What a lovely day it was yesterday. Cool, with a little breeze. Different neighbours popping in and out feeding Daisy their garden leftovers or borrowing hay making tools. Yesterday I felt for the first time as though I was part of my little local rural community. And that is hard as a foreigner in a Mid West region. People are close here. They only mind their own business.
Still, I spent a lot of the afternoon in the kitchen. Bottling more summer sauce. Beetroot and onion pickled in a jar. Look at that colour. (If you want the recipe email me, it is very simple and old fashioned). And a fresh farmers cheese flavoured with fresh rosemary for Friday cocktail hour. John bought me a pomegranate liquer as a treat so the beets and the drink looked lovely together.
The times allotted for chores went smoothly. Slightly less to do nowadays as we slide into late summer. Poor Hairy MacLairy with all those girls parading along the fence. Shall I test you on their names or would that be cruel. 
I will write the names of all the sheep in this order at the end of the post. See how you do. You can pretend I am a maths book and check your answers at the end, after trying to solve the problem by yourself. Though I am not sure I can write the answers upside down!
And look. How pathetic. 
ViV.. here is my lemon tree.. oh dear, it did not like the heat AND horrors of all horrors it is three years old so it does not like my wintry window either.. what am I doing wrong?
I have loaded the My Community widget (Thank you Gerry) because it will be easier for you all to find other people as you wander about the pages. You have helped to develop a vibrant Farmy Support Group here and this way we can all visit the quiet ones too. And it is wonderful for me to see who is popping in too and maybe pop back when the internet is not at a crawl..
The clouds followed us about all day, with nary a drop! But I have a feeling that we have turned a corner in the weather scene. Our heatwave is over. Can you bear to Touch Wood just once more! Are we over-using this charm!? Little showers might come more often now wouldn’t that be nice and it is downright chilly sitting here at dawn this morning. Which is great for my seedlings.
We are having visitors this week so I am making more yoghurt this morning so that I can make another fresh cheese tomorrow. That one will be made with fresh jalapeno. The menus are written and so we will begin the cooking for the week on Sunday. I asked my Eldest Son who comes Monday what he would like to eat and he said ‘MEAT!’ Well, I think I can manage that. I also have more teenage visitors this weekend and they are taking over the kitchen (YAY) so we will eating at the other spectrum this weekend as the head cook is vegan… fine with me! She is going to have a good rummage through the gardens and cook with whatever she finds.
So the house is full to bursting, the gardens are growing, cheeses are settling, today’s summer tomato sauce in the pot is already bubbling, the chickens are laying, the gardens are weeded, The Shush Sisters are filthy, Daisy is waiting to be milked and TonTon has not been skunked for two whole days. Best I get busy then. Anything could happen!
Have a lovely day.
celi
On this day last year I had received my disastrous lens extension thingies and was innocently searching for the shot. There is a priceless image of a bee in a flower! And a warning for us all. Never buy extension thingies for your lenses. There is one so completely stuck onto my good zoom lens that I have not been able to use it (the zoom) for months now, it took me days just to get it off my camera. I need to find someone who can fix it. But camera/lens repair people are few and far between! Rare as hens teeth.
OK the sheep’s names. I bet most of you got them right! Mama (well you ALL got that right!). Meadow. Mia (who is as big as her mother now) and Minty bringing up the rear. How did you do?
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
59 responses to “Pickled Beetroot amongst the bustle.”
Enjoy your week, I hope it’s cooler for you and that those guests lend a hand, as chefs or otherwise. It’s hard to be a foreigner where you belong. 🙂
Wonderful post, C…Enjoy your company – and your neighbors.
So nice the neighbours finally stepped up. Sometimes it’s difficult to get out of routine and not stick to yourself. Hopefully it’s the start of something good.
Sorry C I didn’t know their names :(. I love it that you name them, it makes me happy that they are part of your farmy family.
The weather is cooler here too but you wouldn’t know it as its been raining nonstop and the humidity is brutal.
So nice to have a houseful of guests, it’s surely a happy time.
I thought Mia was Meadow. Go to the bottom of the class, Viv. I don’t know what you’re doing with the lemon tree. The one I mentioned belongs to a friend, about as hamfisted a gardener as I am, but it was inherited from a very green-fingered friend who died a couple of years ago, so was already well established and bearing fruit when Jo took it over.
I should make some jellied beetroot, as there are some in the frig just waiting for attention. Even the jelly mixture is made, as I made too much last time, so all I have to do is melt it. I made marrow and ginger jam this week with a ‘forgotten’ courgette from the garden. Not a good set, but the taste is great.
jellied beetroot… does that mean the beet is vinegar free? If so, please may I have the recipe?
me too!! c
Silly cameras, eh? I’ve been needing to have mine fixed since it tried to commit suicide at Christmas by jumping off of the piano while we were all eating turkey. I have found a local repair guy, but haven’t made it to see him yet. Until then, I lead life just slightly out of focus.
I did OK on the names, but I didn’t even try to distinguish Meadow and Minty. But I did insert Hairy M in my list. I like that Community gadget. That’s cool!
minty is the little one at the end.. bottle fed is always smaller.. c
I didn’t know Meadow :-(.
I’ve always had a hard time remembering Santa’s reindeer, so I passed on taking that name test!! Your jama and place setting looks so inviting. How wonderful to have neighbors popping over. I can’t wait to develop those casual relationships with mine. Everyone has been so closed up indoors here!
Miss C, I couldn’t tell the difference between Minty and Meadow.
Sounds like you have a wonderful time coming up with the younger folk to cook your meals.
Write to me if you would like help with your lemon tree…e
Oh I would like help.. I shall write.. thank you.. c
2 out of 4 Miss! so you had beetroot day, that’s what I’m planning to do today, after a busy chatty morning it really is now or never! think I’ll drop you an email
That is a gorgeous color of your beetroot. But, alas, I don’t care for beets. I’ll still admire its color, though!
The moment you mentioned the answers at the end, I did what I always used to with those maths books and looked at the answers first! Those are impressive clouds- you get such a broad stretch of sky. I hope they bring showers to quench the seedlings.
I totally appreciate the feeling that you are becoming part of the community, because I have NOT yet achieved this here in France at all. Granted we are only here seasonally, but I’ve been coming for 14 years! and still am regarded as an outsider. It is hard. Doesn’t help that my French is not very good. I got all but one of the sheep. I’m rather proud of myself. Sad, though, that I forgot little miss Meadow. My apologies to her, please.
meadow accepts your apology, she has trouble remembering her own name too! and I can empathise on the foreigner in a foreign land thing! my english is fine but for some reason I am misunderstood anyway.. c
As for the beets, just wanted to say to yummychunklet, I hated beets as a child, but my mother discovered that I DID like them pickled. Have you tried them like that? And with onion they are delicious.
it sounds to me like you have fit right into your community very easily. farm people always stick together, which makes it a lot easier. so glad u r happy!