Finito!

Well reader, since my last post about my list of outstanding jobs I am pleased to announce that I have finished one project - the unfinished socks.

I thought it was going to be a matter of just sewing up the toes, but no - I found that I had actually abandoned the fourth sock mid way through. This meant I had to trawl the internet for the pattern, unpick it to a stage I recognised, and finish it, before sewing up all of the toes. But I did it - so unfinished project number 5 is off my list!

The practice run. Yes, the toe seam on the left foot is running vertically not horizontally, it's not a trick of the light.

The expensive tweedy wool pair - if honest, not as good as the practice run.

Now look, they aren't perfect, I know. Because I was so impatient, I made them more like ankle socks than the nice woolly legwarmers I envisaged...but I could feasibly make a nice long pair now if I wanted to (but not until my other unfinished projects are finished!).

The four socks probably cost about £10 in wool and needles - more than enough to by a snazzy pair of 'North Face' hiking socks in Blacks. But it is a comfort to know that if the apocalypse arrives tomorrow and I have to resort to knitting my own, my tootsies will be toasty and warm.

Finishing What I Started

You would think that the winter months would be an ideal time to get on with inside jobs, but somehow this winter I have failed to make any progress with my 'works in progress'. I came very close to buying soap-making stuff today, thinking how lovely it would be to have a stash of home-made soap tucked away. But I looked deep within my heart and admitted - it would just add to the massive list of half finished 'projects' in my life. They are weighing heavy on my conscience, a bit like the chains that Dickens' Marley had to carry around for all eternity. So, I have decided that before I begin any other crafty projects this year, I am publicly vowing to FINISH WHAT I STARTED!

Read on and be appaulled...

Unfinished Project Number 1

So... the armchair. We had been making do with a tiny sofa in our living room and needed an armchair. So I put an add on Freecycle and persuaded myself that I was up for a bit of re-upholstery. I spent a couple of hours ripping off the naff faded red cover, only to loose interest halfway through. So, the puppy ripped most of the foam out of the sides and I bunged a throw over it to hide my shame - and that is how it has been ever since. I can't even sit on it because every now and again I get spiked by a half-removed staple!

I have found some lovely fabric cheaply on Ebay. The excuses are over! I will finish it this spring!

Unfinished Projet Number 2

The Quilt.

I have come so close with this beast. Last year I managed to stitch the squares together, add batting and a back cover. All it needs now is binding around the edges. The truth is that I think I have fallen out of love with it. The 'stitching in the ditch' part is really messy and the lines are not straight, so every time I look at it, all I see is faults.

My mum assures me these are not visible to the untrained eye. Anyway, nobody will ever see it if I don't get on and finish it. I could do it in an evening - so no more procrastination! I will buy the binding fabric (hope hobbycraft still make it!) and finish the damn thing!

Unfinished Project Number 3

The chest of drawers.

This was another Freecycle project. God the arguements Oli and I had trying to fit this into the back of the VW Golf... and I didn't even finish it. As you can see, I got halfway through, burned out the electric sander and had a strop, and have to use the damn thing in this hideous state every day, reminding me of my inertia. The drawers don't open and shut properly, and it is a mess.
But, it is lovely quality and I love the locks on the drawers. It must have a bit of a history - we recon it is 1930's. So I will finish sanding it, paint it a lovely eggshell colour and buy some nice new handles.

Unfinished Project Number 4

My albatross.

I bought this for £22 at an auction three years ago. Oli said at the time I would never finish it. I saw in it the potential to make a lovely and quirky hall chair - it had some original georgian fabric on it but was admittedly in a bit of a state. I insisted and so we bought it and got it home...to find that it was actually a commode...and came complete with chamber pot under the flip-up seat cushion. Perfect! I thought. We can use it to hide keys in!

I spent many a lonely freezing night in the garage getting high on the fumes of Nitromors, burning the skin off my fingers...but the thick varnish took ages to scrub out of the intricate pattern with wire wool and I am sorry to say... I got bored. So now every time we have an arguement, or when poor Oli tries in vain to rein me in from yet another purchase that has 'potential' he only has to say one word: 'COMMODE'. So, this year I will sand it down to a nice natural wood colour, and finish it!

(I should say at the same auction, I also bought a 12ft long church pew, with a plan to slice it in half and stick the end on so that it fitted in our kitchen. After meticulously stripping the varnish off (more Nitromors) I did this, I found that the end didn't fit back on...and Oli promptly used the chainsaw to turn it into firewood - so his lack of faith is not that unreasonable).

Unfinished Project Number 5

Socks.

This one should be an easy fix. I am very proud that I taught myself to knit socks in the autumn, and after much unpicking and swearing, they ended up looking like actual socks. Miracle! But the last step of sewing the toe up proved a step too far, and they are languishing on the giant safety pin. I recon I can do this in one evening...watch this space.

Unfinished Project Number 6

Oh no! Thought I was finished but have just remembered... the bedside cabinets.

Yet another Freecycle impulse collection...they are a pair and I thought they would be really perfect for my planned french country chic guest bedroom. I bought some sparkly glass handles and planned to paint them eggshell blue and add some nice decorative feet. Instead I sanded one, left them in the garage and did nothing.

Phew! They say the key to getting things done is to do one thing at a time.... so I plan to start with the socks, then the armchair. Watch this space!

Emerging Bleary Eyed from the Dark

Reader, if you are still there, I must apologise wholeheartedly for the lack of posts. I got close to posting a festive one about all of the lovely festive baking I got up to, and the rustic greenery and berry decorations which adorned the house...but the truth is, neither actually happened. This winter I have been struck by what is either SAD or just lazyitis, but I am ashamed to say that I have done NOTHING.

In November, we had a delivery of lovely seasoned firewood...



And for months, every evening has basically looked like this....

I have read some fabulous books (Paulo Cohelio's The Zahir, Lucinda Riley's The Girl On The Cliff being two of the best) and doing a bit of college work here and there (floristry), but mostly watching television, sleeping and generally hibernating. It has been bliss! I know most 'proper' gardeners have been flicking through seed catalogues and eagerly planning from their armchairs, but I find I need a total break where I can be a normal person for a few months, where my every waking moment doesn't involve doing mental gardening in my head and I don't have compost under my fingernails.

A high point of the winter was the lamb delivery. Our three lambs went off in November, and two weeks later, arrived ready for the freezer. It is really tasty meat and it is such a luxury to be able to get a roasting joint out almost every Sunday. Mmmm.

Another high point was the greenhouse surviving horrendous gale force winds, in the worst storm for years. This despite the fact we didn't cement the posts in like we should have done. Fingers crossed...

A low point was a fox attack. We lost our lovely drake one night, as the automatic door failed to work on the duck house - our fault for not checking it regularly enough. I heard a lot of quacking in the middle of the night and went to check what was going on - the fox scarpered but sadly had already bitten the drake, who died of shock. Needless to say we now check every night that they are tucked up in bed. We have been lucky that so far (touch wood!) this is the first fox problem we have had. The worry now is that he will be back for more, so we will have to be extra vigilent.

The only time I have ventured outside (other than to feed the animals) this winter has been to take the dog for walks in our local woods.

It's been months since I have touched the garden, which now looks like this:

The 'greenhouse of death' is a black, withered mess

The chooks have been moved out of their enclosure, which in the very heavy rain we have had recently, became a boggy mess.

Instead they have been free ranging in the veggie patch, stripping the rainbow chard down to nothing and the lower kale leaves - but I don't mind.

The pigpen is also a boggy mess on one side. The other side is better drained, and gets the sun, so they like to lie and catch whatever sunlight they can on bright days.

So it would all be a bit depressing - if it wasn't for the little hints that spring is on the way:

I can feel my sap starting to rise...

Autumn Induced Lethargy

Oh dear, it has happened again. Almost a month exactly since my last blog post…very bad.


The truth is that there has not been much to report – the preserving is all finished, the pigs are happy and still growing. The lambs still haven’t gone to slaughter but should be ready next week. The vegetable patch is terribly overgrown – the lawn is almost eight inches high.

I think we are both suffering from Autumn Fatigue. It happens every year – after seven months of digging, watering, mowing and planting, I am a bit fed up, and so we harvest but very little else. The next thing is to start the digging once it is cold enough (nothing worse than being hot and sweaty while digging). I walk past shop displays of tulip bulbs and cringe with guilt that I haven't done this yet. I know I am almost missing my last opportunity to stick in some overwintering onion sets.

However, perhaps most importantly, we have been out enjoying the Autumn. Libby, our little pup is now old enough to go on shortish walks, so we have been taking her to explore. This weekend, we spent a lovely afternoon at nearby Westonbirt Arboretum which is famous for its Autumn colours. It is pretty special round here at this time of year:

Luminous gold trees are stunning against the clear blue skies. This photo isn't photo shopped, honestly!

The sun is lower in the sky and casts shadows that make giants out of little pups:

 

Enough sunlight gets through the canopy to light up the acers:

Ripe scarlet maple seeds are just about to spin to earth:

The summer sun has bleached the bark of eucalyptus trees:

And there are plenty of nice sticks around!

On Wombling

'making good use of the things that we find...things that the everyday folk leave behind...'

I have been making like a Womble today. I almost feel inclined to don some dubious hedgear and wear tartan. On my way to work, I walk past a cottage which is being renovated. I couldn't help but notice that they had some tasty looking firewood mounting up - mostly blocks of softwood which are the sawn-off ends of ceiling joists. Our house is old and only has crappy Economy 7 storage heaters, so is usually so cold in winter that you can see your breath. But our wood burner, which we put in last year, keeps it toasty.

We had plans to sweep the chimney this weekend, and have been thinking about wood for a while. So, I flicked my hair and fluttered my eyelashes in a manner Miss Piggy be proud of, and asked the builders nicely if I could come back with the car later and raid the skip.

They said I could help myself - but when I came back later they had left all of the wood in boxes and bags for me, nice and dry. How nice is that?

It was obviously my day. The firm I work for is lovely, and buys lots of fruit for the staff to snack on. I spoke to the office manager and asked what happens to the leftovers at the end of the week. They get binned, apparently, much to her dismay - and she was only too happy to bag it up for me to feed to the pigs! Fantastic, as it means we get to reduce the amount of pig nuts we use every day (and the pigs much prefer it).

My luck continued. I went to check out the staff kennels (for when Libby is old enough) and what could I feel crunching underneath my feet? Hazelnuts! Millions of them! So, swallowing my pride and minding my high heels, I fished a carrier bag out of my desk draw and stocked up. Yes, my (newish) work colleagues probably already think I am eccentric. I am used to it.

Then, as I stood in the staff kitchen making tea, what do I find - three empty jam jars (my firm also buys bread and jam for it's employees. How good is that?) I was in need of a few - I have lots more jam to make, and they were destined for the recycling, so I washed them up and stuffed them in my (now bursting) handbag.

What a good haul. It feels nice to use things which were only heading for landfill, and one lesson I have learned is it never hurts to ask - everyone I asked was more than happy to see their 'rubbish' re-used, even if they were having a little snigger at the window watching the new girl scrabbling about in a pencil skirt on the car park floor.

Madame Cholet never had to put up with this!

We're Jammin'

I love the preserving season - it is another marker in the rolling rhythm of the seasons. It feels right to be revelling in the abundance all around us and making sure we will be well fed through the barren winter months. Before I lived this life, my food came from a fluorescently lit supermarket in crappy cellophane packets and I ate the same things all year round. I am sad to think that I never noticed the hedgerows bowing under the weight of wild cherries, or the apple trees on motorway sidings fecund with shiny red apples.

We woke up at the weekend to find that our apple tree - supposedly trained against a wall, had broken loose and flopped on it's face. With a lot of grunting and swearing, we managed to prop it up against the wall temporarily, but in the process, it dropped apples all over the place.

Admittedly, most of the swearing occurred as I said to Oli 'just hold it on your own for a minute. I need to take a photo for my blog!'

As the majority of the apples were tiny and unripe (and therefore higher in pectin and low in water) there was only one thing for them...jelly. The squashed and bruised ones went in the pigs (who looked pleased).

I made a batch of Apple and Mint Jelly, using mint from our overgrown patch in the garden. This will be perfect for roast dinners with lamb. I also made a batch of apple and raspberry - for toast. I have never gotten my jellies to set in the past, but these were perfect. I recon this is due to the lemons, high pectin apples and preserving sugar - it set perfectly.

Here is the recipe:

Apple and Mint Jelly

2.7kg cooking (or tiny unripe windfall) apples
3 lemons, roughly chopped
15 sprigs of mint
Preserving sugar (450g for each 600 ml liquid you end up with).

1. Roughly chop apples (pips, stalks and skin on) and half of the mint and bung the lot in a preserving pan with a very small amount of water. Stew over a medium heat until pulpy.

2. Set up muslin over a stool/whatever contraption you prefer, and strain pulp into a clean bucket overnight.

3. Add sugar to the liquid and bring to boil. Keep on a 'rolling boil' (i.e. without letting it boil over) for 20-25 mins or until it reaches the setting point.

4. Add remaining finely chopped mint and fill and seal jars while still hot.


But is it worth it?

I never saw the point of making jams and jelly's as a cost-saving measure. This was when I only bought Robinsons strawberry jam at the supermarket, and the most adventurous companion to meat dishes was Colemans apple sauce or creamed horseradish. But now that I have learned how much a sumptuous berry jelly enhances a stew, or the miracle that is apple cheese, I see jellies and jams in a different light. But food prices at the farm shop are going up and I recently paid £2.30 for a jar of apple jelly and £1.80 for a jar of relish.

The only bought ingredient for my mint and apple jelly is the sugar, at approximately £1.50 per 1kg, and the lemons, at 5 for £1 (we re-use old jam-jars). This made 6 jars - making each one approximately 45p. I would put the cost of making jams (such as my plum jam or raspberry jam) about the same. Chutneys work out at more like 60p, as they call for expensive spices and vinegar.

That said, a jacket potato, 3 good sausages and a generous spicy damson chutney makes a good, simple meal.

Assuming we get through 6 jars of 4 types of chutney and 4 types of jams/jellies, we would spend £98 in a year. Making the same ourselves would cost nearer £25 - a saving of £73 - which is almost what we pay for a trailer load of firewood!

So, although we wouldn't exactly starve if I put my feet up and watched Eastenders instead of spending the evening in the kitchen, it all helps to make life more comfortable now that times are tight - and I quite like it.

Preserves or Pat?

Thankfully, what with laptops and BBC i-player, I can do both at the same time!

Walnuts!

A drizzly morning gave way to a glorious afternoon today. Libby the pup and I surveyed the plot and I had to stop for a minute and take it all in. In the poultry enclosure, the layers were dust bathing in the earth underneath their nesting boxes (which stays dry in the rain) and the ducks were pottering about by the pond. The lambs were nibbling the leaves from the lower branches of the walnut tree, the pigs could just be seen having an afternoon nap in the pig ark and the 'meat' hens were free-ranging on the pasture (and in the neighbour's herb garden. Oops!).This is how it should be - small scale, free range and organic.

Anyway, enough of the sentimental back-patting

Our lovely farmer friend came over to have a look at the sheep, to see whether they were 'ready'. I would like to say that I felt a pang of emotion as he firmly felt their hind quarters - but in truth, I didn't. Despite being castrated rams they are getting a bit boisterous and pushy - sometimes jumping up and jabbing you in the chest with their sharp little hooves. I am sure this is perfectly innocent and more out of curiosity than malice, but it is a bit disconcerting.

However, they have been granted a reprieve - they are not large enough to go yet and he prescribed four more weeks on some fresh pasture. So they are in the orchard next door - where they will act as lawnmowers, since coincidentally the sit on mower has broken down and the grass is lush and long. Note the walnut tree in the immediate foreground.

We have lived here for two summers now, and I can't believe that last year I didn't even notice that we had a walnut tree! Apparently the squirrels usually scoff the lot the minute they ripen - but they must have been confused by the early autumn this year because I found loads! I will keep some for the Christmas cheese board and others will be used in vegetarian recipes in lieu of meat.

Some were still in their bright green pods - a bit like conkers.

And finally...a totally gratuitous picture of the free-range pup, sniffing her first (and last) thistle: