really old style living?

ChocClare

czarina, what kind of fan have you got on your stove? Ours is somewhat laughingly called a heat wave and it just sits there and does absolutely nothing. I think it worked for the first day we had it and that's it. If we're doing something wrong, fair enough, so any hints and tips would also be very welcome!

Incidentally today's final challenge is more of an inventory/see where we've got to sort of thing. Might be quite a useful exercise for those of us who know we've got a cupboard full of food but don't know quite what's in it?

csarina

ChocClare wrote: »

czarina, what kind of fan have you got on your stove? Ours is somewhat laughingly called a heat wave and it just sits there and does absolutely nothing. I think it worked for the first day we had it and that's it. If we're doing something wrong, fair enough, so any hints and tips would also be very welcome!

Our fan is an eco fan, I was a bit sceptical at first until I saw !!!!!! Strawbridge had two on his stove, his stove is much bigger than ours. I am very impressed with it, we leave the door to the hall and bathroom open, the heat goes into the bathroom and down the hall to the turn to the bedrooms. If yours is not working I would send it back and get a refund.

I light our stove with a small fire and by the time it needs making up the fan has started to turn, the hotter the fire the faster the fan turns.....I start the fire with newspaper crackers and kindling sticks with some slightly bigger bits of wood on the top, when the wood is well alight, 4 or 5 pieces of coal and then wood on the top...... the stove gets hot, its cast iron.....so chucks out quite a lot of heat. Just going to have supper will post a photo of it later,

I just looked your fan up ours was a lot cheaper than that £90 post paid. Looks nicer too.
http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/af252/toots43/2010_0920ecofan0001.jpg

mardatha

This is a good idea. It's very easy to stash things then forget about them. As me how I know this

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

Ceridwen pet... up here that would be seen as "passing the time of day"...a nice way to open a conversation without being so rude as to just walk past them. But this is deeply rural so I suppose different rules apply... cant you just tell them you're a witch and its for the cauldron?

Manners do vary in that respect according to how urban/rural an area it is I've noticed - so I vary mine according to the environment I'm in. In my own area - the "done thing" is to walk along not making eye contact basically. Within my direct neighbourhood - where one sees the same neighbours walking round then, by now, I'm on pass the time of day terms - but in the wider environment then its a case of only looking at people enough as one walks along to see if theres any friends/acquaintances amongst them (so you can pass the time of day or stop for a longer chat accordingly).

In more rural areas then I join in with looking properly at people/smile/say "Good morning" and "Yes it is a nice day isnt it.." comments. Horses for courses.

Hence - why I'm a bit "cooler" in my own environment - as I know that its not simple sociability if people I don't know start querying me...I've got it worked out what constitutes a "set of manners" to blend in in most circumstances and tend to fall in with the norm (whatever it is) and I know thats not it in my urban setting..

Hmmm....now as regards wanting it for a witches cauldron....:think: - hmmm...wonder if I could do a jokey take on that "Oh...of course its for my cauldron at the next sabbat...along with the eye of toad :D" - that should stop conversation dead in its tracks...:rotfl:

ceridwen

D&DD wrote: »

Aw Ceridwen its galling when that happens..we had been waiting for the walnuts last year and when they were ready we climbed up the tree to see they'd been totally stripped and the tree damaged too..

Last year we had kids knocking trying to sell us blackberries foraged from the field! Can't blame them for trying but wonder what happened to the stuff as noone I know bought any..we grow our own but top up from the field if needed.

I hate to see stuff rot on the branches so I'm glad to see others picking but it must be annoying when resources are scarce,you've used an area for years and now it's 'trendy' people have beaten you to it..*especially when they pick too early so their stuff isn't even usable!*
Makes you wonder what would happen if things got really bad..

Know what you mean...

Certainly I can see that some of the "Grab the lot" brigade obviously don't know very much about it - as its been clear to me that they have picked some things too early. I know of 3 cherry tree plum trees near me - and I'm not quite sure whether the fruit will be quite ripe yet. Two of them have had literally every last one taken before I got there and the other one has had every last one on the lower branches taken (but I can see - looking at the ones out of reach - that they arent quite ripe yet). I spotted someone out a few days back foraging sloes and thought "We're nowhere remotely near having any frosts for a while yet...". I discovered an area recently where theres absolutely LOADS of one particular item and thought "Great - there'll be no problem there with it all having been taken before I get there as theres so much of it". There was - there was very little left indeed...:(

Yep - I've also wondered what would happen if times got even harder. I dont foresee anything remotely like a North Korean type situation (that awful regime that runs that poor country....:eek:) - where I believe I've read about things like people literally stripping bark from trees...:eek: - as food is so expensive/short supply. Errr...yes...I would know which trees come under the heading of "famine foods - bark could be taken if vitally necessary" and how to ensure one didnt kill the tree in the process - but...umm...no thanks.....

The thing is that if stuff does go unpicked then its not a waste - birds often want it and if they don't and it ends up falling on the ground and rotting - then it gets "recycled" into nutrients for the soil. So - I dont see it as "stuff rotting on the branches" if it gets left - I see it as "nourishment" of one type or another for other species/the soil. One cant view forageable food in the wilds in the same light as the food thrown out by supermarkets when they cant sell it (now that IS waste).

nannyboo1

mardatha wrote: »

Csarina, we use smokeless eggs, because ours heats 6 radiators and OH reckons the eggs are the hottest+ longest burning.

Hubby thinks I have lost the plot as I am sat here in fits of laughter (after a day of feeling miserable we should be on holiday but aren't).

I had no idea what smokeless eggs were but had visions of you going down the garden to the chicken coop to fetch eggs to burn - Sorry it was a lovely image though. Did you know you are famous as when I searched to see what they actually were the third and fourth ones on the search were posts mentioning you.

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

DD&D, this is what I wonder as well. If everybody is rushing to get woodburners, when the power does go off then everybody will be clamouring for wood to burn in them .. The price of logs will go sky high, and people will trample and destroy woods looking for free fuel...which will mean the landowners stop all access. Then what ?
It makes much more sense to me, to get a multifuel stove in the first place. Then you can burn coal or wood or peat or even rubbish.

I often wonder about that Mardatha. The first tranche of people I know are now "equipped" with panels on the roof/woodburners/etc - ie the most affluent ones. I'm in the group behind them - I've decided I want all this and am waiting to see when I get a chance to do this affordably. However - I will be doing the roof panels and hopefully the wall insulation when the money is available one way or the other. I wont be getting a woodburner though. Maybe a multi-fuel one might be a long-term proposition - but I seriously doubt a woodburner would be. Its not as if we have vast amounts of wood around in the 21st Century - no matter how carefully its managed - as I recall my history = a huge proportion of our woodlands went towards building battleships for one of the wars this country has been in (one back in the 16th? century). I think people who have been putting in woodburners are being a bit over-optimistic in thinking their "sources of supply" will hold up. Various people go "No problem - we get all we want free from x/y/z" - to which I think "Well - for the moment you do - but that firm is going to start charging the second they think theres a reasonable demand for it". Also people go off and fetch the wood in their cars - so what happens when the price of petrol goes through the roof then or it gets "rationed" (rather than "rationed by price" - with the going through the roof price hike I personally think will happen). Its not possible to bring home great loads of wood on a pushbike trailer...

ceridwen

maryb wrote: »

Ceridwen a polite brush off might be "Oh, just something for the kids' habitat project at school". That way you won't be alerting them to the fact there is something worth picking for food (they used to call it the nature table when I was at school - conkers and acorns in September and catkins in February. Showing my age)

Now THAT is a good idea - thanks:D

Alison_Funnell

ceridwen wrote: »

Having a heavy-duty spell of wishing for a bigger garden - having found that the last year or two of treating the Great Outdoors as one free food farm for me has been HARD WORK - as I go to a place where I know I can forage x and someone has beaten me to it. I then go to another place where I can forage it and someone has beaten me to it....I've had an awful lot of that happening the last year or two. I read summat today from a professional forager where he had "revised the rules" and stated people shouldnt take more than 10% of what they find anywhere (it used to be a third). Another professional forager I read recently stated he thinks rules will have to be introduced at a Government level for fungi at any rate - ie the closed season/quota/etc rules that have been introduced in recent years on the Continent because of the sheer number of people out foraging these days.

I'm still looking for a polite - but FIRM - answer to people accosting me when they spot me foraging. In the last week alone I've been asked "Whats that?" about something I've been gathering that no-one previously has been showing any interest in and what to do twice with something that other people could readily identify that I had just picked:mad:. I veer between pretending I'm deaf, pretending I dont understand the language (no good with someone who knows me....) and havent yet figured how to politely say "I dont wish to answer that" - it happens when one lives in an urban area with lots of people and not much there to forage.....:cool:

I do wonder whether I should just say "Read loads and loads of books on foraging and pay to go on various foraging courses - and then you'll know as much as I do" and just smile. I do feel I've put a lot of time/effort/money into finding out what I know about this - and that its a bit cheeky of people to expect to "tap into" what I have put all that money/effort into learning for nowt.....

Sorrees - rant over for the day...been a bad week for people trying to get my paid-for knowledge from me for free....and it would be at my expense...

Don't let it upset you. Foraging is a lucky dip. A gift not a right, though I can see that after a few years it seems like they are 'your' crops. Try not to begrudge others, they may be in greater need. Atleast these things aren't going to waste. Nothing saddens me more than gardens with fruit rotting on the trees and people don't even offer them to others.

As for knowledge well it's like friendship and love, you get far greater rewards by sharing it freely. You never know how much the person asking you the question has. Some (like myself) ask, thereby putting my mind at rest that people know what they are doing and won't harm themselves.

Just think if others had shared their wisdom maybe you wouldn't have had to pay so much for yours.

I would love a bigger garden too. Or an allottment. Neither seem likely in the new 2-3 years atleast. When I read tales of others having huge crops I just get mad at a country that let it's councils sell off so many allottment plots over the years for development.

NualaBuala

Ceridwen, would geothermal heating be an option? I haven't researched because I am a long way off being able to do anything like that (am a couple of tranches behind you I reckon ). But it sounds like supply and sustainability wouldn't be issues once you get past the setup cost.

Re the foraging, I don't know much about foraging but whatever little knowledge I have, I like to share. It gives me a good feeling to do that. Ceridwen, you could share your knowledge including the important bits that a lot of people don't know like not taking more than one's fair share. Also [STRIKE]perhaps [/STRIKE] I'm a bit odd but I like to smile and say hello to everyone I meet when out and about on walks unless they're looking at their feet or don't seem keen on social interaction. That's one of the free things in life that makes me happy.:)