Another week..............

....hurtling towards the middle of autumn already; weather is dank and overcast,a definite chill in the air. Autumn crops are coming in thick and fast. This morning I cut the largest of the squashes. I'm not sure of varieties, will need to do a look about to find out what they are; they came from a mixed pack of winter squash. Teh yellow one is a whopper :) The apples are the first tiny crop from my Yarlington Mill cider apple I planted last year, so pleased with that. They will go into this year's cider. I am in the kitchen this morning making Summer's End chutney, beer and Red Dragon Pie.

Why I love the internet................

Just had a couple of lightbulb moments, courtesy of the internet. What I love about the net is the endless possibilities of tangential inspiration. You start off looking into one thing, and end up miles awy from your origianl subject, via odd-bod blogs, strange sites, webcams, Youtube, e-bay, Amazon, forums and chat boards, suppliers links, all sorts. It really is a wonderful world out there, and most of it is on the net.
This morning, I started off looking at axes, trying to locate a specific one for a specific purpose. I have thus ended up with two new projects for this weekend - making honey vinegar, and making a wool yarn duster. I have a vinegar crock, I have lots of wool - bingo, on goes the lightbulb.

Didn't find an axe, though...............:)

Up along and down along..............I

These are some pictures of White Mill, near Sturminster Marshall, owned by the NT. We have driven by it several times over the past few months, but today we pulled in to the car park, ate our lunch, then got out and had a look around; what a lovely old building; I fell in love with the two dovecotes on the front - wonder if I could fit something like that in the garden? :) The mill race needs clearing out, and it would be wonderful to see it fully restored, but not sure if they are going to, will have to try and find out. Teh river is the Stour. Mill cottage sits beside it, partly built into one end of the mill itself, really interesting. The mill is open soem weekends, so we may well have a jaunt down and have a peep inside.This from the NT site: "Corn mill with original wooden machinery in a peaceful riverside setting
Contains original 18th-century elm and applewood machinery ." Certainly worth a visit. The picture of the roadway is the lane coming down towards the junction by the mill - a typical country lane around Dorset, one steeped in history and following the well-trodden path of hundreds of years, undoubtedly older.

Up along and down along..........II

As they say in Dorset; we came home via a circuitous route, ostensibly to try and get a photo of a National Trust property for the WI competition on Thursday. I don't expect to win, but thought it would be nice to support it and put an effort in. Our route took us through Cowgrove, a very ancient village on the Kingston lacey estate, just outside of Wimborne. The ancient atmosphere in that part of the world is palpable; it is little changed in hundreds of years apart from a few newwer houses up away from the road through. Very old duck pond and green, with the narrow road winding past it. The houses, farms and cottages are well -kept, as they are all NT properties. The one in the pictures is The Court House; I remember it being restored when we lived down that way - 11 years ago +, now. I remember the scaffolding enclosing it, the roof being restored and the hair and plaster going on - we went to have a look regularly to see how work was progressing. The thatched cottage beside it belongs to the dairy farm, the thatch coming down almost, but not quite , to ground level. A truly beautiful and unspoilt part of England, this; I would love to have seen it a couple of hundred years ago, but as I said, probably recognisable and little different to today.

Rainy Friday treasures............

Good evening from a very soggy Dorset! It's been raining here most of the day, both at home and down In Wimborne; back to the Friday market routine, which was nice after a break of a fortnight. Had breakfast in town, bought my stash of magazines, quick hurtle around the charity shops (saved 2 for next week!), then off down to the market. Lots of treasures for few pennies again. Two new skirts in the picture there for 3.00 - lovely quality crepe-y , both fully lined, one brand new with the tickets till on! The hearts brooch is a little piece of 1940s treasure from my vintage jewellery lady at the market; the lace trims came from my linen lady a couple of stalls down, at 1.00 per piece. I have a notion to tack them on my larder shelves after it's been cleaned out and tidied. The rosey plate was irresistable to me at the tip ( combined with a new loaf tin, lovely stainless steel, copper- bottomed steamer and pan, some bungs for my demi-johns and the rather interesting little wooden moneybox with spots on. Who needs new? :)

Spiral scarf

I got the wool for this yesterday, and cast it on this morning - couldn't wait! It's an ingenious design by Judy Warde, in the lovely book Yarn Stash Wonders, which I borrowed from the library. There are many things in there I'll knit, I think. This wool is a Kaffe Fassett Rowan one, pure wool, very soft and warm, ideal for a scarf, and I think the colour grading sits well with the spiral design. Chuffed with this one. I now have to go and do all the housework I should have been doing whilst knitting this! :)




Or I might just cast on something else instead..................

Energy update

Electricity usage is one thing I am very hot on here, for a number of reasons. Some months back, I tried to persuade OH to change to all renewables for our elctricity; after humming and hawing for a while, I left it a couple of months, but lalst week, sat him down , had another go, and we finally got our application sent off to Good Energy
http://www.good-energy.co.uk/
However, since we applied, their prices have risen by 16%; I was impressed by the letter that arrived on Tuesday, explaining the rise and by how much, etc, and giving us a week's cooling off period in case we didn't want to go with them after their price rise. I don't know the exact figures, but I think the 16% is favourable compared with other suppliers, some of which have risen more than 16% I think. I pick up these things on the news, etc, but am not good at retaining figures for long. However, the main thing for me is the fact that Good Energy supplies all of its electricity from renewable sources; it really has to be the way for us, even if it costs a little bit (or even a lot) more each month. If push comes to shove, then we will cut back elsewhere (oh no, not Amazon..........:0) ) So - we're going with Good Energy.
We use very little electricity, I think. In the kitchen, I am down to a fridge, a radio cassette (rarely used, so is moving out of there) and a blender. The blender's days are numbered when I find the insert to my Mouli, which I think should be lurking down the side of the washing machine - don't ask!! Yes, the washing machine, but I am working on that one; bedsheets would be hard work, as would towels, but not impossible by hand. The other issue ofcourse, with the machine, is the water usage; I use it as wisely as I can, and it empties straight into a butt otuside the back door; this shows just hwo much water is used for one wash, and is emptied on to the garden when and where needed. Lighting is three lights on the ceiling, two of which work independently according to where the light is required; one new lamp over the table after I moved it - quite often this is enough if I am sitting doing something at the table. All bulbs are energy saving ones.In the sitting room we have one small TV,DVD,video and computer/printer, one small lamp, one ceiling light. Not too bad upstairs, but TV in each of the children's rooms, plus game thingy in EJ's, computer (non net) in Bean's. One clock radio in our room, belonging to OH. I'd rather have a wind-up alarm clock, but I would miss the farming programmes on Radio 4 in the mornings.......:) Could live without them, though.
So far, quite pleased with the efforts we've made on the electricity front. I was going to buy a thing that shows yoru usage over the day, and what uses up the power, but I decided it was just another gadget, and we will watch the bills instead. The biggest drop in usage occurred when I got rid of the elctric kettle and toaster. Because the Rayburn is on all the time, we started to use that couple of years ago instead of these. I think it's a question of adapting and thinking hard about what you use, and how to fit the changes you want to make into your life without compromising the things most important to you and your family too much. However, I think that in the not too distant future, even a compromise may be a luxury. I am not convinced that alternative energy is the only answer in the long run; the answer is to CONSUME LESS; and consume less of everything, not just electricity. Think more, consume less, live better.