Where did April go for goodness sake, the month started cold and grey but eventually warmed up with several sunny days here, and now we are " at average temperatures for the month" according to the weather men. This morning I heard that we might be short of rain all through May which seems really silly after the months of wet.
I've had a few thoughts about our month on the simple Suffolk smallholding and these are our ups and downs. Achievements and things not so good.
1.We earned more than we spent which is always a good way to be. Helped by having the guys working on the Sizewell Outage staying on the campsite - one lot go and another lot arrive. Its the first time we've ever had any here before so I don't know where they stayed in the past.Also Him Outside got paid for the big shed-shifting job and some other gardening work he had been doing throughout March and April.
2. I finished cross stitching another small present for Christmas. BUT I've not picked up my needle since then.
3. I worked out a recipe for onion bhajis which will be a regular part of our home made curry meals from now on.
4.The garden gave us our first of this years crops,- Radishes, Lettuce,Rhubarb,Purple sprouting Broccoli, Chard and Asparagus. The cool spring meant that we still had Leeks, cabbages and onions too.
5. We got the campsite shower done and made a recreation room out of the end of the shed.
6. I found a pair of comfy walking boots for £20 - thought I was going to have to spend more than that.
7.Started blogging and found its lots of fun with many nice people.
8. Kept the food spending under my budget - JUST ! even though its a bad month for stuff of our own.
9. I had another birthday with lots of presents and pretty cards from family and penfriends.
10. Earned an unexpected £30 from the 30 money saving tips thing.
11. Found several things we needed from carboots for finishing off the campsite.
12.Got the new poly tunnel frame up
13. Got my self-employment Tax form done.
14. New chickens now all laying so about 8 dozen a day to sell which they do most days.
15. Had good germination on most things for this years crops.
BUT
Had to buy a new hoover when I set fire to the old one!
Had to buy a new better doorbell so we could hear campers coming to the door.
Him Outside had a big spend on a new hay turner as the one we've had on permanent loan for the past 19 years has finally got un-repairable. ( Hay making is a good source of income for us so this in an investment for future years.)
With trees now coming into leaf it's obvious that nearly all the 100 Ash trees that we planted in January 2011 have the Ash Die back disease and will have to be desrtoyed. So Sad.
That was April for us. How did your April go?
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Monday, 29 April 2013
It's going to be an odd sort of week
Lot's of different things happening this week. Starting this morning when I took Him Outside to catch the train at 8.15. He is starting his regular 3 days a month of doing his old job. So he goes to the big town to pick up a van which he will use for looking around Suffolk at things that might fall down!
Then tomorrow I have to go out for a training session so that on Thursday I can have a VERY long day out sitting in a village hall.
Friday evening our son and girlfriend, who live in Bucks., arrive for the weekend so that they can go to a wedding of one of his school friends.
Then it is also Bank Holiday weekend with some extra campers on site, so more cleaning, emptying bins etc will be needed, and there will be 2 Car boots to go to - weather permitting, ( goodie! extra one on Bank Hol. Mon.)
Which reminds me that we did go to a car boot on Sunday morning. (There is one every Sunday through the summer, alternate weeks in two different places just a 5 or 6 miles from home) Not many booters out at this one but we did find two sets of darts to go with the dartboard that we already had, which we've put in the campsite 'recreation room'.
I also bought this cup and saucer for £1, it will be a Christmas pres.which I shall fill with goodies to give to our friend who buys eggs from us and always brings a pile of newspapers for lighting fires and some farming magazines for us to read.( it's OK she doesn't have a computer so she won't see this!)
While I was in town for the station I thought I might as well do the May big shop at Tescos. ( Yes I realise it is still April but Mays house keeping was here and it will save me a trip later in the week.) Once again I noticed HUGE price hikes on things- especially bread flour. I like Alinsons flour best but it has gone from £1 a bag to £1.72 - I couldn't believe it - what a huge jump from one month to the next. So I bought Tescos own which was £1.21. Their value tinned pineapple which I got for 25p last month - GONE. Only own brand at 65p for a smaller tin. Value packs of spaghetti was back at 19p a packet - they haven't had that in stock for several months and their value cooking chocolate also gone, though I did find same price cheap chocolate in the sweets aisle. Whole Earth Peanut Butter ( I find the value jars everywhere to be too sweet and too salty for me) was on offer so stocked up with 4 months ( 4 jars) supply and they actually had their refill packs of coffee back again, which were missing last time I went so got two of those as we were getting low. One thing I hadn't seen before was packs of blanched peanuts,Him Outside will be pleased as I will be able to make his favourite peanut biscuits. Haven't made any since Julian Graves closed down - still much missed by me as their spices, nuts, dried fruit etc were such good value and quality.
So what with those extras, normal stuff like milk, O.J. cheese (tesco value mature is always good we find) etc. fresh fruit for the week ( health issues means I must have fresh fruit) and stocking up my tinned toms shelf -vital ingredient that was running low, 4 cans of Mild for Him Outside and a couple of special things for our weekend meal with family the total was again a lot more that it was a few months back. And no meat at all on my list and no Willow spread either - that was another thing completely vanished. Shopping round here in the country with not much choice of shops is so frustrating. And I can hear a whole load of people thinking - blimey, she's not very frugal at all. So I'll just say we are frugal in other ways so that we are not so penny pinching on food!
Must just add a thank you message to Trudie, compostwoman, Karen and Pam for comments yesterday and last week. Also to whoever had the link to BBC news page re living on less. I copied it over to Word, deleted the pics. shrunk the whole lot and squeezed it together and then printed out to read properly and to pass on to my Penny Pincher friends. I still find it much easier to read things on paper than on a screen- another sign of old age I guess!
Then tomorrow I have to go out for a training session so that on Thursday I can have a VERY long day out sitting in a village hall.
Friday evening our son and girlfriend, who live in Bucks., arrive for the weekend so that they can go to a wedding of one of his school friends.
Then it is also Bank Holiday weekend with some extra campers on site, so more cleaning, emptying bins etc will be needed, and there will be 2 Car boots to go to - weather permitting, ( goodie! extra one on Bank Hol. Mon.)
Which reminds me that we did go to a car boot on Sunday morning. (There is one every Sunday through the summer, alternate weeks in two different places just a 5 or 6 miles from home) Not many booters out at this one but we did find two sets of darts to go with the dartboard that we already had, which we've put in the campsite 'recreation room'.
While I was in town for the station I thought I might as well do the May big shop at Tescos. ( Yes I realise it is still April but Mays house keeping was here and it will save me a trip later in the week.) Once again I noticed HUGE price hikes on things- especially bread flour. I like Alinsons flour best but it has gone from £1 a bag to £1.72 - I couldn't believe it - what a huge jump from one month to the next. So I bought Tescos own which was £1.21. Their value tinned pineapple which I got for 25p last month - GONE. Only own brand at 65p for a smaller tin. Value packs of spaghetti was back at 19p a packet - they haven't had that in stock for several months and their value cooking chocolate also gone, though I did find same price cheap chocolate in the sweets aisle. Whole Earth Peanut Butter ( I find the value jars everywhere to be too sweet and too salty for me) was on offer so stocked up with 4 months ( 4 jars) supply and they actually had their refill packs of coffee back again, which were missing last time I went so got two of those as we were getting low. One thing I hadn't seen before was packs of blanched peanuts,Him Outside will be pleased as I will be able to make his favourite peanut biscuits. Haven't made any since Julian Graves closed down - still much missed by me as their spices, nuts, dried fruit etc were such good value and quality.
So what with those extras, normal stuff like milk, O.J. cheese (tesco value mature is always good we find) etc. fresh fruit for the week ( health issues means I must have fresh fruit) and stocking up my tinned toms shelf -vital ingredient that was running low, 4 cans of Mild for Him Outside and a couple of special things for our weekend meal with family the total was again a lot more that it was a few months back. And no meat at all on my list and no Willow spread either - that was another thing completely vanished. Shopping round here in the country with not much choice of shops is so frustrating. And I can hear a whole load of people thinking - blimey, she's not very frugal at all. So I'll just say we are frugal in other ways so that we are not so penny pinching on food!
Must just add a thank you message to Trudie, compostwoman, Karen and Pam for comments yesterday and last week. Also to whoever had the link to BBC news page re living on less. I copied it over to Word, deleted the pics. shrunk the whole lot and squeezed it together and then printed out to read properly and to pass on to my Penny Pincher friends. I still find it much easier to read things on paper than on a screen- another sign of old age I guess!
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Lazy Sunday Afternoon.
I enjoyed my cherry yoghurt today and someone mentioned I could use the pots for plants, but I don't do that, for the very good reason that I have hundreds of proper flower pots that I get just by putting a sign outside saying " Flowerpots Wanted". I then find bags of them left for me everytime I open the door. If I only have 1 yoghurt every six months it would take rather a long time to collect what I need for plants !!! Plus there is another good reason and tha'ts because if you are selling \to General Public then it is better to have things in proper pots. If you sell through a market of any sort then things must be in clean pots with proper labels. When we first moved here I bought 1000 plant labels for almost nothing from a garden supply warehouse and I'm still using them. The ones that are not in pots that get sold are scrubbed clean with a scourer and re-used. So I don't have to cut up plastic containers for labels either - leaving me more time to sit in the sun in the conservatory. Which is just what I plan to do for the rest of the afternoon.
Hope you are able to have a Sunday rest too.
Saturday, 27 April 2013
This time it REALLY WASN'T MY FAULT - makes a change!
Early this week we heard that there was a problem in the bank as people hadn't been able to get money out because the computer systems were down. Then Him Outside was working for one of his customers who said they had been having real problems getting connected to t'internet all week, and finally it was explained by the computer shop man, who told us that EVERYWHERE in the area was suffering some sort of major problem with connections, so probably all my struggles to find out why my photos wouldn't upload was nothing to do with me at all !
The reason for being in the computer shop was because a couple of weeks ago Him Outside bought me a new camera for my birthday as the one I've been using all month really belongs to his employer who he now works for just 3 or 4 days a month. (There is no knowing how long this temp. work will go on for so hence the need for a camera of our own.) The new camera was a mystery as it seemed to be stuck on a night vision thing - letting in too much light and no way to get it right. I thought it was my complete ignorance of techi things. So we took it back to our local computer man who had a look at it and eventually decided it was rubbish, sent it back and will not stock that make again. I've now got a Canon which should be better and he let me have it for £20 more than the rubbish one instead of the £40 more that it should have been.
I spent the morning sorting out all the pots of herbs that I have for selling. I've always loved growing herbs as they are very easy and don't need much looking after and I've been selling pots of herbs on a small scale as long as I can remember. First just to Mums at playgroup when the children were little, then at a pick-your-own fruit farm near where we used to live, then at the gate on a slightly bigger scale, and finally, when it was running, at the once a year Suffolk Smallholders Show. Now I just do a few each year to sell in May and June at the gate. This year I just have some lemon balm, chives, thyme, oregano, a few fennel and some mint to pot on and put out on the stand. I've also got parsley which was very slow to get going this year. But Basil was a complete failure. Every autumn I pot up any seedlings that appear in my herb garden and divide up the bigger clumps of things. Then they sit in pots all winter waiting for their April tidy up. Last year I also took cuttings of Rosemary, most of which survived but will need another year before being big enough to sell. I also look out for people selling herbs off cheaply at Car Boot sales because I know if I can buy them for 50p I will be able to sell them for £1 the following year or £1.50 the year after. it's only pennies profit but every little helps. By the way I never buy new pots and I also don't use yoghurt pots or similar. Instead I just put a sign out the front " Wanted - Your Old Flower Pots " and before you know it I'm inundated with pots of all shapes and sizes. People are so glad to find someone who wants them so they don't have to throw them out. I wash all pots with hot soapy water to discourage any nasties, and then they are fine to use.
Him outside has been carrying on with the new polytunnel preparations - in between the showers, rain and hail today.
And Once again there should be a picture here but it wouldn't upload - least I now know why. The computer shop man said he heard it could take ages to sort out as no one can find the problem.
So in the meantime heres the picture of those books again taken from the blog file.
4th from the left in the bottom pic is interesting - A Fenland Smallholding by Pam Bowers. It was originally written bit by bit for Practical Self Sufficiency Magazine which was one of the REALLY early simple living mags ever published, way back in the late 70's. I still keep a few of those early copies and look back at how things were then - much simpler I think as there were NO COMPUTERS to go wrong!!!!!
The reason for being in the computer shop was because a couple of weeks ago Him Outside bought me a new camera for my birthday as the one I've been using all month really belongs to his employer who he now works for just 3 or 4 days a month. (There is no knowing how long this temp. work will go on for so hence the need for a camera of our own.) The new camera was a mystery as it seemed to be stuck on a night vision thing - letting in too much light and no way to get it right. I thought it was my complete ignorance of techi things. So we took it back to our local computer man who had a look at it and eventually decided it was rubbish, sent it back and will not stock that make again. I've now got a Canon which should be better and he let me have it for £20 more than the rubbish one instead of the £40 more that it should have been.
I spent the morning sorting out all the pots of herbs that I have for selling. I've always loved growing herbs as they are very easy and don't need much looking after and I've been selling pots of herbs on a small scale as long as I can remember. First just to Mums at playgroup when the children were little, then at a pick-your-own fruit farm near where we used to live, then at the gate on a slightly bigger scale, and finally, when it was running, at the once a year Suffolk Smallholders Show. Now I just do a few each year to sell in May and June at the gate. This year I just have some lemon balm, chives, thyme, oregano, a few fennel and some mint to pot on and put out on the stand. I've also got parsley which was very slow to get going this year. But Basil was a complete failure. Every autumn I pot up any seedlings that appear in my herb garden and divide up the bigger clumps of things. Then they sit in pots all winter waiting for their April tidy up. Last year I also took cuttings of Rosemary, most of which survived but will need another year before being big enough to sell. I also look out for people selling herbs off cheaply at Car Boot sales because I know if I can buy them for 50p I will be able to sell them for £1 the following year or £1.50 the year after. it's only pennies profit but every little helps. By the way I never buy new pots and I also don't use yoghurt pots or similar. Instead I just put a sign out the front " Wanted - Your Old Flower Pots " and before you know it I'm inundated with pots of all shapes and sizes. People are so glad to find someone who wants them so they don't have to throw them out. I wash all pots with hot soapy water to discourage any nasties, and then they are fine to use.
Him outside has been carrying on with the new polytunnel preparations - in between the showers, rain and hail today.
And Once again there should be a picture here but it wouldn't upload - least I now know why. The computer shop man said he heard it could take ages to sort out as no one can find the problem.
So in the meantime heres the picture of those books again taken from the blog file.
Friday, 26 April 2013
Now Heres a strange thing
The picture is our woodburner which I had to light this afternoon after a few days not needing it. I wanted to sit and finish the |Rory Clements book and got really chilly. We were 10 degrees cooler here this afternoon than yesterday and then we had a storm with pea sized hail stones. Hope they didn't do any damage.
Bought myself a treat today - a 33p black cherry yoghurt. I reckon that's how you know if you are frugal - when a 33p yoghurt is a special treat ! My other regular treat is also not a lot, it's a sachet of Co-op Cappuccino Fairtrade instant coffee mix with chocolate sprinkle bits = 26p. I really know how to live the high life!
Thursday, 25 April 2013
PICTURE PROBLEM - HELP
I now can't up load any pictures from my file onto the blog. they just get stuck and won't start uploading. Any ideas?? I've googled problems up loading pictures but it was no help as I didn't understand a word !!
Two Yummy things today
Quick, quick just time to blog before doing dinner.
I started reading one of the library books that I was looking forward to. It's the fifth in a series of historical crime by Rory Clements called Traitor. Very well written set in Shakespeares England and about political intrigues of the time. Very excited to find note in the back saying TV series is in production that should be good.
Thank you again to everyone who is reading this and apologies for not replying individually but enjoy you comments and also very much love looking at everyone's pictures of their good books.
We've enjoyed another lovely day here and best of all two first of the season yummy things. For lunch we had ONE SPEAR each of ASPARAGUS. Such a treat ( we eat with the seasons so rarely buy things we don't grow - celery maybe, carrots as they don't do well here or an occasional cauliflower or calabrese, though we had to buy spuds this year after our almost total crop failure last year). The second treat is for dinner tonight - THE FIRST OF THE PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI. So there was 1 good thing about the cool spring , leeks, cabbages and purple broc. have often run to seed by now and I still have good edible onions in the shed- often squishy by late April.
Should be pic here but it's frozen on the file I think.
Last night I was hopping from blog to blog and came across a couple of people who blog about being on benefits and really struggling as things get tighter and systems fail. Made me wonder what right had I, who knows nothing about this to write about frugal living . Feel grateful to have married someone who has always had a job he enjoyed ( always average wage , not great wealth ) and to have found ways to live the way we want.What would we have done if we hadn't been able to buy that first house back in 1978, or if we hadn't been able to work on houses to do them up and sell again. Who knows?
Him Outside got the ground for the new polytunnel beds sorted today with the rotervator and some boards for edges, we've got some old slabs around that will make paths in between.
Also filled some big pots with soil ready for planting out the climbing French beans. We LOVE the thin pencil green beans -and grow in pots so they can be right by the back door so we remember to water and feed and pick often. The first lot are hardening off in a sheltered spot and the second lot are just peeping through in their trays in the greenhouse.
I started reading one of the library books that I was looking forward to. It's the fifth in a series of historical crime by Rory Clements called Traitor. Very well written set in Shakespeares England and about political intrigues of the time. Very excited to find note in the back saying TV series is in production that should be good.
Thank you again to everyone who is reading this and apologies for not replying individually but enjoy you comments and also very much love looking at everyone's pictures of their good books.
We've enjoyed another lovely day here and best of all two first of the season yummy things. For lunch we had ONE SPEAR each of ASPARAGUS. Such a treat ( we eat with the seasons so rarely buy things we don't grow - celery maybe, carrots as they don't do well here or an occasional cauliflower or calabrese, though we had to buy spuds this year after our almost total crop failure last year). The second treat is for dinner tonight - THE FIRST OF THE PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI. So there was 1 good thing about the cool spring , leeks, cabbages and purple broc. have often run to seed by now and I still have good edible onions in the shed- often squishy by late April.
Should be pic here but it's frozen on the file I think.
Last night I was hopping from blog to blog and came across a couple of people who blog about being on benefits and really struggling as things get tighter and systems fail. Made me wonder what right had I, who knows nothing about this to write about frugal living . Feel grateful to have married someone who has always had a job he enjoyed ( always average wage , not great wealth ) and to have found ways to live the way we want.What would we have done if we hadn't been able to buy that first house back in 1978, or if we hadn't been able to work on houses to do them up and sell again. Who knows?
Him Outside got the ground for the new polytunnel beds sorted today with the rotervator and some boards for edges, we've got some old slabs around that will make paths in between.
Also filled some big pots with soil ready for planting out the climbing French beans. We LOVE the thin pencil green beans -and grow in pots so they can be right by the back door so we remember to water and feed and pick often. The first lot are hardening off in a sheltered spot and the second lot are just peeping through in their trays in the greenhouse.
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