Food Price Comparisons Over 25 years

Food price comparisons

These figures are based on cheapest supermarket prices found locally but they can be reduced if you are fortunate enough to live near a community larder, stores offering Too Good to Go or are in an area where food rescue via the Olio app is possible. Nowadays, we have so many options available to us to help cut food waste and food costs. Stick with the basics in your kitchen cupboards, keep tabs on your condiments, herbs and spices and anything is possible. The pennies make the pounds and a penny saved is a penny earned. Frugaldom is, ultimately, about frugal living and freedom - it is in the name. 

I began publishing articles about frugal living and money saving in 1999. The first ever challenge was known as 'The Scottish Pound' and was published in a local Scottish newspaper (Now You Know) as part of a challenge to make a main meal for a family of four every day for a week for under £10.00 The recipes and ingredients were all listed at the time and we did come in under budget.

As the years progressed, the challenges grew, then in 2007 almost all were transferred onto the Moneysavingexpert.com forums. Initially, it was the 'Living on £4,000 per Year' challenge but it later became known simply as the Frugal Living Challenge, as everyone's budget is unique to their household and circumstances. Other challenges included starting a business with £10, buying a house without a mortgage, £1,000 in 100 days, and the sealed pot challenge - one I am about to reintroduce, but with a slight twist. There was also a rather quirky little savings challenge knowns as the 'EEK', which represented the Everything Else Kitty. The original frugal living challenge still continues to this day. The motto remains the same, 

"The less I spend, the more I can afford."

Brocktoberfest at Frugaldom

Badger at hut 2

The Brocktober Festival runs from Tuesday 1st October to Thursday 31st October 2024. This year, it is also celebrating 25 years of Scottish Badgers. Here at Frugaldom, as many of you will know, we have the fabulous 'Clan MacBrock'. Our badger family regularly visits the various feeding stations around the yard, to the great enjoyment of our visitng campervanners and motorhomers.

Badgers in the paddock

Our badger clan increased by 4 this year, with two females (sows) producing cubs. They have been visiting the feeding stations for the past couple of months, growing quickly and becoming more mischievous by the day.

Badgers like to climb

We feed the wildlife every night, putting out mainly peanuts, eggs (for the pine martens) and mealworms. Recently, the badgers discovered the eggs so we now have to hide them up much higher for the pine martens to find them before the badgers reach them.

Badger on the decking

The badgers think nothing of coming up onto the hut deckings to look for food but hadn't been touching the eggs. That all ended when one egg got broken when clumsy baby badger stood on it. That was the beginning of the end for supplying the pine martens with their favourite treat. It is now a race to find the eggs.

Our campervan and motorhome stopover aire has parking available overlooking the feeding stations so we invite anyone to come along any night in October, bring some peanuts and park up overnight for just £5 and watch for the wildlife. Likewise for the Friends of Frugaldom who want to badger watch - get in contact to book space in the yard and/or huts to ensure the best possibilities of seeing Clan MacBrock up close. You need to get here and be settled quietly before dusk but once the badgers appear, they are sometimes out around the feeding stations for upwards of an hour. In between times, the opportunist pine martens often put in an appearance. They love eggs but also stop for some peanuts or peanut butter. Through the winter months they will eat berries and fruit so we sometimes see them taking apples.

Get in contact to arrange our visit and if you haven't already joined our support group, you can choose your preferred membership via www.ko-fi.com/Frugaldom/tiers 

What's Happening During Summer 2024

Hut 1 at Frugaldom

 So far, summer has eluded us here at Frugaldom. Yes, we have had several dry, warm, sunny days with time in between for some fabulous exploring and for our wildlife watchers, the overnight antics of our ever-growing badger clan have kept everyone entertained. The youngsters are all growing fast - badgers and fox cubs. Right now, it is pouring rain again but there is a badger cub sitting eating peanuts at the end of the decking of hut 1, several more cavorting around beneath the decking and 2 fox cubs mooching around the paddock. A pinr marten arrived to collect an egg from the bowl on the decking and at hut 3, our newest pine marten arrived at 6pm for peanut snacks. No doubt, our wildlife gang would also have visited hut 2. We are still inviting up to 10 individuals to join us as Happy Hutters and Wildlife Watchers here at Frugaldom.

IT IS EXPENSIVE RUNNING A WILDLIFE & NATURE PROJECT

Peanuts, of which we get through at least 25kg each month, are fast approaching £50 per bulk bag so we need more financial help. Inviting in campervans and motorhomes at £5 per night isn't even covering the cost of providing safe space for them to park, so things are going to be changing once our current licence expires. No more being open to the public 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. Our yard will revert to parking, turning and working space for Friends of Frugaldom who are actively supporting the project.

SANCTUARY PONIES

3 of the 4 rescued foals here since 2019

The four rescued foals are now five years old. After a rather shaky start, during which time BB Dobin was gone for 4 weeks without us knowing where he had been taken, he was finally delivered to Darcy's Equine Assisted Therapy Centre in Chapelton, which is near Strathaven in Lanarkshire. 

BB Dobin and his new friend, Carlos

Having done his preliminary training here at Frugaldom, BBD will now be schooled within a busy yard setting alongside working therapy ponies and the centre's other animals. Susan K. and Susan P. attended Darcy's to await the arrival of baby Dobbin and see him settled into his new quarters earlier this week.

Pine martens: 3 Spot, Comma and Jigsaw

Our wildlife surveillance project has been paying dividends with possibly 3 separate pine martens being recorded. We are absolutely delighted to have finally caught another pine marten on camera. 2 badgers have cubs and the fox vixen we though had only 1 cub has returned with 2, which is great news.  To share in all the news, updates, photos and videos, please join us via our funding page at www.ko-fi.com/Frugaldom We offer various options for Friends of Frugaldom, including Pony Partners, Wildlife Watchers and Happy Hutters with all funds raised contributing towards the feeding of the sanctuary animals and wildlife. 

PROJECT PROGRESS

• The pond has been receiving plenty of attention to recover it from the proliferation of duckweed.
• The new sand pit has been completed in the paddock
• New fence posts have been installed ready for replacing electric fencing in the corner field
• A length of post and rail fence has been built along the edge of the pond bog garden
• Wooden boards have been purchased for completing more fencing
• More nest boxes have been hung outside the barn
• An owl nest box has been donated and hung inside the barn
• A grand total of 35 campervans have visited and stayed overnight, year to date (Rethinking this one as it's not really financially feasible)
• Sage Cottage (one-bedroom cottage with separate storeroom and garden in Glenluce) has become vacant. On completion of work, it will be available for residential tenancy at around £400 per calendar month. Interested parties should contact Frugaldom @ gmail .com

August - the Story so Far.

Year to date, we have had 35 campervans and motorhomes visit Frugaldom for overnight stops, each leaving their £5 in the box or paying via our PayPal QR code at a cost of 15p per transaction to ourselves. Several of our lovely visitors stayed for a couple of nights or else left a small donation in the honesty boxes, which is always a huge help when animal feed costs so much.

Willowby, Lemony and Blue

Towards the end of July, the first of the rescued foals, who are now 5-year-olds, went off in a hired horsebox after a 2-hour training session, initially heading for Darcy's Equine Assisted Therapy Centre in Strathaven. However, there was a slught deviation to that plan in that Blue shoud have gone with him but got left behind as he was too upset about being shut in the horsebox. 

BB Dobin in the horsebox

The driver then decided he wanted to take baby Dobbin home with him, as he had really 'fallen for the little fellow', or words to that effect. So now we have 3 youngsters left at Frugaldom and none has made it to Darcy's so far. However, baby Dobbin WILL still be goung to Darcy;s, hopefully this week. More on that soon - we now need to find an extra £315 to cover the costs of services provided by Nutmeg Equine Transport so I have launched a flash fundraiser to help cover these extra costs. 

If you can help out at all, you can find the Frugaldom fundraising page here.

The wildlife visits have been frequent and eventful, with what we think is now 9 badgers in Clan MacBrock. The youngest cub is a real cheeky character, always making a mess and causing chaos on te deckings by tipping up bowls and overturning the feeder boxes.

Badgers by the gate

The fox cub has now met the badgers after a brief altercation that was, luckily, caught on camera. You can see this and many more brief video clips on the Frugaldom YouTube channel.

Vincent Van Goat remains alone since the sad demise of his friend, Goatis Redding. We are open to rehoming a goaty companion for him, nanny or wether, but we need the goat to be tagged and registered accordngly with an approporiate movement licence issued.

The Sand Pit

Our August targets included moving ponies to Darcy's, making a sandpit suitable for Vincemt Van Goat and Ginger rolling in and getting the pond area improved. All of the above are underway, with the sand pit now completed, at a total cost of £115, and one side of the feeder pond partially fenced at a cost, so far, of around £40. The pond, itself, is being gradually cleared of duckweed, thanks to willing members donning waders and playing in the mud. The pond is alive with newts and frogs so great care is being taken while working painstakingly around these. 

We are currently awaiting the delivery of wooden boards for completing windbreak fencing around Vincent's house and finishing a bit more fencing. We were lucky enugh to source several loads of wood/tree chippings, which have been laid out around the orchard wildlife garden as temporary paths, The raised beds finally got refilled with top soil for planting some vegetables and this week will see the arrival of Harvey's next Ecoarts creation - The Four Horses of Frugaldom: Truth, Honesty, Integrity and Respect. All going well, these should be installed in a corner between the pony track nearest Vincent Van Goat's run.

More news soon - it takes sunshine to recharge the batteries for laptop and mobiles,

Hut 3

 

Pine marten

Some of our badger clan

Mrs Fox

Badger at hut 2

The newest feeding station

Hutting - what is it?

Hut 3

Hutting is literally about living off-grid in a hut. It is camping out in a sustainably built, wooden hut but with the addition of a few home comforts like a comfy armchair, a log burner for the colder nights and space to cook, wash and live a little while enjoying your recreational time. It's like time spent in a cabin in the woods. You are surrounded by nature and the wildlife that inhabits the area. Frugaldom has three recreational huts and countless opportunities for Friends of Frugaldom who help support the project by sharing the running costs. Frugaldom is not for profit, it is run entirely voluntarily. We are always looking for like-minded individuals to come along and join our mini community for a few days or weeks, to make the most of holidays and weekends, either in campervans/motorhomes of by staying in the huts. To support this fantastic project, check out our 'Happy Hutters' option in the membership tiers at our www.ko-fi.com/Frugaldom site and sign up from as little as £5 per month. Or, simply send us a donation and we will spend it on food for the sanctuary anumals and wildlife. :)