July 13, 2024

6-12 July 2024

The weekend started with a visit to my niece and nephew. It was quite a rainy day so we played inside for a bit, then went to the local high street to have a coffee and read some books in the library. I left to go back home after that to spend the rest of the afternoon at home.

Inspo from shops

My partner and I did a bit of a shopping spree, i bought some ‘dungarees’ or i’m not sure if that’s what it is exactly, but from Levis. But i’m obsessed, i basically wore them this WHOLE week no joke. Also a pair of matching work out clothes from Lululemon. Which i’ve also been wearing for every workout this week.

This is me all week.

I’ve been researching edible plants in the garden, and some much more of the plant than we usually eat is edible. I think you could double your yields if you each other parts of the plants. Tomato plants have edible leaves you can stew or put in salads, same for raspberries leaves. Carrot tops, broad bean pods. So many alternative plant parts are edible. I’ve been saving and freezing the broad bean pods, as well as the beans of course, and putting it into quiches I make once a week. No point in wasting all that nutrition and food! 

On Sunday I got up to do a tree walk in my local park. There was a volunteer lady who took us around her favourite route and told us about the trees. I love that kind of thing, and you get to meet some local people as well. I’m really trying to learn more tree species and identify them. It’s a long road. 

I felt quite inspired afterwards so came back with more energy to do from scratch cooking. I bought some gooseberries from the local market since they seem to be in season. I don’t know if I’ve ever really had gooseberries. I do have one bush in my garden, which is growing reasonably, but no sign of flowers or fruit this year, it’s only its first year. I thought I could make a gooseberry cake, gives me Snow White in the woods vibes… 

First successful baguette! And yummy gooseberry cake.

I had goals of have multiple weekly staples I make from scratch and I’m slowly building this up. Let me organise my thoughts…

In addition to regular weekly dinners, I often make a soup mostly tomato soup for lunch. I’ve now also started to master a quiche, which is great because you can throw in a lot of leftover vegetables and stuff and it still tastes good. In the future I’d like to master bread making, which has eluded me so far. I’ve tried a few times, but haven’t been happy with the result. I think baguettes will be the way to go. That’s what I usually buy, and they’re easier to freeze I find. 

Recipes I’d like to master to make on a weekly / fortnightly basis:

• Yoghurt (check)
• Quiche (check)
• Bread
• Cake (e.g. gooseberry semi check)
• Ice Cream (experiment with different ingredients)
• Cheese (whole range from ricotta, mozzarella, halloumi

The journey is also so much part of the fun, feeling accomplished in learning something new to a level that you’re comfortable making it whenever.

Monday started quite chilly… for July. I don’t think we’ve really had a good summer day in over a month! Where is summer? My garden is doing reasonably well, though I don’t have a good system yet of fill empty spaces. My broad beans are now finished, so there are some holes in the garden. I’ve reseeded, but takes a while to come up. It’s not a huge issue, as I planted things to close together anyway, now my courgette and pepper plants are getting some more light.

This week I signed up to military outdoor fitness which runs in my local park. I’m doing it mostly to meet more people from the community and try new things. It was ALOT harder than I thought. I did the regular military fitness Tuesday, then more of a weight class on Wednesday. Great energy and a lot of the same people turn up. I think I’ll be making this a semi regular thing, great way to break up the day and socialise while working out.

This is actually the running club i also join for time to time. This was Thursday on the community fun run.

I’m so big on getting to know my community here, and am loving it. Though I’m quite introverted, I do like being around company for short time periods. I like knowing all the shop owners around me. Really village community feel, but quite close to central London.

Knit-wise, I finished a crochet top. I made it from spare cotton yarn I had. I’m in a stash busting mode, after I made three new jumpers. Each time I have loads of left over yarn. After the top, I’ve starting on an alpaca hood, its basically just a hood with ties. Quite strange piece of clothing, but thought it looked cute and fairy cottage vibes. 

Not huge love of the final piece. The colours are a bit off. The fit is a bit off. I made up the pattern as i went along and the colours are just what i had, stash busting.

I briefly took out my acrylic paints this week, had sudden inspiration to paint the Greenwich scene from the top of the hill. I made to about half way, but decided to give up. Which is quite unusual for me, to completely abandon, but I just haven’t had the painting mojo for a long time now, and each time I try to get back into it, I don’t seem to enjoy it. I almost don’t have the patience for it anymore. Not sure what it is. So that was a ‘fail of the week’ for me. 

Permaculture has really been the hot word of the week for me. I’ve been reading about, thinking about it. If I had a field… I would make it an edible food forest. I love the concept. So really trying to learn more about it because I keep looking at small arable plots for sale around where I live, circa 30 minute driving distance. Best of both worlds, by having a central home, but also able to commute to fields and country.

I decided to do a soil test on my garden, in preparation of a piece of land I’m planning to see on the weekend. I must’ve done something wrong. You’re meant to get some soil sample, mix with water and add in powders to test the the level of N (Nitrogen) P (Phosphorus) and K (Potassium) as well as the pH levels. The pH levels showed me pretty much neutral. The NPK levels were basically non existent. So either I did the test wrong or have terrible soil. My tomatoes and other plants are doing ok in it though, it can’t be that bad. I know its not great, since it first season and I’ve done no amendments, but to be completely zero seems suspicious.

The final thing I did this week which was new and exciting was carpentry. I’ve found a wood workshop cycling distance from me, which is awesome. I went on Friday for 3 hours and started making seed trays for my garden. Basically simple wooden trays to fill with soil and start seeds in. Starting quite basic, but then I have plans to make an octagonal indoor plant pot. I’m always looking for way to obtain large pots, since they’re so expensive. I’ve tried making them in concrete or in ceramics, but different to get such a large size. So this is my latest plant. Octagonal shape. Let’s see. In any case, I really enjoy woodworking, so satisfying making things, as with anything. Slowly learning techniques, which I’ll apply to more things.

To round this week off, I wanted to start this weekly newsletter, an idea from my sister, to start low key sharing what I do in terms of my crafts, lifestyle etc. Maybe it’s more of a documentation to start with. I’m not a natural social media sharer, blogger, videographer. I just don’t enjoy it and always run out of steam. However, I do journal every day in the morning, musing to myself, while I organise my thoughts for the day. So I could leverage bit of that to make up this weekly summary. Actually ends up being not to much extra work! So here’s to trying this out. And here’s to hoping I can follow through.

Fields fields fields.

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