the daydream fund challenge thread

choille

I have actually got K to write some of her recipes down. She's one of these that makes things without a recipe so she had to think about it she said as she just adds a bit of this and a whack of that & a wee sqoosh of that......

That must of been fascinating rhiwfield with the local history thing. I think that people do make do here more than a more populated area - just because there are few shops I suppose & it's not handy for the supermarket. Anywhere rural will be similar I expect.

OH just phoned a number that knows which roads are open, blocked etc. The computer is down so there is no info for the whole of Sotland - handy eh?
So it is a matter of going back to the old method - phone the post office & see which deliveries/newspapers have got through.

The computer made the most painful grinding noise when I switched it on - like all its cogs need oiling - ( mind you I probably did the same this morning) hope it isn't going to go down as I do like th'interwebber. Well it all looks Chrismas card here - anyone any tips on how to make cards from digital photos? I think I'll get some cardboard & stick on a scene from outdoors.

RAS

choille

When I looked at your photo on your blog, I thought a number of them would make brilliant postcards or cards. You really have an eye.

lostinrates

Doesn't look like dh is going to get his snow day, though the ice in the house was terrific this morning, and the troughs have been solid all day...

remember that spring? Well, we have an ice rink now, very frightening and impressively thick. One egg!

Nothng at all done out side, but the house is sparkling clean today as a result!

Davesnave

Not too bad a day here, and last night was less cold too, I think.

Our peppers in the polytunnel are dead, though the ones in the conservatory live on, despite lowish temperatures and ice on the inside of the windows there. We are finally coming to the end of the un-frozen tomatoes.

We were only outside today for four hours, in two 2 hour sessions. After that time, my fingers were so cold I couldn't hold nails properly, and there was the danger of dropping the drill.

We had two eggs .....and the Dorkings were inspecting the nest boxes, so they may be next.

We're seeing many new birds around the place, including a Fieldfare today. Had both Mr & Mrs Spotted Woodpecker on the nuts at the weekend.

Our house is still a tip, because neither of us wants to be inside! :rotfl:

Rummer

The roads here were grim this morning even the main roads were super slippy :eek::eek:

My thermal boots arrived today and they are a little piece of snuggly heaven . I had them out the bag and on about 5 secs after they arrived, it was so nice walking about the garden feeding the beasts with hot toes!

Davesnave

Tomato Report
Thinking about those we've grown this year, there were a few surprises. Before I forget, here's what I remember:

Gardener's Delight /Unidel (more or less the same thing) were, as usual, the easiest and most productive. As a bog-standard small tom, they still take a bit of beating. They were ready first.

The Yellow Centiflor variety from Real Seeds did what they claimed and produced hundreds of titchy toms, but I wasn't that excited by them. Maybe if we'd had kids to nibble them....There are zillions of these in our freezer, because we couldn't keep up with them.

The San Marzano Pomadoro variety were meant for making puree and seemed very meaty, so ideally suited to that, but they were bu**ers to ripen and some went mouldy before they did.

The Golden Sunrise were bigger than I remembered them, and pretty tasty, but they were less prolific than the smaller varieties.

The biggest surprise was a variety completely new to me, called Caro Rich. These are reputedly 10 times richer in Beta carotene than your average tomato. They are also huge and bright orange. Though slow to ripen and not especially prolific, this meaty tomato was tops for us in the 'sliced and grilled with bacon' taste test. We would grow them under plastic again, but we wouldn't recommend them as a knockabout tom for others, as we didn't get a crop from them outdoors.

choille

We took a chance & went out for feed. The roads are pretty bad & it was a bit of a nightmare coming home. I was actually amazed that the snow gates were open on the way back. It was pretty stupid the both of us going.

It's perishing out, beautiful but perishing. Big blue lightening flash when getting the hens in - weird.

alfie_1

No Snow
no eggs
no teabags!

have just got back from a trip to a friends house theyve just bought nr midhurst, in west sussex. fab old place....no snow there either
sent son out to get tea so 1 out of 3...not bad...
hope those of you WITH snow are coping ok tho.

alfie_1

my new filly RUBY is coming along really well. considering i dont think she had ever been handled, shes picking up front feet for me,letting me brush her all over and is much happier being around humans. she loves going for a walk tho she likes to have a bit of a kangaroo bounce and fliks her heels when she knows shes going back to her stable!! she goes in and just kicks at the wall once !! she holds herself really proud when she trots and has a really high step... she cant go OUT until i know i can catch her easy tho. apart from all that i guess she will do :A
i am going to open up the big field [about 10 acres] and let all the others have the run of the lot now. they can help themselves to hay from the round in the 2nd field shelter so then if we get snow :j i wont have to lug hay around.
got to get woodchip down on the floor for MABEL to insulate it more. she loves her straw but dont want the big fat lump to get a chill !!

ukmaggie45

No snow in Liverpool other than a few flakes a few days ago. Very hard frost last night though, hasn't melted off roofs across the road today (or yesterday come to that).

OH off work with rotten cold, he's slept practically all of today. Felt awful doing it, but managed to bully him awake enuff to contact builder to check on how things going. I think we now have power back on. Hoping our lovely next door neighbour hasn't found the drilling too bad today, she found it awful last Friday when drilling was in room next to her living room.

Here's our living room on Friday evening.


Front of living room by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Rather less inspiring image than the horses and hens that have been on here thus far! We've rather given up on the garden for now once OH planted the 200 or so garlic cloves. It's hard to do anything there while the build is going on. We'll just pick it up again and do our best once things are more or less over. Must manage to remember where we planted what last year so we can at least attempt some sort of crop rotation.

We also need to get bird food in and clean and fill all the feeders - it's another thing hard to do when we hardly get to see the house.

I think the beginning of the end may be nigh...