So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

Karmacat

That's wonderful, I love that.  The more perennials, the better.  The less digging, the better.  And loving your oven experiment, madvix - totally with you on the need to set timers, the other day I wasted half an hour of a low heat kitchen burner because I didn't do that.

the_cross_rabbit

Ok so quick crops. We’ve harvested say potatoes/ carrots and then put in say, lettuce, radish, spinach or even beetroot (baby)afterwards. As you get to know your plot you will be able to assess what to put in, when to put in and more importantly enjoy the rewards. We’ve had our plots about 10years and we are still learning 

CRx

themadvix

Thanks CR. I think you're right, I'll get the hang of it over time. It's more if I put in garlic now, remembering that I won't have that bed until mid-summer to plant next year's summer stuff in... that sort of thing (I've clearly not explained myself terribly well...).

themadvix

Morning all,

KC, you're totally right, the less effort the better!

I can tell it's September.... several bits of work for regular clients that are bigger than my usual bits for them and a huge project for my main client (annoying that it's collided with my usual busy period for him as of course I can only do so much)... This project will keep me going until well into next week at least and there are issues with it that mean I can charge more than normal too, which is good.

Olio tonight and dinner will be leftover shepherds pie from last night. Have also frozen two portions of SP base in a dish which will just need mash adding before it goes in the oven, so that's good. 

MS things:
* PA surveys yesterday - quite a few little ones
* HW done - won 20p (ish?)
* Clicks done
* Mr MV has taken packed lunch
* Did 30 mins yoga last night - MS because it saves a trip to the osteo - I must get back into this and not just when I'm in pain (as I am at the moment!)

Frugal September goals:
* Have matches and extra gas for camping stove
* No takeaways here
* Mr MV has taken lunch every day so far
* Harvesting and eating/preserving of produce is ongoing - might roast some tomatoes for freezer when I'm reheating the pie tonight
* Need to purchase tea lights
* Saturday (football), we're planning to eat out, but will hopefully go for drinks at the Oxo tower using Mr MV's platinum card credit (we looked at the dining credit too, but not really compatible with football-going attire - will save it for another day). We have a plan now anyway.
* No progress on curtains or booking experiences, although we could use one BAG voucher for a meal on Saturday (involves swapping it, but I don't think that's an issue with Sis who gave it to us).

Gratitudes:
* No scaffolders here today
* Scaffolding isn't as oppressive as I thought it would be
* Work, work, work!
* Dinner is ready for tonight

Suffolk_lass

You could plant your garlic (and broad beans) where you intend growing squashes next year. If they are planted in autumn, both crop earlier in the year, clearing the area for frost tender plants. The second lot of seeds I planted for butternut squash (a staple here) went in to replace the first early potatoes we planted in March. Just added another bag of farmyard manure to make sure they weren't going to struggle

themadvix

Brilliant SL, that's exactly what I was after. Will do

themadvix

Morning all,

Another client popped up with an urgent request yesterday, which derailed the large project, but I'm about to get back on that this morning, after a couple of bits for the Americans. Did some Cambridge work yesterday too, which will help this month's coffers. Was paid by Cambridge last night (the weeks go past so quickly!), so have mostly paid off my Amex (not statemented yet in any case and only £20 remaining on there), and popped a £5.74 TT in the Devon fund. I'm trying to see if I can cover CC bills from savings pots for planned spending and Cambridge money this month - will be interesting as not earning very much from Cambridge, but will hopefully leave me with a nice chunk to put into savings (depleted by transfer of roofing contribution). Unbudgeted pots basically means grocery and personal spends, so should be low until my supermarket delivery booked for 22nd to stock up on Organic September offers and finish off the spends on Avios card for bonus before 26th. Doubt Cambridge money will cover this, but it'll be on next month's CC anyway!

Olio was relatively boring last night (which was fine by me, as got to bed by 10!). Did keep pastries for today and some tomatoes, which along with some of mine I'm going to turn into tomato sauce (for freezer, not quite brave enough to bottle them yet). Mr MV didn't take lunch as he's on site today and didn't want to have to carry extras as he's on public transport. In any case, he's unlikely to want lunch (or more to the point what I'd have packed him) as he's suffering from travel sickness and had to get off the train early, poor thing. Hoping he'll feel better soon, or I'll be driving down to give him the car and probably working from a cafe rather than getting public transport back. We were out of travel sickness pills this morning, which won't have helped (although they are definitely not failproof for him).

Dinner tonight, if Mr MV is feeling up to it, will be roasted BNS and tomato risotto - BNS from allotment friend, tomatoes from the garden, wine stock from Olio... only the rice and the onion will have been bought. Lunch will involve some of the many unwanted baguettes languishing on the worktop in the kitchen, unless there's a run on them. Mum might pop round briefly, and have promised her a share of the pineapple I kept too.

In exciting news, we're hoping that the solar will be installed in the second week of October - had a call from E0n yesterday about it, but they wanted to come 19th September - we don't think our roof work will be finished by then as they're waiting for good weather, so will turn that date down when we hear back from E0n, but fingers crossed we can go for October.

I have also won a food dehydrator on Ebay (£20 + p&p)! Am going to try various things, but am mainly thinking it might be useful for cats' treats - we buy the expensive Thrive ones as they are  mainly cardboard packaging (I deconstruct the box to put the various bits in the right recycling box) and not full of rubbish - hoping I can make my own with the dehydrator. (ETA: MS bit - we eke out 2 big tubs per year, using freebies from Zooplus and their Christmas gifts (from other family members!) to top them up - they do not get *lots* of expensive treats!)

MS things:
* Edamame beans, the last of the baby corn and the last romanesco picked from allotment (am going to give a garlic spray a go on the aphids)
* Clicks done - HW win of 16p....
* Olio bits
* More oven experiments last night, but less successul - shepherds pie is denser than pasta bake - needs longer to heat up!
* Dehydrator - also thinking sun dried tomatoes, prunes and banana chips with free Olio bananas - I don't like them, but Mr MV does, so healthy free snacks. I'll also have a go at drying currants, although I think what we think of as dried currants are not the same as the currants we grow.

Gratitudes:
* Mr MV was feeling better by the time he rang me... was planning to get back on the train and finish the journey
* Dehydraty excitement to come
* Cambridge pay!

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

Isn't sharing skills and knowledge a wonderful thing!

Your dehydraty goodness for cats treats sounds very interesting!  Plus bananas - there's a food bank near me (erm, and a very few people roll up in their cars) and I've seen them absoutely overwhelmed with bananas, this last week gone.  I might talk to them about what they do once the skins are black (they were about 60% black).  If they're going on the compost, I'll see how they feel about me using them in my dehydrator - but not any time soon.

themadvix

We (our Olio group - so one store) have also been overwhelmed with bananas lately, although most have been in pretty good condition - I had a whole, unopened box… (apparently an algorithm does the ordering for Express stores 🙄).

Jellytotts

I’ve noticed a lot of bananas on olio in the past few days, just a shame we don’t eat them (I can’t stand them) and they make DH a prime target for mozzie bites when he eats them.

I love sliced tomatoes in the dehydrator, done to the point of being leathery and then bunged in a Tupperware with garlic, olive oil and lots of black pepper.  I’ve no idea how long they keep as we tend to use them in a few days.