I love Springtime.

 Hello everyone, how are you all doing?

Well i am hoping that Spring has well and truly sprung. Its a beautiful shade of green everywhere all the buds are opening and my frogs and toads have spawned and left a lot of little Tadpoles behind.

The greenhouses are full of life and the allotments have been rotovated and Potatoes planted, also Cabbages , Leeks, Sprouts, Lettuce, Beetroot with Onions ready to go in as soon as the weather permits. We seem to get a few lovely dry days and then rain which makes it impossible to work the soil. Hubby is a real trooper and keeps going doesn't give up.

As you can see the little seedlings are all coming up and looking healthy

More Potatoes ready to go

Lots of veggies being hardened off outside

Trying and experiment of growing Potatoes in home made compost

We did put in the little free pond..i will be putting plants all around it as soon as they are ready. The birds have discovered it and love it.

Lovely blossoms on our fruit trees

The back Pantry got cleared out and sorted.

Jack is seriously taking advantage of the sunshine.

Now this is a lovely piece of Fern's art work. She designed it for our Christmas cards..but our printer just would not print on the cards i bought . This is just to celebrate her gift of being able to design and perfect her work, i love it.

Hubby is currently upstairs painting our Bathroom, he has done the girls rooms and Sam's. So they are all fresh and look awesome. We bought the girls new curtains and blinds. The rooms look more grown up now. They both had a good clear out as well.

Hubby and Iris also have new glasses which cost a small fortune but they did need them. Its my turn next.. we go in turns as it is easier for us to save in between and pay for it.

My brother is moving and has got to get rid of a lot of furniture and bits and bobs. I have so far had a pair of curtains which fitted in Sam's room, a big boot cupboard for the hallway and they were free. I did however insist on paying him for the stunning dining table and chairs. The chairs do need a deep clean on the seats but Wow this table is beautifully made and should last us a long time. He also gave me another Slow cooker and some Chalk Paint and Garden Paint which all three will definitely come in handy. 

We have it extended for the 5 of us. It almost killed us getting it home. My brother lives up the road from me thankfully. The legs alone were so thick and heavy i could only manage 2 at a time and the table itself was unbelievably heavy and almost gave poor hubby a dislocated shoulder carrying it down the road. It is so worth what we paid for it.

He also gave me some tablecloths and place mats for it..bless him. I only went for a look to see and came back with a ton of stuff.

I am certainly enjoying getting my laundry out on the line and getting it dry for free.

I received my Gas and Electric bills ..i was so happy..i am in credit with both by several hundred pounds. Unfortunately they won't let me have the money back as i am still in contract until the end of this month and as a  little bubble popped up to say "it maybe better to leave the funds in the account as price rises may happen again at the end of the year"..uh no its my money and i have paid you a Kings Ransom for my utilities.so i would like it back please.  

It does seem that all our cost cutting measures and using our electric and gas wisely has paid off. No body was cold and we didn't sit by candlelight so we are very happy and grateful as well.

Just wish the food prices would start to come down.

I am having my weekly baking sessions in my mini oven which is one of the best buys i have ever made. Having a huge double oven with 7 gas rings is as always awesome but costs a lot to run.

We only ever use the big oven to cook pork or beef joints in it.

I saw a tip on a blog i follow about storing Bacon..normally i would have to put the packets in my freezer and thaw the entire lot for  a few rashers. Now i roll them and freeze them separately then pop in a bag and just grab what i want when i want.

I also do the same with mince..separate, flatten and freeze in bags for meal size portions. I have started to grate huge blocks of cheese and freeze them into bags that will last a week. Doing it this way frees up room in my freezer and also no wastage.

Ok all up to date now..see you all soon.

Take care

Love FTM🌼