Saturday

Today's Weather	To Do List	View From My Window
Dreary	Sew new dogs bed

Today's view from my window

When I moved into this house I had a huge hole at the bottom of the garden. The couple who lived here previously had a fish pond and took it with them when they left, leaving an 8' x 6' x 6' hole
Jules and I filled it in as much as we could but ran out of soil, so put slabs and gravel in the bottom and made it into a fire pit, where we sat and drank wine during the summer.
A friend of mine was going to come and deck the whole area but has fallen ill and now it won't be done until after Christmas, so  I took the slabs out and made a temporary path to prevent trailing mud up to the house over the winter months.

After I returned from the dump it site this morning I opened the shed in search of clutter to recycle and found an old duvet, pillow cases and cover.
They have now been turned into a new bed for one of the dogs, which I think he likes because he sat by the sewing machine all the time I was making it and jumped straight on when I threw it on the floor and promptly nodded off.

The pillow cases were just the right size across the bottom of the doors so now they are draught excluders. I made two of these, one of which has an old hand towel as filling and the other one is full of off cuts of material, old socks and knickers. Well you know, I had to have a go at this "Getting rid of 1 thing a day" and it seemed to satisfy the criteria of decluttering whilst being in keeping with my penchant for hoarding. Once we get to spring time I can remove the off cuts and put them back in my scrap box, ha ha.

The fan inside my computer is not a happy bunny and I assume it is calling out for a good clean. The last time I was brave enough to take the computer apart it looked like this.

This is the reason I like foraging in skips. My trip to the dump it site uncovered this cute little stool.
You can't tell me that I should have left it there. Can you? It's lovely and will look fantastic in my bathroom after I have cleaned it up a bit.

Well, the dog's have had a good run, been fed and are settling down for, oh I don;t know, two and a half minutes maybe and it's time I made something for tea and sat down to watch Strictly. Who is going to win do you think?

Why Do You Do It?

Today's Weather	To Do List	View From My Window
Sunny	Nothing Special

Today's blog is  more of a refresher for myself than anything else, but first of all, a little something for SFT. You asked if I had any veggie recipes ideas and I said, not really. Ha ha, sorry about that but I don't concentrate on what I'm making. I tend to live in the moment. I really should start putting together a recipe book to pass on to my daughter but she usually gets the same reply when she asks about my cooking.
"How much of this or that do I put in Mum?"
"I can't remember. Put in whatever you like, it will be okay"

Anyway, here's a veggie dish I made this evening after I discovered broccoli in the Coop for 19p.

Slice potatoes and red onion and par boil.

Cut the broccoli, pour on boiling water from the kettle and leave it to blanch until the potatoes are ready

In another pan, mix some milk, grated cheddar, a clove of garlic, a handful of Parmesan and a knob of butter

When the potatoes are ready drain them and the broccoli. Put the broccoli in a casserole dish, layer the potatoes on top, pour over the cheese sauce, sprinkle salt, pepper and chilli powder over the potatoes, add a couple of slices of fresh tomato and pop it in the oven for half an hour.

Okay, on to today's ramble. I was asked why I live the way that I live.
"I don't know"was my answer. So I pondered it again throughout the day. I still don't really know the answer.
Why not?
I enjoy it?
It's interesting?
It's a challenge?
God only knows?

In the past I have had all the trappings of a luxury lifestyle. Buy when I want to, go on holiday at the drop of a hat. Have a day off if I fancied it.
Did all that make me happy? Yes, of course it did
Do I miss it? Yes occasionally, but there is nothing stopping me from returning to that life style if I want to.

Why did I decide to live frugally and 'drop out'? I woke up one morning and decided to, that's why. I simply woke up and decided that I wanted to do it. I sold the business, sold my house, rented a property and threw myself into it. Or at least I thought I had thrown myself into it.
I had no real idea what I was getting into, I had no plan, no fixed term or agenda.The kids had left home years ago and were settled in their own lives, I was divorced, it was just me the dogs and the daily grind. I was bored.
Back then, the only knowledge I had of acorns was the the little pipes that my Grandad used to make for me and my brother by removing the acorn and tossing it over his shoulder, popping the stem in our mouths and getting us to say "oo arrr"

Once I started to get the hang of it, it was fun, but it still didn't feel like it was enough. I wasn't getting the full benefit. I still used to fill the car to the brim, spend on things that I didn't really need, go on holiday etc.
So I decided enough was enough and if I was to get anything out of this at all, I had to become destitute.
What I did was to let my money filter away to the point that I had to work hard to maintain the frugal lifestyle. I didn't move a muscle in the direction of paid work. I lived on what I had. But I was kidding myself, I wasn't living a frugal lifestyle, I was stupidly plunging myself into a world of misery.
It was a disaster. In fact it was such a disaster that I ended up being unemployed for the first time in my life.
After 7 months I found a job on fixed term appointment for 12 months. When it ended I was back on the unemployment line and after searching for a job for a few weeks, it dawned on me that I didn't want to return to the daily grind and I had actually enjoyed life prior to the fixed term job. So I didn't return. I signed off, went back to simple living and I have been here ever since.
This time, I had to do it properly. So far it's going well.
Now, I can go down to my last few pennies and it doesn't worry me in the slightest. When I get money from eBay, part time jobs, odd jobs etc, I pay my rent, put money on the gas and electric meters and make sure that the dogs are fed.

One year on I still have no agenda nor purpose. I have no mortgage to clear, I'm not saving up for anything, I'm not doing it as an experiment, I have no idea WHY I'm doing it. All I know is that I am enjoying life immensely. Will I ever return to my old life? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. At the moment I still have a lot to discover about my new life and since I started following everyone's blogs on here, I am learning all sorts of new and amazing things that I want to try, especially since I decided to throw myself into crafting.

I suppose I initially started out on this life style shortly after I got the dogs. I would spend hours every day walking with them and started taking notice of the changing seasons. I saw things like this and wondered if I could eat them or if I would die after doing so.

I started thinking about lost skills, things that I had been taught by my parents, grand parents and aunties; things that used to be everyday occurrences. I thought about how I had spent my life trying to build up enough savings to be a lady of leisure and how I could never achieve it because I everything I did work wise, was for other people and not myself.. If I stopped I wouldn't have an income, if I carried on I wouldn't be a lady of leisure. What the heck is a lady of leisure anyway.
Now, I know the answer.
I am.

When I sold up and rented, I met the lady who is now my best friend and we developed a bond like sisters. I watched her forage, and fill her yard with junk prior to remodelling it and selling on eBay. I stepped away as if I didn't know her when she stood at the till, with a queue a mile long behind us and bartered with the shop assistant. These days I do it myself.
I already knew about skip diving and a bit about foraging but she was at another level. She didn't need to do it, she just enjoyed it and it rubbed off on me. She, like many others, have full time jobs and live frugally because she enjoys it. How you all do that I don't know, I admire you for holding down a job and living frugally. It was all too much like extra work for me when I worked for a living. I couldn't find a balance.
I had to opt for one or the other and I went for frugal. I didn't realise how hard it would be and was even more surprised when I realised how satisfying it is.
Back at the start I thought I was doing it deliberately. It turned out that I did it through necessity, but now, even though I work a lot harder than I used to when i was employed, it doesn't feel like work. It has purpose, it has reward, it has meaning.

Why Do I Do It?

Because I love it.
I am finally a Lady of Leisure.
Leisure has nothing to do with laying on a beach in the sun. Leisure is freedom and the degree of freedom is a personal thing. I have found mine.

A longish post but I hope you enjoyed the read and didn't get too bored.
Take care

PS. Mum? I still have no idea what I can bring to the Tea Party :D I will get my thinking cap on

Thursday

Today's Weather	To Do List	View From My Window
Raining	Make a batch of Herby breadcrumbs Make a pot of bird food Visit Telephone box library Check front bike tyre Make a jam strainer

Today has been dull, damp and dreary. A perfect day to be getting on with all the little odd jobs that need doing, but rather than get on with them, the weather just depressed me and I haven't done anything really. I would much rather have had torrential rain because I love it. I'm one of those strange folk that actually enjoy getting wrapped up, donning my waterproofs and merrily strolling up the fields with the dogs in the pouring rain. Nature glistens and the countryside is devoid of people.
The dog's seem to enjoy it too, unless it's thundering.
Each time I went to the window to see if the rain had started yet, the dogs joined me with their paws on the window ledge, peering out hopefully and turning to look at me as if to say "Are we going Mum?
And each time I looked down at them and said "Not yet, let's wait a while"
Eventually we wandered out there and just got muddy. It wasn't cold or pleasantly sopping wet, it was just dull, damp and dreary and it has left me feeling the same way. There was only one thing for it...The special treat, cappuccino cup and a curl up in the chair with the local paper to see if anything interesting is happening at the weekend.

I need a van or a trailer for the car. Yesterday I saw someone on freecycle offering a 4m x 3m conservatory. If I had a van I would have collected it to make a greenhouse.
Checked the tyres on the bike this morning and they are fine. I was going to take it for a test run but it's wet outside and the bike doesn't have mudguards. 

I watched Kirstie's Handmade Britain last night and found myself wanting to have a go at making everything I saw in the show. I also imagine that everything I make, will end up with the same comments as Kirstie's card,  "It looks like it was made by a child"
Never the less, I still want to make everything and I will, eventually. Somewhere along the line I will find something that I am good at.

The telephone box library was an absolute mess when I arrived, books and DVDs all over the floor. I didn't find anything of interest today but spent 10 minutes having a tidy up and generally playing librarian. The almond tree has given up the ghost but I have a good supply already.

Wednesday

Today's Weather: Sunny spells, mainly dull, cool

To Do List:

• Knit another square for the blanket
• Pickle beetroot
• Shell acorns
• Buy a bike pump
• Go back to Side Swipe Lane and pick up that bit of log to make a boot scraper

The other night I spent more than a few hours doing interior design on my blog in an attempt to consolidate and harness the power of the blogger machine. I can't really say that I am fond of the new dashboard but hey, we get used to things eventually. I finally wandered up to bed at 2:15 am
I was thinking about decluttering and how I am so hopeless at it. I do declutter quite often, but then I lay it all out on the floor and sort through it to see what alternative use each item may have. I take the excess down to the dump it site and come home with just as much, if not more, than I went in with. Having said that, I went down there this morning and consciously resisted the temptation to look around. I simply dumped and left. That's the main drawback to being a dumpster diver I guess. 99% of my dumpster diving activities are at the tip, or stopping to pick things up from the side of the road because some lazy devil couldn't be bothered to go to the tip. Maybe the people that fly tip are as bad as me and they fly tip to avoid hoarding more rubbish. Dumpster diving for food is something that I never do. Don't get me wrong, I would if I could but the opportunity never seems to arise. All the supermarkets round here have locked access to their skips and the local shopkeepers tend to waste not want not and use the produce themselves.

I love things with a bit of history behind them and it seems that my Dorchester Flyer has history.
It was originally bought in the USA by a lady who spent some time back packing around the world. Whilst in Australia she met my friend (who gave me the bike) and when she finished her back packing she left the bike with him. It seems appropriate that I have repaired it to use for my own little journey of discovery so that I can go farther afield to forage.
I also bought a bike pump today and pumped up the tyres. Now i wait to see if they go down or stay up. Currently I am trying to devise some kind of bracket so that I can attach my foraging basket to the handlebars. They are easy enough to buy, but it pained me enough spending £4 on a bike pump so if I have to spend on a basket as well, I will feel like a foraging failure.

Beetroot pickled, cross one of the list and chalk one up for Christine


I picked up another little handy hint last evening about recycling egg shells, I especially like this one because it has medicinal qualities to it. The remainder are on my Tips and Tricks blog.

Treating Skin Irritations
Dissolve an eggshell in a small jar of cider vinegar (takes about two days) and use the mixture to treat minor skin irritations and itchy skin.

As October draws to an end I find myself wondering what to do with the remainder of the year. My Sage has started to go to sleep,, so has my Lavender, even my secateurs have started to stick. I'm quite fond of hibernation as a pastime actually and turning my bedroom into a winter sanctuary is rather appealing. Put a TV bracket on the wall, install a little bookcase and fill it with books. Make a couple of dog beds and throw them on the floor for the babies to use. Gather my scrap paper and pencils and pop them in the bedside cabinet for brain storming sessions at 2 and 3am.
Kettle, small stove and a few food supplies???? Maybe not.

Dreaming aside, I need to make some plans.
I received a flyer today from waste management about garden waste collection over the winter. The green bins will only be emptied if they contain cardboard. No garden waste allowed. Must put it on my To Do list; Clear garden of weeds before 30th November.
Unfortunately I don't have a greenhouse so home grown food over the winter months is a non starter. I can still grow on my window ledges obviously and a few veggies can be put in my little planting area ready for next year, but in the main, food production for me has ended.

However, I now have a new boot scraper installed just inside my garden gate.
When I tried it out after my walk this afternoon I got to thinking about Wellies. I need a new pair and can't make my mind up which ones to buy. I have it narrowed down to 3 pairs but now I'm stuck.
Well, the acorns are all shelled (no photo, you will just have to trust me) so I think I will do a bit of knitting and watch something on TV.




What do you all do during the winter months?

Dorchester Flyer

A few months ago my neighbour was having a clear out and gave me this bike, A Dorchester Flyer by all accounts, which has been sat under a tarpaulin in my back yard since the day he gave it to me.
Today I uncovered it to see what kind of state it is in and see if I can return it to it's former glory. Well, make the wheels go round and stop when I brake at least. Maybe add a foraging basket to the front.
After a quick look over the bike it's not too bad actually. A little bit of rust here and there but nothing seized up. I managed to alter the seat height and twist the handle bars to face forward without any difficulty, the side stand works fine and the seat is really comfy. The gears need sorting out because I can't select 1st gear and I may need some inner tubes, but until I find a pump to inflate the tyres I won't know
.
I decided to lift the beetroot out of the garden. They were late going in this year and it doesn't look as if they are going to grow any more, so I will pickle them ready for Christmas.
I read somewhere that the leaves are quite tasty so tonight I made this for dinner. The liqueur that develops is gorgeous.

Beetroot Leaf with garlic and yellow pepper

Recipe

Beetroot Leaves (as many as you like. They wilt like spinach so put plenty in)

1 Rasher of bacon

1 Onion (chopped)

1 Clove smoked garlic (crushed)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Yellow Pepper

Slosh of Cider Vinegar

Slosh of Water

Salt

Black Pepper

1. Wash and drain the beet leaves
2. Brown the onions, peppers and bacon in a little olive oil and then add the garlic, salt and pepper
3. Add a drop of water to the pan and stir into the mix. When it starts to simmer add the cider vinegar and the sugar
4. Add the beet leaves and wilt

Enjoy

I was chatting with Paul about mushroom foraging and he told me about an amusing take on foraging as a pastime.
Every morning he follows the same route on his walk with the dog. On several mornings a week he sees two or three young lads on motor scooters crawling down the lane. Every so often they would dismount, drop to their hands and knees, part the bushes and stick their head in.
Occasionally they would come out with something in their hands, pop it into their bag, hop back on their scooter and crawl along the lane once again.
It turns out that the lane in question is a favourite spot for the local cannabis growers to dump their root balls or whatever they are and the scooter kids are aware of this fact. I wonder if they realise what all the other stuff growing under there actually is? Maybe in this roundabout way of coming to the foraging lifestyle, they will eventually be blogging about it like the rest of us.

My crafting for the day was to make roses from leaves that I collected whilst walking the dogs. I wish I had collected more of them because this looks quite pretty.

Sunday

After getting out of bed at 10am, drinking my first coffee of the day and watching the sunlight slowly getting stronger, I decided to hang out the laundry which has been sat in the machine since yesterday evening.When I opened the door and stepped outside, my friend and her husband were sat there chatting. Paul started laughing his head off as soon as he saw me. Standing there with my hair all over the place, big blue towelling robe with the collar pulled up, fluffy yellow socks, purple flip flops, clutching my wash basket and the peg bag hanging from the belt of my robe, he commented,
"Its funny how girls never look quite the same first thing in a morning as they do, the rest of the day"
"Is it the socks?" I replied "It's the socks isn't it?"

He made me a fresh coffee, Jules threw me a blanket, which I wrapped around my legs and we sat there in the mid morning sunshine, chill in the air, doing our best to wake up and decide what to do for the rest of the day. We decided that the best course of action would be to do nothing in particular.
As we chatted the conversation turned to life coaching and then to the Dalai Lama's 20 steps to achieving karma.
20 steps?
I can do it in 3.
Jump in the car. Drive to the nearest shopping centre. Do what comes naturally. There you have it. Karma.

Anyway, once I woke up I decided to clean the kitchen from top to bottom. That idea went to pot when I changed my mind and started mixing dough and pastry to make Bread and Apple pies. After which I went into the garden and cut some fresh spinach to make Spinach & Ricotta Gnocchi. It's now a race to use up all the spinach in the garden before it all goes to waste. The trouble is that the stuff just keeps on growing and there is no room left in my freezer. Nor is there any room left in next doors freezer, or my families freezers. Hee hee I seem to have had a good year with veg and supplied all my nearest and dearest. If I actually get my allotment, god only knows what I am going to do with all the food, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
One thing I would like to do is turn it into a little eco village. A private commune kind a thing but with just me as the member. As I was browsing through my Frugal Lifestyle links yesterday I came across Tiny Houses, which led to eco houses etc. From there I made the decision to try and construct my own little buildings on the allotment, rather than buy a shed and what have you. I love this little house. Here's a link to the site

Whilst the bread dough was next to the boiler for a couple of hours I went down to Mum's for a natter and she was feeling a bit low because her friend is away for 3 months. She was talking about knitting and crotchet so we dug out all her stuff to sort out a range of needles and see what wool she has. What she had was a cupboard full of the stuff. Half finished cardigans, scarfs, hats, bags and blankets, either knitted or croched. She couldn't be bothered with them so we sat there pulling them out and ravelling the wool into balls. It's years since I sat and did that with Mum.
I came away with half the stuff we found in the cupboard, so I should be kept busy for a while with crochet, cross stitch and knitting. To pass the time until her firiend gets back we are going to knit squares and make a blanket between us. She just called me to let me know that she has done 6 rows hee hee. Bless her.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen my dinner is ready

Spinach, Ricotta and Mushroom Gnocchi with Parmesan and Salad, with fresh baked bread

Foraging for Chestnuts

Yesterday I decided to walk up to the wood that I drive past regularly, so I saddled up the dogs and off we went. Obviously I took my foraging basket along for the ride. Good decision. The wood was full of sweet chestnut trees and the ground was littered with them. After pricking my fingers on the spines several times I found the best way to open them was to lay them on a tree stump and roll a bit of wood across them until the nuts spilled out.

Many of the ones that were already opened had been raided by squirrels and had started to rot or only contained small nuts. Okay, I thought, I will play the squirrels at their own game, so I started to take the big nuts and left the small ones in a pile atop the tree stump each time I moved on to another area of the wood.

 As I was leaving the wood, I stopped to gather a few more and a guy and his young son walked toward me as I was rolling out the nuts and asked "Are you looking for Chestnuts?" "Yes I replied" "There aren't any around love" he said So I tilted my basket towards him and as the nuts rolled over the edge onto the floor his eyes widened and he said "Where did you get all those from?"
I think he half expected to wander around the wood looking for bags of Chestnuts lying on the floor, with REDUCED stickers on them. NATURES BEST, Reduced for quick sale. Was £2.39, NOW 40p. Use by Christmas.
The dogs were getting bored and decided to lie down next to me, so I gathered a few more to top of my basket and headed home to shell them.

This was my first visit to this bit of woodland and I have to say that it is gorgeous. It's actually 5 different woods joined together. Or rather one wood which has been claimed by 5 different organisations over the years. As I walked down the track I came across this interesting feature. I'm not sure if a kind of barrier / fence or some other woodland lore, but looking at it, I think I would like to have a go at it and make a fence for the top end of the allotment. If I get it. It's like weaving with branches and I love the effect. As you can see from the photo at the bottom, foilage has started to grow back.

The wood is huge and I didn't get to see any of it really. I spent 3 hours collecting Chestnuts whilst the dogs ran around enjoying themselves in new surroundings. I did stop for a few minutes just to take in the beauty and the peace and quiet but I need to spend a whole day in there.
If we get a half decent day during this coming week, I will make a little picnic for me and dogs and spend the time looking around it properly.

I fell in love with this gnarly old tree

 I will also have to have a trip up there with a few sacks and collect some of that leaf mould in a months time.