November

As sad it was, it wasn't totally unexpected. My grandmother died peacefully with her daughters by her side and the funeral will be on Saturday. Just a small gathering, there isn't much older generation left, grandmother's brother will not be coming, he lives in Sweden and is too poorly to travel. Ballbearers are decided, and my mother wanted everyone to bring just one rose for grandma. There will be a heart of pink roses on the coffin, grandmother loved pink.

If pallbearers are capable - there's a lot of covid going rounds, my brother just got sick, his girlfriend is healing, all boys at home have it now (I've skipped it so far) and hb is having mild symptoms but we've run out of tests. I need to go and buy some more tests, but I have to go to the town to buy them because our shops and pharmacy had run out of tests, too. Whole school is having covid now.

We were supposed to go shopping for trousers for boys, but of course couldn't. I know grandma wouldn't mind boys going in old trousers, but they are all grown over their old trousers and they look just... ridiculous. Not shaggy, not poor, not even like Sunak with his short trousers. I don't know, if nothing changes I need to go by myself? and hope for the best. Everything else is ready.

My mother in law fainted at the nursing home, she was attending to afternoon coffee break at the communal room. Got to hospital in an ambulance, got tested and scanned - she's having some "shadows" in heart (that's what she said) but there's nothing that can/will be done. She should continue on going her daily walks and to try to be as active as possible. I know she has had her diet changed a lot during the summer because she's eating FODMAP food now and although it is good for her gut it is not good for her overall wellbeing, she's cut out a lot of vegetables and not brought any new ones to her diet. Because I'm not her daughter, so I have no say on things. Once everyone at home is cleared of covid I'll go and see her if I can find anything I can do. But, she's 90, and stubborn as ever.

(I know FODMAP is recommended by many, but it shouldn't be just cutting out unsuitable foods)

Another working trip

This last week I was away most of weekdays. 'Suma is really upset, she worries every time I move that I might just jump into car and drive off again. Poor girl.

I was in Spain, sunny and rainy Spain (the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain - in my own language it was not this phrase but completely different, but is worked the same way, taught to say words right way). I'm totally knackered, not only because each travelling day was over 10 hours (and mine wasn't even the longest). This time I talked not only English, but some Swedish, Norwegian (nynorsk), Danish (never again, I swear every time!) Spanish, Italian and... not French! I did sit next to a nice French colleague who was nice enough to talk to me in English, because French is something I just don't get. Other colleagues pointed out that it's scary they'll never now whether I understand them or not, when they are speaking their own language. But it all comes down to the fact that most European languages are all derived from same origins, Latin, Viking (ancient Swedish I think), German something. The words are similar enough for me to understand the basic meaning, so I know roughly the issue people are talking about. Nynorsk is basically written Danish, so much easier than Danish.

All my colleagues are really nice people, I hope I would met their expectations, too. I got some contacts/names for my work - I really should update my LinkedIn profile.

But now my head doesn't work at all. That may be due to flu I got after I came back home, definitely something I got from during flights. Oh well, it is not Covid (according to test). And I'm cold. But that on the other hand is mainly due to the fact it's -10C outside.

So very accurate beginning of winter time. I was planning on mushrooming today with sys (his idea), but no, not now. If it's getting any warmer, we will go for the very last time for this year. I need the silence of my forest after all that hassle.

And winter is about to be here, again

 It's 2 degrees of Celsius outside and raining heavily. Only a bit colder and rain will turn into snow. It's only matter or hours, maybe.

It's not funny. We had unusually warm September - average temperature was the same as in unusually cold July we had this year. My vegetables were on their most profilic state this week, and I had to harvest them all... Well, not all, but most. Like all beans (I have some in the polytunnel, but they will keep few more days), and most of pumpkins. I couldn't get all corn harvested before we had the first frost night last week, but it seems to be ok. For now.

Something ate all my carrots while I was away. It kindly left me all the tops, but unfortunately they were all wilted by the time I was able to take a look of what has happened. Some sort of ... big mouse? A water mole, I think. I know, I know, it has a big family to feed, too. But I would have loved to eat more of my own carrots, they were lovely.

Broad beans had grown whole new growth in September, they all had few new stalks with dozens of flowers. Such a pity :-( In summer they didn't had that much flowers.

I was again asked to get some food bank/distribution items, because they had abundance on produce and bread. I got nine bags of bread/rolls and few french loafs as well as pasties. I got lettuce, apples, plums, nectarines, beets, potatoes (why I didn't take carrots?  I knew I don't have any...) purple cauliflower etc. I made subway-type dinner that night, everyone chose their own toppings and I slightly toasted them in the owen - just to melt cheese.

Today I made jam with plums and apples and one nectarine. I just cut them into small chunks (took off  cores/stones and spoiled bits) and cooked with jamming sugar (it has pectine). It was lovely, os had spoonful and said it's nice - so it was really yummy!

I've been freezing and dehydrating mushrooms, and we have been eating them daily. Maybe next year we will not have a good mushroom year, so we try to enjoy this years abundance as much as possible.

Mil is moving in to supported living next weekend - she was signed in the queue last spring and was told it might take up to two years to be able to have a place. She has trouble hearing, is loosing her eyesight and have slight memory issues. She had her 90th birthday in September...

My grandma on the other had is put on palliative care. She's 93, and more or less blind, half deaf and has had alzheimers over 10 years. My brother went on to see her today, and sent messages that she's really poorly.  She doesn't eat or drink. She's lost her oldest son and son's only child this year (both had cancer).

We are expecting her to go in two weeks :-( 

That's how it is.

Home sweet home - for now

 I've been travelling a lot lately. Poor 'Suma is completely depressed, and I feel sorry for her and also so sad I can't avoid these travels.

I'm still afraid of flying, but I'm not tasting vomit in my mouth anymore all the time.

Someone would think it's so wonderful to be able to travel as a part of one's work, but I don't feel that way. Even though the meetings were very good, productive and funny, too. I've got lovely team mates and I really appreciate them more and more. Days are long, and my brain is still boiling over all foreign languages I had to use. I really really don't speak French.

Meanwhile at home.

Our forest neighbour sold his trees and there was a harvester working while I was away. I would have love to watch it working, but not such luck. This picture is taken along our border, some of the logs are laying partly in our land, but not a single twig was cut from our side. Now all logs have been removed so there is only the mess left. It isn't that bad, I expected it to be worse.

So - I haven't been able to do ANYTHING at veggie plot or greenhouses, and it makes me soooo fustrated. Maybe next year.

(at least I got garlics harvested, and corn is having best harvest ever, but beets are tiny and cucumbers did badly this year - and I haven't been able to check out my pumpkins, zucchinis OR beans on my plot at my sisters - only good thing is that there has been no frosts yet, which is a miracle of sorts)

A little break before the madness

 

We are on a holiday cottage for the weekend with hb's nephew and his wife. Back home tomorrow, and then on Monday I will leave 9 o'clock in the morning to a three day seminar. And next week another four day trip. 'Suma is already miserable 😔

Food, veggies, mushrooms...

 I'm trying to get my budget on track before winter's high costs. This month (August) is usually the most expensive summer month - not only because kids go back to school, but our insurance and property tax bills are due on August. Hb's car needed repairs (and some are still coming) and it isn't cheap. My car is due MOT on October and I need to fix it before that, and I know it will be another expensive one. Our cars suffer because we live in the end of long gravel road, and no matter how slowly and carefully you drive, something WILL broke during the year. There is always a lot of bumps and potholes and sharp gravel to kill your tires if nothing else.

On the food front I have been relying heavily on my garden and forest produce. We have been eating mushrooms every day last six weeks, and I'm digging potatoes three times a week (kids don't want to eat potatoes every day). But there's berries, zucchinies, kale, beans, peas, carrots, nasturtium, garlic...

The cheapest dinner is boiled potatoes, butter-fried mushrooms and fried zucchini with garlic and honey (because I get honey from my brother). Only salt and butter are shop bought!

Some mushrooms:

Chanterelles usually yield the highest harvest - and they grow from end of July to the end of November (if there's no snow). They are easy to find - they grow in our backyard (which is a forest).

Porchini. Little piglet.  This was a good year for them, and we ate many meals with porchinies. I'm really REALLY particular about that there's no wormholes in my porchini - if I accepted some holes, we would be eating tons of porchinies. but nope, I don't want to eat worms.

I would guess porchini and chanterelles.

We did have some sunny days then.

I don't pick many white mushrooms, but sometimes I can't resist - champignons are quite rare in my woods and this one didn't have any maggots.

(and I do know the difference between amanita virosa and champignons)

And it REALLY was champignon.

Agaricus sylvicola (wood mushroom)

There's only that much one can eat mushrooms. Bilberry pie!

Of course you can't only eat forest food. You have to use garden produce also! I've made several stews or soups or sauces with a lot of veggies.

For this I'm happy I don't have a picture of the green one I made - it looked like sheep's diarrhea😂

 But everything is edible. This is beetroot and sundried tomato houmous. Very yummy! The green one was pesto with wild and garden greens (sorrel, kale, nasturtium leaves, beetroot leaves, carrot tops etc). I made about 4dl or each, but in this picture is only the remants I scooped from my blender.

I use both houmous and pesto as a spread on my bread.

For houmous I use 1 tin of chickpeas, 2dl of cooked root vegetables (carrot, parsnip, beetroot, swede; either one or all mixed), 2-3 cloves of garlic - they are my own grown and huge! olive oil, some lemon juice from bottle, roasted sesame oil (because I forgot to buy tahini and tried with sesame oil and found out it was fine), salt, chili, some leftover pickles like nasturtium seeds, pickled chili or olives or pickled radish seed pods... some pepper, some salt and jeera or garam masala or curry powder - whatever I have. This is my winter spread.

For pesto I use greens, again some leftover pickles from fridge, some lemon juice, few cloves of garlic, any nuts or seeds I have, olive oil, salt, pepper and chili. I don't use parmesan or any other cheese in my pesto - I didn't have any when I made my first ever batch and it was fine. So this is vegan, too. Pesto is my summer spread.

I don't know how they compare to shop bought or ordinary houmous and pesto, because I've never eaten one - they usually have some onion and I can't eat (or touch) any onions.

Some nettle pancakes/crepes. They are delicious and cheap. And they take forever to fry, because I use 1l milk on the batter...

These are zucchini fritters. Also very good.

And zucchinies.

This is best potato year in long time. Potatoes don't like hot or dry weather, and we had coldest and wettest July in decades.

Gooseberries have goosebumbs!

(here they are called hairy berries for obvious reasons)

Chili sin carne with one tiny tiny beetroot. Beetroot really dyes everything.

Basic soup with minced meat. All vegetables from my own garden.

Peasoup - it's like split pea soup but dried peas are whole. Some minced meat, oregano (or majoram, I have no idea which it is, for me they are the same) and salt. One of the cheapest meals you can cook if you use shop bought items (British dried peas are 0,49€/500g). And believe or not, our children eat this - os usually have seconds.

More medieval

We had quite fun time at the medieval fair few weeks ago. Ys and number one had a blast and they are eager to go next year, too. Number one actually went there on Saturday, too, but it was so crowded they couldn't see or do anything, so next year we will go on Friday again.

More pictures:

Ys told me I have to make pair of trousers for him - and most likely I have to make a hood like this to him, too. But now I know what kind of clothing is needed so it's much easier from now on. Maybe something less poor looking.

Sunset behind the castle and park with medieval camp, photo says 21:14.

Medieval times

We've had some very interesting days lately. Ys got also a part in that film, and it suited him perfectly 😊

I had only three hours to get a fabric and sew a tunic and a belt for him (and number one, too! he was also in), and after a panic call to my work friend who is also an extra in medieval fairs I managed to stich together something acceptable. Never again, I said to myself, again. Like every other time I promise to do something I have no idea how to do it and knowing I have no time to do it...

My prince of peasants!

I hope if I end up doing something else for the film, I'll get at least a week's notice.

But ys loved the experience! Filming that day took 7 hours, and after that the actors and extras and production team had a medieval feast with authentic music.

And this is why I haven been able to be in my veggie plot or foraging mushrooms.

A star is born...

 It's me - a movie star!

Or not. But I got a very tiny role in small budget (read zero budget) children's film, I even got a line to say! Mostly my part was my feet walking up and down the stairs. They had an emergency, they needed someone and because someone in the team knew me and thought I might be able to be there at the time of the filming, they contacted me. Because of the small budget, no-one gets paid 😁 so it's very freelance and very indie stuff. But nevertheless it has never occurred to me I would be in a real movie. I doubt I ever will end up in IMDb.

Otherwise, life is just as it always is in the end of summer. Busy. Kids are back to school, ys has flu and there was a mix-up in d's rental and she got her power cut off - without any warning, of course. It was a real mess, their electricity is totally screwed and mixed with others, even with someones not living even there. At one point there were half a dozen electricians and some higher up people in their apartment wondering what the heck went wrong - among otoher things it turned out they have been paying wrong electric bill - they have smart meters of course, but somehow in the system their information has been connected to the wrong meter which isn't even located in their building. They should be compensated e.g. from spoiled food in the fridge - it was a heavy loss for low-income students but everything takes time of course and all three girls are fuming (d lives in apartment with two of her friends to keep costs lower). And the whole apartment block is a brand new, it was finished AFTER they moved in.

But yes, it was and still is a huge mess, yesterday they got two hours of electricity...

Garden is producing. I've picked currants for my mother to make cordial with steam juice extractor, she usually makes dozens of bottles, they keep nicely in their root cellar if there is glass bottles. Plastic bottles are not very good at preserving, so that juice is then put into freezers.

Zucchinies have a good year, and I've found some pumpkins emerging. I've been picking peas, shelled them and put in freezer, first handfull of greenbeans is waiting to be eaten (today), this is my best year ever to grow potatoes and even corn is looking promising. There is tomatoes coming, but none of them is even blushing yet. Pickling cucumbers are a dissapointment, there haven't been any yet.

Garlic is about to be ready to pull out, I need - I really should - to build another bed for garlic, it's something we use every day in cooking. I used my last garlic gloves last week and pulled first of new harvest yesterday, it was really good looking.

And 'shrooms! This has been a very good yeat to forage mushrooms. Porchinis, chaterelles, hedgehog mushrooms, milk caps... I know most people will not forage or eat milk caps, but they are really nice preserved in brine. Maybe it's just me and my lovely childhood memories?

Potato salad and coleslaw

As I can't eat shop bought salads (they usually have some onion or chives or leeks) I lived a substantial part of my life without any mayo-based salads. It didn't occurred to me than I could make them myself. Live and learn.

First I tried coleslaw - it was so simple. Then, much later, when I had purple potatoes, I decided to try to make potato salad. It was even more simple to make. With coleslaw you have to grate or chop a lot, with potato salad you just have to cut potatos and pickled cucumbers, and garlic. Or any other veggies you want to add.

I thought everyone else was making those salads every now and then, and I was the slow one not making them. It seems no-one else is making salads at home, because they can buy them!

I've run out of blue potatoes!

I've run out of blue potatoes. Bugger, I like to make potato salad with them, it's very pretty because it's so purple! I have to wait until this yeard crop will be ready. After some digging I estimated I need to wait another three-four weeks for them to be ready to use. Main crop will be ready in september, but I have some in my cold frames, they will be ready sooner.

We (the royal we, it's my sister's root cellar but my parents' harvest) have some old white potatoes left, so I made potato salad with those and saved some spuds to make soup/stew next week. After that I have only my early potatoes, not much. For some reason I have both horse radish and potatoes growing in one of my cold frames, there was supposed to be carrots and parsnips. Oh well. I need to dig that horse radish up and re-plant it somewhere it can grow freely. I don't use it much but it's still good to have in case I want to make something like pickles that requires hirse radish.

But we are really in the harvest season now. I know bluberries are not doing great this summer, but our surraoundings have enough of them:

They are the original blueberry, but nowadays they are called bilberries, because American species is called blueberry. I just took that picture to show my aunt she can go and pick berries. My other aunt sent a message saying they are not having any. First time ever ar far as I know.

I will be picking blueberries, too. But my main target is mushrooms. Our mushroom season begun on monday, and yesterday I even found a single tiny porchini to pick. 

This is just enough for a panful of fried chaterelles, and three teenagers ate them all.

With all troubles in the world I feel I need to harvest more than ever to keep my family safe... We also have much more firewood than usually for the winter. I just hope my blue potatoes will yeld a nice crop this autunm.

(they are more healthier than normal potatoes)

Another

 

Another non-colour pullover. I have loads of clothing with these cannot discribe colours, muted grayish/brownish/bluish/greenish hues. They go well with blue jeans and everything black I have. Or, if you ask my brother, I have loads of grey clothing - he's a certain type of colourblind so everything not BRIGHT colours are same to him.

The picture is horrible, as I didn't steam/soak/press it beforehand. I like this a lot, it's just the way I wanted, relaxed, warmish and neat enough to wear it when going to town to do errands. Yarn is recycled cotton, I know it will easily turn a bit untidy because of that, but that's ok. I can always shave it.

Haven't been on mood for knitting socks, so I started another one, this time crocheting BRIGHT blue cotton.

Moving day

I've been on vacation/holiday/off work over a week now. So far I've written only dozen or so work emails, answered only three phone calls (work affairs) and spoke online with my dearest co-worker (who's still at work next week). I've had my earphones on while I was weeding lupins from my parents' field (invasive plants) - there was this important info which I knew would be important to me (and so it was, it turned out my office is safe for now, but our head office has to move to smaller premises). And I promised to entertain my Norweigian colleague who is about to come here for a few weeks. Because I speak both English and Swedish (Norwegians don't all speak Swedish but nynorsk is close enough so we can understand each other).

All but five pickling cucumbers have died and I have no idea why. It''s good that I planted about 30 cucumbers on my plot at my parents' field😁 and they are doing fine.

I just don't get it.

D moved to the city today. Me and sys were helping to fill the moving van, her friend had borrowed a huge mercedes  sprinter and it was more than half  empty when d's all belongings were inside.

I'm gonna miss my little baby, she's been living in a town for a year now, and now she's even further away. But she'll be all right, her friends are there and her school. There is also easier to get a job, and life would be a bit cheaper there. She's happy.

I'm still gonna miss her.

First one finished

First concrete thing finished:

 I just love the colour theme of that yarn! And it's very airplane suitable, the whole jumper weights 300g.

Summer vacation here I come!

Last day of work today. It was supposed to be yesterday, but we had some compulsory training, and a briefing later on. I had to write a report and make my travel expenses claim, I won't be back until end of July.

It's been so hot I can't even dream of doing any substantial gardening. I did however plant one more row to my veggie plot, pickling cukes, chard and kale. Just went to see them and they seemed to be ok. I dug a hole and watered it before planting, and I made a moat around each plant to hold water.

Now I have only corn, pumpkins and zucchinies and beans to plant to plot. Then I should pot some new plants from strawberries, they have a lot of runners now. And I have one more frame to fill with something, I think radishes and spinach. Then I have all tomatoes to re-place to the greenhouse, but that requires cooler day.

I have potatoes growing in my carrot rows and horse radish in potatoe frame. I haven't any horse radish anywhere near that frame! I also found two parsnip plants ready to flower right in the middle of my field, but my sown parsnips are having trouble to germinate. I've been waiting for a month now, I know they are slow, but...

I picked first batch of radishes to eat, I mean the proper fat red radishes, not only the poor trimmed seedlings. I rinsed greens and I'm going to make pesto with them. I have garlic greens I can use, too. I don't use parmesan in pesto, nor basil - I don't like basil and we usually don't have parmesan at home, it's a bit expensive.

AND I'm nearly finished my jumper I begun knitting at Easter. I love the colour, or colours, it gradually changes from white to pale blue, to electric blue, to dark navy to grey... D saw the yarn and said it's just my colour. I only have to put it together, one sleeve is already on.

I'm knackered

 Last real working day before summer holiday. Drove something like 500km (with rental, not my own car), and for some reason it was really consuming. Maybe it was the heat, even if the car had nice air con. Maybe it was because I talked like five hours straight? Maybe it was I was among people, not in Teams like it is nowadays. Woke at six, took 'Suma for a walk, went to pick the rental and I was back at five o'clock. Then I fed kids, took another turn in neighbour's garden - I found four more big giant hogweeds that needed to be destroyed, they were on different corner so I didn't see them in the spring. Now they are dealt. For now.

I had to water all rows and pots in veggie plot. My allotment at my parents' (oh no, it's at my sister's now!) has so much better soil. I watered with number two yesterday, and the soil was still wet there. Here at my plot soil is bone dry, it's actually cracking 12 hours after watering! It's very dense clay, so very poor soil for growing any edible plants, but it doesn't mean I wouldn't try year after year.

Maybe my stubborness is the reason I'm so knackered...

But at the allotment I've got 12 pumpkins/courgettes, few dozens of pickling cucumber plants, two rows of beans and some chard. I'm still pondering if I should sow some yellow beets. And next week it's time to sow some spinach and other greens that will bolt if sown too early.

Destroying neighbours plants

 With his blessing.

Our neighbour is an old man, way over his 90's. Ten years ago we agreen I would be responsible to destroy giant hogweed from his garden. It was a huge benefit for me - I don't have to worry about that spreading in to our land, and I got free access of his currants and rhubarb. Ever since Ive been diligenty, every summer, tried to get rid of his hogweeds. And I've been succesfull. Ten years ago his garden had a nook with about 200 more more giant hogweed plants, it was a jungle. And now, this summer, I found maybe 6-7 bigger plants and only handful of seedlings. Seedlings will be there "forever", you have to be very careful for the next ten years, at least. But all in all, I have won the battle and I will win this war.

But on the other side of the road is his field. It was full of lupins. They are also not wanted plants, they displace native plant species and their pollen is toxic to bumblebee larvae. Last summer I decided to tackle that battlefield and cut all lupins. I'm sure I have to fight ten more years, there is so much seeds in the soil. I've been succesfully cutting lupins from my own yard, there's only two plaves with lupins.

Some people think it's pointless to try to get rid of these plants, you can't win. They are wrong.

And in the end I've got endless supply of currants and rhubarb!

Frugal finds and summer, finally

 I've been lucky lately. As Old Man and my mother ate building a log house (a small bungalow), they are on constant hunt for bargains. I'm my fathers child, and I know I have inherited a lot from him. Because my lil sister bought their old house (her childhood home) and had to move in with her family, Old Man and mother are in a bit of a rush.

It's like dominos: Sister's partner's sister (I just love to say that) needed a cheap place to stay while she's intern at the local hospital. She can't live with her parents, because they scaled down since all kids moved out. No they don't have an extra room anymore. As an intern she will not be paid, so she really cannot afford to rent from free market. So here's the catch: my sister and her family have been living in my grandma's apartment since beginning of the pandemic - grandma is living in assisted living/nursing home just across railroad and two blocks. She's mostly blind, has bad hearing problems and alzheimers, so she couldn't cope living at home - not even with intensive help, so my sister who needed a place here in our hometown moved in. They have been paying utilities and a small condo payment (it includes all maintenance etc). If they've been paid rent, grandma's nursing home payments would have sky-rocketed. So it's been really good for them all.

So, that nurse intern is moving in to grandma's apartment, so my sister and her family moved to her/our childhod home, and my parents... Well, they have not moved out yet, but mother said there's a place for a tent next to their new bungalow😁

But I digress. So, Old Man and mother really need to get their bungalow ready. Old Man being Old Man don't want help - building a log house is his dream so he IS building it. ok, let him build his dream, after all he's been through it's reasonable. And he wants to build it his way - that is not spending too much. Much of it is achieved just by using everything sparingly, not wasting anything. Now they are doing inside the bungalow, and everything is expensive. My mother is not one to follow the latest trends, she knows what she likes and keeps it that way. In 50 years I've learnt to know what she likes...

One day I was taking recycling stuff to recycling point, when I noticed small carboard boxes on the ground just next to recycled glass container. Someone had decided to dump half a dozen packs of wall tiles! Tiles were unused, intact if a bit dusty. Of course I had to take them with me - oh come on, I just can't leave something like that. I wasn't sure if my mother would like them or love them, but she loved them! Now they have six square meters of nice 80's tiles my mother likes. And my father - he's happy he didn't have to pay anything 😆

At the moment I don't buy anything to my own home - I have mostly all we need. But if I happen to find unused buckets by the recycling point, of course I will take them with me... It is amazing what people throw away!

So it's food I'm buying. Last few weeks I've bought about 10 bags of toast for 0,10€ each. Today I found yellow stickered eggs 1€ per carton of ten eggs - I bought only six, because I wanted to leave some to others, too. I found mince reduced, I bought, ehem, 12 packs of 1kg...  I do have three freezers.

A packet of spare ribs reduced - not cheap, but affordable. We are having midsummer in two weeks, and hb likes grilled ribs.

Yes, it's soon a midsummer, and finally this week we have summer. It's been really cold, we had actual snow no more than a week ago! So no fun. I couldn't plant anything on veggie plot, but luckily I managed to set up the greenhouse (polytunnel) few weeks ago so I could sow something in to containers and small pots. Last weekend I planted rest of potatoes, and sowed a row or two of beets... and harvested radishes by thinning them. it took all small seedlings and rinsed them clean, I got two handfuls of tiny plants to use in sandwiches or salads.

I have peas, beans, courgettes and pumpkins growing in pots. I also have some tomatoe plants and okra plants and some mini chard and spenach seedlings. And pickling cucumbers.

Last weekend we had (hopefully) last frost night until August so now I could plant all those seedling in my plot... If I had time.

But I'm so proud of me, finding those tiles 😎

Baking and gardening

 Or something like it.

Since it's warmish, I can't use my wood stove anymore (it has some draft issues if the weather is warm). It was easy to cook food that required a long time to simmer on wood burner, but I prefer faster coocking dishes now. Like pizzas, or pies/pasties.

Yesterday I made some minced meat pasties, they are easy. Only time consuming part is making dough - I make all dough by hand, I don't have mixer. Since I found podcasts from our national broadcasting company, I have found working the dough is so much funnier. Or funnier... I've learnt a lot about evolution of writing, vaccines, gmo, space travel, far right movements, deep sea recearch.

Now when I'm cooking or baking, I have my phone on.

(on the sidenote, it's raining hail now, and squirrels are trying to find food from bird feeders and at the same time they try to stay in cover; there's plenty of extra seeds on the ground - actually, I think we'll have thunder!)

Anyway, meat pasties: basic yeast bread dough, minced fried meat, cooked rice, spices and a raw egg. They can be deep fried or baked in the oven, I prefer the oven. They are not like pierogies, because dough is made with yeast, but the idea is the same. And filling can be just about everything, veggies, meats and even sweet like fruit jam (most common apple compote).

I should make them more often.

Ok, toda I'll bake kind of doughnuts. Again I'm making yeast dough (sweet this time), and I'm deep frying doughnuts. They are rolled in sugar after frying and they are soooo goood... And a lot of work. I stumbled upon a churro receipe, so while I have hot oil, I might try to bake churros, too. I've never tried them, so I've no idea if kids like them or not.

Gardening, on the other hand. I've sowed some seeds, my tomatoes and okra are quite nice, spinach and kale have just sprouted. Tomorrow I'll need to sow corn and pumpkins and zucchinis, and soon all cabbages and such. And I still don't have my polytunnel up.

But boys have been busy raking the lawn, so first time in ages it resembles something like a real lawn. I've cut several bushes, and our Siberian pea bushes had suffered because of the snow load so there were quite a meny broken or badlybending branches. I used handsaw to cut them, they look so much better now. But I still have many other bushes to tackle - all next week, of course.

And I need to visit Ikea (to replace those broken plates) and we'll be going to movies! There's a special showing of the film Sisu (not for the faint hearted OR serious minded), my brother arranged it!

Spring...ish

 I know, most of Northern hemisphere is having spring in full swing. Yes, so do we, but it's a spring here, not such summer others have already. If I look from our dining room windows, it's full winter, a foot of snow and all. Other windows, not so much, but not very summery either. Some parts of Europe have been drying up already, and some parts have been drenched... We haven't had rain since March, nut because all that snow there's plenty of water. For now.

I have few tomato plants growing, and okra. I need to repot them tomorrow, and after that I need to decide which plants I want to grow in my veggie plot, which ones inside my greenhouse and polytunnel and which ones I will be growing in my "rented" plot at my sister's. That house and plot doesn't belong to Old man and my mother, because my sister with her hb bought it! But rules remain the same, potatoes will be planted in the beginning of the summer, root cellar is free to use and I have my plot there. And as a rent I'll make a cover for her comfy chair and sew whatever her children need.

I need also think how to sow all seeds needing propagation, because most plants need that and I don't have my polytunnel to use now. It needed a new cover, the old one was disintegrating, it just fell as flakes off the enforcing netting. But right sized cover can't be found (they were sold out in the autunm and never came back to stock). So I bought just plain plastic sheets, but I need help to set up - maybe I need to stich it over the frame with needle and thread? I have no idea how to pull that one yet.

So, I have only my small glass greenhouse to use for seedlings. So, beans, corn, all cabbages... salads, chard, spinach... Oh well.

Cranes have been back for few weeks already. Swans were here, but they have moved on, they spent here only maybe two weeks. It's sad they don't nest here, but we don't have big enough water for them, the pond next to our yard is too shallow. There is an island in the middle of the pond, but water can get so low taht foxes and lynxes can walk right there. Swans are not taking any risks.

Hazel nut by my parent's new house is in full bloom. Or... well it's in full bloom, but have you seen the flowers? They are TINY. Pretty, but I had to zoom in with my phone to see them!

My rhubarb is not yet growing, but in neigbours garden there are some nubs visible. Haven't seen there any giant hogweed seedligs yet, I'm hoping there will be no more big plants, just seedlings. Next I have lupins to deal with.

That garden has some ground elder growing, so I thing I will pick some and make an omelette or maybe soup with them. I was supposed to have a whole week of next week, but then there was one meeting on wed I have to attend and then there was another on tue. So, at least I have rest of the week off, anf because Moday is Mayday, I have that off too, so long weekend.

After that we'll be attending wedding to hb's nephew, and week after that is Eurovision Song Contest. We'll be having a role play game made by my brother! We were supposed to have a game night during Christmas, but because we were sick it didn't happen. It's not hard to guess which one I look forward more... (I've seen the future mrs nephew only once, he used to be very close to us, he spent his summers here, but life happens, he got married to his first wife who wasn't keen on his family, so we didn't meet her even once! and when they divorced covid happened and now he lives even further away)

There was a tiny roe deer in our field and 'Suma got all agitated when she saw her. My ears are still ringing, I had to suht all blinds so she couldn't see her anymore. I hope she's gone now so I can go and fetch cats inside, I don't want to scare her.

Kitchen disasters

 I have them quite often in my kitchen. And I mean no regular Oh no I've burnt the cake or Oh dear why did you cook that? kind of things. Today a bottle of cooking oil slipped trought my fingers, all I was left holding was the cap of the bottle... I took the bottle out of the bottom cuboard and lifted it up from the cap. And it didn't keep closed...

It was quite a mess to clean, again. Luckily only few spoonfuls spread all ovet the kitchen floor and I was able to crab that bottle almoust instantly after it hit the floor.

But that's why I can't have nice things. I drop plates. Plural, not just one plate at the time, but my record is FOUR plates. I can't have those fancy ceramic stove tops (induction stove) because I keep dropping things even over my stove. I can drop a carton of eggs.

There's something wrong with my motoric skills, but at least I can tell this is how I have always been.

On the other hand I'm reasonable good cook. At least my kids like my cooking, and me too. Today I made kind of minced chicken gravy with pasta. Nothing left on the skillet. I can't eat chicken, so I made hummus with everything I found that needed using up. Few lonely olives, two cartons of chic peas (best before... 11/2020, they are fine), olive oil, liquid from pickled chillie's jar, and lime juice from lime I got "free" from food bank type of place.

I was asked to come and pick stuff from there, because first time in six months there were surplus! So I paid two euros and got three bags of rolls, two baguettes, two loaves of bread and four mandarines and four limes, two tubes of wasabi and a jar of roe out of all things! I love roe, but it's usually way out of my budget, so basically free roe is lovely! I took a bag of coriander and a bag of dill, they were more or less dead, but I'n still going to plant them and see if they will grow again.

And I forgot! I got a bunch of asparagus! A bunch would cost me around 4-5 euros, and even if this was a bit sad and sloppy bunch, I will get a good use of them. I cut off the hard and dried end of stalks and cut another short piece of and then I put them on a glass of water. I hope they will keep few days so I can eat thme with hb, but if they need to be used sooner, I will cook them. But those small bits I cut off (not dried ones)? I fried them with sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds.

My freezer is full of bread, I have some luxury in my life and even the kitchen floor is clean!

Did I ever mentioned I hate flying?

This has been an extremely expensive winter. Electricity has been a nightmare to pay, so I had to pay only interest in mortage. Which means I need to pay mortage one more year. Bugger.

Food prices... I don't even. I have no idea how anyone can go on if there's no end on this inflation. I know I will survive, my family will survive, but it's not going to be funny. I even bought a bag of early potatoes to plant. Usually I plant just our regulars, but now I hope I can get spuds to eat late July, not in August. I bought okra seeds - I don't even know what does it taste of! I know it's edible...

Couldn't find a new cover for my polytunnel. Had to buy just plastic - but I'm in no hurry to cover the frame, because today I measured the depth of snow and it was over 30cm. But it's less than it was a week ago.

D is going to move on a bigger city, there's cheaper(!) rents and she wants to find a school to attend. She's working on a local shop on weekends, but her school here should be over by summer. It's bittersweet she's really really moving away from home... My cousin lives there, so she'll always have family there as a backup.

Ys had his medication changed, this one seems to ease on his eating, so hopefully he'll stop gaining weight (8kg per two months is way too much) AND he's able to stay awake most of the day! Yay! That is a very good result so far.

But what about flying?

I might have mentioned I have a EU job now. I'm working on things I'm good at, the are my expertise - but unfortunately I have to travel. A lot. Flying. So far I haven't missed my flight, but yes, my luggage has gone somewhere I didn't and of course flights have been delayed more than once. The same flight. I've spent more time in a airport than in the actual meeting waiting for the plane. I've run through Frankfurt airport (like two miles) to get to my gate. I've counted all hectolitres of fuel that's spent to fly me around. My carbon footprint has grown to unbearable.

But I have found good things too. WiFi works in every airport, some cities have free public transport and my team is a dream! I have been able to work from airports, so it's not all wasted time.

Kids are not very keen on me to be away from home. And poor 'Suma. She's miserable, and once I'm back home she's following me like a shadow. Her stomack is constantly upset - we really can smell she's not happy. I hope this will be easier once we have learnt how to do all this.

Long time no see

Again it's been months since last post. Oh well.

I was travelling - seems like my work is now flying, taking the train, training people, writing training materials... Over twenty years ago when I applied this job I honestly thought I wouldn't have to fly ever again. I hate flying (my father's a pilot). Yep. More flying this year.

But. Ys is doing fine with few tweaks of his medication, we'll have another appointment at the hospital soon. I don't think he'll need change in his meds now. But he's still growing, so it might happen at some point. Medication makes him tired, which is a but sad, he sleeps a lot. 14yr should be staying awake all night.

Christmas came and went, it was nice, we had the most beautiful tree with a LOT of decorations, I bought two huge tubes full of new baubles (they were half price!) because someone destroyed most baubles last year... Oh well.

It's 21 years since we lost our boys, and it still hurts like hell. I cried at their grave. Being the good mother I am I bought them both a bottle of hard booze - at 21 they would be able to buy it legally (so I bought them those tiny minibar bottles of vodka and brandy). I bet those bottles won't be there next time when I go to see my sons. And I'm quite sure it's not the squirrel who's taken the bottles...

But then. Electricity. Or more like THE PRICE. Because our northern location we need to have heating here, and unfortunately to us, our house is mostly heated with electricity. Of course I have my (four!) fireplaces, and by using them I have managed to cut our electricity usage by 46-48%. And we still pay 4 to 5x more on bill at the moment... And next bill will be about 10x higher than average electricity bill. We might get some reimbursement from government, but because we are "moderately well-off" and own our own house with reasonable mortage, we propably won't get much, if any.

Food prices... At least I know how to cook with cabbage, potatoes and swede. We've given up most fruits, it's apples and bananas and pears now. And vegetables - tomatoes and cucumbers are a rare treat! But on the other hand, they need tremendous amounts of energy to grow here, artificial light and heat, so it's not very sustainable to eat them in winter anyway. So more cabbages, carrots, swedes and beets. Yey.

I haven't used my electric stove at all since October. I've even baked cakes in my wood burning stove oven. I know why people were so eager to get rid of their wood burning stoves and turn to electricity after war - this is a slow method of making dinner. Oh no, the stove burns hot, it's not that. But to GET it burn hot I need to get firewood and get the fire started... With electric stove I just turn knob or two. And if I want to use oven, I need to plan ahead, because I'm using this brick monster, which needs to be heated 2-3 hours before I can put anything into the oven itself. (but after that I can cook a whole ham on turkey without adding any wood).

And because we have been using a lot of firewood - I mean A LOT, we were rapidly running out of it. Luckily Old Man has a mountain of dry wood in his "new" woodshed at the mansion - they are from the 90's or even before that, but the wood is bone dry and still burns hot. So we spent the whole Saturday (today) first getting those logs out of the shed. They were stacked so tightly that the whole stack stood firmly in place even after we managed to pry our a row of logs midway... I was thinking the shed would collapse after we remove some wood, but fortunately it still stood proudly when we left.

We emptied two rows/stacks of logs and filled a whole tractor trailer with them! So more than four cubic meters of dry ready-cut firewood.

It took 2 hours to fill the trailer, and four hours to empty it... But now all logs are neatly stacked again in OUR shed.

You know what they say about heating your house with wood? It warms you several times - first when you cut it in the forest, then when you cut and split it, third time when you stack it... Well, this load of firewood has been warming people five times already and it's not yet burning!

But this made me so happy - no matter if there is going to be power cut or not - we'll stay warm and cosy and we will get a hot meal every day.

I bet I'll be aching all over tomorrow. As well as boys, they worked very hard.

Off to sauna now!