Seven Links

I've been tagged by the lovely Laura over at Our Wee Farm to share with you seven links.  This idea was started over at Tripbase Blog and has travelled around the world gaining momentum as it goes.  I simply have to choose which of my previous Blog posts fit into these seven categories.  No easy job I seem to have done hundreds!!

I hope you like my choices, I'm sure there are many more suitable ones but it took me long enough to find these!!  (Just click on the heading to be taken straight to the post in question.)

My Most Beautiful Post

In my opinion a wonderful tribute to one of my favourite girls.

My Most Popular Post

So many people clicked on, copied and then tried their own versions of this, we're still drinking it now (the Champagne didn't work though!!).

My Most Controversial Post

I don't do controversy, but I did tout for votes here....and I won....Thank you!

My Most Helpful Post

This was sort of a tie as another really helpful post, according to all my lovely readers, was the using toilet roll centre to start all your seedlings in and planting them straight out without disturbing the roots.  But this one seemed to come at a time when lots of you were debating about or actually getting your very own chickens for the first time.

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me

Lots of you rallied to my aid with coments and emails.......and the best dish to come out of all the trials... the Cheesey Coleslaw.  I am a definite convert to Kohl Rabi....it's yummy!

The Post I am Most Proud Of

This got the most ever emails sent to me as well as the comments on the actual post.  I thank you for your support.

The Post I Feel Didn't Get the Attention it Deserved

This was a strange one to do, I don't 'feel' that my posts 'deserve' your attention at all, that you chose to give them it is wonderful, and I am grateful to have found this little band of Blogging and Blog reading buddies.  So thank you for giving me your attention, and I can assure each and every one of you that takes the time to leave comments and get in touch are treasured.  Those of you who stay quiet are just as welcome, but you should be brave and venture forth, join as a follower and leave your comments, I love to read them.  So as a treat to those of you who have joined later in this Blogs life.....The Very First Entry.

This has been a lovely, but time consuming post to do, it has made me look back over past entries, occasionally with a tear in my eye, but it has been a good way to spend an hour or so, I hope you enjoy reading the choices I have made.

I am supposed to 'tag' five other Bloggers who I would like to have a go at this, but I realise most of you are busy, busy people.  If you would like to have a go consider yourself tagged.  I would love to hear if you are going to give this a go so I can view your choices.

Sue xx

Giving me the runaround......

Certain little piggies were giving me the runaround yesterday.  Sophie, the Border Collie was in true 'Lassie' mode.  Every time they got out of their enclosure she came in the house to tell me.  They went back no trouble but in the end the fence that they were getting over was in no state to be fixed anymore, so it was decided after Lovely Hubby came home from work that we would move them to the Orchard.

We were going to do this at weekend because these Middle Whites are only four months old and new to the farm so we haven't had time to fully bucket train them, so we thought it might take a bit of time and a lot of persuading.  But they showed us their intelligence last night when they followed and indeed, ran ahead, to their new home, straight to the only unoccupied pen and stood waiting expectantly by the food trough, all in under 10 minutes.

Clever little piggies.  They certainly look happy enough to be giving me the runaround!

Sue xx

And when I got there......

After feeding the chickens and pigs this morning I walked the dogs through the fields, what a difference from last week, it is cold and windy, the weeds have died right down, and if you were looking down at your mud covered wellies and didn't look up and see the trees in full leaf you would have thought we were on the verge of Autumn.  I hope the warmer weather comes back soon, we have a big show we are going to next weekend, the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace, and then hopefully a Car Boot sale on the Sunday morning to jettison some more 'unnecessaries', so a week of warm, dry weather will make the ground much better.

After feeding I tore slices of one of the large Hestons we have, (see above picture, only ours are straw and that is hay)  and distributed them amongst the pigs.  Pigs like to have a 'door mat' so they don't walk mud into their arks and after moving the Kunes ark yesterday it was sat on soil and they definitely needed some straw outside it,  then looking around I saw everyone was a  bit muddy so they all got a bit to give them something dry to lie on today after the weekends downpours.

Then after all that activity, and covered from head to foot in straw it was time for me to come in for my breakfast.....

...and when I got there..... the bread bin was bare!!

The cracker tin is pretty empty too!

4 sausages = 0g carbs,  4 rashers of bacon = 0g carbs,  2 eggs = 0g carbs

But Lovely Hubby's breakfast plate (picture taken yesterday), looks pretty impressive.

1 slice of bread = 17g of carbs,  1 Apple = 10g

We are now starting properly on our Low Carb Diet using the book at the top of my sidebar as our guide.  It is important to keep your carbs as low as possible for the first couple of weeks on the diet so you have to restrict them carefully.  This is to get your body burning your stored fat rather than only burning carbs and then telling you to eat more to replace them, which is what has the bad effect on your insulin levels and thus your health.

  The ideal figure to stay below is 40g of carbs a day but you have a 'safety margin' of up to 60g if you are struggling a bit, so  I've found myself reading the little nutrition boxes on foods carefully once again.  Years ago I did the Atkins Diet, which is a slightly unhealthier version of this, but with impressive and quick results and I got used looking out for the hidden carbs in everything I ate.  On Dr Charles Clarks High Protein diet you are allowed almost unlimited amounts of most vegetables and one piece of fruit a day, the fruit is included in your carb count but the veggies are outside it, as well as lots and lots of protein.  The good thing about the diet is that the protein and fat you are allowed keep you feeling full, and you completely lose the urge to snack between meals.

We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks.    Better get back to the book for more inspiration.

Sue xx

A reading kind of day....

The weather has turned wet and windy and it really is a reading kind of day.  Just as well really as we have rather a lot of reading to do.

After Lovely Hubby's diagnosis the other week the medical profession sprang into action and he had an appointment with the Diabetes Nurse this week.  She recommended the sort of diet that she thinks will suit him down to the ground, luckily it's one I do VERY well on too, so we can share.

He has to start on a really low carbohydrate diet and then up the carbs gradually until he finds a level that suits him, very similar to what you do on the Dukan or Atkins diets.  But we are to follow Dr Charles Clarks diet, this include many more vegetables and some fruit to keep you healthier throughout your weight loss and to keep your blood sugar as balanced as possible.  The Nurse recommended some books....of course I bought them all immediately from my favourite place.

 These are the two we are to use the most, we both have to read them and try and follow the diet starting on Monday.  Until then we are to eat normally and monitor LH's blood sugar using his little high tech gadget that links to the computer, after that we will be able to see if switching to the new diet makes things better, the information can be passed to the Nurse in the form of spreadsheets and she will be able to tell us if we are on the right track can see if the diet really does benefit him.  His next appointment is in November, I wonder what he will weigh by then?

The good thing about the diabetic diet is that it's a diet for health, for everybody, so it means I'm not buying and cooking specific things just for LH. I'm working on getting us both as healthy as possible.  This could be the best thing that's ever happened to us!  Once again we are on a journey together.

Looking out of the window as I type, I see it most definitely is a day to curl up inside with a good book.

Hope your weather's a bit better than ours.  Have a good weekend.

Sue xx

Now it really is my 'Pot of Dreams'

Ta - Da !!



You would seriously think that out of a tasteful box like this something lovely would emerge......

...nope....you'd be wrong....it contained this.



I quickly grabbed my tin of paint and hid the Garfield look alike pot under a coat of gorgeous green.

And now it fits happily in with the rest of the kitchen.  Ousting Spotty Jug from his place on the shelf.

Off course while I had a paint brush in my hand.........

...off to pick some more of these before I give the chair another coat.  It's a good job Martha the Middle White likes them, we're overrun with courgettes at the moment.

~

If you're slightly bemused at my 'Pot of Dreams' it's because I'm taking part in the Sealed Pot Challenge, see HERE.

Sue xx

This mornings' little harvest of goodies for our tea.  I see a deliciously light Summer Soup...what do you see?

~ ~ ~ ~

Don't you just love this pot.......haha....I think it's possibly the worst pot ever!! 

 But when I read about 'The Sealed Pot' challenge on Martin and Amy's Blog and then tracked it back to Sft's Blog I just had to join in.  Now I know I could have just used Spotty Jug again, indeed I've started saving in there already, but he's so accessible and I think if you are going 'sealed' you have to do it properly.

The I debated whether to just seal up a tub of some sort of container from the house, but I have always wanted one of these pots. So while I was in town yesterday I had a look round the charity shops for something suitable, and came up empty handed, then I went in the card shop and there amongst all the gorgeously decorated 'Pots of Dreams' was this monstrosity, now everyone else must have thought so to because it was the only one reduced to half price.  My eyes saw it like this, all bright orange and tacky, but in the back of my mind it looked completely different.

It's halfway through it's little makeover at the moment, I'll show you the finished article tomorrow.

If you're interested in joining in with 'The Sealed Pot' challenge use the links above for more information.  It will be very interesting to see how much we all mange to save and also what we end up spending our money on.

Sue xx

The Last Tomatoes......

These are the last tomatoes that I will have bought from a shop!!  My own have just started turning red, we shared the first red little jewel from the polytunnel on last nights salad.  Halved it and popped it on top of the pile of delicious leaves and salady bits...a taster of things to come.

Coming on really well this year and being used extensively are our herbs.  Freshly picked to mix in with and to garnish each meal, we are loving the freshness and the intense flavours they bring to each dish and they are aiding us in our aim to eat less salt.  With flavours that zing like some of the herbs do you simply don't need to add extra salt to your meals.

And.....Ooops...I did it again.....ordered from here.   That sidebar button has a lot to answer for !!

This lovely new book from 'the jam people' Bonne Maman,  'The Seasonal Cookbook' is full of luscious recipes including...

...one for my favourite herb...lavender!

And also it has lots of ideas on what to do with those pretty little jam pots after you have scraped every last bit of the jam out.

 Ooooh.....look more lavender ideas!!

Sue xx