Feather your Nest Friday, 10th Feb. 2023.
It has been a busy, busy week! Summer produce is everywhere! I am truly trying to make hay while the sun shines!
On the weekend I headed off to visit my Grand daughter for her birthday. (Scarlett turned 6.) It was a beautiful visit and lovely day. On the trip home I checked the apple trees. Some had no apples at all, something must have gone wrong as usually these trees are covered. But one tree was a success! I had my long handled fruit picker in the car which was lucky as someone had picked the lower apples. That's ok because the best ones are always up high! 😊
I went around the tree with my long stick bringing down apples and then I went around the tree again with a big basket and picked them all up. When I got home I weighed them as I was very curious. They weighted 13 kilos which is 28.6 pounds. And they are lovely apples.
Yesterday I began working on them. I made four big apple pies. Today I took one to Chloe for her family. I froze the other three.
If you remember last week I was given three large zucchini. Today I tackled the hugest one. I took out the seeds in the middle but otherwise it was just fine. My food processor is such a help. It was shredded up and six cups became two large cakes. The rest filled the freeze drier.
It was Chloe's lucky day as she got one of these as well. She took this photo... I had taken her cake over still warm and gave her the frosting in a little container to put on when it had cooled properly.
This was the second cake I took them as last weekend I made up Banana cakes. Thomas is very keen on cake.
Chloe will usually slice up and freeze portions as most days she feeds Luke and a farm hand morning tea. Hence me giving her cakes so often! I also make a slab of Banana cake and took that Lucy and her family. I think (hope) it would have gone into school lunch boxes during the week.
I went into town to see my friend Wendy. She gave me a huge bunch of rhubarb (perfect when I have apples!) and three gorgeous little jugs.
I stewed peaches as Chloe gave me a tray full and although we lived on them fresh we could not keep up. So these were frozen.
Most of the Rhubarb was freeze dried. Thank you Wendy!
I was able to harvest some Basil... and there is much more to harvest over the weekend. I made a double batch of Pesto. We used this in several meals this week. It is one of the loveliest things ever to make.
As I trimmed the leaves off the stalks I saved each stem and put them into water in my kitchen window. They will all become new plants.
One batch went to Lucy as she loves it.
I tried a new craft. It would be the easiest ever but I love the results! I got this idea from Cath's Blog A Home Among the Gum Trees. We featured it on the Tuesday Club.
The images are from paper napkins and simply ironed on or melted on. The wax comes though the paper just enough that the image is covered in wax and looks dreamy and beautiful!
After seeing how Harper is sewing (and knowing how she loves horses) Jane sent me two horse fabric panels. They are just beautiful!
These are quite large. I think pillowcases would be really nice but I will see what Harper thinks. I know she will be so excited to sew these! Thank you Jane!
My goldfish are going well. Next week I will get a pond plant for them.
My cows came up to the fence and I ran down with biscuits and apples. It is only five weeks until calves could begin arriving! But who's counting!!?
Each day I picked tomatoes. I just realised I should be making tomato and basil as a salad. I will do that over the weekend.
I cleaned out the fridge. The crisper was the worst! I menu planned around what needed using the most. It is all organised and lovely now.
Truly, I was blessed this whole week! The apples on our own tree are almost ready, the pears are close too. And today Chloe told me her figs are almost ripe so the harvest looks to continue for a little while yet. I am running a kind of fruit triage so that nothing is wasted!
Thank you to everyone who responded to Heike's wonderful post. She inspired us all. Thank you so much Heike!
How did you build up your home, pantry or garden this week? I hope many opportunities came your way! xxx
Hello Annabel and Bluebirds,
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday for Scarlet! She is already a beautiful miss! And Thomas is already so big and handsome - how fast time flies!!!
I love the sweet faces of the cows - I think they are the most gentle animals. I would be so excited about calves arriving.
How different is your side of the world, full of colors and harvest while we have -20 C and snow (that is -4F). Not much to do here - cleaned out the refrigerator, take a pantry inventory, use up leftovers, knitting in the evenings and taking short walks on weekends (I am an outdoor girl in every season)
You know about the tragic earthquake in Turkey and Siria, it is heartbroken to see what happened there. My country has sent volunteers, clothes, food, and blood. What I could do to help is I went and donated blood. It is not much but maybe will help somebody there.
Enjoy every moment in life, it could change on a blink of an eye.
Wishing you a lovely weekend. Laura_s_world in Romania
Dear Laura, Donating blood is a very valuable thing to do. That was wonderful! While the weather is so cold it is good knitting weather for you! All the things you did such as the fridge and inventory are great to get done now. Also I think going for walks even in the cold is good because we need to get outside and keep up our fitness!
DeleteHave a very nice weekend! With love Annabel.xxx
Laura, I gave money for Turkey/Syria earthquake, but in giving blood, you gave the gift of life. Thank you for your generosity. I am too old to donate blood (they used to love my type B) but my daughter and I both gave blood on 9/11.
DeleteOops, that was me!
Delete--Maxine aka mikemax
I canned 4 pints of sale ground beef. Bought canned creamed corn, corn, green beans, peaches, and pears for my food stores. Put together my greenhouse shelves to start seeds in, bought denatured alcohol to try one of your cleaning recipes, and continue organizing, decluttering, and donating usable items I no longer need. I have an Addi knitting machine that I am learning to use and have learned to make hats with it so have been using scrap yarn to make hats that I have been donating also.
ReplyDeleteA very good week! The knitting machine will be amazing! The hats will be great for donating. xxx
DeletePesto also being made here and lemon and basil cake. My husband loves a chicken dish with a basil sauce recipe from one of the Women’s Weekly Dinner party cookbooks so I will do that this week. We are away babysitting at the moment and am hoping the zucchinis haven’t grown too much while we have been away. Your Apple haul is fantastic. I hope the other apples from the lower branches found a good home.
ReplyDeleteI do a chicken, pesto and cream recipe... with rice... it is so good! Sounds like it might be similar. I found the huge zucchini still fine to use so I hope you get home to lots of really good ones! xxx
DeleteDear Annabel, I've been MIA as I've been swamped helping my mom with things. She fell on the ice we had a few weeks ago and has just now been able to use her one arm somewhat again.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading everything and The Bluebirds on the Ground posts are very helpful. Happy Birthday to all your family members that I missed wishing a happy day. Happy Birthday to Scarlett! Thomas looks so happy with the prospect of cake.
Darling little jugs and a sweet candle idea. I've got a lot on my plate right now ( new animal care, family needs etc.) so will have to resort to just reading for a while longer. The seed catalogs have arrived so planning the garden is upcoming. Blessings, Laura
Dear Laura, Your poor Mum! I am glad you can help her and hope she makes a full recovery. It is exciting to begin to plan the new garden! We have Autumn coming which I LOVE!! I love a new season really too! Have a great weekend! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteHappy Birthday to Scarlett!
ReplyDeleteThank you Annabel for giving me the opportunity to share a few of my experiences. This is such a wonderful blog. I really like it a lot and it is a honour for me that you asked me to write for it. xxx Heike
ReplyDeleteThank you Heike. You gave a lot of encouragement and showed even with illness there is still much we can do. You are very inspiring! Also I have many times asked you things because you are eyes and ears in Europe and our news is so unreliable! xxx
DeleteOh my. I wanted to dive through the computer screen and right into that apple pie.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Anne! They smelled beautiful cooking too! This week lots more apples to work through! Have a very good new week! xxx
DeleteWhat a beautiful week. I love those cakes and I can just see Harper sitting at the little sewing machine stitching up pillowcases. I had one red tomato, finally, I was so excited I called out for Hannah to come see, it looked perfect. Then when I went to pick it, the back half was eaten by a bug! But I have been picking cucumbers and zucchini. I let the zucchini get a bit bigger then have been dehydrating them and making zucchini pickle, I'm hoping to get enough for two years. We have been eating the cucumbers as tzatziki, and cucumber salad, and just to munch on, with the hot weather finally they are so cool as a snack. I picked lots of mint and dehydrated it. I picked lots of rosemary and have it hanging to dry - the kitchen smells wonderful. The second flush of raspberries are starting, and the strawberries are just beautiful. I've picked a bowlful most days, and what we're not eating I'm freezing to make jam. I had more oranges, so I made whole orange cake and more marmalade. The greengrocer had potatoes on sale for $1/kg, a bargain price, so 20kg came home and I am working on them, getting them canned for winter. I've been working on Bonnie's Make Do and Mend challenge and the mending pile is down to one shirt that needs buttons, but my button jar doesn't have the same or enough of any others the same so I'll keep looking. It's so nice to not have a pile of mending taunting me. I made double batches of salads to last us through this hot spell. The butcher had brisket on sale so two pieces came home, one in the freezer, one in the slowcooker to make a roast beef dinner, and shredded beef for sandwiches, and mexican beef for tacos.
ReplyDeleteDear Cath, Fresh Tzatziki is just beautiful! Soo good. I have oranges also... I might copy you and make orange cake. What a deal on the potatoes! All the freezer windows in our supermarkets have signs explaining g the severe potato shortage! I love the sound of this challenge. I need to look it up. I hope you find buttons for the one remaining shirt! The roast beef sounds beautiful... and so much goodness for the following days. A roast is the best! Have a good new week Cath, with love Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel!
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful to see the fruit of your labours! ...... During the week, I helped a client in reassembling a similar fish pond to yours! She uses ‘rio’ metal mesh to keep the cat out, and water irises (in pots or aged clumps of soil) as one of her water plants that grows through the mesh! ..... Your apple pie sparks some interest!
This week was light on gathering physical resources, but, on one day in the previous week, I returned home from a day of gardening work with a carload! I had a small apple tree and a small pear tree (older clients tend to downsize gardens!); old timber; an arrowroot plant; large terracotta pots and a super large round plastic planter (think cut flowers!); and homegrown produce (zucchini’s, eggplant, tomatoes and cucumbers!!) and another dahlia plant!! Yes, I do give, as well ..... but, as Mum says, the Almighty gives with a bigger shovel!
Rachel
Dear Rachel,
DeleteI am thinking maybe I also should have some mesh over my fish... mmm in case a bird gets an idea. Water Iris sound beautiful!
Wow you had such a haul last week with fruit trees, pots, produce... flowers... timber... just amazing!!! I like your Mums saying!! What abundance you were blessed with! I hope the fruit trees take off for you! I would love to have seen that load!! I hope this week is similar with lots of good things Rachel! With love Annabel.xxx
Annabel you show all the beauty of a bountiful harvest but you make light of the hard work that went into making sure of that bounty. You have had one heck of a busy week getting so much done.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Scarlett. I cant wait to see what Harper decided to do with the horse panels. Little Thomas has such an adorable expressive face. I can see how much he is going to enjoy Nan Nan Bel's cake.
I've been spending a bit of time in the garden in the mornings and then again in the evenings. It has just been too hot to stay out in the sun for too long. This little bit often approach, has really worked and I feel like I am winning the battle with the weeds. Last night I spread out two bags of locally sourced alpaca poop. It was just the poop and no weeds in the bag. This morning I covered this with mulch hay.
Corn, beetroot, zucchini, Madagascar bean and New Guinea Bean was planted out yesterday. This morning, in the shade, I potted up five more mulberry seedlings. I am going to take these to our local swap gathering next month.
This has been a week of a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Life is good.
Dear Jane, In the heat I work the same way and it does add up but the main part of the day is just too hot. The Mulberry seedlings are just great! I know they will be sought after at the swap! I love how there are free things we can turn into something we can trade with! I hope this week will be cooler for you! With much love Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel, what a great week. Happy birthday to Scarlett, she is adorable. I love that photo of Thomas, he’s gorgeous! What a happy boy. I am so impressed with how you have made great use of the produce coming through and finding those apples, how wonderful. I haven’t tried zucchini in cake, I really must. I love how you are dehydrating and using the freeze drier. I’ve got lemons ready soon so I must plan on ways of using them. I think I will swap/ give some away too. I love those pjs. On Friday I went on a treasure hunt for size 10 for the little ones. I also found some long sleeved shirts and then at a chain store found some shorts and shirts reduced. So I began stocking up for this too. I’ll keep an eye out. We were lucky because we were given hardly worn shoes in bigger sizes, so they are stored in boxes. It all helps. I also have a budget of $10 for our little friends’ presents this year, so I started shopping for them too. Now I have a few birthdays done. Yesterday I got to walk, garden and crochet! I love it when the children help me in the garden. That’s the perfect day for me. Groceries have gone up again. I’m making do! Lots of love, Lily
ReplyDeleteDear Lily, I think a day in the garden with the children plus a walk and some crochet is my perfect day too! Having bigger sizes put away and labelled by size is how I did it and how my girls are organising things now. It is so helpful! Very often when the next size is reached and you get out that box it has more than you think! I was so happy putting away the four pairs of pyjamas ahead.
DeleteThrift stores and also great deals at regular stores are both good sources. You just never know! Sometimes a great sale will be cheaper than a thrift store and some times the thrift store item will be brand new!
Lemons are very useful. I have some too. I am thinking what to do with them this week.. I think it will be another week of dealing with produce each day. A little each day works! Thank you for your kind words! With love Annabel.xxx
That was great you were given shoes Lily! That’s such a help. It’s such a good idea to have some birthday presents ready for when kids are invited to parties. I like to do that too!
DeleteJen (NZ)
Wow you really do have a lot of January birthdays in the family Annabel! I hope Scarlett had a lovely day. I’m with Thomas - I like cake too lol.
DeleteYour candles look fantastic! And what gorgeous panels Jane sent you.
It was the first proper week back at school this week and it’s safe to say we’re all taking a bit of time to adjust lol. I’ve baked four batches of pizza and marmite scrolls today, plus a double batch of gluten free ones so that hopefully I can freeze some! I am trying to do lots of non-egg baking, so bread based things are good.
I’ve planned out meals for this week so am feeling better prepared. I’m hoping to do some more baking for the freezer this week too, if I do it while the kids are school they can’t try to eat it before I freeze it lol.
Have a great week
Jen (NZ)
I meant to say January and February, I promise I know what month we’re in!!
DeleteDear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteYou had such a productive week! I love seeing little Thomas and his excitement over the cake. I feel the same way when there is cake!
This week I have been doing some decluttering, as my mom and I are teaming up for a garage sale next month. I've also been trying to get the loft cleaned up (it's a catch-all spot) so that I can pick up my creative endeavors again. I'd like to reopen my Etsy shop this year, but we will see what I'm able to manage. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.
I did manage to make some masculine cards from a magazine that my father-in-law gave me.
I got lots of ironing done and some organizing done that will hopefully keep James out of things a little better.
I used points to purchase a book for my dad.
We bought gopher traps half off. I have gophers decimating what little I have in the garden. They've already taken out 3 of my 4 rosebushes. One was a climbing rose that was taller than me! It is infuriating.
I had some more fun thrifting in another town. I am blaming Colton for taking me out of town so often! I found some beautiful old picture frames, an English teacup, and a floral curtain (I will use as fabric). Oh and also some western novels by an author Colton likes for just .10 each.
I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!
Dear Kelsey,
DeleteA garage sale will be great! So good to do this with your Mum! I hope you do really well! Getting the loft in good shape and ready for lots of sewing will be wonderful. I would LOVE to see your Etsy shop up and running again! The cards you made sound good, we all need cards suitable for men!
I have never seen a gopher in real life... all I know about them comes from in the cartoons!! I know they dig. I hope you can catch them!
Your thrifting sounds like so much fun! The floral curtain sounds beautiful for fabric! Very nice finds. A good week!! With much love Annabel.xxx
I always enjoy your posts so much. Also loved reading Heike's post. Learning what it's like in other places in the world is eye-opening. My son requested zucchini muffins again this week; the zucchini were $1.49 per pound. I swallowed hard and bought them, hating to pay that when it's simple to grow dozens for about 10 cents a seed...I'm so looking forward to my summer garden! Last summer the garden did terrible, so I'm hoping that this year we'll have enough to preserve.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is finally on board with getting chickens --- finally, after 20 years of trying to convince him! We are planning to get 4 or maybe 6 egg layers. I'm so excited. Now I need to catch up on all your chicken posts.