Unbought Delicacies

Wednesday, 29 August 2012

Act for Seed Freedom

Please watch this and share as widely if you can. It really is vitally important for many reasons. Thankyou :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vugasMzEYxo

Really in August I should be thinking more along the lines of salads and barbecues, cooking outside and picnics! Really really wet, cold and miserable today, so made some thrifty chicken soup.

Dice one medium onion and saute in a good knob of butter until soft, but not coloured; add in the chopped meat from two cooked chicken legs* and 1 1/2 pints of good stock (I used Marigold powder for this one). Simmer slowly for about half an hour, then whizz through the blender, but not too smooth,so you still have bits of the chicken in it. Re-heat gently with a dash of cream or top of the milk and serve in hot soup bowls.

* these were left from a chicken used a few days ago; I intend to buy a coule of packs of free range chicken legs though, cook them, and keep them in the freezer for making chicken soup. Can't be beaten on a day like today :)

Sunday, 26 August 2012

Highland Fairy blog

A lovely blog to stumble across on a Sunday morning - great originality, beautiful work, inspiring :)
http://highlandfairy.blogspot.co.uk/

(picture of her dress from the blog above)

Friday, 24 August 2012

Frugal Friday ps

Another great barter :) A dozen mixed fresh eggs for a bg of freshly dug potatoes and picked runner beans from my friend Jill.

Frugal Friday - nasturtium leaf soup

This really is very tasty - give it a go :) The nastutium is in the same family as watercress, and tastes similar both fresh and in soup.

Good handful of nasturtium leves, stalks removed
1 small potato, peeled and diced
1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
1 pint good stock
seasoning to taste
tbsp double cream and shredded nasturtium flower to garnish

Wash leaves if required and put into pan with potato, onion and stock, cover and simmer until vegetables soft. Leave to cool, then blend until smooth, or the conistency you like. Reheat, with seasoning if required, to piping hot, pour into hot soup bowls add cream and sprinkle on flower shreds. Serve immediately.

A few pics............

Just to give a flavour of the first day of Lfest :)

http://mrsloneowomanfestival.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, 22 August 2012

The ancient art of haaf net fishing

Part of my heritage, being brought up near the Solway firth coast:

http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2012-08-21/haff-net-fishing-on-the-solway/

Picture from :http://www.52hq.co.uk/379/section.aspx/378/haafnet_fishing_in_the_solway_firth

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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