I love the holidays.

 Hello everyone , how are you all doing?

It's the Summer Holidays at last. I know people don't love them but i do. I am in the lucky position that i can relax and have days of doing nothing or being busy until evening time, either way i am enjoying having the time to get the things done that really need doing this time of year. 

The allotments are producing well and i have been busy Jam making and prepping just about everything i can for the freezer to see us through the Winter months.

My son climbed the tree and used our new Wolf Fruit picker tool to get me some more Plums. I have to say i am a convert to Wolf tools, they might be a bit more pricey but the quality of them is spot on.

Some of our Carrots have started to come and there is absolutely nothing like the taste and smell of fresh Carrots, compared to supermarket ones.

We have been boiling the Beetroots as they come and then slicing and flash freezing ready to bag up.

The Green beans are starting and no doubt by the end of there growing season i will be relieved, they are so prolific at the allotments, above is just a small amount that were ready that day.

I picked more Blackberries as the Magpies were trying to strip the bush so i got in first and just about had enough to make an Apple and Blackberry pie filling.

Couldn't resist taking this the other morning, my Plum jam on my toast for breakfast, delicious.

So far i have about 7lbs of Plum Jam and it all safely stored away in Pantry.

The Raspberries are arriving bulk and we seem to get at least a Kilo a day sometimes more. I do freeze these in bags that are the right amount to make 2-3lbs of jam, i just defrost them overnight and it works well for me.

I also pop some in the fridge for the girls to have with cereals or pancakes, they are wonderfully clean with not many bugs ,obviously i wash them and rinse them off. Nothing better than fresh fruit for breakfast or teatime.

My chest freezer is filling up nicely and i am hoping by the end of October i will have plenty to see us into next year. It is a good feeling to open it up and see all the hard work my hubby , son and daughter have put into growing it all, nestled in there.

We have started to make our own bread again. We did invest in a 2lb loaf tin to make sandwich bread.

I have to admit our first loaf was not a success at all, we haven't made one for a while and our yeast was out of date, never mind the next one was awesome with in date yeast.

It's beautiful, if a pan ever could be and the bread comes out with a lovely flat top making it easier for me to slice and everyone gets the same size.

As for now i have been pottering around the garden, i put some leftover Asters and Sunflowers in the garden borders, i always like to try and give them a chance to thrive and grow, if not then i at least tried. I love to garden either first thing in the morning or later in the evenings, mind you the nights are drawing in and it will soon be dark by 7ish. I have been getting up a bit later and going to bed later, i think we all need to recharge batteries , so some slow easy days are needed and i have been just sitting with a cuppa in the garden most nights to unwind.

Now onto the down side of Allotmenteering , and that is the bugs and spiders. We all know they live there and keep some pests down but please be careful if they bite you. My hubby has been bitten and now he will not let Iris go in the Raspberry bed because well i will show you just how bad it is.

That is a spider bite, he has antihistamines and we also have an After Bite pen . This thing is hot to touch and sore, we did put a pen line around it and decided if it got any bigger than he was going to the chemist but thankfully today it had gone down a little. And no he didn't wear his vest top to pick them he had a t shirt on and it still got him.

And this is a bug bite that happened yesterday.

The poor man, he must have at half a dozen little bites all over him but these are the worst ones. We were talking last night and saying how scary it would be if a little one got bitten and that growing up there were never as many venomous bugs and spiders in the UK as there are now. So there is a down side to growing your own and it's not just the crop failing and bad weather it's risking yourself to get it.

So anyhoo that's me done for now and i will be back soon.

Love to you all.

Ftm🌻