Preserved

Whilst the cottage is under constant attack from our builders Jana bravely perseveres with preserves with the army size surplus from the garden.
In our first year of vegetable gardening maybe we slightly under-estimated how much might pop out of the ground.
Perfect weather has helped.
Inspired from re-runs of "The Good Life", this last week has led us to scratch around our charity haulage of old english recipe and self-sufficient related books. So far plum wine, marrow wine, marrow sirup, plum cordial, anything and everything in vinegar, kecups, tomato sauces, chutney this, chutney that..
With winter fast approaching (30C as usual today), the words 'be prepared' become more appropiate to us.

Facebook

We are now available to be 'liked' as "Havran Cottage" on facebook for more news and plans for the future. 

Pants

Whilst back doors are being fitted, vegetables constantly getting preserved, and even a stove gradually getting built ready for winter, surely the big news is the outdoor toilet on the move!
Broken down like a kit-form, hoisted onto two wheelbarrows, a struggled journey to it's new, more privat 'e' location. 
Now, sitting within spitting distance of where it will stay standing, an area is being excavated ready for all the deposits.
A new seat to be fitted to separate all the ones and twos, and utilized in an organic way..
Once put back together a beautiful view from the door onto open countryside to tempt the sitter to stay longer.
The masterplan will continue with the production of a second utility built next door. Each to have a 6 month use throughout the year depending on quantity and quality control of course!

what lays ahead

We are promised a good week of weather this week, hopefully this will prompt a decent return on the building work on the house in preparation for the winter, yes the winter! Much as we can make fun of how slow progress can be in this country, our own predicament might well be taken as a case in point too! With one cold tap still, and a stove/kitchen waiting to be built. The nights are drawing in and the clock is ticking. 

Mushrooms

The rapid arrival of thunderstorms and monsoon style rainfall followed by hot bursts of sunshine have tempted out the hoards of mushroom pickers around these parts. 
Normally two or three cars pass our front gate. Today, not unlike any other this week, there has been more than a dozen. Our previous tranquility taken away by hungry car loads, armed with baskets. We realize later we should have laid on cream teas with plenty of the plum jam made yesterday rather than dusting off the binoculars to check where they are hunting for them!

Abundance

 

The lack of activity on here has been caused by the glut of fruit and vegetable that hadn't completely been envisaged.

This morning nearly 50 jars of plum jam, with still two buckets full and today's fallen fruit to save. After eating another dozen, a mars bar helps to break the pattern for my palate.

Scratching heads, looking for inspiration on what next to do with marrow or pumpkin. Tomatoes delicious on their own.

And in a house that still doesn't look anymore finished (in fact less so) than when we moved in last year when we took on our first 'plum fall', we still have the tricky balance of when to attend what we have here compared to what we want maybe.

Bathroom

Room with a view. Not quite what we were hoping for after over a year of living here, it's still an outdoor bathroom facility.
Whilst hot sunny days are a pleasure to soak up all the surroundings whilst in the tub, wetter ones like today means a 'no-wash' day.
We hope guests next year will enjoy the pleasure of outdoor showering that we plan to set up but as a back-up plan we must have an indoor facility prepared by then. 
If our builders are reading this "please hurry up, the summer will be over soon.."