Seems like such a long time since I've updated.

Well, here I am, better late than never eh :)

Things here have been pretty chaotic since early September, when my Dad finally got home from hospital having spent 3 months in the Spinal Unit.  He broke his neck back in early June and sadly is now Quadriplegic, we care for him full time but now have a fairly good routine going that allows us to be on call and spend a few hours at home.

With everything that has been going on along with all the terrible weather this year, I really didn't expect much from the plot but we actually didn't do too bad at all. 

Successes were potatoes, cabbage, onion, garlic, broccoli, sprouts, turnip, lemongrass, beetroot, spinach, lettuce, all the herbs except parsley and lemonbalm, borlotti beans, broad beans, the strawberries done well but as I didn't get around to netting them, the wildlife feasted on them to their hearts were contented.

Failures were the french beans, celery, courgettes, apples, plums and cauliflowers.

The tomatoes had mixed results, some didn't produce at all and others did, the star of the show was Striped Roman, I loved them.  There arn't many seeds in them, they are really meaty but I did manage to save a couple of seeds for next year.

The celeriac is still in the ground, I don't know what to expect from them.

For my birthday in November, I got a Presto 23 quart Pressure Canner and accessories.  I've wanted one of these for ages so that I can make meals at harvest time with my produce, soups stews etc and can them for eating over the winter.  This will hopefully free up some much needed space in my small chest freezer.

I've been practicing with it, only doing small amounts at a time, which works well as i've made a few mistakes.

Here is what i've made so far

I've got the jars stored out in my dingy old cellar and it looks awful so OH and I have started clearing it out (what was I thinking this close to xmas)

I've also been busy making yogurt, this is some vanilla yogurt I made the other night, one of my best yet, really thick and creamy.

 I also had a go at making some homemade liquid laundry detergent and I love it, it was so easy to make.  I made 22lts (5 gallons) for £1.45.

I seriously need to read up on digital photography, my photos are terrible, if anyone out there knows a good website, please let me know.