It isn`t tough for us. We are OS and we COPE

HariboJunkie

kittie wrote: »

PS. I know many developers and none of them put morals before profit

That may very well be true but they have to adhere to the law in this case. They can't get around it, regardless of their moral stance.

Lavandula

Dark and windy day, glad I'm working from home today (and also saves me £6 on petrol).

My OS ways (of coping;) in tough times) today will be:
1) A no spend day
2) homemade apple crumble
3) starting another patchwork cushion (made from free fabric samples:D)
4) having a small liquer (got a free bottle of Glayva from info on the Freebies thread) in front of the TV later.

saveabobortwo

im waiting for the Daffodils to start to come into season they always make the kitchen window sill look nice.i wish i had a bigger garden well id like a field i would make good use of every square inch of it . i would plant an orchard fruit bushes veg keep ducks chickens and a few sheep and id have a pond put in to breed fish etc to eat in an ideal world back to realityand my very tiny court yard garden where everything i grow is in a container or hanging from a basket apart a very small area which is dirt.so try to keep garden for growing things to eat apart from a barrel of daffodils so the daffodils i have to buy from the shops have to be a bargain last year you had m and s 99p beautiful flowers but this year morrisons gone up to 1.20 and sainsburies think it was 1.99 a bunch last year i also picked wild flowers /maybe weeds i had a little book on riverside wild flowers got from boot fair 10p may be best geta little book so you know what your picking as have to be a bit careful one flower had a strong smell and one irritated my skin so pays to know what your picking but these little wild flowers were very pretty and free and i put them everywhere in little vases bathroom aswell so will do this again this year aswell in the summer .waiting to see m and s daffodils see what their prices are hope not dear.put christmas tree back outside last year it looked a bit peaky so decided to collect some manure thAT THE HORSES DO ALONG COUNTRY ROADS THATS FREE what a laugh trying to scoop this up with a trowel into a filmy tesco carrier bag but i put it in all the containers of fruit and veg and believe it kept my christmas tree going will plant it in a bigger container with some manure and fresh dirt so hopefully will not have to buy a christmas tree next year either if this lasts another year i ll try and look after it. it did feel good to get your own one out thegarden and it did look prettyas had made some homemade decorations and bought some antique glass balls from ebay there ssomething about antique glass balls that really shines and the new decorations you get don t look the same .:o

GreyQueen

I know what you mean! I have been known to take a bucket and a trowel down to where some travelling types tether their ponies and scoop up the poop. Never had a cross word with the travellers (they even invited a lottie neighbout to avail themselves of the stable muck heap) but the poor horses see a bucket and think you're bringing dinner......;) It's amazing how even a little manure dropped into a compost bin will help to speed up decomposition. The level in my Dalek dropped about a foot in less than a week.

Roll on spring, I need to see colour. Catkins are out already, though......

saveabobortwo

I think i could have done with taking a bucket:rotfl:but when i come across these golden opportunities its usuallywhen there is nt a spare bucket insight and only have spare carrier bags i save for rubbish and picking up the dog poo on walks:rotfl:i must admit i was a bit embarrased when cars drove by but managed to get home to full bags itallhelps the cause:T

charlies-aunt

As a horse owner myself, I am always happy to donate poo to gardeners the only stipulation is that they bag it and cart it away themselves . . . if you have paddocks or stables near you, I'd say go and ask! A donation of a couple of packs of biscuits for the grooms tea break will ensure that you can help yourself to as much poo as you can manage to cart away and you can go back for more!


Did I really hear on the new this morning that orange juice is set to rise by 80% due to poor harvest? but banana are set to get cheaper !

Penelope_Penguin

charlies-aunt wrote: »

As a horse owner myself, I am always happy to donate poo to gardeners

How close to the East Yorks border are you - I have lots of bags and a big shovel :T We're planning on growing lots more veg this year to keep our food bills down.

zarazara

me too I've a huge muck heap .last weekend we got some of it to the veg plot but its growing daily. As fertilier is so expensive I will be composting it all down and spreading some on our top field [hay field] come autumn. Gone are the days of giving it away for free or for peanuts. we make our own hay but buy in straw. its risen from £12 for a hesston bale in Dec to £20 last month. Feed straights [ie barley oats wheat] have just about doubled in price,they are unable to harvest masses of sugarbeet because of the weather and fuel price is up and so has fertilizer. I can forsee massive food price rises in the coming year at least.

ChocClare

When we moved here (3 years ago) there was a tiny heap of grass cuttings on the river bank. We've added to that and it had turned into a pretty large mountainous area, but the hens loved scrabbling around in it.

Last week, DH moved his hives and we had to reorganise the whole area. We paid a local chap with a digger to come and "move" the compost heap but he turned it over and spread it all over the ground - and you have never seen such beautiful stuff. So instead of scrubby old ground we now have pristine earth, ready to plant up - I am made up!

We also have an area where we dump horse manure (we have a horse who can produce MOUNTAINS of poo) and that gets incredibly hot so is great for starting off plants on - and then rots down to make wonderful soil again (although occasionally we do get a bit of a mushroom bed going!).

I can remember Geoff Hamilton many years ago on Gardeners World saying to look up Riding Stables in your local phone book and just getting yourself down there - they are generally DELIGHTED if you will take the stuff away - and it's much better than commercial manure, I find.

charlies-aunt

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

How close to the East Yorks border are you - I have lots of bags and a big shovel :T We're planning on growing lots more veg this year to keep our food bills down.

Our stables are just outside Sc-nthorpe if you are in East Riding - try Willerby Hill Competition Yard or Skidby Mill Stables..... I honestly believe that most horse owners - especially the ones who keep their horses living out in a paddock rather than stabled in a livery yard would welcome you with open arms if you asked to cart away their muck heaps or collect it out of the fields . . . we live in an area where the farmers are not allowed to spread it on the fields so unless you pay someone to cart it away by the lorry load - the poo piles grow into small mountains!
On an OS note - if you collect more than you use - I think it would be acceptable to sell it at the garden gate (a few do so round here at £1 a bag) so you cover the cost of your petrol going to fetch it

A big bunch of nettles left to rot in a bucket of water will provide you with excellent liquid feed too! OS and free