make do and mend for tougher times

Angel_Jenny

Molly41 wrote: »

Re the Amish. I was very lucky to visit an Old Order Armish midwife in her home when I was in America for a Midwifery course. It was absolutely fascinating and I would be happy to share my reflective account with you if interested - well the Amish bit.

How fascinating!

I watch anything Amish related on television and I just read a book about an Amish midwife.

I have a couple of Amish pen pals and their letters and life are so interesting. The slower pace of life and more physical hard work. With one I was discussing tiredness - mostly I am mentally tired and mostly she is physically tired. I am pretty sure she sleeps better than I do!

Byatt

Smiley, another thought, probably not likely, but it could be construed as sexual harrassment. Being as it's the work place and the strict rules that might apply, which no-one really adheres to, but someone just might. I don't want to scaremonger, and this has happened in the US but have heard of an innocent woman being sacked for something that was taken as harrassment, yes, ridiculous, but life is odd. Maybe I shouldn't say anything, didn't know what to do for the best.

smileyt_2

Thank you for all your advice ... I shall pass it on forthwith! I don't know a lot about her but I think she likes dogs ... hey, I could go and talk to her about dogs all day lol but that would be no good for my poor friend! She's friendly but professional, but she seems to be like that with everyone so I think he's on to a loser here, poor bloke. I'd better get my shoulder ready for him to cry on .... Perhaps if he's still stuck on her in February he can send her a simple Valentine's card as they are traditionally meant to be anonymous and wouldn't be as public as a whopping huge bouquet of flowers!

Absolutely nothing old-style to report here from today.

Jem, your puppy is gorgeous and I am now broody .....

mardatha

I'd agree with the rest smiley, it would be too easy to go horribly wrong.
Fuddle ty for the meal plan, I'm trying to get mine together but its not happening!
Re the Amish, they give me the creeps to be honest, and I'm not sure why. I think its the religion thing - I'm violently allergic to religion. It would be too easy for bad things to be going on within a closed tight community like theirs, I prefer open and broadminded. But I've no grounds for thinking anything bad does go on.

Molly41

Here is the link to my Amish reflection. It has been abridged and adapted and is my intellectual property;)

Probably best to PM any comments or questions as I dont want to take away from the focus of this thread. However it does fit with the Tough and Old Style ethos of Make Do and Mend x

[Deleted User]

Thank you so much Molly41, I certainly get the sense of calm and community and loved every word about the amish midwife

I was thinking about how to dehydrate foods for those who want to but cannot have a dehydrator. We all have ovens and most have microwaves and most ovens are fan. It must be possible to dehydrate in a fan oven eg I have loads of celery leaves in at the moment at 125 degrees F and that is 52 degres C. It must be possible to keep the fan oven at that temperature. Veggies generally should be done at 125 F and fruits at 135 F. It might be worth a google re oven and microwave methods. It pretty well links up with the preppers interest eg you can pre cook veggies and dehydrate then just add hot water. I did swede plus carrots yesterday and am very happy with the result

I got fed up with feeling so hot and uncomfortable in the relatively high humidity in the house. It is 65 and that is ok as well below the 70 mark but the house ventilation system needs help in our opinion so we just bought a small de humidifier, which will also be useful if winter drying id difficult. Am pleasantly surprised at the small size

Byatt

Molly41 wrote: »

Here is the link to my Amish reflection. It has been abridged and adapted and is my intellectual property;)

Probably best to PM any comments or questions as I dont want to take away from the focus of this thread. However it does fit with the Tough and Old Style ethos of Make Do and Mend x

Thanks Molly,

I am so glad I never took pictures, I didn't know about the fact that the Amish do not want it done. What a wonderful opportunity it was for you to meet them.

xxx

gailey_2

Hi guys

not been on for a while so have lots catching up to do.

where do I start.

well my poor veg patch not done well due to slugs and weather.
we have 3young children so hubby was worried about the slug pellets.
lot of the seeds we grew from scrath dident take.
we will have sweetcorn but not much else.

Wild food-well watched eagerly for cherries but hardly any at all.
we have some green gage and some damsons locally.
the damsons have white crystels on them what is it? are they ok to eat?

The blackberries are out now. will start picking as want to try the blackberry liquer they made on superscrimpers xmas special last year.

Think hazlenuts be ready so hoping to get a few nuts as my family are terrible snackers.

My bakings getting slightly better.

im forever trying to declutter and organise the house so dont end up as crazy hoarder.

its summer hols so trying to amuse kids cheaply so we done parks and museums but been bit of depressing summer im so much happier when its sunny.

Hardly had chance to buy anything at carboots as hubbys been busy in work.

Im watching few uniform bits ebay determined to do back to school as cheaply as possible.

got bit exited other day as new poundland opened near me.

im going to get some hardback notebooks and cover with pretty fabric I already onw same with the cardboard magazine holders.

I have a new hobby pinterest which has given me so many ideas for homemade gifts should start now so im ready for xmas.
I love crafts so its not a chore and people appreciate it.
I need to get back into my sewing just finding the time.

noticed the works had kirstys craft book for 6.99 was tempted but resisted.

Biggest project right now is we need more storage so making some storage and looking for cheap storage.

americans seem to be so uch craftier than uk.
sister wet in hobby craft otehr day I darnt go.

Grocery budgets been challenging last couple of months.
hubbys new pay day later in month was 15th now 25th so its been bit of transition.

I cant work out if we eating more or just not doing the best shops.
I need to get back to basics with mealplanning again.
itemise every item with cost.
we need to shop about 4-5different places each month to keep costs down and start using coupons more.

I need to get back into habit batchcooking and freezing.

random question we seem to have endless moths with kids going mental as they hate them? what attracts moths ? how can I ward them off?

spent today reorganising kitchen and cleaning so feeling bit better,
just rest of house to go.

Hope everyones well. That its not too tough.

katieowl_2

fuddle wrote: »

You know how I have a monthly meal plan? I'm going to try to get it down to a weekly meal plan in a bid to save even more money and make my store even more useful. Let me explain. I figure (and might be wrong) that it's more expensive to ensure I have all the different ingredients for 30 meals as opposed to 7 meals. The ingredients I really use I can concentrate stocking up on making my store smaller but more precise and more of each item.

My grandma did this. Each day of the week had a meal assigned to it. She didn't alter it one bit. I'm not sating this is set in stone as we may (probably) get very bored. It will be interesting to see if my gang actually pick up on a 7 day rotation.

Sunday: chicken dinner - pudding
Monday: leftover chicken curry, boiled rice, onion bhaji - pudding
Tuesday: mince cobbler, peas, mashed potato - pudding
Wednesday: pizza, garlic bread, coleslaw, salad - pudding
Thursday: pork chop, roast veg, cauli cheese - pudding
Friday: fish pie, peas - pudding
Saturday: mince and dumplings, mash, broccoli

portion sizes will be smaller as one extra put aside for DH's lunches at work wwhich is why we'll get pudding nightly.

You could try a two week rotation, and I'm sure they'll never notice :rotfl: That was suggested in a Shirley Conran 'superwoman' book years ago, and I think IIRC that she says it was what the matriarch of the Kennedy clan did....I seem to recall it revolved around steak and salads, and jacket potatoes, but I dare say it would take a frugal makeover

Kate

Byatt

gailey wrote: »

Hi guys

not been on for a while so have lots catching up to do.

where do I start.

well my poor veg patch not done well due to slugs and weather.
we have 3young children so hubby was worried about the slug pellets.
lot of the seeds we grew from scrath dident take.
we will have sweetcorn but not much else.

Wild food-well watched eagerly for cherries but hardly any at all.
we have some green gage and some damsons locally.
the damsons have white crystels on them what is it? are they ok to eat?

The blackberries are out now. will start picking as want to try the blackberry liquer they made on superscrimpers xmas special last year.

Think hazlenuts be ready so hoping to get a few nuts as my family are terrible snackers.

My bakings getting slightly better.

im forever trying to declutter and organise the house so dont end up as crazy hoarder.

its summer hols so trying to amuse kids cheaply so we done parks and museums but been bit of depressing summer im so much happier when its sunny.

Hardly had chance to buy anything at carboots as hubbys been busy in work.

Im watching few uniform bits ebay determined to do back to school as cheaply as possible.

got bit exited other day as new poundland opened near me.

im going to get some hardback notebooks and cover with pretty fabric I already onw same with the cardboard magazine holders.

I have a new hobby pinterest which has given me so many ideas for homemade gifts should start now so im ready for xmas.
I love crafts so its not a chore and people appreciate it.
I need to get back into my sewing just finding the time.

noticed the works had kirstys craft book for 6.99 was tempted but resisted.

Biggest project right now is we need more storage so making some storage and looking for cheap storage.

americans seem to be so uch craftier than uk.
sister wet in hobby craft otehr day I darnt go.

Grocery budgets been challenging last couple of months.
hubbys new pay day later in month was 15th now 25th so its been bit of transition.

I cant work out if we eating more or just not doing the best shops.
I need to get back to basics with mealplanning again.
itemise every item with cost.
we need to shop about 4-5different places each month to keep costs down and start using coupons more.

I need to get back into habit batchcooking and freezing.

random question we seem to have endless moths with kids going mental as they hate them? what attracts moths ? how can I ward them off?

spent today reorganising kitchen and cleaning so feeling bit better,
just rest of house to go.

Hope everyones well. That its not too tough.

Hiya Gailey, lovely to see you. :A

I hope Pooky doesn't mind me saying but her homepage shows a link to her blog and she has made some fab things, very inspirational. Even I am tempted to try and have no skills at all.