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

ceridwen

flowertotmum wrote: »

OH you won't believe this ...i'm fuming...hubby has been to allotment to find police and most of plotholders there..someone has been in and pinching the veg...thankfully he was caught redhanded by a plotholder...they pinned him in a shed..until police got there..think they wanted to lynch him by the sounds of it...bloody cheek..i know times are tough but to steal and do it blatantly in daylight..he must be desperate..not sure whats going to happen to him...thing is if he had asked we would have given..but to steal is the lowest...hubby is fuming..our cabbages and calabrese are gone..so thats our main crop gone god knows where....they are talking about having people volunteer to do a nightwatch...don't know what to think at the moment to be honest...bit shocked and very angry..all our hard work to feed our family has been taken away...off topic i know but i'm shocked by this...do you think it will become the norm to have things stolen because folks are desperate..goin to have a cuppa and calm down a bit...

Sorry to hear that. Glad they caught him though. Do you think hes the only one - or are there others (as yet uncaught). I wonder whether he's stealing for himself alone - or whether he's got a veggie selling sideline and is stealing "to order" IYSWIM??

Either way :mad: - my sympathies for that...

EDIT: As you mention all your cabbages and calabrese gone - I wonder how many you had planted of these (ie was it one or two of each - or quite a large number of)? You and the other plotholders need to make up a estimated tally of what exactly has gone - which crops? what numbers of? - as my suspicion from your comment is that he is stealing to order and is selling them off in the local pub or at a carboot sale. So making a tally might help you work out where they are going....

FURTHER EDIT: Thieves arent usually the "brightest buttons" in the pack. Is there some way the plotholders could invisibly mark the "veg most likely to be stolen" - so that they could identify them if they spot what they think is their produce on sale somewhere. Dont know if theres any edible indelible ink that veg. could be marked with - that would show up only under the right type of light. The thief/thieves are probably too stupid to notice some visible marker even - and will certainly be stealing the veg. in such a rush to get out of sight quickly that they wouldnt notice anything except the most glaringly obvious markers anyway...

flowertotmum

Thanks jamanda...i'm sad that its happened but like you say it might become the norm for people to take and not give...hubby is on his way home..the police have taken the man into custody..for his own safety i think...apparently he was taking them and selling them at a carboot...furious doesn't even cover what i am feeling...congats on the new job by the way...

flowertotmum

ceridwen wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. Glad they caught him though. Do you think hes the only one - or are there others (as yet uncaught). I wonder whether he's stealing for himself alone - or whether he's got a veggie selling sideline and is stealing "to order" IYSWIM??

Either way :mad: - my sympathies for that...

YEP he was selling them...swine...

csarina

flowertotmum wrote: »

OH you won't believe this ...i'm fuming...hubby has been to allotment to find police and most of plotholders there..someone has been in and pinching the veg...thankfully he was caught redhanded by a plotholder...they pinned him in a shed..until police got there..think they wanted to lynch him by the sounds of it...bloody cheek..i know times are tough but to steal and do it blatantly in daylight..he must be desperate..not sure whats going to happen to him...thing is if he had asked we would have given..but to steal is the lowest...hubby is fuming..our cabbages and calabrese are gone..so thats our main crop gone god knows where....they are talking about having people volunteer to do a nightwatch...don't know what to think at the moment to be honest...bit shocked and very angry..all our hard work to feed our family has been taken away...off topic i know but i'm shocked by this...do you think it will become the norm to have things stolen because folks are desperate..goin to have a cuppa and calm down a bit...

This happened to us several times when we had the lottie, not only did they steal the veg and fruit but also broke into the sheds and took anything they could sell. We had a small portable gas stove, that went as well. Thankfully we do not have a problem here, the geese are around duing the day and they would have to use a car to get here which we would hear at night.

Scumbags need their hand chopping off........ desparate they may be, but like you say if they had asked theyw ould have been given stuff.

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

Dont want to go OT and be flung into the dungeon that is DT. But a lot more than half of me wants to cheer the french on! We wont do this. We will sit at home and chew our fingers off and worry ourselves sick and then carry on and do our best.
I'm wondering about barley meal and oatmeal instead ofor as well as bread. Scotland never had wheat bread in the old days, I have a book called "the good Scots diet" and she says that because wheat didn't/doesn't grow well here, that we used oatcakes instead of bread. Maybe we should look into flatbreads of all kinds ? Could serve up open-sandwich types of things on them surely?

Dont forget that there are also recipes with some of the wheatflour replaced with potatoes.

Havent gotten round to trying out alternative bread recipes yet - ie using other ingredients to replace some of the wheatflour - so no idea what they are like. I've only got as far as collecting the recipes and stashing them away somewheres - errr...cant recall where at present...:o

stiltwalker

Hi all,

flowertotmum - sorry to here about that, some people - there just aren't polite words to describe them!!!:mad::mad::mad:

Just been looking up Irish soda bread recipes as that is a bread that is designed to be made with ordinary flour not bread flour if that stays a bit cheaper for longer, also it's a good quick bread to make with less kneading and proving time. Hmm must experiment after lunch - homemade bread and leek and potato soup.

Pink.

Hi stiltwalker,

This is my step-mum's recipe for wheaten bread which uses plain flour. It's to die for and also very nutritious, as well as being very easy to make. If buttermilk is hard for you to source, I've replaced it with ordinary milk and it tastes almost the same.

5oz plain flour
1oz bran
1oz wheatgerm
1oz sugar
3oz coarse wholemeal
250 mls buttermilk
1 teasp oil (optional)
1 rounded teasp baking soda
1 teasp salt

- Sieve flour, baking soda and salt
- Add bran, wheatgerm, sugar and wholemeal.
- Mix to a soft dough with the buttermilk and oil.
-Turn into a greased and dusted 1lb loaf tin.
- Bake at 160 degrees for approx 35 minutes.

Pink

NualaBuala

Oh that's rotten Flowertotmum, I'd have a bit of sympathy for someone down on their luck pinching a cabbage for their family (I know it's wrong and they should ask) but stealing to sell is horrible.

Margaret54 wrote: »

Shelley and Nuala Buala I have fibromyalgia as well, so can understand how you both feel. Some people have said at different times, oh but you are looking so well, not understanding at all. They never see you on the very bad days, eh? xx Margaret

Oh sorry to hear you have fibro too - hugs to you. I know exactly what you mean!

hellsbells45 wrote: »

re, medical assessment. This is very scary, particularly as CAB have condemned th new assessment as unfit for use. I'm on IB at the moment and know that at some stage I will be called in. I'm dreading it as I know that there is no way I can work. Ii did a 2 day course last year and was ill for 2 weeks following it. Since then my condition has worsened considerably, I've been tring to get my pots washed for over 2 weeks now. Trouble is because diagnosis is ME its very difficult due to some gp's being very ignorant to reserch and up to date findings in this area..going to stop typing about this now as I feel a rant coming on and it would turn into a 3 chapter disatation on the history of ME....

TTFN hells

Oh you have my sympathy hellsbells, I know what that's like. I feel ashamed to say this but sometimes I wish I had something more well known and visible so people could understand my limitations. I really hope it goes ok for you whenever you are assessed.


Pink-winged - you nearly gave me a heart attack when you said roadkill! :eek: Although that would be very money-saving! Congrats on your free veggies, they will taste even better knowing you got them for nothing. If you have an extra big turnip you could always save it and carve it out for halloween (if you celebrate it) - that what we always did before the American pumpkin tradition got imported.

stiltwalker

Thank you Pink-winged I'l give that a whirl.

You can also make your own buttermilk using the same quantity of milk but adding a teaspoon of lemon juice to sour it.

Well me and DD have just had a lovely lunch of homemade leek and potato soup with homemade bread followed by homemade yoghurt (flask method - how easy is that and it makes the best yoghurt). Funny cos had a conversation with my mum yesterday about how proud of herself she used to be when she was pregnant with me having homade soup, bread and yoghurt for her lunch some 30 odd years ago and here's me doing the same - must be where I get it from!

pennywisepoundstupid

flowertotmum thats awful, how can anyone stoop so low.

Been to asda and sainsburys for white bread flour, sainsburys had 1 bag on the shelf and when i asked if they had anymore they said they had run out and asda had none in at all, wonder if next week they are going to go the same way as Tesco and will put it up over £1 a bag, starting to feel worried about the rising costs and can see me buying things like this with the gift vouchers i recieve for doing surveys rather than buying treats for the family:(.