We'll Go Gathering Nuts In May

Well September actually. Last Monday I decided to take a walk with the boys, down the hill to meet Daddy at bus stop on his way home from work. It isn't a rural walk - 'down the hill' means walking down the side of a major road - but there is always something to see or find (you know the kind of things boys like to pick up: feathers, stones, sticks, unmentionable things). It is quite a little nature corridor, for all the cars screaming past. The road was dug out of some fairly old woodland and the last vestiges of it overhang the side on which we normally walk (our allotments are behind houses on the other side).

As we ambled along, I stopped to pick up the feather that had dropped from Elisha's hat and spied treasure on the grass. Small, very green but unmistakably ... a cobnut. We continued on our way to meet Rob and on the way back made a comprehensive search of the grass verge. The squirrels had gotten there before us and of the 20 or so we collected only 6 or 7 actually had nuts inside them, but I was thrilled. Cobnuts are a variety of hazelnut that grows particularly well in the UK, traditionally in the county of Kent (where we happen to live). I had never seen them growing wild before. We'll mark the spot and remember to come back before the squirrels next year, we told ourselves.

'I have a surprise for you!' Rob told me, a couple of days later on his return from the allotment. He had discovered a cobnut tree growing not far from our plot, in part of the 'common' hedgerow. He only noticed it because he had dropped something and saw the nuts on the grass. Their husks are green so they are hard to spot unless you are up close. He went out the next night with a bucket! We stripped them, but left them in their shells and the tally so far is 6 pounds in weight. Treasure indeed. Nuts are not cheap to buy and properly stored these should last until Christmas - if they get the chance! I haven't found an empty one yet either. Their taste is like a hazel nut but fresh and 'green' if you know what I mean. They will dry out and get more 'nutty' and you can also roast them.

I wish my Mum was here to see them. I remember her telling me many stories about growing up in the East End of London in the 1920's and 30's. She often mentioned that in the summer large numbers of men and women (either unemployed or on the annual factory shutdown) would travel down to the market gardens and farms of Kent to go 'hopping': picking the hops needed for the breweries. She never went herself. Her father considered the work too hard for a young girl and the moral climate in the tent communities that sprung up to house the workers far too lax. Her older brothers went though and brought back souvenirs - enormous 'hopping apples' and cobnuts, both of which were a great treat and never forgotten. At one time Kent 'The Garden Of England', was full of, amongst other things, cobnut orchards or 'plats'. As I've said, the cobnut grows well here and is naturally hardy and pest resistant. You would think there would be a market for them, wouldn't you, but most of our hazelnuts in the shops come from Turkey or even China. It can't be right. 'Our' cobnut tree seems to have been overlooked by other allotment holders and squirrels alike and I wonder how many others are in this area unidentified. Our eyes are peeled.

Cooking From Scratch

A few weeks ago someone said to me “Oh I think it’s wonderful how you cook every thing from scratch”. Much as I would have loved to bask in such praise, I had to confess and assure them that I reach for the ready meal and jar of sauce far more than I should. Truth is that some time ago I misplaced my frugal motivation and I’m finding it very hard to get back into the habit of making things from scratch again.

There are a number of things I used to make regularly but no longer do (granola, cakes, biscuits etc) and many more that I would like to try but never have (mayonnaise for example). I’ve been thinking about the whole business of cooking from scratch and how to make it work for me again. So here are some (very) random ideas for kick starting the process:

Think about why you want to cook from scratch: Identify your motivation. Is it to save money (if so do you have a goal)? Is it to broaden your tastebuds or acquire new skills? Is it to provide a healthier alternative for your family? It is important to know your motivation so that you can picture it and keep it in mind to inspire you when you are discouraged or tired and want to give up.

Look at your cupboard shelves: Look at the foods you normally buy, that your family likes. Is it possible to make healthier homemade varieties of these items? Or less expensive versions? Start with the things you routinely buy and make a list. No point in making granola if you never buy it because nobody likes it (though you may want to tempt them with it further down the line).

Look at the supermarket shelves or at the Farmers' Market. Are there things that you would like to buy but can’t because they so expensive, or things that you won’t buy because they are stuffed with nasties but that you would quite like to eat if they weren’t? Make a list.

Look at your cookery books and online for recipes and ideas. Much as I love recipe books (and I really do – vintage ones are especially helpful in this venture) the internet is an incredible treasure trove and you can find a recipe for practically every product or dish you might want to copy at home.

Think about your circumstances and what will work best for you. Does the recipe require equipment you don’t have and can’t borrow or improvise? Does it require time and a level of attention duing the process that you just can’t spare right now, or ingredients that just aren’t readily available where you live.

If you are starting cooking from scratch practically from scratch, start with one thing at a time. If you are starting again after a period of ‘backsliding’, go easy too. Trying to introduce a lot of new things to most families all at once is a recipe for disaster and many tears on the part of the one doing the cooking.

Repeat that ‘one thing’ as often as your family and your budget can stand it until you get a result you are all happy with. You first loaf of bread may not be up to much (mine wasn’t) but your tenth will be (unless of course your yeast is out of date – please don’t ask me how I know this). Some things it must be said are so very easy to make that you can get good results first time and you will wonder why anyone would ever want to buy it ready made. But be realistic, especially if you are wanting to do this for reasons of your budget. Not everything made from scratch is cheaper than the ‘factory made’ article, especially if you are skilled at using coupons or spotting great mark downs. It almost always tastes better and is better for you, but when you are really on a bare-bones budget it just may not be possible, especially if you would have to buy a lot of new ingredients for it.

Keep your perspective. This is only food. Home making is not a competitive sport. I have never come across anyone in the blogosphere who makes it that for others but I do sometimes make it that for myself. When this happens we can become easily discouraged, depressed and bitter, bringing no joy to the Lord or our families and certainly not to ourselves. You are not a bad mother if you buy your child a birthday cake from the store and serve up sandwiches on shop bought bread. Cooking from scratch is not a spiritual virtue. It is not wrong to want to do more than you are doing and to want to do the best you possibly can for your family (however you may see it) but if you were able to do it all at once and do it perfectly, you would probably be doing it already.

For me, cooking from scratch – whether food items or whole meals – is a very enjoyable and creative part of my role as a wife and mother. I like learning new skills and not being dependent on going to the store for things. Some of the things I make from scratch we just can’t buy in the local shops and we can’t afford them in the shops that do sell them. I’d like to think that my family is healthier because of it (although I think that is really down to God’s goodness). But anyone who reads this blog will see from the ‘For Dinner Tonight’ posts just how often tiredness, boredom and plain old bad organisation has me reaching for the microwave. I’m not in a position to pontificate on this subject at all but I do need to remind myself of just how well cooking from scratch works for me. I hope it will work for you too.

For lots of splendid tips and advice visit http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/

Our Weekend

We spent a very happy and contented 'home centred' weekend, but I have to say it did feel like a whirlwind of activity. Rob was not joking when he said that the black currants were like marbles! I have never seen such a harvest of them. They must really like all the rain we have been having. All the berries seem to in fact (with the exception of strawberries which were very poor this year). We are still holding our breath concerning the tomatoes, courgettes and garlic. But this weekend, for the first time in ages, it seems, the weather was fine and Rob took advantage of it to do some major picking.

Of course, once picked they all have to be processed and what to do for the best? Both our freezers (half of a fridge freezer and a similar sized upright one) were already short on space. Oh for the massive chest freezer my parents had! So we changed our plans. Instead of open freezing and bagging the black currants we stewed them down and pureed them. The puree we froze in 2 cup measures in plastic containers (Chinese take-away containers actually), popping out the blocks when frozen to store in plastic bags. The theory is that this way we can use the puree for ice-cream, yoghurt or for jam making. We make a cross between a jelly and a jam with most of our fruit - avoiding the pippy-ness of jam but getting a higher yield than just using the juice. The boys call it, not surprisingly, 'Jelly Jam'. This, on and off, took most of the weekend, together with making black currant cordial and, a new one for us, rhubarb and ginger cordial (I found some of last year's rhubarb in the freezer and thought I'd use it up to save space).

Add to this hoovering, washing and hanging on the line, a shopping trip to Lidl, playing with the boys, visits to the park, a trip to the recycling bank and the charity shops, cooking, endless washing up and all the usual Sabbath day pursuits ... we are exhausted and would dearly like another weekend, right now, to get over the last one!

Works For Me Wednesday: Thermos Flask

If you have one of those amazing wall mounted heaters that heats water to boiling in an instant or a coffee maker that does the same for you, all this won’t apply to you, but I use a kettle for boiling up water for tea and coffee. I have gone through two electric kettles in less than four years (a long and frustrating story – is nothing made to last anymore?) and so we have recently invested in the kind that sits on the gas ring and shrieks at you when the water is ready. It is enamelled steel, designed to last decades, red, glossy and to my mind a thing of domestic beauty. Its one drawback is that it takes an age to boil and we mothers have to grab our coffee when we can. Added to that it has no gauge and I find it hard to boil only the water I need for the purpose, wasting time and energy. So I adopted a trick from an elderly and very frugal friend. I fill up the kettle, let it boil, use what I want at the time and pour the rest into a large Thermos flask. I do it in the morning, for that last cup of tea before Rob leaves for work and the water sees me through the day. It is instantly available should I have need for a coffee or tea and I save on the fuel bill.

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer

Why It Pays To Recycle

We have no recycling collection where we live. The rest of the borough does (and we certainly pay for it in our Council Tax) but we don't. Something to do with being above a shop and not having a front entrance. So every Sunday afternoon, after church and lunch, we have a little recycling ritual. We load up the baby buggy with newspapers, jars, bottles and milk cartons and trundle off en famille to our nearest recycling point (we have no car you see). Sometimes we are handsomely rewarded. Today was such a day. In a plastic bag, by the side of the paper bank, was this:

Now our Council does not, as yet, recycle electrical items. The local charity shops will not take them just in case they blow up and you sue. So this was just dumped. No one to give it to. Too much trouble to put on Freecycle. Well, thanks be to God. We have wanted a radio for our bedroom for a very long time and this one plays cassettes too. The CD contraption does not work, but it may be possible to repair it. They boys were entranced with it and lay on the floor in the hall listening to it as if they had never heard a radio or cassette player before. They christened it 'the Recordio'!

Growing Your Own

We hope to harvest this year, God willing:

Red Currants

Black Currants

Gooseberries

Blackberries

Lingonberries

Loganberries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Blueberries (we had 12 the first year - one for each muffin)

Garlic

Potatoes (new and old)

Tomatoes (Roma and Sungold)

Pickling Onions

Sweetcorn (never tried growing this before)

Carrots

Pumpkins

Butternut Squash

Courgettes

Lettuce

Celery

Broad Beans

Borlotti Beans

Celeriac (again new for us)

Beetroot

Apples (it is the third year for our oldest tree so we will hopefully gather a few - the cooking apples, pears, plums and cherries will have to wait another year)

We have been so greatly blessed by our allotments, since moving here in 2004. As soon as we had a moving date to come here my resourceful husband had searched out the nearest allotment society and asked to be put on the waiting list. By a miracle there was no waiting list at that time and we were able to sign up straight away.

Allotment growing is undergoing a huge renaissance at the moment - it is a very fashionable pursuit indeed. For us, growing our own is a practical necessity and the food we grow on the allotment contributes a huge part to our household ecconomy. With careful storage and preservation of the harvest we hope to eventually become almost self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables (and there is the added blessing of being able to share our surplus with friends and neighbours). We try to be as organic as possible and certainly without it we would not be able to afford shop bought organic vegetables. Before we had the allotment I calculated our weekly fruit and veg bill and worked out how much it would be if we switched to organic. Three times as much!

I would greatly recommend growing your own to anyone with even a tiny square of outside space. Even a window box could be put to frugal use to grow something like salad leaves, for example (for less than the price of a bag of designer salad leaves you can get a packet of seeds that will supply you for much of the summer). You can even recycle old containers to save money. We grow lettuce and celery in 6 pint milk containers and onions and carrots in catering size yoghurt pots salvaged from our local Indian restaurant.

Simply Green: Repairing Things

Danny Seo’s blog Simply Green is a fantastic resource of green, eco-friendly ideas for the home. I love his premise ‘reduce, reuse, recycle and repair’. Yesterday he blogged about trying to get his ipod repaired and his frustration with the ‘replace, not repair’ culture.

I can recall a number of occasions where items we own have broken and we have been told “it just isn’t worth repairing”. Oddly it always seems to happen to the things we have bought new (rare as that is) rather than the older items we have been given or bought second hand. Electrical items are the worst. But this week we had a good experience. A couple of years ago I was given a Kenwood Chef Food Mixer – not only a design classic but a very efficient kitchen work-horse. It was a 1970’s model, possibly older– these things were built to last a lifetime. Sadly, last week, in the middle of a batch of bread dough, it breathed its last. We looked at the newer models available and I realised that the one that would be best for our family’s needs (and be most like the old one) was not the £150 model but the semi-professional, heavy duty £400 plus one (I might have guessed as much).

Then we discovered that, to our joy, our local, tiny and very quaint, independent electrical shop (a rarity itself) would be able to arrange for a repair. We await an estimate. The shop’s owner (who has run it for over 40 years) looked approvingly when we mentioned it was a Kenwood Chef. The quality of the workmanship and parts in the early models was so good, he told us, that they are well worth repairing if possible – in fact they were designed to be repaired. It seems that so much today, isn’t.

I am blessed with a husband who is very good at fixing things (aside from a Kenwood Chef that is). Our boys love to watch him; in fact they are of the firm opinion that Daddy can fix anything, absolutely anything – household items, toys, broken biscuits. He learnt by watching his father and also had the benefit of woodwork and engineering classes at school. Such practical and useful subjects are rather out of fashion these days in most schools or so I am led to believe, thanks to an emphasis on academic league tables and a fear of lawsuits. I think such practical skills are of huge importance and I’m very happy that we will be able to include the teaching of them in our homeschooling. I think our boys will be too.