Harvest Monday - a new year

I hope you've enjoyed the festive season - normally we'd make a special meal with homegrown veg over this period but we were away for a few days and then at friends' for different occasions so haven't made one (yet?).

 

A couple of weeks ago I cleared the final Lipstick sweet peppers from the lean-to....there were just a few plants which I'd left to grow-on, but hidden underneath the leaves were a number of small fruits. After picking them I'd actually left the fruits on a shelf in the lean-to, then forgotten about them what with all the travelling and visiting. So today I spotted them on the shelf and luckily they were still in a good condition, thanks to the cool weather. I think they'd even ripened a bit. I used most of them tonight in a noodle soup (a handy quick one-pot meal)

I'm continuing to sprout seeds, mainly alfalfa in one jar and green lentils in another because they take different times to sprout (alfalfa are very quick). Here's a jar of green lentils, which we've had in sandwiches and added at the end of the noodle soup. I keep forgetting to rinse them twice a day but hopefully now the busy visiting time has calmed down I'll get back into a routine.

A couple of days ago I had a trip to the allotment, harvesting a few leeks, sprout tops, Nero kale and some nice corn salad. I was going to take a few photos down there but my fingers were too cold after snipping off the corn salad leaves - the leaves were wet but it was too fiddly to wear gloves, making very cold conditions, especially with a slight breeze.....the lovely leaves were worth it though.

Tomorrow I'm probably going to make a slow-cooked stew with the leeks and kale, plus red lentils, carrots etc. I still haven't harvested any Brussels sprouts... So maybe that special meal will come along soon after all.

Here's a few piccies from our trip to Jan's parents over Christmas....we managed to get out on some nice walks including this visit to RSPB Old Moor, which was particularly beautiful (and rather chilly) at sunset.

We had wanted to visit SWT Potteric Carr again but it was closed whilst we were in the area so we'll have to save that for another time.

 

Also just to mention that I really hurt my leg at the allotment in the week before Christmas....I'm not really sure how it happened, I was kneeling on a pad, weeding couch grass in between the rows of raspberries...and was probably leaning in at a funny angle, putting pressure on one leg. I didn't notice any problems at first but walking home I started getting a pain in the hip socket when stepping on my left leg. Of course, rather than resting it I walked over to some friends' on the other side of the city, hoping to exercise it off....big mistake, ending up with two days laid-up on the sofa not being able to put any weight on the leg at all (I couldn't even get up the stairs but luckily our loo is downstairs) and it being touch-and-go whether we'd be able to travel for Christmas. Oops.

 

I guess the lesson here is...listen to your body, change positions regularly when carrying out even simple tasks, especially repetitive ones in the cold...and don't be as silly as me.

 

So on that note, I hope you have a healthy and productive 2017, full of tasty homegrown produce...cheers!

 

I'm linking in with Harvest Monday, kindly hosted for a few weeks by Michelle at From Seed to Table.

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