Old Fashioned Living

The month of May has brought blossom to our garden, with cherry, pear & apple tree's we have many pretty shades.

The bluebells are blooming in their loveliness & the little glades around us are full of them in this season.

Baby rabbits are all over the garden nibbling the grass & playing, Spring has really sprung.

Blue Tits, Robins, Wrens & Blackbirds are singing heartily in the garden as I write, we have had a heavy shower of rain & the little birds are hunting for food. Darting in & out of the hedgerows which line our garden on the church side, they are such a joyful site. The rain has brought the blossom showering down like snow in little drifts all over the garden, it such a pretty site when the sun shines after rainfall.

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Pear blossom.

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Picking the first rhubarb of the year to make some puddings.

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Rhubarb crumble, this caused such delight as we all love rhubarb.

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Painting in the garden.

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The girls love to paint & as it was a glorious day we decided to work outside. They do their studies in the morning & then choose an activity to do in the afternoon, it was painting on this day.

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Kitty concentrating.

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They do love to work in water colours as do I.

I brought my jumper outside to do some work on it as they painted.

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Mary making a flower out of the fallen Magnolia petals & some Daisy's.

Simple things are so much enjoyed when you are small. To watch the children playing & enjoying life brings so much joy to my heart.

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The first jam making of the year, the smell of the rhubarb was wonderful.

This recipe I have made for many years, it is adapted from a Rhubarb & Ginger recipe, we omit the ginger as the little one's would not like it even though they love gingerbread.

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All potted up & ready for the pantry shelves.

I love when the fruit starts to come & jam making season begins.

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My new Bleeding Heart with Forget me Nots in the back ground.

I do love cottage garden plants & found this in our little market in the town a couple of miles away from the village.

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Apple blossom.

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Their first knitting lesson.

Such excitement, they are making little blankets for their dolls house.

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I am knitting a jumper for myself in such a lovely shade of green.

Lucy from 1940's Style for You posted this free knitting pattern, she is such a talented lady & does some beautiful knitting from 1930's & 1940's patterns.

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More rhubarb with some frozen blackcurrants for some more puddings.

I made a cherry cake out of a wartime cookery leaflet as well.

While the children do their studies in the morning I bake, it works out well as I am around them.

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It was a lovely cake very much like a Madeira as there was lemon zest in it.

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The recipe.

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George loves to play in the inglenook fireplace, it is so warm in that corner with the cooker going plus there is the kindling basket which makes for hours of fun for him.

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Five O'clock Tea Cakes quickly made for the Sunday tea table.

This recipe came from a 1920's Borwicks Baking Powder book, the recipe called for a quick oven so I presumed that was hot. They turned out well anyway & the plate was soon empty.

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Enjoy this beautiful month of May.

It is my birthday month so I do love it so.

Thank you my dear readers for all your kind words.

Fondly Michelle 

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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.