New Activities

On Monday of this week I was introduced to a lady who runs a community organisation and I offered myself up as a volunteer. Within half an hour I was helping out with a group at one of the local community centres and had a wonderful afternoon. Today I went down to her office for a chat about what I will be doing to help out and was very kindly invited to take part on a Sign language course and a first aid course. That will be quite good because my First Aid certificate expired around 5 years ago. Now I just have to wait for the enhanced CRB check and then I will be able to help out with their work in schools. I'm really looking forward to it.

The dark evenings are depressing me a bit, I have to admit. They don't make dog walking any easier either. I have tried the flashing collars which just work their way underneath the dogs fur and render them useless and the only time I catch a glimpse of the dogs is when a bit of light happens to fall on their white bits, but if they go for a dive into the dyke, well, there aren't any white bits left. I have to rely on my keen sense of smell to find them and then refuse them entry to the house until they have been fumigated with the hose pipe (which they hate) and the home made dog shampoo (which they lick of themselves because it has garlic and aloe vera in it)
I'm not quite sure which smells worse. The black mud from the dyke or my shampoo.

Surveys are appearing thick and fast in my inbox lately. I should have another voucher in time for Christmas at this rate. I made a new batch of sloe gin ready for next year. Yes, I really am going to leave it for a whole year. Before and after shots. i.e. before I gave it a shake and after a week of shaking.

There was a craft fair up in the next village today, so I went along to have a look. As I drove past on the road I noticed that there were no outside stalls and that the marquis was the size of a cig packet, so I turned around and came home. Yes, I may have missed some real bargains but I decided to take the dogs for a long long walk instead. I may go back tomorrow and have a look because Santa is arriving by helicopter at midday. Not that I'm bothered about seeing Santa in November, but his guest appearance may bring out a few more stalls and wotnot.
I filled my back pack with carrier bags to hold whatever I managed to forage, a flask of coffee for myself, a few dog treats, a bottle of water and a bowl, donned my hat scarf and gloves and off we went.

I love this part of the wood, looking down into the hollow at the bottom, all expectant at what I shall find, or not. I always try to keep away from the paths so that the dogs can go wild and enjoy themselves without worrying about a horse and rider or other dogs coming in the opposite direction.
Besides which, all the best finds are in the untouched bits of the wood.



Although, occasionally I come across things that are not strictly born of nature
Two saucepans and an empty can of lager. I wonder if someone was trying to make an alcoholic tempura batter maybe? I suspect not. Anyway, I chucked them in my bag and disposed of them when I got home.

This, on the other hand is completely natural. I took the photos to try and identify it from my mushroom books but I have failed in that quest. It was huge. 10" across and tough as old boots. I'm sure it was welded to the tree.
I didn't notice it at first. I chose the fallen tree to sit on and have a coffee
and only saw it when I dropped my cup onto the floor at the other side of the branch.
The dogs had a drink of water and the little one went to sleep whilst the other nutter got busy with a bit of wood.


On the way back out of the wood something blue caught my eye and when I walked over to investigate I found this crate, undamaged. It's now in my garden waiting to be washed and put to use...for something.

Foraging Is Not Just For The Hedgerows

Yesterday was the fine day that I have been waiting for and I managed to get all my sofa and armchair cushion covers washed and dried. I finished wrestling them back on to the cushions this afternoon.
I had my usual slow start Sunday, in so much as I didn't get out of my dressing gown until 1:15pm but once I got started I achieved quite a lot. I wouldn't have been quite so late in moving if I hadn't stayed up until gone 2am watching TV.
I watched a film called The Station Agent about a guy who inherited an old railway station office and moved in there. All he wanted was to be left alone but everyone kept trying to befriend him. Eventually he relented and they became firm friends. It was one of those slow films but still had me engrossed.
When it finished I was halfway through a coffee, so I flicked through the channels and started watching a programme about the wildlife in Yellowstone park, which was a bad choice because I couldn't drag myself away until I found out if all the animals managed to survive the winter.

Foraging is not just for the hedgerows
Here are three links to free ebooks if you fancy having a little foray into foraging whilst you are on your daily walk or even a saunter down to the shops.
The guides are in PDF format with the option to print out and keep as a colour pocket guide. There is also a recipe link on their website to give you some ideas of what to do with the food that you collect.

Urban Foraging Guide

Riverside Foraging Guide

The Cornwall Foraging Guide

Shaggy Parasol Mushrooms which I found in the woods

Checkout Challenge
Most of you thrifty Ladies and Gentlemen probably have this off to a fine art but I thought it worth a mention. I am referring to the sport of  'Tesco points foraging'
When you go to Tesco to do your shopping, don't automatically head for the nearest till to the exit. Go to the one furthest away. Once you have your shopping bagged up and walk to the exit, check every till on the way to the exit and look for receipts. There are Club Card points to be had by the bucket load, especially at the self service tills. Pick them up, sort through the ones with unclaimed points and next time you visit get them put onto your Club Card. I find the best times to do this are lunchtime and between 5 and 7pm. It's probably because folks just nip in quickly and all they can think about is getting back to work or home for the evening.
Try it for a month and see how many extra points you manage to collect. I would love to see how everyone gets on.
I got 32 points this afternoon.