Get a grip woman!

EssexHebridean

2008? How on earth had none of us noticed! 

As for the early arrivals, it sometimes feels as though people have forgotten that an early arrival is every bit as rude as a late arrival. I was brought up to understand that it should be no earlier than 5 minutes ahead of stated time, and any lateness should be notified as soon as possible. Not at all surprised you ended up feeling flustered SL! 

Suffolk_lass

They were resurrected in 2011 after the initial buy out by Premier foods rebranded them as Bachelors. They have only disappeared in the last two months. I found a report saying their results were poor in May this year. Have they gone into administration since then? 
At that point they said the condensed soups were still profitable...

Suffolk_lass

Moving swiftly on to other things, I am awaiting delivery of more tealight wicks. I've only made 45  60 so far but have the wax for more and the wicks are with Royal Mail so hopefully today is the day. I wanted to get these finished and the rest of the honey into jars and labelled.

Did I mention firelighters? I have made one decorative bag so far - the pine cones have been in the oven to ensure they are all open, put into brown muffin paper cases and had beeswax scraps melted and tipped over them, I have dried out orange peel and eucalyptus bark and combined some of each in cellophane bags with a festive ribbon and a brown paper tag saying what is in there and that it is suitable fr glass fronted wood-burning stoves. I still recall the time a decorative pinecone that had been in my parents' hearth for several years, suddenly began to explode seeds all over the room. I'm pricing them at £3 and donating some to the made in the village table.

I should be revising. 9 days to go

foxgloves

The firelighters sound lovely - just the sort of thing I would buy if we had a woodburner. Everyone who visits thinks our stove IS a woodburner but it is actually a gas one.
I love the smell of beeswax.
F

EssexHebridean

Another one here who would love those firelighters if only we had the right sort of fire! 

that reminds me - I must think about dealing with drying some citrus peel...

Suffolk_lass

We used to just pop the citrus peel in a cooling oven but these days, 3/4 ton of cast iron does the trick overnight (pith-side down, to stop the oil staining the top)

Suffolk_lass

Today we have our garden helper here and so far we have filled a 2x1 ton aggregate bags with prunings from two shrubs and a load of brambles (with many newly forming roots!). It is the perfect time to pull them out and regain a semblance of control.  DH is attacking the buddleja by the hives and we are moving on to the shrubs by the back door. I've stopped for a quick coffee (skive? Moi?) and have made another two bags of beeswax tealights and coated enough cones in muffin cases for three more bags of natural firelighters. 

At last my native narcissus bulbs have arrived from J Parker. I'm not impressed by their misleading messages but the bulbs seem to be OK, if after two chasing emails and nearly 3 weeks. The original email confirmed the order and said they were shipped. Nearly two weeks later after I reported them lost, they were still to be picked!

No sign of my RHS seeds yet (15 packs of collected seeds/bulbils/rhizomes for £10) but the wildflower plugs I planted to have in addition to scattered seeds have all started to shoot so I have moved them to a cold frame.

I need to drink up and get back out there!

themadvix

I get the feeling the RHS seeds might not be with us for a while - maybe not until the NY? I think it said to chase them if you hadn't received by May! (Surely a typo?)

I should go and attack the bramble at the allotment... except it's entwined with my currants, so not straightforward.

Suffolk_lass

It's a little earlier than that @themadvix - Despatch from early December through to 8 March 2024 then contact them by the 8th April if you don't have yours. I intend taking spring cuttings from my blackcurrants as the building of the fruit cage will mean digging out the old ones. I hope to move the strawberries that are in a holding bed currently (no pun intended) and the gooseberries. I would need a cage extension if the raspberries are coming too.

We got two trailers filled and removed with the pruning from yesterday but there are still three big shrubs to do.  DH interfered helped and chopped down 3 roses that may not recover. There are several more stumps that used to be shrubs. I usually direct him to things like the laurel that I know can cope with his approach. I only came in because I felt shivery after the sun disappeared and it got colder ( I had insufficient warm clothes on and once chilled through I didn't get warm again until I had a long hot shower!). Lesson learned. There are more roses I need to save supervise the pruning of. 

This morning we are going to a cafe to meet up with other apiarists and have a late breakfast and a good chat. There should be 11 of us!

Suffolk_lass

A lovely time was had chatting about our bees in winter with our beekeeping pals and I had smashed avocado, 2 poached eggs and grilled halloumi on sourdough toast, served with pea-shoots, pomegranate seeds and tomato garnish and a dollop of sweet chilli relish for brunch. With two big cups of tea. Yum! What a treat!

Home for some revision and then round to another pal's house with some honey jars we ordered for them. That was about it, except for me cooking a real cheat's tea - two rashers of bacon, two eggs, baked beans and fried bread. Then I made (Bird's) custard to have with stewed plums from a jar I made earlier.

I am so much happier putting stewed fruit into hot jars and just sealing the popping tops like they were jams and jellies. So simple and a delicious way of preserving fruit at no cost beyond the cooking. 

I shall attend the Act of Remembrance this morning and I intend doing lots more revision today. If it stays fine, one of us will plant some native narcissi bulbs in little groups, in the wildflower area. I also have one or two other bulbs I had forgotten about that need pots and some perennials to relocate from one cold-frame to the other so I can close the lid on the one with the wildflower seed plugs.

2 cold frames!, I can almost hear some think. These are the aldo's ones that come in, in time for my birthday and offering a straightforward gift option for DS! Reasonable quality for £30 and they work well!

I have a pack of prawns out and defrosted that  I will do something with, and some beef shin and mince defrosting, ready to make into ragu and chilli. It looks as though that is still frozen so it might be tomorrow.

A bit of a slow day planned here - no spending and low consumption. I found some frozen butter that was in the bottom of the kitchen freezer, so no shopping hopefully before the back end of the week

Have a good day, all of you, especially those feeling under pressure for various reasons x