Early Raid on the Vegetables?
Let’s say things have been a bit…..tight around here. Of course it’s rude to talk about money (apparently), but a couple of unpaid invoices, a backlog of work thanks to my back episode last week, and a few other factors have meant that Rich and I are…well…a bit broke.
I would love to wholeheartedly blame oil prices and rising food prices. I know that they have played a small part - after all, the cost of living has increased noticably, particularly the last gas & electric bills we had despite our best efforts to keep them as low as possible. But the simple fact is that having two of us self-employed has it’s downsides. And this is one of them. Work, and payment in particular, can be sporadic and unreliable. Especially when you rely on people paying invoices on time, and for whatever reason, it doesn’t happen.
Rich would be fine if he didn’t have me to contend with too. It’s me that’s the problem really.
I’ve almost cleared our cupboards out, trying to come up with meals using tins of kidney, cannellini or pinto beans, boxes of passata, potatoes, carrots et al. My store cupboard staples are diminishing. The freezer is emptying, now resident to unhelpful things like frozen filo pastry and 18 month old Quorn bangers. Even the car is running on fumes now.
But we’re getting perilously close to not having anything to eat, and not being able to go food shopping until next week. So far today I had to skip breakfast (not such a problem, as I was lazy and didn’t get up until mid morning), nicked a packet of Hula Hoops from my Mum’s house en route to see Nannie in hospital, came home and ate the remnants of some chewy bitesize shredded wheat, and to finish had a slightly stale roll with some spread in it. Rich ate some raw cabbage for lunch. It’s a bit desperate, but I can’t help but feel amused by it. If my Mum knew the exact circumstances she’d probably fall over with worry. Of course the animals eat better than we do. I can go a few days eating stale bread and ancient frozen food. I don’t expect them to ’suffer’ because of *my* lifestyle choice.
Anyway, this has all go me thinking about my vegetable plots and allotment. Nothing is quite ready to harvest yet, apart from some rhubarb (ooo…I have fat, sugar and flour, I could make a crumble) . I can’t wait until I can drastically reduce my food shopping bill and gobble my vegetables. I can make a meal out of almost anything, and when you have a glut of potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and turnips, you’re forced to get creative.
With things being a bit brassic, I’m wondering if I could chance an early raid on the potatoes. My radar onions are almost there, they’ve got smallish bulbs on them (one bolted, mnargh!), but I’m holding off on pulling them just yet. A few rogue potatoes from last year’s Charlotte crop popped up amongst the onions. One has started flowering, so I think that could be of great help.
At the end of this growing season, I’m definitely going to look into successive growing and all year round crops. I just can’t be doing with extra stresses on top of everything else. Once we start harvesting our fruit and veg, a little weight will be lifted from my shoulders.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I raided my spuds this evening and got enough of a decent size for tomorrow night’s tea. As for rhubarb we’ve got so much I’m giving it away.
Like you though I can’t wait till more stuff comes in and I can see that ridiculously high shopping bill come down.
Dave
June 11th, 2008 at 9:38 am
You could try having a look around to see what wildfood is near you
June 12th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Yes, why is it that companies think its ok to not pay their invoices on time? Its like they thing your only doing the work for fun, like you havent got bills to pay too!
June 12th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
A few years ago I was in the situation of being owed a vey large sum by a publisher I had done freelance work for. I had to invoice for the whole project, no part payments, then because this came to over a certain amount, the parent company in Hong Kong had to authorise payment! As you can imagine they weren’t exactly speedy in doing this. After numerous phone calls I decided to call the UK Finance Director, I asked him how he would feel if in June he was still waiting for his March, April and May pay cheques?. I was paid the next week!
Good luck!
June 12th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Hi all
To be fair, I haven’t been waiting months for my invoices to be paid, it’s a bit of a culmination of payments yet to be received from a few quarters for both me and Rich, vet bills, unexpected costs and delays in completing work due to my back ‘epsiode’ that have contributed to my ’situation’. The hard thing is not being able to plan ahead. If I knew for certain that I could pay my half of the council tax next week, that would help. If I knew for certain that I would be able to go food shopping on Wednesday next week, that would help too. It’s just hard to plan when you’re not exactly sure what’s going on…but perhaps that’s my downfall, I never have a contingency really!
June 20th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Hi Oola, because I’m such a Mother Hen I’m really concerned for you and Rich. Just ask your Mom for some food supplies. When we were first married and almost penniless, my Gran…who I used to live with used to bring us tins of this and slices of that ‘as extras’ she would say. She never realised how important those ‘extras’ were and in fact were essentials to our food supply. So, invite yourself along to dinner with your family and friends. Hugs and blessings. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx