how can it be..

…December tomorrow.  How did that happen?

The turkeys might well look worried…

We weighed them last week (not exactly scientific as it involved himself holding a startled looking turkey and standing on the bathroom scales, then taking off his weight etc..)  and they came in at approx 8.5  kilos.  A little lighter than we hoped, as they will be less than that once minus their feathers and insides…

However they have longer yet.  We have, I believe, 3 boys.   Two are definiately absolutely all male.  They look a little unsure in this picture, that is because I snuck up on them before they had time to puff up.  The two butch boys spend a lot of time ‘showing’ all fluffed up and strutting around and clicking at each other, and I suspect wasting energy that they could use putting in weight on.

The other one.. who is at the back in this picture looking decidedly girly, has also done a little bit of fluffing and strutting, but I think he is mainly undecided and probably just a little bit squashed but the macho vibes of the other two.  Not a bad strategy though, as he(she) spends must less time trying to prove anything.

They are quite different from last years, they are more athletic for a start, perch on the inner dividing wall of their house  and we have had to add extra fencing as they kept flying out of their pen! They weren’t really sure what to do next and would walk about on the roof of their house whistling and gobbling.. as they do. Last year’s turkeys could hardly hop on to a straw bale – but they were heavier.

Still, we shall see.

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bean harvest

This year we grew a lot of beans – we usually do.  We grow climbers, and harvest bean poles from our hedging activities.

This year we grew runner beans – just one year as they are best fresh.  French beans – purple round ones and limka  - a flat slicing bean that freezes well.  We have too many in the freezer and really must cut back – although having a glut of anything makes you inventive when it comes to trying new recipes – we love our french bean pakoras:

Cook some beans until soft.  Drain and add ground cumin, black onion seed and salt and enough gram flour to coat well.  Add enough water to form a thick paste.  Fry spoonfuls of this mixture in a pan with a little oil, turning when brown – serve with yogurt and mint.

The gap we have really is podding beans.  This was our best year yet for broad means and we have lots frozen.  Borlotti were a disaster as our climbing borlotti from Thompson and Morgan failed to climb – I’ve heard from others that the same happened to them  - so you have to wonder if something went a bit wrong there.  Certainly for us it did, as they did not get to any height, the slugs had a good feed, and we didn’t get many.

We tried pea bean and they are ok, and the beans are so pretty – two tone, and it is nice to use an old variety.  I was also attracted to a variety of podding beans called ‘lazy housewife’ – well it turns out the housewife is lazy because there is very little to harvest! – We barely got more in than we sowed.

So the quest goes on to find the perfect easy to grow podding bean.  Next year perhaps we shall cut down on the limka – as I spend just way too much of my life slicing, blanching and freezing beans.. and too many of them – but they are so prolific.. perhaps the answer is to let these mature and pod them, rather than trying out other varieties

Now is the time to make these decisions, whilst I can still remember how the season went – Come January I will be enthusiastically buried in seed catalogues – and probably order too much again..

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sowing, planting and harvesting w/e 25/11

harvesting:

leeks

savoy cabbage

ornamental quince

 

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stirrer

It is stir up Sunday – time to make the Christmas pudding.  We have been dashing around the kitchen fetching various ingredients, whilst our son was in charge of stirring, the role he usually takes.  A nice family event

And the pudding is made, to my usual recipe, is having a little think, and will be steamed for six hours tomorrow.

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indoors outdoors

Much that I like the concept of hiberating indoors, come winter, there is too much to be done out there still – and we are finding ourselves spread between indoor and outdoor work.

The days are short, and although there are few days where the weather is so bad you cant get out and stuff done – particularly with waterproof gear on – those seem like the ideal days to concentrate on all the house renovation that needs doing inside.  But we are having mild weather, and sunshine.  And good weather means we never get the house stuff done.

For some reason, that defies logic, it is often colder at 2 pm then in the morning.  I don’t understand it.. the sun is higher, and the day will have warmed up?  maybe it is just by then we have been out long enough to get chilly. So today we came in at lunchtime and stayed in to do some painting.

This morning, dedicated to major hedging – the hedges have been neglected too long and it is more tree felling than hedging – we cut out the large/ ivy clad/ diseased ones, lay the thinner trees and make slow progress down the lane.  This is a hedge that makes up our boundary, and thankfully, our lovely neighbours on that side are on pretty much the same page as us, the grown up son joins in – and joy of joys, brings his chainsaw with him.

And the sheep are happy, now on winter rations, with less grass, and grass with less goodness in it, they are very happy to scoff buds, catkins and ivy.

This afternoon we progressed with the living room – trying to elevate the look from hovel  - grubby walls, patches of different plaster, bare plaster walls and ceiling… bare stone.. holes.  We have been plastering and filling, moving radiators and fixing problems.  And we are finally at the point of applying paint.  We are keen to get the inside and outside of the chimney done while we can still manage without heating – and thankfully it has been so mild.  Once that is dry, we can have fires in the woodburner again.

The room is being transformed, slowly, from grubby and dark and patchy to creamy white and cottagey.

Happily tired.

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sowing, planting and harvesting w/e 18/11

harvesting:

tomatoes

leeks

savoy cabbage

 

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late tomatoes

Today we finally stripped the greenhouses of tomatoes.  It’s been so mild, and the tomato harvest was not halted by the usual autumn cold, and have kept coming.  I don’t think I recall picking tomatoes as late as this before.

We could have kept going too, but they have slowed down, and are suffering with the onset of blight.  That’s partly my fault as the regimented lines of tomatoes with side shoots pinched out fell by the wayside, to be replaced by a jungle – as they climbed out of my reach, but also out of my interest.

In reality, I’m pretty much bored of this harvesting marlarky by September – I know that’s bad, that this is the fruit of our labour etc, but it can go on so! And I want to turn to wintery things.. like more cooiking, and hedging and logging and hibernating indoors by fires with craft things.   However, I have continued to pick  and roast and blend and freeze tomatoes. The tomato plants have grown and side shooted like mad, and the air flow decreased as the windows stopped opening – with no summer sun to warm them, and the foliage and humidity increased to rainforest scales…. and blight arrived finally. So time they were gone.

Now I have boxes and boxes of tomatoes in various stages of ripening and I shall make green tomato chutney if I get to them before they turn red.

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sowing, planting and harvesting w/e 11/11

harvesting:

tomatoes

apples – windfalls

leeks

savoy cabbage

melon (tiny!)

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