Monday 1 February 2016

Harvest Monday - quick peep in the freezer

There's a howling gale outside as I write this - these strong winds seem to have been at it every other day for weeks. But at least the rain has had a break today. The sun even shone through when I was on my half hour lunch time walk (a chance to get out of the office for some fresh air).

 

Saturday was quite nice too so Jan and I had a trip to the plot. I went for a couple of hours before lunch and then we both headed down afterwards - it was nice to have a bit of company and it's very satisfying to see what two people have been able to achieve instead of one. Plus it seems amazing that for a lot of last year Jan hardly left the house as she was too ill with her thyroid problem (now thankfully recovered), and look at her now, helping on the plot in January (she's usually a fair weather helper, haha).

 

I've made a start on sorting out the old raised beds - the pallet wood has become rotten and the couch grass keeps creeping in from the sides, so I'm pulling out all the wood and reshaping the beds (currently two large 'U' shaped beds in a mirror image ) into six individual rectangular ones - I'll take my camera next time to get some pics as it's hard to explain. The raised beds were good while they lasted but I don't have any replacement wood and also slugs and snails seem to like hiding in them (plus the couch grass problem). As we were leaving the allotment a big flock of goldfinches landed in a nearby tree and were singing their twinkly song in the last rays of sun....lovely.

 

Anyway, here's what I've got left in the freezer from last year's harvests:

Top shelf is two bags of rocket pesto, tubs of tomato sauce and tubs of stewed fruit. Behind them is peas (sadly not grown by me but I wish they were) and some quorn (which we don't actually use very often).
Below that is cubed squash and behind that is loads of fruit.
Next drawer - more fruit, what a surprise! I don't think Jan's noticed all the strawberry tubs, she'll be very pleased when I take out one of them. The smaller drawer below this has yes, more fruit (and some ends of bread).
I think we're alright for fruit for a while eh! We're buying local apples still but I think when they go out of season I'll take some stewed fruit as a snack to work instead. We're trying to use less plastic so I'm going to use a small glass jar instead. The same goes for the freezer - I was reading on someone's blog the other day (zero waste chef) about how they freeze in jars rather than plastic, so that's definitely worth a go (the best tip was not to use narrow-necked jars as these break when the food expands as it freezes).
 
As usual, this week we've had lots of corn salad and sprouted beans
And eaten our first lot of cress (with egg), grown on the windowsill, yummy. Mark (of Mark's Veg Plot) has helpfully pointed me to a post of his from last year that covered growing cress, and I've taken his advice, sowing the next lot much more thickly.
Tasty lunch, drizzled with the homemade cider vinegar mix leftover from Jan's beetroot, celeriac and orange pickle
This week I've also lifted a few more leeks (this photo makes them look bigger than they were really)
Though not a bad amount to go in the spicy leek and bean soup, made in the slow cooker

Ok, thanks for reading this week and I'm linking in with Harvest Monday, hosted again by Dave at Our Happy Acres (many thanks go to Michelle at From Seed to Table for hosting during January)

 

16 comments:

  1. Well done both of you for getting down to the plot. I need to spend some time at mine as well soon. Just waiting for it to dry up a bit though! I'm very impressed at the lovely neat, organised state of your freezer.

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    1. Thanks CJ. The freezer looks a lot neater now there's less in it. The sun's out again today so I'll hopefully get down again (though it's definitely chillier!)

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  2. Wow - you should come over and organize my freezer! I was just going through one of them today and found all kinds of things I'd forgotten about - A freezer is nowhere near as useful if you don't know what's in there!

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    1. Ha ha, thanks Margaret. well as I've only got 4 compartments it needs to be a bit tidy.
      Our freezer is only just over a year old so I haven't had chance to forget about too much yet. Having said that, I had completely forgotten about the bags of peas as they were tucked away - a nice surprise as I love peas!

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  3. Ditto what Margaret said, how very organized you are! And what a load of fruit you still have ... I was just thinking of grabbing that load of rhubarb out of the freezer. I very often freeze in mason jars instead of plastic containers but I didn't know about the narrow neck thing so thanks! And lovely leeks by the way.

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    1. Thanks Susie. Yep the allotment does produce a lot of fruit, and the fruit bushes etc don't need much looking after so it feels like a real bonus. it was the main reason I wanted a bigger freezer (we only used to have two drawers).
      That's a good idea about the mason jars, I have a lot of empty ones at the moment.

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  4. Thanks for the peek in your freezer! Mine is not always so well organized, though I try. We too have a lot of fruit in there at the moment, and it is so nice to hive. I use a mix of plastic and glass jars, and the wide neck glass is also easier to get things out of if they are not completely thawed.

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    1. Thanks Dave, the fruit is a real bonus, we'd never buy all that variety from the market. A small tub of organic berries was about £3 last summer so goodness knows what all ours would've cost!
      Yep I think I'll def have a go at freezing in wide mouthed jars.

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  5. I have to confess to using more plastic than I should for freezer storage. I like putting things in vacuum sealed bags, it really does prevent freezer burn. I wish my corn salad would get big enough to harvest, but the birds always seem to beat me to it. Maybe later, I've got some growing under cover.

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    1. Hi Michelle, I'm quite lazy when it comes to drying things off properly before freezing so I tend to get a lot of freezer burn. And all the berries etc stick together, making it 'fun' to just get a few out. But maybe if I start using jars I'll be a bit more attentive.
      Luckily the birds don't seem to go for the corn salad over here, phew.

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  6. Have you read my post about lack of goldfinches and are trying to make me jealous?

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    1. Aw, sorry sue hehe, no I haven't seen your post yet. Oh, the Norwich city centre starling murmeration is back - I could actually see it in the distance from my 6th floor office yesterday afternoon. I'll have to head in to town one afternoon to see it up close again.

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  7. Oh I'm jealous of your leeks, mine were a dead loss this year, more like spring onions!

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    1. Thanks SH Susie, mine weren't particularly big but had a nice flavour. I Spotted some on an allotment neighbours' plot that were huge!

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  8. Hi from across the border, I'm a new follower to your blog. Now off to read more posts :o)

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    1. Hello Julie, really nice to hear from you in Suffolk! :D

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