September 11th

My heart still stops at the memory

'Buddy's Friday' – Canned Corn

The last few weeks we have been very busy harvesting the bounty from the garden. Most we have frozen but as the freezer space ran out I hauled out the good old trusty pressure cooker and canned the rest.

This is the method I used for beans, peas, carrots and corn.

First harvest your corn.

Husk it, remembering to get as much as the silky bits off as you can.

Then I cut the corn off the cob. It will come off in strips but if you put it into a bag or container, give it a shake the the corn will separate.

Some people cook their corn before canning but I don't and have found that it makes very little difference.

Sterilise your jars either in the dishwasher or by heating them in a low temperature oven.

Prepare pressure cooker by adding three inches of water and bringing it to the boil.

Fill the jars to about an inch below the top, then fill with boiling water leaving a half inch for swelling during the cooking process. Screw lids on then place in pressure cooker making sure the glass jars don't touch each other.

Place lid on and allow cooker to boil for ten minutes without the pressure cap on, then place cap and cook for twenty five minutes.

WARNING: ALWAYS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAME WITH YOUR COOKER, THIS IS ONLY A GUIDE.

Remove from heat source, take of cap and when there is no steam coming out carefully remove lid. Leave jars to cook overnight, wash outsides and label.

Christmas is only a few months away and already the shops are showing their wares so I thought next week we could start looking at preparing for the holiday season. It doesn't have to be a period of stress if you make preparations early. I would love to hear what you all do for this time of year, the more ideas the better so put your thinking caps on and lets make next weeks 'Buddy's' extra special.

I would like to leave you with a photo of our favourite girl Pebbles that Fiona took basking in the late afternoon sun – isn't she gorgeous!!!

If you have a post to include in 'Buddy's Friday' leave me a comment and I will link your post here.

This Week's Buddy's Links

Getting By

The Pleasures of Homemaking

Consuming the Harvest

Jopanofmanypets

Not Dabbling in Normal

Buddy's Friday – Lost Potatoes?

This week I am looking for an answer. You see while we weren't looking, someone stole our potatoes. It must have been magic as they left no clues and we didn't know anything about it until we went to harvest our crop.

Seriously though we need your help to try and find out what we have done wrong. This is the first year we have grown potatoes. We grew three different types in three 50 litre bags. They grew well and as they got taller I carefully topped up the bag with more compost until they reached the top of the bag.

We planted them in late May and didn't unearth them until this week when the leaves had dried completely off.

And this is what we found, yes this is all we got from the three sacks.

There were no rotten ones, just these little beauties and what I want to know is should there have been more. Did they need more sunlight – we did have them tucked away at the side of the house. We watered them well and don't think we over watered them.

And they tasted delicious. There just wasn't enough of them.

Any suggestions anyone? I would be grateful for some advice.

This has been a bit of a blow as we hoped we would be able to supply most of our potatoes for the coming year. We do have three more sacks that have a while to go yet and we have moved them out in the open.

But the rest of the garden is producing well. I have been picking this amount of beans every third day and the plants are still producing. I have twenty bags in the freezer and today started bottling them.

The corn is ready and ripe. We had our first cob today. Simply scrummy cooked within minute from being picked and eaten with lots of butter (naughty!!!). I'll post some photos when we have picked them.

The last of the herbs have been cut for drying.

And I have planted loads of parsley,mint, swiss chard and silverbeet that I hope to keep growing in the green house over winter.

The pumpkins, butternut and buttercup still have a way to go, I just hope we get a lot more sunshine.

I just love this time of year when everything is ready and the garden is just bursting out all over. There is a lot of work but I feel a great satisfaction when I look in the freezer and on the shelves. Today I made some mixed berry jam, I love the smell of the jam cooking, licking the plate that you have tried to see if it is ready to set yet and sliding on the covers just like my Mum and Nana used to do.

To all of you who are at the same stage as we are

Happy Harvesting

And if you have a younger neighbour or friend who may not have these skills, don't wait for them to ask.

Take a risk and invite them over to help you and let them share in your bounty.

If you have a post to include in 'Buddy's Friday' leave me a comment and I will link your post here.

This Week's Buddy's Links

Getting By

Consuming the Harvest

That British Woman

Fr Peter's Enviromental Notes

Learning to Step Lightly

Silver Sewer

Jopanofmanypets

Buddy's Friday – What Do We value?

Over the past twelve months many have found that what they considered essential in their lives for their security and survival has been striped away. The old way of life has disappeared and we are left floundering in a sea of uncertainty. We feel we are incomplete without the latest X Box, flat screen tv or the latest model car.

'Buddy's' is an attempt to help and show that there are other ways of doing things and that we can survive without the latest toy.

I have to admit that I thought I was handling the recession very well and was maintaining my lifestyle. I suppose I have been feeling a bit smug about it.

But this week something happened to make me take stock and think about what is really important to me.

On Wednesday at a routine visit to the doctors I was suddenly told that they had made a 999 call and an ambulance would be taking me to the hospital. The doctor suspected I was having a heart attack.

In my madness my only concern was that my new car would be left in the village high street and that I had other things to do.

It was seeing my daughter's face that brought me down to earth.

I have had to really assess what are the really important things in my life.

Firstly I am so thankful that it was not a heart attack but a severe angina attack.

I have my loving daughter with me who enriches my life everyday.

I am able with a few adjustments to my life continue to live an active life.

I am able to do what I can to help my fellow travellers in this life and to learn in return.

I am very lucky. I have survived breast cancer and other serious health problems over the years, yet I can still wake up every morning and know that life is wonderful and there are blessings out there, we just have to open our eyes and hearts to receive them.

I know this is a strange 'Buddy's' but it has been a strange week.

I just wanted to let you all know how important you all are and to say, 'hi, isn't it a great day.'

So today on your travels, take the time to give a stranger a smile, help out where and when you can, and most importantly of all – be kind to yourself.

If you have a post to include in 'Buddy's Friday' leave me a comment and I will link your post here.

This Week's Buddy's Links

Consuming the Harvest

That British Woman

Jopanofmanypets

Chad Chandler

Getting By

Oopsy's On Her Travels Again

I'm sorry it is a little late but Oopsy has finally decided where she will be going for her next visit on her friendship trip around the world.


Using a ramdon selector Anne at Silver Sewer is the lucky number chosen.

It is only in the next county of Leicester so it will be a good excuse for me to pop over for a cuppa and some of Anne's delicious home baking.

She is certainly a well travelled little bear since Caroline from The Simple Things first sent her on her way around the world to make new friends.

So I hope you have the spare room ready Anne for your guest.

Buddy's Friday - Leftovers

I am so pleased to be here on 'Buddy's' today. Last week I helped my son move from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire to the village I live in in Nottinghamshire. I declare that the next time he moves he will have to employ professional movers as I have officially retired from the field. I spent most of the last few days reviving myself with long lazy days, lying on the sofa watching 'Jam and Jerusalem' series one to three. I didn't believe that anyone could feel so absolutely worn out.

So here we are, 'Buddy's' time again and I thought I would talk about what you can do with leftovers.

This time I have used leftover roast chicken but I use the same method for beef and lamb.

One thing I always have in my kitchen is a ready supply of mixed herbs. Every second day I pick whatever I have available, chop them finely and have them to hand by the cooker. Today I picked thyme, parsley, marjoram, rosemary, chives, mint and tarragon.

I also chopped some chives separately for later use.

(my herb bowl was made by my daughter)

I am lucky enough to have a large vegetable garden and was able to harvest swede, potatoes, silverbeet, onions and broccoli.

First I boiled and mashed a pot of potatoes and swede. A little tip from Anne over at Silver Sewer that adds to the flavour – add a little nutmeg to the mash, it's delicious. Oh, this is where I use those extra chives.

Some of my silverbeet plants are going to seed. I cut out the centre stem and used the little baby leaves. Waste not want not

Then I made a basic white sauce and added cheese and mixed herbs.

I steamed the silverbeet and broccoli and lightly basted the chopped onion and garlic and hardboiled four eggs.

I chopped up the leftover chicken. I also found some ham slices that needed to be eaten so I rolled the slices and cut them to bite sized pieces.

Now I assembled all my ingredients and started to build the pie.

First I placed the chicken, ham, eggs, onion and garlic in the dishes. Because there are only the two of us I was able to make up four meals.

Then I added the steamed vegetables and poured over the white cheesy sauce.

Lastly I covered the top with the mashed potato and swede mix. If I am freezing some of the mixture I leave off the mash and add it later when we are to eat it. I haven't found a satisfactory way of freezing mashed potato. It always seems to go too runny for me.

Then I pop the dish in the oven on a high temperature until the top is nicely browned.

This dish has never failed for me. I learned it at my Mother's knee and have used it for my own family.

And finally to all you wonderful folk out there who day to day keep your families ticking over and in the long run that is what makes our nations great, where ever we live, here is a lovely bunch of sweets peas I picked this morning just for you.

Sweet peas are the most forgiving flower, water them well, pick their sweet fragrance every day and they will delight you – truly food for the soul.

If you have a post to include in 'Buddy's Friday' leave me a comment and I will link your post here.

This Week's Buddy's Links

The Greening of Gavin

That British Woman

Landcuckoo

Consuming the Harvest

The Pleasures of Homemaking

Jopanofmanypets

Make it from Scratch - Kitchen Stewardship

Buddy's Friday

Afternoon everyone. I'm sorry Buddy's is late this week. I have been helping my son move from Hertfordshire to Nottingham this week and I am exhausted. I can't remember being this tired since I don't know when.

When they were handing out common sense and organising skills I think he was short changed. Fiona got the bulk of what was available for my offspring, LOL

So I haven't a Buddy's prepared for you today. I hope you understand.

If you have a post to include in 'Buddy's Friday' leave me a comment and I will link your post here.

This Week's Buddy's Links

Consuming the Harvest

Silver Sewer

That British Woman

100 Mile Diet in Calgary

Landcuckoo