Independence Day #5

It's been a better week for me, having seen the doctor last Thursday & got some meds ... I'm starting to feel more like myself again & have a bit of energy too! Anyway, this week's round up:
1. Plant Something - nope! we are busy clearing the new allotment & then I'll be back to planting again!!
2. Harvest Something - Ohhhhh, this was such a good week. Due to the mild weather we've been having, the carrots I put in to overwinter are actually about ready to pull now - actually, I planted them to generously, so the plan was to thin them out - check out the photos ... 1/2lb baby carrots (I steamed them whole & they were sooooo sweet!) plus 1/4 lb of the tiniest thinnings - I guess they could have gone into the compost but if they are big enough to wash, I reckon we can eat them! The potatoes, which we did think we might have planted to late, are about ready too - we didn't bank them up early enough, so no bumper crops - but these were a couple of supermarket spuds that had sprouted in the cupboard - luuuurve freebies! LOL. More spring greens - I am mildly anaemic, so although I'm not a fan of greens (the boys love 'em - I just grow 'em), I am making sure to have a portion every time I cook them.
New potatoes: 1lb 12 oz = value £1.75
Beetroot: 12 oz = value = £1.18
Spring greens: 12oz = value = 60p
Baby carrots: 8 oz = value = £1.70
Carrot thinnings: 4 oz
Herbs for cooking: I don't weigh them!! = value £1.50
Total Saving: £6.73
3. Preserve something: I froze a couple of portions of veggie soup (see 'manage reserves') but that was all this week.
4. Prep Something (clean, mend, declutter, organise, learn new skills - be ready for what might come). The shaker style knitted blanket is an ongoing project; decluttering continues ... a couple more boxes donated to charity.
We had a skip in this week & finally shifted the rubble from the back garden, unwanted shop fittings from the shed & some rubbish from the loft. We also dumped our old sofa (really wasn't worth donating!) in the skip after stripping everything worth re-using ... wood for the cold frame for starters! Not so green, but no other viable option!
I am still cleaning & removing labels from all the jars & beer bottles that are emptied - so far this week only one marmite jar made it as far as the glass recycling. When the shed is cleaned (plaster, sand etc needs sweeping out this weekend) we will finally get to storing them in the shed! My mum was throwing out some spare bedding - so we sorted thru that & snapped up some fleece underblankets (we have no heating, remember!) & a couple of travel rugs. I am still collecting plastic veg trays & toilet roll tubes for seedlings.
Although I've not actually learnt anything new this week, I came across a very useful link to a tutorial on fusing plastic - I see lots of totes etc in my future & I'm currently collecting bread bags for this - honestly, we do seem to be reducing the amount of stuff that ends up in the recycling by re-using much more now!
5. Cook Something (experiment for variation!): nothing experimental - steamed greens, steamed baby carrots & new potatoes with basil mint ... everything tastes soooo much better fresh from the garden!
6. Manage Reserves (don't waste bounty): I am still in the habit of buying too many veggies (not used to having them growing there yet, I guess) & where I've not been well rather too many needed using up - it might be predictable... but I made a big pot of veggie soup & froze a couple of family sized portions (I write the date & contents on the tub with a black sharpie)
7. Work on local food systems (buy local, promote green, give away seeds or plants, start local initiatives). Nothing to give away right now - but we will be working on the allotment & hopefully making new green-fingered friends there.
8. Reduce Waste: I don't know what happened to this category - managed to miss it out on the last post or two.
We are still working on not using carrier bags at all & I guess I've been a little bit more successful than DH on this one ... old habits die hard! I have a total of 4 totes, one of which zips into it's own pocket & is small enough to carry all the time in my handbag (so I have it with me on days I hadn't planned to buy anything!) - so far that has been enough.
Online shopping at Tesco ... they give you an option for delivery without carrier bags (you unload from crates on arrival)
The re-purposing of beer bottles, plastic trays, toilet roll tubes & glass jars has reduced our recycling by much more than I had expected. Now we have added plastic bags (bread bags in particular) to the stuff we can re-use. Our recycling is normally completely full for each fortnightly collection (& on occasions we have put the overflow in the neighbours recycling). The first collection this month was 3/4 full and this time around half.
Using the 'use it before it goes bad' approach to the fridge has also reduced waste - we are throwing out less & gathering some tasty stuff in the freezer!