Preparing for Winter V

[Deleted User]

We bought a couple of whole sheepskins at a county show this summer to go on the floor by the places we sit, my armchair and He Who Knows end of the sofa to snuggle our feet into on really chilly days, they feel lovely even in the summer with no slippers on!!! We have fleece throws too on the back of the sofa and chairs, only the £3 ones from Ikea but that is nice and cosy too when the wind is howling and the rain splattering against the windows. I start a big bowl of conkers, acorns, pine cones etc which lives in the hearth until we light the stove, always looks nice too, and if I find them reduced I buy chrysanthemums from the local shops, I love the colours and the smell for me IS autumn.

FairyPrincessk

Mrs LW, Chrysanthemums are a good idea. I'll keep an eye out for some that are reduced/cheap. We have a really lovely sofa blanket that I've had for years which is very snuggly. I'd love some sheepskin rugs but they might have to wait for another year. I'll add new slippers to the list though--definitely time for some of those!

[Deleted User]

I load of logs duly delivered this morning and it made 20 piled high wheelbarrowfuls that have topped up the log pile nicely. All nicely seasoned and dry some really heavy pieces of wood too that will burn for hours. Beginning to feel safely gathered in folks!!!

Witless

I got my boots heeled. (I was 'nearly' too late - the damage was worse than I thought).

Traditional cobbler (as opposed to national chain); excellent job, but ..... £9.50? The last pair was about £3.00 IIRC.

jim-jim

Hi can any suggest any winter meal plans.
My brain is in salad mode.

thanks x

Si_Clist

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I load of logs duly delivered this morning ... All nicely seasoned ...

For what it's worth, we've been burning logs since 1983 and we always reckoned we could tell when a log was properly seasoned and when it wasn't. Dead certain of that, we were. Then our new log supplier asked if we had a moisture meter ...

So we got ourselves one of these, and we were more than a bit surprised to find that more often than not we were wrong! Usually we thought it was well below 30% when it wasn't, but sometimes we've been sure it was still green when in fact it was OK to burn.

Net result, the sweep reckons the state of our liners is all down to us always burning hardwood plus using the meter to check it's well below 30% moisture (we aim for 25% max), and we reckon we get more heat for longer from each load of logs than we did when we were guessing.

And in case this is of interest to anybody, I guess I should point out that it's no use sticking the meter in the end of a log. You need to split a few from each batch and see what the insides read ...

[Deleted User]

Our sweep always gives us brownie points for burning at the right temperature, we get very little deposit in the steel chimney liner and he always says its the 'right' kind of soot. We have a Clearview inset multi fuel that is the double burn type and a stove thermometer which we use religiously to make sure we're up to temperature as soon as possible and then keep the fire there until we let it go out. Wonderful things woodstoves, better entertainment than the television any day, I can spend hours just watching it! We only burn hardwoods too, if we get offered conifer we decline gracefully, this latest load has a lot of cherry in it!

Si_Clist

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

We have a Clearview ...

Same here, but not an inset one, and a small Stovax in the front room. Brilliant stoves, both of them.

We also wouldn't be without the Stovax stove thermometers, despite the markings all but disappearing from one of them soon after we started using it! Really must check out whether anybody else makes a decent stove thermometer ...

FairyPrincessk

Jim Jim

I think for winter you can't go wrong with plenty of soups, stews and casseroles with a few pies here and there. Of course it depends on what you like to eat, but for veg think root veg, leafy greens and brassicas.

Eenymeeny

Making the most of the decent weather we are having at the moment, I did a clear out of our shed yesterday which is at the bottom of the garden and often inaccessible due to flooded or soggy grass in the winter. Have put a few 'temporary' slabs along the edge of the decking which might make it a bit easier to get to and I've rescued the snow shovels, antifreeze etc which OH 'helpfully' stored down there
PS Was lucky to spot a few white, gallon, lidded buckets for sale in a street market this week. I find them so useful for storing things like bird seed in the shed to keep any mice out and a £2 each a bargain!