Lambs, Child labour, end of The Challenge, and other stuff.

Back to my Blog at last ! Been a frantic few days, but I'm back in harness now and will bring you up to date with a few thnigs.

The lambs - they are getting stronger little by little, though Simon has a bit of a limp at the moment, he's the weakest with long legs that he struggles to control at times ! Sky who is the smallest, is now holding her own with the others. Shaun who is the biggest, is still a bit picky with his bottle, but is eating hay readily, while Susie is the strongest, "bolshyist", greediest and (don't tell the others) prettiest of the four. It is warm today (remember warm?) so they can spend the afternoon in the field.

When I was in Cornwall last weekend I went round my favourite charity shops. My best buy was an M&S blouse from the £1.00 rail and these curtains from the same rail. They measure 7ft by 4ft and will be part of my next project. When I looked them over properly I realised that they had new detachable black-out linings too. Now that's what I call a bargain for £2 !

It has been warm and SUNNY today! The problem with sun is that it shows how disgusting my windows are!! So this morning I set to to clean the kitchen windows, that is, three windows and three glass panelled doors. I found that I had no window cleaner so I did what I should have done years ago and researched how I might make my own cleaner. God bless Frugal Bloggers ! So I set to with white vinegar and hot water, a soft rag (tea shirt) and some old newspaper. RESULT !! The windows look brilliant, literally!. One slight hiccup was that while I was teetering on a stool reaching the top of one window I reached down for a another sheet of newspaper to polish off. Job done, I stepped back to admire my work and glanced down at the crumpled, wet, front page of today's newspaper !! I had read that when I got in from the morning feed, but D. hadn't so much as glanced at it yet, so, (after taking a pic of it) I sheepishly (while suppressing my giggles ) presented him with his Sunday morning read.

 The Challenge is ended.. hurrah ! can't say that I am sorry. It is clear that living on a £1 a day long term is achievable, though I found it a tad boring and would certainly approach it differently if I did it again. Firstly I would batch cook more to help me through the boring days and I would also shop a little more as I went along, looking out for bargains and orange stickers and making something from whatever was available. I think that as a smallholder I had begun to forget just how much food we grow and preserve. I had to stop myself from dipping into the freezer or pantry to add some interest/vitamins/greens. We have always had a couple of meat-free days a week, both for health and economy. When living on a £1 a day meat is a luxury, apart from the "cooking" bacon from Sainsburys/Lidl. I must say I missed my lamb and fish!
I have lost my list of meals at the mo. It is somewhere under the mountain of paperwork on my table. I will post it later , as I want to get this blog out tonight and we are going out to friend's in an half hour.

My next pic is of eldest granddaughter and a couple of young friends planting seeds for me. (what's wrong with child labour?!) the first picture shows broad bean planting and the second illustrates how I always grow peas. As mentioned in another post, I grow them in guttering, with gaffer tape at the ends and when the plants are a couple of inches high I slide the whole line out, undisturbed, into a trench of the appropriate depth. I grow them this way as it foils the mice that live in our drystone walls.

We now have four broody hens (I'm afraid Mavis our first hen to go broody went off the idea as she was so harassed by the other hens. So we await the patter of tiny claws.
Enough for now.
Thanks for reading.
Gillx