Scrap Happy: Wooden Ladder

I saw an old wooden ladder lying at the back of my daughter’s woodshed.

They said I could have it as we, in the UK, are no longer able to use wooden ladders for their intended purpose – health and safety.

So …..

It is now above my woodburner as a drying rack for clothes in the Winter and a place to dry herbs and flowers and hang crochet mandalas in the Summer.

This is it in its raw state, before I treated it for woodworm and waxed and oiled it. The brackets are not the ones I wanted – I had to grab Dave, the local handiman, between jobs when he could put it up for me, so these were the only brackets I could get locally on that day.

He told me that you can treat woodworm with White Spirit, so I took the ladder down again and painted on lashings of the stuff – the ladder soaked up the White Spirit like a sponge and I gave it 3 generous treatments. Later on I found a small can of woodworm treament at the back of a cupboard and treated it with that as well.

I knew the wood would need feeding but when I tried wax and oil on the bit of ladder that had been cut off, the wood went very dark. So I Lime Waxed it first.

You brush the wood, going with the grain, with a wire brush, then rub in the Lime Wax with wire wool. After Liming it I gave the whole ladder and the rusty bits two coats of the Finishing Oil.

(Those are Marmoleum floor samples under the oil – as far as I can tell Marmoleum is one of the most environmentally friendly flooring material one can get here in UK – let me know if you know otherwise. I am going to go for the Turquoise one on top for most of the ground floor in my house – I am so fed up with carpets!)

Ta Dah!

I am thrilled with it – it actually makes the room feel taller and larger.

The wonderful rusty spring on the left is a present from a friend who knows my love of rusty old items. Her son now farms the farm where my Dad grew up, and she found it there and knew I would love it even more because of the connection. What a kind thought – Lucky me!! It is GORGEOUS – so big and heavy.

The woodburner is all ready to go: to heat water, cook delicious stews and dry clothes. Making that space as multi-functional as possible in true Permaculture style!

I haven’t lit a fire yet as it has been so mild here, but I am sure it won’t be too long.

I am joining Kate for her monthly Scrap Happy gathering – pop on over and see how others have been using up their scraps.

Advertisement

Ethical Socks?

I needed some new black socks and so I Googled ‘ethical socks UK’.

Lots of sites came up.

I hate pairing socks so I only want to buy plain black ones from now on. For ethical reasons I don’t buy from Amazon. This narrowed my choice and I decided on The Sock Shop.

On the same day my Smol laundry detergent arrived by post – another attempt at being green and ethical in my purchases.

SOCKS – The good:

made with bamboo, not cotton

they came in paper packaging

they did not have those hideous plastic paddle tags to hold them together, but were sewn to the card label

The bad:

They came with plastic hooks

They were made in China (I should have checked this out before I bought them)

They looked black on the website, but they are grey – not terrible, but they feel like school socks!

So

I wrote to the company and got this reply

Hi Sandra, Thanks for your feedback. We try to make our socks as environmentally friendly as possible and we appreciate your feedback regarding this. I shall pass on this feedback to the relevant department.

Kind regards, Rebecca, SOCKSHOP

~~~~~~~

You might be tempted to suggest I knit or crochet my own, but making socks has never appealed. I do admire those I see, but I really don’t think I will ever make any.

For those of you who love handknitted socks you might be interested in this site KDD&Co

If you know of any ethical, environmentally friendly, plain black socks that are not made in China please let me know. 🙂

EDIT: A friend has told me about the compnay ‘Cambridge Baby’ and I contacted them. Their socks are made in Germany using organic cotton and wool, I ordered 2 pairs and I am very pleased with them.(no plastic used in the packaging)

In a Vase on Monday

Self-seeded Calendula and aster with ripe and ripening pears.

It is a challenge to catch the pears at the the right time to pick them before the wasps get to them. A good crop this year.

Joining Cathy and her joyful meme: In a Vase on Monday

I am completely replanting the bed behind the espalier pear trees. Everything has been taken out because the ground elder and marestail had taken over.

Looking from North to South

I dug it over, took everything out, and dug it over once a week for 4 weeks in the hope of getting every bit of weed root out. I saved all the bulbs and have replanted them in a completely random fashion and planted new and old irises

Looking from South to North

A rogue sunflower which grew in the pot I had the tiny fuschia (Jollies Nantes)  in.

I have also scattered seed from Nigella, calendula, cerinthe, aquilegia, foxglove and purple loosestrife.

It will be fun to see how this looks in Spring.

The daughter of a friend of mine is just starting her garden and liked my scattergun way of creating a border, so I have collected seed for her to try it out.

I found this You Tube clip

 

made some little seed packets out of a Gudren Sjoden catalogue

I loved making these, I like the way they are in the shape of little flower pots.

Joining in with Cee’s Flower of the Day

 

Scrap Happy

Joining Kate at Talesfromchiconia for her Scrap Happy gathering on the 15th of every month.

A friend’s birthday was approaching and I knew she would appreciate the recyle/reuse ethos behind this meme, so I went to my vast collection of bits of crochet I have made as experiments with either pattern or colour.

I have a similar collection of art experiments with acrylic paint on paper, so I chose one of these for the basis of the card

Folding the card into 3, I tried out a couple of ideas

I decided to use the flower which is the centre of the Amanzi block, I lined up all the ends and marked the positions of the holes I wanted to make in the card

sitting it atop a ball of yarn to pierce the needle through

Then I sewed the threads through and tied them at the back

Ta dah!

The present was some handmade soap I had bought in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, from the force of nature that is Julia Horton-Mansfield who owns the Really Wild Soap Company.

I first met Julia on one of her guided wild food foraging walks

The soaps and card were wrapped up in a page from an old magazine

Pop along over to Kate’s to find others who can inspire you to usefully use up bits and pieces of this and that.

Happy Scrapping

Lime Green Vintage

At the moment I am immersing myself in the colour called Lime Green mixed with oranges and other autumnal colours whilst I crochet the Karoo Vintage Mystery Along.

Going with the Vintage theme for my Vase this week, there are a few elements in the picture all bought in the 1970s:

A Timothy Whites vacuum flask, still going strong. Who remembers Timothy Whites? A High Street chemist shop taken over by Boots in 1968,  the trading name stopped being used in 1985. The cup that went on the top has been lost but the flask still keeps water hot for a good long time. It sits by my kettle to house excess boiled water to be used for washing up etc.

The green floral table cloth (more lime green in reality) is a huge 2.5m diameter circle of Laura Ashley fabric bought as a Second from the Laura Ashley shop in Bath on a lovely pre-children shopping trip with friends. It has been brought out to cover trestle tables at many a family event over the last 40 years or more.

The bright green cloth with turquoise stitching trim was bought from Habitat in about 1978.

The bright orange metal jug with white flowers was made in (former) Yugoslavia and given to me by my Mum who found it on a market stall.

In the jug is a plant which I like the look of because of its bright pink bits – but I guess it is a weed. Do you know its name? Can it be used for anything?

From my garden:

A pot of lemon balm sits waiting to be made into a lovely refreshing tea.

The figs have been plentiful and glorious this year.

I’m delighted to have found a salad crop that does not get eaten by the sparrows – pea shoots! Thank you to Postcard From Gibraltar for inspiring me to try these – they are yummy!

I am growing them in a waist high Veg Trug outside my front door (Zone 1 in Permaculture)

My daughter thinks the new shoots look as if they are waving and dancing

here they are having a party!

Apples are plentiful but all blighted by the wretched codling moth.

Pears are looking good this year.

Joining in with Cathy and In a Vase on Monday.

Happy Gardening!

Strawberries and Wine

Going out to supper on Saturday night

I took a posy of honeysuckle, lavender, both purple and white, and Lady’s Mantle, along with a bottle of Pinot Grigio (my favourite), strawberries and a bag of salad from our local Farm Shop

I had written to The Watercress Company (also local) asking about their packaging see below, with their reply

 

Sent: 28 June 2018 13:17
To: info@thewatercresscompany.com
Subject: packaging

Hi,
I love your products and like to buy local produce when I can.

Please could you find an alternative to plastic for your packaging.
I understand there is a clear film made of a vegetable product that is fully biodegradable.

Many thanks

Sandra Dorey

On 28 Jun 2018, at 13:22, James Harper <james.harper@thewatercresscompany.com> wrote:

Good afternoon Sandra,

Many thanks for the great feedback. We have just moved into a fully biogradable bag this week so your timing is spot on!

Where do you normally buy our salads from?

Kind regards,

James

 

I was so delighted that I just had to take this biodegradable bag to my friends so that they could sample the salad.

Now to tackle the strawberry suppliers!

Do you have any flowers from your garden to pop in a vase – if so why not join us at Cathy’s weekly garden party over at Rambling in the Garden, where her Vase is reflecting the heatwave we are currently enjoying in this part of the world.

Waste

lend me your ‘shell-like’

this girl dislikes pink

innovate for her

~

Ronovan’s Haiku Prompt words this week are PINK and SHELL.

Yikes – how to marry that with what I had already planned for our Photo Challenge prompt of WASTE.

It is the extra creative challenge I like to give myself each week. Well Miss E does not like pink – I know that card does have a bit of pink on it but ……. hey! I did my best!

~

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows I’m an obsessive recycler AND like to try new crafty things, so this week’s Photo Prompt is right up my street!

~

Life-cycle of a tea bag once it enters my house:

It sits in its box in a cupboard full of all manner of black, white, green, herb and fruit teas. I have at least 12 different varieties in there.

Then in it goes –  into my favourite mug

This is a mug from Dunoon. I wanted a big white bone china mug. I contacted Dunoon and asked if I could have the Nevis Design in plain white – I could! and for about £10 cheaper than the decorated ones – I got two. I LOVE them. ❤

After first use the tea bags sit in the little coloured dish to be used, three together, for another cup.

I told you – obsessive recycler!

And now, courtesy of Pinterest, I have discovered there is a whole new world of art materials to be explored – used Tea Bags! I was astonished to see how much amazing art has been created with used tea bags. You can see some examples on my Pinterest Page, ‘Art Tea’.

Of course I had to give it a go.

So instead of going into the compost after their second use, the tea bags are now emptied and dried. (The leaves still go in the compost) My bean-sprouter works well as a drying rack.

Cutting or tearing some and leaving others as two ply paper

Now ….. how to turn them into art ……

 

A bit of collage using some paper napkins and some hand and machine stitching.

The circular tea bag has a picture of a cup stuck on the inside with Modge Podge and  is re-stuffed with a little wadding. I downloaded the picture of the cup from this Education Site

I’m wondering about this art form – it nudges towards the “just because you can, do you think you should”. I tried putting it on canvas to go with my ‘making art with found and discarded objects’ collection, adding and expanding on the Beach Clean Art theme. Using waste in art.

I’m not sure it stands up as an artwork so I turned it into a greetings card, with packaging paper put between the layers to stiffen the card so that it will stand up

A little pocket for a gift (in this case a fresh teabag) or message. Then it can be recycled once more and re-used as a card with a different message in the pocket.

And then I realised there was a certain person about to have her 10th birthday – perfect

She was thrilled with it and her friends intrigued.

I’m really not sure if my experiments will produce ‘art’ that I feel worthy of exhibiting , but has been fun to try and I can’t throw a teabag away at the moment –  I’m amassing quite a collection, so I’ll have to come up with something arty to do with them.

Update

Coincidentally, I’ve just seen that there is a programme on BBC2 tonight about the making of tea bags: http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/fsq8rq/inside-the-factory–s3-e1-tea-bags/

and here is the programme on BBC iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08ywhdn/inside-the-factory-series-3-1-tea-bags

The sheer scale of tea bag production is mind boggling – and I’m shocked to discover that 25% of the materials used to make tea bags is plastic – Yuck!

 

 

 

IaVoM: Honeysuckle, Alchemilla Mollis and Feverfew

In my vase this week is honeysuckle, feverfew and a froth of Lady’s Mantle.

Pop across and Ramble in the Garden with Cathy to see her Vase and those from gardeners across the globe.

This honeysuckle pleases me hugely because I grew it from a cutting. The flower is not as beautiful as some honeysuckles but the scent is magnificent, especially in the evenings.

Look how it has grown! All from a cutting, isn’t nature amazing! I grows through a Clematis Montana, which flowers in the Spring.

Joining Cee’s Flower of the Day.

I have been having A-Good-Clear-Out in the kitchen, thus ticking off a few of my 17 for 2017 Aims/Goals/Challenges.

Goal: Sort out 13 shelves, boxes, cupboards or shelves. I have done 5 this week (that’s 12 altogether!) – Well done me! 😀

A. I have a 3 drawer filing cabinet with files stuffed with papers from goodness knows when  – I’ve been through all three drawers and discarded everything that is no longer needed, either shredding the paper for compost, (P) or rolling it into fire-lighters (P)

B. These shelves

needed painting, and so did the wall behind them.

Do you recognise some vases from previous IAVOM posts?

How was I going to get the shelves off the wall by myself?

(C. see that desk top – I could not have shown you the toppling heap of stuff that was on there – far too embarrassing  – number 3 surface cleared!)

I could have asked a neighbour to help, but I get a kick out of ‘The Power of One’ solutions! So ……

I put chairs piled with stuff to rest the shelf on as I undid the screws – it worked.

A clear wall, with a mist coat painted onto the raw plaster. I’m using some of my Mum’s old paint – Dulux Barley White, it must be ancient but it still seems ok. (P)

I have quite a few things that need sanding so I treated myself to a Detail Sander and sanded the shelves

I do love a gadget. It cost just £30, well worth it!

The sanding was needed to create a surface for the Dulux ‘Quilted Calico’ Eggshell to key in to

And then of course there was D. Under the Table to deal with – a whole tub of used flower pots – luckily I have found a Garden Centre, Groves, about 20 miles away that will recycle them (P) in the  Pot to Product Scheme. 

I used to live near there, so I can combine the trip with meeting up with old friends. (P)

And the last of the 5- E. The top of the filing cabinet which houses the paper shredder and piles of office related detritus (no ‘before’ picture here either!) A broken child’s chair is acting as a shelf (P)

There are several great ideas for using chairs as shelves on Pinterest – here’s one

 

And a vase of flowers – just the thing to celebrate the transformation.

I removed over 40 old redundant business cards from the letter rack. They have gone in the collage cupboard and might be used as collaged tags in journals – oh dear – not thrown away yet then!

Have you noticed a few (P)s  in the text – can you guess what they stand for?

Vase on Monday: Hellebore

Each Monday Cathy invites us to find something from our gardens to pop in a Vase.

Her vase this week has inspired this post as she used some old glass inkwells.

The bottles in my photograph were found in a bank by my house circa 1974. I had masses more but have gradually downsized the collection with each successive house move.

The ‘vase’ contains hellebores that grow in my roadside border under an espalier pear tree; a variegated arum leaf and some twigs from a pretty little hebe given to me by a neighbour

The bottles sit on a shelf in my bedroom that was in dire need of dusting and sorting out – a perfect candidate for the 17 for 2017 List in which my target is:

“13 – drawers, cupboards, shelves or boxes sorted out.”

The bedroom was created in the roof space

I wanted the sides to be left open to give a greater feeling of space

I had such a battle with the builders to keep this space open. I really like the way it gives the room size, and provides a place to keep the things I love having around me. Like a mini art gallery space. The photos below are looking one way then the other – you can see it had become a bit jumbled.

When the shelf was cleared there were pale marks where items had been

What to do?

Turn to Permaculture : “THE PROBLEM IS THE SOLUTION”

The problem is the effect of light, the solution: make use of this with some leaf shapes cut out of paper.

Maple Leaf shape.

Each time I clear the shelf I will move the leaf shapes and gradually I will have a pattern of various shades of wood – eventually it will look like the dappled light through a maple tree – well that’s the plan anyway.

Also joining in with Cee’s Flower of the Day

 

Scraptastic!

Title pinched from Mrs Snail. Way back in July 2015 Mrs Snail was using Permaculture Principles in her scrap-busting projects and making some fun hats. Using all sorts of bits and pieces of yarn left over from other projects, she tied them together and wound them into a ball and crocheted hats to sell at a Permaculture event.

I thought this was such a FAB!!!!! idea and started tying lengths of left over yarn together, no ends to sew in. My hoarding paid off!!! Hurray!

I thought I would make some seat covers for Pippin, the caravan that sits in my garden.

which is great place to keep the Lego

But Pippin is a bit old and scrappy as it is, so I don’t think the seat covers made of odd bits of yarn works very well in there. I think granny squares in Cath Kidson colours might look better and smarten the caravan up a bit. What to do with what I have made so far….

I just love the random colours and texture this creates

I unravelled a cardigan that never gets worn

and added to the seat cover to turn it into a blanket. All sorts of yarns in every weight were added together, and I used the cardigan yarn for the border

It has made a snug and cosy blanket that will go off to Syria in November.

I’ve also made a scarf, much loved by Master R.

 

 

Thursday

Anyone who has been following this blog for a while will know how I like to make everything as multi-functional as possible – it is a Permaculture thing and Permaculture is the closest thing to a religion I have.

Imagine my delight when I realised I could combine Thursday Doors, Three Things Thursday, Cee’s Which Way Challenge and Odd Ball Challenge AND recommend some simply splendid people and places – my cup overfloweth with golden delights.

Three Things Thursday:

Emily shares “three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy”

So here goes:

1.Yesterday I took Miss E to one of Sewchet‘s wonderfully empowering sewing workshops. Seeing her glee at having made something she can actually wear was a joy. She learnt so much.

2. Meeting Sheila of Sewchet. Meeting fellow bloggers is a fun, enriching experience. I have met Mrs Snail, Judy of Edwinas Episodes, and now Sheila. What a wonderful community it is. …. and there are plans to meet more bloggers brewing.

3. Meeting an old friend after a very long time and having such a brilliant time at Durlslade Farm, art gallery, cafe and sculpture garden. Go if you can!

This is my favourite photo of the day which I think has a touch of the Edward Hopper about it. ‘Hopper’ turned positive and optimistic perhaps.

The Garden and Gallery are absolutely amazing and inspiring, and the food in the café is delicious.

The next photo from this garden is for Cee’s Which Way Challenge

and there were plenty of contenders for the Odd Ball Challenge at this fabulous gallery

How about a giant steel bucket full of shiny pots and pans

or a steel tree

with pots and pans for leaves. I love that it is set against this ancient farmhouse and looks a lot like old mulberry trees in gardens of houses this sort of age.

Here you can see the two sculptures against the old buildings and the gloriously blue sky – what a day!

And another door to the farmhouse for Norm’s Thursday Doors. You can stay there! Pricey but just take a look at the website to see how wonderful the interior is.

I did have such a magical day – and have loved sharing it with you.

 

Store Secret

As Denis and Cathy thought, my secret is a cupboard that is in fact a log store.

A clever idea I saw many years ago in a friend’s house , and now I have been able to recreate it.

A crafty trick!

Upcycling for a 6 year old

It is Big Bro’s sixth birthday. I struggle with presents. Ethical thinking makes it a bit of a difficult road to navigate with young boys who love plastic and flashing lights and all things Star Wars or Superman.

The Village hall was having a clear out and these metal document cases were about to go in the skip – aaaaaaaarghhhh!!!!! NO! not more land fill. Surely I could put them to good use.

So with a bit of a clean and some trusty Duck Tape, I decorated some folders

hung them in the box

and after a good clean, added a bit of decoration on the outside.

I added a pen I bought for Big Bro from the Turner Gallery in Margate (thus supporting the arts)

which is also a screwdriver, spirit level and ruler.

Now that should be fine for a 6 year old boy shouldn’t it?!

I’m keeping the other metal document case for Little Bro’s 4th birthday in a couple of month’s time, because, if it is a success, I am guessing he will want one as well.

A Good Yarn

It is fun to join in with a Yarn Along to see what others are making. I have been joining in with Ginny, but I have felt a bit of a fraud as she asks us to share our latest yarny work and the book we are currently reading.

I don’t seem to read any more – I don’t know why, lack of concentration or something like that. However I do like to watch films and TV series on DVD

and this means I can keep knitting, sewing or doing crochet as I watch or listen.

One of my favourite DVDs is Marie Antoinette

I love its quirkiness and the colour palette – as it says “a love letter to cake”! I have watched it over and over again, pausing to wonder at the fabulous food concoctions and patterns on the clothes and furnishings – it is a veritable visual feast!

And my latest yarny project has been inspired by Mrs Snail, who in true Permaculture style is re-using and recycling odd bits of yarn by tying them together and making hats – I’m going to give it a go.

I’m so glad I did save all the off-cuts.

Please feel free to join me by leaving a link in the comments – I’d love to know what you are making and/or what films or other DVDs you have enjoyed.

Crisp

Crisp salad leaves grow,

A Permaculture triumph

Self-seeded, zone one

*

Ronovan’s words of the week: Sweet and Foul – here goes!

Sweet green lettuce leaves

Growing through foul winds and rain

Of Winter and Spring

*

 These salad leaves grow just outside my front door(Zone 1) in a Veg Trug – gardening at waist height – the way to go.

We would love to have a few more along for the weekly photo challenge – and all the subjects are already set out for you so you can plan well in advance. You can use old photos or fresh ones – each tells a story.

CRISP by Jamie, Roz, Garry, Melissa and Erika

Next week: GOLD               Go on give it a go!

Quite often as soon as I see the word of the week a photo springs to mind. I have enjoyed sharing old photos, giving them new life and a new story to share in blogland. I started adding haikus to the picture cos they just seemed to pop out!

And now I also include Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge, and like to see how the Haikus work together.

Melissa also combines the 2 challenges – in fact it was she who inspired me to do the same!

Peachy

Last year I bought a teeny tiny peach tree online. Variety: Bonanza.

Look at the amazing blossom on it – what a pink! Those flowers look like they should glow in the dark.

It is supposed to be a patio peach tree that you can grow …well on a patio – in a pot.

My thinking was that if I planted the tree in the garden, it would grow a bit bigger than it would in a pot, but not too big for the small, south facing space I made ready for it.

However it does look ridiculously small in its shelter.

The corrugated clear plastic roof is  to keep the rain off to prevent leaf curl – so far so good. The roof tilts slightly to the right and the rain drips into the black container (a bin from an old sit on mower I once had) and hey presto that keeps the ground from getting sodden in one place and provides water for watering the peach tree – that’s permaculture in action right there!

I hope it does grow a bit bigger, do you think it will?

Smooth

Smoothest pink petals                                                                                                  Erotic design to lure                                                                                                             In to the centre

 

Bluedaisyz  52weekchallenge

Smooth by Jamie, Roz, Garry (great minds … Garry!), Erika

GARDEN DIARY                                                                                                       Pruned the apple tree. I cut up the prunings for kindling.                                      The second day in a row that I have gardened til the sun went down – in February!!!! Fab-u-lussssss!

Garden Diary

Whilst blog-hopping I came across this blog: ‘My Garden Diaries’, it’s great, have a look. The title woke up that little nagging voice I have been ignoring for a while. That voice says “keep a garden diary”, so that I can look back and know what I was doing (and when) in the garden.

I want to create an Art Journal style diary, and did make a start – YIKES! back in September 2013!

Since then other things keep pushing themselves to the top of the priority list and painting, collaging and journalling seem to have slipped away – (sad face!) So, I have a plan: If anything to do with the garden has happened since my last post, I will add a bit under the title ‘Garden’ at the end of each post.

Yesterday I had the joy of picking a bulging bag of rocket and winter salad leaves that were sown by my Grandchildren with seed I had collected from my own plants. Very satisfying, especially in January. The rocket (that bushy row of green on the right of the raised bed) was sown by Master R back in late summer, it is most peppery and delicious. And it is great to look back at the photos of the children painting the boards of the raised bed with left over house paint (add orange and scarlet to the above mix and you see the colours of my kitchen in my former old thatched cottage – I miss that kitchen and its bright welcome!) And then poster paints for their pictures. Miss E had the brilliant idea of sketching her design with water first

 

We put the beds together, and filled them with soil and compost (Master R just LOVES making compost!)

 

and sowed seeds in pots ready for planting out later

 

 

wrote labels

and a few weeks later there was planting, weeding, watering

and more labelling to be done

 

Passion for Permaculture Part 1 continued

Permaculture Part 1 seems to be all about fire – well it is the time of year for revelling in the cosiness of a log fire with a hot chocolate and the latest yarny project growing by the row – can you hear Radio 4 Extra on in the background?

Laying a fire is an art, well at least it is a skill – and a vital ingredient is kindling. When I was first married, in the early 1970s, I used to love making jars and jars of jams, chutneys and marmalades –  squirrelling away masses of goodness – all lined up on the shelf in the larder – I don’t make jam any more – in a household of 1 who is constantly watching the waistline there is not much call for  sugar based hoarding – now gathering huge stores of kindling gives me the same thrill – ok yes, I know – eccentric! But if you are serious about caring for the environment you get used to being thought of as weeeeeeeyeerrrd!

The sticks you see are all prunings from my garden. When the oak tree gets a hair cut, NONE of it is taken away. All the prunings get cut up with loppers into

a magnificent hoard of sticks to be used for kindling. The grandchildren and I spend lovely times chatting over the cutting up of sticks, which are put into plastic dustbins and stored on the north side of the house.

Old loo rolls are filled with used paper, cardboard packaging, and stuff that comes through the post with my address on, which i do not want to put in the recycling bag – these make wonderful small logs to go on top of the dry sticks

And then there are the paper sticks that my grandmother taught me to make

take 3 – 5 layers of broadsheet newspaper, fold up the corner and then roll as tightly as possible, bend round and tie a knot – perfect

And even 2 year olds can have ago at these. I used to pay my children 1penny per stick, to make piles of these, I think I’ll have to up the rate for my grandchildren.

The last home made fire-lighting aid are used candles melted in a bain marie, just a bowl in saucepan of hot water – and then put into ice cube moulds or old sweet box trays, what ever you have to hand. 

I find i don’t really use them much any more since I’ve had the woodburner as it lights so well, but for a open fire they are great firelighters.

 

So now we are all ready to get that fire going and getting the supper on to cook

first I’ll use the heat to cook some sausages to have tomorrow,

 

then do you fancy braised shoulder of lamb, it takes about an hour…..

….. or a hearty soup

Yumpsk!

A Passion for Permaculture: Part 1

I first came across Permaculture in the late 1980’s and it has led me a very merry dance ever since! Almost every decision I make is based on Permaculture Principles. Masses of stuff has been written on the subject and you can find out more by clicking on the links – but  here are MY PPs:

1. Earth care, people care, fair share.

2. Live simply so that others might simply live.

3. Make each thing you do as energy efficient as possible: minimum input for maximum output.

4. Make each task or item as multi-functional as possible.

5. Think in zones and start with Zone 000 (your inner and/or spiritual well-being) – more about Zones another day.

I might think of more later, but they are my main guidelines for decision making.

And tonight my Permaculture in Action moment is ‘Lighting the Fire’:

I have a wood-burner with a flat top, so that I can cook on it, and on the right of it is a cupboard for the logs (note the 2 kettles for heating water, which I store in vacuum flask pump pots to use next day)

 

so easy to get at

 

 

 

and holds masses of logs because it goes back and back,

and is fed through a hatch on the

 

outside!genius eh!!!       (not my original idea) but absolutely PERFECT for log store efficiency …..

every wood-burning home should have one don’tcha-think!