It's the end of January (already!) and time for an update on my 20 for 2020 plan! 20 things mended (2/20) Just two this month - a seam of one of Peter's shirts, which I fixed with the overlocker, and a zip on my rucksack. At one point I thought I was going to have to throw the whole rucksack away - both fasteners had come off the front pocket zip, and the zip itself had come away from the casing, so the pocket didn't fasten at all. Somehow (with a lot of swearing) I managed to undo some of the stitching, reattach both fasteners, and sew the zip together. Hooray! 19 letters written (4/19) A bit of a flurry this month as I posted out late Christmas presents. I've not counted cards here, but I included three longer letters with various presents, and wrote a separate (rather too long) letter to an old school friend. 18 days with internet (0/18) None yet 17 new books read (4/17) I generally adopt a serendipitous attitude to book reading - whatever takes my fancy in the bookshop or the library, or occasionally a recommendation from someone else. Some of them never get finished, and I'm happy to have several half-read books lying around. I've got a half price subscription to Audible at the minute, and I've been listening to audio books in the car. I'll be cancelling that once the half-price offer ends, so I've also subscribed (for free) to the audio book service from the local library. I've read a couple of people disparaging audio books as not being 'proper' reading but I'm having none of that nonsense in my house. 'Reading' a book is taking the contents into your own mind - and as far as I'm concerned that can happen by whatever means. So this month I've finished...
16 household items or pieces of clothing made (8/16) This is an exciting one. I made my hot water bottle cover of course, and then I bought an overlocker, and have had a merry time making several pairs of pants, then a batch of cleaning cloths and face flannels. I'm counting the cloths and flannels as just two (rather than 18 individual items, which seems like cheating). Each pair of knickers though was quite an undertaking so (for now, at least) they're getting counted individually, bringing the total to eight. 15 meals with friends (2/15) I'm just counting meals Peter and I have with friends together (not me meeting a friend for lunch on my own) so this month's tally is two - lunch with a friend in a cafe the other day, and a trip to stay with our friends in Birmingham last weekend (where we went out for brunch). 14 meals from home grown produce (0/14) None so far - this will be more an item for the summer. 13 evening lectures (0/13) None yet - lots of different groups seem to have not restarted after Christmas yet. 12 donations to food bank (0/12) None yet - I kept forgetting every time I was at the supermarket. Must remember to make a note. 11 solo days out for me (0/11) None yet, but I've got an idea of where I might go for the first one. 10 loaves of bread made (0/10) Nope - the breadmaker is still in the loft. 9 bike rides (0/9) None of these either, oh dear! But in my defence the weather has been rather vile lately. 8 organised runs (1/8) Just the one - I went to my most local parkrun (which isn't actually that local at all) for the first time. I enjoyed it, although at just over 39 minutes it was very far from my fastest. I discovered yesterday that my local athletics club has a group working up to 5k which is five weeks in (out of nine), so I'm off to join them on Monday. While I'm not exactly a beginner (having been running on and off for about 14 years), I'm also rather slow and would like to get faster. Watch this space. 7 new places visited (1/7) We went to the ballet! We've never seen a ballet before, so it was quite a novel experience, and we'd also never been inside Buxton Opera House before (it was on my list of things to do last year but I never made it). We probably won't be going regularly, but it was quite exciting as a one off. 6 attempts at cheese making (0/6)
None - although we have no acquired a working hob in the kitchen so this is now possible at least. 5 'No Quibble' weekends away (0/5) None - we'll set a date for the first one in February (even if we don't actually go until March). 4 pairs of socks made (0/4) None. I very nearly bought some sock wool the other day, but then remembered I have two balls of speciality wool that have been sitting around for years - one from the North Ronaldsay sheep in Orkney who live on the beach and eat seaweed, and one from my friend and permaculture diploma tutor Hannah in Lincolnshire (well, her sheep, of course) so I'm going to find a simple cable knit pattern and do some experimenting. 3 days volunteering (0/3) None yet. 2 LAND centres visited (0/2) No - I'm anticipating this will be more of a summer thing. 1 holiday! (0/1) No - we should get on the case and set a date soon though! So there we are. Great progress in some areas, and none in others. I suppose it was always going to be like that, and anyway some things are more seasonal than others. I've enjoyed having this as a backdrop to the month though (and I confess I was pretty excited when I managed to fix my rucksack so I could add it to the list). I wonder what February will bring?
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I so much like tracking my days. Looking back at the small everyday happenings is one of my favourite things about blogging, and now I've been doing it for eleven years I do like to marvel at how much life has changed. Earlier this week I said I was going to track my days for a couple of weeks, to see whether I really was running around fitting an extraordinary amount of stuff in or whether, as I suspect, I'm pretty idle and just talk a lot about the occasional interesting things I do. So here goes... Monday 20th Woke up early so curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea and watched an episode of Call the Midwife while the sun rose before I let the chickens out. Started work at 9.30, and had some disappointing work-related news in an email, so we consoled ourselves (well, me) with a cafe trip (with cake, despite it still being before 10.30). Worked at home for the rest of the day, hoovered for the second time in a day (very unusual, but the floor was filthy again), did a mountain of washing up and prepared lunch and clothes for Tuesday, then some financial jiggery-pokery in the evening (checking the budget, switching savings accounts, that type of thing) before another episode of Call the Midwife. Bed about 11pm. Tuesday 21st Alarm went off at 5.30, and I went straight outside in my dressing gown to open the chicken house. The stars were bright and there was a thin crescent moon and I stood for a while just looking at the sky. Got engrossed in writing a blog post, and ended up leaving late for work, meaning I didn't get a parking space, and after driving round for ages had to park further away and walk back. It took me almost two hours to get from house to office (it normally takes one) and I arrived flustered and grumpy. Nipped outside at lunchtime and it almost felt like spring in the sheltered sunshine. Home by 5.30 but tired, so had a lazy evening, half a pizza for tea, then a nice long bath with a book. Wednesday 22nd Worked at home. Breakfast in the cafe, then a sneaky nip into town for a quick wander around the charity shops. Finished work at 7pm, then had a most exciting evening as Peter had fixed up the new induction hob so we were able to use a pan for the first time since September! I had a celebratory stir fry. Spent an hour or so playing with the overlocker, putting quick seams on some old pieces of cotton and towel for use as cleaning cloths. Went out to shut the chicken house door and found Rusty huddled in the dark at the back of the run on her own - she'd laid a lash egg and had obviously felt unwell, and their eyesight is notoriously bad in the dark. I helped her into the hen house and when I checked half an hour later she was snuggled up with the others. Thursday 23rd Another day of working at home. I nipped out to let the chickens out at 8am and was met with the most glorious view of the sun rising over a mist filled valley. I quickly got dressed and ran down the field, and spent a little while taking photos as the mist slowly lifted to reveal ghostly trees and fields. Spotted the snowdrops starting to peek through the leaves. The rest of the day was filled with a tedious work task that just went on and on (and on). Finished working about 7 again and spent the rest of the evening pottering around putting things away and packing for the weekend. Friday 24th Left for work at 6am, and had a farcical day of sorting things out which ended up with someone (not me) getting stuck in a lift. Arrived home at 5.20, and left again at 5.30 to drive to Birmingham to stay with friends. A lovely evening at a charity quiz event they'd organised, then drinking and nattering until 2am. Saturday 25th As is usual when staying at other people's houses, I was up several hours before everyone else. I made tea and sat at the kitchen table writing a letter to an old school friend until the others appeared at 11am. We went for an amble around the local park to their favourite cafe. I do so love being introduced to other people's favourite cafes, and I think if I lived where they live, this would quickly become my favourite cafe too. After a gentle game of scrabble we had a long and tedious drive home through roadworks and past accidents and I cursed myself for not checking the route before I set the satnav. By the time we got home the fog was so thick I missed the turning to our own road. A quick check on the chickens and one episode of Call the Midwife was all I was fit for, and it was swiftly followed by a much-needed early night. Sunday 26th Up before the alarm again at 7am, and again I curled up with tea and Call the Midwife while the sun rose (or tried to) before letting the chickens out. I'm almost at the end of series 8 now and I don't know what I'll do when it runs out. We went to our second favourite cafe for breakfast. A friend popped by, and we arranged to meet for lunch next week. After a quick (and soggy) pop round the charity shops in a local market town, I've spent the last couple of hours wrangling with chickens, writing this blog post, and doing the Big Garden Birdwatch (tally so far - two blackbirds, one dunnock, and a robin). In half an hour I'm off to a wind orchestra rehearsal, the first since before Christmas (and the first time I've picked up my flute since then too). After that, tea, sorting out clothes, lunch and bag for work tomorrow, and a bath, and that might be the end of the weekend. So there we have it - an ordinary week in an ordinary life. Five days of work, three of those at home. A bit of sewing, a tiny bit of flute playing, one letter written and a trip to see friends at the weekend, but no plastering, no gardening, no running, no knitting, no visitors, no wall-building, no DIY.
I wonder what next week will bring? Two people in the last week have said to me 'I don't know how you fit it all in! You do so much!'
Both were in response to me telling them about sewing my own pants, and I got to wondering (again) whether I do actually do a lot of things, or whether I just talk about things a lot. Hmm. Back in 2011 on an ancient blog I made a list of things I don't do. Some things have changed, and some haven't. I still don't iron clothes. We have an iron - it's electric, but not a steam iron - and I have no idea where it is. I try to keep on top of the main living areas of the house but the rest of it is literally a building site. I'm slightly better at remembering birthdays, but I still have a small pile of Christmas presents waiting to go in the post, and I didn't send any cards at all. I barely grew anything in the garden last year. I'd like to say I don't watch much TV, but I started watching Call the Midwife right from the very first episode over Christmas and less than a month later I'm well into Series 8. I don't think I'm particularly unusual, but I have enough of these 'you do so much!' conversations that it makes me feel like I'm doing something different to the people I'm talking to. I do sometimes have to remind them that I don't have children - and I often marvel that people with children get anything else done at all. I do work full time - there's a two hour commute whenever I got to the office, but I often work at home at least two days a week. Even though these conversations are face to face, and I don't actually use social media that much, I wonder whether they're a symptom of the kinds of things we see on social media - comparing our outsides to other people's insides. I'm just as guilty of it as anyone else, and I wonder whether when I waffle on about gardening, running, plastering, flute playing, sock knitting, underwear sewing and the like, I give the impression I'm doing all of those things every day. Because clearly I'm not. I haven't even picked up my flute since before Christmas. I sewed six pairs of pants, and then ran out of fabric and stopped. I bought some plaster in November and it's still sat in the bag. I often have a brief flurry of doing something, and then don't do it again for quite a while while I get enthusiastic about something else. Anyway, I thought I'd keep track of what I was doing this week, to see if there's a pattern to my days. This is something I often do at work (to keep me on track) but rarely do at home, although it seems I did do it for a month or so back in August 2013. I'm not sure how much detail I'll go into, and I'll probably post at the end of the week rather than every day, but let's see what happens. And now I'd best get my act together - I was planning to leave for work twenty minutes ago... When we first moved into our new house, there was no path to the door. You had to walk across the lawn, and since we moved in at the end of February, and were quickly faced with the worst snow in recent history, the lawn rapidly turned into a sea of mud. One day me and my mum threw down a load of stones (you can see the initial effort here), and for nearly two years they've been sinking into the grass and being less and less effective. Not exactly helpful for getting from house to car on the way to work without getting covered in mud. Finally, after the new year, fixing the path got to the top of the to-do list, and I dug up the stones (with the help of the chickens, of course) and started to find replacements. We've attempted to lay them properly this time, with sand and gravel underneath, in the hope that they won't sink quite so quickly into the grass. We've made the new path a bit wider too - we don't have an outside light and often have to navigate it in the dark, so having a bit more space makes things easier. Finally we finished, and while we probably won't win any design awards, the new path keeps our feet clean (ish) and has the beaky seal of approval. This has been a nice little project. It didn't last forever, and it's made a significant improvement to our daily activities. We did buy a couple of bags of sand and gravel (total cost less than £10) but we're fortunate to have a lot of this type of stone lying around - if we hadn't, we would have used something else.
It's felt good to be outside again too. It wasn't exactly warm (although it's bordering on being warm today!) but, importantly, it wasn't raining. That's a pretty exciting state of affairs round here at the minute. I'm told it won't be raining for the whole of this week, so as soon as I've finished this tea I'm heading back outside to see what other jobs I can get on with. First up is cleaning the living room windows - now the sun is shining I can see just how filthy they are. Does that count as spring cleaning?? I don't know whether I'm counting this as a Christmas present to myself or not, but after years of procrastination, I finally caved in and bought an overlocker. It's very exciting, because it means it's a lot easier to make my own clothes. I've made a few straightforward items of clothing before (circle skirts and the like) but I've never used a sewing pattern before. I decided to start with something small, relatively straightforward, and that can be worn with a few imperfections as it's not on general display. I made my own pants! I was inspired by this blog post (which I filed away for reference several years ago), and bought the Scrundlewear pattern from Etsy - it seemed easy and well thought of, and good for a first try. I also bought some organic bamboo jersey from the Organic Textile Company - one advantage of making your own clothes is that you can choose exactly what you make them from. Apparently you can whip up a pair of these in less than an hour, but as I'd never used either an overlocker or a sewing pattern before, it took me closer to two, which is still pretty good. Shall I show you the first finished pair? Don't look too closely (at either the pants or the state of my office). I have no intention of pressing them, and there are a couple of wonky seams. But they do actually look like knickers, and they are SO comfortable. Not exactly glamourous... but extremely cosy - they almost reach right up to my waist. I did branch out and make some slightly less matronly underwear - one pair using this pattern from So Sew Easy (which was indeed super easy, although the lace I had isn't quite stretchy enough), and another pair (using different lace) copying a pair I already had - not quite so easy but now I know what order to sew them together in the next lot will be much easier. It's quite liberating being able to make your own pants. I won't be making any with rainbows or flowers or silly slogans on, but it will be nice to use organic fabrics and make an assortment for under different outfits.
And of course now I vaguely understand how to use the overlocker, and how to follow a pattern, there are all kinds of possibilities! I might start with a couple of vest tops and a few things from the So Sew Easy site but who knows what I'll branch out to! Gosh it feels good to be making things again! I can't remember exactly when I started these socks, but it was several months ago, probably before the summer. I got about a third of the way down the first one and then life got in the way. I picked them up again over Christmas, when Peter was ill and the weather was grey and cold, and I spent many hours watching Call the Midwife and happily knitting round and round and round. Eventually I finished, and I'm extremely pleased about it. They don't match, of course, and if you look closely you can see I did several more rows on one heel than the other, but who cares about that? I enjoyed knitting so much that when I'd finished the socks, I was looking round for something to do with the leftover yarn. I settled on a hot water bottle cover - my old one was only ever intended to be a temporary one, and as I've been using it for over a year, it's rather tatty. I started knitting, but it didn't go well. Going round in big circles wasn't very interesting, and the pattern didn't look quite so good when spread thinner. I abandoned my knitting, and settled on something more straightforward - a rectangle of bright blue fleece and a bit of ribbon. Ten minutes with the (rather dusty) sewing machine this evening and I have a cheery new cover. Hooray! The socks won't count towards my 20 for 2020 list, given I did the last couple of rows on new year's day. But the hot water bottle cover definitely counts as a 'household item' - one down, fifteen to go.
I think I'll make it though - my new overlocker arrives tomorrow... November and December were uneventful gardening months. I did precisely nothing that could be described as 'gardening', and indeed it was often too wet to even be outside. Any outside efforts focused on either rebuilding the path across the lawn (a subject for another day) or weatherproofing the chicken run. We still haven't got this right. The lower half has either windows or wood all the way round (except for the door), but until a few weeks ago the upper part was just sturdy mesh, meaning the rain got in and things became rather soggy. We waited until the wind died down a little, and stapled clear plastic over all the sides and the roof. Sadly, this didn't work as well as we'd hoped - the rain pooled and dripped through the tiny staple holes, creating yet more mud, and after a couple of weeks the roof and most of the sides blew off entirely. I'm not sure what the solution is. In reality this is quite an exposed spot for a chicken run, but it does suit in lots of other ways. The chickens themselves are cosy inside of course - they have a little half height roof to shelter under - but it does make cleaning out their house rather a pain. Sometimes I see photos of other people's chicken runs in glossy magazines, and ours never looks like theirs. Ours is made of scraps of metal and wood and plastic, and we fill the run (but not the house) with our own hay as it feels unnecessary to buy in something else when we have a surplus of that. The chickens don't seem to mind though, and are often found sheltering in there even when the door is open and they can go wherever they like. Mostly in the final two months of the year the garden was something I passed through, rather than spent any time in.
My mind is starting to turn towards next season though. I don't want to make any ambitious plans, but I would like to grow something next year. I want to revamp those beds a little too, and move the willow (which I seem to have planted in the only dry spot on our land). But not yet. For the first month or two of this year, I'll focus on rebuilding walls, clearing rubbish, and DIY inside the house. Then we'll see. I started a new project on New Year's Eve. Well, technically I suppose I revitalised an old, neglected project, but that sounds less cheerful. This bit of wall fell down over a year ago, and while I'd started stripping back some of the mess, I kept putting off dealing with it properly. First of all because the cows were in the fields, and I do NOT like being closely watched by a herd of curious (and large) faces. Secondly because there were just so many other things to do, and fixing a wall between two of our own fields never got to the top of the priority list. And finally because I just couldn't figure out how much wall to strip out. I'm certainly no expert, but I've done a little bit of walling before and I know enough to know that when a gap appears, you strip out some of the remaining stone until you have a strong surface to rebuild the gap. This wall is higgledy piggledy for quite a long way either side of the gap, and I felt like if I started, I'd end up taking half the wall down before I could rebuild it. Of course, that meant I did nothing at all, so this week I decided to just get on with it - to strip away as much as was needed, and rebuild properly, however long it takes. So on New Year's Eve I spent two hours out in the sunshine taking down stones and laying them out ready to use again. I got quite a lot done in that time, which gave me hope (although I'm well aware that rebuilding takes far longer than dismantling of course). There's still quite a bit to dismantle either side of this gap, so I'll be at it for some time, but I'm hopeful that I can rebuild the whole thing before the cows come back in May. It's interesting seeing inside an old wall - this one has gradually spread at the bottom, leaving a lot of unfilled space (generally not a good thing in a wall). I'm trying to observe how it's been built to see what I can learn as I go along. I've got plenty of walls to practice on. We have about a mile of them here, in various states of disrepair. Occasionally next door's sheep spot a weakness, jump over, and make the whole thing worse. I do try to fix these smaller gaps as they happen, otherwise we'd have the entire flock of sheep in our fields (again). It's not always the fault of next door's sheep - this wall is between two of our fields, and has been rebuilt far more recently than the others, but a bit still fell off the top in the autumn. Much easier to fix when the rest of the wall is reasonably intact. I see fallen down walls in my dreams now. Whenever I'm travelling around here, I catch myself looking at walls, noticing gaps and repairs, wondering how long a dodgy-looking bit will last.
My wall dreams will probably last for as long as we live here, if not longer. Walling is a part of my life now, and I'm encouraged by knowing that with so much practice, I will get better eventually. I hope. I do love this time of year for plotting and scheming and hatching plans. I always take two weeks off work if I can, and the rest does me good (as does the ability to be outside in daylight, something I don't always get chance for while at work). I have lots of big, practical plans for 2020 (having a functioning kitchen for a start), but in 2019 I very much felt the lack of little things that I always used to find cheerful - writing letters, making jam, sewing, that type of thing. I did a few things last year, but not as many as I'd like, and so I'm setting a little intention here to keep track of things. I'm taking the idea from Jan at The Snail of Happiness, although she hasn't done this herself for several years now. I did enjoy her updates at the time though, and I've enjoyed looking back at them again recently. Our interests overlap, and I confess I've taken on board some of the things she herself did several years ago. So, without further ado - my 20 for 2020. 20 things mended Things break all the time (round here they do, anyway), and I much prefer to mend rather than buy new if possible. I'd like to keep track of what gets mended and how, and see if I can become more creative and ambitious with my mending. 19 letters written I love writing letters, and don't often get round to it. I love receiving them too, and I've found the more I send, the more I receive. So, a year of letter writing for me. 18 days without internet A slightly daunting one... but all the more important because it's so daunting. 17 new books read I used to read all the time, and that's tailed off lately (partly because I'm more inclined to sit scrolling through my phone - not a habit I want to keep). I'd like to read some new books, and be mindful about the ones I choose (although I will be counting all and any that I read). 16 household items or pieces of clothing made I love sewing, and have made many useful (and not so useful) things in the past. That's also tailed off recently - partly because my sewing machine doesn't have a home our new house yet (and we've been here nearly two years so it's about time it did). 15 meals with friends We've had some lovely times with friends this year, but I'd like to make a conscious effort to have more. 14 meals made from home-grown produce This is also a daunting one - last year we managed herby omelettes but not much more. Let's see what we can manage this year. 13 evening lectures Our local area has quite a few groups who put on evening talks and I do rather like going to them, especially when they're about things I'm particularly interested. I'm putting together a list of groups and the events they're organising, and I'll try to get to thirteen throughout the year. 12 donations to the food bank I hate that food banks exist. But they do, so I'd like to donate more. This is a reminder for me to find out what they need the most and to make a regular donation. It hate the thought of people going hungry. 11 solo days out for me I had a couple of little trips out last year, but it's not often I take off for the day on my own. Peter and I do have many overlapping interests, but there are other things I like that he doesn't, and I hope having this little target will encourage me to think about places I'd like to go that he might not enjoy. 10 loaves of bread made First step - retrieve the bread maker from the attic. I'd like for these not all to be a plain white loaf, so there may be a bit of experimenting this year. 9 bike rides I'd love to say more than nine, but I didn't even manage five in 2019 so I'm keeping things realistic. 8 organised runs I've started running again (for the 800th time), and have a half marathon booked in May. I don't want to do too many big races, but I would like to go to the local Parkrun a few times this year. 7 new places visited We have our favourite places that we visit, and I'd like to branch out a little and discover some new places. This can be anything from a new cafe to a new country (cafes are more likely...). 6 attempts at cheese making I love cheese. I've made mozzarella and ricotta before, but I'd like to get better, and also to branch out into hard cheeses. If I get it right, this might help with my '14 meals from home produce' goal. 5 'No Quibble' weekends away No Quibble is a concept we invented a few years ago. Because we have many different interests, we often end up compromising in where we go on holiday. The idea with a No Quibble weekend is that one of us does all the organisation and decision-making (to suit themselves) and the other tags along and is cheerful, and maybe even discovers that they like something new. Like many things, they fell by the wayside while we were decorating our last house and moving, and we'd like to start them up again. 4 pairs of socks made I can't decide whether this is ambitious or not. I love knitting socks, but I started a pair in March last year and am just about to finish them this afternoon (I won't be counting them in my 2020 total). Most of the knitting has been done in the last three days, so it's definitely an achievable number if I put my mind to it. 3 days volunteering I'm not sure about this one. I would like to get more involved with things locally though so I'm going to keep an eye out for volunteering opportunities I can do as a one off, rather than making a regular commitment. Who knows what it might lead to. 2 LAND centres visited I'm right at the end of my permaculture diploma now, and I'm not sure what my next steps are in that direction. LAND centres are permaculture demonstration sites, and one of our options is to register as one ourselves at some point in the future. I'd like to visit a couple of others to get a feel for what people are doing. 1 holiday! Aside from three nights staying with friends in Berlin, we haven't been on holiday since 2015. We never went abroad, but just being somewhere else for a couple of weeks was a luxury that we've very much missed. Things feel harder now we have the chickens, but we are training up willing volunteers to come and look after them, and we hope to get away for at least a week this year. So there we are! I'll update at the end of each month, and I hereby promise not to beat myself up if I don't reach any of these numbers. Do shout up if you'd like to join in!
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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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