Tree hugging

mellman01

Well being a bit of an old hippy/pagan I have finally taken the large hint mother nature has been shouting at me, what you may well ask, well as I am forced to walk the dogs round this ear Oxfordshire village by the war office AKA her indoors (now I wouldn't mind so much but we keep going past the local and I'm not allowed to go in!) I can't help but notice the amount of fruit etc on the bushes etc.
Well I have finally taken the big hint and am now making cherry plumb jam, about 4lb's of the stuff, the thing is now every time I see a bush full of the things just dropping to the floor I feel it's such a waste of food, maybe I had a previous life in the 2nd world war as I hate to see anything go to waste, and as I get older it's getting worse!.
Do I need ferapy do you think??, I mean at this rate I could well end up like dear old Mr Rebus off a life of grime! :roll:

dreamdaisy

You are making use of the free bounty of nature mell - and it might help the drains too! (if yer catch ma drift) Good on you boy - send a pot to me please! DD

skezier

Well done Mell.... just made an apple pie but forgot it was in the oven so its a bit burned round the edges :roll: Got 100's of blackberries out there and maybe you would like some of them as well? xx

dreamdaisy

Watch it mell - you'll be knitting your own yoghurt before too long! DD

valval

if you have to much jam the cafe will have it we love fresh free jam lol go for it all make the pennys stretch so you can have that pint lol

mellman01

road kill burgers are me next project I think!! :shock:

dreamdaisy

There's a road kill café in America called 'From Your Grille to Ours'. DD

mellman01

dreamdaisy wrote:

There's a road kill café in America called 'From Your Grille to Ours'. DD

Your joking DD!?, please say you are!.[/quote]

mellman01

babycham wrote:

Bet its true...place in u.s.a called La Crosse and its the barbed wire capital of the world xxxB/C :? :? :?

Only in America BC, hey 4 jars of cherry plum jam all done and dusted, success at first try!.

dreamdaisy

mellman, it's true. QI told me. Ergo, true. Get knitting! DD

tkachev

Its not just you. I am well known for only wanting the best, expensive stuff (but not shoes and handbags) but lately have started to buy cheap clothes for the family(although i keep wondering if slave labor produced it)and growing veg and making dinners etc. Mr Lazy let the first crop of raspberries die so now thats another job I have had to take over.Plus I have now been told I will be responsible for picking the apples and chopping them up for the freezer.He has made fire bricks out of empty loo rolls and newspapers but having to stop buying the papers next month cos of less money coming in.I would walk about more but cant manage that but have tried to get Mr Lazy to make less silly, little trips and to condensce the journeys. Will be carless from December.Dont think i could eat roadkill yet.

e x

mellman01

Bloody hell Len I'm ahead of the curve on this one, see hippy is cool again!, mind you DD no chance of me knitting myself a new anything just yet, and I'm with you ex no chance of me eating road kill unless it's something I have run over, well all apart from the little old lady in Wallingford a few years ago, but that's another story!.
Oh len I not the article is in Pembrokshire I love that part of the world, was hopping to move there with the tribe to work at the new Milfordhaven power station our company has built but bloody OA took that chance away from me like so many other bloody things, Grrrrrrr!.
Sorry went off on one for a mo then!.

dreamdaisy

The forums are a public place, open to all. People need different things, use the forums in diferent ways. Yes, there are some very selfish people who 'use' the good will of those on here, but they are far outnumbered by those who give generously of their time, their experience, their concern, their advice and their encouragement. Bless them, the 'users' won't even have a clue who they are, so wrapped up are they in their own, footling little worlds! And they won't be reading this anyway, as they didn't start the thread and it's not about them!

mell, did I confirm that the café was real? I think I did. I'd happily eat roadkill venison, big animal, more bits to choose from, but a roadkill bird? Nope, too small. DD

dreamdaisy

You do make me laugh. DD

mellman01

Right more stories from the Brithwell hippy, now on me second batch this time it's red plums that are in the pot, 6 jars worth, as I sit here the smell of fruit is bloody lovely!.

Be at one with nature, stop for just an instance and allow it's beauty to invade your senses and infuse your inner soul.

or just say bugger it and throw the lot in the bin and pop down to the pub for a pint and a ploughman's!.

dreamdaisy

Plum jam. Absolute heaven on fresh, white, crusty bread. No butter: pollutes the taste of the jam. Oh mellman, how absolutely gorgeous.

Can I use the lavender in my garden for lavender bread? Lavender is lavender is lavender, isn't it? DD

mellman01

Can't see why not DD Google it, I love lavender we have a bush of it outside the back door and when you rub past it it smells heavenly!, and me bees love it!.

annie_mial

dreamdaisy wrote:

Plum jam. Absolute heaven on fresh, white, crusty bread. No butter: pollutes the taste of the jam. Oh mellman, how absolutely gorgeous.

Can I use the lavender in my garden for lavender bread? Lavender is lavender is lavender, isn't it? DD

Think culinary lavender is a bit different.

Annie

tkachev

We have been making plum jam too Mell.


Elizabeth

angie1973

I am such a hippy myself you know. I rarely buy new clothes, all but a few pairs of black trousers and the odd white shirt to look smart at work (I live in trousers!).

I raid charity shops all the time. 99% of my sons reading books have come from charity shops where I buy them, we use them, then we give them back again to resell for another child to enjoy.

I have a water butt in the garden to water the plants with. Up until two years ago, we lived on a boat. It was fantastic, and you had to be really frugal to live like that. We were excellent at water conservation given we had a tank to live off, and fuel, always using windfall wood etc where we could, sharing jam etc from other boaters. It was a wonderful community to live in.

I am no different now I am in the house. Our water bill is minute compared to the average family. I get a real kick out of beating my mpg rate on the car, getting a charity bargain, repairing or recycling, not wasting food etc.

I think it's such good fun!!

Some people can't understand me at all for doing what I do, when other people don't even try, but then if no-one tried, how much worse would things be?

On the other subject mentioned, although I've asked a fair few questions (being a newly diagnosed newbie etc), I hope that I have also given a lot back, even though I am new, and hope that I will contribute loads over the coming days, weeks, months etc, and that you will be happy to have me stuck around some!

Ange..xx

angie1973

I loved it! I hated to leave as well, but it was for the best for the kids to be close to their school and have friends near by rather than a walk down the tow path.

I miss it because it kept me active too, and because we explored a lot, it could mean sometimes 20 minutes walk to where we could park the car! It was gorgeous in the evenings sat outside the front in the bow with a glass of wine watching the sun set, listening to nature just slowly go to sleep. Spring and the baby ducks and swans was amazing too!

I hope to go back to it some day when the kids are older and hopefully I've still got mobility to do it. The only thing I didn't like was white vans dumping fridges in the canal, but you can't have everything

This whole forum is a caring place babycham, it's lovely to be on here with such a nice caring, unselfish and non judgemental group. What more could you ask

babycham wrote:

You can have a L/bag free.grattis to live on a boat .. and with arthritis as well you sound like a really careing person AngiexxxB/Cham

dreamdaisy

Course we want you to stick around, aging hippy or not! I've always fancied living on a boat - why the move to the house?
We have a water butt, we're on a meter here and East Anglia is, apparently, one of the drier areas of the country. Not lately it isn't. It has tipped it down over the past few days, and is getting ready to do so again.

I love new books, and can't bear to give them away when read. Neither can The Husband, so the nett result is piles of 'em all over the house.

Is there a difference between culinary lavender and ordinary? I keep forgetting I can google stuff - I'll find out on my own.

mell, what are you creating today? Anything good, or has work beckoned? DD

angie1973

I know what you mean ladies, I don't like grotty books. It's strange though, at the charity shop I go to for the books, they are like new books, literally! most of them have hardly been touched, and they look so clean and unused. A sign I think of kids today!

But I can get five books (regardless of size, thickness etc) for £1 at this shop and to me, that's just a bargain! Especially for something you grow out of fairly quickly (esp younger kids books).

My book collection I will keep forever and tend to read over and over. I love new books for that yes, as the grown up ones in charity shops tend to be more mills and boon than the sort of thing I like, so I'm with you there.

I moved for the kids DD, as we had to get the nipper into his first school and you HAD to live in the catchment to get in, despite his older sister already going there, so we had not much choice. They are better for it, but I loved the boat. Might sound strange living on a 7 foot wide tin can, but it was always warm, boiling in summer, but winter, 5 foot from a real fire (closed stove), and up 28-29 in the winter it was good heat too, close heat, but not humid was great for my joints!

Ahh, one day........