November 2017
Slowly but surely I am catching up with the blogging but I must apologise for what turned out to be a further delay during January 2018. I refuse to drive anywhere in snow and this time around, the little car simply refused to move in it, so I am currently sitting in the caravan and have been staying here for over a week. In a way, it is good! It is giving me the chance to 'free shop' from my own cupboards, fridge and freezer while I can't go shopping and saving money on fuel, as I walk to and from Frugaldom.
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| The polytunnel plot |
The temporary polytunnel has withstood some serious wind and rain since it was put up but it also produced quite a good crop of tomatoes, herbs and spinach. It still is, even if the tomatoes are still green - chutney making is always on the cards. Adjoining the polytunnel plot is the yard, which has been completed for this year - it has now ceased to flood or turn to mud. This is still only a temporary fix but I think it could be longterm temporary. :)
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| Rosehips |
March and November are tree planting months for us and here at Frugaldom, we are trying to develop our frugal fruit, berry and herb farm to include foraging hedgerow, otherwise known as jam and jelly hedges. We love rosehips! They are fabulous for so many reasons - syrup, mixed hedgerow jelly, vitamin supplement, good for wildlife and horses & ponies seem to love them. So, we are planting as many briars as possible all around the place and these will become part of the foraging hedgerow that will eventually go right around the project. The ponies will be allowed to browse their way around to keep them trimmed along the fencelines and then, once they have grown sufficiently, we will be harvesting the hips.
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| Frugal visitors in assorted vehicles |
November was also a month for visitors arriving and volunteering their services. Irene and Kenny arrived in the campervan to help clear some more garden space. The weather had been so wet that the ground everywhere was saturated, even at the holiday park, so the best and safest option to avoid getting stuck in mud was to park up in the Frugaldom yard. While there, Dave also arrived with his magic machine to haul out and cut more of the old logs. This is a great exchange, as a) it clears them out of the way for us and b) it provides him with extra firewood. :)
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| Marnie cutting willow withies |
During this month we met and hosted a lovely French lass who came to us via the Workaway site. It was such a shame that the weather couldn't have been decent enough to get out and do some exploring but I do think she managed to enjoy her stay, nonetheless. For 2 weeks, she helped cut willows, barrow whindust into the yard, feed the hens & ponies and plant many of the saplings that we were awarded by from the Woodland Trust.
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| Kenny with the hens |
This is Kenny, who became the chief pony and hen carer during the say a Frugaldom. As you can see, our hens are quite friendly, so they'd have been right inside the campervan if they'd been allowed! We had a lovely time during this visit and it was great being able to stop and sit down with a hot cuppa and just enjoy a chat about this, that and t'other.
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| Assorted apples |
Apples, apples and more apples... we harvested several bags of apples even although this is just the second year our new orchard has been planted. For much of the month, and certainly most of Marnie's fortnight here, we ate apples in some way, shape or form and I suspect I have converted yet another student to the ways of Frugaldom and the apple crumble with custard pudding diet. I had no idea that it would prove to be the top favourite with almost all the students we have hosted here over the past year! Apples-wise, I think everyone within reach got some and I have enough sewed, frozen and stored to last until the rhubarb harvest takes over in late Spring/early summer. Speaking of frozen fruit - we still have kilos upon kilos of blackcurrants, so I made some more apple and blackcurrant jelly.
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| From the soup garden |
The veg baskets were easily filled during November, as we had so much by way of greens - leeks, spring onions and spinach galore got shared out with whoever needed them and a huge pot of soup was made by Irene for us all to share back at the caravan on bonfire night. What a good night that was!
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| Fireworks display |
Campervan parked up safely for the night, Irene and Kenny walked along and met us at the holiday park for dinner at the caravan. We then enjoyed the annual bonfire and fireworks display from the warmth of the caravan, while sharing a bottle of wine.
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| Rainbows at Frugaldom |
This year's weather has been a little bit crazy, to say the least. I truly believe that the drought we had in April - May time was our Scottish summer because we certainly didn't see any of the soaring temperatures and endless blistering sunshine experienced by those of you in the south of England. Our occasional sunshine is usually watery enough to bring rainbows. It's good that we like rainbows!
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| Sunset at the Frugaldom barn |
We do get some wonderful skies out here in Dumfries and Galloway. Sadly, for dark sky park enthusiasts, we have had so much cloud and rain that observing the cosmos and photographing meteor showers has been almost impossible. Even our almost resident astronomer packed up and went home. Here's hoping the remaining winter months bring clearer weather!
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| The horseshoe garden |
With the arrival of the latest tree pack from the Woodland Trust came more holly! Yeah! If anyone can remember, this part of Frugaldom is known as the horseshoe garden and was originally going to be used for roses. However, as we had no roses to plant and the previously planted holly circle is doing so well, Marnie planted a holly hedge around here instead. I think it will look fabulous once it grows, as the open end of the horseshoe faces a south-easterly direction. The children love this little garden as it is where they have their mini crittur pond and a beastie log 'castle' complete with it's horseshoe 'fairy' door. There are also wild flowers planted here.
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| The herb paddock & orchard |
More hedging got planted along the far side of the herb paddock - a mix of dogwood, hawthorn and hazel. This will be kept trimmed by the ponies and will also, hopefully, help protect the fruit trees from being battered by the wind.
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| Crab apples planted |
There were a few crab apple trees left over... oh, ok then, I saved 4 crab apple trees to plant into this corner. There are 3 in one of the triangles and one in the other, as I don't want them growing too close to the track where the ponies will be passing. Each of these triangle gardens will get planted with herbs and salad stuff. I have calendula seeds for sowing, so they should brighten up this area if they grow.
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| Hedge planting |
Marnie made short work of planting the new hedge that will separate the track from the new patch of willow in the marshy corner. Again, this will all be foraging hedgerow for harvesting nuts and berries in future and will also provide some much-needed cover for the wildlife that is being displaced from the neighbouring forests being felled all around us. Frugaldom is going to be very exposed once all the spruce trees are harvested!
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| Escape hatch for flood water |
More drainage work! It seems never ending, but the ponds were dug during the drought and then filled up so quickly that we had no way of knowing how much water would be contained or how quickly it would flow off down the field ditches. Emergency channels had to be dug into the banking to allow the excess water faster escape, as the pond succeeded in bursing its bank.
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| Filed drain flowing well |
This is the field drain channel that was cleared by the digger earlier in the year. It was scraped out to the stone layer and the ground around it scraped clear but as you can see, six months after and the grass and reeds are already growing up along its edges. Along the north side of it, I have planted willows in the hope of stabilising the ground and providing us with more ecoart materials. This area will also make a brilliant retreat for wildlife and I've already seen grey and pied wagtails along the edges.
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| Snowy Galloway Hills |
The main pond has remained clear and attracted the attention of many passing birds and mammals - we could see all the foot prints during the first snow of the year. The snow didn't lie for too long but it was clear to see from all around that the Galloway Hills had their fair share of it.
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| Pristine pond |
I am so looking forward to getting the pond area planted up properly with willows, reeds, iris and perhaps even some lilies, if we can manage to transplant some from the main pond or from elsewhere.
Comparing notes with this time last year, the snow arrived a week or so later this year.
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| Pony pampering |
This was also a good month for the ponies, as they had so many visitors keen to pander to their every need. Being such a muddy, wet month, we decided to organise some muddy wellies weekends as
Frugal Breaks, which is our latest addition to the frugal projecs family.
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| Health & Safety |
Don't forget about recycling and repurposing... anyone remember the old bits and pieces we unearthed when reclaiming the garden at Thrift Cottage? Well, we finally found a place to hang the lifebuoy and floats! They are beside the pond, waiting to be painted. :)
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| Frozen, snowy pond |
This is turning into an epic photo blog so apologies for that, but it was another very busy month, what with trying to fit everything around the crazy winter weather that had descended. I mean look at this! Frozen pond covered in snow and a glorious blue sky!
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| Precariously perched egg |
Crazier still, the hens don't know whether to stay in, go out, lay, moult or hibernate. As you can see here, I am not the only person around here who is confused... white hen laid white egg on the top shelf of the nesting boxes!
Now another apology for sharing 'cute kid photos' but my grandson is so adorabe when he tries his very best to help out at Frugaldom. He is such a trier!
Here he is trying to help us with the whin dust, but at just 2 years old (3 in a few months), he's not quite tall enough or strong enough to cope with a full size barrow. However, he persevered and made it all the way to the barn, albeit leaving a double trail behind him.
Next up, he wanted to help fill the barrow with whin dust. Trust me, you don't say no to this kid, he has dogged determination and nothing stops him from trying his best, Slowly, using this huge, heavy shovel, he actually did manage to get some whin dust into the barrow.
He lost interest in barrowing stone as soon as Pippin arrived to help, so off he went, pony in hand, round to the tree shelter to feed 'his' Pippin. They are so cute together, even if this gran has her heart in her mouth every time child & pony get together!
This is Marie, another of our lovely volunteers, fitting protective spirals / tree protectors and planting hedging. As you would expect, grandson was also keen to get involved in tree planting this year, so daughter had to don her pink wellies again to help.
After being allowed to stab a hole in the ground with the giant dibber stick, the tree was planted alongside a cane and then the plastic spiral protector added. It will be great if he can remember planting his first tree when he returns in adulthood to see the woodland that he helped to create!
Final job of the day for this young man was to feed 'his' Pippin more hay and tell him what a good boy he had been. The ponies at Frugaldom are now almost old enough to begin some proper work, so 2018 will see them having more training. Hopefully, they will be ready to start lugging all the stuff we need about the project and save us having to carry it bit by bit - can you guess what Pippin will be carrying? (Apart from grandson.) Hopefully our first crop of Galloway Pippin apples!
Finally, for this month, an update from the wildlife garden at Thrift Cottage. Mr
Ecoarts invested in a new trail camera, as we have been using the others at Frugaldom. The badger family is sill visiting most nights but so too are the deer, especially this particular Roe buck. He has become so accustomed to the camera that he now takes selfies and stands waiting for the badgers' peanuts to be replenished so he can eat them all before said badgers get there! Not very frugal... please send more nuts!
That's all for now, other than to say the budget is being stretched but frugal living is still reeping rewards and affording us the freedom to develop Frugaldom. In saying that, we never did complete the renovation at home! But that's yet another story!
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Frugal Breaks, visiting us here in our little wilderness. Hopefully, the new website at www.frugalbreaks.co.uk will be up and running by the time you read this and, for MSE moneysavers, there's a great discount code available that gets you 10% off our already affordable caravan holidays. :)
