Preparing for Winter V

maryb

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/heat-the-human-not-the-home-save-energy/

oystercatcher

Be warned that Teddy bear fleece doesn't wash well , in my experience the first trip in the washing machine results on a lumpy matted mess that never fluffs up again. I much prefer micro fleece , in layers if necessary, washes like a dream for years !

pollyanna_26

The pillowcase on my VShape pillow has washed well but the Sleeved blanket is a differen tbrand  I'll have a look at  the reviews on the Silentnight site tomorrow and see what they say.

Thanks for the warning.

polly

Primrose

maryb  - Many thanks for the link.   Will share with the various community groups I liaise with when the cooler weather starts to approach again.  Always worth learning from hints which others have found useful.

Laura_Elsewhere

I'm starting to look, as I walk to and from the shops, for fruit I can forage for making preserves later in the year. We take elderberry syrup most mornings year-round (good solid scientific evidence of its reducing respiratory infections, their prevalence, intensity and duration), and we have rosehip syrup for any sore throats of annoying coughs; I also make jams, jellies and fruit cheeses (no, no dairy involved! It's an old term for a set-preserve made from a thick gloopy sieved fruit pulp - like membrillo but you can make it from any fruit)..
So far, I've spotted elder, blackberry, red and yellow Mirabelle plum, black and red wild cherry, rosehips (I use normal red dog-rose, and the huge Rosa rugosa hips, and Burnet rose's startling black hips), damson, eating apples... 

It's often easier to spot and identify a fruit tree when it's flowering and make a note for later in the year. 

We look out for offers on sugar (I just use ordinary sugar, don't bother with jam sugar except for strawberries). 

We costed it up a few years ago and reckoned, including buying sugar, foraging fruit, and the electricity for cooking it up and washing-up afterwards, it came out at well under 20p for a good-sized jar. It makes lovely presents, so can save you money that way too... 

Primrose

I remembered my early married days when qi had an over enthusiasm for home made jams, syrups, fruit cordials, wines from elderberries and gooseberries, etc .  they were lovely but I made a surplus of them. Every cupboard was overflowing and and when we came to move house, it was a bit of a nightmare packing them all up. .  After several years we were still drinking the ten gallons of elderberry wine.  By then It had matured into a very nice claret!,

Laura_Elsewhere

Primrose said:

I remembered my early married days when qi had an over enthusiasm for home made jams, syrups, fruit cordials, wines from elderberries and gooseberries, etc .  they were lovely but I made a surplus of them. Every cupboard was overflowing and and when we came to move house, it was a bit of a nightmare packing them all up. .  After several years we were still drinking the ten gallons of elderberry wine.  By then It had matured into a very nice claret!,

Ah, that'll be it - I've only been married for five weeks so I'm still over-enthusiastic about the preserves  

(Mind you, not sure how to explain the previous decades's fervour ) 

Thankfully, I'm spared the bottles - my family once borrowed a friend's cottage with a room filled with homebrew of various kinds, which ALL exploded one warm summer's night, quite memorably...! It left me very happy to buy my elderflower cordial from Sainsbury's  

maryb

Elderflower cordial doesn't explode

Elderflower champagne is an entirely different matter.  Ask me how I know.
No don't ask!

basketcase

Laura_Elsewhere said:

I'm starting to look, as I walk to and from the shops, for fruit I can forage for making preserves later in the year. We take elderberry syrup most mornings year-round (good solid scientific evidence of its reducing respiratory infections, their prevalence, intensity and duration), and we have rosehip syrup for any sore throats of annoying coughs; I also make jams, jellies and fruit cheeses (no, no dairy involved! It's an old term for a set-preserve made from a thick gloopy sieved fruit pulp - like membrillo but you can make it from any fruit)..
So far, I've spotted elder, blackberry, red and yellow Mirabelle plum, black and red wild cherry, rosehips (I use normal red dog-rose, and the huge Rosa rugosa hips, and Burnet rose's startling black hips), damson, eating apples... 

It's often easier to spot and identify a fruit tree when it's flowering and make a note for later in the year. 

We look out for offers on sugar (I just use ordinary sugar, don't bother with jam sugar except for strawberries). 

We costed it up a few years ago and reckoned, including buying sugar, foraging fruit, and the electricity for cooking it up and washing-up afterwards, it came out at well under 20p for a good-sized jar. It makes lovely presents, so can save you money that way too... 

I've often wondered if the huge Rosa Rugosa hips could be used in rosehip syrup.  Now I know!  Thanks.

Do you happen to know if the more ornamental elder (pink flowers/purple leaves) can be used for elderberry syrup?

I noticed you said that you used 'proper' preserving sugar for strawberries.  I read somewhere that the Georgians used to boil apple peelings and cores and use that water in preserves because it contains a useful amount of pectin.  (No idea of the apple bits:water ratio). 

The apples might well be around at the same time as the fruits you want to make jam with, so it would make sense.  Has anybody ever tried it - and did it work?

Floss

@pollyanna_26 Matalan and Asda did teddy-bear bedding winter just gone, B&M might do too.