Quiet weekend ?

[bigbear]

Due to us both having horrid colds all week we decided to stay at home and have a quiet weekend.
So, freezer defrosted, a batch of soup and a batch of bean and gammon stew made and frozen yesterday, plus a batch of blackberry vodka bottled and a batch of damson gin started.
Today, a load of green tomato chutney and a batch of curry for the freezer.
maybe we should have gone away instead.........
It seems to be an autumn thing, that primitive need to stop up stuff and process the harvest, going back I guess to the days when it meant the difference between life and death, not just some fun and home made goodies.
right, back to the Rayburn !

 

[Toddy]

Sounds familiar

Today has been a fixing the shed roof, defrosting the freezer and rearranging it so I can pack in more fruit and pie fillings.
I've to find somewhere to store 40 jars of jam, I've given away as much, and I have raspberry syrup still to make.

Yesterday I cut the mugwort and pulled the iris leaves for basketry.

Once I've got the syrup finished I need to get the rosehips collected for some too, and then I'm going to finish sewing the heavy velvet curtains and liners so that I can get them up before that nippy icy wee draught sneaks in at the window beside my desk.

Supposed to be a brace of something feathery coming later this evening for HWMBLT's dinner tomorrow, but he can deal with those to ready them for cooking.
I need to clear the herb pots off the back path too, and take a last pick for drying, because we have tree surgeons coming to take down the willows, silver birches, elders, hawthorns and sycamores that run just outside our back fence. I'm going to miss the trees and the wildlife that uses them, but they're less than 30' from our walls and at nearly 70' some of them are just too large now. There's gean, hazel, holly and hawthorn all struggling under the canopy though, and they'll come up if given a chance, so it won't always be bleak.

Productive weekend, and kind of satisfying too

cheers,
M