Our first review of the year! Thank you to such a warm response to my first post on Wednesday! I have not even finished replying but thank you all!
My Grandson Sidney has been here and we had a lovely time. Hopefully over the weekend I will get my second introductory post up, Encourage One Another.
For the week I was excited to think over 2024 and make some new plans. Set out my planner and think. If we don't have time to think we could end up anywhere. Making plans is such a good thing. We don't know how good unless we know someone who has an addiction and has no plans, no hopes, no dreams and no drive. To feel this hopeless is a terrible dark place. No, we have plans. And if plans go wrong and we have a curve ball then we make new plans. Plans = hope.
Some plans become so entrenched they become a Policy. My policy is to not waste food and to preserve all I can.
After Christmas there was left over ham. One thing I always make in summer ,that goes just right with ham, is rice salad.
So... I made a huge rice salad which filled my biggest fruit cake mixing bowl. It was cheaper to get a whole head of celery than a few sticks and it was cheaper to get a whole bag of capsicums than to buy two. I made the salad and freeze dried the excess.
I gave Chloe a huge tub of it, two containers to my niece and I lived on it for a couple of days.
I might have mentioned in my last post I did a trade. It may be one of my finest. 😊
The cabin is going to accomodate a guest for 10 days in exchange for 6 old cement troughs.
The troughs...
Since all my veggie gardening success has been from containers and raised beds I am always looking for big containers. These are huge!
Example... now I have huge containers my cucumbers have at least 40 babies like this...
I had been picking cherry tomatoes for a week and saved them up... also a couple of zucchini. So Sidney and I set about making trays of meatballs. With a plastic kids kitchen knife I got him "sawing up" zucchini lengths and putting them into the trays. He kept going too and got them all done. He said he really liked meatballs, pasta and cheese and he thought he would have zucchini but he wasn't keen on tomatoes. So in our tray I made a fence with a long piece of zucchini and on his side of the fence there were no tomatoes. He liked this.
He did indeed eat the zucchini and knocked off way more than I thought he could eat.
My saved lids from boxes came in handy for green rice, sand and play doh... and we made a dinosaur landscape. With play doh we make red steaks for their breakfast.
Justice hangs out with the other cows in the big paddock but comes to the fence and waits for breakfast. Once she has her bottle she runs off again.
I had one hen that got away from me when I transferred my last chickens to the hen house. This week I caught her. The golden one is her. So now all my hens are laying and in the right place!
I need to count my chickens but in two coops I think I have close to 40 now.
The trough garden beds are full of compost... that I made over time and even though it was loads and loads with the tractor bucket the original pile doesn't look much smaller! I am going to add some sheep and chicken manure.
The pears and apples are getting quite big so I am going to have a lot of fruit coming in!
The whole family loves apple puree so that is something I will make loads of.
I was given lemons and zucchini today. I stocked up on really good deals on shampoo and conditioner and added raw sugar and sultanas to the pantry.
How did you feather your nest this week? I hope opportunities came your way! We love to hear! xxx
I love your troughs, Annabel! They are perfect for garden beds and I think they are pretty too.
ReplyDeleteMy dad likes to freeze dry ham. He has done slices and small chunks and they taste just like fresh once rehydrated. It is so handy for using in recipes or for a quick supper if I forget to thaw meat from the freezer!
Sydney must have had a lovely time. John doesn’t like zucchini by itself but he loves zucchini bread, so the zucchini that comes from his garden can only be made into that, haha! I made two muffin trays full yesterday so they would be portable. We are going on a field trip today with his homeschool group to a children’s museum. I am up early getting ready and I need to make some sausage and cheese biscuits (scones), as that is my idea for lunch using what I have. My goal for the year is zero take-out! The town has an Aldi so I am hoping to stop in there today also.
This week saw lots of decluttering in my crafting room. I know craft supplies are good but I have WAY too much to the point that it gets in the way of actual crafting. I am trying to be realistic about the things I actually want to make and everything else will go to bless someone who will use it. Already things are looking and functioning much better, which motivates me to start crafting again. I even tackled the mending that had been piled for months (sorry to admit!).
The most exciting thing is we have our first lamb! She is a little girl and we named her Sunday after the day she was born. I thought of you with your lambs right away. She has been a lot of fun for all of us. We have one other ewe who should lamb any day now.
I hope everyone has a good weekend and a good start to the new year!
Annabel, what a wonderful and productive first week of the year you have had. Your grandson definitely loved being with you and it looks like he enjoyed helping with the cooking, (and eating).
ReplyDeleteI love your new "planters", this is going to be a major increase to your garden. Justice is growing so well and is so friendly. You did an excellent job nursing her to health.
I have been trying to start the New Year off on the right foot, sort of to say. When I was able to get the Christmas trees and decorations down, I deep cleaned the rooms they were in and husband cleaned the outside.
I accomplished my one goal of finishing an afghan I had been working on and instead of sitting idle at night while TV was on, I am crocheting, I finished one bath set with 2 matching washcloths and 2 facial scrubbies. Now found a new pattern for scrubbies so going to make a set of those.
My plan for the year is to use what I have in my craft supplies to make gifts and to reorganize our storage room.
May all Bluebirds have a blessed and productive year ahead of them.
Sidney looks so happy in the kitchen! And even more so playing with dinosaurs. How lovely to have had him come and stay. I also got my new diary out and started filling in important dates. It’s so nice to start out with fresh pages, my old one was very tattered by the end of the year!
ReplyDeleteAmong my short term plans is using up as much of the food we have on hand as possible before we move. I have meals planned from what we have in the freezer, and it’s a great feeling knowing we will continue to eat well even with the business of preparing. I’m happy to move unopened food with us, so I won’t need to start my pantry from scratch, but anything that’s been opened needs to be used.
I made a huge batch of granola using every pack of seeds, nuts and dried fruit I have! So that’s one very tidy and clean shelf in the pantry. I also cleaned the fridge.
A double batch of jam drops used up two nearly empty jars of jam.
I managed to add some gifts to my present stash that were heavily discounted in the post-Christmas sales.
I hope everyone has enjoyed the first few days of the year!
Jen (NZ)
Jen, we will be arriving in NZ in Februaryfor a short stay. Would you mind telling me what appropriate casual street wear is, for instance, are jeans ok?
DeleteAnnabel, I read your blog faithfully but am guilty of lurking and rarely commenting. I have learned so much from you and the other ladies. Your fortitude and accomplishments amaze me. Thank you.
Mary Anne (Texas)
Oh Annabel. Seeing Sidney help you and being in the kitchen is the sweetest thing! I love the cardboard trays! One of my children loves armies etc and I can see this working so well. I love all your cooking and the rice salad sounds delicious. I love that trade! What a huge and wonderful trade! I have to make the most of opportunities. I get excited at this time of year. I love thinking of the possibilities. At the moment I am decluttering to make room. Old things that aren’t used are getting donated. Still lots to do and very happy pottering around with it all. Lots of love, Bridget
ReplyDeleteA wonderful start to the new year.
ReplyDeleteHi Annabel
ReplyDeleteI love the shelf made with zucchini to separate your meatballs tray, what a fun idea. Teaching the grandchildren to cook is such a useful skill and they will remember those days in the future.
Not much more to report as I commented on Wednesday but we placed a big order for seeds for the garden, this time of year the mail order companies have good deals.
I took a donation of unused Christmas cards and paper to the charity shop and picked up a few nice greetings cards in there. Decluttering and donating/ selling is a plan for 2025.
I made a raspberry and almond cake for Sewing group as it's my turn on the rota.
It's so nice to see the sunshine in your photos, snow is forecast here today.
Best wishes to all Bluebirds
Penny in the UK
Hello Annabel and Bluebirds!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely is was for you to be able to spend some time with Sydney! It looks like you had such a wonderful time together making memories he will cherish his whole life.
Those troughs were indeed a fantastic trade! How absolutely fabulous!
Justice is looking very robust. I love how tame your cows are with such regular handling :)
I've had a roller coaster of a week with some highs and some lows in the mix, what a way to start the year! Hopefully it doesn't set the tone for the rest of the year!
I printed out free calendars and planners and started filling them out. Of course the Christmas decorations came down and everything was decluttered as I packed it away. I've also started a big declutter and reorganise of our walk in wardrobe, it is storing a whole lot of things that are not clothing related and it was not a very functioning space, so it had to be fixed, but it's a work in progress, one bite at a time. My freezer meals are non existent so I cooked double batch spaghetti, curried sausages and chilli con carne this week, half of each meal was frozen for another day. I did a lot of pottering in the garden, daily watering is a must right now! And lastly I started experimenting with sewing up some bowl cozies and "unpaper" towels, maybe I will have some photos to show on the Tuesday afternoon club, I will see how much I can get done.
Love from Cheryl