Gardening highs

Courgette pickle in the pan, all freshly chopped and just beginning to cook down

Some time later, bottled and ready to be labelled and then stored away to mature - should be ready to eat by November...

It was lovely to eat lunch yesterday and know that the courgettes, tomatoes, lettuce and new potatoes were all fresh from the garden. I have also walked around the garden tonight and picked several handfuls of different kinds of beans, so they will be cooked for tea tomorrow. It is a real joy to be eating our own fresh food! The egg numbers are beginning to wane ever so slightly, but not so that it makes a difference to the heap of trays in the utility room - I have baked a couple of cakes tonight, and there are more lemons on the bench, ready for another lemon curd marathon.

Tonight I am making courgette chutney - have a look at that link and perhaps have a go, if you have a glut like we do! We have a big heap, so I may well be making more if the FH likes it. I also found a recipe for beetroot chutney in the September issue of the Sainsbury's magazine, and I know where I can get beetroot and cooking apples, so I hope to give that a go, too.

The YFG has chosen her goldfish for her birthday, and they are happily swimming around in the tank in her bedroom. She is absolutely worn out after her day out yesterday, and slept in until nearly lunchtime this morning. She did come shopping with me this afternoon so that she could get the goldfish - but she soon fell asleep again this evening. The EFG also had a long lie in this morning, but she is still up and about now - and has been in hysterics at the faces and comments that the FH has been making, as we asked him to clean a chick's bum tonight!