Sunday 10 July 2022

Flying ant day






Dog and frog
                                                                        Dog and frog




It was Flying Ant Day today. That hot, dry day in midsummer when suddenly all of the flying ants appear. I rescued several from the fox/hedgehog/dog water bowls that I have about the place. Also a woodlouse from the pond, which was very satisfying. The pond level is a bit low at the moment, so it must be feeling a bit more crowded in there than usual. I also need to remove some of the weed, which is growing really well. In fact, a tiny strand of it has grown to fill the whole pond, and the water lily also needs to be smaller. Or maybe I just need a bigger pond. The littlest boy is all for digging a new, bigger one, but there is a layer of rock just below the soil surface here and I haven't forgotten how hard it was to chisel out even the small pond that we have now.

The garden is nicely messy and full of flying things, especially the grass which is still thick with clover and probably at least eight other flowers. The blackbirds are stuffing themselves with blueberries and the pigeons are still gorging themselves with cherries from the three trees dotted around. Still no sign of an actual hedgehog, but all in good time.

It is wall-to-wall cricket here at the moment, but at least the whites are drying nicely on the line and of course it does keep the urchins mostly out of trouble for many hours. Although apparently the littlest boy knocked off the biggest boy's hat at tea yesterday, so the biggest boy took a bite out of the littlest boy's apple in retaliation and I feel that may have turned slightly ugly. I imagine they might try and tone it down a bit when I'm not there though, do you think? The middle boy has taken himself off to a different cricket club where he can be nicely distanced from the rabble that is the rest of the family.

I am very aware that in less than three months the biggest boy will have gone to university (all being well). There is a list of things that need to be purchased that promises to be expensive. I am going to have to rein him in a bit I fear. He has researched the local wholefood shop near his chosen uni very thoroughly, and is also aware that he will only be able to buy anything there the day that his student loan is paid and never thereafter.

I need to teach him to cook some nice cheap vegan things. I am thinking lentil things, veggie mince things, scrambled tofu and maybe something around pasta. Feeding him has always been a serious and substantial undertaking. 

He found an actual student kitchen in a video the other day. Apparently it was utterly horrific. I wonder if he will appreciate me more when he is knee deep in uncooked chicken, burned oven gloves and last week's lightly furred washing up. Do let me know if you have any cheap and easy vegan recipes that would do for an optimistic student. CJ xx

14 comments:

  1. That's a really big time in your life and your oldest boys, I remember it well. I dreaded it actually with both my older two and cried a whole day when my eldest left. I am not a crier so that tells you something. Then I went up to clean his room and actually got pretty mad at him with all he had left in such a mess. It was very therapeutic.

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  2. Baked beans in jacket potatoes, in fact anything vegan in a jacket potato is good. Student kitchens won’t be good I fear and there is usually warfare over the allocated areas in the fridges. All three of my boys complained a lot about that. Hopefully he won’t leave a pizza in the oven at three in the morning and the fire brigade have to be called out. Maybe I should gloss over that story.
    Flying ants haven’t hit us yet. I’m not a fan. Just endless mossies which are having a positive feast on me this year. Your garden sounds lovely as does your pond. Mine just doesn’t get enough sunlight I fear and we may have to be ruthless at some point to let a little more light in. Hope the cricket goes well and they win all their matches. B x

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  3. Ooh, I love tofu scramble! Dhal is quick, cheap and yummy and I'm a big fan of 'lurkey soup' (made with any veg found lurking at the back of the fridge!). Ditto stir-fry with leftover veggies (we actually found my daughter's wok in a skip!). Whack some mash on leftover spag bol or chilli and you have instant shepherd's pie. There is certainly a 'student's vegetarian cookbook' and I imagine there will be a vegan version out now.
    Do all the ants fly on the same day? If so, I'm hoping that we've missed ours as we've been away for the weekend! We were killing some time before dinner on Saturday and so sat down to watch a cricket match. I hadn't a clue about the scoring but it was all rather relaxed and quintessentially English. I feel I could become a fan.
    Good luck with the pond #2! xx

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  4. The cricket feud sounds rather civilised. I imagine in my family, the apple pie would have ended up in a boy's face. Exciting times ahead for the biggest boy. Annie went from having very high culinary standards to having much lower ones, although her flat mates and her sometimes bought one of those contains all ingredients for a meal box (of any brand) when they could get a discount code. Baked beans on a baked potato is an easy one to cook. I wonder if the Bootstrap Cook Jack Munro has a vegetarian cookery book? Cheap and cheerful recipes in the omnivore version. Have a wonderful week xx

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  5. A nicely messy garden sounds good to me, especially as it's full of flying things. I never was one for cricket but it sounds like they enjoy themselves.
    Thanks for an enjoyable read and good pictures. xx

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  6. I hate ants - they are bad enough at ground level. The feeling is reciprocated as they don't like me either.

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  7. Urgh, I hate flying ants, I haven't seen any this year so perhaps they haven't flown further north yet. Hmmm, uni kitchens, I had to close my eyes whilst Daniel led me past the kitchen door when I visited him at uni, it was always such a mess. Eleanor was always stood at the kitchen sink when I visited her at uni, she just couldn't live with the mess that others left, they were happy to leave her to it. I had to laugh at the cricket squabbles, they don't get much better as they get older you know, haha.

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  8. Susan in Texas11 July 2022 at 17:34

    Mazidra to the rescue! Recipes are online. Brown rice, lentils, onion, garlic and more. Love it.

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  9. Don't know if you have a Dunelm anywhere near you? If you do and can take proof of student status (offer or similar email will do) & student themselves with you, they do a good student discount for the month of August. Saved us a fortune when elder son went last year & planning to do the same for younger one this time!
    Pesto pasta genovese always seems to fill up vegan tummies happily & is really easy. 😊 Recipe here:
    http://www.thecampercookie.com/one-pot-pasta-genovese/

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    1. Thanks for the tips Corinna, I shall investigate both. CJ xx

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  10. I equipped all my Boys with a toasted sandwich maker, suitable for all leftovers and cooked in minutes. Can't go wrong with tin of beans, tin of tomatoes , herbs and veg. Feed him for a day or two. As to flying ants I had them coming in the porch again this year. Lets just say I needed the hoover. If I didn't get them the heat would have.

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  11. Good tip for the first few days is to make sure he has a good supplier of biscuits to share - shy daughter made good friends because she was the one with biscuits in her room so they congregated there.
    Other than that small sewing kit and knowing how to use it is useful, for him or friends. Make sure he knows how to operate the launderette as it's not the same as using a home washing machine. Also that he can budget and balance having fun versus spending too much (eg takeaways are OK as a treat but not every other meal).

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  12. The cricket shenanigans were absolutely hilarious! It's not just boys - my sister and I would have definitely done something similar. I seem to recall a chip stealing incident when we were much younger. Well, if she would leave them undefended..
    It's such a strange time, their going to university. Leaving mine there was the most upsetting thing but it was also the right thing and a much needed step towards his becoming independent. From what I can remember, his diet consisted mainly of beans. Many, many beans. Beans in sauce, beans in water. All the beans. Protein, fibre and vitamins all in one can. Perfect. Ish. Txx

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  13. Beans, pasta/rice, harissa paste, frozen veg.
    I could live on that x Love the froggy pic and the top photo with dramatic sky.

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