2018 at Frugaldom

This is your whistle-stop tour of Frugaldom during 2018

Apologies for my extremely lengthy absence but we stepped things up a gear and implemented many changes that we hope will benefit all our friends, family and followers of Frugaldom. It has been a very busy year so far.

Here at Frugaldom, we have tried our very best to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible, keep wihin our strict budget and stretch every penny as far as it can possibly go. So far, we are succeeding, although progress is very slow, what with mixed weather, lack of a workforce and trying to find companies (or even individuals) who will come out to Frugaldom and do the work required.

Site of the new 'Legacy Working Woodland' and track around it.

 In January and February 2018 we organised the next area for planting the working woodland. The area extends to over 3 acres, most of that made up of clearfell and bordered by a stream. We employed the services of local workers who were on site for several days clearing around the edge of the planned woodland and sectioning it all off with stockfencing.

Fencing of the new working woodland area was completed in February 2018

 We had no sooner completed the main fencing when winter returned with a vengance, blanketing us in snow and, at times, making it impossible to drive to Frugaldom - walked, instead. However, the ponies were happy enough and kept all the paths clear. They are fed a constant supply of hay, along with access to salt and minerals, so weather isn't a factor in their feed bill. They eat like horses and cost the same to feed every day of the year.

Snowy Frugaldom

The snow ceased temporarily, allowing us two nights away to celebrate a family wedding. Many thanks go to the brave Emily who took on the unenviable task of caring for the ponies, with further thanks due to her for topping up our water bottles when the pipes were all frozen at the caravans. 😊 Such help was greatly appreciated by all concerned.

Prolonged sub-zero temperatures in March

By late February, early March, temperatures had plunged further below zero meaning all our water sources, both at the field and at the caravan park, froze solid. At that point, we were collecting water in containers from the river and carting it to and fro, relying on bottled water for cooking and drinking, with the water from the burn being used for ponies, chickens and toilet flushing! With the big freeze came gales, so more windbreak mesh was added around certain areas as a temporary solution to problems caused by driving winds.

Anneka had returned from Germany to volunteer for a couple of weeks during her break so she got more than she bargained for with on the spot lessons in extreme frugal, off grid living while we were solely reliant on river water, solar power and cylinder gas. We were also trying to keep warm in a caravan in March.

Hay feeding, poop picking and tree planting

The daily chores at Frugaldom always begin with checking water, topping up hay feeders, feeding the chickens and collecting all the dung from around the tracks. This routine is relentless - it is seven days per week and gets done at least twice a day. It means that no matter who visits, these jobs always have to take priority. Luckily, even the youngest visitors are happy to help out with most things.

Ponies out on the marshy moorland

 Whenever we got dry weather during March, tree planting got into full swing. It even got dry enough to allow the ponies out onto the marshy moor grass, where they foraged for tasty snacks among the bog myrtle and heather.

Then the floods came

 By the third week in March, the snow had all gone, the ice had all melted and the rain arrived big time! The bottom field, which is parially planted with downy birch, alder, hawthorn and willow, went under water yet again. Fortunaely, it runs off almost as quickly as it floods, so the trees within our riparian planting ground continue to thrive and the ponies maintain the 'barn owl track' between the flood land and the rest of the project.

March also brought sunshine and Mallards

March is mainly about tree plantin. We received our next 420 saplings from the Woodland Trust, thanks to them and their sponsors at Ikea, Sainsbury's, Yorkshire Tea and the players of the People's Postcode Lottery. We have received 420 saplings each November and March since we began the Frugaldom project in 2014 and have been planting each phase as either woodland or foraging hedgerow. This tree planting project  (2014 - 2018) was undertaken as part of the World War I Centenary, and will culminate on 11th November, when we will be planting the final batch of trees into our memorial woodland. Here, too, will be displayed the Ecoarts war horse.

Our WWI Cenenary Woodland at Frugaldom is planted to commemorate all the people and animals lost to a war fought to defend and protect our freedom. For this, we are truly thankful.

Tree planting and new orchards

So far, Frugaldom has been awarded a total of 3,780 saplings from The Woodland Trust and we hope to continue planting to replenish lost hedgerow that will provide a safe haven for wildlife and free foraging opportunities for future visitors to the project. Alongside the native tree planting, we are also planting orchards that include heritage variety, Galloway Pippin apples.

The Cuckoo Corral, so named because the cuckoos visit it in Spring, now has around 70 fruit trees and is gradually being surrounded by a new hedgerow of dogwood, rosa ragusa, hazel, hawthorn and crab apple. Numerous wild flower seeds have been scattered around this orchard and it will soon also become home to our herd of creel ponies. (More on this soon.) As always, we welcome your contributions towards establishing the orchards and offer the opportunity to dedicate a tree to someone special. Details for this can be found in the Frugal Shop.

Try frugal living for yourself in 2019

During April and May, major renovation works were carried out at the new cottage. This one-bedroom cottage with adjoining garden room / studio and allotment-style garden will be made available to anyone who would like to sample a frugal lifestyle experience - you'll be tending the gardens and making the most of village life while here. The cottage is located within easy walking distance of the main London to Belfast bus route, plus it has adequate secure storage for bicycles, so no need to even bring a car! Reduce, reuse, recycle and keep an eye on your carbom footprint. Sample frugaldom for yourselves in 2019 at a price you can afford. Weekends, mid-week, all week, a fortnight or a month... you decide.

Frugal Breaks at Three Lochs Holiday Park

 April saw the first of our holiday makers arriving so it was fortunate that the weather improved. Our wall of daffodils gave a beautiful display behind the caravans and despite some wet days, we had plenty of good weather that allowed our guests the opportunity to explore Frugaldom and the surrounding area.

You can bring your horse

April also saw the arrival of our first ever equine holidaymaker for one of our frugal breaks. This gorgeous Thoroughbred seemed to enjoy every minute of her therapy break, as did her owner.

Duck eggs incubating and Phase 2 cottage work completed

 May proved to be a really busy month with the next phase of work being completed at the cottage, the arrival of our first renter, duck eggs going into the incubator and the usual chores being carried out daily at Frugaldom.  The ground gradually dried up in the sunshine and the plants and trees began to grow.

At Frugaldom

 The bog myrtle (Myrica Gale) lends its name to 'Myrical', the Ecoarts unicorn at Frugaldom. As the buds and cones on the shrubs changed to deep russet, the green buds of willow began to burst into life. Down in the marshy, moor grass field, the ponies have done an excellent job of maintaining the barn owl strip, which is flanked on one side by the marsh and on the other by riparian planting of a small woodland copse of alders, edged by wetland tolerant hedging.

Ponies going out onto the clear fell

 From one extreme to another - by May, the rain had left us completely, leading to water shortages of a different kind. This led us to move the ponies out onto the newly fenced track around what will become the 'Legacy Woodland', where they had access to the stream. It also meant that they cleared the area where the raspberries will be cultivated, which is brilliant. except that part of the project needs more funds raised to cover the costs of further fencing.

Dry, hot, sunny weather

With all the mud drying up, it was time to sow seeds and organise a bit more drainage, in preparation for winter. The main track dried out beautifully but so, too, did the wooden fencing. Now we need to raise the funds to get it all re-painted in 2019 so it doesn't start splitting. We still haven't finished the post and rail fencing but have, instead, been using electric fencing run off batteries topped up by solar panels in places. This one corner isn't electrified, it's just waiting for wooden fencing but needed to be protected from pony hooves after we planted some crab apple trees, herbs and wild flowers.

Another muddy gateway drained

While the rain's away, we shall play... with mud, pipes, groundcover and gravel. Many thanks to Lyn for all her hard work in ditch digging and sorry you got so muddy. Oops! This is Harvey helping rake out the last of the stone that was used to backfill the drainage ditch after the pipes went into it. We ran out of stone and had to order yet another lorryload! To anyone who supports our project, it really is a case of every penny counts. It costs over £200 for each load of stone and to do all the drainage we need done will take literally hundreds more lorryloads. It's back-breaking work that continues almost all year round so feel free to volunteer... you don't need a gym when you can have all your exercise for free right here at Frugaldom! It's almost like your personal outdoor gym!

I'm going to cut it short now and will continue into June 2018 in my next post. In the meantime, you may like to follow @Frugaldom on Twitter, like our Frugaldom Facebook page or even join us in the Frugal Living Challenge group, linked to Facebook. For anyone who would like to actively support the project, you can contact me via the Frugaldom website or social media. Holidays can be booked via Frugal Breaks and to contribute towards the project, see the options we have available in the Frugal Shop.

You got it! We love everything frugal and strive to stretch every penny as far as possible, whether it be feeding and caring for rehomed ponies, rescuing chickens, offering frugal holiday accommodation, inviting volunteers or just simply living a good life. We're here to provide you with a really good reason to get up each morning and celebrate frugal life.

Thank you to everyone who is helping make Frugaldom a shared reality.

Ducks, Eggs and Pancakes

Ducks, Eggs and Pancakes

Pancakes aren't just for Shrove Tuesday, they are for any frugal day when you are in a hurry or need to use up surplus eggs. At this time of the year, both factors affect meal times here, especially when preparing the first ever live chat, an impromptu decision to test out the brand new NYK Chat facility online. Pancakes for tea, early to bed for the Frugaldom ducks and then some virtual socialising with frugal friends... that was the theory, anyway!

Read more here

Paving the Way for our Tiny House

Broom in bloom!

As you may know, I have been planning to totally refurbish the old chicken house at the bottom of the garden to turn it into a tiny house, suitably kitted out for wildlife watching. At the moment, it is used as storage for all sorts of useful junk and the hens are still living in the run but all of this is about to change. Here's where we're 'at', so far...

Our garden is long and narrow, pretty much split into four different zones. First we have the patio and kitchen garden and then the main garden (as seen above), which includes the greenhouse, polytunnel, vegetable plots, herb spirals and soft fruit. This is also where the rabbits and quail live… Red more here

Foraging for Free Food from the Garden

Frugal Blog - Foraging for Free Food from the Garden

Frugal living, as a lifestyle, comes as second nature to those of us who have followed the path for some time. The debt free good life was one I aspired to for many years and it took many more to achieve it, but we still are nowhere near self-sufficient. So this got me thinking seriously about 'what if we had absolutely no money?’

Could we rustle up a meal from the Frugaldom garden?

Don't panic! We don't eat any of our own livestock, they are kept more like pets! But we still need to feed them and they still need to contribute to the overall 'welfare' of the microholding project.

Octavius and Septimus help manure the fruit beds, dig holes and eat grass. They also love raspberry leaves! But that doesn't feed us!

Read more here

Day 8 of Making it in March - How to Make a Duck Eggshell Planter

Day 8 of 31 - Today we got our First Duck Egg of the Year!

White duck egg

Phoebe, our oldest surviving duck, has started to lay after her winter break, so today we had a lovely white duck egg. (I know it's Phoebe's because 'Custard Cream' lays pale green eggs and 'Oreo' lays blue eggs.) Cue an attempt at making one of those eggshell planters to hang in a home made mini macramé potholder.

Scoring the egg shell

I used a filleting knife to gently saw through the narrower end of the egg - don't cut right through, we want to save the egg inside for cooking!

Empty egg shell

Once sliced through enough to open the end off the egg, tip the contents into a dish or cup and put them in the fridge to use up for cooking. (Think I might make bread and butter pudding tomorrow!)

Wash out the shell before priming it

After giving the shell a good wash, allow it to stand upside down to drip dry and then give it a couple of coats of bonding - I used my PVA glue. This strengthens the shell. Omit this stage if you are planning on sowing seeds in it because once the seeds germinate, you can simply plant the entire egg shell into the ground.

 

Painting the eggshell

Once the bonding had dried, I used food colouring to paint this first shell a rosy red! I'll try different colours, depending on what I find in the baking cupboard.

Duck eggshell planter

 

I selected a brown embroidery thread and then knotted up another of the mini macramé hangers. (See earlier post for how to make these.) The colouring wasn't properly dried in time for me to plant up this shell for photographing, but I'll do that tomorrow. I have taken a couple more cuttings from my Money (Jade) Plant, so they should be ready to pot by then.

 

Turkey mince pie

 

And finally, for today, there were a couple of other makes! I made a batch of ice cream for daughter to take home with her and I made some pastry to turn some of the turkey 'Nile' mince into a pie to mark the end of National Pie Week! This one has turkey mince, sage  & onion stuffing and mixed vegetables already added to the filling. As usual, I forgot to photograph it when it came out the oven, so this is what's left of it. There is still sufficient mince to make another pie, so I've frozen that for future use. If I count a pie as 4 portions, my 400g pack of turkey mince stretched to 12 meals, six for each of us here.

 

NYK, Frugaldom

Ducks, Drakes and the Death of Joey.

Bye, Bye Joey!

Joey: 26/04/2009 - 22/01/2014

A bit of a sad start to the day with the loss of Joey, our original drake, who was one of the first ducklings we hatched in the tiny polystyrene incubator back in April 2009. He was a bit of a character, having graduated from an oven tray to a large cat litter tray to an inflatable paddling pool as makeshift ponds until we moved here and he got his first proper duck pond.

Joey, Phoebe and Monica

Joey, Phoebe and Monica were the first three ducklings hatched in Spring 2009 but we now have just Phoebe remaining, who shares the mini orchard with the other trio of home-hatched ducks. Monica was killed by a fox in 2012 and I haven't incubated or hatched any more duck eggs since then, so we are down to 3 ducks and 1 drake.

As if by magic, the postman delivered me a little lucky bag this morning, which helped lighten the mood. Many thanks to K in Brighton for a lovely selection of googly eyes, pompoms, feathers and squeakers! These are greatly appreciated and will certainly be put to good use.

These are now safely tucked away in the 'Magical Box' along with my Billy Can until I can take the time to create something that's frugal and fun. Already feeling inspired but must complete my knitting project before starting out on any more crafty adventures.

NYK, Frugaldom

Surveying the Lie of the Frugal Land

Fools Rush in where Angels Fear to Tread

Microholding is another life choice I made several years ago - it's like smallholding for people who can't afford to buy or rent their own land.

 

Since leaving home to follow my adult route through life, I have moved house 13 times, this is my 16th address. Every one of those addresses has had garden space where I have started trying to grow fruit and/or vegetables and, where possible, keep chickens, ducks and quail. The garden in this first photo was the smallest ever, so stretched to no more than some pots of herbs, salad leaves and an attempt at composting. This was taken in 2006, at the cottage we rented after a family crisis in 2004 forced me to relocate - again!

 

The following year, we'd to move house again, but it was a good move as far as gardeing was concerned because the garden was massive in comparison to the little green postage stamp we'd been restricted to at the cottage. It was great fun sorting it out, as the owners had already begun planting veggies before they left and let out their house. Some of you may even remember these photos from posts done back in 2007, when I finally used the proceeds of my £2 coin savings challenge to buy the plastic greenhouse, extended the veggie plots halfway up the garden and dug out the first 'micro pond'.

We had a hedgehog lived in this garden and a serious snail problem, along with major cat problems from the 12 or so cats that lived between the houses on either side. These photos were taken in 2007 and then 2008, showing progress made and the lovely old fruit trees that grew in the top half of the long, thing strip of back garden. I loved that garden, was very proud of progress and very sad to leave it behind, when we'd suddenly to move out the following year.

 

From there, we went further out into the country, renting a run-down, semi-bungalow with a scrap of garden area that hadn't been cultivated in some time. 

 

Time to start over, again...

 

I was living in hope that this move would be for the long term. It was tough going while trying to create any sort of garden from the rocky soil, if it was even worthy of being called soil! Anyone remember this, from when we first moved in 2009? It took a full year of clearing and digging to get much growing in there, then we managed to get the little greenhouse from neighbours, who moved out from the house next door. It was starting to get interesting by 2010 - we had the chickens, ducks and quail, plenty of eggs and over a mile of driveway for foraging wild berries. We also had sheep escaping into gardens and cows munching everything they could reach by pushing over the broken fence!

 

Then, at the start of 2011, we were dealt a particularly cruel and unbelievably vicious blow! Once again, we had to uproot - literally - and find a place to stay, after being pretty much made homeless.

Fortunately, the legal bigwigs were able to protect us from that, delaying it long enough to allow a solution to be found. But it let me see, once and for all, how little one can trust those you think can be trusted. Of course, that's when the car chose to give up the ghost and houseshare lost his income!

 

We threw every penny we had, right down to the contents of my son's coin tin, into buying a fixy up - this place! It wasn't habitable, but we'd no option other than to move in as soon as we had electricity and running water, even if it did mean carrying buckets of water from the burn to the house to flush the toilet until that got fixed! That was last April, and this is what we had acquired by way of garden. (Anyone remember this?)

 

More work was done in that 'garden' during the latter half of 2011 and first half of 2012 than in any other garden. This, at long last, was going to be HOME! It's ours, there's no landlord, there's no mortgage, there's just an awful lot needing done to turn it into a proper home and the usual legalities to resolve when you throw all your savings in with a third party to jointly buy property. (Those technicalities have still to be ironed out, so 2013 MUST include having a will made! I have been sharply reminded of this by the four deaths that have occured in the family over the past 14 months!)

 

Work continued, as per all the blog posts - clearing the hen runs at the bottom of the garden, digging into rubble mountain, clearing the banks of the little stream that runs throught the bottom of the garden, creating a wildbird garden, planting the mini-orchard, digging a duck pond, planting all the fruit bushes, digging raised beds, herb gardens, building wildlife habitats, a recycled greenhouse, even a brand new shed! It was starting to look fabulous in summer (what we had of it), with a load of colour and the fruit canes and trees all beginning to settle after their rude uprooting last year from the previous garden.

 

It's been a long time in happening, and there's still a huge amount of work to do before the place comes anywhere close to becoming a microholding. A friend who is a permaculturalist (is that the right word?) visited and, from thereon in, it's been a case of observing the lie of the land to determine where best things should be sited for the longterm good of the garden. THANK GOODNESS we did!

 

The Mayan calendar may well have foiled the doomsday believers, the earth did not end. But, here in Frugaldom, yesterday's midwinter solstice definitely marked the end of an era and this morning saw the dawning of a new age - one that acknowledges once and for all to any doubters that  nature is the ultimate dictator in how we lead our lives. We NEED to respect that. Losing the car last month was a bit of a big deal for us, but we'll manage without it somehow. Seeing the garden destroyed is something I'm not relishing the thought of, so fingers crossed!

 

Right now, I need to hope that the hens survive the floods by staying on the upper levels of their coops, which are down by those trees, and that the water level stops rising soon, otherwise even the ducks will have no safe place to go.

 

This is a sharp reminder that we need to follow the natural course of things, keep to the contours of the land and, most importantly, show respect for our environment and all that sustains life on this planet.

 

Keep safe everyone, let's hope the rain stops soon and the water levels drop quickly. I realise that this little garden problem in Frugaldom is nowhere near as serious as events documented on the news, where towns are flooding, rivers are breaching water defences and landslides are closing roads, nor does it come remotely close to the devastation caused in foreign lands by tsunamis, earth quakes, tornadoes, droughts, epidemics or famines, but surely it comes some way to demonstrating how lucky we are that we have the ability to choose how we solve our own problems and lead our own lives. There are many millions of others can hope for nothing more than survival.

 

Cheers for now,

Frugaldom - with sand bags at the ready, just in case!

Frugal Living - the Good, the Bad and the Gruesome!

When it Rains, it Pours!

 

Trying to live a frugal life on a tight budget while attempting to renovate a house, develop a microholding in your back garden and earn a living from home is a bit of a juggling act, to say the least. Taking the good with bad, I am happy to say that there normally is some form of silver lining to the passing clouds, even if it takes an exploration team a lengthy time to find it.

 

Getting the week's 'bad' stuff out of the way first, as this is only Wednesday and there's plenty of time for more to arrive. (Sigh).

 

On Monday, some marauding animal invaded the garden and killed little 'Bunty', the runty duck. The murderous 'whatever' was neither seen nor heard, so we aren't ruling out a return visit from the mink. Nothing was seen or heard until the gruesome discovery of a decapitated pile of feathers was made, when going to see why all the ducks had run for shelter. (Hoping to borrow a mink trap this afternoon!)

 

It was last October, the day before my dad's funeral, that the horrid mink paid its first visit and massacred 7 of the hens, including cute little 'Dumbledorf', the miniature Silkie. 

 

Earlier this year, we lost a couple of ducks.

 

Worse still, earlier this year we also lost dear Floppity, my big, lop-eared rabbit.

 

This morning, Scruffy cat, our frugal mouser, point blank refused to go outside the door. Mind you, that could have been because ofthe thick frost. Even the big duck pond is frozen today.

 

So enough is enough - the varmint HAS to be trapped and disposed of as quickly (and humanely) as possible. With this in mind, I have 'tweeted' a friend who is visiting this afternoon, asking that they brng their mink trap for a (hopefully short) vacation.

 

Yesterday, after delivering the frugmobile to the garage for it's winter check, MOT and investigation of more clunks and squeaks, we received the bad news - as well as all the 'little things needing done, the back axle's 'gone' (I'm assuming they mean it's broken and not, literally vanished!?) and major motor surgery is just too uneconomical. So, absolute, frugal resolution, I have taken the decision to have the car put to sleep.

 

Working from home means no commuting, but the nearest village store and post office is over 3 miles from here. We aren't on a bus route and there are no taxis. However, a friend had loaned me her bike and this will now give me the impetus to attempt to cycle. It will also give me the kickstart I need to pursue a car-sharing project for our tiny street, although it manly comprises of semi-vacant holiday homes. But nevertheless, I am finding it rather exciting thinking of all the preparations that need to be in place before winter proper reaches our corner of Scotland. The re-payment meter will definitely need to go, as there's no sure-fire way of reaching the post office in a hurry in the event of another 'key' failure. Perhaps the recent one was sent as a pre-warning, reminding me that it's sometimes better to release the stubbornness handbrake and pay to go with the flow. (But I'm still loath to pay Scottish POwer £60 to remove a meter I never asked for in the first place!)

 

OK, less of the doom and gloom, let's get on to the good stuff.

 

Without having a car, I'll save on road tax, insurance, garage bills, fuel bills and further reduce the carbon footprint of the Frugaldom household. That is excellent! It will free up and estimated £150 every month, which soon mounts up towards renovation work. It will also encourage me to get out there and walk more, perhaps even affording me the luxury of real walking boots!

 

On the subject of boots, and carbon footpints, our local council is showing signs of edging closer to recycling, planning the introduction of 5 new bins in 2014 (but still no green waste bin). Instead, we will gain individual, smaller bins for:

cardboard
paper
food waste (outdoor bin)
glass, plastics and metals
food waste (indoor caddy)

 

In addition to the above, they already offer subsidised compost bins, of which I have two, and a brand new entry this year is their introduction of subsidised wormeries. (Info can be found at www.getcomposting.co.uk) Being of a frugal extremist nature, I had to do a price comparison and ask about for other suppliers and recommendation... and that brought results!

 

I'll need to write a second post today, again, because the exploits of what happened next are rather fun but a little long to include here.

 

Back soon,

 

Frugaldom

 

PS: Second post of the day is a much happier state of affairs, I promise! :)

A Frugally Productive Day

GARDEN PRODUCE IN WINTER

I've been waiting for quite some time to get a dry enough day to get out into the garden to see how things are growing. The ground is saturated - far too wet to even think about planting anything - but it was alright for picking some fresh produce.

Today's haul got me a tub of brussels sprouts, some curly kale and 15 leeks. The ducks got their share of leafy greens to nibble on, when I pulled up a couple of rows of the old broccoli plus some kale, then it was indoors to start preparing the day's pickings. Before that, I pulled out the dead sunflowers, so their thick, woody stalks were soon blazing on the fire, helping to heat the water.

Breadbaking was on the agenda, so two small loaves got baked in the replacement breadmaker. It bakes faster than my old one, probably owing to the fact that it does two small loaves instead of one large one. I like this feature, as it allows me to bake a white loaf and a wholemeal loaf at the same time. That's very handy when the household is divided on what each likes best.

Then there was the 'Nile' mince to cook. I named it this, as mince is such a versatile meat product that can be bulked out and made into so many different dishes - it simply stretches for miles, just like the River Nile.

Bog standard mince and potatoes is tasty at the best of times but with a slow cooker, you can simply add everything into the one pot and have a 'casserole' style meal that could easily feed a large family without a problem.

Today, the mince is cooking along with potatoes, carrrots, onions, leeks and brussel sprouts. I add plenty of stock and seasoning, then  dumplings  get added about half an hour before serving the meal in big bowls, along with freshly baked bread, if required. It's tasty, nutritious and very filling!

(Dumplings are a mix of plain flour, suet and water mixed into dough, divided into dough balls and can be cooked in mince, stew or soup.)

Whatever mince doesn't get used today will be transformed by the addition of tomatoes, herbs and garlic to make a bolognese style sauce for serving with pasta and then the remains of that topped up with chilli peppers and kidney beans to serve at a later date with boiled rice. My slow cooker is one of the most used items I have in my kitchen and I can highly recommend them to anyone. I use a 6.5L Morphy Richards.

Each of these dishes can be frozen in meal sized portions for future use, so we can get three meals for three of us out of the one pack of mince, which started out weighing a mere 400g for a cost of £1.20  The potatoes, onions, brussel sprouts and leeks are all from the garden. I'm ashamed to say, I had to buy the carrots!

Sadly, we've lost our second crop of carrots, which were well and truly wrecked when the rabbit decided it would be fun to play in that particular bed after finding her way in through the netting! She had it dug into nothing by the time we found her. And judging by the huge holes I found among the stalks of last year's broccoli and the brussels sprouts this afternoon, she's been making a habit of frequenting that spot, too.

Note to rabbit-keeping vegetable growers - your rabbit will love freeranging in your garden but it will also find its way into anything, showing you where you have failed to 'crittur-proof' your precious veggies. The Frugaldom bunny doesn't seem to touch turnips, kale, broccoli, cauliflower or sprouts, but she loves carrots, pea shoots, strawberries and raspberry leaves. I've even seen her nibbling on the mint!

Hoping to be able to get some seeds started soon, so I'll probably start with my salad leaves in their tub, as these are easily covered in plastic as a makeshift cloche. I would normally start some other seeds off in trays and keep them on the kitchen windowsill but being in our 'fixy-up' means I don't actually have a windowsill to use until the old window gets replaced. Weather permitting, I'm hoping it could maybe get fitted this weekend, which would then help cut down more of the draughts at the back of the house.

Here's to the 2012 growing season. If the mild weather continues, we might even get back out into the garden soon - if only the high winds and rain would stay away for a bit!

The duck pond is mucky but, thanks to the drainage, we have avoided any floods or mud pits... so far. We lost one of our young ducks to the severe weather during the storms but everything else seems to be fairing well. Roll on the start of egg laying, as we're only getting a few bantam eggs at the moment - hardly conducive to cost-effective egg production!

Work has now begun on the website in preparation for the new year. All the links will be added to the http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/ site, which will become the centre of this frugal little kingdom, updated to reflect progress in the development of our first microholding.

Don't forget you can join in with any of the frugal challenges at http://www.frugaldom.com/ where I have linked
the free forums.

NYK Media
http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/