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

GreyQueen

You'd love to be down here at Shoebox Towers, Reverbe, we get afflicted with groups of teens and even twenty-somethings up to 20 strong doing something which they apparently call parkour.

Back in my young day climbing all over people's homes, hanging upside down from the buildings, jumping and shouting and screaming at your mates was called being a bl00dy nuisance. One year one of the wee darlings threw himself off our first floor walkway and bust his leg in the process.

One evening I went out to ask (politely) one of these numpties to cease and desist and got his name and address and was livid when he told me that his dad the city councillor said this was OK. Gawd, with that level of stupidity, never let that young man anywhere near a journalist.

I promptly rang up Mr City Councillor (their numbers being in the public domain) and coldly advised his Mrs that there was a young man making a nuisance of himself in our block and pretending that his father had okayed this behaviour. Never saw the youngster again.;) Sometimes, you have to think laterally.

Well, the weather is an exact re-run of yesterday's so is getting nearly dark with yet another looming rain shower but I'll play on the web til the connection goes off at 4 then see what the Magic Greengrocer has in the whoopsie section today.

I love the M.G. ; it's a real family firm, 3 generations til the old dad retired last year, now Mr and Mrs and their teen boy. We always chat if they're not too busy. They hate waste, too, and have told me that although any produce which would be discarded would be collected as part of their fees, the whoopsies don't save them money but they do like to see stuff being used rather than binned.

They're very kind to me and one of the resources I have in this city which makes life that little bit easier.

Laters, and thanks for the ASDA tip, tessie, will be checking that out asap. GQ x

tessie_bear

hi...the tomatoes etc are ktc brand if that helps with finding them on the internet hth

greent

tessie_bear wrote: »

hi...the tomatoes etc are ktc brand if that helps with finding them on the internet hth

I found them on the net last week, buit not since the weekend - although they are still in our local asda

[Deleted User]

I am making wholegrain mustard tonight, it is so easy

http://jamesbonfieldrecipes.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/how-to-make-wholegrain-mustard/

mustard, jars, vinegar from the jam jar shop. (No asian shops here) I am sure it will be good so will make more for christmas hampers

Have very belatedly sown starbor kale to put into a small space here as I decided I wouldn`t be going to the allotment if we have ice like last year. I am sure it will grow ok. Next month I will sow winter lettuce, chicory, winter spinach and mizuna in planters, to keep at the back. That completes the full circle for me

7_week_wonder

7_week_wonder wrote: »

Hello folks,
Has anyone got any hints or tips for making pearl barley risotto? I was going to just make a normal risotto (mushroom and mange-tout), but then I remembered I'd got some pearl barley. Do I just use the same quantities (of water and grain) or anything I should do differently?

I don't know if you are supposed to answer your own posts - but we've just had a successful experiment so I thought I'd post:

I ended up using a variation on this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/06/fearnley-whittingstall-barley-recipes and it was pretty yummy. I had some dried chinese mushrooms so I added some of them, plus some mange-tout that I should have picked a bit earlier and so were a bit big and stringy, but lovely after cooking, and I added some left over blue stilton that was on its way to the compost heap if I didn't use it soon. Anyway, it seemed to take a little bit longer than risotto rice and didn't absorb quite so much liquid, but it was yummy and a bit more nutty than normal risottos. Definitely worth repeating.

Kittie: that wholegrain mustard recipe looks great - I'm sure I've got some mustard seeds in the cupboard so I'm going to give it a go.

hornetgirl

I hope this isn't a silly question, but what is winter lettuce please Kittie? Is it just a hardier version of the usual kind, or does it require some kind of special treatment?

bluebag

trifles wrote: »

like everybody else,I'm finding it very hard to make ends meet just now.I am determined to keep cheerful,however,despite a lot of personal unhappiness that I am having through work.I am grateful and give thanks for my resilience,and the love and support that my sister,nephew and friends give me.I am conscious that the only real wealth that we have is the quality of our relationships with others who matter in our lives and our sense of humour to get us through whatever life may challenge us with.That,to me is the essence of O/S living.
I'm on holiday this week.I have nothing planned except having friends round for meals,reading some books and enjoying my home.
I would like to share a bubble of pleasure with anyone who would like to receive my positive thoughts just now. Hope everybody has some peace in their day:A

trifles, that's a super positive attitude you have there, peace to you too.

On your 'holiday' you may try and stretch the budget to a day ticket for the bus, almost all museums have free entry as do most parks.
Looking around your own home town as a tourist rather than a resident can be quite suprising and intersting too, just a few cheap ideas.
Sometimes, even the bus fares can be too much tho', the local library often does free coffee mornings and all the womens magazines and daily papers are usually available. Good to get out if you are able.

[Deleted User]

bluebag wrote: »

trifles, that's a super positive attitude you have there, peace to you too.

On your 'holiday' you may try and stretch the budget to a day ticket for the bus, almost all museums have free entry as do most parks.
Looking around your own home town as a tourist rather than a resident can be quite suprising and intersting too, just a few cheap ideas.
Sometimes, even the bus fares can be too much tho', the local library often does free coffee mornings and all the womens magazines and daily papers are usually available. Good to get out if you are able.

yes that`s right, it is hardier. I grew a mix of 3 types last year and most came through -14 last year. They were in troughs in a patiogro with the pvc cover and a fleece on top. I think they would be fine in a blow away or in a polycarbonate structure. I had 3 in a trough but 2 would be better. They were superb come march/april. I am expecting the chicory and mizuna to be cut and come again through winter. I may do 1 russian kale as it grows big but that is also very hardy and can be used all through winter.

Personally this is what I am going to have available during winter
tundra cabbages, parsnips, potatoes, carrots, swede, chard, kale, cut and come agains, onions, leeks, garlics, shallots. Summer is easy growing but to me, winter stuff is more important. All this stuff is very os and basic. If I can do this ok this year, then we will have been self sufficient in veg from an 8 x 100 feet plot

I grew small cabbages quite intensively in a 2` tall 6sq` raised bed at home and am now growing a green manure called phacelia which I will chop in a few weeks and add back to the soil. In the meantime I am taking a gamble and have sown today a few kales in a pot, which I will put in after the phacelia, together with some dried manure and/or compost. I`ll cover with environmesh and that should work. After they are out, that bed will have no cabbages for 2 years

ceridwen

Note your signature Kittie "prepare for the worst, hope for the best" and it chimes in with the fact that its not going to be an easy ride through the coming storms - when, even at a Transition meeting yesterday, someone was commenting how an existing allotment holder with TWO allotments had been able to get an extra half allotment somehow (implication = pulled strings) to get an extra half allotment, when our allotment waiting list locally is several years long.

I've been thinking ever since that I should have said "So - why do you think its acceptable for anyone to have 2 allotments, when many are struggling to get 1?" I know she felt bad about the fact that she was proposing that people with too many allotments be forced to give up their surplus allotmenteering (ie so that there is a better chance for everyone to have 1) - but actually I personally wouldnt allow anyone to have more than 1 allotment in an area of high demand, such as my area is (even though that would mean they would lose their hard work). Reason = I believe they should have offered up their surplus allotment/s anyway, because they can see the need themselves. I feel they shouldnt have to be MADE to give up the extra one/s they have - so I am not too bothered about the feelings of anyone who obviously finds it easy to live with being greedy....

Certainly got me pondering today on the morality of "Having more than a basic amount of...." anything at all - more than one allotment, more than one house...I could add a lot more examples of "A reasonable amount of x is so-and-so and any more than that is an example of why greed is one of the Seven Deadly Sins".

I can tell its gonna be a "philosophical mode" day today for me...

greenbee

Ceridwen - you may find that those people with two allotments are the people who saved them when no one else was interested and allotments were being abandoned and at the mercy of developers. Having worked them for many years to make them productive, it is not 'greedy' to eant to continue to reap the benefit of years of hard work and investment rather than handing it over to someone who may or may not continue to build on the work you have done. Those with the extra allotments may also be dependent on them for food and would potentially suffer hardship if they gave them up.

I know people who have accessed 'half' allotments informally through agreements to share with neighbours who have whole ones but cannot cope with them. Where allotment owners (they are not all councils, some are private) are unwilling or unable to divide plots into something more manageable for today's time-poor population, these kind of informal arrangements are bound to persist.

There are always many reasons for situations, and it is important that we are not too judgemental without knowing the full facts. Allotments may be fashionable today, but it's not so long ago that most towns and villages had some semi-derelict allotment sites, which is why so many were lost.