Being at Home

Just a few things I have been up to in the past couple of days.

My husband & two of my boys have been out blackberry picking, so many bags have gone in to the freezer & I made blackberry & apple jam. My son bought me some Cath Kidston jam labels, so the jars are sitting pretty now on the pantry shelves. This is a recipe I use every year, it has such a strong flavour & everyone loves it.


Empty Kilner jars waiting for the beetroot to ready for pickling.

A new jumper for me from a 1940's pattern.

 

I started a new 1940's jumper, I found the pattern thanks to Forties Knitter, who purchased the pattern from etsy. It is called bows bows bows & I have chosen a nice camel colour with a navy bow. I found some vintage navy buttons from an antique shop in our local town Horncastle.

Here is what I am reading at the moment, I read the first book & I couldn't put it down. I am halfway through Nella Lasts Peace & really enjoying it, I have Nella Last in the 1950's sitting there waiting. I love Housewife 49 & am finding the books so enjoyable & full of idea's too.

 A little bit of baking.

I bake almost everyday, we have five hungry children here & three that have grown & flown the nest. So as you can imagine the baking doesn't last long. Brownies are a favourite & I bake bread at least five times a week. We try to not buy processed food & cook from scratch as much as we can.









This is the basic white bread I do, I also do a half wholemeal & half white one too. I love old vintage kitchenalia & use it all the time, it cooks bread & cakes wonderfully.

Vegetable Garden & Hens.

We have been in this cottage since Spring last year & with work inside & out we only managed a small vegetable patch this year. We have so many plans for next Spring & hope to make the vegetable patch twice the size.
I took a photo of our eight hens this morning as I noticed the sheep were out in the back field.
The twins planted the sunflowers & beetroot, I can't wait to pickle that.

Sweetcorn, Beetroot, Currant bushes, Rhubarb, Gooseberry bushes, Raspberries & Sunflowers.

Cleft gates we bought at Beamish Georgian Fair, they are handmade out of ash.