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

mardatha

Heard on another forum that due to the very dry weather, veg growers are struggling and there might be a shortage and prices might be higher. DIG FASTER GIRLS !

scottishminnie

valentina wrote: »

You can get them from ebay

good grief, I'm slipping- it never crossed my mind to look online. Goodness knows why I get everything else there these days:)

DebtFree2012

scottishminnie wrote: »

We also have a mole (or several I suspect) problem. My husband has 3 traps set at the moment and now and again has a catch but mostly the mole outwits him by filling the trap with earth and setting it off.

Hubby and I arrived home one afternoon and he went off to check his traps. Just as he was checking one of them he spotted movement in the ground along from the trap. The next thing I know he was stabbing my lawn with his pocket knife like a maniac. It was absolutely hilarious, looked like a scene from Psycho (sp).

Anyway after some frantic stabbing and absolutely foul language he cut up the turf and produced one very dead mole. I've never seen him quite so satisfied with anything he caught in the trap as he was with that!

I'm just glad we live in the country and we have no immediate neighbours to witness what goes on or I'm sure we would be locked away in a secure unit.

At the moment we are back to the traps but no success recently so I think I'll try the bramble idea to see how it goes. I did like the mothball suggestion but I have no idea where to get them. We did have an old fashioned ironmongers nearby but it closed down recently so I wouldn't know where else to try.

That sounds quite nasty.

frosty

Why do you have to kill moles,they dont know they are digging up your lawn,they are just doing what moles do.We lived on a small holding and had heaps of moles...I believe every animal has the right to live.:(

GreyQueen

frosty wrote: »

Why do you have to kill moles,they dont know they are digging up your lawn,they are just doing what moles do.We lived on a small holding and had heaps of moles...I believe every animal has the right to live.:(

Hello Frosty, I don't personally kill moles, although I know someone who'd lend me a mole trap if I wanted to go that route. However, I have considerably less land than a smallholder (lottie is just under 300 sq meters) and when a mole is active in my veggies it causes disruption to the soil and loss of my produce which effects how much food I can feed myself and how much I have to purchase out of a low income. F'instance, mole hills among seedlings are catastrophes as they can take out close to 1 foot of seedlings in one fell swoop.

However, each to their own, although moles are solitary and vicious creatures and, apart from mating, will fight each other to the death should they encounter each other underground.

One might say that the biggest danger to a mole is another mole, not poor old homo sapiens.

mardatha

This is the last day of sunshine, we should all get outside and dig one last time.. I got the OH to clear my much-loved rockery and we put in turnip seeds. I felt very 1940 ish ! When I tell you that we're digging trenches and air raid shelters you can phone for a wee yellow van

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I try to have a live and let live policy with all creatures, but I draw the line at things which affect my ability to feed my DD. So the wood mice living under the shed got relocated and I haven't seen any since (thanks in part to the fox which kept on popping in at night to have one or two), the cabbage whites will have a load of nasturtiums to munch upon and the aphids get the roses. Anything destroying the food crops will be forcibly relocated or, failing that, regretfully exterminated if it is unable to escape me.


Moving swiftly on.....


I have planted up every spare corner I could possibly think of now. So much so, I'm in danger of forgetting what is planted where (one of the cats - or maybe a corvid - has developed a fascination with plant labels and removes them when I'm not out there). I've found out that I don't actually like salad leaves as much as I thought, so won't be sowing nearly so many next time and will use the space for something else. Maybe brassicas, as we both like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower - but I haven't grown anything before, so will be relying on t'internet wisdom.


Not sure what else to do - but have found that, strangely, having a very clean and tidy home makes me less likely to spend loads of money - perhaps because I know I have everything and don't want the stress of having to find somewhere to put it.

Losing weight might be a plan, although thinking about it logically, [STRIKE]if[/STRIKE] when times get tougher, at least I have the reserves to deal with it for [cough] quite a while before it becomes a health problem of its own. So it's kind of moneysaving as personal lard stores can't actually go off or get attacked by mice [desperately tries to think of other excuses]


Mind you, I need tea and toast now, or I will be no good to man nor beast for the rest of the day.

raphanius

the_cat wrote: »

For all of you who are dieting or attempting to.... I read a book recently from the library which has changed my outlook (and shape!) completely. It is not a diet, rather a self help book to overcome overeating/bingeing and an 'addiction' to food. By following it I have lost weight without changing what I eat, just the quantities so it was actually cheaper than my normal food. It is well worth a read. More info in the reviews on the link for those interested
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Less-Say-Goodbye-Overeating/dp/0091902479/ref=pd_sim_b_1

free sample of the book here

elona

JoJo

I try to think of it as a combination of insulation and protective padding;)

sammy_kaye18

Morning girls

I'd like to join in your losing weight fun - - but I may put a bit of a spin on it for myself.

I started at 14st 3lbs when I started my weight loss in Feb 2009. I got down to 12st 3lbs by December 2009 and then found out I was pregnant. I went up to 13st 5lbs and am now down to..................(runs off to weigh myself)..................12st 5lbs - although I have been eating/drinking a fair bit this morning and had 2 cups of tea, half a bottle of coke and a mars bar! :eek:

But I would like to get down to 11st which is what I was after I had Ben but I need to tone up more too so going to set myself an exercise challenge. I figure I work 2 days a week but the other 5 I could be out riding Owens mountain bike for half hour/45 minutes of an evening.

So Ive worked out that there are 28 days left of May and 20 of those days Im not working so I should be able to go out for at least half hour each night (provided the weather is nice enough). So therefore I have written numbers in my siggie and will replace them with a smiley face for each one I manage to do. I need to lose some weight and get healthier in the process. My problem is I need to tone my mummy tummy now but I know its not going to happen without sit ups

But in fairness my old instructor runs an exercise kettle bell class but there is no way I can afford the £30 a month fee! The only reason I use to go last time was because I got the classes and weigh in's free because I was a cashier!

I think though I'm best making today my last day of indulgence and seeing as Im working tonight too it wont cut into exercise time - but ill be walking lots. I really do need to get my diet under control too - have hardly eaten properly since having Holly and Owen is forever nagging me about the amount of caffeine I drink in tea/coke/coffee