It was a holiday, but not in the strictest sense. Not a week of sunning ourselves or going for long walks in the countryside (the inclement and changeable weather put paid to that), but an enjoyable five days out of the office none the less. And we got lots of jobs that we’ve meaning to do, done.
My spare bedroom got not so much emptied, but sorted, so at least now things are in organised piles. And we liberated some floor space but taking a car full of things to the charity shops. Mum even painted the loo (the same Light French Grey as the bedroom), before we came back to Essex on the Tuesday. I’m very pleased with how it looks.
The second half of the break was spent darting on and out of shops on a rainy Wednesday (lunching in IKEA, and not spending anything anywhere else), doing computer jobs when it was still wet outside, and getting out and about on the bikes when the sun decided to make an appearance, which it turned out, was more frequent than we thought. When we were indoors I learnt a new skill. Audacity music editing software turns anyone into a mixing desk pro.
Pleasingly though, when we were on the bikes, I managed to get my cyclometer working. Delighting in the fact that it actually recorded anything, we ended up cycling over 20 miles in three days (and up to 20mph), so although we didn’t go exploring the flat landscapes of East Anglia on foot, we more than made up for it.
Digital cyclometer records all sorts of pedal power-related things
We also started off some more elderflower champagne, after the last batch beat us. With corks still popping through their bottle neck sleeves, we decided to start again, and use plastic bottles this time, a tip picked up from the internet. The gas can be released by loosening the screw caps this way every few days, so there’s no constant build up as the glass bottles have now.
It’s a shame we’ve just missed the prime elderflower season, though, as a much smaller volume of flower heads mean that we can make a much smaller volume of fizzy stuff. With most of the hedgerow plants now turning to berries, and the council having cut the hedge near home which was overridden with flowers, the heads were much harder to find this time around.
The first bean harvest of 2008: runner, French, and broad varieties
Add rice, an onion, cheese, stock, and wine for a three-bean risotto
Even though we were off, the garden was still working, and we had the first harvest of the beans on Saturday evening. We made the runners, French and broad varieties into a three-bean risotto, and got great satisfaction out of eating meaningful produce from the garden once more. A spot of garden tidying and the planting of Italian basil, mint, and marigolds (to keep the bugs away from the tomatoes) rounded off the week nicely. And that was before we’d had the neighbours around for afternoon tea.
Marigolds around tomato plants deter tomato-plant eating bugs
Of course, we also made the new Omlet Eglu Cube chicken house, and spent time with family on both weekends and as the train zizzed me home tonight, past the lavender fields with pink skies and clouds of petrol blue, I reflected on the last few days. We actually packed quite a lot in, and almost need another holiday to get over this one.
Tags: Journal, Self-sufficiency