Tuesday, October 18, 2011

October 2011

As usual it's been a while since I posted on my blog.
I seem to have been very busy in the last year being a 'nanna' to my 21 month old grandson, JACK, and I am really excited as his new baby sister is due to arrive tomorrow! I am also really happy as my son and his wife to be (next May!) have decided to give the new baby my middle name as her middle name!

I have also been really busy with my allotment; it is surprising how much time growing your own fruit and veg requires! Especially the maintenance and weeding of the plot! We have had a bumper crop of cabbages this year and I think most people are getting a bit fed up with eating them now! We have also had great success with our tomatoes and chilli's and did fairly well with our strawberries. We have turned into real forragers this year and have enjoyed finding many apple and plum trees which have resulted in mass production of jam and chutney, which leads me onto the reason why I haven't been painting so much these last few years....I seem to be cooking quite a lot! I am hoping to hold a stall at a Christmas Fayre in December to sell my wares which will include quite a few 'mini' Christmas cakes! More details to follow; one thing is for sure there will be some unusual jams and chutneys for sale; such as Sucrine Du Berry (a French butternut squash) with apple and ginger (jam) and sweet tomato and chilli (chutney). Thanks to my lovely niece, Emily for making my little glass jar covers, they look fab!

I am hoping to get back to some serious painting in the near future so watch this space!

A few piccies below.....the shawl I have knitted:



Chilli's/Peppers from my allotment:



Sucrine Du Berry (it weighed almost 11lb!!)

and then.........
Sucrine Du Berry/Apple n Ginger Jam:


Mini Christmas Cakes...marzipan and pretty icing to follow!!



Yummy cabbage...grown from seed!



Our first apples from newly planted tree last year:


You can see more pictures on my Facebook page