Nice people thread

carolt

Pobby wrote: »

As a kid, at the bottom of the garden was a fair bit of land. Mt Dad rented it for I think 7 shillings and 6 pence per annum. Before i was born he kept rabbits, chickens and ducks in a pond that he had made. During the war he grew tobacco but was pretty nasty and an old boy took the lot. He died 3 months later but I`m sure it wasn`t the baccy.

My Dad kept chickens long after I was born. Lots of eggs, more than we could eat so the surplus was sold on. About this time of the year it was curtains for the !!!! birds. Hum yes, I remember well their demise.

In the autumn we picked the apples and pears from the trees in the garden and each was wrapped in newspaper for storage through the winter months.

As a kid I loved it when Dad would get the day old chicks. A penny each they were and they were kept in an old heated aquarium. Hopefully survived.

A lot of very nice tastes and smells.

How lovely. Your posts and lir's are making me so glad I live in the country.

My dad remembers his mother keeping chickens, when he was a kid, and the feathers everywhere when they were plucked...

That said, a close friend kept chickens in our village, but gave it up around the time when bird flu was in the news due to the mess they made (or so she said). She did bring lovely fresh eggs into school whenever the kids were doing cooking...

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

That said, a close friend kept chickens in our village, but gave it up around the time when bird flu was in the news due to the mess they made (or so she said). She did bring lovely fresh eggs into school whenever the kids were doing cooking...

They do make a mess. They poop all the time, and they moult everywhere. When we had a little run of bad luck with fox, dog and buzzards we let them in to the back garden and they love it, but we don't! They sit on the back step tapping at the glass door for food/attention...and pooping. They have done the most beautiful job of tilling the earth this autumn, but thats after a summer of being very ..selective, about wht they would let grow in the garden.

The loveliest thing ever, even despite the loss of fruit, is seeing the rooster jump up and grab a raspberry cane and hold it down while his girls feast on berries. He rarely gets one, but his girls do, which makes it worth while for him. Its incredibly endearing. Almost entirely makes one forget he is fairly aggressive about his marital rights with the hareem thre times a day.

carolt

Wish I could thank that post twice. Beautifully vivid.

You should write short stories/blog/book about life in the country - for all those urban dwellers who dream of that kind of life...

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

Wish I could thank that post twice. Beautifully vivid.

You should write short stories/blog/book about life in the country - for all those urban dwellers who dream of that kind of life...

LOL, crikey, the poor copy editors, the idea of it!

Actually, bar at times of change of season it would get a bit monotinous. Mud and the lack or excess of grass feature pretty heavily!

lemonjelly

I harvested my cabbage I've been growing this weekend. Got quite a sizeable bag full!

I've left my sprouts for another week or so, hoping that there will be some full plates in a couple of weeks.

Never grown sprouts or cabbage before.

Actually, never seriously grown anything. Have been quite proud of my produce this year!

Generali

lemonjelly wrote: »

I harvested my cabbage I've been growing this weekend. Got quite a sizeable bag full!

I've left my sprouts for another week or so, hoping that there will be some full plates in a couple of weeks.

Never grown sprouts or cabbage before.

Actually, never seriously grown anything. Have been quite proud of my produce this year!

The best advice I got on growing veg was from a farmer. He said, "Seeds want to grow, they've spent billions of years evolving to do that. Get 'em in the ground and they'll do their best to grow for you".

Davesnave

Generali wrote: »

The best advice I got on growing veg was from a farmer. He said, "Seeds want to grow, they've spent billions of years evolving to do that. Get 'em in the ground and they'll do their best to grow for you".

Yes, but while plants are generally good natured and do their best, the butterflies, aphids and pigeons think they're growing for them!

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Yes, but while plants are generally good natured and do their best, the butterflies, aphids and pigeons think they're growing for them!

LOL.

My favourite think when DH dares suggest some of our store cupboard stuff is getting a little''dated'' is to remind him that the stuff he refers to is what pharoahs were buried with, and stuff from those tombs successfully germinated and grew late last century. So, while it might not be as ideal a circumstance in my food cupboard, seeds can make a mere 2 years.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

LOL.

My favourite think when DH dares suggest some of our store cupboard stuff is getting a little''dated'' is to remind him that the stuff he refers to is what pharoahs were buried with, and stuff from those tombs successfully germinated and grew late last century. So, while it might not be as ideal a circumstance in my food cupboard, seeds can make a mere 2 years.

In Bristol Museum there's a mummy with a 3000yr old lotus flower.

All credit to the the Luxor WI who must've been pretty MSE. You have to admit that's hellish good value as a dried arrangement! :rotfl:

Pobby

When i look back it was a nice child hood. Behind the land that Dad rented was know as " the pit ". It was some small quarry or clay pit at some time I guess. An old boy had it closed off and kept pigs there. You could clamber down the back and out into what was, for the main part a huge swathe of mainly abandoned allotments full of over grown greenery where brussle sprout plants and cabbages had self seeded over the years. The odd plot was still gardened and and the odd pig sty was to be found complete with a large and often bad tempered hog in place.

For us kids, one excitement was that previous owners had in, one or two cases used old carts that I guess had delivered bread and milk in the 20` and 30`s. They had been converted to garden sheds but provided a great prop for cowboys and Indians.

To one side of the allotments edged onto a building site and we had great delight on finding empty lemonade bottles. Took them to the shops and got the 3 pence deposit for ourselves. The other side was boarded by a thick, brooding woodland. It was very dense for the main part but there were mossy clearings where the sun came through.

We stumbled one day on a clearing where a stream ran through. The stream had cut into the ground so deeply it formed a gorge.

From time to time you could here an eerie clanking sound. This was the movement of buckets, suspended by pylons. The buckets travelled a fair distance from the colliery to a far off clay pit.

You had to be aware not to get too close to Old Man Starkeys tumble down ancient
cottage. He clearly didn`t like us kids and would chase us off.

At the end of the sixties all this came to an end as they built a huge estate on the land. Now late teen agers we protested in vain but there ya go.

A far flung upbringing from being plonked in front of a PS3.