make do and mend for tougher times

mardatha

WCS I have or had the Garden Cottage Diaries, the lady who wrote it lives not too far from me and my son lives in her village. I mentioned the book and asked if he knew her and he said " Oh her - aye she's mad"
He's a joiner and did some work for her, and he spoiled the book for me when he said the "cottage" is about 20ft away from the back door of her huge house, in her back yard - but I still think it was a great idea and I learned things I din't know about our history. Like we had no ovens and didn't make bread - only oatcakes.
Fayhare, the Yorkshire egg-layers sound like the Haggis up here, only us locals can see them, to the English they're invisble. It's earth magic

westcoastscot

Byatt good luck with your counselling course, it sounds like a natural extension of your degree and shows a building up of skill-set.

pennib I make vegan lemon curd with courgettes instead of eggs -its an old wartime recipe - tastes just the same although has a consistency more of jam. Really tasty for those of us with egg allergy in the family.

Kittie am trying not to be envious of your produce,

Mar yes i'd heard that - it always unreasonably disappoints me - silly really as it doesn't take away from the entertainment or good use value of the book. I suppose it's a little like when we were on the croft - people on hols would occasionally find us, asking the usual questions - what do you do for milk? - I would point at the goat who was usually by my side - then they'd get upset that we had electricity and a freezer!!!!!! I used to explain that I wasn't put there to enhance their scottish experience :)

WCS

charlies-aunt

jpscloud wrote: »

GQ I don't know if you have considered this but bran is a great slug killer. You can use wheat or oat bran and put it in half pop bottles so it doesn't wash away - slug predators will still find their lovely "stuffed" slugs and eat them!

I'm a wishy washy pacifist and don't like killing anything but I am going to make an exception of gastropods soon. Little sods.

Oooohh! I didn't know this, how simple & eco friendly - will be dipping into my sack of horse bran forthwith A couple of pots will be going into the branches of the dratted plum tree to see off the visitors from o'er t'border :T

WCS - please could you post your courgette curd recipe? We love panfried & stuffed courgettes but then our recipe ideas run dry

Our plants have succumbed to the drought this year but most years, we have a really good crop - giving loads away & leaving a daily pile in a "free to good home" box outside the front gate - so it would be great to try something completely different

VJsmum

fuddle wrote: »

Thanks for warming the tea up, lovely cuppa here

Well it's here folks, autumn that is. Good bye summer, what a laugh! I'm one of these people who can't help but treat September as the beginning of change. Sept means more to me than January 1st. It must be new school, new uniform, new pencil case and it used to be a new season of good stuff on the telly. I can't see how that is true any more but I think I'm turning into a telly grotbags. I only watch 2 programmes a week, soon to be 3 though, so that's progress. Right fuds, shut up and drink your tea and stop boring people!

Me too - I always feel a little down as Summer is over. I am definitely a warm - weather person. I actually LOATHE real new year, all that forced celebration and "it'll all be better next year". Well, no it isn't - it's usually the same old $h!te! I agree about TV, though, have been trying to catch up with "parades end" (loves a bit of Bendydick, I do!!), and am looking forward to the farm programme. I will do my knitting whilst watching - I am so down with the kids - LOL. I have given up X Factor :T

Mrs_Veg_Plot wrote: »

DD1 got A's and B's in her A levels (very proud of her)and starts at uni in a weeks time so I am going to be back to working extra shifts at the weekend to help finance it, she will look for a job there but there is no gurantee that she will get one. DD2 starts college on Tuesday although we still have not got her GCSE results as we were away at the time. I can not belive they are the ages they are, it really does not seem all that long since they were just starting school.

Congratualtions to your DD :T

kittie wrote: »

Got 5lb and found a delia recipe for chutney on the web.

I use Delia's green tomato chutney recipe - it's great

Morning all - finally caught up. Had a busy day yesterday doing the finishing bits for a house that people will pay us to live in. We have worked so hard on it in the last couple of weeks and really turned it round from the dark, musty smelling old wreck we bought into a light, modern, fresh smelling house. The old sewing machine has been working overtime as I have made curtains for windows and curtains as wardrobe doors. £100 of material has made curtains for 3 windows and 4 wardrobes, and I repurposed another window set to cover a wardrobe, where it looks much better. Just hope the pesky students appreciate it (:rotfl:course they won't!!!). The house is our pension (we took advantage of a situation and liberated OH's pension, which we later found out would have been drastically reduced if we'd left it in) and we have to look after it but, my goodness, I am weary. Meanwhile our own house looks like a bomb has hit it. So that is todays task.

THe garden of the student house has 2 apple trees, loads of blackberries and some peas growing up through the apple tree!. I picked a bagful off one tree but the other is still sour, I am miffed as I had nothing to put blackberries in and the peas are still too tiny in the pods. We are toying with the idea of turning some of the garden into a mini - allotment. The students are unlikely to deal with it and we could make good use of it. it is a little way from where we live but not that far from where we work and we can access it without entering the house. I shall consider it further.

One more day after today till the kids go back on Tuesday:(:( I hate the end of the holidays. Tomorrow I have to do school shopping - stationary (where does it all go, that I have to buy it every year?), trainers, some bits of clothing, school bag.

Up and attem..

Possession

Your student house sounds lovely VJ's Mum, a different species entirely to some of the pits I lived in when I was a student! Try to get all girls, they take care of it more. We had two flats we rented out in London and the worst ever was when three 18 yr old boys were in our little 2 bed flat - they were nice boys but just too much testosterone flying around in a confined space I think. Holes in walls and all sorts.
off to Warwick Castle (again) today. DD has decided to wear her sole remaining princess dress - think Anne Boleyn rather than disney - so we'll see just how long that lasts. Then when we come back we must get stuff ready for school tomorrow, clear up the pit our downstairs seems to have become and I need to sort out the plums and strawbs from yesterday.

fuddle

Has anyone used Tesco value hairspray? 37p I think it is? I am doing the whole rollers in hair while I have a cuppa thing... OS to the core me but don't want to end up having to buy my weight in hairspray to keep the curl in :cool:

[Deleted User]

too many runner beans?

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/preserve/spiced-pickled-runner-beans.html

we opened a jar yesterday and highly recommend. Am making more as soon as I get enough beans

I relied on Delia so much when I was in my 20s, newly married and wanting to impress. Everything she does turns out good

my actual veg plot is only 8 x 50 feet, smaller than some gardens but I sit down and plan and rotate and build up nourishment via good compost heaps. I don`t use manure, just comfrey, compost and bfb. I have mostly raised beds 8 x 4 and don`t stand on them and cover to rest at times and I never dig. My back garden is small and tiered up 3 metres and is all gravel. I have 3 x 2`6" 6 sq feet beds and use old planters and potato bags for the tomatoes plus 3 growbags but they all get to grow in grow -pots and I think that is key as they feed from the grow pot level. My neighbour up the road has poor tomatoes so it is only the grow pots + watering daily + feeding fortnightly + leaf stripping+ stopping at 4 trusses. Value for money and effort this year has been amazing. The veg plot will keep us in veg, except carrots this year, for the whole year

fuddle

Thanks for that Kittie. I rely on BBC Good Food and so much of my stuff turns out mediocre. I'm still learning though really so it's probably due to my lack of skills rather than the website.

Also wine is saved now the air lock is on, it's bubbling away nicely now. I think it will have to be supped quickly though as tinfoil won't have kept the germs out.

Mince and onion pie with peas, gravy and mash for tea.

greent

Another one who can second the Delia runner bean chutney recipe. I've been making it for about 4 years now. It's also good as a big dollop put into / with curries, rather than mango chutney

fuddle

fayhare wrote: »

Fuddle Nah the tesco value hairspray is rubbish won't even hold my thinner than a babies hair in any style.

Thank you, pleased I asked. Thought it might be icky stickyand worth a punt but nope, 37p would be wasted. Ta

Question about frozen jacket potatoes. Would you defrost them before re-heating in microwave or can you just put frozen jacket pot in to re-heat from frozen?