Half term fun

We have had a busy week, to make up for last weekends laziness. We have been swimming twice, to the cinema and to London twice. Here are some pictures;

We watched the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace

Had a trip on the London Eye

We looked at countless building, I am really struck by the intricate carvings on the buildings. I want to try and include something into my decorating I have planned. Not sure what or how yet.

And in slightly less exciting news- spring appears to be on it's way. I dried 1 load of washing on the line the other day.

The Independence days challenge

I have been following the Angela over at The high desert chronicles for a while. I am in very interested and somewhat jealous of her homesteading. Anyway I have been inspired to join in the Friday independence day challenge. Rather than retype in my own words I have taken this from Angela's blog- she says it all way better than I could. The Independence day challenge originally came from the Chatelaine's Keys

Independence Challenge is all about:

“The whole idea is to get the positive sense of your accomplishments – it is easy to think we haven’t done anything to move forward, but in fact, we all do, almost every day. We just think of accomplishment as a big thing – a whole day spent putting up applesauce or a hundred tomato plants. The Independence Day project makes us count our little accomplishments and see that we are moving forward. So for each week, tell us what you have done in the following categories:

Plant something: A lot of us were trained to think of planting as done once a year, but if you start seeds, do season extension and succession plant, you’ll get much, much more out of your garden, so I try and plant something every day from February into September.

Harvest something: Everything counts – from the milk and eggs you get from your animals to the first dandelions from your yard to 50 bushels of tomatoes – it all counts.

Preserve something: Again, I find preserving is most productive if I try and do a little every day that there is anything, from the first dried raspberry leaves and jarred rhubarb to the last squashes at the end of the season.

Waste not: Reducing food waste, composting everything or feeding it to animals, reducing your use of disposables and creation of garbage, reusing things that would otherwise go to waste, making sure your preserved and stored foods are kept in good shape – all of these count.

Want Not: Adding to your food storage or stash of goods for emergencies, building up resources that will be useful in the long term.

Eat the Food: Making full and good use of what you have, making sure that you are getting everything you can from your food, trying new recipes and new cooking ideas, eating out of your storage!

Build community food systems: What have you done to help other people have better food access or to make your local food system more resilient?

And a new one: Skill up: What did you learn this week that will help you in the future – could be as simple as fixing the faucet or as hard as building a shed, as simple as a new way of keeping records or as complicated as making shoes. Whatever you are learning, you get a merit badge for it – this is important stuff.

OK, you can sign up in comments, publicise on your blog and tell the world – let’s see what we can get done!

Happy Independence Days!”



So here is my first entry for a Friday Independence day.

1.Plant something I have put my potatoes around to chit, ahead of planting them. Also planted some tomato seeds, pea seeds and mixed lettuce seeds they are in the kitchen window pots, will plant them out in a while when it stops being so cold.

2. Harvest something I haven;t harvested anything this week, mostly because I haven't been to the allotment, am hoping to get there this weekend.

3.Preserve something I have dried and stored some bay leaves and rosemary from the allotment. See picture at top of page.

4.Waste not I have covered some old shoe boxes to make pretty storage boxes for Stephanie

5.Want not erm can't think of anything to fit in this category- perhaps next week!

6. Eat the food

I have been trying to ensure that I have breakfast, with my porridge each morning I have been eating Jam I made last summer from foraged blackberries and apples from the allotment.

7.Build community food systems I haven't given anything away this weekend- does it count that I gave my aunt bay and rosemary the other week?

8.Skill up something learnt this week? Where some amazing fabric shops are ahead of the sewing list Stephanie has given me.


This challenge has helped me to really consider what I am doing as the week goes by. Hopefully there will be more to fill each section up as get better at considering what I do.

lazy Sunday

Do you see a bit of a trend here, lazy yesterday and lazy today! I can give you an excuse if you like- I do have a cold. Otherwise just this is what we feel like being. Tomorrow we are planning a trip to London for the day. We won't be spending all of half term curled up and hiding from the world however tempting it is right now.

On our lazy day today I have caught up with the ironing and mended a couple of tops of Dylan's that needed seams repairing/new buttons. I suspect there are more requiring the same treatment in his room- I will look when I am feeling braver.

I thought I would share some pics showing our lazy Sunday;

Exploring the icicles that have formed in the garden

Despite the snow and ice surrounding them the tulips and daffs poking up are proof that spring is on its way

the ones outside are doing considerably better than those inside

A simple lunch using up some of the Christmas leftovers and the bargain veggies bought yesterday

Cooking

Today we decided to have a lazy day to begin our half term. It began by taking Stephanie to her swimming lesson, then on to the library. From there we went to the local market we got the vegetables and fruit that the children chose. We then walked past a couple of ladies who asked if we wanted a free recipe book. Dylan loves to cook and his ears popped up, I smiled to him to let him know it was OK to go over. The recipes are from local residents, a council drive to get people healthy.w As one lady explained about the recipes in the book another offered us some banana bread and offered to make us some risotto to try. The children were very keen, they loved the banana bread, Dylan enjoyed the risotto, Stephanie not so sure.

It inspired them to cook today, they began by making french bread pizza for their lunch. For dinner they made fajitas following a recipe in the book we were given today.

After dinner Stephanie made a banana smoothie, again from the recipe book.

Then they made a cake together;

It has been a lovely way to start our half term break.

A January update

As it is now February I thought I would post a little update on how I am getting on with my aspirations for January.

Sophie's knitted top, I have already started on this. I have worked on this, still not finished it though

Knit Stephanie's gloves I decided not to knit her any as when I sorted out her room she has several pairs after all

Sew blind for downstairs bathroom done

fix up living room cushions it's a roll over- maybe I'll get this done in half term?

plan what we will grow this year and when they need planting. I have started thinking about this, I have the first Early's chitting now, and some veg seeds bought. I need to sort the compost then I can get planting.

buy fruit/veg from farm shop I need to organise myself better in order to achieve this one.

work out a budget so that I can put a set amount away towards a new car. I want to do this properly, I am going to sit and plan meals for a month so that I can do the shopping and get this organised. As I want to cook meals and freeze them to make work days easier I am going to do this in half term so that I can have a 'cook-off'

Swim at least twice I haven't done this as I broke my toe and have been dubious of making it worse. It isn't needing strapping anymore so I am going to give it a try, was going to be today but the snow has other ideas....

fix bike Again, broken toe made this a lower priority in January, maybe February then.

I am pleased with how much I had achieved, I haven't managed as much as I had hoped that just means I now have a more realistic view of what I am able to achieve around work.

So what are February's plans. To see if I can complete some of January's projects that I haven't yet completed.

knit waterfall cardigan for Stephanie - this is being bumped further down the list for when I finish my current knitting.

Sew curtains/blinds for kitchen

varnish kitchen unit

swim at least 3 times

use bike

continue to buy fruit/veg from farm shop

go for family walks/bike rides

plant any seeds for this month

plan work for the allotment Already planned and begun. So technically a 'done' item already

Birthday

Time goes so fast I can't believe I am thinking about my baby's 6th birthday already. I haven't had much option she has been planning already. Stephanie divulged some of her ideas to me beginning with her description of the birthday cake. I asked her to draw it for me. She then had other ideas for her party so we sat together and this is what she came up with;

It's a very detailed party plan, it tells me exactly how Stephanie would like the party to go. From the crafts she wants to happen to the food and table decorations. As well as the presents for her friends to take home. Now I need to get the materials etc and start making :-)

our weekend

Take a peek at our weekend; Saturday we went to Knole park for a walk and to see the deer. Then today we went to the allotment.

What is it that makes sticks appeal so much to children?

Now I must admit I get the walking along a log thing- I like to have a go too

Both children were amazed at the amount of Deer we saw and just how close we got.

My little poser

They were entranced by this magpie trying to eat an apple

I decided that I would make a special breakfast to start our Sunday. I made waffles- Jamie Oliver style. Then we headed off to the allotment. The potato bed is almost ready. You can see where we are planning the potatoes to go in the background of this picture of our hot choc break. Boy were we glad of it today was rather nippy.

While we were having our break we were amused by watching this little robin hopping about. Not a very clear picture but I couldn't get any closer without frightening him.