Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

rtandon27

With the exception of the past hour, it's been hammering it down here in the western most part of the southeast!  My garden is happier for it, especially the super thirsty cherry tree and apple tree!  Just enough respite from the deluge for me to pick another pound of blackberries for the freezer stash!  Bumper crop already, and we are not even into August yet.

Sun_Addict

My Japanese anemones are out already this year, usually August time. Lots of blackberries picked too. 

Makingabobor2

We arrived home on Friday to see that we had had quite a lot of rain while we were away, so veggies & plants hadn't died. Then more rain over night and on and off most of the weekend. More last night, by the look of it as well. The 200L waterbutt was full when we got back, so DH used it to fill the pond, which seemed to have gone down a bit. It is now half full again with the rain we had on Sunday. You must be that little bit further north than us, that there is no rain left by the time the clouds get to you. 

foxgloves

Hi everyone & thanks for your comments. We did get some showers yesterday plus just 2 rumbles of thunder, which the cats didn't like, but nothing today, despite all the showers showing on the BBC weather forecast map this morning. Busy day today. Budget positives as follows:
*Did 2 loads of laundry & pegged out for free drying as there was no sign of the promised rain.
*Did my usual Monday morning budget updates. Good to see that the payment from World of Books had arrived in our account.
*Made two veggie crumble bases for the freezer as we have a lot of courgettes & the aubergines are also quite prolific this year. I do like using our lovely home grown produce to make meals for the Autumn. It's a busy time as I do quite a lot of preserving too, but as the tomatoes are behind this year, I think the workload should be a little more spread out.
*Today's garden pickings: Courgettes, spring onions, lettuce & a whopping big cucumber (no. 16, I think).
*Planted out remaining 2nd sowing lettuce plugs to fill spaces from lettuces from 1st sowing which we've eaten.
*Did a plant swap with a neighbour. Got to love free plants!
*Made a sourdough for baking tomorrow.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Did a couple of surveys - one might result in a product test, which would be nice.
*Put a colour on my grotty roots. So much cheaper than the old days when I had a salon cut, colour & style.
*Did meal plans for the weekend when we will have guests, including what I'm going to bake.
*Leftover Mexican red rice (Mr S's version of a Rick Stein recipe) tonight with poached salmon & a big salad (mostly from the garden).
*Did the foot shaping on a sock (a stash pair for the presents bag)
It's my oldest nephew's graduation today. It seems like 5 minutes since he was blathering on about Thomas the Tank Engine & voloceraptors! How the time sails by, doesn't it?! Very proud of him anyway. 
F x

Blackcats

Congratulations to your nephew.  I find that the younger family members growing up is a scary reminder of how quickly time flies by.  I don't feel older but the graduation (literally) from Thomas the Tank to a degree certainly indicates that the years are passing.

Makingabobor2

Courgette Crumble, that sounds interesting

KajiKita

Makingabobor2 said:

Courgette Crumble, that sounds interesting

It does, doesn’t it. 😊 What do you put in the crumble @foxgloves? 

KK

foxgloves

@KajiKita - Do you mean the topping?
F

KajiKita

foxgloves said:

@KajiKita - Do you mean the topping?
F

Yes, that is what I meant. 😊

KK

foxgloves

@KajiKita - Ok, well I just rub butter into wholemeal flour & oats, season it with salt & pepper, mix in a bit of grated cheese, apply it to the base then sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.
F