really old style living?

RAS

Sage is pretty hardy; mine survived the minus 15 before Christmas but looks a bit sad.

mardatha

I was thinking today. (mark this day in your calendars, in red ink) It isnt easy being OS all of the time is it? There always comes the day when you are really tired, maybe ill, and the thought of making dinner makes you want to cry.
The going outside to the garden in torrential rain, digging in mud, lifting the tatties, digging up carrots and onions - then having to bake a sponge pud and make custard - is all so much harder than slapping a Birds Eye box in the oven and a frozen chip in the fryer. :mad:
Having this forum dispels those days and its great to have you all

[Deleted User]

me too mardatha, its hard to be 100% so we got to accept that we aren`t the perfect creatures that we`ld like to be

lemon balm makes the nicest summer drink, infuse and cool. Lovely. I am having to get herbs from scratch here since we moved but am doing ok. Lots of thyme plants growing from the tiniest seeds ever. The plants are minute, like a pin head. Sage from seed doing well, lemon balm from seed. Sweet cicely is sitting there but needs special conditions and won`t sprout for months, so I have to learn patience. Parsley, echinacea, chives, garlic chives, tarragon, sorrel all up and looking good. Horseradish in tall pots from roots. horseradish is good as a blood vitaliser in the elderly, you can make tea with a bit of grated root.

If we want to get back to herbs as medicines then Bartrams encyclopedia of herbal medicine is THE book for reference. If you want to buy dried herbs then I use woodland herbs http://www.woodlandherbs.co.uk/

born_blonde

If you are ever in Whitby on Church Street, The Shepherds Purse does the most fantastic range of herbs and spices and the have a good turnover so everything is fresh not stale.

mardatha

Asking for a friend here --- does anybody have experience of growing/grinding/winnowing grains ? He is looking for an easy way of de-husking oats.

D&DD

thanks peeps just defrosting again I'm sure I've got icicles on my nose..
Right scanning the lists theres only a couple on there I haven't got yet so I'm not doing too badly
Planning on reading up a bit tonight with my feet up.
Have sown some calendula and echinacea today in el cheapo new heated propogator,have some orange scented thyme on the windowsill (not up yet) to go with the others I already have.

I just looked in my Back to Basics book and theres a section in there too I'm gonna need a bigger bed :rotfl:

MS my old breadmaker does a smaller amount which I use for the trials or specials The ones we know we like get chucked in a vat :rotfl:

Mardatha will have a look in my John Seymour book or the Basics one sure I've seen it in one of them..

and after a quick google found this http://www.senova.uk.com/#/naked-oat-agronomy/4539669799 you can grow naked oats lol..how weird does that sound?

[Deleted User]

my calendula is almost all up and am very happy, its a wonderful healing herb. If you feed the flowers to chucks then they will produce the deepest yellow yolks

ChocClare

We bought our wheat grinding mill from Gioia della Casa as it was cheaper than Ascott, even including the shipping from Italy.

It works beautifully, but it is hard work. As I said on the other thread, I take it in for the Rainbows to play with on Harvest Festival - we do a thing talking about how lucky we are to be able to buy flour here and how poor people in other countries have to grind flour by hand. Not sure it's the best lesson because they all LOVE doing it. Funnily enough, the bit they love best is sieving the grindings. I suppose it doesn't look like flour to them until they've got all the "bits" out of it and seen the white powder emerge!

Anyway, I'll repeat here what I said there: Kenwood Chef attachment if you want to grind more than a couple of spoonfuls!

On a happier herbal note and not to upset any of the board guides but if anyone was thinking, goodness, what am I going to do with all these masses of extra lemon balm/echinacea/feverfew/calendula seeds and oh, if only I had some (insert name here) seeds, if they would like to pm me, I would be happy to hear from you

Seriously, these are things that all used to grow like wildfire in my garden and I don't know WHY I didn't think to bring plants with me when I moved as I often use herbal infusions of stuff. Evening primrose - chucked more of that on the compost heap than I care to think about and it would do very well here in my woodlandy bit but does it grow? Of course not!

Buttercups now - I've got millions of those... :mad:

mardatha

Yes he knows about naked oats, but these are not Scots oats, which is what he wants. Our oats are respectable and keep their clothes on I will have ye know !

rowsew

mardatha wrote: »

I thought of bark or wood chips yes. My run would be on a slope, I dont have any problems with drainage cos am on the side of a hill lol !

My hens are enclosed in a fruit cage (don't ask, I'd sometimes rather have the fruit, I think!) and I use horse bedding to keep them off the mud - either Aubiose, or Hemcore. It's better than straw because they suck all the dust out of it when they make it, which stops the chickens from sneezing. It's hemp straw too, smells lovely, and it's really absorbent. My girls love it. And of course, when you muck them out, it's a really excellent addition to the compost heap. We've planted most of our veg into this stuff after it's rotted, and they do really well. You can see a pic of my run here http://www.flickr.com/photos/rowsew/4754906181/in/set-72157624282580641/ if you like!