Ducks and the passing of years
“Are you really 56?” Danny looked up from the article in Woman and Home (who are doing a feature on homemade treats in the August 2010 issue). “Of course I am. You are 3 years younger. I bet that I’m the oldest woman in that feature.” He scanned the page. “Yes you are.” It’s strange but as the youngest child in my family I always feel young. I was quite surprised when the boy in SpecSavers asked me if I was over 60 – as they had a special promotion for that age group. He looked horrified when I replied. “That’s a shame as...
read moreNew garden borders and rip-off press adverts
This is Danny writing this evening to give Fiona a break after her hard three days of work on renewing the arid borders in our driveway. Not a single earthworm to be found. Much digging over and adding of compost and manure. This afternoon she was finally able to plant lavender hedging along the edges and perennials within the border. I can’t wait to see the effect next year. It will transform the view from the road. Getting back to my theme today: We do not like these rip-offs Perhaps we should know better but sometimes newspaper ads are so...
read moreNew wheels
My first independent mode of transport was a red fairy cycle with cream wheels and a bell. This was my horse, my chariot and even my wings. At five years old I swooped about the park and relished the freedom and excitement of speed for the very first time. Jalopy is still snoozing in the drive. She has been there for the last eleven months. Her battery is flat and she needs a service. But we’ve decided to let her sleep on until I’m back to work again. She attracts a lot of attention. Every few days someone drops in wanting to buy her....
read morePerfect temporary part time job
“Can you handle live worms? That’s what the turtles eat.” My stomach churned. I generously gave Danny the delight of tipping the worms into the dog poo composter last week. “Of course I can.” Proud to the bitter end. “There are not many worms in here at the moment but don’t worry, when you come to feed them there will be plenty.” I peered into the small tin. Lots of sandy stuff and a few worms. Fine. S tossed a few into the tank and a very capacious reptile guzzled the lot. I was fascinated by her. An ‘ancient’ head and...
read moreForum temporarily unavailable
Hi everybody – Danny here. After installing the up-to-date versions of software early this morning, some problems developed around noon and our server was out of action for about two hours. In order to identify the element that is causing trouble, we have temporarily shut down the forum and other more minor features. We will observe the health of the system over the next 24 hours and gradually reinstate each disabled element in turn. Apologies for the interruption to normal service.
read moreThank you
Today marks ten months off work and I think that finally I’m gradually getting better. But progress is achingly slow. I’m too tired in the evenings to develop new recipes at the moment. Instead we are looking back over the Cottage Smallholder archives and resurrecting some long forgotten recipes. The problem with constantly developing new recipes is that there is little time to enjoy past ones. So this has been a surprising solace. The focus is now on the garden and trying to achieve a stream of income from growing flowers, fruit and...
read moreStop Press: Eat Weeds teams up with Herb Mentor
I’m a huge fan of Robin Hartford’s site Eat Weeds. It’s a site packed with great information and a valuable resource for those who want to find free food. But what about free medicine? Eat Weeds has negotiated a 33% discount on the monthly subscription to Herb Mentor – a massive American website dedicated to all aspects of herbal medicine. I watched Robin’s video review of Herb Mentor and was very impressed with all that Herb Mentor offers – from training courses for the beginner to lectures from top international...
read moreHome bottled tomatoes and passata. Plan in spring for your autumn harvest.
Back in September Danny thought that I was crazy when I started to bottle (can) our tomatoes. “Tinned tomatoes are so cheap to buy from the supermarket.” “But I’m trying to avoid being dependant on the supermarkets. And anyway our tomatoes are organic and will taste much better.” I used the oven method, having invested in some Kilner jars from Lakeland. I also hot water bathed tomatoes and homemade passata in screw top jars. But I was concerned with the expensive energy output of both these methods. This year I’m planning to...
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