October 2009

1 Preserving:  1 litre bottle of plum vodka, 3 jars vodka chillies, frozen rhubarb desserts
Harvest:  60 oz cherry plums, 8 oz chillies, last of rhubarb (37 oz), 2 oz raspberries, 4 mini courgette (13 oz), 2 beetroot (8 oz), 6 oz red tomatoes, 7 oz green tomatoes
2 At last, my Jerusalem artichokes are flowering.
3 Preserving:  2 jars lazy chillies, 1 jar vodka chillies, 1 litre bottle plum gin, 2 litres of curry (frozen)
Harvest:  too many chillies to count, 8 lb cherry plums, 3 cucumber (18 oz)
4 Preserving:  9 lb plum & apple jam, 7 jars plum & green tomato chutney
Harvest:  too many lbs of cooking apples to count, loads of eating apples, 5 lb pears
5 I'm sorry my diary is so boring with all this harvesting and preserving ...
6 Have I mentioned that our pond has almost completely dried up this year?  Although the scorching summer predicted early in the year never really materialised, we've had very little rain.  There is just a thick sludge in the bottom of the pond and my water lilies are exposed to the elements.  Will this kill them?  Ron has dredged some of the sludge out of the pond for us and left me to consider whether to fill it up from the hose.  As this is not very good for the pond life, I will resist and see whether any rain comes.
7 Word of the day:  AGRESTIC
Apparently there are two types of weeds - agrestal, which grow on agricultural land and ruderal, which grow on waste land.
I think weeds are just weeds to me, but at least we'll all be ready if these words crop up in a gardening show.
8 Preserving:  7 jars of cucumber & apple chutney
Harvest:  salad with fennel, mizuna & basil, 12 baby carrots, 3 (16oz) cucumber, 2 (80z) courgette, one massive cucumber (more than 2 lb) for chicks and the rabbit trap, 8 lb pears, 7.5 lb cherry plums
9 OUCH!!  Went to bed with excruciating toothache.  Took ibuprofen and smothered my gums with so much clove oil I nearly threw up (stupid girl).  Why does this kind of thing always happen on a Friday when the dentist is closed for the next two days?
10 Well, not a sign of any toothache today, despite munching my way through pieces of pear whilst preserving, and eating my normal meals.  Perhaps it's a gum problem?
Preserving:  7 jars of plum puree, 6 jars of eating apples in syrup, 3 large jars of pears in wine syrup
Harvest:  Last 3 red tomatoes, salad with fennel, mizuna & basil, 8 lb cherry plums, last 15 lb pears
11 A trip into London to have lunch at Caroline's with Caroline, Ollie and Bex.  Absolutely gorgeous canapes, followed by a  roast comprising chicken, potatoes, parsnip and cherry tomatoes on the vine, then apple & blackberry pie with custard (my favourite).  This was my birthday treat from the girls (with very big thanks to Ollie who was chef for the day) and they spoilt me with a present of four Sizzix dies for my card making.
12 Aaargh, another gum/toothache blip but the pain is so bad I cannot isolate the problem tooth.
13 We've got our rabbit trap out as the pesky beasts are covering our lawns in poo.  However, we caught a hedgehog in it last night.  The wee beastie had a feast of peanut butter and was fast asleep in the trap in the sun when we got up.  When he woke up, we set him free.  Can I sex a hedgehog?  Well, no - but all hedgehogs are male to me (unless they have a family in tow), just like all teddy bears.  One of the weird little things in my world...
Preserving:  10 jars plum & mulled wine jam
14 I've caught up on jar labelling, so they can be stored and you should see my kitchen!  Just as I want it with clear worktops.  Crow was astonished.
Harvest:  7 lb of cherry plums
Preserving:  2 very large jars of pears in orange juice syrup, 2 bottles of plum wine
15 All of the jars of jam & chutney stored in a new place which means I've started clearing the breakfast room.  Slowly but surely, my "minimal" approach is coming together.  Of course, there are still leftover bits in the dining room and the small sitting room is a mess with all of my bits I'm trying to sell on eBay and my craft room is a real tip, but one day, I'll get there.
Preserving:  9 jars of plum & apple chutney
16 The next kitchen cupboard has been cleared which rendered a black bag of rubbish and allowed some more clearance of the dining room as I stored spare mugs (where do they all come from?) and various bowls in the reclaimed cupboard.
My reward?  Friday again and searing toothache  :-((  More pills and clove oil to try to settle it down to enjoy my real reward:
Another enjoyable night out with friends at the Camelot restaurant at Five lakes, taking advantage of their current special offer.
17 Wow - out in the garden planting today!  Picked out my veg garden spot for next year's broad beans (Aquadulce - a good autumn plating variety), dug in some well rotted leaf mould (which Crow kindly transported to the spot for me) and planted 36 broad bean seeds.  Then, carried away will the planting bug I ventured into the cleared greenhouse and tries some Cutting Celery and land Cress for winter salads.  A bit of general weeding and harvesting - whilst digging over the bean plot, I found some potatoes we had missed - I cleared the last outdoor tomato plant - and pulled up all of the beetroot.  That was enough for me.
Meanwhile soft foods only for me as the toothache seems to be here to stay.
Harvest:  15 oz green tomatoes, 27 oz potatoes, 32 oz beetroot
18 Well, I've isolated the problem tooth and just need to hang on until the morning and hope the dentist will accept me as an urgent case.
In the meantime, I'm still selling on eBay - nine items sold this weekend - items for sale have been boosted by my kitchen clearout.
Out in the garden, Crow has been clearing the right hand bed in the net tunnel and emptying the leaf bin onto the heavy clay (where there are no raised beds), so that the bin is ready for this years onslaught of falling leaves.
On the sports front, Jensen Button has become this years' F1 world champion.  I wonder how many countries have had successive, but different, winners of the title?
Harvest:  2 courgettes (7.5 oz), 1 cucumber (2.6 oz)
Preserving:  9 jars of spicy apple & walnut chutney
19 Just had a good eBay sales weekend with 9 items selling, but it does take a long time to pack things and ages in the Post Office.  Still, I've got enough in my PayPal account to get myself a nice new Kenwood food processor.  The one I current use is 25+ years old and used to belong to my mum.  Sadly, the main bowl has recently cracked, so it's time for a replacement.  Just got to choose from the forty different models available.
Been to the dentist who gave me antibiotics because I've got an abscess.  When it's gone I have to decide whether to spend £46 and have the tooth out or £198 to try a root canal and a new crown.  He said the root canal may not work, in which case I'd still then have to have the tooth removed.  It's very near the back, so difficult to access.  Since I really hate being in the chair, I'm leaning towards just having one less tooth to worry about.
Harvest:  6 lb cherry plums
20 Ron has been to strim and clear our dying/dead garden borders so everything is flattened.  I find it sad as it's a sign of the coming winter and, as if to re-enforce that, the last two days have turned distinctly chilly.
Preserving:  9 jars plum/apple dessert
Harvest: 12 lb eating apples
21 I've started an EPP course this afternoon, every Wed pm for six weeks.
22 How much longer do I have to stand in my kitchen preserving produce?
Preserving:  9 jars of Christmas chutney
Harvest:  12 lb cherry plums, last of the cooking apples
23 Oops - caught a well fed Mr Hedgehog in the rabbit trap again.
Made a very yummy quiche with butternut squash and goat's cheese.  Will upload the recipe soon.
Preserving:  10 jars plum & mulled wine jam
Harvest:  Lettuce
24 Get an extra hour tonight when the clocks go back  :-)  but it will be dark so early tomorrow :-(((
Preserving:  4 jars of plum puree, 2 jars of eating apple segments
25 Record eBay sales with 12 items sold this weekend.
Preserving:  6 jars of apple segments, 2 with cinnamon, 2 with ginger, 2 plain
Harvest:  17 lb eating apples
26 Mr H really, really, really likes our rabbit trap!  He was pacing up and down this morning because we hadn't put any fresh bait in there.  Usually he has a full tum and he's fast asleep.
27 59 jars labelled and stored which clears the kitchen again.....  until later today.
And would you believe it?  I've finally dealt with my ironing mountain.
Preserving:  3 large jars of apples in wine syrup
28 Harvest:  6 lb cherry plums, 3 pears, last 19 lb eating apples
29 Preserving:  2 large jars of apples in syrup
30 It's been a strange and unusually warm month, with temperatures up to 20C on some days, the rest certainly around 16C.  Pleasant as this may be, it's all about to change for November.
31 Crow is getting a new PC and recycling one of his old ones for me.  I'll be using Windows 7 which he assures me is much faster and better looking and it's a better machine specification so I should be a winner all round.   He's spent quite some time doing all of the program setup and today is transfer day - uploading all of my data and physically swapping the positions of the machines.  Easier said than done!  We've spent a very frustrating day fighting with the desking.  Cables have to be moved and you wonder how they ever got done the back of the desk in the first place.