Reading while lurgy-ed

Posted by louisa on Thursday 9 February 2012 in meta | 2 comments

Gah, I hate limbo illness – when you’re not ill enough to completely take to your bed and be waited on hand & foot, but when you’re not well either so end up padding around in a daze and have to slump in an exhausted heap after walking up stairs with a basket of washing or down to the chickens with some seeds. I have done a lot of slumping in the last few days, a lot of ‘what?’ing because my slow brain hasn’t processed what’s been asked of it and some napping (only some because naps leave me mega-disorientated). I’ve also done a lot of reading – fluff when my brain’s not been engaged but other stuff too. Here are some of my favourite bits of the good stuff:

Rachel‘s year without ‘poo – great to hear about her experience and the tricks she’s picked up/developed. Her water-only hair looks fab too.

Ilona the MeanQueen got me thinking about money cushions/long-term savings. Every personal finance blog/book I read insists on people building up long term savings. But Ilona has no intention of leaving a nest egg behind. As I say in her comment section, we try for a balance – in our early 30s, we’re less likely to have a state pension waiting for us or, at this rate, a NHS to look after us, so long term savings will be important. But at the same time, I’ve now essentially downshifted twice – halving my income each time so vastly reducing the amount I can put into savings – because no amount of long-term savings are worth being that miserable over. Anyway, thought provoking/different angle post.

I got a lot of my fluff reading from Cracked.com – an often geeky, even more often rude humour site – but they do have some more poignant articles too — albeit ones still littered with swears and poo jokes. If that sort of thing doesn’t offend you, then I’d recommend reading this recent one on bad lifelong habits from living in poverty.

The Steel Kitten is on a mission – and put together a very thought provoking blog post on realising your dream — both in the sense of accomplishing it but more importantly figuring out what it is in the first place!

Jono of Real Men Sow has written a great summary post about the things to consider when buying seeds for this growing season – things he learnt from tracking the money savings from his growing last year.

UPDATE: I meant to include this on my list too: Paved with Good Intentions. It is a brief article but touching on the idea that when people reduce the energy consumption of their homes, they may be tempted to take the money they save on their energy bills and use it in another way that actually uses more energy over all – possibly good for the economy but probably bad for the environment. I’ve been thinking about this regarding frugal living too but haven’t finalised my thoughts on it yet. Interesting idea though.

Have you read any interesting blog posts/articles online recently? If so, do share – I’m not up to full fighting strength yet so need more input :)

75% off seeds at Wilkinsons

Posted by louisa on Thursday 7 July 2011 in frugal, growing | 10 comments

It feels a bit early (in general and earlier than last year) but various shops have started selling off their sow-by-2012 seeds cheaply.

I was near a Wilkinsons yesterday (I heart Wilkinsons – I nearly wet my pants when they opened a big store down the road from our old house in Leeds and it’s one of the things I miss most about living in Leeds. #sadconfession) and popped in to peruse their packets — all 75% off in store (they seem to be 3 for 2 on the website). I went a bit mad at first and ended up putting about a dozen of them back but I did buy…

That’s:

2 x dwarf french beans (Canadian wonder – 120 seeds per pack) = £0.25 a pack
2 x runner bean (white emergo – 40 seeds per pack) = £0.32 a pack
1* x broad beans (Bunyards exhibition – 50 seeds) = £0.56 a pack
3 x nasturiums (trailing single mixed – 35 seeds per pack) = £0.49 a pack
1 x onions (bunching ishikura – 375 seeds) = £0.32 a pack
1 x pepper (“sweet” mini red – 50 seeds) = £0.32 a pack
1 x beetroot (boltardy – 275 seeds) = £0.37 a pack
3 x cucumber (telepathy F1 – 5 seeds per pack) = £0.39 a pack
1 x phlox night scented (200 seeds) = £0.32 a pack
2 x sweet pea (mixed – 25 seeds per pack) = £0.56 a pack

So 17 packs of seed for £7.35, rather than nearly £30 – I’m quite happy with that.

* I would have bought more of these even though they’re branded so more expensive, but this is all they had

Combined with the (18) free packets I’ve collected one way or another this year, and what I’ve haven’t used this year and the seeds I’ll save from my Real Seeds purchases this year (achocha, special peppers etc), I think I’m about all set on the seeds front for next year already – perhaps some more broad beans (as they’ve been fab this year), some courgettes (as I don’t have much luck saving seeds due to being hybrids/cross-pollination, and we heart courgettes) and some basil, but that’ll be it. Hurrah! :)

Apparently Dobbies and the super cheap supermarkets (Aldi/Lidl etc) are heavily discounting their seeds at the moment too.

Have you started buying seeds for next year too? Have you spotted any other seed bargains out there?

Feeding the birds through the winter – how do you do it?

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 30 November 2010 in frugal, growing | 1 comment

I don’t mean feeding the girls, they get more than enough. No, I mean feeding wild birds. Last winter, we had bird feeder on the balcony stocked with wild bird seed and nuts from our local miscellanea store – I think the squirrels raided it more than the birds but we regularly saw feathered ones at it too. We went through quite a lot of feed during the six weeks of snow.

Back in September, Colette at the Permaculture Cottage wrote about how wasteful it is to spend money – and all the carbon cost – of importing peanuts & seeds to feed to wild birds, when there are other alternatives. I had a bit of a smack-my-forehead moment when I read that – I’m doing all I can to minimise our food miles but importing food for them.

Colette has noted a number of trees & plants that are good for providing winter food – those suggestions alone are a good starting point for me. I try to maximise the good growing ground in our garden for food for us but further down the garden, in the shade of the trees, there might be some space for bird-friendly bushes. Perhaps my living fence shouldn’t be all focused around our wants & needs…

Alternately, Kate from Living the Frugal Life grows sunflowers in the summer for their nectar and cheer – and for the free-bird-feed seeds to use over winter. I’m tempted to use some of our under-utilised front garden to grow sunflowers next year – although I suspect I’d be tempted to offer at least some of the seeds to our chickens…

Do you feed the wild birds in your garden over winter? Do you buy in feed or do you grow your own? If so, what do you grow? I’d love to hear your comments/suggestions.

(Photo by PsychoPxL – I tried to take my own version but every time I went outside all the birds disappeared, the little pesks!)

Frugal, cooking, growing and making link love

Posted by louisa on Friday 19 November 2010 in chickens, cooking, frugal, growing, meta, wood stuff | 2 comments

It’s super foggy here this morning so I need some ace inspiration to get going – and I thought you might need some too. Here are some of my favourite reads from the last few weeks…

• Ana White makes things that always excite me – demystifying woodwork and creating fab bits of furniture cheaply and easily. I think her old Knock Off Wood blog was the site that most inspired me to pick up a saw and screwdriver – and I just love her most recent side-table – and her “paint it bright” philosophy!
• One thing I was missing when I made my meal from just things I’d grown/caught/foraged was salt – now thanks to ManUpATree, I’m inspired to try making some myself – just got to find some clean enough sea water…
• Gillian of My Tiny Plot neatly summarised Which? Gardening’s heritage versus hybrid veg article – very useful info, thanks Gillian!
• Damn the Broccoli gave us some useful tips on staying warm but keeping the heating bills low…
• Compostwoman of The Compost Bin has been writing about… composting. Specifically, how she does it – and a very seasonal post on how to make leaf mould.
• And finally, Little House in the Suburbs recently ran a seven part series asking their community about lots of aspects of chicken keeping. I’ve contributed a number of times and loved reading what other people had to say – lots of very good advice and suggestions.

(For anyone who cares, the first is from the top of our garden, looking into the woods next door/at the bottom of the garden – and our chicken coop is in the bottom right; the second is the bandy trees at the bottom of our garden, just behind the chicken run; and the third is over our wood pile to the north, we can’t see our neighbour in that direction in the summer – or when it’s foggy!)

Next year’s growing plans

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 16 November 2010 in frugal, growing | 2 comments

I think this time of year may be favourite part of gardening – when I get to start making exciting plans for next year from the comfort of the sofa. Mmm, sofa.

So far, I’m planning the following – and thankfully, it doesn’t look like I’ve have to spend too much more on new seeds.

Old faithfuls:

• All sorts of lettuce including winter gem & spicy leaves – all leftover seed & seeds bought in a 75% sale off
• Broad beans – some saved seed, some leftover seed
• French beans – some saved seeds, some sale seeds
• Pumpkins a go go – I seem to have four different types of pumpkin seeds, bought in various mega-discount sales – not sure I’ll grow them all
• Courgettes & marrow – some saved seed and some new
• Chillis – super hot birds eye ones and cooler jalapeno types – leftover and sale seeds
• Carrots – sale seed, bought 75% off
• Misc brassicas – try broccoli, kale & cabbage again, maybe not cauliflower. Got leftover seed for all
• Leeks & onions – leftover seeds
• Tomatoes – some saved seeds, some new sale seeds
• Swiss chard – leftover seeds
• Potatoes – will have to buy some new seed potatoes, probably go for salad ones

Herbs – old and new:

• Borage – leftover seed and I suspect we might get a few plants from self-seeding too
• Tarragon & Oregano – might be able to coax a couple of plants through winter…
• Mint, Rosemary and Lavender – existing plants should survive
• Sage – new seeds bought in 50% off sale
• Meadow-sweet – new seeds, tempted to try use them, and some other wild flowers, for a bit of guerilla gardening in the local environs…
• Basil – need new seeds by the look of it
• Comfrey – a little amount for green manuring, sale seeds
• Cat nip – existing seeds, existing cats

New exciting things!

• Cucumber – not sure why I didn’t do them this year, seed bought on sale will be grown next year!
• Apples & pears – trees en route, might get a little fruit next year
• Strawberries – since I don’t do fruit, I’ve not grown any but John is interested in strawberries and mmm, strawberry jam. Need to buy seeds/plants.
• Scotch Bonnet peppers – more hot hot chillis. Need to buy seeds.

Extra exciting maybes!

• Achocha – if I get organised enough to buy some seeds
• Asparagus – ditto substituting “seeds” for “crowns”
• Some sort of berry thing to grow in a planter – maybe cranberry or lingonberry – need to decide & buy
• Mushrooms – we’ve got the space, shade and wood, so we might as well try to grow some deliberately rather than just letting nature take its course. I’m thinking maybe oyster mushrooms.

What are you planning to grow next year? Anything new?

Is there something I’ve missed off my list that you think I should definitely try?