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

grandma247

oldtractor a few of us here have dehydrators. Mine is a round one from here. I got the last one on the page. Actually mine is two . I just put the motor and the bottom tray away as spares and used all ten trays together.

Frosty my friend in Aus says that if you don't want snakes in or around your home out there you need to makle sure you don't have mice as that is what the snakes want.
He must have been in very good condition after getting all those meeces.

Chocclare thanks for the idea of the coat hangers. I will save the post in my bookmarks.

oldtractor you have sold me on the woodburner. I have some very large pans that we use when the boiler packs up. They get used for jam,preserving etc at other times. we could heat enough water to bath in nearly.

Littlegreenfrog I think the idea is that the bolt and washers heat up and transfers that heat to all the pots so giving greater heat. but I am sure your idea would keep some of the frost off the plants.

bluebag

grandma247 wrote: »

I was looking again at this site last night and was thinking that If I could replicate the tripod somehow the rest would be easy to make.
Anyone any ideas?

I hope I can grow a few things in the greenhouse over winter. Frugaldom did a good job of growing lettuce in home made cold frames in winter.

Hiya, just looking at that candle thingy, it produces 50btu per hour which is about 14watts, that's not a right lot of heat.

Sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but would hate to think of you going to all the effort or building it for nothing.

To be honest the whole thing looks a bit of a scam, you would be better off with a small paraffin heater.

ginnyknit

I think the candle burner would have to be on a heat resistant surface too, away from anything that could catch fire and draughts that would blow it out. Great idea just a little impractical. I have been pondering about it since I saw the post.

Right off to get some sleep and see if my arm recovers by tomorrow as its causing problems not being able to use it.

jamanda

redlady_1 wrote: »

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?

Yes. Dry them out as best you can. I tie them with string because when I plait them they seem to disintegrate and fall off. then hang in ordinary shed (hubby has put hooks in ceiling and reinforced to take the weight). Only problem was the "sensitive ones" got the frost. Those from sets seem to keep better. I think the main thing is to keep them cool.

Kimitatsu

Morning all

Gosh this thread is running on a pace now!

oldtractor - can I ask how old those figures are? If they are still correct then I am SO pleased I dont have gas as it would cost me a real fortune, rather than just a semi fortune.

Kittie - thanks for the heads up re january and february :eek: At least now though I can get my snow shovels sorted and I am going to order a ton of rock salt this year to salt my drive. We have an enclosed courtyard and last year it was a nightmare.......there was also the day I got home to find an articulated lorry stuck outside - and he had got the wrong address after all that! I did look at the long range 300 day forecast for what it was worth and they are forecasting a lot of rain over the winter. I did comment that it only takes a shift in a pressure system and that will turn to snow.

Grandma - which dehydrator do you have if you dont mind me asking? They look a great idea - will look into getting one of those.

My book with the instructions for interlining came yesterday (thanks ChocnClaire ) so am going to get on with those. I am going to see if anyone wants to trade some therapy sessions for doing some of them though as I have quite a lot of curtains I have realised.

Just a heads up for anyone who is looking in Wilkos yesterday they had hat glove and scarf sets half price worked out about £3 for the set in their reduced to clear section. They also had strawberry sacks with 75% off and giant grow sacks 75% off too.

Lizzyb - welcome back I like the idea of the raised bed cold frame! Never thought of that one before so may well try that next year. Morrisons were selling off their cold frames a couple of months ago so I picked up a couple then, but I have difficulty kneeling so that would be a great idea.

Yesterday we had every sort of weather apart from snow and ice so we we will see what today brings! I am on ht ehunt for a bigger chicken coop as I currently have two and would rather have them all in one place over the winter. Found a chap locally who builds them and have told him basically I want a shed with some nesting boxes, but I dont want to pay a 4 figure sum for them :eek: He seems to think that wont be a problem:rotfl: Nearly fell through the floor yesterday when I saw how much poultry houses were going for now.

There are no pears at all on my trees this year, and I have never known that before. Lots of apples this year and the cherry and plum trees look as if they are doing ok. Next year I think I am going to look for a quince tree towards the end of the season, there are not many around here and I fancy making quince jelly. Am going to pop off to the market today and see if I can get any fruit for jam, or even better some cheap apricots for apricot curd.

Mind you either lots of people have had the same idea or the fruit crop has been rubbish. Went past one PYO place on Tuesday and there was a sign saying all picked out until Saturday. Definitely impetus to get on with the veg garden.

Have a lovely day y'all x

freudianslip

Morning

I have a washing line in my kitchen :eek: it's the thrird cool damp day here and looks very dark as if it's going to pour down.

Normally I would dry on the rads over winter but as the rads are not going to be on very much I am worried about drying clothes.

I've set a pot of yoghurt away and will be making cottage cheese for jacket pots for lunch.... just because I can and if I was to pop into the coop for some I'd spend more so in that respect I am money saving.

Have a good day all, looking forward to learning something new today like every day, thanks

[Deleted User]

We have had rain at long last and just on the day I woke up, looked out of the window and noticed that the wheat field just 100 yds away has started to look paler ie the grain looks as though it has started to ripen.

Have a look at the winter thread as someone has posted a brill idea for making a solar heater for a room, just card, silver foil and black paper

I am so disappointed that the opec talks failed, disappointed that prices will get higher but in a way not disappointed because oil stocks will last longer. Maybe that`ll be the push that the uk needs to be more self sufficient and who knows maybe they will re-start the mining industry and get the `dead` welsh valleys working again. All we can do is paper over the cracks as individuals and get through as best we can but it needs mega moves from the powers that be to make a reeal difference

LannyLee

scottishminnie wrote: »

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?

The foil is fairly thick & is adhesive (Sp?) on the back side, the instructions say you can just stick it to the wall, but I wasn't too keen on this, so I got some old cardboard boxes & made panels & hung them behind using some old garden wire I had, so that I could remove them easily for cleaning/decorating etc. HTH.

[Deleted User]

I just looked at right move to see what was still up for sale where I came from a year ago and they are all still there. One identical to ours is now up for 15k less than we got for ours and at the time we dropped drastically to get a sale. Everything in the village I live in now is also still up for sale. One gorgeous big old one with spectacular views and 10 acres has dropped by 100k. I bet they are kicking themselves that they didn`t go in cheaper last year, its the type of old house that looks amazing but needs mega upkeep. Friends of ours in a tiny old cottage in the next village spent 2k last year on fuel and they are up for sale as they can`t afford to live there. People are too scared to move, not like 40 years ago when you just moved if you fancied a change. There was no stamp duty then

mardatha

I was just thinking that Kittie, re Opec and the pits... it might do a hell of a lot of good for Scotland as well.