March seemed to last forever, but April, for me at least, has flown by. Like last month, many of the things on this list are now impossible, but I'll leave them there as things to aim for when the world changes again (although I suspect some of them won't happen at all this year now). Anyway, this is where we are with the list. 20 things mended (5/20) I don't seem to be doing much mending at the minute, but I did sew a button on to a fleece wraparound scarf/hat, so that's one extra thing added this month. 19 letters written (6/19) I was enjoying writing letters, but somehow April has whizzed past without me having written any at all. I've had replies from a couple of friends to the letters I wrote in March though, so responding to them, and maybe writing a few more, can be a nice task for April. 18 days without internet (2/18) No more this month, but I'm definitely in need of one in May. 17 books read (25/17) More good progress here, again mostly with audio books from the library, although there were one or two paper books as well.
16 household items or pieces of clothing made (13/16) Progress here too. I made some beeswax candles of course, using the kit I found. And I made us a couple of masks to wear to the supermarket (not that I've been in a supermarket myself since all this started, but I was experimenting). We're not required to wear masks in public places in this country at the minute, but I've found this review of existing evidence, published in the British Medical Journal, convincing. There's an easier-to-read summary here. The authors argue that, while home made masks aren't suitable for medical situations, and would be unlikely to prevent someone from catching the virus, they would restrict the flow from an infected person to others - my mask protects you, your mask protects me. They argue that Masks are simple, cheap, and potentially effective. We believe that, worn both in the home (particularly by the person showing symptoms) and also outside the home in situations where meeting others is likely (for example, shopping, public transport), they could have a substantial impact on transmission with a relatively small impact on social and economic life. Anyway, making a mask for wearing to the shops seemed like a small, practical thing to do. I used this pattern (tweaked a bit) after seeing it recommended on The Snail of Happiness blog. They were quite quick to make (although I used very thick elastic for one of them, and it was a nuisance to sew through), and Peter reports that his fits well and feels perfectly comfortable, for a short shopping trip at least. I might try adding a nose clip to his. They'll be useful after all this is over for dusty jobs like cleaning out the chicken run and DIY. As well as masks, I made some more cleaning cloths from an old piece of stained tablecloth (but I won't count those as I've already counted cloths in this total), and I made two drawstring bags (using this 15 minute tutorial) to hang them on door of the temporary kitchen - one for clean cloths and one for used ones. Very excited about this - I'm hoping it'll make it much easier to find a new cloth when you need one. And here we come to a big string of things that haven't been possible this month (or rather some of them have, but I haven't done them anyway).
15 meals with friends (5/15) 14 meals from home grown produce (0/14) 13 evening lectures (0/13) 12 donations to the foodbank (2/12) I donated what I would have spent on commuting in March to the local foodbank at the start of April, and I'll likely do the same with April's commuting costs. As this was a reasonably hefty amount, I've done it through their online appeal rather than trawling round the shops to spend it. And some more things I've not done. 11 solo days out for me (0/11) 10 loaves of bread made (0/10) 9 bike rides (0/9) 8 organised runs (2/8) 7 new places visited (1/7) 6 attempts at cheese making (0/6) 5 'No Quibble' weekends away (0/5) 4 pairs of socks made (0/4) 3 days volunteering (0/3) 2 LAND centres visited (0/2) 1 holiday (0/1) Oh dear! Still, some of things I could do, so I might turn my attention towards those in the next few weeks. Letter writing, making bread and cheese, knitting socks, maybe even a bike ride or two. I wonder what May will bring?
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I was forty yesterday, and I confess that in all that time my baking skills haven't improved much. Or perhaps it's my decorating skills that aren't quite up to scratch - the cake itself (a whole orange cake I spotted on the Down to Earth blog) was extremely tasty. Basically you whizz a whole orange in the blender and add it to a sponge mix for a deliciously orangey, slightly squishy cake. It doesn't really need icing - the muffin-sized versions I made the night before were fine on their own - but a combination of a silicone loaf tin with no structural integrity and our tiny and slightly inadequate temporary oven led to a cake that definitely needed covering up with something. It might not win any competitions, but it went down very well with a nice cup of tea. Speaking of the Down to Earth blog, you might notice Rhonda's Down to Earth book in the background in that picture. This was my birthday present to myself, and I've spent the last couple of days happily flicking through it and wishing I was retired so I could spend all of my days making cakes and sewing and pottering in the garden. Today it's been raining, so I've ignored the dry stone wall that has been taking up quite a lot of my energy for days, and stayed inside. I had a vague feeling of time just drifting away, without me actually achieving anything, so in the spirit of following the book's advice, I decided to tackle a household job I'd been putting off for a while - sorting out the utility room. This is the entrance to our home, and acquires the usual household detritus that is either on its way in or out of the house. Wellies, recycling, dishes that have been used for chicken treats, rubbish bags, tools, all congregate here, and if we don't keep on top of it, getting into the house becomes a perilous navigational exercise. Yesterday Peter put all the shoes away and took the rubbish bags outside, and today I've spent a happy few hours washing dishes, cleaning walls, decanting slightly damp powdered cleaning stuff (borax substitute, laundry bleach) into airtight containers, and giving the place a good hoover. It felt good. In the course of all this sorting, I discovered a bag of soap I'd made - I never got the texture right, and after goodness knows how long sitting in a bag under the sink, it feels slightly oily. I've left it on the newly cleared side to dry out, and if it doesn't work as hand soap, I'll grate it to mix with the washing powder. I also discovered this candle-making kit that I had as a present some years ago and which got lost in the house move. Again I made use of my newly cleared surface to play with the beeswax. I like this picture on the box. It looks achievable - nothing fancy, nothing requiring endless patience, just a bit of rolling and cutting. I can't say mine look exactly like the pictures, but they're not far off. The instructions said the beeswax sheets would be pliable at room temperature but I had to hold them up against the radiator for several minutes to get them to bend without snapping - not sure what that says about the temperature of my house...
Anyway, I didn't come in here to waffle on about all that, I came in to waffle on about turning forty, but as I'm not sure how I feel about that, perhaps it's best that I don't. Tis only a number, after all - and after hearing of the death of a friend's daughter this week I'm grateful I've lived to see it. I will be sitting down to make some plans for the next decade soon though... The weather has been lovely these past few weeks, and I've been taking every opportunity to wash things so I can hang them on the line. In our old house I always lamented the lack of a washing line, and now I have one (with an excellent view) I use it at every opportunity. I bought this pack of six cotton handkerchiefs in a charity shop, probably well over a year ago. I couldn't bring myself to use them as hankies though, and so they've sat on a shelf waiting for me to decide what to do with them. Now that I'm without a commute and many of the activities that filled my time before, I'm finding myself turning back towards making and mending and pottering - things I've always done, but that have been slowly crowded out while I've been running around. I've missed them. I decided I'd use these hankies to cover the cushions on the sofa in my study. The sofa is actually a sofa bed that we got from Freegle when we moved here, and it's a rather dull shade of reddish-pink. When I decorated my study last year, I found a white cover in a charity shop, and together with the patchwork blanket my auntie made, it looks rather pretty. The cushions, though, remained dull and red, and it was about time I covered them up. But what to do? Stripes, or squares? Should I alternate with the plain hankies, or only use the patterns? The answer came when I was about to go on to yet another video call for work, and on a whim draped two of the hankies over the cushions, which were visible in the background. I liked it so much that I decided to keep things really simple. The hankies were the perfect size, and I literally just sewed one plain and one patterned together on three sides, and left the bottom open. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best option.
I hate wasting food, but sometimes things get ahead of me and I find myself with a wrinkly cabbage or an onion going soft. Usually, if it's too far gone for soup, the compost heap benefits, but this time faced with several dried out tangerines (that weren't very nice to start with), I thought I'd have a go at orange curd (like lemon curd, but with oranges). I confess I don't know now which recipe I followed, and in any case, as usual, I didn't follow it very closely (the batteries had run out in the kitchen scales, and I never was much good at following instructions in relation to food). The general gist is that you melt butter (or in this case margerine, as that's what we had), sugar, orange juice and zest until it's all combined, then stir in several whisked eggs (I've seen a few recipes just calling for yolks, but this one had whole eggs). You're meant to stir it until it goes thick, like custard, but I kept stirring, and stirring, and stirring, and it never really got much thicker, and eventually I got bored and put it in jars anyway, figuring I'd deal with it the next day. After a while it started to set at the top, which looked hopeful (if you ignored the liquid underneath), so it went into the fridge overnight. The next morning it was still the same, so I separated the set part into a tea cup, thought for a minute about trying to make the rest set, and decided instead to just leave it as a rich orangey sauce to pour over ice cream, rice pudding or whatever (or sneak the odd spoonful out of the jar). We ate the curd itself on some home made scones. And a couple of days later I mixed the rest of the sauce in with some cake batter and made slightly orangey fairy cakes. So I think I'd follow the recipe a bit better next time, but an experiment that ends with rice pudding, scones and fairy cakes can't be all bad, right?
I've not done anything crafty for a while, so when we decided to hold a virtual Easter egg hunt for my nephews, I took the opportunity for a bit of crafty messing around. Have you blown eggs before? I don't think I have, and it was harder than I thought. Still, eventually they were all done, and an omelette and a sponge cake made with the leftovers, and a skewered them all ready for decorating. How to decorate though? I stumbled across a tutorial for marbling using nail varnish - I've not linked to it because I can't find the actual one I used, and there are plenty of them out there. First, assemble your nail varnish (is it just me who attracts old pots of nail varnish in colours I swear I never bought). Next, take over the entire tiny temporary kitchen with your paraphernalia. The process itself is quite simple. Tray of cold water, and nail varnish. You have to move quickly - the nail varnish sets within a couple of seconds. Drop it onto the water, quickly swirl, then dunk your egg. I think in the tutorial I saw, only the front half of the egg was dipped - I tried to coat the whole thing, which was far more difficult. The first couple I did weren't great. The nail varnish was setting too quickly, and the colours were too pale to show up properly on a brown egg. Once I got the hang of it though, and found some more vibrant colours, things improved. Metallic seemed to work well, but not glittery - the glitter made it too heavy on the water and it just sank. I was pretty pleased with the final results, although my hands were a mess. Six small eggs is not quite enough for an egg hunt, but I'd had my fill of marbling, so decided to try something a bit more straightforward, and paint some cardboard egg shapes. I found a tray of old children's paints in a drawer (why do I have those?) and set myself up in the garden. After a ropey start (I'm no artist) I remembered Peter bought me a book about how to paint roses and castles, as in traditional narrowboat art. It's actually more straightforward than it looks, although I struggled to get the required swoops and swirls with my dried up paints and cheap brushes. I fared a bit better with my castles. Overall I was pretty pleased with my efforts after my initial uninspired start. Our virtual egg hunt was fun, and later in the afternoon we found ourselves on a real egg hunt - our ladies have found a new, exciting laying spot. Can I take you to the back of the lean-to, where the hay bales have all fallen in an undignified heap? Yes, it seems the ladies have been scaling the dizzy heights of that bale, and laying in a little depression in the top. It's probably a pretty good vantage point up there (although there are better views than the inside of this outbuilding, which is full of furniture and garden tools). Finding an egg round here is pretty impossible though - the only way we manage it is by first following the clucking chicken...
A couple of weeks ago Mildred started looking a little unwell. Nothing specific, just slower, less boisterous. Her comb shrank, and started looking purple and dry. We spoke to the vet on the phone and they confirmed what I feared - that it was some kind of heart condition, impossible to treat in a chicken, and that she was likely living her last few days. Mildred and her old pal Maud started coming inside for afternoon naps. They were the final two of our original chickens, the other two, Hermione and Luna, having been killed by a stoat over a year ago. Mildred was still pottering round with the others, but she was definitely getting slower. On Monday, she looked very stiff and old, and we took her to the vets to check that our diagnosis was right, and that there really was nothing we could do for her. Sadly there wasn't, so I spent the week out in the sunshine on the swing seat with her snoozing nearby, and the others pottering around too. On Thursday morning she didn't come out of the hen house, although she seemed ok when we carried her to her usual spot by my chair, and later got up and walked over for a drink. By the evening though she looked very tired, and even refused a worm that Peter had dug up for her (we did manage to tempt her with a tiny bit of sponge cake though). On Friday morning she could barely lift her head, and we knew it was time. While we were waiting for the vet to call back, she lay in the sunshine, and Maud stood with her, bowing her head and making soft clucking noises. The vet was very kind (and didn't laugh at me for crying over a chicken). Of course we couldn't go into the consulting room given the current situation, but Mildred was never one for a cuddle anyway, and by that point I don't think she knew where she was anyway. We buried her under the fruit trees where we buried Herminone and Luna, in what has become affectionately known as the Memorial Windbreak. Anyway, this is all very sad, and I came in here to write something cheerful about Mildred's life, not just to be miserable about her death (which, as chicken deaths go, wasn't a bad one). Mildred came to us on 2nd September 2018, along with Maud, Hermione and Luna, all named after witches in children's books (Harry Potter, and The Worst Witch). We got them from the British Hen Welfare Trust, who rehome chickens from commercial egg farms when they have outlived their 'usefulness'. They were our first chickens, and we were quite daunted. Mildred wasn't daunted at all - she strode around the place pecking the others, head held high despite her lack of feathers. We always suspected that Maud was in charge, but that Mildred did all the on-the-ground work of crowd control. We never saw Maud peck anyone, but also nobody ever pecked Maud, not even Mildred. Mildred was definitely second in command though, and was always willing to dole out a swift peck for a minor infraction. She mellowed a bit after those first few weeks, but never lost her haughty look. When a stoat sneaked into the hen house and killed Hemione and Luna, Mildred and Maud were traumatised, and came to live in our house for three weeks while we nursed them back to health and fortified their run. I feel like we bonded with them a bit more then, as we gradually encouraged them to eat, and to get back outside. I'm not sure they were too impressed when we brought home our three new chickens a few weeks later, but gradually they settled down and became a happy little flock (with Mildred still doling out the occasional much-needed peck, of course). Mildred was a dignified chicken, no silly flapping or ungainly jumping like the younger ones, and I confess I did laugh a little bit when she once jumped into the leaf collection and couldn't get back out (I didn't laugh much though, as she gave me a very stern look). Before she came to us, Mildred didn't live in a cage like our younger chickens, she was a barn hen. Barn eggs apparently make up only about 1% of the total of eggs consumed in the UK - caged eggs provide cheaper eggs of course, and it seems that people concerned about welfare will go for free range. Here are a few pictures of hens in a barn system (from an industry publication, so this isn't 'worst case scenario'). The hens do have places to perch and lay, but they never have access to the outside, and may be living with 10,000 other hens.
Mildred had longer with us than she had in the barn, and for that I'll always be thankful. Strut on, beaky pal. This week is mostly being taken up with a very poorly Mildred chicken, who isn't long for this world. She's spending her last few days dozing in the sunshine under my garden seat, surrounded by her feathery pals. It's all very sad, and I'm very pleased that today we discovered her enthusiasm for sponge cake - if she leaves us overnight at least she'll have had a last tasty treat (of course I don't usually feed the chickens sponge cake, that would be a waste, but this was a special occasion). Anyway, I'll write more about Mildred another time. Today I want to talk about running. Back in February I mentioned that I'd joined the local running club for their programme aiming to get people to running 5k. I've run 5k before, of course, but most of the other people hadn't, and it's been an absolutely lovely experience running with others twice a week, gradually going further and even a teensy bit faster. In the middle of March we ran our local organised 5k run, and we even made the local newspaper. The following Monday we met for our first 'progressives' run - working our way up to 10k, and to being able to go out with the main running club each week (they run for an hour at a time). On Tuesday, the restrictions came into force, and our running group could no longer meet. Since then, we've each been running on our own and posting our achievements on the group Facebook page. Our slower group also has a group chat, where we encourage and celebrate each other (and before all this, we arranged extra weekend runs). Sadly most of the women in there are struggling to get out on their own, and I think most of them have given up on aiming for 10k for now. It's so much harder to get out there on your own. I knew that before, of course - that's the reason I joined the group in the first place. I've never trained consistently before now, and while I only went out twice a week with the running group, it was twice every week, which meant I was running more regularly than I ever have. Now, of course, I don't have that, and even though our leader is valiantly trying to keep us motivated virtually, it's not quite the same. Still, I have been getting out twice every week, and I can't complain one bit, because while many people are being told expressly to stay away from beauty spots and national parks, I find myself living in one, and unable to leave. Of course, this means that I have to run close to home, which means one thing - hills. So. Many. Hills. Previously our running group complained about the hills we were being forced to run up each week, but they were nothing to the hills out here. Nothing at all. And I can't avoid them (unless I run up and down the same short stretch of flattish road several times I suppose). I'm trying to embrace them though - to enjoy the downhills, and run the bits of the uphills that I can, and just accept that I'm going to have to walk the rest. I think I'm getting fitter, although it's hard to tell with all these hills. I went out the other day and felt like my legs belonged to someone else - they were a combination of stiff and jelly-like and I ended up taking a sneaky shortcut home along a footpath through a field. I'm going to get out again tomorrow morning though, before I talk myself out of it, while the sun is shining. Even if I don't run much of it, I'll still get a bit of scenery, which I don't take at all for granted at the minute given that it's being denied to many people. I don't know how long all this is going to last, but one thing I'm very much looking forward to is running with other people again. It's not something I've ever really done before, but it made such a difference. I really don't want to lose fitness now though and have to start all over again, so out I'll go, running from my front door, pretending the clouds are a mountain range.
Clearly there's been a whole lot more on the homestead than I intended in March. Between strikes and the pandemic I spent ONE day physically at work in March, and even that wasn't in my own office. I'm very fortunate that it's been pretty easy for me to switch to working full time from home. I've worked a couple of days a week from home for years, so I'm already set up, and after an initial flurry of messing around, the work itself is all set up too. I did find after a week and a half that my shoulders and back were getting rather sore from sitting in the same office chair all day every day, so I had a good clear out in the study and created myself a standing desk. Since we've been spending more time at home, we've also done a bit more clearing of other rooms - I finally tackled this dreadful mess that had accumulated around my chair in the living room. What a tip! It's all been pulled out and sorted, and there's been a thorough hoovering and cleaning of the whole thing (although it seems I didn't take an 'after' picture). Now the weather is warmer, the evenings are longer, and there's nowhere else to go, we're getting on with some outside jobs too. More progress on the compost bin I've been building (on and off) since January. I was all ready to declare it finished at this point, but Peter convinced me that we should raise it off the ground (yawn) so we made a start at the end of March, and I've finally finished it this weekend and painted it (but that was April so photos of the finished thing will have to wait!) We've also been tackling some of those 'really should do something about that' jobs this month. We finally took our giant rubbish pile to the tip (before they closed), and I shifted a pile of mud that's been outside our gate for months - with a little help from the chickens of course. Speaking of chickens, poor old Mildred is ill. She started looking a bit slow last week, and her comb (a good indicator of chicken health) looking a bit tired. She's gradually got worse over the last few days. I spoke to the vet on Thursday, who confirmed my internet-fuelled suspicions that it was likely to be something wrong with her heart or liver, neither of which they can do anything about. We've been trying to make sure she eats and drinks, and feeding her plenty of treats. We've been bringing her and Maud (our other older chicken) inside when the weather is cold or windy, so they can have a bit of a rest in the warm. It's quite endearing to see them having a snooze together on the carpet. I'll ring the vet again in the morning. I was trying to avoid taking her in as she has a good sense of her personal boundaries and will NOT thank me for picking her up, let alone putting her in a box and taking her for a drive. I don't want to traumatise her, but at the same time I do want to make sure we've done everything that we can. Fingers crossed. Peter built a new shelter in the garden, affectionately named Chicken Henge, which has now become a favourite haunt of Mildred and Maud. I can't think of a more fitting use. This is Beaky having a first look. I also cleaned out the greenhouse (and I need to replace three panes of glass now as the window has blown through). I've not planted any seeds yet, but I did finally get round to repotting my houseplants, which were in an appalling state. March definitely came in like a lion and went out like a lamb round here. We started with hail stones, but the rain of the last few months seems to have eased and the ground is drying out. The last two weeks have been dry, and even a bit sunny at times. I'm even starting to be able to imagine a time when I might be outside in sandals (not just yet, mind you). Yet again I've made the mistake of looking back on my post from last month to see whether I've done anything that I said I'd do. I did make progress on the compost bin, but the bedroom still isn't plastered, and I've not even started building the fence round the veg garden yet.
Still, we're now five days into April, the compost bin is finished, and I've made some progress on the field wall that I'm rebuilding, so I'm hopeful April's post might look a bit better... I don't think I've ever known the world to change so much in the space of a month. It feels strange to be looking back over the last few weeks - so much on this list has now become either irrelevant or impossible. Still, it's good to keep track I think, so here goes with my 20 for 2020 update. 20 things mended (4/20) I've attempted a second repair on my sports watch using Sugru. I'm not sure whether it's worked or not yet, but I'm counting it in March's total anyway. 19 letters written (6/19) Ah, now this I have made progress on, and I think I'll make even more progress now we're all staying at home for the foreseeable future. Two letters written in March to friends I haven't seen for a long time. 18 days without internet (2/18) Another one added in March, a Sunday, and as it wasn't raining I spent most of the day outside. Definitely more of these in the near future I think. 17 books read (18/17) More good progress here, again largely thanks to the library's audio book service, but some actual paper books this month too.
So that's my target met and overshot by the end of March! I'm pleased about this - I feel like I barely read anything last year, and wanted to get back to reading, and now I feel like I have (even if much of it is listening, rather than looking). 16 household items or pieces of clothing made (9/16) No more this month. 15 meals with friends (5/15) A friend came over for the day at the start of March, but obviously there won't be any sharing of meals for a while now. Unless we have a virtual meal of course... 14 meals from home grown produce (0/14) Still nothing but eggs (the rhubarb is looking tasty though, shouldn't be long til that's ready). 13 evening lectures (0/13) Still none, and none likely for the foreseeable future. Looks like I won't be meeting this goal this year. 12 donations to the foodbank (1/12) I did attempt to donate to our local foodbank but their website was down for a while - I've now managed it, but it will come under April, not March. 11 solo days out for me (0/11) Still none, and again, none for a while... 10 loaves of bread made (0/10) Still none - although at least this is something that we can still do, so watch this space! 9 bike rides (0/9) We got SO close to going on a bike ride. Bikes retrieved from the back of the garage, flat tyres fixed, gears and brakes checked, helmets on, set off up the driveway... and then Peter's chain snapped. Sigh. I've fixed it now, but obviously now we're not meant to be driving anywhere to exercise, and cycling from home is rather hilly, so we'll see... 8 organised runs (2/8) Just one in March - our running group reached our target and did the local 5k race. It was good, and while it was far from my best 5k time, I knocked a good couple of minutes off the time I'd taken to do the Parkrun a few weeks earlier so I'm counting that as a success. I had a 10k race booked for 19th April, and a half marathon for the end of May, but obviously both of those have been cancelled now. I've been keeping up with the running group's planned sessions on my own though, and am pleased how that's been going (especially as I now have to run from home and as above, it's rather hilly). 7 new places visited (1/7) Nope, and again, none likely for a while. 6 attempts at cheese making (0/6) Still none, but like making bread, this is something we can still do, so I might have a go this month... 5 'No Quibble' weekends away (0/5) No. We got very close to planning a weekend away for my birthday at the end of April, but obviously that's now not going to happen. Oh well, we've managed three years without a weekend away, we can manage a little while longer! 4 pairs of socks made (0/4) No, but I must get on the case with this soon. 3 days volunteering (0/3) No. 2 LAND centres visited (0/2) No. 1 holiday (0/1) Ha - fat chance, It's funny now to see how many of these things involve me going out, travelling to other places. Who would have thought that's the one thing we now can't do? I'm actually surprised looking back that my list doesn't involve more at home things.
One thing I'm realising with our current situation is how much time I usually spend going elsewhere, and how much I'm appreciating spending more time at home. I've not left home for anything other than running for over a week now. Of course we're very fortunate to have plenty of outside space here, and I don't for once take it for granted, especially now the weather is turning. |
Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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