Still hurts

Today is not any anniversary.
It was school's Christmas festivities, which are nice and funny, there is always an elf play and played nativity scene.
I was already leaving, when I walke past one villager, now a proud mom of eight. She had six children and now her little elves are (born premature) home, just in time for Christmas.

I never had Christmas with my two.

My soul is broken and my heart hurts just as much as it did so long ago.

226 g

That's the weight of brothers's and F's socks. I managed to knit F'S socks from the yarn that was saved from 'Suma's teeths, few more ends than I would have liked.
I was taking care of all the loose ends while cooking red wine. I boiled it from 6dl (almost whole bottle) to maybe a cup? Whole house reeks of red wine and I feel queasy -  I can't drink red wine without getting greally really sick (and that's from few sips). Some time ago I realized I can't drink glögg (alcohol free version) if it's made from juice of red grapes. Even the smell gets me - but it really smells delicious.
I got a bottle of nice red wine from old man's sister, it is intended as tannin primer for my experiments (I have made wood stain from acetic acid soaked rebar bars, pine and spruce needs tannin priming, oak should colour without it). I have still few dls left and I'll try that soon.
But I was actually reducing wine because I was making red wine salt for Christmas hampers! I have been thinking making hampers ready, but thinking doesn't do things.
So far I have: spruce salt, red wine salt, socks, mulled wine, strawberry liquor, choclate, jaffa cakes and stearine soaked pine cones for kindling. I still need the actual hamper (box or something) and a card.

Sorry for rambling - I actually boiled red wine to syrup and it may have had some effect on me.

Tell me why I don't like Mondays...

I'm just like Garfield - I don't like Mondays. There's always something off, especially in the mornings.
Yep.
'Suma had to go for a pee at 3.30 am. Raining. Pitch dark. Puddles and no wellies. Back to bed, sleep avoids me. Finally fell asleep only to be rudely woken by alarm at 6 o'clock. Well, 'Suma had no need to go outside, at least there's that.
Yongest ones didin't wake up first time I tried to rouse them from their slumber. Then they didn't have that sweet peaceful morning they usually have. Not funny.
They had forgot to get their clothes ready, so by the time I was supposed to have my cuppa I was searching for a clean hoodie...
Off we went to the taxi, and I forgot to take my phone with me, I only had my work phone which has a very poor signal.Wouldn't be a problem unless I was trying to test sys's new phone. Turns out in the mobile phone shop, while installing new sim to sys's phone, they had actually used ys's info and now sys has a phone with ys's number and ys's phone doesn't work at all. I didn't realize that during the weekend, because we don't have mobile signal at home (not at all) so I was half a mile away from home when I was able to try to call any of the phones... And it was raining and it was still pitch dark. And puddles.

Got to office ant tried to sort things out - only to realize I had left my wallet home so I can't make my grocery shopping on my way home.
At least I had my lunch with me so I can eat.

So, I have to rush back home to pick my wallet and collect kids and their phones and rush back to town to the shop and hope they have right sims for both boys' phones (but I have promised a 21€ compensation). And then drag both boys to buy some food (or milk and cocoa powder we ran out during the weekend).

And it's not even 11 am yet.

On the go

Finished sys's socks and got sidetracked with my brother's socks, so ys's socks has to wait. So short attention span... Then 'Suma got jealous and ate the yarn intended for F's socks. Some uncivilized language ensued. She could've eaten yarn with reflective thread - that would've be funny when piles of dog poop would have shone brightly in torch light or car headlights...

We got snow and then we got rain. Normal things. Luckily I was visiting lumber sites when it was only freezing with wind, I still do prefer that to horizontal rain. Only few sites to visit before Christmas! Only to start again in January. And then I have our own forest and old man's disaster zone.

Kittens had their vet visit this week, and for the first time took Pretty Boy with me too. He needed rabies vaccination - I had no idea how he behaves in a car and even less idea how he copes in vets. Sister came to rescue - two crates and three cats exceeds my limits. And then on the next day we took her cat to vets, she didn't want to use their normal vet because she doesn't speak Polish.

D and ys needed new winter coats (surprise! Kids DO grow during the summer!) so I packed 3/4 of my home brood and off we went to nearest shopping hell. Two coats, an elf (for sys who didn't get new coat) one pair of trousers and two huge Toblerone bars. And then we ate sushi! I took the brood to sushi buffet, and oh my how happy ys was! He was literally beaming! I'm not intending to make this as a habit, but to honest it was worth every cent to see him so joyful.

Yes. My children have such a pathetic childhood that even a visit to a sushi restaurant makes them happy.
But that visit also gave me some ideas for ys's gifts, so it was not wasted time at all.

Snowy ground has helped with Suma's walks. She doesn't have to be washed after a walk and we don't need torch to see where the road is. I even manage field walks now without torch - it so much easier if I have only Suma's leach to hold.

I have noticed the tornado has had an effect to our surroundings. We have a military practising/shooting area right next to us (so close we are blurred in Google Maps!) and noise is much noticeable now. There was a pause on their training and shooting while wrecked forests were cleared out and now they have only few weeks left to spend all their money/ammunion for this year... I know after a while we won't be noticing anything anymore, we will get used to it.

Next year I will be working two days a week at home instead of one.  It means more 'Suma walks in the mornings, and maybe more home made meals instead of frozen ships and fish fingers...

But now - it's 3:30 pm and nearly dark outside. I have to go get some firewood, I ahve been feeding my small woodburner while I have been working. Now my work (for today) is done and I should start my house works, laundry, dinner... No cleaning today, because we had visitors yesterday and house got cleaned for them.

Holidays are coming

Less than a month to Christmas. No panic, no what so ever.

Ys has no idea what he wants for Christmas. Maybe I'll buy him longjohns and socks. Or a gift card for sushi buffet? He loves veggie sushi. I might buy him a sushi box so we can make sushi together? Still working on this.

Sys has asked for a new phone, but as he has his birthday before xmas, he'll have it as a birthday present. He also asked for Harry Potter legos, and that is already sorted. And he has asked also for model to build -and that is also sorted (asked my sister to buy one, Revell has reasonably priced models sys likes to build).

D will get a backbag she wanted, I managed to find and order it from Amazon.uk - don't have to pay expensive postal fees and no import taxes! My sister will get a dressing gown she asked for (already bought when I got discount for it) and hb will get two packs of tennis socks (only ones he wears besides socks made by me) - I found them on sale over a month ago, they were way less than half price!

Os doesn't want anything, I'll get him warm trousers he can wear while working with old man in the forest, maybe longjohns and a hoodie.

Two god sons will have money, they might get some gadget if they have been asking for something, but so far they have no idea what they wish for.

Mostly people will get knitted socks. I made first pairs in June and August (for old man and my mom), and hb's and os's socks are also knitted. I made really long socks for sister (she asked for them) and while I was in the mood I made another pair for d - both knitted while watching Doctor Who (by the way, kids love this new season with new Doctor - finally some action! Only thing missing is daleks). My brother and F might get socks too, and my nephew will have a chainsaw (our kids' old one) and Dublos (our children's old ones). Might buy a pair of warm mittens (was planning to sew them but don't have time).
I'll make some kind of hampers, too. I have made salt with spring growth of spruce trees, I have strawberry liqueur ready but that as far I have made it. A box of chocolate, mulled sparkling wine or ordinary mulled wine and small wrapped gifts, a candle perhaps and kindlings made from melted candles and pine cones. Maybe not so frugal but funny. And if I only make four(?) it's not going to ruin my bank account.

Sys asked for red and brown knitted socks (he had specific pattern how colours were to be), I have already cast on them. They will be finished during the weekend, and then I might cast on socks for ys (in camouflage colours) . For him I bought new winter boots yesterday, the ones he had last winter are far too small now. He went clumping around the house all night weraing them, they were great he says.

When I was searching yarns for sys's socks, I managed to sort out my yarn stash and got one plastic box empty! Os wasn't very impressed about it, but I was happy. Getting container box empty is as enjoyable as finishing the last scrap of certain fabric or using up the very last tube of soup from the freezer or using the last meter of sewing thread and getting out the new one. Or sowing the very last seeds of lettuce from seed pack that has been used for several years. It feels like something is done and finished.

Must remember to pick pine cones this weekend before snow covers them.

Homemade lasagne

Instead of sunday roast I made lasagne (not that I usually make roast, it's too time consuming because even I like to have "a day off" sometimes).
Well, os doesn't eat lasagne, but it's his loss. He then eats something else (like pancakes, or Yorkshire puddings, or tinned tuna and cottage cheese).

I calculated the cost of making my lasagne: 7,76€. Sounds a bit expensive, but it comes down to 1,55€ per person. or 0,78€/portion - 5 people ate it yesterday, and I got three more portions to freezer for my lunches and two more portions to the fridge for hb's or children's lunches.

Euros:

edam			0,99
cream cheese			0,5535
mince			3,15
pasta sheets			0,725
full milk			0,763
flour			0,018
butter			0,49
tomato passata			0,63
salt			0,01
smoked paprika			0,01
pepper			0,01
nutmeg			0,01
garlic			0,1
herbs			0,1
leftover ketchup			0,2

Free: carrots and courgette (about 300g each)

I could have used less cheese, but I really do like cheesy lasagne. Mince was the cheapest without YS. I could have used regular milk (70cents) or used just water (or half water), but that's really all I could have done to make it cheaper.
Cheapest lasagne from shop is about 1€/portion, but because I can't eat it (onions) it's something we don't buy.

So once again it is not "homemade is cheaper" but "homemade is only option". I have never been able to eat lasagne at restaurant. Once I have eaten almost authentic Italian lasagne - almost authentic because there were no onions or garlic - it was specially made for me and my brother! And yes, when I make my lasagne, it is as good as that was.

But now I'm starving!

It's freezing (but luckily not for long)

It was -11 degrees the other day. I don't like cold, and I was to spend whole day outside on the forests works sites at customer meetings. Car's electric heater doesn't work so I had to turn the engine on and leave it running - not so good for the motor and even worse for nature.

It was beautifully sunny day, and it got a bit warmer - never above zero, but at least I had enough clothes with my hi-vis jacket and helmet. But I do need some long johns to wear, thights will not keep me warm. I need to check if hb has some old thermals small enough - he used to be really skinny.

The first snow 27th Oct.

Fallen trees have been cleaned, garage is usable as well as the driveway to front yard. Old man has been (finally) his usual self and they have made a huge effort to clean all aspens and birches that had fallen over root cellar (it would have been a disaster if the cellar itself had crushed - there is all potatoes, carrots, cordials, home wines, jams, pickles etc for the whole year, not only for my parents but to us as well, as well my sister's family). Insurance company will even pay gravel/soil which is needed to fill holes left from fallen tree roots. One villager with forestry harvester has been working on the site with all the big trees.

There is a garage somewhere, before the clear up

We spent one evening (from 5pm to 9pm) to clear out the attic of garage, builders are about to come to fix the roof (including rafters). We had our own bonfire night, my mother wanted to burn all paper and cardboard and clothes (like old cotton tights that had lost their elasticity a long ago). Some of my old toys went to bonfire as well - not many, because I really didn't have many toys. I was more of a reader, I salvaged some old books from recycling. I surely have read my Enid Blytons - at some point I had all of  The Famous Five -books (and The Adventure series). My godmother had a job in a printing house. But my sister - boy she had had toys and stuff! We left about a dozen huge carboard boxes for her to sort out. My brother had about half of that, but he had really big stuff,  like motorcycle parts.

Sys carved a pumpkin - a friendly face, isn't it?

 One of our own pumpkins!

They are really pushing it now, because they will be abroad for some time in November - holiday was booked before tornado. It will be a healthy pause for them.

This sauna is in old man's other property which was also hit by the tornado. Chimney is gone.

We have changed snow tyres to both cars (the royal we - hb and my uncle; I "just" made them coffee and sandwiches, heated the house, took dog for a walk and made laundry, filled the dishwasher, got some more firewood inside), It had been a lot warmer, but roads were so slippery there was no chance I could have driven anywhere without proper tyres.

I might have time to prepare for the Christmas, no building will be done unfortunately.

A sudden storm (and awful photos)

We had a sudden thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. Well we - our village did. We here at Ulvens reis hardly heard some roar after lightnings, no rain, no wind.

But some neighbours weren't so lucky. There was a freak downburst and some tornadoes streched over 30km distance - and about 30m width.

Results were horrible. Fascinating and horrible. Somehow amusing also, because of the freakness  of all.
Really really bad picture, because it was twilight at 8am. And also I don't have my glasses on while I'm walking with 'Suma. And I have always been a really really bad photographer.

There is a playhouse somewhere.

 Worst hit was at my parents yard and garace as well as their neighbours yard and garage - we keep finding pieces of their garace roof everywhere, all the way 1km in to the woods! or rather what's left of the woods, there is several hectares destroyed forest. Some of my fathers, some of our neighbours.

All of above excuses, and also I was freezing at that point (-3 degrees). This sight continued more than ten miles!

 

 

I spent two hours with 'Suma checking around the village - no people hurt, but sereral roofs damaged, several yards damaged (in our village people have a lot of trees in their yards - some people have no more), some minor buildings damaged lightly and two major buildings (beforementioned garages) damaged heavily. But houses were left mostly intact, tv-antennas were bend etc. Four cars damaged (so far). One outhouse had toppled over, another had lost it's door (we have a lot of outhouses at our village, and in their original use). Greenhouses were damaged.

I continued then to my work, three more hours in the forest at the other end of that disaster (what a coincidense; I had arranged that visit two weeks ago!).

Funny/odd things: All lights my parents have at their yard are unharmed. Lonely post box at the middle of fallen shelters and pinetrees was unharmed. One neighbour lost his wheelbarrow - he saw it flying off iside the tornado. Destruction zone was only 5-30m wide almost all the way 30km stretch this continued, like someone had made lines with ruler, straight and narrow. Several rubbish bins were moved around, people who didn't have one on their yard had suddenly several. I had to learn to use whatsapp (after I had downloaded it to my phone). Disaster tourists were driving all day long along our village road. Local bus route had to be diverted for few hours to our village, because there were much worse situation with fallen trees along the main road - our road was free to drive after an hour because apparently most people here have a chainsaw at the trunk of their cars.

There has NEVER been a downburst  at our village, nor tornado! Well, there has not been a thunder storm at later half of October. We have autunm storms with heavy winds and destroyed forests, but they are different from this. My aunt is very shaken, and my parents have only just started to realize what has happened.
I know what to do on my freetime for the next five years.

A week of plenty

This week has been plentiful.

On Saturday my colleague visited us (late) in the evening, her daughters were at consert at town and she needed a place to stay for tree hours... I made plenty of quiche (feta and broccoli; our family's all time favourite) and 1,5xmudcake. All eaten...
On Sunday I got msg from my (another) colleague, she was about to go get some carrots, did I wanted some? Yes please, even if I had to go and get them from office - at my week off!
She lives in a rural village (a bit bigger than my home village) and her neighbour is a root veggie farmer. He had harvested his carrot fields with heavy machinery and all the rest is free for villagers to gather.
On Tuesday morning I managed to sneak in to the town (on Monday 'Suma had her operation). I was expecting maybe a one plastic bag full to the brim with carrots. Nope. Three big plastig bags full of carrots! I gave some to my other (third) colleague (who wasn't at the office on Monday) and took the rest home. I tried to weigh them, but my kitchen scales showed just error. My human scales is a bit generous with its readings, but I estimate I got 25kg of nice carrots.
Oh boy. My kids will be all orange by mid November!

I harvested one of my red cabbages. I have still quite a many beets and golden beets on cold frame, they do ok even on heavy frosts we have had (below -7). I have 10 plants of kale going strong.

I have been keeping my last three pumpkins on our veranda - it's relatively cool place but no threat of frost. One of them already got frostbite some time ago and it looked like it was totally rotten (not only soft and dark but also moldy). I wanted to chop it before tossing it to compost heap. It wasn't rotten inside, it was firm and fine after I peeled rotten skin off. I got 2kg of pumpkin flesh, seeds, and some stringy bites( to dehydrate for 'Suma). Pretty well considering it was a slimy 3kg lump I was going throw away!

So I have been cooking this week plenty of vegetarian (or even vegan) dishes. My first ever curry! Havin firm roots in Russia curry has never been a stable in our kitchen. Potato-carrot-pumpkin curry, and even hb ate it! It was a bit bland for my taste but then I'm known to have poor sense of smell and that is of course linked also to sense of taste... So I usually add more chilli and ground pepper to my plate.
Second time ever falafels, this time I managed fry them as balls - they were yummy and I have few in freezer to take as my lunches at work. I used broad beans and added some cooked kale I had in fridge. I have never eaten ready made falafels, because they have onions. So this is also new to me.
At the same time i made meatballs in tomato sauce (or veggie sauce - there was a carton of chopped tomatoes, a beetroot, couple of carrots and piece of courgette).

Few minutes ago I took pumpkin muffins out of oven, ys has been asking them whole week. They smell lovely!

Our neighbour has got his first elk of the hunting season, we saw the hunt going on in the morning. I'm always sad about hunting, but I still eat meat we get with gratitude. If the animal has been killed, it has to be eaten whole and not wasted.
That's why I can't keep chickens - I can't bear to think kill any of them (if they are sick/hurt and suffering).

Last big expenditure this year?

I just called the vets and made an appointment for 'Suma. 700€.
That's the price I'm willing to pay for not to have puppies in this house - it would be much cheaper with male dog.
I might have had the procedure done cheaper some other place, but I trust this place. We have been using them since 90's when we had Ace, the first Giant Shnautzer. Then it was important that the vet wasn't afraid of him (one vet was so nervous around him he vaccinated me by accident!), we did visit several vets.

But this money has been reserved since January - when we got 'Suma. We knew this coming so no suprices.
The IPCC report on climate change has made me thinking about having pets. I might not be able to justify keeping big dogs just because I like big dogs. I should get smaller dog after 'Suma (well, she is smaller than Blackie was) but I don't actually like small dogs. First world problems at its worst...
Cats I can justify because they eat mice and voles, and in Pretty Boy's case he just decided to live here.
(nobody is questioning about my choices but me)

Need to change winter tyres soon, should be ok with ones we have already, no need to buy new. Or maybe two tyres to hb's car, because it's heavy and eats tyres more than I eat doghnuts.
Polytunnel is nearly empty, only herbs staying. need to take down the poly-part (covering) so last years disaster could be avoided. Need to build frame for garlics (have few days off next week). Need to empty compost bin. No need to buy anything fot the veg plot or polytunnel or greenhouse.

Found wintercoat, paid only 11€. It doesn't have a hood, so i have to knit one myself, if my old scarves won't do. Haven't found wellies yet. Bikers calfs don't fit narrow boots (I had this problem when I was a underweight kid, 10km a day minimum with old bike did it, never had weak legs).

No idea of dinner once again. SYS will bake buns today, a school task. Omelette?

The first frost of autunm

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.

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.

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.

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...)

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.

Fly tipping gone wrong

Some time ago I noticed rubbish thrown to the side of the road I walk with 'Suma twice a day.

Someone had a field day tidying their garden

There was a large cupoard, planks, trellis, some dug up roots of unidentified plants etc. Pity for the guy who dropped them, because he drowe through our village and my relatives live right next to road and they are very curious about cars with hooded trailers. They got his licence plate number and old man even went to take pictures of that guy fly tipping!
Owner of that piece of land was away abroad, so it take some time before anything happened.

All gone

 Poor chap, he might have taken away more than he brought... But there is a lesson here: Never fly tip on a bright daylight to a land which is own by a policeman. Someone must feel like an idiot now.

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...

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.

Frugal things I do

We are on holiday. Staycation.

It's a big frugal thing we do - we never go to long-distance journeys during our holidays. To be honest, it is not the frugality aspect why we do only staycations. It's just too much stress. I don't want to end up once more on ER on strange town with vomiting and feverish child, or trying to find a decent garage to fix our broken car. Not to mention need to find a house sitter and dog and cat sitter. But as we don't go anywhere, we can spend all that travelling expences at home...

I just made a bun dough, I'l make 16-20 buns out of it. Wheat flour, yeast, salt, some sugar, milk (out of date) oats, wheat brans, butter and white clover flowers I grind with my mortar. Most expensive thing is cheese, but it was leftovers I grated. Milk was actually free, I was given it last weekend when we had our communal midsummer party, because of horrible weather there were fewer people than usually, there were leftovers. Flour is the cheapest brand of not-imported flour. Clovers are free, lump of yeast is 17c, oats once again cheapest not-imported I can find, wheat brans I got as a present from my co-worker - oh butter is quite costly, 2,89€/500g but I used only 50g. So I roughly calculate my buns cost me 2€ to make, if I buy cheese buns they would be 1,99€/5.

I'm knitting socks to es, 'cos 'Suma ate his boot socks and he doesn't use any other socks. This time I got yarn from my mother - and they were given to her by my uncle, they were his wifes old yarns, bus she's badly demented and has no use to them. My mother with arthritis can't knit anymore.

I'm going to gather some nettles to make pancake batter. Kids love nettle pancakes (well, they love pancakes, and during the summer I'll only make batter with nettle or spinach in it) and I have rest of expired milk to use.

I'm also going to pick meadowsweet flowers, I'm going to make meadowsweet sugar. Never done it before, but I had a teste of it and it was lovely. If i can find roses still blooming, I'll make rose sugar.

I have few pairs of jeans to patch. Because I'm on holiday, I can use patched jeans every day - my new jeans can wait until I'm back at the office.

Today is a very windy day. Wind comes from north, so it's really cold, so that's why I'm still sitting inside (I took 'Suma for her morning walk already before I made the dough). Kids might want a luch soon, it will be beans on toast-type simple affair - yesterday was my nephews birthday party and we had plenty of cakes and pies...

Sadness

No more crane chicks. Farmer sprayed the field yesterday and this is the result. As it is every year.

Luckily not a disaster

Yesterday we had our first thunder storm. It stroke only once.

Thunderstrike hit  one of our big spruces behind the garage (and outhouse). It was cut off at about 6m and top fell down breaking my rug rack. BUT it could have hit our garace, hb's car, es's car or outhouse, or even the well, but it missed all of them! Rug rack is twisted around the trunk and is beyond hope, but it is no great loss, nowadays I use our balcony railings to hang out rugs, covers, mattrasses etc.

The very best thing is we had decent amount of rain - not enough to get rid of forest fire warnings but I don't have to water veg plot today.

Polytunnel and greenhouse need watering, but it takes only few minutes. Oh, the polytunnel is ready!

 Doesn't it look neat... Also 'Sumas rear is in the pic.
Sorry,  I had to. It takes only half an hour to tidy all the wood and cardboard and pots and stuff, but I haven't had  time to do it. Well, I had, but it was so hot and I didn't want to get overheated. I was lazy.
It'll be all fine and dandy soon, I'll have some time off from work and weather is going to cool down significantly.

My garlics, raddishes, beets on the front and beans on the further cold frame. Finally got also the third one ready planted - by the way those peas germinated after all, and survived 'Suma.

And it is June

There has been a lot happening. Even a royal wedding, but I was mostly at the veg plot - althought I had conviniently planned the day and just had to come insid to make lunch just in time for the seremony.

Weather has been brilliant and then worrisome. We had three weeks of hot weather (first time in over 30 years) and no rain. Then we had few cooler days and again into the heatwave. No rain. Everything is parched, local plants cope well with heavy rains and frosts but not with heat and drough.
Potatoes have been planted, as well as several rows of peas and broad beans. I got batch of brassicas, (red cabbage, kale and cauliflower) and I planted them as well. I even sowed a row of flowers, which is very unlike me. I also planted cornplants, they overgrew their pots.

And of course we had heavy frosts last week. I covered almost all of veg plot with fleece, but couldn't cover potatoes. Fortunately losses were few, brassicas had only minor damages on their upper/outer leaves. Corns were of course damaged, but only three out of 38 plants seem to be died because of frost. Last night frost was here again, great. I covered everything (excluding spuds) and hope this is the last time. Ok, I might wait until Friday, it's 15th and here has never ( before last summer) been any frost after 15th of June.

There were loads of flowers in my damsons, but I guess drough has dried fruits or there wasn't enough insects to pollinate them because they blossomed so early

In my two original cold beds I have sown beets (yellow and normal ones), carrots and raddishes in one bed and bush beans on the other. Then there is salads, swiss chard and argula. We have been eating thinnings (beet and raddishes), argula is already eatable. I built another cold frame, it's the same size old ones are, 90cmx200cm. I guess they are narrow, but I can't reach far, and if the frames were over one meter wide, I wouldn't be able to tent them in the middle. Custom made to my measuremets, a sheer luxury!

I sow some peas in to the new frame, but they never germinated, so I'm going to use the whole frame for bits and bobs I have as leftovers, like beans, new zealand spenach, marigolds, nasturtiums, pickling cucumbers

'Suma has been busy as ever, she ate at least two of corn plants, dug up one strawberry plant and ate some of my seed potatoes (after digging them from the ground and bags). She has eaten several bean seedlings and courgette plants. And she dug up the new cold frame - luckily there weren't any seeds or plants yet.

I'm knitting new boot socks for es because 'Suma ate at least two pairs of his socks. And I had to buy some black yarn - how come I don't have any black sock yarn, but I do have about 70kg of brightly coloured yarns? My yarn stash officially overweights me now.

I built a frame fot the new polytunnel (with some help from kids) and finally got the covering on last weekend. Now I have been building frames inside the polytunnel, and it's taking forever. With 'Suma helping me everything takes at least trice the time.

I need to get ready soon, tomorrow or day after tomorrow I get tomato and pepper plants from my parents, and I need a place for them. I'm going to keep my small greenhouse just for chilis and maybe for a courgette or two. And i have plenty of other plants that need place to live, like pumpkins (I'm planting at least one inside the polytunnel), brassicas, herbs, marigolds...

Cranes have two chicks, they look like brown furry chickens. Swans have been hanging around unlike previous years. Someone said they might have built a nest, but I haven't seen any possible nests around ponds. They need open water and with this drough our village ponds are too shallow.
Hares have been very fertile this year, again. We have at least one gang of leverets, two years ago gang was about 10 individuals, now we have a smaller bunch. Then there is one small and cute leveret, but she is alone, I guess she's too small to join the big gang? Or he.

I have lost over 10% of my weight. I'm not on a special diet, but I have a puppy which needs a lot of walkies. I have cut the amount of meat I'm eating, and that means I also get less fat in my meals - I have replaced meat with pulses and vegetables in general. I'm really trying to eat my five a day. I don't eat as many snacks as before, but the reason is not to loose weight, I just haven't had time to eat!
If I want to be in range of normal weight, I need to loose half a stone.

I haven't been happy with my weight, but this weight loss is just a by-product. And to be honest, only two people have noticed anything, and neither of them are my family or my friends. I was planning to celebrate my first lost stone by buying new black skinny jeans, but when I realized I'm still losing kilos, I decided to wait until my old jeans are too worn out to be worn at work - and now they are. I still might wait until summer sales begin.

Summer surprise

℃Surprise! Summer is here.
First there was neverending winter, then there were few days of spring and BAM! Summer is here.
In three weeks we have gone from wintery spring to complete mid summer, and nature hasn't coped very well. Birches have large leaves and they are blossoming at the same time. Liverworts, wood anemones and coltsfoot bursted simultaneously and now we have fields full of dandelions. Bird cherries are blossoming. Air is heavy with scent of birch leaves (I love it).
Only thin missing is lily of the valleys, they usually bloom early june so maybe next week we'll have them as well.

Birds are practically screaming! On strange thing though, they have been quiet in the mornings. It is very odd to wake up in silence.

'Suma has been busy. Three four pair of slippers/sandals. Two pairs of heavy duty working boots. Two pairs of sneakers. A watering can. A toy car. Countless numbers of odds and ends like pencils, sharpeners, rulers, boot socks, big comes of sewing threads... Once she had a lighter in her mouth, but fortunately it was empty!

I just can't turn my back to her for a second! I have been chasing her because she has had a large knife in her mouth, some aluminium piping, electrical wires, bras, socks.
Heat makes her restless. It's too hot for a black dog to go for a walk (+29℃!!! In MAY!!! Last summer there weren't that hot not once during the whole summer and now we have had six days of heat). Even in the woods there is too hot, so she can get to walkies only in the morning and in the evening, and that is so not enough for a puppy. The first week of may was lovely, mild and nice and I was able to take 'Suma for long walks and she was so nice little puppy. But now she's a toothmonster!
She might have been bored duirng the cold spell in february, but it was nothing.

I got a new polytunnel, it's not up yet (read above why). I thought it was identicalt to the remains I already had, but they had altered the desing. So I had to dismantle the whole old frame, and it took two days (Where's my wrench? No, don't take the screwdriver! Let go of my cloves!!!)
Then I chased her around to get all the new nuts and bolts back.
Then it took a day to find enough of solid wood for foundations ( had to cut it to measure). So how did I spent my Mother's Day???

Then I had to go to work.

At least veg plot has been tilled. Hb did it a week ago, but I haven't had a chance to sow anything. Potatoes are still chitting inside, but at least I have them chitting.
Glass greenhouse is once more inhabited bu small seedlings. For the first time I have precultivated broad beans, I hope I'll get some harvester earlier.
I haven't sown any other beans, I should I know, but... There is sweet corn (just germinated), pumpkins and courgettes, chilies and a pepper, sunflowers, marigolds and nasturtiums.
Some salady stuff like arugula, chard and spinach.

And my garlics! I planted all cloves of six bulbs I had, and most of them seem to survived the winter. Some of them however didn't survive 'Suma.
My strawberries are ok, there was even a flower. I'm not expecting any berries this summer, I just got them planted in autunm. Anyway, nine plants won't produce much.

Then there is the never-ending fight against giant hogweed in our neighbours garden. He is in his 90's, widowed and had a heart attack some time ago, so he can't do it himself. So in exchange on currants and rhubarb I'll fight this fight for him.
I use glyphosate, as instructed by local enviromental authorities. There is far too many plants for me to dig them up. First two years I tried just to cutting flowering heads, but because these plants are perennials, it didn't do much damage to the growth. So I started to cut off flowering heads and then spraying the rest of leaves with weedkiller. It did help, but not enough - aim is to have it all gone, not just under control.
So now I'm spraying all plants with glyphosate at least twice every summer.
Unfortunately we had our electrical wires digged underground two years ago, so now there is hundreds of seedlings because of the endless seedbank in the soil. Individual big plants are easy to spot, but these little seedlings are horrible - the don't even resemble hogweed, they have leaves like maple, a bit rounder. Seed remain viable at least 8 years, so I guess if I play safe, there is no longer viable seeds after ten years...
I had a giant hogweed plant- but because my unbelieveable gardening skills (green thumb? never seen one) it died. Lucky me😎

Exotic fruits.

Pretty Boy's owners went to a week-long vacation to warmer place, and Pretty Boy wasn't happy for not to get on that trip. So he choose to do what he thinks is the second best option - he travelled three miles of wet fields and forests. In the early hours he was waiting outside our house, hb fed him ("I gave him two pouches and he's still howlig for more!"). Housesitter had let him out.
I think he might as well stay here as long as he likes, because anyway he'll be back as soon as he can get out of the door. The owner very much agreed with me. So Pretty Boy in here to stay, for now. If he wants to go home, he is free to go. At the moment he is happily sleeping in our porch.

We might not have much edibles to forage at the moment, but there is still some strange fruits growing in trees.

 

 And on the ground.

The balloon I get - it has got away, it happens. But furniture - you can take them for free to recycling center without driving 5 miles of muddy pothole filled gravel road and they help you to unload!

 If you really want to drive offroad... Don't leave the road!

Preparing for the winter

On friday evening old man told us he'll come at eleven am to fell our last remaining silver willow. We had five or six of them here, but they grow so fast to huge monsters which produce tremendous amounts of dried branches and sticks and even pieces of bark, and of course there is the impenetrable layer of dead leaves every autunm. Others were felled when we started to build the extension.

This one was planted as a twig about 40 years ago, it's diameter was now over 50cm. Annual rings were over 1cm thick - not very usual aroud here. It is not the most valuable fire wood, it produces masses of ashes, but it will provide us warmth on next winter.

So, old man came driving his tractor at 9:30, first he took down one big branch (which narrowly missed my precious damson bush). Then the whole tree (which also didn't hit my damson). After that it was only matter of chopping off branches and cutting the trunk... Yeah.
Now we have sunlight in downstairs much earlier in spring. So much light!

By noon we had dragged and lugged all the logs and thicker branches to the pile. Most of rest of branches were dragged to two huge heaps, and most of dry sticks and branches were burning. And when there is fire burning, there are wieners to roast...

I'm an office worker, so I was exhausted by three o'clock. I cleaned my glass greenhouse to be ready for plants (not much needed, because I had made most of it in autunm when I was hoping i could start my growing season in the polytunnel). I had heated the sauna already, so we just took 'Suma for a walk (which she really didn't need because she had been running around the whole day) and then we took the most rewarding sauna bath, ate some cheese on toast and coleslaw, tried to play few rounds of Scrabble and went to bed.
A nice productive day.

Today I was so sick (not because of yesterday) I hardly could make the first 'Sumawalk. By the afternoon I had found the right pills, but it was too late to do anything outside. So instead I observed four cranes right next to our field (they are really big birds). Oh yes, my ankle is sore because I hit it with a small log i was dragging with log tongs - I was wearing my boots but momentum was too much... But if I wear right kind of footwear it doesn't hurt. I can't currently wear my safety boots, but I hopefully don't need them until friday.

I'm thinking I need to plant another silver willow somewhere in our plot, haven't found the right place yet. Silver willows have been growing here more than a century, there is still left some of the originals around the old fish ponds. I have ten acres of land and can't find a place for a one lousy tree.

I have still a big mess to clean on the yard, maybe we might even have a decent lawn now. I wanted to sow some seed today, but it must wait another day.
Logs must be cut and split, but it cannot be done before yard is clean of snow and dried a little bit.

Swans and cranes. And a skeleton

At sunday I finally saw our cranes. We have had a pair of cranes in our village for the last decade, maybe longer. Sometimes they are able to have one or two chicks. Sadly chicks rarely make to autunm alive, I think foxes eat them.

In our last walk on sunday evening (me and 'Suma) I heard loud trumpets behind the forest and waited to see if our swans will be coming. Yes! This is fourth spring they are here, they graze in the fields (sometimes right next to cranes) and sleep the night on a tiny island in the nearest pond we have right beside our property. Sometime around early June or late May they leave, the are not nesting here.

Now they are on the fields every morning when we walk to the taxi stop. This makes me feel summer is coming.

Skeleton was found yesterday. Poor deer had been killed sometime around Christmas/New Year and now there is only clean skeleton left. Some parts (mostly limbs) are missing, but it is almost complete. I made notification about it, but I think there isn't any suspicious about it, it is most likely been killed by lynx. Haven't seen any wolf tracks (and I don't think skeleton would have been so intact after wolves), and foxes can't hunt adult deers.

Haven't seen it before, because it has been covered in snow. Now more than a half meter of snow has already melted, so there might be some interesting discoveries to come still.

But founding the skeleton with 'Suma made me realize how different from our previous dogs she is. I wouldn't have dreamed to be able to call them away from the carcass just by asking nicely, they would've dragged at least a leg with them to home. But 'Suma, she just sniffed and nibbled the bones few times, wagged her tail and ran to me cheery as ever "Look what I found mom!"

Whenever the spring arrives...

Yesterday was officially the day I decided spring is coming. No, not because of sunshine or warm winds, but loads of rain. And rain melts snow, and rinses all dirt to the surface. And dirty snow melts faster. In the morning there was officially -13℃, in the evening +5℃.

Of course that also means roads are ice rinks, d fell this morning on our way to taxi stop. Luckily she had her outdoor trousers on, so no harm done (I had to take the trousers back home to hung dry). Me and 'Suma walk with kids every morning to the taxi stop (and back), a little short of a mile walk and puppy gets done with her morning routines like sniffing all hare and deer and fox trails. Most mornings we are joined by cats.

Car is now through MOT (I don't even know the final bill because my customer server at the garage is still on Easter holiday and others dont dare to give the invoice to me).  Some repairs were needed  such as spring at the back was broken; and other lesser problems. Soon I have to change tyres, but that can wait for few weeks. After all worries I have had with my car I really hope this was it for the time.

Veg plot is still covered in snow, only a foot left, I think.  Once this rain has stopped, I'll dust the plot with ash. After cold winter I have plety of ash to throw to the field. Maybe on sunday, or monday next week ( Ichecked the weather forecast; saturday is supposed to be sunny and dry). Light is no more an issue, day is today 13hrs 49mins (that is to sunrise to sunset), but snow.

Sad (background is our neighbours "birchfield"). Raised beds are

 five planks high,

 

 only 2 are above snow...

Last summer I had high hopes I would be able to start my growing season early this spring. As you can see, no fat chance.  I have few peppers and chilis, I have to pot them to bigger pots.

Actually, there is as much snow as there were in February!

Pizza and no idea what to make for supper

Yesterday was pizza night. Mainly because last week when I was defrosting freezers I found a bag of frozen pizza dough balls I bought few moths ago and dumped on the bottom of the chest freezer. And because I really need to empty freezers for summer. And kids like pizza. And no pans and pots needed, so no loads of dishes, just cheese grater and plates and forks etc.
So. One pizza with pepperoni. One pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms (from the freezer as well). One pizza with pepperoni and ham. One pizza with pepperoni, ham and shrimps(freezer)...
No pizza dough left for me, so I made my "pizza" on slices of multigrain toast also out of freezer, kids ate all pepperoni so I filled mine with leftover bolognese. No leftover pizza for 'Suma, but she got the last spoonful of bolognese and was a happy girl.

So last night was a success, but I have no idea what to make for supper tonight. Or tomorrow.

I have started to make meal plan for dozens of times. Never managed to make them work. It's not that I don't make foods I plan to make, but kids just don't want to eat them... I just can't feed them pizza  every day (or can I?).

Holotna

Vso normalno.
-26℃. Luckily no wind so no chill factor.
Should be warmer tomorrow.

I shound be checking my chili and artichoke seeds, but I don't know where to put seedling if there is any. The sun is too low to shine through our windows donwstairs and upstairs there is no room for them.

So instead I'm eating crickets (crickets and salted peanuts with chili) and watching Grand Desingns New Zealand on telly. There's no snow (yet).

I think I should get the snow off the trampoline before it gives up. Springs might hold but the net is a bit too stretched. Maybe it will be tolerable to go doing stuff outside in the weekend.

The Beast from the East

Or the blast from Siberia.
Yup. Cold.
-20℃, and with wind chill it feels like -26℃. Tomorrow -24℃, with wind chill -29℃. Not very funny. 'Suma can't stay out longer than max. 30 min with jacket, so no long walks this week. Cats can't stay out even that long. I have a house full of nutcases trying to make me insane, talk about cabin fever!
So, what to do?
Defrost one's freezers, of course!
It was actually long overdue task, but I haven't had time to do it.
Apparently we have one big Ikea bag of ice cream. Nobody wants to eat them at the moment. I wonder why...

Going nuts

I have bought food (and other stuff like cats' treats) from net store similar to Approved food   (I've better not to look up AF because I can't make an order because of postal fees) once every two months. But now I have a problem. Last order a month ago included a box of muesli bars (with lots of nuts but no raisins). Which were delicious. Note "were". ES, who doesn't eat, ate those bars, and told me he had eaten all of them.
So. A teenager who doesn't eat has found something he likes, and it costs twice as much elsewhere... They are also high in energy and high in fiber, which both are lacking in ES's diet. Should I make an order - there is also cheap(ish) puppyfoor for 'Suma.
Should I take the risk they won't be available anymore in next month when I was planning to make another order?

Sooo... Of course I made an order. Byebye money and well-laid plans.

I have spent a lot of money this year so far. Money for nothing occasionally (I had to buy car parts to my car and the it appeared they were wrong parts and the fault wasn't in those parts anyway and NOW I have to buy another part and that is also not free). Money well spent, too. I bought my first reading glasses, but I got them cheaply (kind of) because my old friend from school owns the place. Hope I learn how to use them, because honestly - I haven't been able to read that small print on labels for two years now.

On the other hand I have been doing good stuff. I have kept the house warm mostly with woodburners. I have been experimenting on different meals, made veggie burgers (first time ever) and fish cakes (second time ever). Veggie burgers not so great succes with kids (though D really liked them; next time I won't be using so much tarragon), and only two kids liked fish cakes, but hb ate them with vigour.
Last night I made omelettes, one with really really cheap sausage (hb loves that stuff, he doesn't like meaty sausages!), one with cheese and one with spinach. 7 eggs (10c per egg), a splash of milk (5c?) leftover cheese (max 50c, likely much less), 50c for the sausage and maybe 10c for butter, spices and electricity. So 1,85€ meal for six people and leftovers for hb's and my lunch, not bad.
On the other day I was raiding the fridge and found several seen-the-best-days-a-long-ago veggies like swede, cauliflower, broccoli, some iceberg lettuce, diced tomatoes... So I made soup. Now I have 9 containers of soup (each 2 portions) in the freezer for me to take to work for lunches. With free bread (provided by my mother) they make pretty cheap lunch.

This weekend I'll be browsing my seeds for the next summer. I think I have everything I'd like to grow - I had to adjust my plans because the crash of polytunnel, but with this kind of winter it really doesn't do much difference. Growing season won't begin before late April.
Maybe I'll sow some chillis?

Not a heatwave

Last ten days I have been walking the puppy and trying to keep the house warm. There is finally a decent winter after all the lousy years. That also means temperatures keep low, today has been coldest day so far, -17℃.
I usually rotate between heating kitchen stove and the big heat-storing fireplace, but because the cold I have to lit a fire every day to the big fireplace. And that means I have to keep hauling firewood inside. Now I'm up to two loads of wood, if weather keeps getting colder I might have to succumb to increase electric heating. And then of course there is the woodburner in the extension, but it needs only a half load of wood for the whole day (ant that could count also as a heat-storing system, because chimney is two stories tall and the damper is right next to the ceiling on the upper floor, so when the chimney has warmed, it gives warmth on both floors.
Heating the house during cold winters isn't about convenience, it is about keeping all systems operational. If I'd let the house get cold, I might end up with frozen waterpipes and drainage, and maybe even with some structural damage/water damage or moisture inside walls (I'm not talking about some condensation on the windows).
'Suma is a bit bored, she can't take long walks because of the cold. Yesterday we tried our basic route, but even wearing a shirt she was shivering half way and I had to pick her up and wrap inside my shawl. So short walkies.

So. It is cold and my polytunnel has collapsed. Darn.

Orange is the new Black(ie)

Meet Satsuma, our new puppy.

How hard is it to take a photo of a black puppy?

We have been looking for a puppy for nearly a year. We didn't want too big dog, not too small. Not too eager to chase game, but eager to go to long walks. Not too hard to train, but not too timid. She's been with us since friday, and so far so good - no fights with kittens, no pooped carpets.She was not supposed to be house trained, but seems to be. When she has to go, she goes to nearest door and sits very nicely to wait. Last night I got to sleep all the way from 11pm to six o'clock in the morning.

Winter wonderland in gray

We have been living in the winter wonderland. Thick frost has covered practically everything, and without sun there is only shades of white, blue, grey and black. One of the villagers has made country skiing tracks with his snowmobile, and our kittes use track as their jogging path.
There is a lot of footprints, cats, rabbits (hares), deers, but I didn't find any fox prints.
Two youngest might ski on that track, I haven't skiing since sixth form, hate it with a passion.
Behind the trees tehere is a little pond, now frozen, we are planning to go skating there (right after I have bought a new skates for D because she has once more overgrown her skates...).

Oh bugger

Yes, I have noticed the winter is here. First i the November the polytunnel was blown away (plastic cover). We set it back and tucked it tightly and neatly, no sagging  anywhere to prevent water or snow accumulating on it.
And then came third or fourth storm this winter, and with very sticky wet snow there was at least 20cm pile of snow, which turned to slush and there went crashing down my tunnel... It's broken. Metallic pipes of frame were bent and stretched, but the covering is intact. In the morning when I left for work, there was no snow over the tunnel at all, and by 3pm the whole thing was down ( I left work ealry just for specific purpose to take snow off the tunnel... too late).

I'm so mad and sad. Of course I know I should have to build a supporting extra frame inside the tunnel, but I haven't had time to do it. It's been three months of darkness after five o'clock pm when I get back home from work (and then I have to make dinner and make sure kids do their homework), and on free time I have been working on the dining/sitting room and toilet. There is only limited hours in my days and weeks...
So I have to buy a new polytunnel. Were it only the covering, I could have bought that separately, but of course no, it's the framing... Buying a new polytunnel is not a problem (yes, I have a plenty of other things to use my money, but right now it doesn't make me bankruptcy because I have money I was planning to spend on other things on the veg plot and polytunnel and greenhouse...). The thing is I can't begin to sow/plant anything outside now before I have a working polytunnel or big greenhouse and I can't build a new polytunnel until spring when all the snow has melted and ground has softened enought to put new foundations on ground. And by then it will be at least May.

The whole idea of having a big polytunnel was to get a headstart in spring with seedlings (I was planning to put a kind of a greenhouse inside the polytunnel), so aaaaargh. Growing season is so short here north, two weeks delay might lead to unsuccessful season.

Thank you and move on.

On the other news we got some venison to the freezer (one joint from the hunting party that is allowed to use our forest and a couple of pieces from hb:s co worker), as well as lamb from my brother. First small piece of venison made into a stew, a bit too sweet to my taste (I used beer) but no leftovers... D found some edible mushrooms at Christmas when she went to fetch some branches and moss for flower arrangements (all four of our children know their 'shrooms, they have been with me in the forest since they were babies). Wild chanterells go well with game.

Dining/sitting room is missing skirtings (they are waiting in the hallway) because Christmas got on the way, I hope hb puts them on place while I'm at work, otherwise I would have to put them myself and I.m not comfortable with glue or nailgun. And the ceiling is not finished, but I have no idea what kind of wood I need for the planned lattice I have in mind... Work on process.