January has been rather snowy around here. Not in a disruptive way, as it's mostly just been a light dusting, but it's been pretty cold, often windy, and the ground has been so hard that doing anything in the garden feels unappealing. I feel like I'm still recovering from the work-related onslaught of the autumn, and while I've been doing quite a bit of DIY, I've been starting weekend mornings slowly, knitting and watching YouTube videos about growing a preserving food. This month's knitting has used wool from The Inkpot. Hannah hand shears her own sheep, and is extremely cheerful. I made socks with this wool at the end of last year (I've already worn them so much I've put a hole in one of the heels), and now I've adapted a cushion pattern from this 1948 knitting book to make a hot water bottle cover with a ridiculous fringe. I've not shaped the top, because I usually sit with one hand inside the cover, and I'd only end up stretching the neck. I've been using this for a week or so now and it's perfect. The other thing I've made in January is calendula salve. Back in the autumn I finally got round to dehydrating some of the abundance of calendula flowers from our garden, which I'd been meaning to do all summer. They sat in the dehydrator for several weeks, until finally I got throwing them into a jar of sweet almond oil which had been under the sink for about five years. There were still a few flowers in the garden at this point, so I threw them, fresh, into olive oil. I turned both jars daily for a few weeks - they both turned a rich golden colour, but the fresh flowers went slightly mouldy, which I'm told is always a risk when there might be moisture left. So that jar sadly went in the bin, but the rest I strained and mixed with beeswax (which had also been under the sink for about five years), to make several tiny jars of calendula salve. I've read it's a miracle cure for all kinds of skin complaints, from chicken pox to sunburn. I don't know about that, but I can confirm it works wonders on dry skin, and on hands sore from the cold.
I've got a lot of plans for the garden this year, and one of them is to learn more about the things that are growing (whether I've planted them or not) and what they can be used for, so there might be a little bit more experimenting from me in the coming months.
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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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