Tadpole B&B

I had a strange text at 11 last night - 'can you tadpole sit if I bring them round?' I spent a good half hour in panic mode, thinking that 'tadpole' actually meant 'children', and that they were going to deposited on the doorstep because there was some great crisis, which is why they weren't answering the phone... 

... turns out they did mean tadpoles. Our friends went on holiday this morning, and realised last night they'd not asked anyone to look after the tadpoles. I didn't know they had any, and I still have no idea where or why they got them in the first place, because it was all in a bit of a rush. But hey, this house is home to whoever (or whatever) wants to call it home, so the tadpoles are here for a week, feasting on organic, home grown lettuce from the garden, and being stared at. I've never seen one this close up before, strange creatures, they look like something out of a monster film.

It's been a funny sort of day, I've spent most of it staring at the computer trying to fill in a couple of job applications. I filled one in last week, really quickly and easily, and that was for a full time, much better paid and high up job than these two, but it just wasn't coming easily today. I sat in the garden and persevered though - if I get either of these jobs I'd be working just three days a week for twice the money I'm on now, so it's hard to resist. 

I had another go at making yogurt last night, and it worked! I put a couple of spoons of natural yogurt in, and a couple of spoons of dried milk powder, and left it in a flask overnight, wrapped up in an old fleece and a couple of towels. It was mostly set this morning, and once I'd whisked it, all the lumps disappeared, and it looks and tastes gorgeous. So that's two large pots of yogurt for 84p worth of milk :) 

I've also made some jam today, for only the second time (and the first time it wasn't really me). Friends gave us some rhubarb, so rather than make it into a crumble to stuff our faces with, I thought I'd make it into jam instead (we love jam, did I mention that?) 

I got a recipe from this old book that Peter found in a skip :) I love that it's shaped like a pot of jam, and the pages are so pretty. This one's rhubarb and orange. 

I cooked it for much longer than it said, and ended up using the sugar thermometer to test the temperature. The house has smelt of rhubarb and oranges for the last three hours - absolutely gorgeous. Here's the result - three jars of jam, some very sticky pans, and two very happy people. I'll definitely be making jam again.

A lovely end to a rather trying day! 

A weekend in the garden

My mum's been here all weekend, and since I won't see her again before my birthday, she brought my presents. First up were these beautiful miniature daffs, which we planted outside the kitchen window. 

I also got sage and oregano plants, which go nicely with the other herbs I planted last week, and this bag of compost from the bottom of mum's compost bin she started last year.

Isn't a bag of compost, especially home made, a fabulous present for someone with none of their own? We spread it over the soil, and round the new herbs and the lettuce we planted out in a pot. We also measured up for my compost bin, so hopefully I'll be able to return the favour next year ;) 

This is the front garden once we'd finished in it.

There's still quite a lot of bare soil, but I've got more seedlings on the go which will go in here, and the plants that are in there will fill out over the year. I didn't really get it cleared in time to plant green manure last year, but I will next winter. 

This is the side garden once we'd finished.

It doesn't look like we did much! But we cleared the seating area (just out of the picture), pruned the fuchsia so it wasn't overhanging the path, and put all the bits I've cut down over the past few weeks into green bags ready to be taken away. The whole garden looks much better now the path's brushed - something I never think to do! 

It was a lovely weekend, we had a couple of nice walks too. I also tried another batch of yogurt - with ordinary milk this time instead of UHT. It didn't work! I left it overnight and it was just milk with lumpy bits in... I'll get some dried milk powder maybe, and try again. I'd love to be able to make my own yogurt, but obviously need a bit more of a consistent technique.

 

It was a good weekend for wildlife in the garden. It never ceases to amaze me the amount we get in such a small space. Here's the resident (well, round the corner) wood pigeon, foraging in the bits of grass growing from the seed pushed off the bird table (I really must do something about that!)

 

And we found this cheery frog under a pile of bricks and concrete we were moving out of a corner. 

He wasn't too impressed when we moved the bricks he was sheltering under, but we put a few back without disturbing him, and left some water out. He was still there last night, hopefully he's got a more suitable home somewhere close! 

Ricotta

My second attempt at making quark cheese the other day didn't work - it didn't set. Then again, the first time I tried it worked, and I didn't do anything much different this time, so maybe I just didn't leave it to set for long enough. I do like the idea of making cheese though, and found these instructions on the Simple, Green, Frugal co op blog for making ricotta. 

It was very easy. You just heat up the milk until nearly boiling, add lemon juice (or vinegar, or some other kind of acid), and stir. When it's cooled a bit, strain the whey off. That's it! I had some on top of pasta and veg, and it was very nice. 

The rest is in the fridge waiting for tomorrow's lunch. 

I've spent much of the rest of the day writing and reading, with a bit of sorting of my sewing area thrown in. I'll post a picture over the weekend. I've also done a quick whizz round of the whole house as my mum is coming to stay tomorrow. Cleaning and tidying is getting much easier the more we sort the house out! 

More soap and some yogurt

I managed to get hold of some coconut oil from an Asian grocery shop (99p a bottle!) so I made some more soap, just with coconut oil and olive oil. It didn't set (I guessed the amount of caustic soda again...), but I left it overnight, remelted it, and it's worked. It's a beautiful golden colour, although you can't see that in this picture. I'm very pleased with it, and having trouble waiting for it to be ready! 

I also had a go at making yogurt yesterday. We've got through ten, yes, TEN pints of milk in the last 3 days, so I thought perhaps if we could use yogurt for museli/porridge instead of milk, it might work out cheaper. 

I got a few recipe ideas from this money saving expert discussion. I tried it with UHT milk, thinking it would be cheaper than normal milk, but I think it actually turned out pretty much the same. I didn't use dried milk powder since I didn't have any. And I don't have a yogurt maker either...

So, I heated a litre of UHT milk to about 100 degrees, mixed it with a couple of teaspoons of natural yogurt, and put it in this lovely wide mouthed flask that was just sitting on a kitchen shelf looking pretty. People say to leave it overnight, but I was being impatient and made it at 10am, so I opened it mid afternoon. 

It was quite runny, but I think that's because I didn't use any dried milk powder. It tasted fine though. I left half of it for another couple of hours - other than being a little bit more of a tart taste, it's not that much different. 

I think next time I'll try non UHT milk though. If it's going to work out pretty much the same cost, I think I'd prefer the taste over the UHT. I'm pleased though, it was easy to make, too about 10 minutes overall, and I think with normal milk it'll taste the same as bought yogurt, but cost a fair bit less. Another success!