More homemade stuff

The sun is out and finally people and plants are getting some much needed vitamin D!  Amazing how a bright day can change everyone's mood - there are lots of smiles around at the moment...long may it continue! It's been a busy few days but productive ones at that!  There is nothing quite like making something from scratch and my pet project this week was bath bombs.  

Lavender bath bombs...

I have wanted to make those ever since watching a program on TV which made it look so easy to do - and it really is!  Mix together bicarb, citric acid, essential oil and carrier oil, press into mould (in this case a biscuit cutter), leave to dry and ta dah - bath bombs!  I made lavender ones, adding dried flowers and using lavender essential oil which should make for a relaxing bath...I will try them out today before making a bigger batch.  To keep them dry before use they will have to be wrapped in foil - I will try and get my hands on some chocolate wrapping foil which will be thinner than normal alu foil and easier to wrap around.

My other project was chutney!  As we don't yet have a glut of anything in the garden, I made spiced apricot chutney (Delia's recipe) which is made out of dried apricots and other bits and pieces.  I hope it will taste nice once it has matured a bit - we will have to wait for at least 4 weeks before trying...

Peppers anyone?

First peppers appearing...

Very exciting news: the pepper plants which have grown indoors on the window sill for the last few weeks have started growing tiny little peppers!  At the moment, there are just a couple but I can already see some of the flowers making place to some more.  I grew these plants from seed and not having done this before, I am especially proud! :-)  They are a dwarf variety but I do sincerely hope they'll grow slightly larger than they are right now :-)

With the sunshine we have been having these last couple of days the tomatoes have started turning colour - I can't wait to try one of these little fellas!  Patience....

Tomatoes ripening...