The great big declutter...day 4

Hi everyone

Not much decluttering today:

29). Baby tights - Daisy has grown out of these. I will sell them at the Carboot sale.

30). Baby tights - same as above.

We have been in the garden for most of the day. Daisy has absolutely loved it! Our lovely next door neighbour gave Daisy a zebra scoot along and a smartbike. It's one of those that has a long steering handle and a sun canopy...a tricycle that you can push and steer. We were planning to buy one of these soon...now we have one for free! She wouldn't accept any money for them, so we will buy her and her boys a gift to say thank you. 

Daisy loved cleaning them with her little bucket and sponge. Then she splashed in the soapy puddle she made (wellies on). 

Next door have got lots of rabbits and Daisy watched them over the fence. So many new things to discover...

We had pork chops for tea (done as a roast) and treacle tart for pudding. Tomorrow we'll have roast beef and all the trimmings. I now have somewhere to put all my veg peelings...next door's rabbits! Our chickens love cooked veg but not raw. Their favourite is lettuce but they don't like cabbage. The rabbits had broccoli, sprouts and carrot peelings today. Tomorrow they'll be more.

My lovely OH has dug over the veg patches ready for planting and he collected plenty of worms the wormery the they are making next door. It's funny how the simplest gestures can make someone happy. I also think that sunshine makes us feel happier and more motivated.

Hopefully the weather stays lovely for a while! 

Mandy x

The garden is producing...

Hi everyone!

Our garden is producing very tasty runner beans that are not stringy!

We have loads of tomatoes waiting to ripen and delicious courgettes.

The chickens are laying eggs, a good source of protein for little Daisy-May, whose looking forward to her first ever dippy egg for breakfast on her first birthday.

There is an abundance of parsley (my favourite herb) and the carrots are nearly ready.

We didn't plant a huge amount this year, but we are getting meals out of it and that's a cheaper way to eat!

Thank you for my lovely comments yesterday

Mandy xxx

Harvesting the strawberries!

Hi everyone!

I am not a natural gardener, but my OH has had success in the past. In our last house, most of the garden was dug up for vegetable growing, but in this house we have lacked motivation to grow. When you think how much money can be saved by growing your own, this sounds silly, but the ground here is bad. We have two raised beds/plots for growing and they are finally doing well. We also grow in containers on the patio. Last year I tried to get into growing my own, but lots of things failed (especially my beans and new potatoes) and this disheartened me. This year we were a little late planting, but we have veg growing in the garden now! I took Sue's (our new life in the country) advice and bought and planted out the 'living' lettuces. These have down really well and we are enjoying them, thanks Sue!

One thing that has done really well this year is our strawberries. Daisy loves them! She went out with Grampy after tea and picked a huge tub full. She has them whizzed in her blender and drizzled over her soya ice-cream for pudding. 

My coriander is doing well on the kitchen window. I love cooking with coriander and fresh is so much better.

Loo - it certainly feels good to get rid of stuff doesn't it? We are normally at a carboot sale buying rather than selling though! I'll do one more I think for now.

Sue - you always do really well at carboot sales! You're the one who has inspired me to take one area at a time and declutter. I was worried that I'd miss things, but it really clears the mind. One area that I'm still struggling with is books. I've sorted and sold quite a few, but we still have lots! We love books here and read every day but I will never have the time to get through all that fiction!

You're right, the cash is handy and it has gone into our savings tins.

Frugal in Bucks - I will be posting our meals up, but not the food stocks audit updates. I too get bored of the same meals and it has put me off cooking in the past. Frugal Queen made me believe it was worth continuing my blog, as I never received much interest in the past (I know you've been here for a while Loo). Since that post, I have page views, comments and followers! She will always be an inspiration to a lot of people I'm sure. I have popped over to your blog and I'm a follower! I will be having a good read later!

The nutty squares recipe is coming up...

Thank you to everyone who has read or left a comment xxx

Mandy x