Time is on the run and I can't catch it

This summer is about to end soon and I just can't get everything done. At least I have been able to forage mushrooms. 'shrooms are what os eats. I had a target to get 20 bags of mushrooms to freezer, and I think I have done it already. 20 bags means mushrooms once every other week, more bags means I can feed him once a week with mushrooms. They are healthy (they have some fibre), nutricious (vitamins, mineral, protein)  and delicious.

During mushroom season I usually keep long nails. I cut stems of mushrooms with my nails, if I have lost/misplaced/forgot to take with me my foraging knife (happens every day at some point).This of course discolours my nails yellow/orange, so if I have to go to meet people, I have to use nail polish. Oh the vanity!

Mushroom season = magnificient nails.

I've cut about a dozen masks, but not been able to sew them yet. It takes about 15 min to sew one mask. I have all materials here. I tried to fill up my stash with more elastic, but in the fabric/cratf store I realized I have more elastics in my storage than that biggest craft chain has! I don't know if I'm ashamed or delighted.

I let kids choose their own fabrics (100% cottons) and made two masks each. Sys tried his on and told me he's not going to use any masks until it is compulsory - he looks like a communist. Ooookei, I didn't see that coming. But yes, we do have a long and winded conversations about world economics, democratic situations of different countries/continents, and factors that makes this country safe and some other countries less safe - why it is much safer to be a teenager or OAP in here than .. In Mexico, or Burkina Faso or Indonesia or North Korea. And what happens in US if dt gets re-elected or not.

I thought I might not get beans at all, they were so slow to grow. Luckily I have 1kg already in freezer and another 750grams needs to be frozen (I've blanched them already). And - most exciting thing ever - I HAVE PICKLING CUCUMBERS! I've got around ten in fridge waiting to be processed, I think I'd like to have mildly hot relish done. And of course dill pickles, if I get more cucumbers. Well, dill pickles they are not, we don't like dill, but something pickled, anyway.

Have you ever counted how much vegetables (incl. fruits and berries) you need to have in order to feed your family five a day portions? That's 500grams per person per day. Seven days a week. So it's 3,5kg per person per week. Doesn't sound bad, does it?

Thats 21 kilos per week for the whole family!

21 kilos, every week. 52 weeks per annum, that's about a ton of veggies. So if I want to feed my family the recommended amount of veggies, I'd seriously need a bigger freezer space...

If I give everyone 150g carrots every day (which is most likely, because they like carrots and we have them year round), thats over 6 kilos per week, and over 300 kilos or carrots every year!

50g cucumber - 100kg cucumbers.

100g tomatoes - 200kg tomatoes.

100g apples - 200kg apples

100g banana - 200kg bananas

 

My head hurts.

On more lighter news we are waiting for covid19 test results for ys and d. D got sick on friday a week ago. Ys got sick on monday a week ago, and they had tests on thu and fri. They both have been at home. No-one else is sick, they don't have fever (not at all), just mild throat ache and clogged nose.

They will be back to schools once they get their results. There's no Covid in our area, they are not really sick and there's bunch of beginning-of-the-school-flu cases at schools. But they have already lost more than a week of school.

Once they get their results, I'm off to Ikea. Ys's room is nearly done, I got floor done during the weekend. he needs a desk, a chair, few bookcases and a wardrobe. Unfortunately some of the furniture I'd like to get are not sold in net store, so I have to go there myself. I've tried to look around but haven't found anything that fits his room (there are some difficult corners) like those will.

Also d needs a wardrobe. Her room is a mess (teenager - do I need to say more?).

I don't think Ikea has any small bottles left. Pity, 'cos I like them, they're perfect size for Christmas hamper gift liquers.

Winter is coming

Today has been a bleary day. Mist in the early morning, fog in the morning and clouds all through the day. No rain thoug, a week late, at least. This is September, it is supposed to rain! No frost today either, we had it last week, thank you. Not on my garden nor on my veg plot, thanks for that, I still have an odd cucumber and beanstalk there.

All marks of autumn is here. Threes have shedded half of their leaves, rest are golden (or brown, there is some fungal disease which is drying the leaves, it shouldn't have lasting effect).

I have been foragin food all summer and early autumn. Berries, veggies and mushrooms. Some more mushrooms, and then some. I pick chanterelles in my dreams, and I find maggot filled porcinos in my nightmares. When I close my eyes during daytime, I see black trumpets...
Berries have been freezed, rendered into cordial (by my mother), dried (by my sister) or cooked to jams and marmalades. I also made few jars of liqueur (1 part berries, 1 part sugar 1 part vodka; you can use brown sugar but I just use the cheapest available granulated sugar). Blueberries, raspberries, black-, red- and whitecurrants (red and white from our only but mosty absent neighbour). I also tried this with some rowan berries, but I forgot to freese them beforehand, so I think they may not come up the way I want... Time will see.

Mushrooms have been dried, pickled and freezed. No liqueur here.

Bullbeans and green beans are blanced (bullbeans peeled, I'm glad I have teenagers to do that).

Potatoes last till end of this month, then I have to forage my parents cellar. Carrots are barely there, they just don't like clay. Beetroots are almost as miserable as carrots, and I have no idea why. Maybe it was too cold?

Wood has been chopped and stacked to dry, they should do till next summer.

What I do need is a wood burner. A new one. I have one already in our extension, but it burnt out last winter (I got it for free from my colleague, and it was already a bit worn, we replaced some cast iron pieces with fire bricks, but now the top plate broke and it really must not be used without it). It is old, and although I can get spare parts for it, I would prefer a brand new burner (for it is going to stay there the next decade or something before I can replace it with decent brick fireplace). We have few other fireplaces, nice and sturdy wood-burning stove in our old kitchen and a fireplace in the livingroom.

We do have a central heating, but because of the long renevation process, it is electric at the moment, so burning some wood makes my energy bills cheaper. We don't need to buy wood, but of course, we bought the forest few years ago. You can count that on the energy bills if you like.

But I haven't started knitting socks yet.