Put away your purse & become debt-averse

crazy_cat_lady

Gingerbread gin.
Makes me think it's about time I started thinking about this year's alcoholic gifts. 

foxgloves

Evening Frugalistas,
Well first thinga first.... am pleased to have finished my 30-day steps challenge today. I'm a bit of an exercise dodger, so nice to see it through. 
I can't tell you how much time I've spent today pegging out laundry then fetching it in again when showers arrived. I have switched on the bathroom towel rail just to finish off the last items but I was determined not to start paying for heated airer use just yet.
Have been making courgette pickles today. My hands are like sandpaper from all the brining but anorher 5 jars to add to that new pantry when we get it & they are very nice with burgers, BBQ, etc. I'm like a squirrel at this time of year. So I am now actually on top of tge courgette glut, but I have a feeling that there will be more of the fiends lurking tomorrow morning when I go off down the veggie garden with my picking basket!
Hoping to see some jellybag action tomorrow & I MUST get creative with my mountain of tomatoes. I'll aim for an early start & see what I can do. 
I'm going to knit a mitten cuff now. 
Take care, m'dears, 
F x

Honeysucklelou2

😄 Had to smile at NVQ level 5 Freezer Tetris! Currently doing similar with bags of blackberries foraged from the allotment hedges.

savingmore

still still dreaming of gingerbread gin🤣🤣. have made 31 jars of chutney, blackberry jam, now doing blackberry liquor and thinking of trying pickled blackberries.  perhaps you can spot we have a glut of blackberries!  thinking of blackberry gin too!  all i need is a pantry...i wish

foxgloves

Blackberry vinegar is good too, Savingmore. I add a tablespoon to winter stews. It can be used in salad dressings & I find it soothing for a sore throat. It seems to keep well too.
F

foxgloves

Yes, Honeysucklelou - it's permanent freezer tetris at this time of year, isn't it? I simply HAVE to do something with our tomato mountain today, & apples are mounting up again too.
F

crazy_cat_lady

When you're picking your gluts of courgettes today foxgloves - remember that people like me had their courgette plant eaten by a cat before it had a chance...

foxgloves

Lol, CCL. If you lived near here, I'd be sneaking over in the dead of night to leave 2kg bundles of the fiends on your doorstep!
I am trying to get on top of priority gluts today. I need to finish my coffee & go & do a BACS payment to builders (deposit), then it will be Tomato Time. I dealt with courgettes yesterday & have done apples this morning.
Thank goodness my steps challenge has finished as I won't be able to fit a walk in today, that's for sure.
And I think I'll be reading paint colour charts tonight rather than crime fiction. Ah well, as you'll know yourself from all your efforts this summer, it is so lovely when you get to the end & the whole place looks brighter. 
F x

foxgloves

Evening diary readers, 
Thought I'd better get a post on in case anyone was thinking I'd finally disappeared under an avalanche of veg! Started the day with a small win, as it was the first time I'd used a shampoo bar without my hair feeling like I'd washed it with lard. I did wet my hair much more than usual so maybe that is what I need to do.
So with non-lardy tresses, I went down the garden with my pickings baskets & today's bounty was 2.4kg windfall apples, 1.2kg courgettes, 3.6 kg tomatoes, 1 pepper & a small bunch each of basil & mint. Big kitchen-based effort clearly required. Started a batch of apple & mint jelly, which is currently dripping through the jellybag ready for jamming tomorrow. Also made a batch of basic tomato pasta sauce (a Carluccio recipe), some to use for tomorrow night's meal & some for the freezer. Made halloumi skewers with a bulghur salad tonight, which enabled use of both a fairly large courgette AND 3 tomatoes. Also managed to stuff plenty of tomato into Mr F's packed lunch. Where there's a will, there's a way...... as my Mum was fond of saying.
Non-vegetable based activities: Did next week's meal plans..... oh actually that involved vegetables big-time as of course I've prioritised use of our most prolific garden ingredients. Wrote grocery shopping list. Not too big at all. Might get a couple of bottles of wine for rack as it's looking like a bit of an empty saddo atm. Baked bread. Budgetwise, today saw £3.8k paid out (builder's deposit) & the princely sum of £10 coming in (cashed out of a survey site).
Oh, & remember Naughty Nutkin, the squirrel who blatantly robs our bird nuts while looking like he would give me the finger if he could? He has been up the pear tree today helping himself to pears while unhelpfully showing absolutely zero interest in french beans, courgettes or tomatoes!
Time for bum on sofa & some knitting.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams, It is unlikely to come as a surprise to anyone that I dreamed of beans last night. In the dream, I started picking french beans from our 2nd wigwam, starting at the nearest pole & working clockwise. But as soon as I got back round to the first pole, the beans had regrown again & I just went round the wigwam of poles in a circle, neverending, with beans replenishing on the plants as fast as I picked them. Mr F (who thought this was very much one of my saner dreams) commented that he didn't think there wss much mystery behind that particular topic! It was a bit like the story of the Sorcerer's Apprentice which we did each year with the music in junior school assembly. 
Started the day with my worst job - the ironing pile, just to get it over with for another week. Then got sone jam jars from my stash sterilising while I unhooked the jellybag I set up yesterday & jammed my apple & mint jelly. It set nice & easily and is good with pork & lamb, including the odd spoonful in gravy & shepherd's pie.
Getting really windy here today so tied in the bean wigwam & picked some while I was at it.
Today's pickings:
125g chillies (jalapenos & cayenne)
1 tomato (missed it yesterday!)
700g courgettes
400g beans (Mamba)
Small bunch of grapes
Mug of blackberries (added to freezer box)
The wind has fetched down a lot more apples but I'm hoping this is a job with Mr F's name on it tomorrow.
I've changed meal plan for tonight. I am going to make a pasta bake so as to use some of the tomato sauce I made yesterday & some more of our veg.
I can see tons of jobs which need doing in the garden but I'm not too worried as once the builders get started next week, I'll be a bit restricted as to what I can do in the house. The key thing really is to keep on top of the food crops so as not to waste any food.
Well, I'm sitting by the pond with my book. I think I'll read a chapter then crack on with a few more jobs.
And I need to sort out my mitten as like a prize numpty, I managed tp knit the thumbhole closed last night. Der!
Stay safe all of you, 
F x