Thanks and a recipe

 Hello All

Here I am !

Thanks for the feedback about the proposed group. The word "Skills" will definitely have to be in the group/event/gathering title. I reckon it will be new year when we get started as I have so much to do here and am so far behind with the Civic Society stuff and I haven't even thought about Christmas yet. However, it gives me time to prepare. I have been putting aside all the seed I save as I can give packets of seed to people who are interested. So far I have several types of bean seed, loofah, sunflower and pumpkin extra to my needs. I'm also gathering simple sewing/ knitting etc patterns. 

Today I'm acting like a proper smallholder! I have jarred a couple of buckets of honey, made butter with some extra cream, made tomato puree, peeled a couple more loofahs, chopped and froze bunches of parsley and made some peanut butter cookies , using eggs that I put down in waterglass last summer. Which means I have absolutely no energy left to dig a patch over for the garlic and spring cabbage. Manana eh?! So here I am at the laptop writing another post and trawling through the facebook (Meta) groups I follow.

The biscuits I made were from a recipe I found in a Tesco magazine sent to me by a friend. What caught my eye was it it had only three ingredients, which I already had and didn't contain any flour. I'm surprised that Tesco didn't mention that. Anyway here is the recipe if you are coeliac or indeed like peanut butter.

Peanut cookies

Whisk together one large egg and 200g of soft brown sugar until smooth. Add 225g of crunchy peanut butter until blended well. Cover and chill for half an hour. Heat oven to 180 or 160 for fan/ gas 4. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. After half an hour scoop out 10 balls of dough with a dessert spoon, giving them plenty of room to spread. Cook for 12  to 15 mins, leave to cool for 15mins and then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling. 

Those I cooked spread to an enormous size and I wondered if a smaller egg might reduce the size, but who knows. Here is a poor pic of said cookies 

This week I have had my granddaughter's dogs to stay while she has visited my daughter in Jersey. I've really enjoyed having them as they are such delightful kind dogs. ( A yellow Lab and a Bernese) Mind you, like grandchildren, it's good to pass them back too!

Here they are. The Lab is Coda and the Bernese is Hattie.

"Enough" you cry

Back Soon

Love Gill

Ideas please

 

Hello  again

Its a busy time of year getting ready to  batten down the hatches and prepare for winter. 

Today I looked through  the  bees and fed a hive that didn't have many stores, I have taken only a little honey off the other four hives this year ( still to be spun when I get a few hours free) as I am unsure how the winter is going to span out. The mild winter actually worked against them last year as they were flying a a lot and using up stores that can't be replenished by them with there being no forage in the winter. Next week I shall put the mouseguards on and wish them all a quiet winter!

Along with many of you I am sure, I have been pickling bottling drying wine making etc, This year there seems to be an extra urgency as I feel a little unsure and unsettled for the future. I've always been a prepper and as self sufficient as possible, but there is a different dimension to this now. Recently I have been happy to support a young woman to learn how to make jams/ jellies and make butter and have also been sharing on food growing and self sufficiency sites how I approach certain tasks. Obviously when posting in these groups I am preaching to the converted and I realise that for each group  member who is interested there are hundreds of thousands who care nothing for such things.

Where is this leading? Well two issues have unsettled me, 

Firstly I now have a great granddaughter who I am lucky enough to be trusted to look after  when her mum is a few hours short of support when she is at work. Watching this delightful child eat everything I pick for her as we go round the gardens ( strawberries, peas, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber blackberries and raspberries that I can think of) I wonder what kind of an adult life she will have. What will the world be like in 20 or 30 years time? Will her children have a happy carefree childhood?

Secondly, I have lost several dear friends over the last year or two and am grateful that I am still here and still have my health and am fit enough to lead a useful life, with skills to share with others... at the moment.

I can't shake a vision I have of the near future being similar to that of the second world war, with shortages of food, fuel and materials. The difference being that it won't be for just a few years. Do the generation that will have to live in these conditions have the skills and mindset to manage? I may just be here in twenty years, but may need a little looking after myself by then!

So Gill cut to the chase. My daughter and I believe that we should do what we can to pass on stuff while we can and that we should share our skills, experiences with others. We are planning to set up an event where we invite people who wish to learn skills and others who have the skills to share. Subject such as using a sewing machine , growing things to eat either in a large plot or just a window box, Frugal, wholesome cooking , getting a go-to bag together, mending, knitting, preserving,  seed saving, etc etc A thread that will run through these subject will obviously be the environmental plusses of such skills.  The attendees themselves would decide on subjects

So my question is, when we send out posters, what to call such a group?  My target age group (though not exclusively) would be 16 to 30. My daughter says to avoid titles such as "Knit and Natter" and other such twee, middle to older age  group names and aim more for "Are you ready for the Zombie Apocalypse?" to catch  the eye and imagination of younger people!  

  Thoughts and ideas Pleeeease !    

Love Gill x     

PS hope this doesn't sound too worthy!