Oh my how cold it was this tuesday! We had frost monday also, but it wasn't nearly this freezing...
On sunday I thought there might be a cold night ahead - full moon and clear skyes and all. I didn't cover my courgettes, beans or corns - corns are miserable this year (too little watering, I suppose) anyway and I have had enough courgettes and beans. And I also have three courgette plants in the polytunnel as well as few beans. Enough is enough!
Yesterday I did however pick all rest of courgettes (over 5kg I think), and last two strawberries (there is still more on plants, but they will not ripen anymore). Today I'm going to get all corn cobs (there is only few) and runner beans.
At the moment I have too much vegetables to handle, I got a cardboard box full of brassicas (brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower (purple and green) and cabbage heads. And I have my own red cabbages and kale. I really should be making sauerkraut.
It's been a busy week, d has been doing her work experience internship at a funeral parlour - she originally wanted to go to local art museum, but they weren't interested. Their loss I say. D has been thrilled to bits, she has been cleaning windows and dusting coffins and has told me "This was the best day ever!" every day... She has also learnt how to use local trains, so far she hasn't got lost. I'm sorry, but my children are different.
Next week I'll be off for few days (a work trip) and I have no idea how os is going to manage with 'Suma and cats. Hb is of no use, he has first ever night sifts in this millenia - last time he did night sifts it was 90's and he was 20 years younger... Actually I have done night sifts more recently.
I have lit a fire in the dining room stove three last evenings. Good thing we have loads of fire wood ready, most of it stacked already. I load wheelbarrow to the brim and push it to the shed and kids stack logs. Only one load a day, slowly but surely they will be stacked.
Friday, 28 September 2018
Thursday, 13 September 2018
Foraging and other autunm stuff
I have mentally given up summer. September is here, and even though temperatures exceeded 25℃ last week, nature is turning to autunm. (But on the bright side - no frost so far, last summer we had first frost on July!) Yellow leaves all around.
Autunm means foraging. I don't pick wild berries, it takes too much time and requires too much effort to clean, conserve and store the haul (lazy me). I've run out freezer space already! So foraging means mushrooms. Chanterelles, horns of plenty, ceps (porcinis), other boletes (mostly orange birch boletes), albatrellus ovinuses, hedgehog mushrooms etc. They are eaten right away of dried (chanterelles don't dry well, so I freeze them).
Well, foraging might be a bit grandiose term. I get out of the house, walk about 50m (or less) and bend my knees to reach 'shrooms. Longest trek I take is to find porcinis and that's about 200m from my back door. I don't use nice baskets, usually I have some old plastic bag stuffend in my jean's pocket to pull out when needed. Last week I used IKEA's plastic cover for a pillow, basically a long tube, it didn't even had a handle. 'Suma bit into it yesterday, so I have to find another bag.
I pick mushrooms very carefully, I clean them before I drop them to my bag. At home all I have to do is to slice them and rinse off remaining gunk. Of course boletes are always a gamble, you have a beautiful white speciemen and then you cut it half and find maggots have eaten most of it... But most of work is already done while picking. I have a knife in my pocket ('Suma ate it yeasterday, too - we were spending too much time with plenty of horns) or I just use my nails. That's why you have to have long nails!
We only pick mushrooms that don't need boiling before use. Kids like mushrooms fried in butter, and sometimes I make stir fry with mushrooms (usually with winter mushrooms or yellow foots, but any will do). I crush dried mushrooms with mortar and pest and use as a seasoning in soups and sauces - although now that hb can't eat any mushrooms I can do that only on foods he will not eat.
I have been picking mushrooms all my life. As a child I didn't like mushrooms (because they were always cooked with onions and yes, I have been allergic to onions all my life - I just didn't know it then, I was just sick and miserable all the time) but I loved to pick and clean them! I can recognize dozens of mushrooms - learn to know poisonous mushrooms, pick only mushrooms you know... But I forage only about a dozen different mushrooms. I have thought of that and I realized I don't have to pick anything else.
If our survival depended on mushrooms, I would pick milk-caps (I like them, but I don't care to add another step to my cooking, some of them requires boiling before consuming), russulas (well, they don't need boiling but I prefer other mushrooms because there is about a hundred red russula species and some of them are not edible and I don't want to taste every mushroom I pick), and in springtime false morels - I don't usually pick them with kids because they are highly poisonous without thorough preparation (boiling two or three times with plenty of fresh water at least 5min at the time, I boil them three times) but sometimes it grows in our garden so we pick it then.
I found out there's something else 'Suma loves more than dehydrated courgettes. Dried parsley!
I might move my dehydrator to porch so 'Suma can't reach it.
Fire wood have been stacked. So far I have piled about 4 or 5 cubic meters of wood withs kids help. It's not nearly enough, but better than nothing. If we have a very mild winter, we might be ok, but I suppose we'll have Blast from Siberia or something like that - this summer has been too warm, so winter has to be mean.
I harvested my garlics last weekend, they were already split so won't preserve well, but I'll freeze some. I let two plants to grow scapes (we ate rest of scapes while young and tender), I just have to build a frame for them to grow. Here in north I have to plant garlic in autunm, preferably in October. If I wanted to be self sufficient on garlic, I'd need about 70-80 bulbs to eat and then about 20 bulbs for antoher years crop. So about 100 plants. Oh dear, that's quite a big frame I need... (not really. garlics can be planted only few inches apart).
Courgettes have been eaten and dehydrated (mostly for 'Suma), as well as herbs. I have made another batch of nasturtium capers, they were suprisingly nice.
I got a big bag of apples from my co-worker, who got them from her neighbour. I'll freeze some to be used in pies, some I have already dried...
For the first time ever I have had cabbages, first one I gave to old man's sister, but I made tasty coleslaw out of one half head (another half went to wild board stew). I'll make cabbage casserole (or bake) soon.
I still need to blanch and freeze some spinach and kale and swiss chard, but as I said earlier my freezers are too full. Oh, I got some common sea buckthorn berries. Because no-one else in the family likes them, I froze them - I'll have some luxorius smoothies! That is a plant I might be able to grow in my field.
I thought courgettes are finally giving up. Yesterday I tried to find a small courgette to add to my tomato sauce (made Nigella's meatballs in tomato sauce, well, it was the inspiration anyway...) and checked the last frame I have one courgette plant. Jep, found one. More like a marrow - or a pumpkin, couldn't weigh it on my kitchen scale! So used ordinary scale which isn't very accurate. About 7kg, maybe a bit more...
But still perfectly edible, I took seeds and springy middle part in big pieces and put them to dehydrator - 'Suma loved them! So nothing goes wasted.
Today: wood stacking, laundry, 'Suma walk, no idea what to make for dinner.
Autunm means foraging. I don't pick wild berries, it takes too much time and requires too much effort to clean, conserve and store the haul (lazy me). I've run out freezer space already! So foraging means mushrooms. Chanterelles, horns of plenty, ceps (porcinis), other boletes (mostly orange birch boletes), albatrellus ovinuses, hedgehog mushrooms etc. They are eaten right away of dried (chanterelles don't dry well, so I freeze them).
Well, foraging might be a bit grandiose term. I get out of the house, walk about 50m (or less) and bend my knees to reach 'shrooms. Longest trek I take is to find porcinis and that's about 200m from my back door. I don't use nice baskets, usually I have some old plastic bag stuffend in my jean's pocket to pull out when needed. Last week I used IKEA's plastic cover for a pillow, basically a long tube, it didn't even had a handle. 'Suma bit into it yesterday, so I have to find another bag.
I pick mushrooms very carefully, I clean them before I drop them to my bag. At home all I have to do is to slice them and rinse off remaining gunk. Of course boletes are always a gamble, you have a beautiful white speciemen and then you cut it half and find maggots have eaten most of it... But most of work is already done while picking. I have a knife in my pocket ('Suma ate it yeasterday, too - we were spending too much time with plenty of horns) or I just use my nails. That's why you have to have long nails!
We only pick mushrooms that don't need boiling before use. Kids like mushrooms fried in butter, and sometimes I make stir fry with mushrooms (usually with winter mushrooms or yellow foots, but any will do). I crush dried mushrooms with mortar and pest and use as a seasoning in soups and sauces - although now that hb can't eat any mushrooms I can do that only on foods he will not eat.
I have been picking mushrooms all my life. As a child I didn't like mushrooms (because they were always cooked with onions and yes, I have been allergic to onions all my life - I just didn't know it then, I was just sick and miserable all the time) but I loved to pick and clean them! I can recognize dozens of mushrooms - learn to know poisonous mushrooms, pick only mushrooms you know... But I forage only about a dozen different mushrooms. I have thought of that and I realized I don't have to pick anything else.
If our survival depended on mushrooms, I would pick milk-caps (I like them, but I don't care to add another step to my cooking, some of them requires boiling before consuming), russulas (well, they don't need boiling but I prefer other mushrooms because there is about a hundred red russula species and some of them are not edible and I don't want to taste every mushroom I pick), and in springtime false morels - I don't usually pick them with kids because they are highly poisonous without thorough preparation (boiling two or three times with plenty of fresh water at least 5min at the time, I boil them three times) but sometimes it grows in our garden so we pick it then.
I found out there's something else 'Suma loves more than dehydrated courgettes. Dried parsley!
I might move my dehydrator to porch so 'Suma can't reach it.
Fire wood have been stacked. So far I have piled about 4 or 5 cubic meters of wood withs kids help. It's not nearly enough, but better than nothing. If we have a very mild winter, we might be ok, but I suppose we'll have Blast from Siberia or something like that - this summer has been too warm, so winter has to be mean.
I harvested my garlics last weekend, they were already split so won't preserve well, but I'll freeze some. I let two plants to grow scapes (we ate rest of scapes while young and tender), I just have to build a frame for them to grow. Here in north I have to plant garlic in autunm, preferably in October. If I wanted to be self sufficient on garlic, I'd need about 70-80 bulbs to eat and then about 20 bulbs for antoher years crop. So about 100 plants. Oh dear, that's quite a big frame I need... (not really. garlics can be planted only few inches apart).
Courgettes have been eaten and dehydrated (mostly for 'Suma), as well as herbs. I have made another batch of nasturtium capers, they were suprisingly nice.
I got a big bag of apples from my co-worker, who got them from her neighbour. I'll freeze some to be used in pies, some I have already dried...
For the first time ever I have had cabbages, first one I gave to old man's sister, but I made tasty coleslaw out of one half head (another half went to wild board stew). I'll make cabbage casserole (or bake) soon.
I still need to blanch and freeze some spinach and kale and swiss chard, but as I said earlier my freezers are too full. Oh, I got some common sea buckthorn berries. Because no-one else in the family likes them, I froze them - I'll have some luxorius smoothies! That is a plant I might be able to grow in my field.
I thought courgettes are finally giving up. Yesterday I tried to find a small courgette to add to my tomato sauce (made Nigella's meatballs in tomato sauce, well, it was the inspiration anyway...) and checked the last frame I have one courgette plant. Jep, found one. More like a marrow - or a pumpkin, couldn't weigh it on my kitchen scale! So used ordinary scale which isn't very accurate. About 7kg, maybe a bit more...
But still perfectly edible, I took seeds and springy middle part in big pieces and put them to dehydrator - 'Suma loved them! So nothing goes wasted.
Today: wood stacking, laundry, 'Suma walk, no idea what to make for dinner.
Wednesday, 15 August 2018
Payday
Had my salary paid today, most of it has gone already. Mortage, insurance (cars, house, forest), electricity and credit card, car tax. I don't usually use credit in my cards anymore, but I was on a overnight trip with my sister, and I thought it would be safer to pay hotel etc by credit. And then I had to take three youngest to shopping - new school year and all.
All 3 needed new school bags - they use backpacks because of the amount of stuff they have to haul to and from school every day. They have laptops (given by school), but they also have books, which seem to weight a ton or a bit more nowadays (I sometimes help them carry backpacks when we walk to the taxi in mornings). At least I don't have to do school run anymore.
New shoes (luckily on sale), some new clothes and of course all the little stuff - pencils, rubbers, rulers (stuff I used to get from school!), notebooks (for drawing)... And a pencil cases. I offered to sow new cases, but they all wanted to have shop bought ones - last year they had handmade ones. I think it's fair they sometimes get something shop bought.
I used credit because there were service disruptions with several cards. Didn't have that much cash with me and queues to cash machines were too long.
Next big expenditure will be hb's car repairs. Our nearest garage went off business (it was cheap but maybe the owner didn't like to deal with business and red tapes). Then in September we will have air source heat pump (ashp) installed. I wasn't planning on installing one, all plans for the house and extension waere made thinking there will not be any ashp. So it's not ideal for us, but it helps keep the house cool during summers (heat waves will become more regular in future) and it also helps warm the house during autunm and spring - in coldest times it will not work (it consumes more electricity in freezing conditions than heating by other electrical means).
I need new wellies (someone ate my old ones) and a decent winter coat (I managed to burn my old coat's sleeve while having a bonfire). I'm afraid kids will need those also, and they most likely need new winter shoes. Then new tablets for kids, and I think at least three new phones. Oh dear.
But, I have some money left on my bank account. I'm not planning to buy anything for the garden or veg plot before next spring (ok, I need carlic bulbs to plant winter carlic, that would be about 5-10 euros).
I might need a budget.
All 3 needed new school bags - they use backpacks because of the amount of stuff they have to haul to and from school every day. They have laptops (given by school), but they also have books, which seem to weight a ton or a bit more nowadays (I sometimes help them carry backpacks when we walk to the taxi in mornings). At least I don't have to do school run anymore.
New shoes (luckily on sale), some new clothes and of course all the little stuff - pencils, rubbers, rulers (stuff I used to get from school!), notebooks (for drawing)... And a pencil cases. I offered to sow new cases, but they all wanted to have shop bought ones - last year they had handmade ones. I think it's fair they sometimes get something shop bought.
I used credit because there were service disruptions with several cards. Didn't have that much cash with me and queues to cash machines were too long.
Next big expenditure will be hb's car repairs. Our nearest garage went off business (it was cheap but maybe the owner didn't like to deal with business and red tapes). Then in September we will have air source heat pump (ashp) installed. I wasn't planning on installing one, all plans for the house and extension waere made thinking there will not be any ashp. So it's not ideal for us, but it helps keep the house cool during summers (heat waves will become more regular in future) and it also helps warm the house during autunm and spring - in coldest times it will not work (it consumes more electricity in freezing conditions than heating by other electrical means).
I need new wellies (someone ate my old ones) and a decent winter coat (I managed to burn my old coat's sleeve while having a bonfire). I'm afraid kids will need those also, and they most likely need new winter shoes. Then new tablets for kids, and I think at least three new phones. Oh dear.
But, I have some money left on my bank account. I'm not planning to buy anything for the garden or veg plot before next spring (ok, I need carlic bulbs to plant winter carlic, that would be about 5-10 euros).
I might need a budget.
Friday, 10 August 2018
Courgette pancakes
Courgette pancakes were better success than courgette fritters.
I don't measure my ingredients while making pancake batter, I make it by feel - it the batter is too thick, I'll add more milk, etc.
Roughly this way:
1 smallish courgette (about 400g), grated but not drained
leftover spinach soup (about 4dl)*
6 eggs
about 7,5dl milk (that's what was left in the carton)
1 tsp salt
0,5 dl sugar
0,5 dl wheat brans**
0,5 dl oats (crushed a bit)
about 3-4 dl of plain flour (not self-rising flour)
50g melted butter
I whisked eggs in a big bowl, added grated courgette and cold leftover soup (milk based) and mixed until smooth, Then salt, sugar, brans and oats. Finally flour - it took some mixing to get it smooth because of all of the extra stuff.
I left it to rest for about an hour (was still on holiday) and just before I started frying I added melted butter.
I fried the batter in two frying pans (blini pan and normal smallish frying pan). It took about an hour...
Served with sugar, jams and whipped cream. All was eaten.
* Not really spinach in it, but New Zealand Spinach and Swiss Chard
** I got 1 kg bag of wheat brans from my co-worker - she had gotten it free when buying oats from a local farmer, her daughter is allergic to wheat so I got the bag. One kilo of brans goes a long way, that's why I add some of them in almost everything (buns, scones, cakes, cookies, pancakes...)
I don't measure my ingredients while making pancake batter, I make it by feel - it the batter is too thick, I'll add more milk, etc.
Roughly this way:
1 smallish courgette (about 400g), grated but not drained
leftover spinach soup (about 4dl)*
6 eggs
about 7,5dl milk (that's what was left in the carton)
1 tsp salt
0,5 dl sugar
0,5 dl wheat brans**
0,5 dl oats (crushed a bit)
about 3-4 dl of plain flour (not self-rising flour)
50g melted butter
I whisked eggs in a big bowl, added grated courgette and cold leftover soup (milk based) and mixed until smooth, Then salt, sugar, brans and oats. Finally flour - it took some mixing to get it smooth because of all of the extra stuff.
I left it to rest for about an hour (was still on holiday) and just before I started frying I added melted butter.
I fried the batter in two frying pans (blini pan and normal smallish frying pan). It took about an hour...
Served with sugar, jams and whipped cream. All was eaten.
* Not really spinach in it, but New Zealand Spinach and Swiss Chard
** I got 1 kg bag of wheat brans from my co-worker - she had gotten it free when buying oats from a local farmer, her daughter is allergic to wheat so I got the bag. One kilo of brans goes a long way, that's why I add some of them in almost everything (buns, scones, cakes, cookies, pancakes...)
Friday, 3 August 2018
Courgette fritters
I made courgette fritters this week. I searched for a reciepe but finally decided to make my own version.
I used: 500g (a bit more to be honest) courgette, 2 eggs, about 1dl plan flour, a pinch of baking powder, salt, pepper and chilli flakes and a splash of cream. And about 1,5dl grated cheese (leftovers I found from the fridge).
I grated the courgette, put it in to the sieve and added some salt. Salt draws out extra moisture so finished product won't end up soggy mess. left it to drain for about 30-60 min (I'm on holiday, no idea about the clock).
Added eggs, cheese, flour and bp, salt, pepper and cream. Batter was loose but but a bit thicker than pancake batter. Mixed well and put to fridge to wait the dinner time.
Fried them in my blini frying pan in butter - everything is better with butter...
Hb liked them, kids didn't. They were ok, a bit too soft to my taste, still very much edible with sweet chilli sauce and fried fish fillets. I could have finished them in the oven to make them crispier, but I knew hb wouldn't like them that way.
Next I'll make courgette pancakes in hopes kids will like them better.
I used: 500g (a bit more to be honest) courgette, 2 eggs, about 1dl plan flour, a pinch of baking powder, salt, pepper and chilli flakes and a splash of cream. And about 1,5dl grated cheese (leftovers I found from the fridge).
I grated the courgette, put it in to the sieve and added some salt. Salt draws out extra moisture so finished product won't end up soggy mess. left it to drain for about 30-60 min (I'm on holiday, no idea about the clock).
Added eggs, cheese, flour and bp, salt, pepper and cream. Batter was loose but but a bit thicker than pancake batter. Mixed well and put to fridge to wait the dinner time.
Fried them in my blini frying pan in butter - everything is better with butter...
Hb liked them, kids didn't. They were ok, a bit too soft to my taste, still very much edible with sweet chilli sauce and fried fish fillets. I could have finished them in the oven to make them crispier, but I knew hb wouldn't like them that way.
Next I'll make courgette pancakes in hopes kids will like them better.
Thursday, 2 August 2018
Fly tipping gone wrong
 |
| Someone had a field day tidying their garden |
Owner of that piece of land was away abroad, so it take some time before anything happened.
 | |
| All gone |
 |
| This looks a bit different, too |
We walk this road every morning and every evening, about 99% of days. This morning 'Suma refused to go for a walk. Sometimes she is very pig-headed for not going.
 |
| Like the other evening. She wouldn't budge until she saw a car. That's old man's sister's garage and some glimpse of her neighbour's yard. We had to wait only ten minutes. |
We got in to the woods finally.
 |
| It's bone dry in nature atm. Even this dry forest is drier than usually - there's usually a lot of blueberries, now the bushes are empty. |
 |
| This is the sight we see in the mornings. Still some mist lingering. |
And I did manage to capture the lunar eclipse. Never claimed to know how to take photos...
Wednesday, 1 August 2018
it is so hot
I guess everyone has noticed this is a hot summer. We have had hotwave since May 5th, only occational days cooler with very little rain.
Car's thermometer said 32℃ in the sun and 29℃ in the shadows of deep forest. Not very funny.
I get up at 6 or 6.30 in the morning, brush my teeth an off we go with 'Suma. It was 20℃ at 6.20 and when we got back around eight it was already 24℃. She sleeps inside most of the day (as do cats), and in the evening we'll go for a walk after nine o'clock. Sun sets officially around ten, but it gets down behind trees, so it is somewhat cooler already by nine.
So I'm back around ten or half past ten, and get to bed around midnight. And up in the morning at six again...
I need a holiday after this holiday to recover.
I picked first courgettes last sunday, ys wanted to barbeque some hot dogs so I thought I would be wise to use those courgettes before they get too big - halved, grilled on the hot plate, and then some olive oil and salt. I just picked two moderate sized ones to make fritters (never done before...) F calls them zucchinis and thats what we call them nowadays too. Olive oil is from F's parents, they have olive tree forest! No olive trees here. It must be weird for her how different everything is.
I have never actually had a glut on my veg plot. Now I think I might get to see one this year! I should be looking for beans, they hiding behind thick foliage. I have never had thick foliage in my bean bushes before. I have harvested mange tout, freezer has been filling nicely. I also froze currants, blacks, reds and whites, blacks from my own garden/veg plot and reds and whites from neighbourgs garden. My mother has been boiling cordial, on Monday I got 4,5l to freeze. There's also 6,5 kg strawberries. (and a lot of ice cream, but it is disappearing fast).
For once we have use for the pool. Ys and sys have been swimming 2-5 times a day, and most times I'm with them. They find midnight swims especially funny.
On friday we managed to see the lunar eclipse, not the whole thing but when moon was completely in the shadow, clouds dissappeared and we could enjoy the show. And then to the pool, so it was almost four o'clock when we finally got to bed (you get really hungry when you swim... according to 10 years and 12 years old...) We saw Mars and then we saw someones drone (and satellites and planes and one meteorite).
I was back to work for eight days, drove about 1000km to meet clients and had our director general
(yeas, really) with me one day... No pressure to drive carefully! Also had to use several languages during my visits, so I had fun.
'Suma is melting - she has some extrea skin and when she sleeps, it pools around her. It's really amusing, never seen a dog like that before.
Car's thermometer said 32℃ in the sun and 29℃ in the shadows of deep forest. Not very funny.
I get up at 6 or 6.30 in the morning, brush my teeth an off we go with 'Suma. It was 20℃ at 6.20 and when we got back around eight it was already 24℃. She sleeps inside most of the day (as do cats), and in the evening we'll go for a walk after nine o'clock. Sun sets officially around ten, but it gets down behind trees, so it is somewhat cooler already by nine.
So I'm back around ten or half past ten, and get to bed around midnight. And up in the morning at six again...
I need a holiday after this holiday to recover.
I picked first courgettes last sunday, ys wanted to barbeque some hot dogs so I thought I would be wise to use those courgettes before they get too big - halved, grilled on the hot plate, and then some olive oil and salt. I just picked two moderate sized ones to make fritters (never done before...) F calls them zucchinis and thats what we call them nowadays too. Olive oil is from F's parents, they have olive tree forest! No olive trees here. It must be weird for her how different everything is.
I have never actually had a glut on my veg plot. Now I think I might get to see one this year! I should be looking for beans, they hiding behind thick foliage. I have never had thick foliage in my bean bushes before. I have harvested mange tout, freezer has been filling nicely. I also froze currants, blacks, reds and whites, blacks from my own garden/veg plot and reds and whites from neighbourgs garden. My mother has been boiling cordial, on Monday I got 4,5l to freeze. There's also 6,5 kg strawberries. (and a lot of ice cream, but it is disappearing fast).
For once we have use for the pool. Ys and sys have been swimming 2-5 times a day, and most times I'm with them. They find midnight swims especially funny.
On friday we managed to see the lunar eclipse, not the whole thing but when moon was completely in the shadow, clouds dissappeared and we could enjoy the show. And then to the pool, so it was almost four o'clock when we finally got to bed (you get really hungry when you swim... according to 10 years and 12 years old...) We saw Mars and then we saw someones drone (and satellites and planes and one meteorite).
I was back to work for eight days, drove about 1000km to meet clients and had our director general
(yeas, really) with me one day... No pressure to drive carefully! Also had to use several languages during my visits, so I had fun.
'Suma is melting - she has some extrea skin and when she sleeps, it pools around her. It's really amusing, never seen a dog like that before.
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