As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

[Deleted User]

jamanda wrote: »

Does anyone else feel that they spend all summer getting ready for winter?

yes me, I did the herbs today and am collecting sugar snaps to freeze and also broad beans. The other day I did portions of sauteed onions. Also the freezer thing, I got buttermilk out to make room so am making soda bread tomorrow with shiptons coarse wholemeal.

I wouldn`t be doing all this except I want to preserve garden produce and buy meat later this week, all for winter

re the cabbages, I have made some notes on garden things for next year and one is not to sow so many cabbages. I have had far too many these last few weeks. Nice to lnow that they can be frozen

saveabobortwo

no soil last year i planted everything in containers and hanging baskets everywhere i worked very hard i didnt have enough sun so nothing grew very well. i have searched and searched for an allotment but its like finding a needle in a haystack.none round here .so how do we cope then? i have tried making my own products, foraging home baking batch baking and i read anout harvesting and it just cheeses me right of basicly if you aint posh enough to have a large garden or field you will have to go hungry:mad:

mardatha

My OH is pacing the floor moaning and ranting about prices. Aren't men just soo helpful in a crisis?

saveabobortwo

all fuel prices are going up I CAN NOW EITHER EAT OR FREEZE TO DEATH THANKS:mad::mad:

onestep

saveabobortwo wrote: »

so how do we cope then? i have tried making my own products, foraging home baking batch baking and i read anout harvesting and it just cheeses me right of basicly if you aint posh enough to have a large garden or field you will have to go hungry:mad:

Have you looked at landshare? Do a google search - but basically people with no gardens help those who can't manage their gardens in return for a share of the produce.. I've no experience of it personally but the idea is good. Might be worth a look if you can't get a lottie.

jamanda

Forgot about herbs. That will be another job then.

Strangely, we have baby parsley coming up all over everywhere. Must have chucked some seed heads in the compost last year. Threatened DH not to weed them up unless essential. Don't tend to do sage, because it just sits there all winter in the garden waiting for me.

Saveabobortwo - have you checked out just how much you can actually grow in a very tiny space. I think Ceridwen has put a couple of links in this thread somewhere. It is really amazing what you can do with a few containers and a lot of ingenuity.

Edit - just re-read your post about not much sun. There must be stuff that doesn't need that much sun

[Deleted User]

savabob, you can grow veg that likes cool and does well in shade and in containers. I have cabbages in containers, just small types like hispi or duncan or minicole. Kales like shade and you only need one like red russian and you can cut a leaf off as and when you need to. Carrots like cool and I am growing resistafly and early nantes also in troughs. It all helps

culpepper

We use UHT exclusively. OH and I always have and the kids have since they were teens.
I think that fresh milk is creamier tasting even for skim you can really notice the difference if you have a cup of tea when visiting someone who uses fresh milk.
Asda have 1ltr UHT skim for around 52p(last sunday anyway).

If you have any sour fruit, it is quite good for jam as the sugar ofsets the sourness. Sloe jam for example is lovely but sloes on their own are so sour they dry your mouth out.

jediteacher

Many many thanks for everyone's congratulations about the birth of Daniel. :beer:
We are all settling in and am finding it not as daunting as the first time with my daughter. He has been diagnosed with reflux and been put on infant gaviscon but we went through all this with our daughter so it all seems second nature this time round.

Anyway, I thought I'd pop in and let you know that Sainsburys is doing a deal on meat - mostly BBQ but there are some normal meats as well all for £1. For example:

Chicken Breast in Marinated Tomato Sauce 264g for £1
Sweedish Meatballs 350g £1


There are lots more and they are all 'fresh' meat from the fridge. I am buying some and putting them in the freezer to make my life easier.

I have to say visitors this time round have been real gems. Last time they bought gifts for my daughter which was lovely but this time round they've bought ready prepared food! This has made a huge difference as it means that I only have to pop things in the oven to heat and not have to prepare anything. This has been a real life saver and has meant that I've not had to worry about shopping or cooking.

Anyway, the steriliser calls for more bottles so will catch up later with the rest of the thread.

freudianslip

saveabobortwo wrote: »

no soil last year i planted everything in containers and hanging baskets everywhere i worked very hard i didnt have enough sun so nothing grew very well. i have searched and searched for an allotment but its like finding a needle in a haystack.none round here .so how do we cope then? i have tried making my own products, foraging home baking batch baking and i read anout harvesting and it just cheeses me right of basicly if you aint posh enough to have a large garden or field you will have to go hungry:mad:

I've seen some corking pictures of tiny court yards 'gardening vertically' A bit more thought and some help from a search engine or a book like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vertical-Gardening-Derek-Fell/dp/1605290831/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1307457865&sr=1-11 might just be your friend

Speaking of books I have just picked up Jo Whittinghams, grow something everyday from the library (reserved it last week) and I cannot believe I'm going to get a free copy from BHF. Must be costing them a fortune! Time for a cuppa and a browse of it.

Gas prices. Just seen that on the right hand side of the site. Great! British Gas will be following suit.

Scared? No, We will just have to not heat the house very much at all. I am in control here. More jumper, more blankets, more thick socks and hot water bottles. Inconvenient yeah.

I was thinking of heating the bathroom only on a morning so we had somewhere warm to wash and change. Beats the whole house. The preparing for winter thread is going to be very busy before we even get summer.