Soup making frenzy

I have spent this afternoon making soups...3 different sorts to be precise!


I wanted to use up some rather old bulb Fennel which came in the veg box and also I had a rather old Celeriac, so made up a recipe of Celeriac, Fennel and Celery soup using shallots and garlic grown by us and some ham stock from cooking an organic gammon joint.



I also made some Pumpkin soup, using one of my stored Lady Godiva pumpkins. Compostman very kindly chopped the Pumpkin into chunks for me and I roasted it in the oven whilst our Sunday meal was cooking. This variety has "naked" seeds which are good to dry and eat!


The Pumpkin soup used Onions and Garlic and home made veg stock.

The final soup was a vegan Lentil and assorted root veg soup...using Onions, Garlic, Kohl rabi, Swede, the trimmings of Celeriac and Fennel from making the other soup and an organic soup mix of Pearl Barley, Lentils, and Peas in with home made veg stock.


I have altogether made 10 portions of the Celeriac, Celery and Fennel soup. 14 portions of the Lentil and Veg soup and 18 portions of the Pumpkin Soup. All portions are VERY generous!!

I used home grown herbs for flavour and butter to cook the shallots and for the vegan soups I used a vegan spread to saute the onions !!

All are now in the freezer...waiting to be eaten YUMMY!!

All the veg was either grown by us or came from our veg box provider 5 miles away..and the meat stock came from an Organic farm less than 10 miles away, as did the butter.

The spread is UK made but not sure where!! So almost totally zero food miles for all of it which makes me very happy indeed!

I am still seriously considering doing a set period of a "15 mile diet"...it WOULD be easier to do from now until October, as we produce all our own fruit and veg during this period and I could get organic meat and dairy from within that limit..Hmmm..will have to have another think about this!

The "buy nothing" challenge was quite do-able and has become second nature..I stop and think and question EVERYTHING I want to get now and try to get it Free cycle or library or borrow it or charity shop it if I can...so maybe a new challenge is in order??

Musings on the passing of time

I have spent a lot of time in the garden recently, sowing and digging and planting and tending the soil...and I have been clearing away the detritus of last years growth and also harvesting the last of the crops from the garden.


I gave a friend a huge bundle of leeks from the garden, whilst they are still in prime condition we might as well use them rather than wait for them to bolt!!

and I made a huge pan of Leek and Potato soup here in the week...the house was full of the smell of leeks and we feasted on the dark green richness of it.


I froze 10 portions in rectangular tubs so we can have some over the next few weeks...( but it goes SO fast in this household!!) and I have only a few leeks left now in the garden, a sure sign that the wheel of the year has turned!



Quite close to the leek patch is where the rhubarb lives...and that is growing fast now...



and the salad seeds I planted 6 days ago have sprouted!!
Spring is definetely sprung.......