A quick catch up with how I've been enjoying my new found freedom:
I'll start with some of the food,
We've had chocolate porridge with flax seed and walnuts
Home made Beetroot & chickpea falafel wraps with tahini dressing
a wholemeal loaf that I baked, i'm not 100% happy with it as it didn't come out amazing, it was just "OK" but I'm not entirely sure what it was missing, perhaps I'm just too fussy
Carly has been inundated with orders since the pre-release for the new Lucky Sew & Sew collection came out so I've been trying to keep the kids busy as much as possible so that she can work.
One day I took the kids for a walk and decided to pop to the fire station to see if anyone was about because I knew that no fireman can resist being a child's hero. When we got to the station there was a few of the firemen mopping the floor and sure enough when Logan ran up to peek through the doors and wave at them they all waved back and gave him a thumbs up and one of the guys opened up the shutters and invited Logan in to drive the fire engine!
I remember my mom doing the same thing when I was a tiny rascal, it must be every little boys dream to be a fireman (along with astronaut and cowboy of course) and it absolutely made Logan's day. I have the greatest respect for the guys down there they were absolutely fantastic, hats off to them!
I cleaned up some of my silver jewellery with the boiling water, tin foil and baking soda trick, so they are all gleaming now without having to waste money on expensive chemical cleaners
We also went for a meal down at the Railway Hotel which is a real quirky old Victorian pub that serves vegan and vegetarian food
So you can see we have been as happy as the day is long, which leads on to the last photo, the inspiration for this posts an excerpt from the Victorian Kitchen Garden which I've been reading recently:
and this was one of the more tame techniques recommended in the book!
Would you be happy with this method for keeping the birds off the veg patch, or do you have a more humane approach?
Glad you're enjoying your freedom! My eldest is obsessed with firefighters and keeps telling that what she wants to be.
ReplyDeleteI love that book and have read it many many times! I love the series as well which I have on dvd. Great for a cold winters evening!
I haven't seen it yet but i'm in love with the book, definitely going to have to download it for a bit of winter watching
DeleteI think you guys are such a terrific family. Love the photos!
ReplyDeleteI plant lots of sunflowers for the birds and cover what vegetables/fruits I want to keep. Birds are actually good to have in the garden-they eat tons of pests.
Thank you Sue! I totally agree, I'll be encouraging a wide range of biodiversity on our plot to allow for natural predation of pests.
DeleteYour garden is so inspirational to me, if I can manage to get mine in half as great a shape as yours is I'd be over the moon!
Looks like some folks were having a good time. I've never heard of cleaning silver that way!
ReplyDeletesimple chemical reaction really that takes the effort out of scrubbing it clean, let the magic potion do all the work for you ;)
DeleteLovely post, your bread looks good, no cats here dont like them, but a fruit cage works well for the birds :-)
ReplyDeleteyeah i'd been thinking about constructing some sort of permanent fruit cage, I'm going to wait and see how much of an issue birds are on our land before anything is set in stone though. I suppose as always these things are a work in progress and constantly evolve over time. failing that there's always the rifle but i'd prefer to reserve that for edible prey.
DeleteWonderful photos.
ReplyDeletethank you :)
DeleteWell the bread looks great and edibal! Mine always turn out rock solid. Great fire engine treat.
ReplyDeleteit wasn't to bad truth be told, it was just a bit of a funny shape at the other end, I suspect the water may have been a bit too warm when I mixed it so the yeast might have been a bit over enthusiastic lol
DeleteFood looks great, and what a lovely family day. Poor kitten, I don't think I will be using that method, I would rather let the birds eat the strawberries.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience having a cat in the vicinity would be enough of a deterrence so don't quite see the point in tying one up, although they do have a horrid habit of wanting your veg beds to be a giant litter tray, nothing a quick squirt with the hose can't re-educate them though!
Deletelooks like Logan had an ace time. Bread troubles for me are always to do with old yeast. And I prefer if I am using a sweetener to use honey not sugar. I prefer my bread made with olive oil. I think I may have done a post on it. I have previously tried a sour dough starter I made a huge loaf and then it died, the starter that is, lol
ReplyDeleteoooo sourdough was the best bread I ever made but likewise, I let the starter become horrible. I have read that they never really die and can always be revived, I expect I'll start doing it again once we move because I think it really is worth all the effort for the amazing flavours that you get out of if
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