Last bit of work for the end of 2024

This past week I haven't done much outdoors--it's been dark and miserable.  However I did manage to visit the allotment twice for sheet mulch--I'm back to collecting cardboard boxes from my work, a few at a time.  I've got the tomato bed covered and am now moving on to the (large) squash bed.  Little by little.  Over the summer one of my allotment neighbors brought in several stacks of large cardboard pieces from his workplace, I assume a warehouse.  These were wonderful for sheet mulch!  But I haven't seen him for a few months now, so I'm collecting what I can--small pieces are better than nothing.  I've been covering it with used stable bedding from onsite:  horse manure and straw.

At home I'm mainly only going out to give scraps to the chickens and ducks.  We are letting each flock take turns free ranging the lawn for an hour or so in the evenings;  the seven chickens are still laying a couple eggs a week but haven't seen any eggs from Girl Duck for a while.  She may have laid some, I just haven't gone looking--too dark and miserable.

I picked a few sprigs of fennel and mint the other day to make some tea (cutting back on caffeine).  I'm also still harvesting a few radishes and beets;  I've had all the big ones now, it's on to the smalls.  Also leeks, cabbage, turnips.  I'm whittling down my squash stash, still hanging out on their own rug in the living room;  and the bags of various frozen summer veg (I can't believe how many tomatoes I froze!).  And of course, eating kimchi, sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers, etc.

I'm ready for my Christmas break, though work and school don't finish till the end of the week (and not till next week for the poor husband).  I will be away from the blog until January, when I will reveal my grand food total of 2024.  I know I haven't been logging it here, but it's all written down on my wall calendar in my kitchen.  Will I beat 2023, my best year yet?  I better get my calculator out:  I can't wait to find out.

Revisiting the Vegetable Challenge?

Last Christmas, supermarkets had a special on certain vegetables, much cheaper than usual;  this has happened for a few years in a row and we knew to stock up.  So for about four days, we went in and bought around 10 kg of various fresh veg;  we froze some, dehydrated some, and kept the rest for fresh eating.  It was mostly carrots, parsnips and swede, but a few kgs each of potatoes, cabbage and Brussels sprouts too.  So obviously, 10 kg a day for four days was about 40 kg in less than a week.  We were in production mode for several weeks afterward, keeping the dehydrator and freezer trays going.

But here's the thing:  we still have nearly all the dehydrated carrots, parsnips and swede in the cupboard.  It's not that it's inconvenient to use;  on the contrary, it's so easy to just tip some into a stew (and we eat plenty of stew!), curry, stir fry, whatever.  And I haven't forgotten it's there either--it's just that this year I've had so much fresh veg from the garden, my dehydrated veg hasn't been needed.

In past years I've done a no-buy vegetable challenge for several months at a time, eating only veg we grew ourselves, were given/traded, or otherwise got for free.  The longest we officially went without eating bought vegetables was seven months (however, I did buy some veg at the six month mark, which officially broke that challenge).  This is something for myself, setting and keeping my own rules;  I stopped doing it after Brexit because of food security worries (luckily unfounded, at least so far).

So this year yet again, no official challenge, yet we really have gone nearly all year without buying much veg;  the only vegetables I've put on the list are onions, something I still haven't succeeded with yet--and one weekly carrot for the small daughter's lunchbox (somehow I didn't buy carrot seed until too late for this spring).  

We really could have gone without these two, although I would have missed onions, as I use them every day (I'm trying again next year).  My freezer is a third full of garden/allotment veg (the other two thirds are meat and berries); I have two shelves in my cupboard full of dried, pickled and preserved fruit and veg;  and my fridge is half full of jars of fermented vegetables/kimchi.  Not to mention the fresh veg still standing, waiting for harvest at both the allotment and garden.

Will I restart the Challenge next year?  Can I officially go the whole year?  I'm not sure!  But maybe 2025 will be the year to try.

Harvesting, cooking and eating; and a goodbye, December 2024

Thanksgiving was a success;  we had a green vegetable medley with fresh cabbage and leek and frozen green beans;  I also made my pumpkin pie recipe with our own eggs and squash, and a cherry tart with the last of the freezer cherries (which were more than a year in the freezer).  Along with our turkey, stuffing, gravy and mashed potatoes and our friends' three delicious side dishes, we even had a glass of home brewed currant wine.  I ate and ate and ate...

On Sunday (the only day I can usually collar the son) we went up to the allotment to pick all the remaining beets, mostly small but a few big ones left:  about three pounds altogether.  Once home I immediately dumped these into my big slow cooker to cook for later pickling.  I also brought home five or six turnips, another big mini daikon (I need a better name for these--mini implies small, but they aren't small! How about just white radish?) and a nice big leek.  I also cooked and seasoned the turnip greens (the chickens got the frostbitten radish leaves);  the roots are for cooking during the week.

At school the daughter learned a song about Five a Day (she's four years old).  I try to serve her and the son five veg a day, and most if not all is homegrown;  she really enjoys counting out our daily veg, and often it's even more than five.  Sometimes she says she doesn't like something, but almost always eats it anyway.

But on a sad note, we lost one of our rescue hens last week;  we adopted her cohort of four in September of 2023, so she was with us for just over a year.  She and the other three we christened the Specklies, as we gave up individually naming hens many years ago;  we were sorry to say goodbye to this Speckly, and hope the rest of her flock mates will stay with us for a good while longer.

After the snow, looking forward to Thanksgiving

The daughter in the garden, November 2024

Our first cold snap lasted almost a full week, with daytime temps just a few degrees above freezing, and snow still lingering until Saturday afternoon when it finally washed away in a rainstorm.  It looks as though most of my lettuce, cabbage, radishes, pak choi, komatsuna, cauliflower and fennel in the kitchen garden survived.  I had to rearrange the netting covering the cauliflower and komatsuna as it had been knocked down by the weight of the snow--also one piece of wire at the edge of the bed (chicken and duck deterrent) was also dragged down--but no lasting damage.  

Most things standing at the allotment were actually laying down when we visited on Sunday.  While the purple sprouting broccoli and leeks looked much the same, the leaves of beets, radishes, turnips and artichokes had all flopped over, looking a bit sad.  The son and daughter cleared away the last of the cherry tomatoes and achocha vines, then the remaining corn stalks;  these all went into our composters.  I, meanwhile, pulled some veg for the week:  beets (plus extra for a friend), radishes and a big leek.  The roots were undamaged by the frost and I was able to still salvage some of the radish greens for eating (chickens got the limp beet greens).

It's Thanksgiving this week!  What are we making?  The husband is in charge of the turkey and mashed potatoes (both bought this year), and our friends are bringing a vegetable dish (possibly including the beets I gave them earlier) and a dessert.  We are definitely serving something from the allotment/garden but I don't exactly know what--possibly some green beans out of the freezer, and maybe some squash puree as a vegetable dish too;  there is potential for a fresh (small) cabbage, some radishes or turnips.  The son is in charge of stuffing which will use some fresh thyme and sage, both still leafy.  I will also use some herbs in the gravy and I am in charge of my favorite pumpkin pie, using one of my beautiful squashes.

Before the frost

I saw that we were due for a cold snap, our first real frost of the season;  though I've seen a little frost on cars and at the park, none of it had touched the allotment or garden yet.  So with this news in mind, I've been gathering in the last of the autumn harvest over the weekend.

At home the only thing left (the only thing I'm not confident about, that is) was the lettuce;  accordingly, on Saturday I picked every large-ish leaf I could find, soaked them and put them in a container in the fridge, loosely covered.  We ate these within a few days.  The plants still remain in situ;  maybe they'll survive the frost to grow a few more salads.

On Sunday the son and I trekked up to the allotment with two big bags and filled them:  the last of the cherry tomatoes, green and red;  all but the smallest achochas;  every ear of corn (all baby corn, the kind you might find in a stir fry);  and the last few artichokes.  

We also came home with some more beets, radishes (black and white) and three huge purple topped turnips.  I'm proud of those turnips, never having grown any larger than a golf ball.  I have quite a lot of all of these still growing, but I'm not too worried about them as they are somewhat frost hardy.  I considered bringing home a leek or two but thought I'd wait till next week as they actually improve after a frost.

And I cleared away all the climbing bean vines, purple- and green-podded, and stashed them in our little allotment shed for drying;  these will hopefully be seed for next year, so long as the rats don't eat them--they did once when I left some pea vines to dry in our garage.

I can rest safely now, knowing I got everything in on time, and that I have plenty of standing veg to come.

Tidying up

On Sunday our family walked up to the allotment with some sheet mulch materials, quickly dropped them off and walked back across the street to the war memorial to attend the Remembrance Service there for half an hour.  Afterward, the daughter and husband had a quick tea and biscuit at the village hall before joining the son and I already at work.

The son and I started by pulling out all the plum tomato plants and their supports;  we collected the last couple of pounds, mainly green but a few orange and red;  these I later blended up with onion, garlic, chili flakes and salt to make 2 L of fermented salsa.  Once cleared away, we laid down some saved waste wool sheets (from the insulated boxes our monthly milk delivery arrives in) and on top of these some cardboard and thick paper feed sacks. 

Once we used up all our cardboard--though it wasn't enough to fully cover the bed--the son and daughter walked up to the stables on site to collect some manure and straw to mulch over the top;  they both have their own wheelbarrows, a big and a small, and they made three trips.  

Meanwhile the husband was busy clearing the old pallets and bits of board at the very back of the plot, sorting out the rubbish from the keepers (mostly rubbish I think).  And I tidied up the paths all the way up one side of the plot and halfway up the other.  I pulled up the old carpet and rubber/plastic sheeting from the paths and put it back down, laying it over the edge of the beds, on top where the grass and weeds were creeping over (I flipped over each piece of carpet too, to smother any weeds growing in it);  I try to do this once a year, as the grass from the beds tries to take over the paths, which the carpet and rubber are there to prevent!  The son and husband had to help with one particularly big piece which we relocated to the back where the husband had cleared away a very grassy space;  which we will leave covered probably a full year at least before trying to grow there again.

We left with a big sack of tomatoes, some more nice big radishes, beets and achocha*.  Later at home, after making and bottling the salsa, I also chopped and cooked all the radish and beet greens (separately);  I've read that radish greens can be made into kimchi too!  But this week we're eating them boiled, cooled/drained/(well squeezed) and seasoned with oil, vinegar and soy sauce.  

*And to my complete surprise, I found two more squashes:  I originally had eight, then ten, and now twelve! 

Cooking and preserving radishes

Last week the kids and I were off school/work (I work at a school) for half term, and we did some harvesting at the allotment.  The tomatoes are still going, though slowing, and we also brought home some beets and a few more achocha (just when I thought they'd finished);  but the main event was a big bag of cooking radishes. 

I know, I know, no photos;  I'm a pathetic blogger.  If I was trying to make money off this blog I might try harder!  But that's not me;  I'm not in it for the clicks.  You'll have to believe me when I say we brought home about 8# of radishes (and 2# of toms and another 3# of beets--the son heroically carried home those heavy bags)!

Most were black Spanish radishes, the smallest of which were only slightly smaller than a tennis ball (bigger than a golf ball) and the biggest about softball size (huge!);  I couldn't believe the size of them actually, considering I only put the seed down in August.  I pulled just two of the so-called "mini" daikon radishes as my bag was full by this point, but both were like extra-large white carrots.  Normal daikon radishes can be several feet long so the mini description is accurate in comparison, but they came in at about 1# each including the tops--hardly mini in my book.

All but the three smallest black roots (these will be for cooking in stew) went into a new batch of dongchimi, a type of water kimchi.  I peeled the black ones--white on the inside--but didn't bother with the daikons and then sliced them all thinly with my mandolin;  together they filled my spare 1.8 L jar and are fermenting happily on my kitchen counter.  I still have about a quarter left of my kohlrabi dongchimi from August;  I love it so much I've been making it last but now I have a new batch I can go to town on it. 

The lush and full radish tops I cooked and seasoned similarly to my beet tops and we ate them with dinner for several days running;  these were about half of the total radish weight.  While tasty, they were a bit more fibrous than the beet tops;  in the future I will remember to cook a bit longer to ensure tenderness.

The radish bed is still pretty full and is next to a bed of turnips destined for the same treatment.  It's shaping up to be a kimchi-filled winter.