really old style living?

PixieDust

cucumber in vinegar WHY do people DO that???? I was having a lovely lunch at MIL's one day, all round the table, fresh cherry toms from the greenhouse, crusty bread, carver ham, patio doors open, birdsong, family chatter, picture the scene. I reach over for cucumber slices, pop one in, as you do......choked, spluttered and turned green all in one moment. I thought it'd gone off or something. All eyes on me......they'd only gone and put the cucumber in vinegar *shudders* WHY? WHYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! :eek:

mardatha

WCS, I could live like that very easily. I think it would have been that way here in this village until quitE recently but a lot of the old folk have died off now. However there's a few farmworkers still here and maybe this still goes on between them, but not us cos we're "incomers" .. we came from the village 12 miles down the road 20 odd years ago :rotfl:
I can't help comparing the gardens. Betty says they had all the veg, all the cottage garden flowers, and when somebody brought her 5 hens she found a corner for them, then somebody gave her 5 runner ducks and they got another corner, with a half barrel sunk in the ground for a wee pond! magic. Instead of some places where everybody pays £100s for decking and fancy lights

paidinchickens

mardatha wrote: »

Am so enjoying the Bettys Diaries wartime book ! Many thanks to whoever originally mentioned it, naturally I forget who it was .. I love the kindness to neighbours, the looking after the man who was gassed in WW1 and the constant stream of things that are handed in at the back door and bartered. It's not a book to read when you're hungry! All that roast pheasant, pigeon pie, steak & kidney pud, and the constant flow of scones...

Pigeon pie When I lived in London there was a little old lady who would walk round picking all the dead pigeons up off the street. Still makes me shiver at the thought.

westcoastscot

My garden's like that - looks a bit of a bourach at the min as we have chickens doing the winter digging for us - we have them confined to a wee space a day at a time with a bit of net and some sticks .

A lot of our crops didn't do too well, so we have bare ground also, as well as piles of wood for the stove, the dismantling of compost heaps and the usual signs of a "working" garden. You can easily spot us in the street, we're the only ones with a garden that isn't lawn and flowers.

When I moved in there was a wee fish pond in the front garden - I filled it in the make a strawberry bed - wonder if I can excavate it and have a couple of ducks?? probably lose them to the canal or the sea though, both are only a spit away.

I remember on the island someone gave me three embden geese - everytime we bought them home they flew back over the loch. We built a wee pen to try and get them used to us, got them home in the goat trailer and a guy who visited the local shooting lodge arrived on his four by four - we were trading a few crab pots for a side of venison - he got off his argo-thingy and the exhaust blew - damn things were away again! very impressive flying over the loch though! (they did eventually make a home with us)


WCS

mardatha

Good watchmen eh ? guy down the road has some that used to get out and round people up - chased a lady into the phone box once and that caused a huge fuss !
We did some digging yesterday cos the weather is so mild and threw all the turfs into the henpen, they were digging away happily all day, making a mess. But I cant let them out as we dont have a fence between us and next door, and from there they can get into the field.

westcoastscot

Mine are penned as well, one of my neighbours is great, the other less so! It's great weather for digging - hoping to do better with veggies next year -it's frustrating as my health gets in the way of my gardening ambitions. Determined to grow more next year though! I'm going to try those toms you grew - can't recall the name but have it written somewhere.
The weather is mild, considering, here and we're getting reasonably dry spells also.
WCS

Gothicfairy

I read the op and thought I would add my life to it..lol

I live very old style, I have to walk to collect my water every day and do the same to empty my toilet and waste water.

I walk everywhere and my nearest shop is 5 miles from me so it is a days job to go shopping, I buy what I can carry and then cadge lifts once a month for the dried food shopping.

I am connected to mains electric but gas comes in a bottle and if I am daft and don't sort it out it runs out and leaves me high and dry until I can afford more, and the kicker in that is my cooker is gas so I can't use the rings when it goes off and the hot water is gas heated as well so I lose that too.

I pretty much have to fix most things myself and can cook most things from scratch, I can sew (all be in not pretty but it does the job) I have taken my water heater to bits several times now and can manage most of the electrical things around here and my water pump dies at least once a month which needs taking to bits and cleaning or soldering.

I can remove ticks and have taken out stitches..

I collect food from the local area and eat well on local mushrooms and jack by the hedge, fat hen, nettles etc

I have only a gas filled radiator as I broke the clicker on my gas heating system and have been unable to fix it so far so I don't use much in the way of heating..I live with gloves and hat, scarf, blankets.

I do have a slow cooker which is my second fav thing in the world and have that going most days with some kind of stew or soup

Oh I can shoot and fish as well and can now skin / pluck / kill game without any problems.

I make my own coffee from stickystuff seeds and nettle tea

90% of my food is sell by stuff or "found" things and next year I am going to try and make that 100% so that I buy nothing at all at full price..might be fun..lol

The most important things to me are warm walking boots, waterproof walking coat and a sense of humour (which is much needed when you have to empty the toilet in the rain)

ginnyknit

Well Gothic fairy, nice to meet you. sounds like a hard life but you are certainly doing it all yourself! What area do you live in - just being nosey really but I love to see where ever all my friends are spread on the map.

We live on a large council estate but have never fit in, we are the only ones who live O/S round here so stick out like a sore thumb. I am looking forward to spring as I have a new walk in greenhouse and I am so excited - its only a plastic one bought in a sale but I think it will make vast improvements to my growing year. I already have 2 of the small ones so the skys the limit next year.

I used to stay with relatives in a tiny Lincolnshire village as a child and next door the people who owned 'farrow peas' had a bungalow with a huge duck pond. As an inner city kid thrown onto the countryside I soon turned feral and spent my days wandering the fields and other peoples land. One day I decided to investigate the duckpond and soon found my self stuck in the mud. My Uncle arrived after hearing my screams and spent rather too long rescuing me as he was laughing so much. the ducks didnt like invaders and were telling me off in no uncertain terms. Since then I have avoided ducks though I do have a fondness for geese. Its amazing how something from 40 years ago still makes me shudder :rotfl:

Gothicfairy

Ginnyknit

Nice to meet you too..I love the duckpond story..As I child (many years ago) I went to school for 2 weeks bright blue as I fell in sheep dip, my father and farm hand couldn't get me out for laughing so much. Took me weeks of sulking and a new ish pair of rollar skates to forgive them.

I live on a caravan site in Leicestershire at the moment but will take to the road come Spring and do 28 days at each site within about 100 miles from here or maybe even further depending on work.

Life is harder then it could be and colder for sure but I wouldn't changing it for the world and it does make you mentally strong as you have to be able to fix things and make stuff work or at least work around it.
I am heating water for the washing up on a old BBQ at the moment and so far it is working ok but I might have to rethink it come frost..Although I do hope with a bottle of wine and some time I can work out what is wrong with the heater and fix it, I find the wine helps grease the brain cogs.


I do have a TV and a dongle for my stone age laptop so I am doing better then some.

Oh and I hate geese..been chased far to many times by the nasty spiteful little !!!!!!s

westcoastscot

Gothicfairy what a fascinating life! Totally agree about the most needed posessions being strong boots and a good coat. When I moved to the mainland my OH threw away my favourite coat - said it smelt too much of the goat for civilised society I still miss it to this day, it was an old barbour, and keep thinking to replace it but a new one looks - well, so new!

Looking forward to hearing more,

WCS