It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

charlies-aunt

Gigervamp wrote: »

I thought that was for a septic tank rather than a cess pit, as a septic tank allows the liquid to drain off slowly, hence not needing to empty it very often, whereas a cess pit just stores the waste until it's full.

Mind you, I don't use bleach very often and don't use toilet blocks/cleaners or anti-bac stuff anyway.

Ah yes, just did a quick google and saw this:

Tis my mistook!!:) I thought that septic tanks worked on osmosis and cesspit tanks worked on direct drainage ---I didn't know that they stored everything ! Sounds horribly expensive! anyhooo we have a [STRIKE]cesspit[/STRIKE] soakway /septic tank!! Its not even that tbh - its an old brick lined well - works great in dryish weather but in very wet weather it doesn't work at all ...then the fun starts :rotfl:

Hippeechiq

Don't know how many of you use it, but I just saw this on another thread on the forum that is discussing the soaring cost of corned beef

ghanagirl wrote: »

There are 4 reasons for this

1) slaughter houses have reduced workers hours and material costs are shooting up in brazil were 90% of corned beef is tinned as mentioned above.
Beleive it or not after the Falklands War Dozen's of countries still boycott Argentine products so they moved most of the corned beef production to Brazil.

2) Argentine and brazilian farmers have slaughtered 30 million cattle this year and because of the high cost of cattle feed have turned to growing Soya instead so there are less animals around.

3) Shipping costs have shot up due to the amount of shipping need to move goods around the world, i.e lots of manufacturing moving to asia esp china. There is a global shortage of shipping containers so prices of materials are rising as containers are being ordered for the first time in 7 years, which pushed up the price of tin plate.

4) The dollar to the pound.

you should buy plenty if you find a good use by date as the price is expected to hit £2.50 for a 354g tin by the end of the year.
Ye olde oak have decided to stop selling corned beef because there is not enough profit in it.

elizabunny

dandy-candy wrote: »

Could you tell me what herbs bunnys like as I would love to suplement my ones diet like this too!

Hi dandy-candy, I'm no expert as only had the bunny for 7 days and he was a bit young when he left his mum, but we have got on well with, basil, coriander, calendula and camomile. I have these growing freely in the garden. Apparently mint and lemon balm are also good, but he doesn't seem to like these yet, also I have been told both flat and curled parsley are ok. I love the idea that he will be fed on natural foods which are excellent for him and then put all the goodness back into my veggie plot. Take alook at this link which I have found useful http://hubpages.com/hub/What-Do-Rabbits-Eat HTH

floss2

Hippeechiq wrote: »

....On a light note also, I have a friend who has a rabbit called Pie and two chickens called Sage & Onion ......a girl after my own heart on the humour front :rotfl:

I knew a cat called Astrophe, who had a brother called Aclysmic..... and we had one called Stanley because he was fat rather than flat....

Hippeechiq

floss2 wrote: »

I knew a cat called Astrophe, who had a brother called Aclysmic..... and we had one called Stanley because he was fat rather than flat....

:rotfl: Excellent stuff!

smileyt_2

floss2 wrote: »

I knew a cat called Astrophe, who had a brother called Aclysmic..... and we had one called Stanley because he was fat rather than flat....

Thanks for the giggle, much needed! I am confined to barracks at the moment with my plantar fasciitis (doctor's orders to rest!!) and it is driving me insane to be indoors so much.

AnnieG, so sorry to hear about your job falling through. I'm looking for a job at the mo too so can sympathise a bit.

Good news - the kale that the slugs ate has started to re-sprout and is now in a place of safety so all is not lost on the kale front :T

Frugalista

My sister only ever keeps 2 chickens at a time - she had Sage & Onion - then a fox got Sage, so she had Pickle, then Pickle died and she got Spring (are you keeping up ) - and when Spring died she got Bhaji. Finally Onion went to the great henhouse in the sky and she ran out of ideas and got Mabel LOL!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

We also have two dogs that board at the kennels where I work called Slob and Thug!!

Gigervamp

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Tis my mistook!!:) I thought that septic tanks worked on osmosis and cesspit tanks worked on direct drainage ---I didn't know that they stored everything ! Sounds horribly expensive! anyhooo we have a [STRIKE]cesspit[/STRIKE] soakway /septic tank!! Its not even that tbh - its an old brick lined well - works great in dryish weather but in very wet weather it doesn't work at all ...then the fun starts :rotfl:

No probs!
Until I moved here, my only experience of a cesspit was from Guide camp and that wasn't under a manhole cover!

It can get VERY expensive! Especially when you get a lot of rain, even though we only have 2 downpipes and one of those has a water butt attached. Been lucky this year though.

Tregemred

ginnyknit wrote: »

I love the idea of goldfish in the water butts, with a gnome fishing on the edge!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Thank you for that image! OH on gnome hunt now

TGR

Tregemred

elizabunny wrote: »

C
Long story which I won't bore you with, but we have managed to aquire a bunny in addition to our 2 dogs. Probably not very clever given the economic situation. However, I have researched the upkeep of bunnies considerably over the last couple of weeks and I found that their droppings (sorry to be so graphic) make great compost for the garden and because it is not a 'hot' compost I believe you can put it straight onto the land. How brilliant is that!! Free compost! The vet has advised us that we should only feed him on Hay and Herbs and there's no need for loads of those prepacked pricey nuggets. I grow all my own herbs so that will work out well, and I've even found a site that will sell me Hay/grass seed if I want to grow my own. This is great, bunny gets to eat organically and quite cheaply, food which is very good for him and we get to be rewarded with FREE compost and there's not much in life that is free.

Up to about 2 years ago we had a succession of bunnies which were our childrens pets. We started with one and then had a pair, one died then we took in a rescue rabbit, finally the last one died of old age, all happy, healthy bunnies. When we had the first, I persuaded OH to build her an ark, rather than a hutch. Don't think biblical boat here, but more of a six foot long tobler0ne shape. One third was like a tent shaped hutch, the floor of which was raised about 4 inches from the ground for insulation. One side was hinged for access to clean etc., and there was a smalller arch for bunny to access their run, which made up the other two thirds of the ark. The run is basically a frame, covered on all sides with chicken wire (bunnies were born to dig!) with a way to secure it to the hutch part. The arks were positioned on the lawn and basically the bunnies munched away all day on fresh grass. The next day, the ark was moved (OH modified them with some small wheels to make them easier to move) and the bunnies started mowing fresh pasture and manuring it as they went along. The bunnies behaved in a different way to bunnies in hutches. For example, they prefered not to have any bedding in their hutch, moving it out through their little door into the run. They would create a toilet area at the very far end of the run, as far as possible away from their hutch end and the hutch was always clean. They liked to sit outside their "front door" in all weathers at least for a time during the day. OH put a cover over the third nearest the hutch so they could be outside but sheltered from the sun/rain/snow (He's such a softy!) We offered them hay and mixed flakes but they weren't really interested unless it was the absolute depths of winter but they loved kitchen scraps; carrot, potato, cabbage, etc. OH also fenced the lawn off so we could let them out for a really good run round, they loved it! However, they would fight so we could only let them out one a a time. I'm not an expert on rabbits but it seemed to work really well for ours and they were always really healthy.

Good luck with yours,

TGR