In a moment of madness

New arrival

2011-01-06T19:26:00.000Z

The first veg box is here. D trekked across half the county (from where he was working in the Isle of Sheppey to deepest, darkest Crundale) and this is the end result.

I find this very exciting, though also a little daunting. I need to rediscover the veg box recipes page on facebook, or create my own unique way of blending spinach, cabbage, swede and butternut squash. All suggestions for the use of seasonal veg gratefully received.

Progress and hiccups

2011-01-01T06:22:00.000Z

This is the point where I usually give up. Because it's all too much effort. This is why supermarkets are so popular, in the middle of everything (buying children's clothes, planning birthday celebrations, taking the cat to the vets) you can walk in, chuck everything you need (and usually about £20 of stuff you don't) into a trolley and get out again. I am also beginning to wonder how it's going to work when term starts and I have to go back to work. Currently we're getting on ok because I have the time to head off to a range of places in search of missing goods. This will all change next Tuesday.

Doing it this new way takes a lot more thought. This means that I am now starting to run out of stuff, not helped by forgetting a couple of essentials (e.g. pasta) when I did make it to a small supermarket. (Aside: I was going to try and give up all kinds of supermarket, but that may be the challenge for another year, this is difficult enough). I don't think I have ever really thought about food, other than maybe to make a shopping list. This has also made me think about what we actually need. And that the world will not end if we do run out of coffee (though it might if we run out of teabags).

Yet, in spite of all this, we are succeeeding! Apart from my one stop to aforementioned small shop to stock up on tins and some snack foods for a birthday party (as we have not yet mastered hand-crafting our own tortilla chips) I have kept out of the bigger stores.

I made it to the butchers (I actually made it there twice, but the first time it was shut, curse you holiday opening times). This was good not only as it provided the chance to get provisions but also we found out that they will deliver and we can phone our order in. And I managed to get some oxtail as I have found a stew recipe I want to try. As an added bonus (and from a seperate source) we were gifted with a brace of pheasant which are even now resting in the shed awaiting dressing for the pot.

I have also been making bread. I did use the breadmaker, and it was working brilliantly until there was a loud bang and the trip switch went. I have not had the courage to reconnect it yet to test it again, nor the bravery to attempt a fuse change. However the recipe is fantastic for hand baking too and makes a large, light, creamy loaf which all of us (children included) enjoy. A minor challenge is that it is hugely delicious and I find its doughy charm hard to resist, the extra slices (with generous amounts of butter and jam) are not helping my post-Christmas festive waistline...

Symbolic Gesture

2010-12-26T20:19:00.000Z

Not much time for putting plans into action what with seasonal festivities and watching too much TV. The breadmaker is out of the loft, but not yet undone or operated.

However, I have, in reckless abandon, taken scissors to my supermarket loyalty cards and destroyed them (sounds a bit dramatic for the restrained snips it actually took to quarter them, but the intention was there). Perhaps this seems a bit futile but the temptation to do the odd sneaky bit of online shopping at 6 am, before everyone else is up and I need to make packed lunches, with the consoloation that I will be earning "rewards" has now been removed. Whether I can manage without the convenience of being able to do online shopping at 6 am remains to be seen.

First steps

2010-12-24T07:50:00.003Z

True to my word (and I should hope so to, at this early stage) I found out about veg boxes. I have sent off an order to Ripple Farm Organics in Crundale (www.ripplefarmorganics.co.uk) for a medium box on a weekly basis. This will cost £9, which seems highly reasonable, and will include 8 - 9 seasonal veg including spuds, carrots and onions (which are the staple of my veg shop anyway). There are a number of national schemes (Riverford being one) but I am doubly pleased (in a smug kind of way, I admit) that this is local (it's also a lot less money, a consideration in the "current economic climate").

We will need to go and collect the veg once a week from the farm (unless lots of people in Chartham decide to have them, and then they might do a local drop off...) but I guess this is not much different than a weekly trip to Morrison's anyway.

I did also look at the possibility of a meat box for example from www.wellhungmeat.com but got all worried about delivery and what happens when we're not here and then there'll be a box of festering sausages in some carrier depot awaiting collection...

But there are two good butchers I know of within about a 5 mile radius one in Wincheap, Canterbury and the other in Wye and I reckon a trip twice a month to one (or both) should be enough. I will then be able to compare prices and work out which is most cost effective (plus shopping for myself means I can add a bit of variety). But that's for after Christmas.

Today's action is liberate the breadmaker.

Resolution

2010-12-23T05:07:00.003Z

In the spirit of great new year adventures here's a question. Is it possible to give up the "big 4" supermarkets? Can we live without them? Specifically can we give them up over the next 12 months?

These questions came out of watching Panorama (What price cheap food?) last night. It was about how these supermarkets, in particular, are kind of taking over the country and the impact this is having on local communities and on food production. Now I know that a lot of this is to do with the need for businesses to make a profit and keep the wheels of capitalism well greased (and the shareholders happy), but I also think a lot of it is to do with us as consumers. We like to have everything under one roof, it's easier, saves us time and it's also cheaper.

And then I wondered if we could give them up. I don't think we will necessarily be able to banish this way of shopping entirely from day one, it may be more of a work in progress, a weaning, my biggest question being, where do you get tinned goods without a supermarket?

So initial ideas of how to do this so far are as follows:

investigate suppliers and order a weekly veg box,
visit local butcher,
continue with growing our own (mainly salad stuff and soft fruits, and carrots because they're easy),
release friend's breadmaker from the loft and find out how to use it.

And I'm going to do the first of these now.

Spending spree

2009-04-09T14:19:00.002Z

I have been reckless. I decided we needed a new table and chairs. We currently have folding chairs which have been badly eaten by the dog. And are somewhat unstable, particularly if you're not used to them. And we have my Nanna's gate leg table, which is fine, but a little large. I began looking in catalogues and online, but they were all too expensive or too trendy or too big.
We have a hospice furniture shop near by and I went to look there. I found a great table, its dark wood, possibly from around the 50s, and it extends and comes with 4 spindle backed chairs, and was more reasonable than any of the catalogues (even Argos). And then I was even a bit more reckless and found this gorgeous cupboard with two small glass hidey holes for displaying things, and twisted poles and original cobwebs, and I bought that too.
I am very excited and also somewhat amazed at the lack of dithering in my decisions and even more pleased because they are pre-loved. Roll on delivery day.

Postcard

2009-04-07T14:51:00.004Z

Hello

Had a great weekend in Ilkley, stayed dry and - for the most part - fine. Began Saturday with a walk over the moor and then tea and flapjack at White Wells, which has a spring where people used to bathe and "take the waters."

Sunday saw us heading off to the Embsay and Bolton Railway for a pleasant ride down the line and then a walk to the abbey where we picnicked (stromboli, meat loaf and millionaire's shortbread, yum), threw stones in the water (or at ducks, mentioning no names) and some of us braved the stepping stones. Imagine this scene on a spring day with accompanying daffodils and a fresh breeze...

Hope to catch up soon, take care, us xxx

scantastic

2009-03-20T07:24:00.002Z

I have to go for another mri this morning. I don't like them much, mainly because I don't much like confined spaces and its a bit confined in there. And its very noisy, so much so that I am convinced the machine is breaking with me inside it, even the headphones playing local radio don't block it out much. In addition, to make it bearable, I have to have a pill to stop me going all crazy and panicked, this makes me pretty mellow, but also no good for anything for the rest of the day. Thank God for daytime TV.

the meaning is in the waiting

2009-02-07T20:53:00.002Z

RS Thomas wrote this. And I read and Advent book with the same title. Very good. I found the first chapter, about Abraham and Sarah, very helpful and apposite...
The problem is that all the while you are waiting you are thinking about the waited for, the end of a course of study is your goal, the bright light beckoning you forward; labour and (God willing) a screaming infant is the goal of pregnancy, the thing which will make morning sickness and stretch marks worthwhile; the holiday is the culmination of much excited planning and anticipation and speculation, dreams and hopes.
How do you live the waited moment, how do you sit in that in-between time and fully occupy it? How can you be fully present to that not-yet while hurtling towards your final destination?

Postcard

2009-01-02T19:51:00.003Z

Hi, hope you're well. We are all fine, and had a good Christmas. Boxing Day we took the hound for a walk in Kings Wood, it was freezing cold, but golden beautiful. We went out the next day too, this time to Dover, and understood the meaning of the weatherman term "Arctic Blast".

We have had a chance to catch up with a few friends, and as today is T's twelfth birthday, went on a celebratory jaunt on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. It was, again, freezing, and a day the colour of wallpaper paste but we had fun in that crazy British way people do when they go riding the world's smallest public railway (and the trains were so busy they had to put on extra coaches so its not only us). Dungeness power station is a space-age shock again the vast shingle wilderness, and I daydreamed about living in one of the tiny cottages with their driftwood fences and black, clapboard exteriors, right out at the end of the world. Today we celebrated with roast beef and birthday cake, and the boys played Hornby Virtual Railway and built Lego kits. Keep safe and warm, speak soon x.

Barking mad

2008-11-26T19:46:00.001Z

Here's another story. Once upon a time there was a woman who got a dog, and it barked a lot, and drove her nuts.

Heads or tails

2008-11-26T19:22:00.004Z

So once upon a time there was a woman who wanted to be a skydiver. The idea first presented itself while she was watching TV, there were some skydivers, talking about skydiving and suddenly she felt very excited and she wondered if she could be a skydiver too. After that she didn't think about it any more for a while.
Several months later she was passing a skydiving centre, on the spur of the moment she popped in to see if they had any more information. She ended up having a long chat with an instructor and went away to think some more. And so it went on, for weeks, months and years. She would chat to people, and decide it wasn't the right time or that she should do other things first, there would be time to sky dive later. Years became decades. In the meantime she trained as a plastic surgeon, just to pay the bills, and she found it quite a satisfying way to earn a living, if a little stressful at times, and she was pretty good at it (which helps in that line of work).
For several years she didn't even think about skydiving, and then, there it was, the old yearning, the dream and the desire and she felt, more than ever before that this was "it", her raison d'etre. After waiting a while, just to make sure, she contacted an instructor and began to talk it over again. The instructor suggested that as she had, so to speak, ummed and erred a bit over the whole "I want to be a skydiver" thing she should give it just a few more months and then go back.
What's a bit more waiting, she thought, I've waited for so long already, I can be patient, even though I know now its right, I've read all the books, seen the DVDs, been to the conventions, the time is now. After another few months, in which she gave up her job as a plastic surgeon to make time for training, she went back to the instructor.
The instructor was very supportive, but suggested she needed to "start over" as though all that had gone before hadn't been, as though she was coming to it fresh, without the years of thinking, and mentally preparing, and plastic surgery...

The question is, to wait or not to wait; heads or tails? Is it worth holding out for skydiving? Or should she finally give it up as a lot of wasted effort and dreaming, after all no-one is getting any younger. Is now the time to throw her lot in with plastic surgery, or even re-train as a rocket scientist and move on? Is skydiving just a youthful dream, has that ship sailed (finally)?

Knitty Gritty

2008-11-22T16:15:00.004Z

I love knitting, it's great. It is very relaxing, a bit like gardening, your mind can't go wandering about unnecessarily.

I am just starting out, really, in spite of a slightly lumpy baby cardigan I made about 12 years ago. So far I've just done straight stuff, and today I finished my third scarf (ta dah and drum roll).I was planning to give it to someone, well I still will, but it will be harder now that I have tried it on and liked it very much! I have 3 more projects planned, first a scarf for my son (by request), second a string bag and third a cardigan (very ambitious but I've got to get more adventurous at some point).

This book is my bible, as is the "Rebel Knitter's Guide" on the Guardian (newspaper) website.

Games that puppies play

2008-11-05T15:43:00.003Z

so, as its been half term, and as I am now a part time worker, I seem to have more time than I'm used to. Much of this, since the advent of a dog in our lives, has been taken up entertaining, feeding and generally getting used to living with Harvey.
Up until 2 days ago he couldn't go out, so he was getting a bit bored and as a result extra naughty (we have ascertained that we do have an uber-extrovert dog.)
So these are the games I have invented (well, no doubt others have used them, but I claim them as my own genius idea for the time being)...see if you can spot a theme:
1. find the biscuits in the sock - get an odd sock, the stripier the better, place a few small bits of kibble in the sock, offer to dog who will spend time trying to get them out and, in that time, not be chewing you, your children or your furniture
2. find the biscuits in the plastic bottle - I use a 1litre milk carton as these are plastic here and non-transparent and the biscuits can get stuck in the handle bit, which adds to the challenge - results the same as above
3. find the biscuits in the wrapping paper roll centre - as above except using a v. long cardboard tube...
you get the idea
We have also tried "find the squeaky toy" where I show the dog where I am hiding the toy, but he usually just looks blankly at me until I go to where it is and squeak it, either he can't be bothered or he thinks I am making it vanish, or both (or, as the dog trainer would say, neither, because he's a dog and he can't reason...nuff sed).

Not talking

2008-10-28T18:27:00.002Z

So, in light of my nonchalent whistling, I have stopped talking to God. Not that there is a report card for these things (which you have to admit might make it all a bit more cut and dried) but I was doing ok, in that at least the lines of communication were open and in regular use.
But not any more.
I don't want to ask for what I want (ie not to be sick), in case he goes "ha, as if that's how it works", neither do I want to treat him like a divine agony aunt cos lets face it there's not much actual feedback and anyway I kinda feel like he's not that interested (plus it seems a bit mad to be moaning about my almost problems when there are things like the Congo going on).
And then He stole someone away who he (in my lowly opinion) had no right to take, someone who was lovely and kind, and made you feel good to talk to, someone who had just had grand children and had a full and healthy life, and he made them really sick, and then they couldn't be made better.
I know people have been saying it for Millenia but it does not seem just that murderers and all round bad folks get to live while someone good and loving and kind doesn't. So I think God could actually be arbitrary and unfair at least as much as he is anything else.
I wait for the lightning bolt (maybe a pair of rubber gloves and a showercap will help...yeah, right).

Nonchalent Whistling

2008-10-25T08:07:00.003Z

I am not worried. I am lying. It's more like I am ignoring the dragon in the room, or the skeleton in the closet, or the turd on the carpet (which does happen, with a small dog around).
I have been having some problems, like I can't grip well with my right hand and other stuff too numerous and boring to list.
I went to the doctor, which I don't do often. I expected him to say it was nothing much, just too much enthusiastic pruning and that it would pass. But he didn't. He has made me an appointment for an MRI scan and to see someone at the hospital.
My friend, wisely, says that they have to do this, just to be safe, and I agree. I also know that it is a Good Thing that everything is getting checked out. And I am relieved that the blood tests came back ok.
It could of course be something treatable and all will be well. Or it could be something nasty and lifelong. Hmmm. So I am trying not to worry, which is a pointless exercise, it's like I'm walking down the street, doing some fake-cheerful whistling, while a huge lumbering beast staggers along behind me; I can see it out of the corner of my eye, but if I try hard enough perhaps I can pretend its not there.

It's catching

2008-10-14T15:30:00.004Z

So we actually did it. We got a dog. This has been a long time in the pipeline, even longer than "Going To Canada" which was realised a coupla months ago. We drove down to Cornwall on Friday night (everyone says "Cornwall?!" a few times when we say that), stayed over at the impeccably clean Travelodge in Hayle, sampled the beer and Pinot Grigio at the Brewer's Fayre over the road (and the local youth flirting outrageously with each other, which was kinda sweet), and then drove along tiny lanes to find the people we were buying him from on the Saturday morning. And then we came back (dealing with closed M25 on the way home, which was naff).

He is a very good little thing but being a pup brings with him guaranteed chaos (like a free gift). We have made a den for him in the hall and bought him too many toys (its a bit like having children, you suddenly find there's all this stuff you can get you had no idea existed) and we have called him Harvey and are using an incredible amount of kitchen roll cleaning up after him, its all good fun. He is extremely cute and adorable and likes to be with us as much as possible, preferably pinning us down somewhere by falling asleep on our feet. When he isn't sleeping he's very wriggly so the pictures are a bit hit and miss...

sweet tooth

2008-09-30T18:55:00.001Z

I love the internet. I have a bad craving tonight for something sweet and there is a recipe, available in 0.02 seconds on how to make the honeycomb from a Cadbury's Crunchie

This is how you do it (the WikiHow way):

5 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Golden Syrup or Honey
2 teaspoons of water
1 tablespoon Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)

How to make:
Put sugar and golden syrup or honey into the saucepan.
Melt over medium heat, bring them to the boil and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Once the mixture is caramelized (it should turn brown), remove it from the heat.
Add a tablespoon of sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda) and stir very quickly.
Watch it turn into a huge orange crunchy foam.
Pour it out into a greased dish and wait for it to cool.
Eat quickly. This treat should be eaten within a day, because natural moisture in the air will make it melt and turn sticky.

No problem with the last step I think :0)

Home school?

2008-09-30T04:52:00.003Z

It feels that I am coming apart at the seams. Normally life (in all its vastness) seems pretty contained, I know that there will be shopping for groceries, feeding various pets and people required, some cleaning or laundry, that there will be meetings and at least once a week a day's teaching.
Then every now and then something happens which throws all that normal up in the air and twists it around a bit and gives it a bit of a jiggle and it doesn't look or feel anything like what you were expecting.
Here's the thing. Our youngest child is really struggling with school at the moment. I say, at the moment, what I mean is, continues to struggle as he has found it pretty tough for the last few years. I think we have thought that if we just give him a bit longer things will sort themselves out, the extra help and great support he gets will begin to pay off and he will suddenly be okay.
All of a sudden we both have realised that this is probably not going to happen. He is a great kid, full of exciting ideas and compassion and empathy and energy, he just doesn't get "conventional" learning.
So, we are thinking of taking him out of school. I wait for the horrified gasps. Its a biggie as far as we're concerned, more so because the school in itself is fantastic and has always been hugely encouraging to both children. It's just not working for him and we don't want to leave him in a system for another 8 years which doesn't suit him.
It's just the "coming out" bit that's hard. Making it all public, making that break. A week ago this wasn't even an idea and now everythings off in a different direction. Ho hum. Will make soothing tea and then "screw my courage to the sticking place."

Harvest time

2008-09-15T19:32:00.005Z

For a few years now I have been growing (with mixed results) veg and fruit. We started with a few pots and grow bags, attempted an allotment (which, being horrendously overgrown when we inherited it, proved untameable and was surrendered) and now have a few raised beds in the garden, this is what is looks like at the moment:

As its starting to get cooler and the days are drawing in I am beginning to think about gathering in any remaining, non-frost hardy foods and finding ways of using them up. Today it was tomatoes. We've had mixed results with toms, mainly due, I think, to unpredicatable summers weather wise (too much rain, not enough sun etc.) The first year we grew Gardener's Delight and had a bumper crop, since then its been a bit hit and miss, last year the whole crop ended up with blight, this year I have had one plant which finally grew splendidly but did so too late so all the fruits are green.

Not to worry, it must be Green Tomato Chutney time again. This year I based the batch around two recipes, I used the Glutney recipe from the River Cottage Year book and also the G.T.C. recipe from the "My Tiny Plot" blog.

I always end up with too much liquid but it can be strained off at the end. And now we have six jars ready to go in the cupboard, I think I'm going to try spinach wine next (no, really)...

De-cluttering

2008-09-13T18:26:00.004Z

Today we took part in the Chartham Village Garage Sale, its to raise funds for the shiny new village hall. You pay for your pitch (ironically, your own garden/ driveway) and then are included on a map so people can find you. I was really please with how it went, we set up from about 7.30am and it was not raining, and later it was even a bit sunny, and we made some money, and got rid of some stuff, and had fun chatting, drinking tea and eating chocolate brownies, and watching the children play with each others toys that were for sale and indulging in a little mild bartering. As someone noted, you have a leisurely day, get rid of some stuff and make a bit of cash, you can't lose. So now I have one box of bits I think are worth saving for next September ready to go up in the loft, and the remainder is going to charity shops, many thanks to the "Yard Sale Queen" web page for helpful tips and advice.

Time and space

2008-09-12T12:27:00.005Z

Its strange to be at home in the middle of the day. There is a lot of time and space. I have just about cleaned everything that I have neglected to clean over the past 3 years while I was at work in the daytime, as well as organising various cupboards and draws (I even washed the cutlery tray). In some ways this is a good way to "reclaim" the house, in others it feels like I have just a little too much time...anyway, today Thomas finishes school at lunchtime so he will be here soon and probably starving hungry, and I have baked a double batch of chocolate brownies as tomorrow we are holding our first garage sale (only in the front garden, not the garage, cos we don't have one). Friends and my mum are coming to sell things too, and we are promised a dry day, so it should be good fun. Also it will be wunderbar to get all the boxes of kitsch out of the hallway finally.

The Brownie recipe (from the highly effective "Foolproof Cakes" by Mary Berry) is as follows:

275g softened margarine

375g Caster Sugar

4 eggs

75 g cocoa powder

100g S.R. flour

11g plain choc chips

1 Cut a rectangle of greaseproof paper and grease and line a traybake tin

2 Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F/ Gas 4

3 Measure all ingredients into a bowl and mix until evenly blended.

4 Spoon the mix into the tin and spread out with a spatual

5 Bake for 40 - 45 mins (about 30 for a fan over) - cover loosely with foil for the last 10 mins if the cake is browning too much

6 Test with a skewer/ knife - if it comes out clean you're done.

They're crusty on the top and squidgy in the middle - delish!