My Off-grid and need to be frugal diary

AnimalTribe

Yesterday the weather was good, no rain and not too windy so DH was able to move the Calor gas bottle shed to its final location. I had planned to help but I just couldn’t lift it as I’m still building strength back in my wrist. I don’t know if I said that it was broken rather than sprained as I initially thought. The local postman who was passing when DH was trying to move the shed stepped in to help – how great is that. DH did offer him some cash for his assistance, but he refused it and said that he was just glad to help.

Today has been overcast with drizzle for most of the day so apart from dog walks it’s been an inside day. The house has been vacuumed and some laundry done so at least that’s something positive. The wild orchids that have self-seeded have finally bloomed. They must have originally blown in from the moor. Orchids are supposed to be hard to propagate but they self-seed here beautifully.

AnimalTribe

The weather was awful yesterday – lots of rain, lots of wind so other than dog walking I stayed inside. I went through the direct debits and standing orders and cleared down a couple that weren’t relevant any more. I also moved some money into savings accounts with a better interest rate. DH and I have agreed that if we spend money on anything that isn’t a necessity we will put the same amount into a savings account. So, I’m quite pleased with yesterday.

Today the weather was beautiful sunny and warm. I enjoyed a long walk and picked up some discarded plastic bits and baling twine so that’s a little bit less rubbish in the countryside.

As the weather was so good I did a lot of weeding. Tonight, I think I need a rest after all the bending though, and I’m just going to finish a book I’ve been reading and maybe watch a DVD.

AnimalTribe

The rain over the last couple of days has been so changeable. It’s been hard to know whether it will be sunny or raining from moment to moment. Yesterday there was even hail. I still managed a couple of walks though without getting too wet. Sadly, I think this will be the poorest year I’ve ever had for vegetable growing. The soft fruit seems to be doing well though so at least that’s a positive.

DH and I are doing well in eating what’s in the house. I have a packet of soya mince that’s just out of date so dinner tonight was pasta with veggie bolognaise. I’ll use up the rest of the packet over the next fortnight. I also used onion leaves that had sprouted from an onion in the vegetable rack (they taste just as nice as the onion bulb).

Between rain showers DH managed to get outside and fix the outside wind cover on the kitchen fan. He also made another small eBay sale.

AnimalTribe

It’s been sunny today, but also very windy. It’s good for the solar panels and the wind turbine, and therefore electricity generation, so the dog towels have been washed and are drying outside.

I had a birthday card to post so DH and I went to the village. To make it worth the petrol cost we treated it like a day out, had a wander around, and had lunch. In the charity shop I bought a dress for £3. I’m not normally a dress person but I thought it would be useful for the hot days of summer (if they ever come). Since it was a want and not a need, I will transfer £3 into savings. I also bought a lot of socks online so that is another £20 to go to the savings account.

In the Co-op I bought grapes, 4 kinds of reduced priced bread, milk, 2 cheese scones (which I could have made at home), and 2 pizzas and 4 pack of Budweiser for £5 (as it was a good deal and I love pizza). I am still doing well eating through what’s already in the house though.It’s been sunny today, but also very windy. It’s good for the solar panels and the wind turbine, and therefore electricity generation, so the dog towels have been washed and are drying outside.

I had a birthday card to post so DH and I went to the village. To make it worth the petrol cost we treated it like a day out, had a wander around, and had lunch. In the charity shop I bought a dress for £3. I’m not normally a dress person but I thought it would be useful for the hot days of summer (if they ever come). Since it was a want and not a need, I will transfer £3 into savings. I also bought a lot of socks online so that is another £20 to go to the savings account.

In the Co-op I bought grapes, 4 kinds of reduced priced bread, milk, 2 cheese scones (which I could have made at home), and 2 pizzas and 4 pack of Budweiser for £5 (as it was a good deal and I love pizza). I am still doing well eating through what’s already in the house though.

Yesterday was a bad day as there was a disgusting incident, and you may not want to read about it. So there's a deliberately big gap in the page

One of the dogs barfed and I trod in it in stocking feet. Oh yuk!

AnimalTribe

Today and yesterday have been very quiet. It’s been sunny with rain and lots of wind so the batteries have been fully charged.

I’ve done my usual Sunday phone calls and e-mails to catch up with various people. I’ve also finished moving savings accounts to accounts with higher interest rates so I’ve been a little productive.

I still don’t know what pulled all my turnips out. It could have been a rabbit, hare, squirrel, bird, mouse or rat. Whatever it is has also destroyed nearly all the salad stuff I planted (which wasn’t doing very well anyway).

I collected the baby turnips and put them in water. Hopefully, this will keep the leaves fresh enough to use in salads so at least I’ll get something from them. The baby roots I’ll probably turn into a turnip rosti. The rocket is beginning to flower but I will leave it to self-seed. I can still collect some leaves and the wild garlic is still going strong.

I’ve ordered some swivel keychain clips and I’ll use them to make some felt monster bag charms.

AnimalTribe

The wild orchids that have seeded themselves in various plant pots in my garden are Northern marsh orchids. They originally blew in from a field on the edge of the moor.

Once the field was full of orchids and the, now retired, shepherd told me that they had been there all of the 50 years he’d been here. Some years ago, a DEFRA inspector spotted the orchids while he was counting the cattle in the field. The Defra inspector instructed that the cattle must be removed to protect the orchids. The shepherd said that the cattle and the orchids had been in the same field for nigh on 50 years and that removing the cattle would make the grass too long for the orchids. DEFRA was adamant and the cattle were no longer pastured in that field. There haven’t been any orchids there since. So, my garden is the last local area with orchids in it.

AnimalTribe

DH and I had a trip into town to do some grocery shopping, do recycling and buy some petrol. We are still doing well eating what’s in the larder and freezer but I did buy some essentials - bread, milk, cheese, yoghurt, fruit, salad, coffee, and dog food. DH and I also sneaked in a few extras though – reduced price crumpets, cooking chocolate, 1 tube of Pringles for DH and 1 packet of salt & pepper crackers for me. So overall we were pretty restrained on the extras. We also had lunch, as we try to make any trip into something both useful and enjoyable.

This afternoon DH has been hammering in some fence posts and levelling a slope. I’ve done some weeding and made some earrings.

Dinner was homemade pizza so that used up some sweetcorn and some ham for DH.

I'm still doing the daily Microsoft Rewards for points (I'm currently at £20 worth), but they've changed the layout and it isn't nearly as good.

AnimalTribe

It's been glorious weather here today so the solar panels have topped up the battery bank.

DH has been in the garden levelling some ground and I did some weeding.

The shepherd has released some sheep onto the moors, but not as many as in previous years so there are still lots of wild flowers to see. On my walk I saw a yellow ladybird. It’s the first one I’ve seen around here, usually the local ones are red. The elderflowers are starting to bloom so at some point I’ll have to make some drinks and some fritters, or maybe I’ll try adding the flowers to pancakes.

I baked a coffee cake and a chocolate cake. The coffee cake to eat, and the chocolate cake to freeze.

kayannie

Are the elderflowers late flowering where you are? I'm in north Wales & they're going over here, it's about a month since I made my annual batch of cordial.

AnimalTribe

Kayannie I'm in the North and flowering times are at least 4 weeks later here than the South so I’ve still plenty of time to make things from the flowers.

It's been a good couple of days weather wise so I've been gardening. At times it's actually been too hot to be outside (a rare thing here) so in between times I've been making elasticated bracelets. They are mainly for kids but there are some adult ones too. I'll sell them at a car boot sale or something for £1. The photo shows them laid out for the glue to dry on the knots. When the glue dries overnight, I will cut off the excess elastic.