Gifts, Treats and the Smallest Harvest

We were away at the weekend, spending time with Lovely Hubby's sister, meeting for the first time her wonderful new boyfriend and taking time out to visit the Edinburgh Fringe.  We had a great time, and after a long drive back we arrived home to a parcel on the doorstep.

What a treat, this one didn't contain ANY live worms, it had some brilliant little thoughtful pressies for me from a lovely blog reader who had a 'saw this and thought of you' moment when she spotted the Pug socks and the green lidded pots while out and about. 

Thank you Veronique for the lovely presents, and for the fact that you thought of me when you spotted them in the shops.  Getting home to find them waiting for me made a wonderful weekend even better.

We don't go much for souvenirs when we are out and about, unless of course they are useful to us and what we're doing.  

But this time I bought a 'honey dipper', which Lovely Hubby will be replicating over and over once his workshop is up.  It will go well as a small item to sell alongside our home produced honey in the next couple of years, and I didn't have one for myself so I get to use it  :-)   

 Lovely Hubby treated himself to a 'man-sized' mug featuring the cuts of pork on a pig, obviously this will remind him what to do when he is butchering our own pork further down the line, and well I can't resist Pug cards, they are so useful to have in stock for when I'm writing to everyone that knows my love of Pugs.

The smallest harvest up to now this year has to be the Blueberries.  

After last years success with the three bushes which have kept us supplied until just recently, this years harvest is a huge disappointment.  Although we have had lots of berries on all three bushes this year, the two big plants were stripped while the berries were still green by the birds, I quickly moved the smaller one to near the house to let the berries ripen in the sun where I could keep an eye on them.

   I'm starting to wonder whether the birds and small animals know that we are in for a hard Winter,  as the squirrels too are stripping the Plum tree that is in Chicken World while the plums are still green and taking them away to store.

Do they know something we don't ?

To give you an indication of the small size of the Blueberry tub, here it is on the chopping board with my small knife.

Ah well, you win some you lose some .....  and the little creatures have to eat too.

Sue xx