I adore food, as I've said before - I love to eat, cook, grow and serve it up to people! Browsing through seed packets and planning what to sow next is one of my favourite things to do and now that we're doing the 5:2 fasting way of eating it's got even more interesting!
We've been doing the menu planning thing for a while and it has helped reduce waste and save us money, it also shares out the cooking, I can't cook every day - RA makes you constantly choose between cooking a meal, having a bath, washing hair, cleaning a room, shopping, going out with friends...etc. factor in work, blood tests, filling prescriptions, hospital consultations and drug deliveries and you can see that it can be a tiring old business and there's also work!
The 5:2 fits into this well as we do Monday and Wednesday as a fast day, last night we had salmon and a kind of savoury rice using cauliflower which was pretty awesome. He does the food on Wednesdays and Fridays, I do Mondays, Tuesdays (when my folks visit) and Thursdays, ma cooks for us on Sundays! Fella is also in charge of Saturdays...
The Fella loves a pie in any shape or form and I love making them although he has begged me not to put quite so many courgettes in things this year!
I didn't grow courgettes last year, or the year before, or the year before...I found a plant marker dated June 2009 at the allotment a while ago and it was for the Welsh (or everlasting) Onions I grew from seed that year, one of the last things I remember doing before I was ill. I'd planted up a fair bit of the plot with fruiting bushes and asparagus when I was fitter and they could look after themselves!
As the likelihood of my actually having RA came to the fore everyone said I should give up my allotment, too much work for me to keep on top of as well as trying to get control of a painful and difficult to treat condition.
I didn't listen and over the years I HAD to go and feed my chickens, sometimes taking 4 hours or more from waking to leaving the house, the allotment is about a mile away and I used to hope I wouldn't see anyone as their enquiry as to how I was feeling would make not crying because of the pain impossible.
There have also been some funny moments like the time I took codeine and forgot to close the door to the run! Luckily I have some very forgiving, long suffering and nimble allotment neighbours who were excellent chicken catchers!
A combination of generous growers, established fruit bushes and friendly chickens kept my spirits up, and my interest in growing er...going!
Every year I would order seeds optimistically thinking that this year I would be more in control of the pain and able to actually plant things...the pile of seed packets got bigger and expiry dates passed.
Last year some good friends of us both took over part of the allotment, about a third of it. This made a huge difference and as they were very enthusiastic due to the fact that they had no garden at home they did overdo it a bit on the courgette and spinach front, hence the courgette ban!
They farmed the area for around a year before they found a house nearby that has a huge garden!
I've attempted to keep on top of the part they cleared by changing the way I do things - I don't dig, can't dig and my hands can't grip to weed so I've been covering things with mulch, tarpaulin and by growing squash plants around and between the brasiccas.
Little and often also works for me although recently I have managed a couple of hours down there, a lot of it sitting and resting.
Timing my medication so I am as pain *free as I am ever likely to be and where possible bringing something back each time so I have a reward.
This appears to be working for me thus far, I'm also indebted to one of my knitters who gave me the tip for blackcurrant picking - prune the fruit laden branches and take them home where you can sit comfortably picking away instead of hunching over the bushes!
Genius!
When I think back to when we were producing Country Crafts I'm not sure how I managed to do it given that I was going through a pretty big flare at the time and although I hurt now from the damage in my joints a flare is how I imagine it feels to be hit by a car or bus! I've had horse riding accidents, been in quite a serious side-on car crash, had a burst appendix and given birth...but none of these come anywhere near it. All I can think is that distraction has gone an awful long way to help me get this far.
Not plums, potatoes! Blue ones and they stay blue when you cook them...these were the Fella's idea, I had all but given up on the idea of growing anymore spuds but between us we just about managed it. He's become more interested in growing food since we saw tiny cucamelons on television one Sunday morning, I'll do a blogpost all about those gorgeous little babies soon, I promise!
I'm still sorting out the kitchen since the floor was replaced in the summer, it's a work in progress but as the old one worked well for me and I spend almost all my time in the kitchen - I can't sit on a sofa, too low and I can't get up again without help as my hips and knees lock up, even help hurts as people hold my hands to help me and I feel awful asking them not too...so I stick with the comfy chair with arms and everything I need within reach!
I've been dealing with some major pains in my feet, hips and hands since Saturday so thought I would go over some more positive stuff we've achieved recently as a big distraction!
Thanks for bearing with me, Nx
