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Making a fairy garden (part 1)
If you listened to this weeks episode of my podcast, you will know I have decided to turn part of the front garden into a fairy garden. There is a patch at the side which just has a lilac and bits and bobs and doesn’t look particularly pleasant. So, I got my thinking cap on…
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Electroculture Gardening – what is it and can it boost your harvest?
Have you heard of electroculture gardening yet? It’s thought to date back to around the 1700s and seems to be yet another one of those things we discarded into the pit of knowledge – but it’s resurfacing big time. It is claimed it can boost your harvest by 100- 300% without needing to add extra…
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The Final Polytunnel Update
In the last update I gave you on the polytunnel, I showed you the very basic structure I had managed to get together using whatever I could get my hands on. Well hold on to your chair friends because I am delighted to announce: IT’S FINISHED!! Is it perfect? Absolutely not. The pipes lean backwards…
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Making enough mince pies for the country – with home-made mincemeat!
I do enjoy a mince pie at Christmas so this year, for the first time I thought I’d have a go at making my own mincemeat, using Delia Smith’s recipe. I have usually used jars of the stuff so I was looking forward to filling the kitchen with the wonderful aroma of herbs and fruits.…
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Do your mince pies stick to the trays?
If you just answered ‘yes’ to that question, this short video might help!
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How many ways can you use a pumpkin?
So, the saga continues. I wrote in the last post about finally getting round to cutting up and starting to use ‘The Beast’, aka ‘Mr Beast’ (not that one), aka 53 lbs of pumpkin, (aka ‘if I trip over that b****y pumpkin one more time…..). I started with a chutney as I thought that would…
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Christmas Crafting over the years
As I was getting out our decorations and Christmas tree, I noticed there are quite a few I have made myself, from ornaments to hang on the tree to a topsy turvy Cinderella doll to a nativity scene. I have a lot of knitting patterns by Jean Greenhowe and thats where this lot came from:
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(Herbal) Lotions and Potions
I am a happy novice when it comes to making my own creams, balms, lotions and salves but I do like to give it a go. I have made a few in the past and they turned out ok albeit with some room for improvement! Many lessons have already been learned such as comfrey might…
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Build-A-Bear gets new outfit!
Ok I confess. I’m a grown woman and I have a build-a-bear. I didn’t ‘build’ her, I bought her on Ebay last Christmas as a present to myself! She cost me a whopping 99p and I named her Daisy-Rose. She came to me with no clothes so I made her a couple of things to…
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Easy Christmas crafting using free natural materials!
As much as I love to cover the house in tinsel and anything else shiny or glittery at this time of the year, there is a part of me which prefers the natural look. Wooden ornaments, dried flowers, garlands up the bannister – that sort of thing. So when we were out walking Scooby the…
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Crafting for the garden birds again!
I had a lot to do the other day, so naturally, I looked for the biggest distraction I could find instead of doing the work that was waiting for me. Making a bird feeder seemed the obvious choice instead of washing the dishes, emptying the hoover or doing the ironing. We have noticed the starlings…
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Bird Cakes
Despite the title, I’m talking about making cakes for birds, not cakes made out of birds! Our garden has been very busy lately as the temperature starts to plummet – the temperature for the previous post about the allotment was around 4 C (39.2 F) – and the birds are becoming quite demanding! So, I…