Ponds, Ponies, Pumpkins and Fun at Frugaldom

October 2017

Frugaldom is a magical place for creating memories so that's what we plan to do forever more. We have started plotting and planning for the yard area as it's no longer muddy, it's now nicely sheltered and the hedge along the back of it has started to grow, encouraging the wildlife to venture closer.

Now that I have 4 grandchildren, there's usually no shortage of little people to have about the place. I have to admit that the 'terrible twos' don't seem to show half as much outdoors as they do indoors.  At Frugaldom, the biggest problem is when it's time to try and get the 2-year-old to go home! He doesn't seem in the least concerned at visiting on his own while the older ones are at school and the littlest is still too small to do much out here.

Yard work is fun

Right from the outset, I knew what would be put at the top of Santa's list for this particular toddler - he loves barrowing anything anywhere! You can never lose sight of a little kid with a big wheelbarrow, that's for sure. It's like having my own mini research team on site when the children come to visit because they show me all the things that are most important to them and what entertains them most. This gives great insight into potential future developments as we launch our frugal holidays, plan more themed breaks and prepare for various child-friendly events at Frugaldom during 2018.

"I love Pippin"

Pippin the pony is always a hot favourite. His name, as far as grandson is concerned is, 'My Pippin' or 'Wanton Pippin' and the pony seems to tolerate absolutely anything said child does... much to the detriment of my ragged, gran nerves!

"I love muddy wellies"

Our first themed short breaks were introduced and aptly named 'Muddy Wellies Weekends' for one good reason - all kids seem to love muddy wellies and so, too, do some adults! :)

"I love playing in water"

Exploring in nature is fabulous fun and the mini-pond gets checked regularly in the hope that the frogspawn and resulting tadpoles return. Of course, it's even better fun if you get to forage in the garden for your own dinner before going exploring. This is one little boy who loves his soup and knows where it grows... in the soup garden, of course!

"I love cleaning my wellies"

Biosecurity is of the utmost importance and should be taught as soon as possible. It's another of the fun things toddlers seem to love and is also something that didn't take long to sink in... washing one's wellies both on arrival and on departure is important so as not to take germs into the barn or near the plants, poultry or ponies.

Back on the frugal bandwagon of bargain hunters - I managed to find a bulk lot of these interconnecting grids that are used for shed bases and parking spaces. We aren't anywhere near ready to use them yet but the prospect of saving over £50 just couldn't be missed, especially when the seller was fairly local and offered to deliver them to us. There are enough here to do the base for a garden room.

This was another of the bargain buys of October - a lovely little futon (double bed size) that will be utilised in the on-going improvements while trying to create extra space for extra guests in the various accommodations we are attempting to provide.

The ecoarts project will soon be launched fulltime, as 2018 sees the start of the creation of the designated trail at Frugaldom. It's a really exciting time despite also being a time of reminiscing. It's still hard to believe that my dad isn't here to see that we really did manage to succeed in finding and affording a piece of land to try and do everything I always spoke about doing. I'm sure he'd have approved! (Mum planted this oak tree and 'Mr Ecoarts' made the wild wood bird for displaying the dedication plaque.)

October was a month of growing - everything continued to grow, with the willows, Rowans, Hawthorn, Buddleia and Blueberries doing exceptionally well but it was all closely followed by the later sprouting Holly. Many more of the same will be planted in the future, now that we know they like it here.

Lyn's bridge got a coat of paint and work began on clearing the path at the other side, which will eventually run almost to the river, flanked on either side by native woodland species, such as willow, hazel, alder and birch.

We can't forget about the picking and preserving. We weren't able to grow any beetroot at Frgaldom but we did receive some, traded for fresh eggs and apples, so it all got boiled and pickled.

The apples just kept on coming, so I think most of our friends and neighbours at the holiday park were eating either stewed apples, apple sauce, apple tart or apple crumble. I have enough frozen apples to last a while longer and the cold-stored ones still need to be stewed but are being used as required.

The chickens are doing well, even if number 3 grandchild is still finding it difficult to keep up with them or catch them. On this particular day, the children were using the lean-to / potting shed as an art studio and had been out looking for things to make into pictures. Feathers are fun but the chickens kept following the kids into the shed! 

This was grandson taking his fnished nature art picture to show his mum, He did have a little bit of help making things stick to the bit board (we recycled a cardboard box) but he collected all nthe bits and pieces by himself - yes, he even picked some of the Oxeye Daisies because he thought they were 'pretty flowers'.

This is the lean-to potting shed. It's just leaning up against the side of the barn at the minute but we hope to make it a substantial, permanent structure that will double up as a learning room for the children. It isn't a full height sed but it it high enough for short people (like me) to walk about and the children love it. I want to make a proper panelled wall where it meets the barn and turn it into a chalk board on one side and a pin board on the other. It will then make a great space for displaying all the nature leaflets, posters and childrens's artwork.

Goldcrests everywhere this month! It hardly seems any time since they were here las year but here we are, picking them up from the barn where they have arrived, exhausted after their long flights from, I think, Scandinavia.

The new ponds finally settled and we got a bit more of the track around the edge laid, thanks to the help of our lovely volunteers. I am now 99.9% sure that this part of the project will see the arrival of its first amphibian visitors in spring, as we already have an assortment of birds and insects visiting. I plan on planting a row of willows around the edge just as soon as I have got them all cut.

Willow cuttings

The forst of the willows got cut but all of these were planted along the side of the newly cleared path beyond Lyn's bridge.

More tomatoes

We weren't the only ones with late tomatoes - these were all handed in as surplus to requirement, so they got made into pasta sauce, curry and chutney.

99p pumpkins are amazing!

As October came to an end, we had visitors arriving for the Hallowe'en paty at the holiday park, so we bought some pumpkins. We had tried growing our own but the wet weather just didn't give them a chance. So here's what I got made with the shop-bought variety.

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin carving at Halloween

As the month ended, we started looking towards the final events of the year - Bonfire night, tree planting, winter solstice and Christmas. I also had a couple of volunteers arriving to help during November, so that was an extra bonus and something to look forward to, with the arrival of Marnie, from France.

The Wildwood Fairy

This is one of the latest sculptures made by Mr Ecoarts - it was made for daughter and son-in-law, who recently moved house, but I couldn't really post it here before Christmas - even although she did see it before then. 😊 Being this size, it was kind of difficult to hide at the caravan or at Frugaldom, where the children explore.

'Mr Darcy'

 The horse sculpture was commissioned to go on display at a very special project in central Scotland. 'Mr Darcy', as we nicknamed him, was modelled on a real horse and the sculpture is now on display at Darcy's Equine Assisted Learning Centre near Strathaven in Lanarkshire.

I think that's enough for October but I did say it was a very busy month. Onwards and upwards... to the penultimate month of the year. I'll be back soon with some more updates.

Day 25 of Extremely Frugal February - Peppered Pitta Pizza

Day 25 of 28 and only 4 Days Until 'Making in March' Begins!

Excitement is mounting as the month of February quickly draws to a close.  The month's challenge was to be even more frugal than usual and I think that was achieved as soon as I gave the beautiful old leather sofa a new home and designed the 'new' living room around that without spending anywhere near the allocated budget. The room has been decorated, carpeted and fully furnished for under £140 with nothing more than a light shade needed to complete it.

 

Miniature iris and crocuses

The flowers are popping up all over the place with a beautiful display in the planters at the door. It gives the feeling that spring is on the way and brightens up an otherwise grey day!

 

The household budget hasn't been overly stretched, despite having the annual home insurance to pay and getting through almost £70 of coal to heat the house. To date, this month, I have spent a total of £269.52 of my household budget. Of that, £21.38 went on groceries.

 

I am still making the most of everything I have in stock, so meals are going to start getting very interesting soon. Keeping a regular supply of milk is always going to be a problem when we don't have transport or a shop within easy reach but there's always a supply of coffee whitener, as I bought 5kg for £1 from Approved Food*. (They still have Marvel on offer at 75p per tin.)

 

 

8 pitta breads for 19p or 10 packs (80) for £1... of course I opted for spending the full £1, so my freezer has quite a few pitta breads in it. There's no stopping us frugal Scottish gals once we get into a spending frenzy! ;) These help make a change from soup at lunchtimes, especially when made into pizzas. Today we had peppered pitta pizza and  we were very greedy in that we ate two each.

 

Pitta bread, tinned tomatoes, seasoning and herbs

One tin of chopped tomatoes is sufficient for 4 pizzas and I don't really mind that the juice is soaking into the pitta bread. Salt and pepper get sprinkled over the top of the tomatoes.

 

Using cheap dried herbs

Today I had to use the cheap dried, store-bought herbs as we're a little lacking in fresh herbs at the moment - and it was pouring rain. I think these ones cost me 19p for the tub some time ago. I can't actually remember the last time I was in this particular supermarket, as the nearest one to us is over 20 miles. Just as well they keep once dried.

Ready for grilling

You can add almost any leftovers to pizzas but I'm just adding some cheese today because there aren't any other leftovers left to use. These get popped under the grill of the mini-oven until heated through and the cheese is bubbling. I like mine with a scoop of pickle but you can be as experimental as you like - don't be scared to mix and match the flavours, it was tuna fish and banana for the old Yellow Pages advert, wasn't it? Apart from that, it's amazing what you can add to a pizza and suddenly the children like it.

 

4.5kg tin

Homemade pizza has been a favourite of mine for years, previously having used the outside slices of bread as pizza bases or simply making my own, but with pitta breads being cleared at that price, they work out cheaper than making my own. However, this cheap and cheerful lunchtime snack is fast disappearing off our frugal menus on accounts of the cost of tinned tomatoes. Over the past few years, since beginning my £1 per person per day grocery budget challenge, the price of tinned tomatoes has fluctuated, bouncing up and down like a baby elephant on a trampoline! The lowest supermarket price I recall was 9p per tin: the lowest price I can find them now is 33p (Co-op) and the tin is slightly smaller. Sad but true, the homemade 'pizza for pennies' is on its way out and it's looking like we'll need to find an alternative. (If you have access to supermarkets, check the price of  Passatta and get your compost on the go to prepare some growing medium for your own tomatoes.) I was lucky to have got a massive tin of tomato paste from Approved but haven't opened it yet - but I have plans for those huge cans!

 

Tonight's dinner is the exact same as we had last night, so no news there.

 

My seed packets are all sorted out and ready for some serious sowing sessions soon, weather permitting. This evening is scheduled as a knitting night in a final effort to complete the long-awaited fluffy blanket for my grand daughter. Before that, though, I need to plan what can be eaten tomorrow and try to keep ahead of the game. I almost fell for the special offer from MuscleFood* when their email arrived offering me 3.4kg of chicken drumsticks for £6 but worse still, I have saved the email to see if the code is still viable for my next order.

 

NYK, Frugaldom

 

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Frugal Gourmet - Cooking Delicious, Cheap and Easy Food.

Frugal Gourmet - a Day in the Kitchen

Here in Frugaldom, I've been making and trading lemon curd for quite a few years, but am ashamed to say that I hadn't made any this year, until today. The ducks, hens and quail are all laying well, so I always have a heap of eggs ready to use.

 

This morning, we had our porridge (the cat included) and then I baked two small loves - these cost pennies each if you bake them in the breadmaker on 'Express' setting and use the cheapest of the cheap, bulk bought flour. Today's loaves are made from a 50:50 mix of gluten free bread flour with sunflower and sesame seeds and white soft bap mix. Here's the recipe I used, just in case you, too, are a bargain bulk-buying, batch cooker.

FRUGAL DAILY BREAD

300ml warm water
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons veg oil
225g soft bap mix
225g sesame & sunflower seed gluten free bread mix
1 teaspoon dried yeast

 

Baked in the breadmaker on 'express' setting, which takes 45 minutes. I'd to split the above in half and make two small loves, as it's the hand-me-down twin pan breadmaker I'm using for this.

 



 

Next up - beef and tomato stew  I cooked the diced beef with some of the past week's tomato pickings and spring onions in a little salted water then added a sprig of fresh herbs - rosemary, sage and basil picked from the garden. A few cheap gravy granules and hey presto - a dish fit for kings. As is, this big pan of stew would probably serve 4 people, depending on what it's being served with at the time, but frugal gourmet suggestions include the addition of beans, lentils, chick peas or other similar protein-rich foodstuff to turn it into a batch cooked meal for 10 to 12.

 

At lunchtime, I made soufflé omelette but decided to make the meringue version - 5 egg whites whisked into peaks, stir in one egg yolk, then salt and pepper to season - higher protein and lower fat that your 'normal' omelette, except that we had grated cheese melted over the top. :) Anyhow, it conveniently left me with 4 egg yokes, which is perfect for lemon curd!

 

LUXURY LEMON CURD RECIPE
4 egg yolks (I use our own hens' eggs)
150g sugar
100mls lemon juice (or lime or orange or a mixture)
70g butter (or margarine)
 

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together whilst gently warming the butter and lemon juice. Add the egg yolk/sugar mix to the pan and whisk together with the lemon and butter. (Today I am using 50:50 lemon and lime juice.) Keep this on a low heat and whisk regularly until the mixture thickens to resemble custard. If you are cooking on a log burner, it's easier to take the pan off the heat to whisk it, otherwise cook slowly over a low heat. Do not allow the mix to boil.

 

Pour into a sterilised, pre-heated jar and leave to cool. Once set, keep it refrigerated.

 

This quantity is sufficient for one full jar and is classed as an absolute luxury, gourmet food when it's made with fresh eggs and butter. Check the ingredients in a supermarket bought 'bargain' jar and see the difference for yourself. This here is the real McCoy, nothing beats it in taste.

This is today's lemon and lime curd, I'm using a 500ml clip-top jar. The jars were on special offer in a big name supermarket when I first got them - an amazing 3 for £2 - so I got £10 worth of them a few years ago and they have been great for all sorts of jellies, preserves, pickles and curds.

Enjoy!

Frugal Food From the Garden. (NB: We don't eat the quail, we eat and sell their eggs.)

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Photo from the old corn mill, Port William

Aside from the fact that I am constantly being distracted by butterflies at the moment, I did, eventually, manage to get around to doing some work in the garden, mainly by way of tidying up the greenhouse and sorting out the tomato and cucumber bushes. The tomato plants were becoming so leafy that no light was getting to the dozens of little fruits that were hiding among the greenery. Hopefully, I haven't done the wrong thing in removing many of the lower leaves to allow the sunlight to get at the tomatoes. I was very late getting my tomato seeds planted this year, so they are well behind some of those I've seen elsewhere.

 

I literally had to thin the coiling tendrils of the cucumbers because they were taking over the entire greenhouse and there's little enough room in there at this time of year. The closer I look, the more cucumbers I can see!

 

 

 Down in the frugal poly-tunnel, I'm beginning to wonder if I've done the right thing is leaving the pumpkins - one each side supposed to be for each of my grand daughters in the hope of having pumpkins for Halloween. They are spreading at a terrifying rate and already have tiny pumpkins about the size of golf balls on them. The cucumbers will need to hurry up in there or they'll be swamped by 'the creature' that is a giant pumpkin plant!

Comfrey as green manure

 

A few weeks ago, some fellow frugalers and I were having a bit of a swapathon. I received some ginger mint, which is doing really well, and some small cuttings from comfrey, of which I had none in this garden. It's used as green manure and for speeding up the composting process, so I was hoping to be able to harvest it before the year ends. It's looking good! The above are the cuttings planted about a month ago. I'm delighted to say that the quail eggs I sent in exchange for the plants have, since, hatched - photo courtesy of Shaz.

Da- old Japanese Coturnix Quail, (fawn x tuxedo)

The herb gardens here are still growing at a an amazing rate, supplying herbs galore for friends and neighbours alike. The newest of the spiral gardens was constructed during the last week of May but it is already filled with herbs - and some unexpected 'guest' plants in the shape of sunflowers that have grown from seeds dropped by the birds. (Apologies for photo quality, the sun had set by the time I got around to taking these photos last night.)

Hands up all of you who have courgettes to spare! I know that several of out regular readers have, so we are now organising a courgette cake challenge. Chocolate and courgettes go well when baked together and I'd like to thank Gill for linking us to her carrot and courgette recipe in my previous post.

Yet another courgette trying to break free!

The Frugaldom potato patch is in full bloom and we have already had some of the potatoes. These were all grown from past their best potatoes left over from early in the year - left to sprout and then planted. We have a major slug and snail problem here, so things do tend to beat us to it in the veg-eating stakes, but there are enough potatoes here to last a few weeks at least.

We are still picking raspberries here but the rhubarb has now all gone and the bed being prepared for winter. I need to get a load of manure and straw to cover this over until next year. The next person past my door on a horse will be accosted and a request made for the contents of their stable. :) Next to be picked looks like being some blueberries and then there should be apples ready.

Blueberries

Well that takes care of the garden update for now - I'll pick and freeze the blueberries for ice-cream making, as there aren't many of them while the bushes are establishing themselves in my 'log-man' acidic (ericaceous) bed but here's hoping they start picking up for next year. That's them been in there for about a year, now.

 

Rounding up on the £4,000 budget challenge, I have £1,137.43 remaining to last me until the new year. That's after paying this month's telephone bill and purchasing the tickets for the frugal friends' fun day out to explore Carrick-a-Rede and the Giant's Causeway during our mini cruise to Northern Ireland later this week.

 

And just for good measure, here are this morning's photos. Yes, you got it... more butterflies!

 

Small Wall Brown Butterfly

Peacock Butterfly

Red Admiral Butterfly

 



I really tried my best not to include any butterflies in this post but they made me do it, I tell you, they made me do it! The above three photos were taken this morning while I was hanging out the washing.

I promise, no more butterflies unless I spot something really unusual.

Have a fun and frugal day,

NYK in Frugaldom.

Autumnal Updates

Autumn Update from Frugaldom

It may be late October but the garden isn't 'done' for the year, not yet. IN fact, it's far from it - I still have a profusion of flowers - nasturtiums, begonias, heather and alliums, to name but a few. The days are shortening, night's are lengthening, temperature's dropping and leaves are falling, but there's still some sunshine about the place. I've been amazed at how warm it still gets in the little plastic greenhouse, so rather enjoyed doing the bit of tidying and weeding when I went to clear out all the tomatoes last weekend. But then I changed my mind! They simply weren't ready for clearing.

We all know what we're meant to do with tomato plants - keep the side and top shoots nipped out to promote growth into the half dozen (maximum) vines of flowers/fruits while keeping them fed and watered. I set out to nip buds faithfully as soon as I spotted them on my plants, but then things went awry again, with family crises that took me away from home. The plants went a bit wild and have received no extra feeding at all. But guess what? This year has produced the best crop of tomatoes I have ever grown!

Kilos and kilos of the things have been picked over the past couple of months and I am still picking them. There are side shoots and new vines replacing the old ones as I strip them of tomatoes. Even my fancy 'black' tomatoes are doing exceptionally well.

All of these photographs were taken today, 25th October 2012, and show the condition my tomato vines are in after stripping them of all their dead or dying leaves at the weekend. Each time I pick the tomatoes, another shoot appears, more flowers grow and that, of course, is followed by more tomatoes! It's amazing. One plant in particular - a cherry tomato - ended up looking like a weeping willow decorated in little red baubles. I have picked dozens and dozens of small tomatoes from this 'tree' and still it continues to grow and produce.

 

The 'black' tomatoes are also still doing well, although the revived grape vine managed to climb up through and it is now needing some attention. These dark , cherry tomatoes are a sweet variety, so very nice, although a little strange looking, with salad. Regardless of how late it is in the year, the vines are still producing more flowers and we still have some bees buzzing about the place. It's all very unusual, but not as unusual as the tadpoles that were spotted recently, swimming about in the pond at the nearby Logan Botanic Gardens!

 

Elsewhere in the Frugaldom garden, the herbs are still doing amazingly well, with bundles of mint being picked for pots indoors and all the begonias adding an extra splash of colour outdoors. In the ericaceous bed, where I planted the new blueberry bushes, heather is still in full bloom, adding a good dash of purple to the reds and oranges of autumn. I also have lavender still flowering in pots along the top of the 'bug hotel'.

 

It's been a strange year for gardening, what with the early months of hot sunshine followed by prolonged damp periods, to sudden deluges that have seen our little stream erupt in torrents, rising higher than the foot bridge and completely cutting off the hen run from the main garden. Thankfully, we opted to incorporate drainage from the duck pond, so there have been no flood problems there, so far. 

Spots of colour are still visible around the entire garden. The temperature reached an astounding 21C through the week in the direct sunshine, so the hanging baskets are holding out a little longer. I'm not giving up hope of growing something through the winter, even if it's just salad leaves. On the subject of growing over winter - has anyone else noticed FLOWERS on their strawberry plants? I have runners sprouting out all ways, waiting to be potted, but I've also spotted flowers on some of the plants. Most peculiar!

 

Indoors is progressing slowly but surely and I'm hopeful of having a frugal kitchen (of sorts) within the next week or two. No preserves got made this year at all, but I do have a lovely stock of raspberries, blackcurrants, rhubarb and gooseberries in the freezer and should be OK for lemon curd making, if I continue freezing any surplus eggs. (Egg-laying has diminished to no more than a couple of eggs every other day.) Sadly, there has been no fruit from the mini orchard, but we weren't expecting much after transplanting all the young trees during the move here last year. I may take a trip to a friend's orchard this weekend and see if they have any to spare.

I hope you are all doing well with whatever frugal challenges you opted for this year and I sincerely hope that some of you will continue by joining for 2013. Otherwise, thank you for reading the sporadic witterings that I manage to type from this almost forgotten corner of Scotland. If you have access to Facebook, I have loaded photo albums of the area, all of which can be accessed from www.elrig.info

 

As always, you are welcome to join us in the frugaldom forum at http://frugaldom.myfreeforum.org or else follow @frugaldom on Twitter www.twitter.com/frugaldom

 

If you are self-employed, living and working in Scotland, or simply interested in what else is going on here, you can also join us at www.facebook.com/NYKMedia and become part of our free Scottish Web Directory. The directory, which is still in early stages, can now be found at www.scottishwebdirectory.com

 

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