Frugal and Free

FREEBIES!

But what does one do with such frugal gifts? Some may say this is mere waste and, in a way, it is. Someone, somewhere paid a company to remove a dangerous tree and clip back a hedge then remove all this 'waste' so everything went through a big chipping machine and loaded onto a lorry. From there, it is 'disposed of appropriately and legally'. 

Frugaldom is on the disposal list. We recycle chipped up trees and logs into mulch, compost and wildlife habitats that become homes or feeding stations to a plethora of critters and beasties.

Log piles make fabulous critter dens and feeding areas for wildlife. For our visitors stopping overnight, these areas also make great photo points when spotting the foxes, badgers or pine martens.

We often set out trail cameras and we supplement the feed of our visiting wildlife. Food for the animals is our biggest expense so we love when visitors arrive bearing gifts of peanuts, monkey nuts, fresh eggs, suet blocks and crunchy peanut butter (100% peanuts).

We also recycle any pallets we are given. Most get used for fencing or for floating footpaths over the marshy areas but we also built a small hide for summer use by the river. 

As well as all of this, the donated logs, tree chippings and pallets can be incorporated into Frugaldom's art in nature project. Harvey is in charge of that, creating all the wildwood and driftwood sculptures, making art from beach trash and dreaming up all manner of woodland creatures that can now be found here.

Currently, the installation known as 'The Four Horses if Frugaldom' is being moved from its previous location in the goat enclosure to be set up by the main driveway into the project. Truth, Honesty, Integrity and Respect will soon be in place, seen taking their leap of faith over nature's obstacles. Ecoarts play a huge part of what we do here, both telling a story and raising awareness, as well as helping raise much needed funds to help us keep going. 

But back to the free tree chippings...

Thanks to the chippings, we can mulch the footpaths that run between the cabins and around the wildlife feeding stations. Hut 2 is the current focus as we top up the paths around it, following in the footsteps of the deer, foxes, badgers and pine martens who frequently visit.

Frugal living isn't for everyone and nor is the whole off-grid experience but our aim is to make such experiences affordable and accessible to all. Nature and wildlife lovers, especially, are being offered memberships to our support group known as FRIENDS OF FRUGALDOM. In turn, this tiny bit income helps us cover costs of feeding the rescued, retired and rehomed animals we have here while offering members the chance to visit and stay.

Another fundraising feature we have is "Badger's Holt", a super corner of Frugaldom that permits campervans, motorhomes or even small caravans to park up and watch the wildlife while here. Stays can range from one day/night up to 28 days with pricing to suit any budget.

Frugaldom is also home to several feral cats, two of which can often be spotted roaming around the barn, hay shelters and feed rooms. Seen here is Caramel but we also have Macaroon, Minstrel, Socks and, on occasion, Commander.

All in all, Frugaldom is about frugality and the freedom to enjoy nature. Whether you are cabin camping, campervanning or motorhoming, we have an option that should suit every budget

Please contact me (Susan) if you have any questions or if you would like to help out here. Frugaldom is unfunded and run voluntarily as a social enterprise. We are neither a business nor are we a charity, we are simply two people spending our income on creating a magical little wilderness that can be enjoyed by all.

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How to Get Rid of Ants

How to Get Rid of Ants

This is my never-ending quandary and I'm about to try variations of everything I have learned over the past years, having experienced the problem several times. I normally try to ignore the little critturs unless they are gnawing on my plants but when I found an ants' nest inside the wormery, that was just a step too far!

Read more here about the various methods being deployed in Frugaldom gardens to deter the pesky wee beasties and then feel free to suggest any other alternatives you may be aware of or have tried with success. I do have some ‘Flour Helvas’ and am wondering if that could be used to good effect if I mixed it with baking powder.

One extra tip re the baking powder method – I keep an open tub with some in my fridge to adsorb odours, so I used it for the ants then replaced the fridge tub with fresh stuff. I call that frugal stock rotation. … Read more here

Cheap Coffee Beans

Cheap Coffee Beans

Seeking out the best bargains isn't always easy! Prices don't necessarily determine what is and what isn't a bargain, that's for sure, and all too often we can fall for those fluorescent stickers and stars that have us brainwashed into thinking they represent a cheap and cheerful buy. Lookalike names fool us into mistaking them for something better and, as a household of coffee drinkers, I have been caught out by this when searching for cheap instant coffee. Read more…

 

NYK in Frugaldom

Back on the Trail of the Frugal Microholding (Part I)

Too Small for Smallholding? Try Microholding!

Part 1 of 3

 

It's been two years since we moved into our fixy-up. That's another two years of scrimping and saving, trying to get an eco-renovation done on a very tight budget and trying to create a semblance of normality in the wilderness that was the garden before the property lay empty for a couple of years. I'm pleased to say that we do now have water running from the taps rather than all over the house and through the roof, mains electricity reinstated, a phone line with broadband, a flushing toilet, an electric shower and a stand along multi-fuel stove (although this still needs some work done to complete the installation properly). We have some floors, even managing to uncover and salvage the original stone tiles that make up the hallway, but everything else is taking far more time and money than anticipated. But we can see the path we're taking, so that has to be good.

 

Garden progress is even slower! Weeds grow very fast, almost as fast as the dreaded slugs and snails munch through my plants! And this year's exceptionally long winter with several feet of snow certainly haven't helped matters. Regardless, the 90m x 10m strip of wilderness is slowly taking shape on what little budget we afford it.

 

OK, so it's painstakingly slow, despite trying to get it to a stage that it will produce food for us as quickly as possible. I've been trying my best to do as much as possible with as little as possible, salvaging useable 'stuff' in an effort to try and follow a frugal version of permaculture. As you can see, the Foxgloves are in full agreement with this strategy.

 

The bottom of the garden remains untouched barring what the hens have managed to achieve for us by way of clearing the ground. Moving from the hen run we have the burn, which has flooded once during the severe rains we had last year. Next to this is the wild bird corner, seen above, which is surrounded by Foxgloves and a selection of shrubs donated by friends or traded for through our LETS (Local Exchange Trading Scheme) group.

 

 

It's a very pretty corner of the garden and one where we were happy to see Blue tits nesting this year in the first of the boxes we'd hung in the old plum tree. What with that and the ducks having the run of this part of the garden, it makes for an ideal shady retreat - if the old wooden bench remains with us long enough to enjoy using it. All around the edges, I have planted raspberry canes but these have taken on a life of their own and will need sorting out later this year so we can train them into neat productivity in future years.

 

About halfway down the garden, we dug a pond and linked it to the stream, hoping this would help siphon off any excess surface water during floods. There's another wooden bench beside the pond but you tend to get soaked when sitting there if the ducks decide it's more fun to bathe in the pond than swim in it. They do love their pond but, like everything else about here, the pond project hasn't been completed yet.

 

 

The willow whips have sprouted and had to be cut back this year, the reeds have rooted and are growing well and the little fruit trees that had to be rudely transplanted from the previous garden at a less than suitable time of year seem to be recovering from the upheaval, some even beginning to produce fruit. (Only apples and cherries, the pear and plum trees are much slower) but that's as far as the central garden project - the micro orchard - has reached, so far. But the ducks love it!

 

In true permaculture fashion and in support of several pleas to leave parts of the garden uncut to attract and benefit bees and other insects, I have banned the mowing of the daisies and buttercups that grow among the fruit trees, barring a path through them to get to the bottom of the garden and reach the hens.

 

In this mid section, we also have the duck housing and two compost bins but I have to say they will never produce sufficient compost to sort out the entire garden, so I have had to invest in pre-packed bags for starting off seeds and getting the vegetables going. The hedgerow is slowly becoming edible, as I have all the raspberries, crab apples, blackcurrants and elder. We'll see how things go with those before embarking on any further developments in that department.

 

Apologies if these posts seem to be rather image heavy, but it's the easiest way of recording progress so I may look back this time next year and see what progress has been made.

 

Frugaldom

 

www.microholding.co.uk

The Wonders of Wormeries

Wiggly Worms and the Tale of the Coir!

 

A second blog post, but this time a little more light-hearted. Like I said, frugal living is about taking the good with the bad and seeking out the silver lining in any passing clouds. Besides, it's actually rather fun contemplating all the 2013 challenges I can set mysef that involve getting from A to B without a car while living a mile from the nearest bus route and several more to the nearest post office, especially when my income relies heavily on having access to a post office. I have Internet, I will survive!

 

So, what's with the wormery? Well, as I said previously, Dumfries and Galloway Council currently offers subsidised compost bins and wormeries and I'm all for composting and recyling. So, when the opportunity arose to purchase such an object, I leapt at it - almost!

 

Kick into frugal gear, start looking for a better deal, post a few questios and see what happens. What happened was Wormcity! They responded to my 'tweet' by offering to price match the subsidised product, which was £48.49 Not only that, they kindly offered to drop the 49p and provided me with the 'frugal' code to purchase their Wormery 50. (This special code is valid until 30th, if anyone else would like to apply, and includes delivery.)  As you'll realise, this is a huge amount of money to a frugaler, hence my stalling from leaping straight in and buying the council chosen option. So I duly counted out the annual coin collection and opted for the Wormcity Wormery 50, a far better deal, in my opinion.

 

Box duly arrived and I skimmed the instructions. It al looked robust and easily assembled. Indeed, it was, even for a bungling Calamity Jane like me! But I did create one tiny problem for myself, entirely my own doing, I might add...

 

Instructions clearly say, "Place the coir block into a large bucket or bowl. Pour 3 litres of warm water onto the coir and leave for approximately 30 minutes."

 

Excellent! Time to make a cuppa and catch up in the Frugaldom forum! So off I went, leaving the coir brick-sized block in my old baking bowl with its 3 litres of tepid water...

 

About 20 minutes later, I heard a shout from the kitchen, so ran through to be met with heaps of coir crumbling and flowing over the top of the bowl, across the worktop and onto the floor. Arg! Had I read the next sentence in the instructions, I would have been seen, "The coir will expand to 3 times it size..."!

 

The wormery is now set up and has been sited inside the plastic greenhouse, in a spot that doesn't receive direct sunlight. It isn't exactly warm in there but I'm hoping it's enogh to prevent the wrigglers from freezing through winter. At the moment, I'm still shredding old paper to top up their 'house' and hoping they save me a small fortune on compost and plant food next year. That's another money-saving plan put into action that should also go a long way towards my zero-waste plans. :)

 

Now for some other good news. The old oil-filled radiators that I traded for through LETS had been stashed out in the shed after they both gave up the ghost. Last week, a neighbour offered to take one of them away to footer with in his 'man shed' and joy, of joys! Message received saying they'll pop over this afternoon to return one fully working radiator! (Along with a mink trap.) While here, they are collecting the second oil-filled radiator and my thought-to-be defunct dehumidifier. Now if that could be resuscitated, it would be a massive boost.

 

Did I mention that my old 'whirly gig' clothes drier had broken? I need to get out there and assault the renovated outbuilding with a hook, so I can string my washing line between it and the garden gate. For indoor drying, I rely on my wooden upright airer, hence my hoping that the dehumidifier is repairable.

 

Today the sun is shining, there's a beautiful blue sky and almost all of the frost has melted. The pond is still frozen, but the sun should reach it soon, then the ducks can have a splash around and dry out before teatime. Meanwhile, I've warmed myself with a bowl of homemade soup and am about to resume paper shredding to top up the wormery. Only then can I begin working on my money-making, McGonk challenge. :)

 

Have a good day, everyone, and thank you to the new followers and for recent comments received.