August Statistics

Well, August was a good month, takings were up on July, so am really pleased.

Here's the breakdown -

Sales -

22 dozen eggs £40.30
14 Cucumbers £8.40
8 Geranium plants £12.00
2 x Herb plants £1.00
3 bags Carrots £2.25
18 bags Tomatoes £16.50

Total £80.45

Expenses -

1 x Large Greenhouse £383.00

Still a long way to go to recoup the greenhouse money, but hey that was a long term investment, and it's now harvest time so fingers crossed we'll recoup in no time.

Today's stats -

Sales -

1 dozen eggs £1.80
1 x bag Bramley apples £1.00
1 x Tomatoes £1.00
1 x bag French beans £0.50

Expenses -

Nil

Leftover Beef Sturry

Tonight's delight is using up leftovers together with what we have available in the garden.  What true smallholders we are!

Seriously though, I hate wasting food, although I must admit not much gets wasted here, what with seven dogs, two pigs, sixteen hens and a cow.  But with the increase of food wastage always in the news and yesterday Natalie Coleman (winner of Masterchef), was on BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright in the afternoon, talking about her new campaign, 'Love food, Hate waste,' I always try and do something edible for us to eat with leftovers.

So tonight's leftovers being beef and it being Friday, well it had to be a curry - well sort of!  I am renowned for not sticking to recipes's, so I put my own twist on this 'curry'.  Michael likes lots of vegetables in his curries, not just a meat and onion curry with rice, so I raided the garden and collected - a large handful of french beans, a yellow courgette, a kohl rabi, one small carrot, half a dozen shallots, about twenty tomatoes and two chillies.

Collected from the garden

Plus, the already chopped tomatoes and shallots

I chopped all these up and placed them in a large casserole dish, along with the chopped up beef (minus any fatty bits - the dogs ate these!), added some water and a good shake of Bisto gravy granules, just to up the 'beefyness' and to thicken the sauce and put it in the oven for about an hour and a half.

 and this is what it looked like when it came out -

I served it with turmeric and parsley basmati rice and a shop bought naan bread each (which were horrible) -

It tasted delicious, you could taste all the vegetables and the beef was soft and succulent.  The two chillies were enough if you like it quite spicy.  I do think that this type of dish is best cooked in a slow cooker all day, left to bubble away and develop the flavours even deeper, it was a mistake not to do it with this I think.

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 9

Sales -
Nil

Expenses -
Nil

98% Home grown dinner

Tonight's dinner was a huge success.  Not only was it the first dinner I've cooked in my new oven, (thanks must go to hubby for installing it over the weekend), but it was about 95% home produced.

First course - Toad in the hole

Sausages, home grown by a fellow smallholder, produced not far away
Eggs from my own hens
Milk and flour - Tesco's
Gravy granules - Tesco's
New potatoes, curly kale, french beans, and calabrese all came straight out of the garden.  Just look at the colours.  Yippee!

Then for afters, picked five minutes before serving -

Unfortunately the ice cream we had to go with them was Tesco's.

So all in all, not a bad dinner I'd say.  The veg all tasted wonderful.  I just love curly kale, it's the one vegetable that if I only had room for one winter veg it's the one I would grow.  It tasted OF something this evening, not of a plastic bag that it had been wrapped in for a fortnight.  It tasted like it was doing you good.  The french beans were melt in the mouth sweet and tender and the calabrese, took minutes to cook just lightly steamed.  And then I always use the veg water for making the gravy, so keeping the goodness.  Just delicious, one of the best meals my husband reckoned he'd had in ages.  Compliments indeed.

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 11

Sales -
1 dozen eggs £2.00
Can't believe nobody bought the first cucumber picked out of my polytunnel this morning, and it was only 60p!  These people aren't right in the head!!

Expenses -
Nil