Hot box project update.

We have been trying to use as much of the garden space as possible this year as well as the allotment in an effort to produce as much as possible of our food. Unfortunately this year was a really bad year for growing food due to the weather but despite this we have done quite well and had a few successful projects along the way. Now that most of the fruit and vegetables have been preserved I can show you one of these... I call them the hot boxes.

We have a really warm spot in the garden, a real sun trap, it's where I sit to relax and read a book....and it's where I got to thinking what an ideal spot this would be to grow some extra food. Unfortunately the downside to this idea is that there is no soil here, we already have pots of herbs along this wall but there was lots of wasted space.

So my husband came up with this.... rows of extra planting areas....just like window boxes. They have been quite successful this year and suffered much less slug damage than the vegetables planted in the ground. The above photograph was taken in the spring when they were just planted up, the top box has radishes, easy to care for and pick as you need them for lunch. The idea was to keep them going all summer on a rotation so more seeds were planted as the food was eaten.

The lower box in the photograph was planted up with a row of spring onions and a row of chantenay carrots, as these are small enough to fit.

These are some of the carrots, quite a good haul. We really enjoyed our experiments into vertical gardening and making the best use of our space, the boxes were a really good height for the children to help out with and too high for the chickens to help with....thankfully.

If you would like to make some yourself my husband has written about them here.

'Not back to school' week

Every year, as a home educating family, we celebrate 'not going back to school' as the parks, libraries, zoos and museums become less full. Usually we have a quiet picnic somewhere in a natural setting and the children have time to explore but this year we thought we would try something different. So we started off the week with a trip to a theme park, the children had a fabulous time and we didn't have to queue for a single ride.

The week coincided with the Heritage open days, and many historical places were open to experience absolutely FREE of charge. To take advantage of this opportunity we chose four activities or places to explore and got set for a very busy few days. 

The photograph above shows the booklets we have collected from each activity for the children to keep and read to help them remember our days out. The first place we visited was a church from our area which had recently had restoration work completed, we had a member of the church take us on a private guided tour and tell us the history of the building and answered all our questions.

Then to the great delight of the children we took a open topped bus tour of our city usually aimed at tourists, so the commentary told us the historic facts of all the places we passed. This was very exciting for the children and not something you usually do when you have lived somewhere for a long time.

Next we took the chance to visit a museum which has been closed for several years having refurbishments done, so the children had never been. we loved this museum it told the history of our city, with many stories of the local people and industries through the ages. We explored an amazingly reconstructed old pharmacy, our city through WW2 and even spent some time relaxing in a 1950's lounge. 

Lastly we went to the castle museum and art gallery, we visit here quite regularly and really enjoyed the costumed characters that were walking about on the open day. My favourite section is the celebration of the Victorians and their collections and documentation of the world around them. Also the food available to the castle occupants in medieval times which was laid out for us to see today. The children loved all the interactive displays and things they are allowed to touch and they also got the chance to ride in a chariot in the Boudicca section.

Overall we had so much fun and had the chance to learn so much about the city we live in, surprisingly, we have decided to visit some more places. I have also managed to get a book from our library about the history of our city from a children's perspective, which is proving very popular.

Catnip Mouse

The children have been trying their hand at sewing again, spurred on by the arrival of my eldest daughter's new ginger kitten called pumpkin and our own very grumpy cat, who obviously needs a lot of cheering up. They have chosen to make some catnip mice, we have tried to keep the sewing to a minimum as the children are still very young and just learning to sew... you may remember their first sewing attempts earlier in the year, the gorgeous little felt hearts.

We first cut out our mouse shape, from scrap pieces of felt, using a heart shape cookie cutter as a stencil. This shape when folded in half seems to be the easiest way to make a mouse shape and we have used felt as it doesn't need hemming so it is easy for the children to sew with.

We have stitched along the edge using a back stitch with wool as this is thick enough for the children to see and handle easily. A gap was left at one end and the mouse was turned inside out ready for stuffing.

A mixture of stuffing was used, some white wadding and the dried catnip, this gives it a good shape as well as a good smell... if you are a cat! Then all that is needed is to sew up the opening, we decided to stitch a small piece of ribbon in the end as we were sewing it up to give the little mouse a tail.

Little crosses were stitched on for eyes... and these are the finished mice. It is also possible to add little ears but the children were happy with their mice without so we have left them. All ready for some cat play.

Vintage surprise

  Trying to get back into blogging after my break with a 'Magpie Monday' post about a lovely surprise I recently had. I have been on the look out for a large vintage dark oak mirror to go above the fireplace, and hadn't really had much luck until I spotted one on an auction site. It was large, about 3 foot by 2 foot, so I placed a couple of low bids and waited to see what happened, unfortunately two other bidders got involved and the price shot up very high and I didn't get the chance for any more bids.

  The story doesn't end there though, a few days later I had an e-mail giving me a second chance offer for my last bid which was just £6! I was stunned and elated, but decided to pay quickly and pick up the mirror.

Here it is... my vintage dark oak beautiful mirror... still can't really believe my luck! The photographs really don't do this justice at all, they don't show all the details clearly or the beautiful rich colour of the oak. It is incredibly heavy and my husband had to use very sturdy fixings to ensure it stayed on the wall. The mirror has a beveled edge, and beautiful carved beading and carved detail around the edge, not to mention that it looks gorgeous hanging on the wall.

This next item isn't really old or vintage at all but I loved the pattern and colour, it reminds me of something my eldest daughter would choose. It is a sugar bowl and cost £1 from a charity shop. I haven't used it as a sugar bowl as I'm sure the children would see it as an invitation to eat the entire bowl full neat. I have used it to hold small berries or to put my homemade tartare sauce in for a little tea time glamour.

This is the base which shows the pattern as 'Greensleeves'. A quick post with a couple of my recent finds, just to show you lovely surprises do still happen.

Survived the Birthday Season

Just a quick post to show you a couple of photographs of cakes, we have just survived the busiest time of the year for us with four birthdays and a wedding anniversary to contend with. My two youngest children had birthdays a week apart and thankfully the birthday cake designs were a little simpler this year.

This is the cake I made for my son, he loves to play Spore and wanted a galaxy style cake so I combined the two things and added stars, planets and space dust. There are creatures from the cell stage around the edge too, much easier than last years dinosaur cake which can be seen here.

This is the cake I made for my daughter, she is still a huge Hello Kitty fan, and her favourite colour is pink so I just combined the two things. Last year we shaped the whole cake to look like a head, it can be seen here.

I only made these two cakes and my eldest daughter made the other two Birthday cakes one of which was mine, obviously I couldn't make my own cake. I didn't take a photograph so I can't post it here but it was a beautiful purple cake with a cat on top, she also made her boyfriend's cake which was shaped like a formula one car and was fabulous.

Everyone had a wonderful time on their birthday but we are absolutely shattered, as you can imagine.

Third wedding anniversay

A few days ago my wonderful husband and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary, although we have been together a lot longer than this. We made a pact when we married to hand make each others gifts according to the traditional anniversary guide and the third anniversary is leather. I had two ideas about gifts to make, the first was a handmade leather journal as I think they look gorgeous, but I had a little trouble finding the right kind of leather, so this project will be put off until later in the year.

I settled on a leather bracelet as the leather thread is easier to locate, I love the multi stranded mens bracelets but thought that might be a little more of a challenge to a first time leather user. So decided to stick to something I have been trying out lately, Macrame.

This is a close up of the bracelet, it is made using the macrame square double knot stitch. It is quite tough to pull tight enough as it is leather but I think it works very well.

As you can see I used a bead as a fastener and this finished bracelet does look amazing on his wrist.

Just like to finish by saying Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband x x x

Oh and if you like to see the lovely gift he made for me you can visit his blog here.

Natural Update

This is my 100th post and I would like to take a second and thank everyone for reading my blog, the counter at the bottom of the page stands at over 46,000 visitors. I would also like to thank the many websites around the world that have featured our crafts, and all of you who have been inspired and have inspired me in return. Thank-you again, the children and I have some exciting crafts lined up and we will be sharing here soon.

As so many of you have asked how we are getting on with the natural cleaning and cutting out the chemicals I thought I would give you a quick update.

We are still using and loving the soap nuts, (these are dried berries not nuts) it has been over a year now this is my original post, in fact we still haven't got through the 1 kilo bag we purchased, this cost around £10 delivered to our door with a bottle of free essential oil and has lasted more than a year. There are 300 grams left, and not buying washing powder and fabric softener has saved us a lot of money and decreased the amount of household waste we throw out. I also love the fact that you can add the essential oil of your choice to the washing, I have been adding lavender to the bedding wash to enhance good sleep and citronella to the wash when there are lots of biting insects about. No harsh washing chemicals have also meant no itching and sneezing.

All general purpose kitchen cleaners, window and floor cleaners have been replaced by white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, lemon juice and essential oils which we make up ourselves. I really haven't noticed any difference in the cleaning ability, it just smells far more natural. We are still loving the home made toothpaste too.

The natural crystal deodorant is absolutely still being used, I bought it in July last year for about £5. I am just as happy with it as I was then, no armpit smell at all. My husband was so impressed he now uses it and there is still over half a stick left, so definitely a good money saving purchase there.

Another money saver for me has been the purchase of a menstrual cup, initially expensive but it pays for itself after a few months and it can last for years. I have been using one for quite a few years now and can honestly say I have never felt so free and comfortable during a period, so this has eliminated the need for any sanitary protection.

I have stopped using shop bought moisturisers and now use either pure coconut oil or a block of shea butter, both of which smell incredible and and make my skin feel amazing. So no more nasty chemicals absorbed through the skin. I have also stopped using hair conditioner, oils to stop frizz and all the other stuff we tend to put on ourselves after washing our hair, I now add a little coconut oil to my hands and work it on the tips of my hair.  One thing I have noticed, bizarrely, is the condition and softness of my hair has vastly improved.

As you can see we have managed to get rid of loads of the chemicals from our daily lives and I am still working on more and will let you know how it goes. Not only have we saved a lot of money... I mean...How many of you can say you have done your entire family's washing for less than £10 for more than a year or less than £5 for deodorant for two people?... but we also feel much better, no sneezing or itching and I am happy that everything we now use is a change for the better for us. I may be adding some of our natural recipes here now and again if anyone is interested.