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Preparing for Winter V
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Good afternoon all,
have been back lurking for a while and loving all the winter prepping as always.
Busy finding out and washing a mountain of washing/clothes since the weather has been so bad here and I got rid of the tumble drier so now the sun is out I am back in full swing.
Will hopefully be onto winter prep soon although have been back out blackberry picking for the fourth time now and have to say a lot of them seem to be going too squishy or moulding on the vines.....is that really a sign that we are in for a bad winter?
I managed to nab myself a free slow cooker from a friend which I am putting to good use too and my mother in law although being able to grow Courgettes has actually discovered that she doesnt like them so I am being inundated with those at the minute - any recipes at all girls? the last one she grew was enormous and I had the same courgette in four different meals!
Hope everyones well. xTime to find me again0 -
sammy_kaye18 wrote: »have been back out blackberry picking for the fourth time now and have to say a lot of them seem to be going too squishy or moulding on the vines.....is that really a sign that we are in for a bad winter?
Nope, fear not!
What seems to happen is that the first wave of blackberries has fruited and the unpicked ones now moulder on the vine, but next come the second wave. So there should be new little tiny red berries in there on different stems, and those will now ripen up and provide the next wave!
Last year, we had a spell of mild, wet weather in early September, and the blackberries all mouldered on the vine and didn't recover - that was dreadful...2025 remaining: 37 coupons from 66:
January (29): winter boots, green trainers, canvas swimming-shoes (15); t-shirt x2 (8); 3m cotton twill (6);
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2025 second-hand acquisitions (no coupons): None thus far
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2025 needlework- *Reverse-couponing*:11 coupons :
January: teddybear-lined velvet jacket (11) & hat (0); velvet sleep-mask (0);0 -
We've been away, visiting my folks in the big old house everyone admires so much and now all I see is draughts and 135-year-old single-glazed windows, and huge 14-foot ceilings in vast rooms with one feeble radiator...!
I shall be SO delighted to get back to our tiny little 1990s flat this evening, with its double glazing and cosy rooms...
The younger generation visited last night - I'd been racking my brains for their Xmas presents - two girls in their early twenties, what on earth do they want?? Turns out they both want thick house-socks, mid-to-high calf in length. So I shall order 'Blossom', pink wool in Aran weight, from New Lanark's online shop, and knit huge oversized socks with unshaped legs, on too-large needles and then wash them a few times in with the normal laundry and tumble-dry with great caution, and they will "full" - what most people call "felting" but technically that's a different thing, if it's knitted and then shrunk deliberately to make a dense thick fabric that's fulling... anyway, they should end up with thick, dense, warm, woollen boots, effectively, to wear about the house... I'll possibly add some gold and red lurex filament-thread as I knit - that doesn't shrink so it will end up in loops all over, catching the light... there might be little pom-poms, too, maybe on the ends of a drawstring or two...2025 remaining: 37 coupons from 66:
January (29): winter boots, green trainers, canvas swimming-shoes (15); t-shirt x2 (8); 3m cotton twill (6);
.
2025 second-hand acquisitions (no coupons): None thus far
.
2025 needlework- *Reverse-couponing*:11 coupons :
January: teddybear-lined velvet jacket (11) & hat (0); velvet sleep-mask (0);0 -
Laura I'm currently doing pink and silver lurex socks... looking gorgeous!0
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A dank and chill and grey and drizzly morning here in Shropshire - perfect for me, as we're back from visiting the folks, and I have been just itching to get going on some proper winter preparation for weeks now, but making myself finish making my summery skirt and preparing for holidays instead.... now I can really let myself go!
I've a black wool skirt to design and make, mid-calf length and full, with decent big pockets, probably as a wrap-around on a wide yoke; I plan a matching fitted waistcoat, and as I have ten brass buttons, I'm tempted to go for two columns of three buttons on the skirt's yoke, and four on the waistcoat to give me nice shiny brass against the black!I've some utterly gorgeous emerald green for a full petticoat too. It will all be quite sturdy, as I wear my skirts through woodland shortcuts and in all weathers!
I want to start autumn-cleaning, too - putting away some summer clothing, sorting out hats and gloves, making sure the winter bedclothes are in good order...
And the foraging will continue apace - some red Mirabelles are still around, and then we've damsons, including one sweet enough to eat raw, and then later in October we've bullace and sloes... we only have a tiny freezer (it's a fridge-freezer that's only 3/4 the normal depth, and small at that!), so I have to keep the preserve-making going as steadily as the fruit comes in!2025 remaining: 37 coupons from 66:
January (29): winter boots, green trainers, canvas swimming-shoes (15); t-shirt x2 (8); 3m cotton twill (6);
.
2025 second-hand acquisitions (no coupons): None thus far
.
2025 needlework- *Reverse-couponing*:11 coupons :
January: teddybear-lined velvet jacket (11) & hat (0); velvet sleep-mask (0);0 -
Cold wet and miserable in South Wales too
- Just how I like it though. Feels like the colder months are comingLaura_Elsewhere wrote: »Nope, fear not!
What seems to happen is that the first wave of blackberries has fruited and the unpicked ones now moulder on the vine, but next come the second wave. So there should be new little tiny red berries in there on different stems, and those will now ripen up and provide the next wave!
Last year, we had a spell of mild, wet weather in early September, and the blackberries all mouldered on the vine and didn't recover - that was dreadful...
Good to know . Well I have been out picking every 3/4 days watching for the riper ones to come good so I will keep doing it for a little bit longer. Which reminds me there is an apple tree on the way to my work that I must check out later as well when I go in. It produces braeburn apples but I got 4 carrier bags last year so would like to grab some more again to add to the freezer for pies and crumbles in the colder months.
I seem to have misplaced all my fleece blankets too. I have no idea where they are :eek::eek:but me and the littlest person have dressing gowns and my son has stolen my fleece harry potter onesie so we will all be warm and snuggly - just need to convince the husband now to put some clothes onto keep himself warm - what is it with men wandering round in shorts and then whacking the heating up because they are cold. put some clothes on mun! :mad:
LAURA + MARDATHA - the boots sound fab. Very comfy
Anyway need to sit and seriously plan the winter prep today before my shift starts.Time to find me again0 -
A house across the road had put out a massive bowl of perfectly ripe, perfectly sound apples last evening with the message 'free, please take' so we collected 10 of the bigger ones which along with some windfalls from our own cooker tree will this morning make a batch of apple chutney to have through the winter months. I have the sugar, vinegar, spices and dried fruit already so this will be 'free chutney' too!0
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I love ll this foraging and making up of preserves. Can you imagine the satiafactionit would have given housewives, especially the poorer ones, in our grandmothers' days to see a larder or pantry full of preserves for the winter ? I can remember my mother filling her large larder with bottle after bottle of preserved tomatoes.
It,s diffiicult to imagine now in these days of supermarkets and summer fruits and vegetables being available all year round how boringly dull the winter months have been with no fresh tomatoes and little fresh fruit apart from perhaps apples and pears which were capable of being stored for a while.0 -
sammy-kaye, its so lovely to see you again
The jet stream is flipping back and forth at short notice, when it is below the uk it pulls in cold air and vice versa. It is definitely not stable any more, so I am ready for sudden changes from hot to cold and cold to hot ie we won`t be getting that gradual slipping into the next season and our bodies, old and young and poorly, will not find the adaptations easy to cope with. Everything for the next and following season is ready in my house, including things to wear, fuel, food, candles. Sudden extensive rain on very dry ground leads to floods, gentle rain first would be better. I have a field behind me, 3m up but it is full of grass and maturing apple trees, the roots will channel rain downwards gradually. Arable fields higher than lower lying villages and towns are not going to do this, rain will run off fast and streams and rivers will fill and could overflow0 -
Thank goodness we're not suffering the current problems they're experiencing in Texas. What devastation for so many people. Coping with flood and water damage on that scale will take years to sort out.0
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