How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

SD-253

ceridwen wrote: »

A small piece of land for £2,400 - now I really AM positively bright green with envy. Will now spend rest of day - at intervals - pondering as to how big a piece of land I could buy in "my neck of the woods" for that - probably about 10 square metres of designated woodland perhaps? Top of wishlist items is - nice piece of land nearby (of ANY description). The nearest bit I've seen was a longish bus journey away from me and cost about £5,000 and that was pretty darn small and I thought it must have some major problem to cost so little for this area (I was so astonished at seeing ANY land at all on sale at a price I could manage that I nearly got on that bus anyway - just to have a look...).

I am afraid I can not be bothered to go out and measure it But I will give an estimate 40 feet wide 60 feet long that’s a guess at best. Steep very steep hill in places. Need a couple of grand to terrace but keep putting it off, lazy could be a possible cause but am constantly trying to see if there are better/cheaper ways of doing it.
Result of being lazy or ultra cautious, farmer is going to deliver me 65 concrete fence posts mainly unused and I am not going to charge him or put another way free (for fencing and the verticals for the terracing).........my favorite price. Next I need to sort out steps to get up the first terrace at least. Looked at many options. My neighbor a builder came round to see about putting up concrete steps told me not to be a knob head and then explained how to make the steps using wood and no skill. Better still it would be very aesthetically pleasing.
None of which really had anything to do with your blog (is that the right word?). I live on the Lincolnshire Wolds I believe present prices per acre are (prime arable) £7000 obviously you would probably have to buy 1000 acres to get it at that price. A farmer would not be stupid enough to do that because once all cost are taken out Solicitor surveyor etc his time he wouldn't have much left and the householder would be ripping him of anyway. As the value of land is equal to the value it adds to your house. So Lincolnshire Wolds 1 acre attached to house and flat at least £20,000. Now we come to forest. There is now multiple tax advantage in owning forest especially if you can work it. No tax on the income or others on the wood you sell. Add in the tree huggers and a mature wood 4 acres about £50,000, note the word mature. Land is being sold as woodland where the trees were planted a couple of years ago.
So ceridwen got any rich family members you could kill?? Note no point unless you are in the will. Below is a link to a site which is an estate agent for woodland. I doubt if it is actually possible to make a living profit out of a 4 acre wood. I would turn it into coppice overtime but based on the old method IE large trees spread far apart with coppiced wood in between. This is the very best environment for wildlife but also I expect the most profitable for making money. NOTE in reality the tax advantages have made buying a wood less profitable i.e. no inheritance tax after 2 years. No income tax which means people will pay more and then the tree huggers push it up even more. So I doubt that the likes of me will ever get ourselves a decent wood......................!!!!!! my mum is quite old but not that rich.......although if my other 2 brothers were to have an accident???

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/buying-a-wood/east-anglia/

Lavandula

Some thoughts on things people could cut down on if necessary (unless they are homegrown/homemade of course)

• all convenience foods
• out of season foods i.e. toms, strawberries etc...just grow your own instead
• alcohol/fizzy drinks etc
• cosmetics, skincare stuff
• tv/satellite tv/broadband
• magazines/newspapers
• hairdressers! ........long hair keeps you warm
• beauty treatments, sun beds etc (never had any myself, I'm far too gorgeous to need them:rotfl::rotfl:)
• holidays (could take off season holidays in the UK)
• cigarettes
• restaurants etc....take a picnic out to the seaside or a lovely wood..
• gym membership (a good walk is just as good)
• clothes/shoes/handbags etc....just have 1 or 2 reasonable quality items that will last years e.g. 1 winter coat, 1 summer coat, 1 pair of boots etc....be individual not a fashion victim
• toys for kids..... buy a few good quality toys that will last (wooden ones are good, e.g. building bricks, train set)
• flowers...grow your own!
• petrol...walk more

Hope that doesn't sound too grim:o

A simple life is a happy life in my humble opinion..and we appreciate the things we have more..

SD-253

GreyQueen wrote: »

Sloes vs Damsons Due to a little stupidity my pal K and I ended up picking damsons instead of sloes last autum but they made "sloe" gin just fine.;) She also did something with the previous year's batch, which were definately sloes; kept the boozy pulply sloes after bottling the finished gin and used them to make truffles with cream etc. They were the most luscious things I have ever eaten in my entire life. I could almot feel my arteries furring up.:rotfl:

Utterly disgusting how could anyone use gin infused Sloes for truffles that is a crime. You should pour in a nice dry cider.......leave for 3 weeks and then try to bottle and not drink on the spot. Then deny to your friends who you mistakenly allowed to try it in previous years that you have made any. Truffles.....unbelievable what a waste!!

Fruball

Hello folks

Great thread.

I have obviously popped in at the right time as I am considering making HM wine Its just getting too expensive to keep up my usual intake

I have lemon balm in the garden so thanks to whoever posted that I can use that for making wine

Re Leaving appliances on overnight/whilst out of the house etc... :eek: I do this all the time... DW goes on at night, WM is in an outhouse so I will get a smoke alarm for in there... I do have 2 working smoke alarms so I hope they would alert me early in case of fire.

Fruball

brandeberryj wrote: »

Utterly disgusting how could anyone use gin infused Sloes for truffles that is a crime. You should pour in a nice dry cider.......leave for 3 weeks and then try to bottle and not drink on the spot. Then deny to your friends who you mistakenly allowed to try it in previous years that you have made any. Truffles.....unbelievable what a waste!!

I threw my vodka infused sloes into the composter :eek: If I make it again this year I will recycle them into cider

maryb

GreyQueen wrote: »

maryb You were kind enough to recommend a good book on jam making in response to my enquiry yesterday which was available from WH Smith. I went to check it out and am a bit confused as to which of two titles it might be. There was The Right Way to Make Jams by Cyril Grange at £4.99 which they'd have to order in or Easy Jams, Chutneys and Preserves by Val and John Harrison published by RightWay at £5.99........Which is the one you meant, please?

.

It's the Cyril Grange one. You can get a used copy for £0.01 on Amazon plus £2.80 delivery

HTH

RAS

mummysaver wrote: »

love the sound of that book, especially bog myrtle ale!

Bog myrtle ale is lovely.

silvermaid

Wow brandeberryj I've never heard of this cider trick.
We make sloe gin every year and just compost the sloes after decanting. What a mistake. Shan't be doing that this autumn
Thanks for the tip, Silver

maryb

grandma247 wrote: »

I have fallen in love!
I was looking at low tech laundry solutions and found this. I am seriously thinking of getting one when we eventually move. Yes it is expensive but no dearer than a cheap washing machine and it will outlast me. It also has the advantage of using little fuel(only enough to heat the water if it needs it). Also it is a good workout for the upper body .
I have found in the past that washing by hand means it all gets done a lot quicker than waiting for the machine and the home made soap does not irritate my hands so I don't use gloves. I have a spinner (thanks SM) and would buy another if this broke and could not be fixed.

Ooh want one. They have sinks like that in all the facilities on shore when we go sailing and they are really good when you are doing handwashing. We need to redo our laundry room in the cellar and there is just space for a narrow sink between the WM and tumbler.

Only problem is you couldn't fit a mangle to it. I was thinking of getting an old fashioned mangle for when I wash big things like duvets (not that I'd be doing THAT by hand!) I should probably post this on the Really Old Style living thread (or the OS Survival thread if we are talking about doing without electricity) I get soo confused sometimes about which thread I am on!!

SD-253

silvermaid wrote: »

Wow brandeberryj I've never heard of this cider trick.
We make sloe gin every year and just compost the sloes after decanting. What a mistake. Shan't be doing that this autumn
Thanks for the tip, Silver

You could have put them on the bird table? very ammusing effect on the birds..........only joking