Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Cheery_Daff

Excellent work there Foxgloves, especially in the garden! I've been out weeding too, and am delighted to report we now have TWO courgettes on the go! Very exciting.

Not much to be said for the rest of the garden though. I fear the tomatoes will never get red, the beans will definitely never acquire any actual beans, and I suspect the weeds will soon devour the entire house 🙄😂😂

Sun_Addict

Don’t despair @Cheery_Daff my tomatoes all of a sudden started turning red, there is hope 😆

ladyholly

On the subject of recyling boxes we are supposed to have 2. One for plastic . paper etc and the other for glass and cardboard. Unfortunately someone has claimed one of mine so the other gets very full. I have requested one which was supposed to take 28 days to arrive it is now 6 weeks and from the answer to a compaint from the council I dont know when it will arrive. They say in the next few weeks.

PennysIntoPounds

I'm most envious of your skills, what a cosy blanket- and how lovely to be able to use some of your mums stash for something for your home and cats. Do you think Ash will get jealous and be delighted when his appears, or will he just steal Soots 😁

Blackcats

The blanket is lovely.  I'm sure they will both like snuggling and padding their blankets in the colder months.  I don't mean MSE's interpretation of padding which is payment a day(ing) but the cat's version of padding which involves purring and kneading usually when their humans are trying to sleep. 

 

foxgloves

Thanks for all your comments, which I have enjoyed reading out on our coffee bench, where I am currently testing the wi-fi signal now that we have had this free 'pod' jobber from our provider. It certainly seems to be working, which will be nice on sunny days as I can bring my admin out here to do & chat to people.
Re cat blanket no..1 - Thanks for nice comments. I am not going to put them out until September, after I have done a deep clean of the living room, hopefully with a bit of input from Mr F as I shall struggle to pull the sofa & piano out on my own. I am always more motivated to do autumn cleaning, rather than spring cleaning....not that I don't like Spring - there is something wonderful in every season - but I love autumn & getting the house cosy for the cooler months, the pantry full of good things, etc. I don't think the cats will give a tuppenny damn about which blanket they snooze on....& they will quite probably want the same one at the same time & sulk if the other cat has got there first.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
What a pleasantly sunny day. Blue sky & sunshine, but sufficient clouds & breeze to keep the temperatures to the low 20s which I prefer. Well, I'm chatting to you fresh from a much-needed bath & hair wash after today's garden jobs. It's been quite a productive day on the whole. Not a no-spend day, as although we decided to postpone visiting the village farm shop cafe for breakfast, I did pop in for a basket of ingredients required for this week's preserving efforts, plus a couple of naughty little cakey-poos for the hell of it. £14 total, which is fine, especially as my jars of preserves are often tarted up with toppers & fancypants string & given as gifts. Anyway, today's small wins:
*Put a laundry load on early - towels, bedding, etc, stuff I wanted to peg out for free line-drying while we have the weather. All now dried.
*Made a third batch of the sweet jalapeno chilli sauce - I should have thought of this last week & made a double batch the 2nd time once I knew we liked it. It only makes a couple of jars at a time so the recipe would easily have scaled up. The bag of last year's home grown frozen jalapenos is now quite a bit smaller. I think we will be able to accommodate the rest on pizzas, in chillies, guacamole, etc, then start on this year's bag.
*Decided on the next 2 preserves to make based on using up some of our current courgette glut plus plenty of tomatoes which are now coming in thick & fast. 
*Today's garden pickings: 6 courgettes...........because I was really, really short of those, wasn't I?!
*Good free bending & stretching session continuing the cutting back of the biggest flower border. I haven't put anything new in, just cut back the dried up, spent stems & done some weeding, but it has made the area look a lot fresher.
*More seed saving - calendula & cerinthe - currently drying on conservatory windowsill.
*Mr F finished painting the shed & fed & watered all the veg.
*Contacted best friend about 2 dates for diaries - she has now got back to me, which means we can include one of them in our meal plans/grocery shopping as it involves her coming for dinner next weekend. Mr F says he is making a trifle as he has the fruit & sponge already & we have custard powder. He then volunteered to make a lasagne, which he is very good at, so I have jumped at that......meal planned already!
*Have joined a UK foraging FB group which I am already finding really interesting & have been able to join in with identifying plants for people. There are people on there from absolute beginners who need help identifying things like elderberries & crabapples, but also some very knowledgeable folk who can identify all sorts of fungi & rarer plants and I think I will learn a lot. 
*Packed lunch & breakfast still to do.
*More crochet squares tonight towards Ash's blanket.
And that's my day.
Love F x

Makingabobor2

Sometimes I don't know how you fit so much into your day. You truly are inspirational.

DawnW

@foxgloves would it be possible to share your chilli sauce recipe please?

And if you need another courgette idea, we discovered creamy courgette lasagne on the BBC Good Food web site last year, and it is yummy. I will be making it tomorrow, substituting W*itrose soft cheese for pricey ricotta, and my own tomato sauce for the jarred kind.

foxgloves

@DawnW - I adapted a sweet chilli sauce recipe & made as follows:
Chop about 200g jalapeno chillies - I didn't faff about with doing them too finely & left the seeds in. Put in medium pan. Add 4 cloves of chopped garlic & a piece of fresh root ginger about the size of your thumb which you have grated. Add 330g white sugar, half a tsp salt & 375ml white wine vinegar or cider vinegar. Bring to boil & simmer for 45 mins. Keep simmer low as you don't want it to start trying to set.
Cool for a few mins then zizz it to a smooth sauce with a stick blender. Pour into hot sterilised lidded jars. This makes 2 smallish sized jars. 

And now I must get back to today's cauldron.
F x