Prepping, rat sh*t and forgotten treasures.....

.............all of us are ill here, alla t teh same time, first time ever. nasty bad cold, but we each ahve it in varying degrees, Bean and I for the second time. Oh off work for two days, virtually unheard of, but he's gone back today, against my advice. He wanted to keep on the go yesterday, so we emptied out my shed, with a view to storage for prepping - when the stuff was out, the shed swept and the useful stuff for keeping put back in, I could see exactly what I had, and we have quite a bit of storage room in there for foodstuffs and equipment. If push comes to shove, more stuff could go, or move to other storage, so quite bouyed up by that. We had rats in there last year, and in behind some of the bits and pieces was a real mess, but it's all swept up now and tidied. I no longer store animal feed in there, so at the moment, there is nothing to attract them. We are on the lookout for metal storage boxes and bins for our prepping supplies now. Managed to unearth lots of bits and treasures I had forgotten - there is one piece plus the bottom board missing from the fruit press - need to get that addressed before the autumn; nice container for heating decent amounts of water in, with a tap on the bottom, plus a good-sized metal water container with a spout in; 3 crates of beer bottles - need cleaning and the seals checked out, then will be filled with beer; a good solid old wooden chest that has been to India and back by ship before WW2, belonging to my father's family; cleaned up my push mower for imminent use after I sharpen the blades; also, some less useful but nice things for the garden, including a couple of handblown glass hanging holders for candles.
Spent Monday morning in the kitchen - strawberry jam, 2 cheese and onion quiches, started a new cheese, made apricot ice cream from an Elizabeth David recipe in one of my new books, bottled some wine, got the elderflower into demi-johns. I need to get the elderflower champagne labelled and out in the store room - we have a bit more room as we drank two bottles each of last years during our endeavours yesterday with the shed; it was still in excellent condition after just over a year, and very refreshing on a hot day.

Not sure what I'm up to today, as I still feel a bit rough, but on the mend.

Another weekend gone.....

...... but productively filled! Friday morning Bean and I got up extra early and went down to Wimborne with OH; visited the excellent Farmer's Market there. So impressed that I am going to use it for our weekly shopping from next week; coupled with what we produce ourselves, plus a regular order from the Suma wholesaler, I am going for the non-shop shopping option :0) I like a challenge....... Had a routle around the charity shops too, but found them a bit pricy. Pub lunch on way home, then usual Friday things. Saturday morning was up to Shaftesbury to collect 5 fleeces someone had acquired, not wanting them to be dumped, but she couldn't use them herself. I was alerted to this by the vicar;s wife, so they are now here, although it seems to have increased to 6 in number! Bean has purloined one of the white ones for herself, and can be seen in the photo sorting it prior to washing. Went to Dairy House antiques and Semley reclamation on the way back; acquired a yellow and white jug and a pile of books, including 3 vintage Elizabeth David books, which are lovely. Saturday afternoon was spent round the corner at a fund raising tea party for Marie Curie; I won a quiz (on tea........), so came home with a bottle of champagne, which was rather lovely for Saturday night! Yesterday was out in the garden tying up tomatoes, moving stuff, more beans, planting in the greenhouses, etc, before it came on really heavy rain, so that was that. Tea last night was huge mushrooms stuffed with goat's cheese, pesto and breadcrumbs, baked in the oven, which were lovely, served with feta and olives from the market on Friday.

Day out

Spent the larger part of the day down in Wimborne, cadging a lift with OH when he went to work - thus got into wimborne at 7.20am. Bean tagged along, we had a lovely morning at the market, then a short trawl of the charity shops, followed by a pub lunch. After that, home to do the usual Friday chores. A few photos......

Just one little thing.............

Sometimes, just one little thing is all it takes to send your great or OK day spiralling to the depths. Something you read on the net, something someone says to you, something you dwell too much on and read too much into, something you are doing going a bit wrong - everything comes unravelled very quickly and despair descends. You can't always put your finger on the exact event, or it may be a culmination of several little or even larger things, but it happens.

The perfect house...........

........for me, has been found, If ever a house had my name on it, this is it. 75,000 from Drever and Heddle; if I had the money I'd buy it tomorrow, unseen, and go and live in it. As yet, I don't even know how many bedrooms (if any) it has, or indeed, how many rooms. Just imagine living in this location, though. This one has my name written all over it, I could weep (in between praying for a lottery win......)

Mint and lemon biscuits

I found this recipe in the May edition of Country Kitchen magazine, will definitely be making them again! Very popular in this household........... they look very pretty too, with specks of green and yellow.

Mint and lemon biscuits

6oz butter

4oz sugar

2tbsp chopped fresh mint

Grated rind of 1 lemon, plus 2 tbsp juice

8oz plain flour

2oz demerara or granulated sugar, for rolling

Cream butter and sugar, add mint, lemon rind, juice, mix well, incorporate flour, bring together with hands. Roll into two sausage shapes, rolling in the extra sugar to coat; chill in the fridge for half an hour or so. Slice into 1/4" slices, bake on a tray in a fairly fast oven until golden brown, cool on wire rack.

Home appreciation day............

Found this great idea on mara's blog:

http://mara-aseachange.blogspot.com/

- so I thought I'd join in with some pictures of my home, which I appreciate each and every day. It's never particularly tidy or organised, but I do love it, it's very *me* :0)

The pictures show a corner of the sitting room, with rocking chair and spinning wheel; key cupboard with decoupage butterflies, in the hall; top couple of shelves of the dresser in the kitchen - everything there is actually used, not just for show; Rayburn in the kitchen, with my great grandmother's kettle, in use; corner of hall, under key cupboard, where I put seasonal displays - flowers, pine cones, corn dollies, fossils, etc.