autumnal harvesting

afternoon folks,

we're having a day off (at least from building work) today and so i thought i'd take the opportunity to update the blog.....

before i move onto the food related stuff a few updates on the barn progress for those who are dying to know where we're at:

- the main living/dining/kitchen room is coming along nicely. it's now over half floored but we have to wait until we can finish the rest because.....wait for it.....this is pretty exciting.....

- the new stone masons have arrived and started work on the fireplace!!! after we waited for months and months for the previous stone masons to reappear (they never did!) we've now got some new fellas in to do the work and it's going well - we should have a nice stone/chestnut fireplace by next week - photographs to come.

- we've got some raw chestnut planks from which we plan to make the cupboard doors for the hall and various other locations - they should look real nice.

- after some considerable debate/measuring/design we've figured out a way that we can utilise the walnut table top we got (thanks benjamin!) to make the kitchen unit counter which we plan to start soon - it should look great.

ok, now on to food!

we dug up the potatoes, onions and beetroots a few days ago and they're now being stored for use in the coming months.

here's a nice shot of some potatoes:



we've also pretty much finished with the greenhouses for this year as last week we had some pretty severe frost which finished off many of the more mediterranean plants.

the aubergines were already finished and so there was no problem there but the peppers/chillies/tomatoes took a bit of a kicking and so some serious preservation is now underway.

nikki has already made a batch of green tomato chutney and is, as i type, making a green tomato and green pepper relish.

here are the unripe little fellas for your viewing pleasure:



and the chillies hung up to dry (we also have a few jars in oil which were VERY nice last year):



we've also had a few trips to the forest to gather nuts!

here are some of the walnuts that we collected from the huge walnut tree we've got:



nikki has already made some great walnut/fresh basil pesto as well as nikki/monkey boy making great walnut/fruit and nut speciality breads - they're so good!

then, a few days later, we went and collected absolutely loads of sweet chestnuts.

we've had a few helpings of delicious roasted chestnuts already and there are loads more to look forward to!

here they are with a cat in the shot for scale:



finally - monkey boy made nikki a beautiful ash training sword for her birthday.

the photographs don't do justice to the grain, colour or carvings but here are a couple of shots anyway:





it's a beauty - no?

ok, i've got some reading to do and so i'm off.....

next time, gairy.

so much to blog..... so little time

Howdy y'all.

I've been meaning to update the blog for a while, but we have just been too damn busy!

As there is a lot to show you I'll keep the writing to a minimum (as I know most people only look at the pictures anayway!).

Firstly, here's a cute picture of Taco:



And here you can see Rudie loving "stick".



On the work front: Last week we started preparing the foundations for the workshop floor. We started by digging trenches and then filling them with cement foundations to lay the joists on:



Then we laid the joists on top:



Then the second section joists went in:



And here is the finished floor:



We used local pine planks. Check out the nicely finished steps:



And with the door fitted. All our doors are solid pine and we plan to oil them and give an oak wash so they match the majority of the floor.



Here's the downstairs hall after the walls were washed down and the floor fitted.



This is the spare room after the insulation went in and just as the floor started to be laid:



Here it is again with the finished floor (looks pretty good, no?)



Here's a lovely picture of mine and Gairy's room - can't wait to move in!



We've also made some major progress with the upstairs bathroom - it's pretty much done!



I am so looking forward to the first hot bath!



Here's a good picture of the bathroom unit that the boys made out of chestnut - lovely.



Apart from all the hard work that is going on round here, there was a sad incident that took place today. Being Saturday there were dreaded hunters around and 3 of the hunter's dogs seemed to find themselves alone with our chickens. Unfortunately they killed one of our 12 chicken - which we were not best pleased about. After Monkey Boy and Taco chased them off, we decided the only thing was to have chicken for supper. We made a roast dinner and all our ingredients were home produce - potatoes, parsnips, beetroot, carrots, broccoli, spinach, runner beans and french beans and of course the chicken! Gairy even made a homemade sage and onion stuffing also with all home grown fresh herbs. Much to my excitement Gairy was to eat meat again!



That's all for now folks!

Until next time.....

Nikki

a little belated blog post.....

Hello all you friendly folks!

Just a little quick one to share with you (photos - you can't actually share this) the fantastic birthday present Gairy made for me last month. It is based on a plastic version made by the great makers of Yahtzee. It includes Yahtzee score sheets and dice - both stored in a hand sewn suede pouch, a wooden arena to throw the dice in and a wooden board to use as a back board for writing the scores and it all neatly packs up in itself ready for traveling!

Here it is open with all the contents:

And here it is neatly packed up, with a lovely suede belt and button.

Thanks g - now I've got the homemade backgammon and yahtzee! I can foresee a cosy winter inside playing lots of games - bring it on.

Cheers

Nikki