Blight

I've been away for a couple of days this week,  it was only supposed to be one night away from home, but ended up being 2.  The hotel Wi-Fi was not working,  I have given my mobile dongle to My Girl when she left home, so no Internet or blogging for me for a couple of days.

Today I managed to visit the Lottie and it is starting to look a little neglected and definitely needs some TLC!  I think this is not helped as we are approaching the end of the season, the sweetcorn are nearly finished (mice have been at a couple of them AGAIN!) and that  bed is emptying,  the runner and french beans are beginning to look a little worse for wear and blight has set in!  

Mouse shredded sweetcorn!

 My tomatoes were really effected and I have been seeing the other plot holders taking out their tomatoes as they were blighted - I was hoping it wouldn't reach me,  but it has!  All of the tomatoe plants have now been taken out and will be burnt.  Blight spreads and my potatoes were beginning to show signs too.  Today I have lifted one of the lines of potatoes,  I was really hoping that they would be our Christmas Tatties,  but this is not to be.  I have a reasonable harvest from the lifted tatties - all shapes and sizes and definitely enough for me and Mr Milly for a couple of weeks.   I will lift the rest of the tatties over the weekend.

Apples, turnips (the first ones), courgette, beans and potatoes

2 bright yellow faces greeted me at the Lottie today - the sunflowers are flowering!   My Girl and I were in a competition for the tallest one and to be honest I can't now remember whose is whose!  I have no doubt that My Girl will know........   but I do think that mine is the tallest   LOL!!!

Cooking

I have sometime off from work and I am doing the cooking.   It's not often that I cook a meal -  it's just the way our lives are arranged as Mr Milly is the househusband and cooks the meals.    So I have been taking stock of what tools and foods we have around us and how can we do things differently.  A few reasons for this,  the first is money - can we save a bit?  The second - as there is just the 2 of us to cook for now can we do things differently?  The third  - we have the Lottie now and want to use it to its full potential.  And finally we have lots of gadgets in the kitchen, I am a bit of a gadget lover - I don't think we really use them enough.

One of the bonuses of Google - there is an abundance of recipes and information at your fingers tips.  This week we have had a Steak and Mushroom pudding.  I love these types of puddings, but the hours of steaming and having to watch the pan really put me off.   But I discovered this week you can use a slow cooker to steam these puds -brilliant!  Make the pud - stick it in the slow cooker and forget it and no steam in the kitchen.   In fact there was so little steam I was sure it wasn;t going to work!!  It did and the result was lovely - the one pud was enough for 2 of us for 2 days - so very little cost.   Today there is a chicken in the slow cooker - dinner today and a pie tomorrow!

The bread machine has been out too - I'm trying some different recipes to see what comes out and some different flours and yeasts to see if cheaper ingredients make an acceptable loaf.  Mr Milly is usually the occasional bread maker in the house and he sticks strictly to the instructions and the recipes.  I'm not quite so strict and the results so far have been good and different.

The Lottie is managing itself nicely at the min,  the cauliflowers are looking a little loose which is not good for caulis - we will see how they end up.   Everything else is coming along fine and everyday something is different which is fascinating to see.    



Sunflowers are getting tall



The pumpkin is just starting to turn orange.



Teeny little butternut squashes are starting to appear