Blessings

As I mentioned in my last post I now have a mobility Scooter, I had been saving up for one when I was blessed with a windfall.  I might have mentioned that I lived in the UK for 20 years, when I applied for my NZ pension last year I was told that as I lived in the UK part of my pension would be paid by the UK govt as there was a reciprocal agreement, it is administered by the NZ govt so I thought nothing of it, but I did have to fill out lots of forms for the UK.  Well apparently the pension for UK women is 60 years and as I no idea that I qualified for it, I had a rather large amount, deferred. (5 years of back pay)  Whoo hoo!  I was a bit skeptical and was astonished when it turned up in bank account.  It has made such a difference to my life.  As well as investing some of it I have been able to buy things that I needed such as the scooter, a new fridge freezer,  new glasses and a new sewing machine, it has taken a load of my shoulders.

The scooter has blessed me so much, I have been able to make medical appointments without having to try and fit times in with the bus timetable and the biggest blessing is I have been able to shop around for bargains, and most of all go to the local market on Sundays, which is what this post is really about.

My town has two markets, an official Farmers Market on Saturdays, which really caters for the well to do and the weekend visitors that come here from Wellington, it is rather expensive and has posh stuff! Also as I observe the Sabbath it is a ‘no no’ for me. 

The other, really is a glorified Car Boot market run by the Lions organization in the council car park, locals flock to it as a number of lifestyle blockers sell their produce at reasonable prices and generally it is organic produce, there is a honey man, a free range egg lady, a lady selling mushrooms, several local nurseries two selling native plants, one lady selling perennial flowers, a couple of vegetable and flower seedling stalls, some ladies selling pickles and preserves and cakes, then there are the usual bric a brac stalls.  I love it, you get to know the people selling and they sort of become friends, it is wonderful.

This Sunday I took advantage of the good weather and set off on my Scooter, I hadn’t been to it for over a year as it was difficult for me to get to and one needs to get there early for the bargains!  And bargains I did get.

A big bag of figs for $2.50,  Ballarat (cooking) Apples, a heritage variety that makes the perfect apple pie, you cant buy these in the supermarket, But I got 5 for $1.50, a large wedge of pumpkin for $2, egg plants at 50 cents each they are at least $2.50 in the supermarkets.

A huge bunch of watercress for $2.50, I will put half in a bucket and put the bucket under the eaves and if change the water every week I will have my own watercress growing.

A large bag of button chestnut mushrooms for $2 in the supermarket probably cost me about $8.00!

Lovely bargains and it all is organic which is even more of a bonus!  I got some plants as well, a red hibiscus, a pink Japanese anemone, and a red and white ivy geranium; all for $10 at the nursery just one would have cost me at least $10.  I will shoe photos of these later as my batteries for the camera needed recharging.  I am going to have to start taking my camera with me when I am out and about as the town is looking lovely with its red and gold autumn colours.

So I think the scooter is a blessing in my life.  Another blessing is the new sewing machine,  it has made me realize how crappy my old one was, no wondered I put off sewing!  For a long time I had been wanting to change the curtains in my lounge diner, but as there were so many windows it would have cost a fortune for ready made ones and thrift shops don’t usually have curtains for three windows in the same material.  So guess what my first project was…

It has lightened up the place wonderfully, I have a feature wall in that red and having the red has balanced up the area very well.

And as you know once you start changing the colour scheme other things start to occur, like this throw I am crocheting for the lounge area…

What is marvellous I already had this wool in my stash!

Phew, I am so ready for my supper now!  I am having what I call stone soup, do you know the folk tale behind this?  If not I will tell all in the next day or so and hopefully I will have photos of my neighbourhood, as I am charging the batteries of my camera.

A forgotton Art

I have been reading a lot of “frugal” blogs lately.  All seem to agree that growing your own stuff is a big factor in paring down costs. 

As I have mentioned before I was unable to put in a proper summer vegetable garden due to my accident.  I do have stuff growing, that some friend planted for me when I was in hospital.  One of them was broccoli.  They put in 12 plants and now I have a massive glut.  I could freeze it but as I have a small freezer and I can grow it all year round, it seems a wasted effort.  But, it has worked out well...   While I was waiting for the bus last week, a neighbour popped out and asked whether I wanted any zucchini (my friend never put any zucchini in), would I ever, for some reason they are still expensive in the shops.  In the conversation, I mentioned I had a glut of broccoli, her eyes lit up.  So a swap was made.  She also mentioned that she only grew strawberries and zucchinis these days (she is in her 80’s), and that she was tired of eating strawberries every day. Well my strawberry patch was useless this year due to lack of attention in the spring.  But my blackberries are going to be a massive crop this year.  So we arranged that I will have some of her strawberries and give her some of my blackberries when they ripen. 

This made me think, in my childhood, I remember the neighbors swapping stuff with my parents, someone had lots of apple trees and we had lots of plum trees and so on.  So, as an experiment I knocked on a neighbour’s door who has a peach tree in her front garden with peaches rotting on the ground.  I asked her if she would mind if I took some peaches and I could give her some of my apples or plums when they were ready.  Well she almost gave me a huge hug!  The peach tree was there when she moved in and didn’t want to chop it down as it provided some shade in the summer, but she can’t stand peaches!  But she loves apples, so a swap was arranged, I have peaches and when my apples are ready I will supply (I have 3 apple trees so it will be no hardship!).  Now I have 3 baskets of peaches to preserve, and more to come.  She also told me that she had planted too many tomatoes, would I like some.  Yes I would, would she like some free range eggs as a friend from the country always brings me a dozen every week in exchange for some editing and graphic design of a newsletter for her business.  Yes she would.

The moral of all of this is even if you can’t grow something or your crop has failed for some reason the old barter system is a wonderful way to be thrifty.  It has a plus side, it is a way to get to know your neighbours and create a caring community feel that is fast disappearing from modern life.

Another thing I have learnt in the last week or so, where there is a will there is a way!  I have been desperate to get out into the garden and get on with preparing my Autumn and Winter vegetable plot.  Being on crutches has hindered that desire, not any longer I have discovered that spades and forks make wonderful crutches and I can garden after a fashion!!  It is tiring but I can do it and it is amazing that 10 minutes actually adds up quite quickly.  Luckily my hips are quite good and bending is not a problem.  I am also sure that it will be good for the healing process as well.

Well that is it for today, hope to see you soon.

Sharon

The 3 "C"s - Cats,Crochet and Cakes

It has been several weeks since I have posted!  I have been under the weather and had to rest up.  I took the opportunity to get stuck into my obsession – crochet.  One project which only took one hour or so and as a result have got hooked on washcloths!  This dish cloth has been in constant use and I will be making more.

When I was in the wool shop buying some cotton, I saw the many wonderful colours that wool comes in these days.  How I resisted I don t know.  Maybe it was the thought of all that wool in my trunk from my tapestry kit making days.  Needless to say I got some of the wool out and within a week had completed this small throw and a cushion cover  to match (Well to be honest I still have the backing of the cushion to crochet).  I draped the throw on the bed and went to get my camera.  Came back and what do I see my lovely cats firmly ensconced.  What is even more remarkable these two never sleep near each other.

Ever since it has been a battle to get them off it, Bro the black one usually spends the day outdoors, but for the last week he has been inside a lot on this little throw.  I have given up, it is theirs!

So, I fished out of my trunk some more wool, big hanks of Paterna wool.  There will be enough to make a proper sized blanket.  I have already made great inroads on it.  Crochet is so easy to do in bed or listening to the radio.  It is very addictive.

I am feeling a lot better now and yesterday was back firing on all of my cylinders.  But it was pouring with rain so I couldn’t get into the garden.  I have always wanted to make a teapot cozy, so trawled the internet for patterns.  I didn’t really want to do any I saw, I want a homey one!  There are some astonishing  tea cozies out there!  So decided to do a plain one and sew flowers on it.  How to do flowers?  Well I found a wonderful blog Attic 24 with instructions .  So I spent the morning doing Lucy’s tutorials with odd scraps of wool.  I feel quite chuffed; all I needed to do was make the cozy!  Completed last night.  Tah Dah!

So feeling pleased with myself this morning, I duck out in the rain to view what could be picked for dinner (I like to have my main meal midday,) and saw a few stalks of Rhubarb appearing.  Not enough to make a bowl full, but enough to make my favourite cakey dessert that my grandmother used to bake a lot.  The fruit can be varied according what you have on hand.  I didn’t really have enough rhubarb so added one apple.  (It is rather special if the fruit has a tang to it.)

Gran’s Fruity Cakey Dessert

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups s/r flour or plain flour with 1 ½ tsp BP

¾ cup sugar

120g melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

Topping – fruit of choice

2 tbsp. sugar

Method

Combine flour, sugar, butter vanilla and eggs.  Put in greased pan and top with chopped fruit.  Sprinkle the sugar on top and bake 180 Celsius for up to one hour.  Serve with custard, cream or plain yogurt.  This really freezes well.

All in all a productive few days.

See you again soon.

I am a firm believer just because I am living frugally; it doesn't mean that I can’t have a bit of decadence from time to time.  I don’t often have desserts, but when I do often apples or lemons feature.  One of favourite desserts involving apples is Tarte Tatin.  I had brought 2 Kilos of apples cheap last weekend and was preparing them for a crumble to freeze.  I had planned to have soup for tea last night as I had my main meal of Chili con carne at Midday.  The apples were calling out Apple Tarte Tatin, but I had no puff pastry to hand and did not feel like making pastry.  (I need to watch my fat intake!) Oh well I thought I will do an apple pancake with some of the stewed apples.  But that thought of gooey caramel wouldn't leave me.

I wonder I thought, do the apples the same way for the tart, and pour some pancake batter over.  Success one of the scummiest desserts ever!

Caramel Apple Pancakes

This is a method more than a recipe.  Serves 2.

Slice one apple and fry it in butter gently.

When starting to brown add some raisins and walnuts (opt).  Turn the heat down and add some brown sugar.

While the apples were frying make some batter from 1 cup (4oz or 125gm) s/r flour, 1 egg and enough milk to make a thickish batter.

Pour batter over apples and continue to cook till bubbles appear.  At this pont I had a problem as I tried to turn the pancake over it fell apart.  But I went with it as I thought it looked rustic.

Cook till it is puffed up and golden underneath.  Next time I might put the pancake in the oven to finish off.  But I like the look of it as it looked like real comfort food and it is quicker this way.

I treated myself to a tablespoon of whipped cream and enjoyed.  The rest was great for breakfast this morning.

The weather is disgusting today, spoilt by last week’s balmy spring days.  So, no gardening but a chance to get on with some crochet!  Maybe I should take a leaf out of my cat’s book!  Well it is an excuse not to make the bed!