Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Rummer

alfie_1 wrote: »

do they not have a sales area ???:(

No they don't which I think is a real loss, not even sure if they would let you take bits and pieces

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

that's a good exchange Davesnave, wish I had a food fairy:D especially if they made pizza.

Its so nice for the villagers to have an 'open garden day'

The open gardens were in the town, which is still very small for a 'town.' ( I sometimes manage to drive right through the middle of it in day time without meeting another vehicle!:rotfl:) I don't think our village could come up with 20+ gardens with willing owners every year.

I am just about to contact the Food Fairy to tell her how delish her curry was. :A She knows what a rubbish cook I am, but she's shamed me into having a go at batch cooking our produce earlier than intended.

Davesnave

As you know, I like to put the odd property in here to whet people's appetites, so here's one today which we viewed way back in the early noughties......

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39324808.html

The idea of a walled garden really appealed, especially as the walls were not terrifically old and in good nick. At that time this place was heavily overgrown and there were only ramshackle buildings on it, including a mobile home, much less luxurious than the one there now.

Although we could have replaced the mobile unit, there would have been insufficient money left to build a permanent home, so we decided not to be tempted. There was also something rather unappealing about the idea of living cut off from everything else, with neighbours over the wall we'd have little in common with.

I suppose this may have been a sensible investment for the current owners. The property went to auction on a guide of £200k. They haven't done much with the place, except tidy it up. I think it will make a super Grand Design location, but it certainly didn't feel right for us.

ferretkeeper

Rozee, I could be seriously tempted by a lavender suite, are you open to offers?! Our bathroom is a dark blue/turquoise colour, with similar coloured mosaic borders and white tiles put in by previous owners - I haven't even finished painting it the dark colour yet so I don't really want to change the scheme too much. I also have the original sink which I'd like to keep but it's a very pale blue/grey so I've had no luck finding a loo or bath that might match and fit the 20's-30's period...

We need to change the tub as it is a hideous scalloped thing with whirlpool jets that chuck out black bits if you use it. The sealant needs to be redone too. We also need to replace the shower over the bath which leaks a scary amount of water since we went from an old boiler to a combi - I leave the plug is in and send the water down to a huge IBC via a hosepipe out the window!

Anyway IF we can just change the tub and the shower can be replaced without fiddling with the tiles too much we'll do that. BUT if the tiles break or whatever we might need to retile the lot at which point I'd consider a colour change!

Also looking at schemes for the downstairs, it's blooming hard to visualise these things, going to make a mood board thingy and put all the ideas in one place before my head explodes!

ferretkeeper

Rummer wrote: »

Frugal Queen also caught my eye today as she was talking about bulk buying from butchers and I have been looking to see if there is a similar place near me.

Rummer that's a good blog - interesting how she can work out budgets etc so accurately, I could learn a thing or two there!

However I so rarely buy meat from the supermarket that I don't think I would consider buying from the outlets either. I wouldn't even buy from an abattoir I use because I know they take almost any animal and they pay such a low price that I can only imagine the horrendous things the farmers would be doing to make any money from it. One place offered me £1-£1.50 per kilo for my pigs, yet you can't buy a pig at market for that price, so how can a farmer make any money doing that unless they cut serious corners.

I know I couldn't produce the pork or lamb or beef at the prices she was showing per kilo for some items let alone make any sort of profit or pay for my time. But I also know most people can't rear their own and many can't afford to be so particular. I'm also lucky to know farmers where I can get the meat I currently can't produce myself - funnily enough we all price our produce based on what supermarkets charge to stay competitive but I am prepared to pay a bit more because I know the true cost.

It is also a good idea to buy in bulk from farmers - half a pig, half a lamb etc will get you a better price than buying individual cuts as long as you are prepared to try different recipes and have the freezer space!

I don't eat that much meat and like CTC I tend to make a little go a long way. I liked the bit about cooking and slicing your own ham etc. that makes a lot of sense.

I made a spag bol last week and had some courgettes from a friend I wanted to bulk it up with but I had to cut it into tiny weenie pieces so my hubby didn't know it was in there, he didn't notice, he's worse than kids for not eating veg!!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

FK, I grate the courgettes and carrots into spag bol;):D

ferretkeeper

Genius! :T

I don't half make work for myself I think I'll try grating all the veg ingredients, onions the lot and to make it even easier I'll dust off the food processor - isn't that what Jamie does in his 15/30 minute meals? More washing up his way but I've got a machine for that too!

What I don't have is a food fairy although I can make a mean pizza from scratch which tastes better than the local takeaways - I do cheat and make the base in the mixer but it works well....think I'll do that tonight actually, got some pizza stuff to use up in true frugal fashion, better go and dust the mixer off as well!

BTW our local tip actually told us off for trying to rescue an old sofa, we could see it below us, nothing wrong with it - seems it's absolutely forbidden to "recycle" anything at our "recycling centre" :rotfl:

what a waste - best to intercept people as they unload I find I wish more people knew about Freecycle...which reminds me, I saw an old chest of drawers by the side of the road yesterday but car was full at the time, wonder if it's still there

lostinrates

Yep, food processing veg for sauces is what I used to do for errant kids when I took care of them. Carrots, onions and celery in everything then whatever else I can hide.....

Alfie.....you left your boots here!

alfie_1

LIR.......pic you wanted



part of my garden that is BEE LAND

COOLTRIKERCHICK

lovely flowers Alfie...

I am officially counting down the days to the weekend:j Bank holiday here we come... why??? so I don't have to work, in work:D:D

Hubby managed to get 10 scaffolding boards, cut them at 8ft, so the approx. size of 5 beds will be 8ft by 5ft.

Davesnave woul the normal black fabric stuff you get in the garden centre be ok to put in the bottom of them? was thinking of putting that stuff down, then putting straw, pig poo etc, to build it up a bit, and then soil/compost etc