Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

Red_Doe

Good idea re the cages round the plants, I might try that. I did try bird netting but we get such gales here it`s a waste of time, they end up wrecked.
Well, been looking up online on fox deterrents, and they reckon male urine is one. The other half is now in hiding for fear of what I`ll ask him to do.

Red_Doe

mardatha wrote: »

I live really in the middle of nowhere, all miles and miles of open moors and hills around me in every direction. Yet I never get wabbits in the garden , and I have never seen a fox here. Odd !

No` fair! You can have some of my bunnies..got thousands of the wee bu*gers!

mardatha

Bung some in a sack and post it doon. The OH misses his rabbit stew :rotfl:

mardatha

The farmer wifie has chicken wire bent and folded at the corners to form the shape of an oblong box about a foot high without a lid - does that make sense? and drops it on top of the caulis then shoves in tent pegs at the corners.

Red_Doe

mardatha wrote: »

Bung some in a sack and post it doon. The OH misses his rabbit stew :rotfl:

Just think of opening up a parcel of bunnies that the post took a week or so to deliver... :rotfl:
Well, if you guys ever get up this way drop by and you can have all you like.
Good idea about the chicken wire and will give it a go next year. I lost such a lot of veg this year, and will try anything!

gailey_2

Need to go co-op again look at reductions, ate nearly all the satsumas so need to replace and hoping they got weetabix cereal bars in stock for eldests packed lunch.

Im sure she would prefer school dinners but packed lunch cheaper so trying to make it bit more exiting for her.

Hopefully they have some reductions maybe?
The basic choc mouse gone up from 26p to 35p noticing rises on so many things we buy.

looks like rain here and quite cold.

last nights chicken soup lovley
making chicken pasties today but need butter.
Think might try making pizzas tonight always a winner.
Last nites cakes not great consistancy of brownie but kids seem to like them.
might delay sausage casserole until monday as over mams for lunch tommorow.

Overall garden not been huge sucess this year some things not grown well like sweetcorn and pumkins. peppers super tiny.
some of tomatoes were spoilt.
Guess its trial and error but sadly we long way off meeting all our fruit and veg needs.

Trying to decide on cheapish meals for friday nite thinking beef stew maybe as butcher often has beef going cheap.

Asked my mam for slow cooker for xmas, also lazy I know but love idea of mini chopper no more crying over onions.

wondering how easy it would be to replicate weetabix oat bars might give it a try.

Stocktaked freezer yesterday need to make huge list of what we really need next month .


Now need to stocktake groceries as bit low on some herbs now and passata, toiliet roll, toilitries ect.

Fridge looking very sorry for itelf although have few jars of chutney in there probably give to my dad.

need to fork out of brandy this month as need to do cherry brandy now as needs few months to amture also wanted to try slow gin.

Think i left it too late for blackberries as felt so ill not foraged at all wondering of too late for chesnuts might check tommorow.

Now im feeling slightly less sick do feel I can start making xmas presents perhaps not in volumes I originally intended as wanted some for us and some for presents.

One thing I do have in abundance as hubbys koaning the 20bags of plums in freezer taking up too much room so guess plum jam.

1jar of chutney
something alcholics

maybe cake or festive biscuits.

Wanted to do dad biggest hamper as he appreciates it wondering if frozen elder flower heads will still make decent champers as he loved it.

Next year I will be so much better and more organised.

Still dont feel prepared for winter need to go ikea and get chose cheap throws from primark.

need to start making stuff now to allow me enough time.was even going to make cards.

charlies-aunt

Planning an old style shopping trip this afternoon- concentrating on buying seasonal foods to make meals with rather than ready made if possible - the weather here is damp and gloomy so I'm going to get stocked up with foodstuffs to make old fashioned dishes like stew, hotpot, pies, dumplings with winter veg. We have the last of our HG tomatoes but salads are now off the menu as I refuse to pay a £1 each for a lettuce or cucumber - there is no goodness in them, its like buying water. And theres plenty of that in the tap! After a cold journey home from the stables after a long day at work - I feel the need for hot stodge rather than a salad!

Our old pony is having a treat this weekend - Lidl are doing 1kg of carrots for 29p, so that she be one happy old girl. At that price, several bags will be bought and our menu will be heavily carrot based for the next few days :rotfl: we might be a bit orange tinged by the end of the week but we'll be bursting with Vit C!!

I tried to make OS dog food last week but even though I though I'd used plenty of cubed stale bread crusts - it was too rich - she gobbled it down but then had the trots so its back to the drawing board for that now. Has anyone else tried to do this? Tips appreciated.

Pleased to see the thread back with old friends - bit nervous about posting as I do tend to witter on about the minutae of my own exsistence - so if I'm off topic - please tell me and I will edit/delete my post !!

seasalt_2

Your heartshaped bed is lovely, gigervamp.

Had never heard of gumtree until you mentioned it arran. Just had a quick look. I like the localness of it - that you can search by area. Have bought one or two things on eBay but never sold anything, partly because haven't yet learnt to upload photos etc and it's a hassle and partly because I quite like Flylady's ideas about blessing someone else with things you don't want/need - especially as I have been blessed a lot of stuff from other people over the years!

ETA Done it again haven't I. Missed a whole page of posts. Just got to the reply bit at the bottom and replied without realising there was another page still to read! Will read it now!

lora

Red_Doe wrote: »

This year was my first of growing veg in this place (only moved here just over a year ago) and it`s been hit and miss...courgettes were rubbish, don`t know what happened but suspect all the rain! Leeks and dwarf French beans and perpetual spinach did great, as did chives and parsley. But the rabbits got all the lettuce and even the cabbage, snails the size of golf balls got the rest and the winds coming in off the Atlantic took what was left!
My solution for next year is, dig a quarter of the croft over for tatties and root veg and fence against rabbits, but that`s winter jobs.
My hens are currently under threat from a local fox. I`m trying to find another crofter who has a shotgun to take care of that.
My solution for the bunnies is twofold..I got an air rifle and snares.
I`m about a hundred miles away from my nearest supermarket, there`s only two tiny village shops relatively nearby (five and ten miles away may as well be fifty with no personal or public transport) so what I grow and rear is important.

Sorry I appreciate you are trying to preserve your limited food supplies but

---

we usedto live in the middle of nowhere in Aberdeenshire and lost a much loved fluffy grey cat in a rabbit snare. Over 20 years ago but still hurts. I know things are tough and I also get annoyed at losing hard-grown vegetables but aforementioned snare was in the wilds--local farmer just needing much needed food.

seasalt_2

Red_Doe wrote: »

snails the size of golf balls got the rest
.

EAT THEM! No, I confess I don't, prefer whelks.

But for the first time ever this year, to my delight, the thrushes are eating them instead of the worms. And if I'm out early on a damp morning I sometimes collect a bucket full of them and chuck them in the sea (sorry!). I do also just chuck odd ones over the wall as far as I can throw them but I believe they come back!

100miles to nearest supermarket - that is a LONG way - really OS.