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

ChocClare

Welcome to all the newbies! Good grief, it's taken me AGES to catch up with the thread at the moment.

freudianslip (I think), yes, Home Farmer is a magazine and it is my personal favourite - I subscribe to it. They sell it in Tesco's (or at least our Tesco's), so you could have a browse through and see if it's for you. It has all sorts of information about livestock (chickens/ducks/geese, goats, bees, pigs, rabbits and occasionally alpaca), lots of gardening tips, lots of brilliant recipes and instructions on eg how to make cheese or sausages etc. and usually something "green" like permaculture or solar pv or woodburning stoves - it's a very OS magazine, but if you don't keep hens/bees and grow your own, then it may be of interest only. I love the fact that they run campaigns such as their 52 meals to save the planet, which was just saying if you can produce enough food just to make one meal a week for your family without going to the shops, then it helps... er... save the planet! It's largely the work of Paul and Diana Peacock, who also run the City Cottage centre in Manchester - you can find out about it here and subscribe to their newsletter, which is full of hints and tips and lots of recipes (and it's free)

grandma247, in re your trivet - might I suggest that you take a wire coathanger; cut off the hook or straighten it out so you have a triangle. Now bend the wire at 90 degrees at each of the three "points" - the two former sides and the place where the hook used to be - to make yourself a trivet. You can make the "legs" longer or shorter, depending on how big you want your central triangle to be, and wrap wire round the point where the "legs" bend to strengthen it.

westlothianlass

Hi Mardatha,
Kohl Rabi should keep well in the ground until December when they should be pulled, they freeze well if you scrub them, cut in slices and blanched for a couple of minutes Hth.:)
Now i need to go and buy some seeds as completely forgot about this one and you have got me in the mood, sad that some veg get me excited eh:rotfl:

redlady_1

Christ Kittie, you know "stuff"! Do you read, um, cant remember his name but there is a blog by a guy who has been spot on about poor winters etc? Will find it soon.

My onions sprouted in the dark and only lasted a matter of weeks! :eek: Not good. Jamanda, did you literally just thread and hang them?

Just a quick one for those talking about woodburners. Be warned. This is not a cheap alternative to gas/electric. Factor in the installation, a decent stove, the price of wood, coal, sweep, repairs, time, cleaning and dust you wont have saved much. The only people who do save are those who source free wood - and you need alot of it to keep a burner going. I get through one former outside toilets (that is my wood shed) worth every month in the Winter and that will cost me anywhere from £75 upwards. It works out about 1.2 cubic metres.

claudiac_2

Saveabob- I am determined that we will get a woodburner before the onset of winter this year - Problems abound, such as, we have the fire places but all the chimneys on the roof were disposed of during a really bad 'upgrading of the property'. Grandad needed a new roof, but was too infirm by then (age90) to do it himself, which is how everything was done in his day, so a re furb ensued which left this gorgeous old victorian house with a new roof, no chimneys, woodchip and cheap floors all the way through. It breaks my heart to think of what the workmen threw away, but this was before we moved into the house, and now we are only just starting to bring it back to what is should be. The problem is as usual, a lack of money to do what we would love to do, and the fact that we are facing a really tough winter financially, due to the fact that the price of food, petrol, gas and electricity are all getting ridiculous! Add to that the fact that for self employed joiners the work is difficult to find and the rate of pay has DECREASED by about 25% in the last few years. So I have decided to concentrate on one thing at a time (my brain can't handle much more than that!!), and since we have a friend of a friend who is a tree surgeon, and he has to pay for the disposal of his waste, we have kindly offered to take any trees/branches he has with a view to burning them for free on a lovely wood stove. I am so sad, I dream about the flames and the lovely woody smell, but I am determined that we will be cosier this winter and for less cost than last year. Plus, it gives me great pleasure to think that I am not quite so dependant on the big boys for everything IYSWIM. We got a good pile of logs last year, which I have been weathering since (would have used some for the bbq but never really got the weather), so that is a start, and I have put the word out for my family/friends to keep any unwanted wood for me. Now I need to get some more stuff onto ebay and try to gather up enough for a stove and the cost of installing it. Keep us posted how you are getting on with yours, and start collecting wood now to get a decent store of good burning wood for it.

oldtractor

tomorrow I am going to make yoghurt and cottage cheese. also Laundry Gloop and bottle my elderflower cordial.

Claudiac, I know what you mean about pay decreses. MY DH hasnt had a pay increase in 5 years,not even to keep up with inflation. Meanwhile our cost of living has escalated dramatically with food and fuel going up so much. where they get only 5% inflation from i'll never know.

greenbee

redlady_1 wrote: »

Just a quick one for those talking about woodburners. Be warned. This is not a cheap alternative to gas/electric. Factor in the installation, a decent stove, the price of wood, coal, sweep, repairs, time, cleaning and dust you wont have saved much. The only people who do save are those who source free wood - and you need alot of it to keep a burner going. I get through one former outside toilets (that is my wood shed) worth every month in the Winter and that will cost me anywhere from £75 upwards. It works out about 1.2 cubic metres.

you're absolutely right on this one. What it does, however, give you is a back-up option if the electricity fails (most gas boilers pack up at this point, particularly new ones with electric ignition). It provides additional heating when it is very cold, and in autumn and spring provides occasional heating when its not worth putting the heating on but you want a little warmth for a few hours.

When it was vey cold last year, I used the CH to keep the ambient temperature of the house reasonable and the holed up in the sitting room, where the stove is, with my laptop (I work from home) and kept warm. It meant I didn't have to heat my study which is upstairs, and it also felt cosy

oldtractor

I agree greenbee,

scottishminnie

LannyLee wrote: »

I got some reflective stickyback foil from A5DA, it was approx £6, but had enough to do 5 radiators in my houes (medium sized ones, approx 26" wide) and this made such a difference, especially on the ones that were outside facing, I reckon I made back the £6 in the first few weeks. HTH.

I've never thought of this before. I have 4 radiators on outside walls (2 north facing) so I'm very interested in doing this. Was it relatively simple? Do you cut an amount smaller than the radiator and then sort of "smooth" it down the back of the radiator?

redlady_1

Greenbee, mine is my only source of heat so once I light it in the winter I keep it going all the way through. For all the inconvenience (I forgot stacking wood in the pouring rain, not to mention fetching it) I really wouldnt have it any other way. For me it is about a lifestyle choice and with the flames going there is something to keep everyone occupied who visits instead of a TV:D

Oh and to give you an idea it cost me £3k for the burner, installation and sorting the fireplace.

oldtractor

I put pans of cold water and a kettle on top of my stove. when the water is hot/boiling i make tea,,coffee,use it for washing up,mop bucket,washing myself etc etc. I even cook pans of soup and stews. great for cheap cuts of meat to cook slowly for hours. FREE HOT WATER and cooking facility. then large pans of water stay on overnight and act as a "radiator".