Growing veg list made, and oil pastry anyone?

 Betty's not entirely back to herself, although is certainly much better.  Hopefully, she'll continue to improve over the next couple of days.  No sickness today and she's drunk a little lukewarm water.  She's even started showing some interest in food, standing in the kitchen staring up at the shelf where her food and treats are stored, so I might chance giving her a tiny food portion later.

I tried talking to husband about veggies to grow this year, he showed very little interest - the TV wasn't on, for a change, and he wasn't on his computer so it's not like he was distracted, he just didn't seem interested.  So I've gone ahead and made a list of what I want to grow, and planned where to sow or plant the veggies, making sure I'm not growing them in the same beds as last year.  We're only going to grow tomatoes (2 types), mini cucumbers, carrots, shallots, courgettes (green and yellow), potatoes in bags and climbing French beans, all things that grow well here and we eat a lot of.  I shan't be bothering with butternut squash, aubergines or leeks this year - the first two didn't do particularly well last year and we don't eat enough of them to warrant trying to grow again.  Leeks are cheap enough to buy and I wouldn't say there's enough of a flavour difference in the homegrown ones.  Husband grew far too many last year, we've still got loads in the raised bed.  The carrots and French beans we'll grow from seed, everything else we'll buy as mini plants.  We won't make the mistake of last year when we bought some of them too early, they mostly rotted away and we had to buy more later on, they soon catch up.  We'll get some seed potatoes tomorrow and have a look for shallot sets, I like the banana ones (easier to peel and chop).

There's a gang of tree fellers cutting down some trees in a garden nearby, husband's been and had a word with them to see if they'll cut down and take away the horrible yucca tree in our garden, if the price is right.  They'll come for a look and give us a quote when they've finished their present job.  I hope they do take the yucca away, that'll be one garden job crossed off the list.

I made a chicken mince risotto yesterday, using pearl barley instead of rice - really nice and I think I preferred the barley to rice, a nice chewy texture.  Very filling as well.  Tonight we're having cod poached in a little milk with parsley and dill, and a veggie bake thing out of the freezer made with some of the cheap Christmas veggies - grated potato, parsnips and carrots, chopped onions, herbs and spices and an egg to bind, with some grated Parmesan and breadcrumbs on top.  I baked the loaf that I started yesterday, it's come out better than the last one I made, more oven spring so a bit taller.

I want to have a go at making pastry next, using oil instead of butter/lard.....I'm not brilliant at pastry making, never have been, think I probably handle it too much.  I'm hoping using oil means I'll be stirring instead of rubbing in the fat, so less handling and a less tough pastry.  Have any of you made oil pastry?  There are plenty of recipes online and I know Thrifty Lesley always makes it this way.  I'd like to avoid buying readymade chilled pastry packs from now on, they have an alarming list of ingredients including palm oil, preservatives and emulsifiers.