Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue xx

Saturday

Enjoying the ride.

 



 

So true!

 

Sue xx

Friday

 

 

 

Sue xx

Thursday

 

 

 

Sue xx

It's that time of year .....

Blanched carrots 2012 - Whole Baby and roughly chopped large.

 

 



It's that time of year ..... when the crops are all being gathered in and we spend our time thinking of ways to preserve the taste of Summer for as long as possible. 

 

 The other day as I blanched and prepared for freezing all the carrots I had just picked from the Veggie Patch I was thinking back to previous years and the crops I dealt with then.  Looking through my reference books to make sure I was doing it all right, very wary of doing it wrong and losing all the luscious crops we had grown.

 

 



Pears in Brandy 2011 - Totally lush and we still have 1 jar left

 

I needn't have worried so much. 

 

 I think over the four years of living this self sufficient lifestyle I have thrown away perhaps half a dozen jars of food that have developed mould through ill fitting lids, and absolutely no frozen stuff.  Everything in alcohol has worked perfectly as have all the pickles.

 

Apple and Rhubarb Crumbles 2011 - none left

 

 

Pepper, Tomato and Garlic Sauce 2011 - 3 left

 

Pickled Beetroot 2010 - 1 left

 

 

 

Common sense and good hygiene means that the foods store well, no matter what your method of preservation.  Having the confidence now to just try things makes me smile and remember back to that townie with the book in hand who fearfully tightened up the lids over and over and checked week after week in case of exploding jars in the cupboards.

 

I've come a long way since then, and it's been lovely having lots of you along for the journey.

 

I'm off now to wilt some Spinach (cook until wilted, cool, chop and press into hand sized, burger shapes, open freeze and then tip all the blocks into a large tub or bag and pop back in the freezer).  We still have some in the freezer from last year, but I never say no to a little bit more.

 

Later today I will be setting off for Manchester to spend a couple of days with my lovely Mum, she's even signed me up for a spot of Line Dancing ....

 

 

....... so yee haa .....  see you all next week.

 

 

Sue xx



Not Spending in September

Last month I was going to challenge myself not to spend ..... it fizzled out through lack of keeping track and circumstances.  I decided to begin again for September and this time I've been keeping tabs on myself properly.

 

 

The Challenge is purely to spend as little as possible from my housekeeping budget for the month and to put all the money I have managed to save towards my other Challenge ....  £2012 in 2012.  Both Pages are at the top of the Blog under the Blog title if you want to follow my progress.

 

 

My Housekeeping Allowance is £50 a week, this is used for food for the two of us and dogs, (I buy them supermarket cheapo mince and tins of tuna, we are trying to wean both of them off  'dogfoods' as such, as Rosy doesn't like them much and always leaves some which Suky then eats ... and she is supposed to be on a diet!!).

 

 



 

So I have £200 for the month of September and my weeks are running Saturday to Saturday as this is when the month started.

 

 

 

I have lots of food in stock as you can see from these photos, tins, jars, packets and lots of dried foods in jars.

 

 

 

There is also lots in the freezers, both of them.  And dried herbs and seasonings to compliment the ones that are still growing happily away.

 

 

  We also still have crops growing in the Veggie Patch, including Spinach, Kale, Courgettes and Cabbages, so there is absolutely no chance of us going hungry.

 

I am trying not to go to the supermarket too much even though that particular Challenge has now ended, (all Jokers were played by 5th September) I still love my High Street shops way to much to just abandon them.  But in an effort to keep costs as low as possible I will be using up all my vouchers and Nect*r points to help pay for my shopping while I am doing this Challenge.

 

The food in the picture at the top was last weeks additional necessities, I spent £22.25 and a voucher at Mr Sainsb**ys.  The small bottles of water are a rare buy for me, we have them in to use for when we are travelling and once emptied they are filled from our big cheap bottles or with diluted squash.  The biscuits were for travelling too, to save us money at the services, (own drinks, own nibbles equals pennies staying in pockets), I could have made some but I ran out of time last week, so they were a compromise.

 

I am going to run this for as long as possible, but the main push is through the month of September, I would actually like to run all supplies right down, I wonder how long it will actually take me.

 

 

 

 

After all not spending at all is the best way to save. So for the foreseeable future I am shopping from my cupboards and freezers and putting the money saved into the Bank of Sue.

 

 

Sue xx

A Wonderful Weekend

 

 

Ooops, extremely late in posting today, sorry!!

 

It was a busy but wonderful weekend.  Saturday saw us tootling up the motorway to Birmingham to take part in the first ever Harcombe Conference.  Just 50 or so like minded individuals, listening to Zoe Harcombe, having lunch together and being motivated by Earl to keep ourselves on track with the Harcombe way of eating.

 

Nice to be with so many other folk that get why we eat the way we eat (what is so strange about eating real food and not processed food), sometimes having to explain yourself over and over again is positively wearing.

 

We all left clutching our goodie bags and vowing to meet up again for another conference next year, with lots of smaller meets in the meantime.

 



We stayed overnight in a pretty basic but very satisfactory Travel**dge in Kingswinford and then Sunday morning saw us crossing yet more county borders and heading into Shropshire to the absolutely gorgeous town of Ludlow for the annual food festival.

 

 



Lots of wonderful stalls selling ....you guessed it REAL FOOD.  We sampled lots and bought back a few things to eat at home.  We eventually got home just after teatime and got ourselves and the chickens organised, before a leisurely evening over a glass of wine and a spot of television.

 

Today was spent catching up over on the Harcombe Forum, and at home with chickeny work and washing, so that is my excuse for a late night blog post, apologies for keeping you waiting for an answer to where we had been.  Had any of you guessed?

 

Sue xx