutney... the beets are all pickled and put away...
So we are still working like mad to get everything done and make sure none goes to waste... we planted 3 doz caulis and 3 doz cabbage today too...
At least its cooled down today, the weather has been soooooo hot, 38 degrees and more the last few days, today is only 32 and feels wonderful, we actually have breeze...thank heavens for that pool....

General Update...playing catch up

Well, its seems such a long long time since Ive updated this blog. Its been weeks. Suddenly I dont know where the time goes, days, weeks even have slipped by and I just seem to miss this blog out... then suddenly I think.... ooh poo, best update the blog, I keep getting emails from people who worry about us... Ah bless... thank you all of you, you know who you are...
Right.
Whats been going on in our world then... lots in some ways.... and not much in others...
The biggest thing really I suppose, is that Rick is back in the UK, and has been for almost three weeks now...and for me it seems like forever.
It was a hard decision, we had been discussing it for a while, and had put it off a few times. Then Rick's son Daniel called to say he and his lovely wife Lynne and their twin girls were probably emigrating to Canada, very. very quickly, as he had been headhunted by IBM . He offered to pay for his dad to go visit them all before they left, that sealed the deal, really, it seemed daft to come back when he could stay and try to earn us some dosh to get through the winter... plus he could play some Softball too.... Killing three birds with one stone so to speak....
So... there you have it. He hopefully will be back by late August, early Sept. Earlier if I have my way...
The cottage and caravan keep us pottering along money wise, but never enough since the crisis hit,  to put by for the winter really. So he had to go earn some...
Im working like mad trying to keep the place going at the mo, its pretty difficult, I am doing what I can but so much doesnt get done, like weeding, strimming etc.. I could have volunteers I suppose but then I would have to cook for them, and at the moment, its so hot, I just live on fruit, yogurt and salad....I think they would complain...
Im concentrating on harvesting our food and watering whats still growing, I was up at 5 am today so I could plant more beans for autumn while it was nice and cool...
I also cut all my coriander , Ive left it to go to seed and now its cut and drying in the kitchen, I use the seed for chutney in autumn. Then I always have enough to replant too...
I harvested 97 corn cobs for the freezer , yummy...
I picking and freezing aubergines, peppers and courgettes most days now, plus a few toms the last couple of days. I have the drying rack out and starting to fill it too... Sun dried tomatoes are so good come winter...
I have my second crop of french beans coming on well, and ordinary portugues beans too. The first lot have been pulled and frozen... same with the peas, my second crop of those wont be too long either... thats the joy of this country, I just keep planting till the frosts come...
The wild apple trees nearby have lots of tiny apples on I hope to harvest later, and Im madly picking blackberries when I can... I hope to make jam this year...
My fennel liquer has been strained and bottled the other day... 12 litres this year.... thats a lot more than I thought... Rick will be very pleased...
Ive managed to stash 9 kilo jars of pickled beetroot away as well, with him not here to pinch it, it will keep longer...
I have tons of winter squash , butternuts, ukuchi kiri , spagetti pumpkin, and some REALLY huge pumpkins... still growing ... they were plants I found growing on the compost heap and transplanted... wow, we certainly will be eating a lot of pumpkin this winter...I have never grown one as big as this one before... hopefully later when its done, I will take a picture.
My Gladiator parsnips are getting big.... but some little bugger keeps eating them from below... its had three now... I never know till the leaves wilt... when you pull them there is nothing left but a stump....
Lettuce.... my word... weve had more lettuce this summer than anyone should ever have to eat... and still tons left...
So there you have it... the girls and me are fine, the garden is muddling along.... Hopefully Rick will come home soon...
Lots of cottage bookings will come in so he wont need to go again....

Frugal Living Recipe. Beetroot Suprise.

I know Ive posted this before somewhere, but its such a great recipe and my beets are just coming in now and they are lovely this year. We are eating tons at the moment. Im pickling them in sweet vinegar, just boiling and slipping the skins and eating them in salads.
But the best ever recipe for beetroot is Beetroot Suprise.
We called it that because not being a great 'beetroot as a hot vegetable'  type of family, we didnt think it would be good... but its delicious... so its a 'suprise'.
Boil the baby beets till the skins will slip off easily, cut enough beets in to chunks to fill the bottom of an ovenproof dish.
Cover with sliced mushrooms.
Pour over the top a good strong cheese sauce.
Sprinkle the top with oats and seseme seeds.
Bake in a moderate oven till the top is brown and crisp and the underneath is bubbling....
Hmmmm yummm
Serve with Rice & Beans and a salad.
Or... gently wilt the beetroot leaves with a knob of butter and serve as a green vegetable... delish.

Salad Days are here again...

Oooh I love this time of the year when all the lovely salad stuff is coming in. We are eating new potatoes with most things at the moment, plus we have tons of lettuce, rocket leaves, and beetroot. I love the beetrootleaves either in salads or wilted like spinach with a knob of butter. I also eat baby courgettes raw and chopped on salads, plus lovely new fresh peas...
ust last night we had homemade veggie quiche, a salad of new pots, chopped raw courgettes, grated carrot and sprinkled with fresh peas. I made Rick a huge bowl of homemade coleslaw, its his absolute fave stuff at this time of the year, made with our own red cabbage, grated carrot and onion... yummy.
The tomatoes although no where near ready are very tall, and healthy looking after our scare with the potatoes. They havelots of fruit setting and tons more flowers, so I think we'll get a good crop. The corn is also looking as if it wont be long , another week or two maybe, some of the silks are already turning a bit  brown, and that when you should pick. when its all brown.

Today I picked a huge bucket of peas, and another one of french beans which have all been frozen for winter. We are eating a lot of cabbage as normal, if Rick doesnt get to eat cabbage in some way at least three times a week he complains..
Tomorrow or sunday I'll have to pick green peppers, there is around twenty ready, and the aubergines re starting anyday now, we have ome small ones coming on. I'll freeze most of these peppers and aubergines that we dont eat , then when the tomatoes come in, I'll use the access peppers and aubergines with them for pasta sauce in jars.

We have been busy planting our new rhubarb crowns out today, we have two now and they are small but looking good and healthy, maybe next year or the following one, I'll be making crumbles with it...