My cabin in the.............

........garden! We don't have woods, sadly, so this is my cabin in the garden. It's been an ongoing project for months now, but is finished apart from the exterior staining, which I hope to tackle this weekend, depending on the weather. Ultimate use is as yet undecided, there are a lot of options I could choose, but one thing is definite - a lot of the stuff inside will have to go! It's full of craft stuff, looms, treadle machine base, chair, cupboard (full of fabric, hahaha!!), boxes of textile bits, all sorts. I am on the cusp (love that expression) of a huge, major clearout, which I have been working up to over the past few eeks, and recent reading has spurred me on to get rid of what I don't actually use, even if I like it.......... Do I really need 4 types of citrus squeezer? 9 mess tins? 5 china fruit bowls (these are really pretty........)?All that knitting wool (especially now I have got the spinning wheel mastered)? Ah yes, that reminds me - there are 7 fleeces in there too. A major job, I think, and not for the faint hearted! It will be done. If I find anything interesting, I might put it up on offer to a good ome here, so watch out in the column to the right for goodies on offer.

More on the non-shop shopping........

Seems to be going well, OH very pleased with results, both gastronomic and monetary! I have instantly knocked 30 - 40 pounds off the weekly shop. Any remaining money from the set amount he gives me on a Friday is mine, so I usually manage to wander past the vintage jewellery stall every week :0) It's an investment, you see.......;0)
One thing I did find last Friday was rose veal, so we had that last night, first time I've had veal. Marinated in a little olive oil, lemon zest and thyme, then cooked with a dash of water and juice of half a lemon, sauce finished with cream; it was lovely with vegetable rice.

Not sure what's on the cards for today, but it will involve more decluttering and sorting out, cleaning, etc, and I need to fit some soap making in there somewhere too!

Beanfeast

These were picked from the garden yesterday for tea, in the pot within ten minutes, can't get much better than that! Mixture of Cherokee Trail of Tears and Crimson Flowered broadies, the sweetest ones I have tasted, and I grow them every year.


This one was taken on Friday, up at Rawlsbury camp, an old hill fortress from Roman times and beyond, up over Bulbarrow. I love it up there, it's wild and windy, you can usually only hear the whistling wind and the occasional sheep. We pick sloes up there in the autumn. It definitely has something there, I can feel it. MrL laughs at me, but I get a bit spooked there sometimes. Had lunch there on Friday.

Home made washing powder

I make this regularly - much superior to anything you can buy in the shops. It has a really lovely "clean" and soapy smell to it, and the washing seems to stay softer, and is easier to iron. It's just a lovely thing to use, no harsh chemicals, no artificial perfumes, little packaging. I like my clean washing to smell of clean washing!! Here's the recipe:

6oz soap flakes
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda - powder or crystals

Mix all together and keep in a dry, cool place, covered. I use about 1/2 a coffee mugful each wash, so it's quite economical, especially if you can buy the ingredients in bulk. I got my last lot from here:

http://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/

It's also a good way of using up the odds and crumbly bits from home made soaps.

Handspun hat - completed!

Here we have it - the completed hat, from start to finish. Pleased with it, so will attempt something a bit bigger next. There's a lot of fleece to get through! :)

Fairly bright here today, need to get out and muck out the goat pen, but not sure what else. Back later.

Serendipitous findings...........

Looking through and sorting out my Kilner supplies, I found this little packet of rubber rings; it says "for jars before 1948" on the front! They're still in good condition and will fit some of my narrower-necked jars.



My second find was in a book; I bought a copy of Change the World for a Fiver - full of little things you can do easily to help look after the planet. The "fiver" refers to the five pounds th book cost, but I got it in Oxfam. One of teh suggestions was to plant your own Christmas tree, to save buying one, or buying a fake, plastic one. Luckily, the seeds were still attached in the book, inside a lovely packet. So, I'll be sowing them later today, although they won't make a usable Christmas tree for a while yet!

In a nutshell.......

John Lane, in his introduction to Timeless Simplicity, sums it up very succinctly:

".........life at the beginning of the 21st century is not what it should be. It seems that oor economic and technological progress has failed to bring about the good society; a higher standard of living has become the unofficial agent of oppression. It has simply failed to result in a better quality of life. Modern culture has encouraged the delusion that consumption provides a palliative for the unease which characterises many lives. This is the exact opposite of the truth. Material "solutions" to emotional problems leave behind a sense of personal dissatisfaction. A simpler lifestyle leaves space for one's spiritual renewal"