Gone to seed

Growing your own veg has become a popular pastime. Some people think it is no cheaper than buying vegetables once you take into account the cost of seeds, fertiliser, and all the other accoutrements that go with working the land. However, there are lots of ways to make the process cheaper and fresh, organic veg is undoubtedly good for you, as is the exercise of digging and weeding. St Darby has already lost his tiny paunch since Spring arrived and digging has begun in earnest. I can't say that it has had such a good effect on me but my legs are stronger so the arthritic knees hurt less!
The first big saving is fertiliser. You do not need commercially produced fertiliser, if you compost household veg waste but you may not produce enough. A friend suggested we put our perenniel weeds that we dug up, last year, in a bin with water for at least three months.They stank to high heaven when you lifted the lid but after a year, we have a marvellous brown liquid to be used, well-diluted, to fertilise the crops. Our manure  for the allotment comes free from a racehorse training stables and is well rotted. This year I am going to try to make comfrey fertiliser, too for our kitchen garden.
Given St Darby's abilities with the circular saw and timber scavanging, most of our  vegetable beds are now in wooden frames. We have not discovered a free alternative to timber preservative, although I would not be surprised if there is one.
Save old lolly sticks, washed, for plant labels. Use plastic bottles for cloches and sleeves to protect young plants from slugs and plastic supermarket trays for seed boxes and the clear ones for lids.
We are fortunate to have access to spare soil which is very fertile to fill pots. I discovered some time ago that morrisons sell the black pots they use to hold flowers very cheaply. These can be made into flower pots for tomato plants if you drill holes in the bottom. St Darby gladly obliged!
Despite the year being at the low point for fresh veg, we are still picking purple sprouting broccoli, leeks, Swiss chard and rainbow chard that we planted, last year. All in all, a good crop!
Last but not least. Lots of seed can be saved from the harvest of one year. I have kept some very fruitful "polish" climbing green beans going for five years now from a handful I received from a seed swap and given seeds to others. Oh, yes, seeds swops are marvellous! As are ,Lidl's seeds which are amazingly cheap and very productive.
You won't go to seed if you get growing and planting and it's so good for lifting depression, too!

Knock on wood.

We have a reputation. A few days ago, our neighbour two doors along, asked my husband if he would like some wood out of his skip." I know you like to have wood", he said. An understatement, if ever there was one. In the two years, since we arrived here, foraging for wood has become a permanent occupation. First, there is the wood required for making raised beds, fencing and other garden challenges. We cannot pass a skip without a second look nowadays. Then there is the wood fire, which is a cheaper way of heating one room than using the central heating.  St Darby's mother was alarmed when he received an axe and a bow saw for Christmas presents from his children. She seemed to think he might have dangerous contemplations!

A son in law employed in the country ways , supplied him with a sturdy trunk for an axe block and he has never looked back. It was a comforting sound in winter, to hear the chop, chop of wood and to know there would be a warm fire, soon.
All this is a reversion to childhood days when the family gathered round the fire which was the only source of heat in a big, cold house. The spiralling costs of energy now mean that every time you light the oven or switch on a light you think about it, first. I don't think think this is a bad thing, it helps us to be more mindful of everything we use, even if the profiteering of energy companies is wrong!

Master Chef had a feature on a restaurant in Sweden that cooks solely on wood, last night. Although I would not wish to emulate this, I do remember visiting my childhood friend, Cherry's house for tea and delighting that her mum had a kettle which swung over the fire and we cooked our toast on toasting forks in front of that blazing fire. Seems a bit  wasteful not to use the heat  of a fire more productively but I think a wood burning stove is beyond our reach. Toasting forks may be not, though!
I went away one Thursday for a quiet day, and returned to find a beautiful cold frame that St Darby had constructed entirely from skip finds, including a Victorian sash window with glass panes intact. Re use, recycle has become our motto and it's good to think that other people's rubbish can serve such a good purpose. Now I wonder if he can find enough glass to make a greenhouse next?

We already have a good supply  of wood for next winter because I happened to pass a couple drastically pruning two, tall twisted hazel trees, locally. I asked if I could have some of the logs and they kindly helped to load the car full of them. Now Stephen has to use some of the reclaimed timber from the skip to make a log store

Some for the pot

It may be my gypsy blood but I do like a spot of foraging. This morning, I took out the last box of frozen blackberries and apples from the freezer. Last autumn we had a frantic month trying to gather in the harvest before the cold set in. We picked blackberries, damsons, wild golden and red plums      (sometimes on the rather dangerous slip road to the A 23!) and many windfalls from the community orchard we have here in Hurstpierpoint. St Darby could be found on many an afternoon cutting and peeling endless  piles of apples. The investment paid off. Every morning until now we have been able to have fruit on our porridge (39p a bag at Lidl's) with a spoonful of low fat Greek style yoghurt
 ( £1.58 per kilo at aforementioned shop) . If the fruit is tart, then a bit of honey, too. It's so much more enjoyable than commercially produced cereal and no  added sugar! We still have a pot of gooseberries in the freezer. But now the rhubarb is ready to replace frozen fruit, then strawberries, raspberries, black and red currants  from the garden, will be on their way.
This year, I hope we can extend our supply to last right up until strawberry time. We also have dried  boletus, both wood boletus and ceps for risottos in good supply,  taken from our locality but need to extend our savoury winter larder somewhat. Each year, you learn a bit more about the countryside and what great gifts it has to offer.
Any foraging tips always welcome. I have cooked nettles but I don't like them! They are better for making fertiliser....