The end of my week off - but I'm still smiling.

I can't believe Friday evening is here already!  Where has my week off gone?  Well truth be told, I know where and I have loved every minute of it.

Last night I made the largest bread that my new breadmaker will do - it's called XL and it is that for a reason!  I know you can buy some huge loaves in the shops but I personally have ever made one, until last night.

It doesn't look big in the picture but it is ginormous.

We've had another lovely day at the yard though the larger horse has had a cough for a few weeks on and off now.  She's not doing too well so we are going to have to get the vet out I think.  The question now is do we call her tomorrow or wait until Tuesday.  She's waited this long so I'm inclined to wait until Tuesday but is that wrong?  I will see how she is in the morning and if I need to, I will call them out.

The kids and I have been to a local free outdoor play area and place of natural beauty today with my Mam.  We really enjoyed it and it was a nice couple of hours out. 

I have a few midgie bites for my troubles though.

Farm life is now 1 year and 8 months before they can become real!

Happy April - Let the holidays commence!

Well at lunch time I finished work for 10.5 days now and I couldn't be happier!!! 

I have already spring cleaned the master bedroom and hoovered and steamed downstairs.  I pulled the bed out (no mean feat) along with the bedside tables, hoovered under the wardrobes, under the bed, did the skirting boards and washed the windows and sills.  Then I only put back on the bed side table what should be there and gave the other things a home.  I'm really impressed with the results and hopefully it will stay like that for a good while.

I also steamed the carpets though I am not entirely sure what that achieved.

Downstairs and the stairs got a really good hoovered and then the kitchen and hallway steamed.  I'll wash the steamer cloth and do it again when I get round to doing the kitchen and hallway's deep clean.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, how sad some would say!

The weather is lovely and sunny so we took the dog out for a lovely run over the local quarry and there was no one around so he had a good run and stretched out his old legs whilst the kids went on little adventures.  He's now flaked for the next hour no doubt and they are busy in the garden again.

Buddy thoroughly content

The kids having an adventure

GH is at the gym, tea is cooking and after that my daughter and I will head out to the farm to get the pony rode and the horse turned out for an hour.  I'm hoping the weather holds so that we can get out for another nice walk. 

What a fabulous first afternoon off.  Tonight when I'm back I shall be indulging in a wine or three. This truly is time to have farm life dreams :)

Dusting off the January blues and looking forward to Frugal February

Happy Monday :)

Well pay day finally arrived.  I've been sitting, waiting for it to arrive and although it took its time, it did.  A welcome one indeed. 

So we have made it through Christmas and most of January and are now ready to bring on Frugal February.  The idea is to spend as little as possible on groceries and get back on an even keel after the Christmas spends.

Life is good at the moment.  Yesterday saw the family gather together for a Sunday lunch cooked by yours truly and I must say, it was thoroughly enjoyed.  We followed it with a lovely walk with the dog and by the time we came back, the children were worn out.  An early night was had by all, most welcome too!

We went to view a little property on Saturday.  We're not looking to buy yet but whilst we were over that neck of the woods we called in.  It was lovely and plenty of inspiration to keep plodding along and get into a position to be truly looking.

In the coming weeks I will be planting some potatoes after they have chitted and I'm on the look out for something else to plant.  I don't have a lot of room, it's a  small veg patch, not bags/borders etc so watch this space!

Speaking of potatoes, we have a lovely butternut squash and sweet potato soup for lunch today.  I made it last night.  It has a bit of chilli in it to keep us warm on these colder days.  Although, having said that, it's becoming increasingly spring like today.

So, now we're starting Frugal February, I'm reinforcing we are still determined and looking more than ever to the end goal.  2 years to go!

I might even start planning a little......let's start with pigs......

Frugal home cooking and knowing what you eat

In an attempt to continue to save the pennies and keep September as a low spend month, I've plunged into home cooking and baking again.  The kids are well into it too so it's been a family effort (GH does the taste test).

So far we have the plum jam as pictured previously, which is going down a treat and in an effort to know what we eat I've been using the bread maker for home made bread.  It is gorgeous!  Tonight I have taken a recipe from Frugal Queen's blog and adapted it with what I had in.  It was the fish and rice one and it was lovely.  Thanks to her for that.

We've also done some jam tarts, ice lollies and crumbles.  It is so rewarding to use foraged fruits and pantry items to produce lovely meals. 

Friday we went to a garden party / festival and it was quite fun - I've never been to one before and won't hurry back, but it was nice enough. 

I am also finding that as soon as I'm getting organised, things start unravelling just as quickly!  So this weekend has so far been spent trying to get outstanding jobs done and organising as much as possible for next week and then the aim is to stay organised!!!

Our jam tarts with home made plum jam

Grace chilling with the chicken Jess (Jess is moulting a lot at the moment)

Shot from our festival

Happy Saturday everyone

Almost done

Well we've almost made it through another week.

This afternoon/evening shall see me trying to make a new jam, inspired by a post from notjustgreenfingers' blog.  My first attempt was a disaster through overboiling the jam however that hasn't put me off!  I now have some tips from notjustgreenfingers' comments and so my gorgeous husband has picked me some plums from our tree and I have my sugar so I'm ready to go!  We're going bramble picking again on Saturday but I can't wait that long (yes a day I know!) so plum it is.

If we're going to aim to be self sufficient one day then I need to at least get jam right :D

The other night on the way to the livery yard (a 10 minute drive from home, everything's 10 minutes from our house lol) I had to stop and take a picture.  As I keep saying, I love this time of year and this is just one of the sights I love to see.

It's been a busy few days but we're getting a little routine going on so I'm hoping to stay fresh and focussed and keeping this blog is a lovely way of recording our lives and talking about our plans for the future.

Even GH mentioned our 4 year plan to someone the other day so I suspect he's a tiny bit excited too!

Happy Friday everyone.

A Long Tuesday

Tuesday's are NOT my favourite day of the week!  It's a long day at work.  Plus I'm working 8-10 tonight so I'm taking 5 minutes to myself to update the blog. 

Last night my son (4) and I made a cake using the foraged blackberries and it was gorgeous!  Then I made some jam and it was a disaster!!! It turned out to be rock hard lump!  I'm guessing I overcooked it!  I'll try again at the weekend when we get our next lot.

I've also got plums and apples from the garden so need to find something to do with them. 

The kids are both at school now and loving it and we're back into the swing of work again.  As I keep reminding us both.....it pays the bills in the mean time!

A busy Sunday!

I feel like I've met myself coming backwards today. 

We had a lovely morning at the yard with the horses where my gorgeous little boy spent some quality time with the little pony who loved the attention.

Practicing braiding (that's what he calls it)

A quick grocery shop and change of clothes later then we were off to lunch at my Father in Law's which was lovely and a free meal!!  Then I couldn't put it off any longer, we had to go to town.  I hate town.  I hate shopping, being cramped in with all sorts of people and of course I hate spending money.  Ha!  Well, hate is a strong word but you get the jist.

We spoke briefly to gorgeous husband's father about our dreams - just to mention a local farm that came for sale and how we'd like to go for something one day.  He was quite dismissive about it - not nastily, just that it'd probably never happen in our world to people like us.  I, of course, know differently!

2018 will be our year, watch this space. If not before :)  Take care.

An Introduction..

Welcome to our blog.  We hope you enjoy reading it and spend some time with us over the coming months and years as we develop our plans and follow our dreams.

"We" is myself, my husband, daughter and son (7 & 4), our dog, our chickens, our horses, tarantula and fish....I think that's it. 

The blog title sums up what we are aiming for and the blog is intended to follow our escapades, as we dream and put these dreams into action.  It's a long time off yet but that's not stopping us preparing.

Today, we live in an area I guess would be described as sub-urban, and though we're on a busy road, we're not townies either.  We have countryside 10 minutes drive away (if that) and town is the same in the other direction.  To be fair, we have the best of both worlds, however, especially with the ways things are going with our economy and government (not something I intend to write about!), we would like to have our own piece of heaven and be at one with nature, surrounded by our own animals and home grown crops (maybe even home produced wine & ale)  One day.....for now, our new mugs from Whitby are keeping the dream alive  :)