Sunday

Still haven't finished the kitchen but have switched on the internet radio to Today FM's oldie show and am heading in there now. I'm sure it'll be fine once I get started.

Random thoughts: wish I had been taught/learned critical thinking. Wish I rememberd how to construct a proper essay.

Information is vital

The problem with vigilence is, I think, that in order for it to be vigilence you have to keep at it all the time. Which gets boring and annoying after a while. I had so much to deal with in moving here that I spent a few weeks trying to figure out where to buy food, found the local farmers' market and that was pretty much it really. I knew that there were only a couple of organic suppliers there but as the whole organic v. local issue isn't black and white anyway that's okay too. This week I have the week off work and so I went to the market yesterday (Wednesday) and at a later time (around 11.30 - it's open from 9 to 13 on Wednesdays) than normal. It wasn't half as busy as on a Saturday at 8 o'clock so I took the opportunity to actually ask a few of the farmers about their set-up. First up was the poultry and game supplier. I remember asking them at the beginning whether they were organic and although they weren't they did give me a leaflet that explained what was free-range and what not. As this leaflet said that the egg-laying hens were free-ranging and the meat birds were barn-reared I felt like at least I knew where I stood, could get free-range eggs and, since they also sold the egg-laying hens when they came to the end of their commerically useful egg-laying days, I could get chickens to use for casseroles and so on that I knew were free-ranging as well. Anyway, I hadn't seen those leaflets for a while and had wondered anyway how things would be in winter (assuming, based on some of the blogs I read, that most hens are not too interested in spending time outside in the ice and snow) so I decided to ask again. They don't have anything free-ranging I was told, no-one could have that much land available. Big shock there. I asked them about their stocking density and they said that while the allowable amount is 8 per square meter, they have 6. However, having googled it, I found that the rules which are currently being debated at EU level fix maximum stocking densities measured in weight per square metre of floor area and farms that meet the conditions set down can rear up to a maximum of 39 kg per square metre, equivalent to between 17 and 18 chickens per square metre (at the average UK slaughter weight of 2.2kg). So now I'm very confused. If what they said was true then that seems very good (and they definitely said that they do not use any cages). But it seems so far away from what the official line is aiming for. And of course there is the possibility that I misunderstood them and they said 18 and 16 rather than 8 and 6 although I don't think so. They did also say that I would be more than welcome to come and visit anytime so I think I will try and do that this summer - apparently the boss is always happy to meet anyone who is interested and frequently has groups from schools etc out there. I wouldn't be allowed into the barns themselves but could see into them and otherwise the only place that is off limits is the slaughter house.

I also took the chance to chat to the guy I buy most of my veg from. When I spoke to him at the beginning he said everything was organic and we chatted a bit about how nice it was for me to be able to buy stuff directly from the person who had grown it. I heard him recently telling someone else that not everything came from his farm so I was curious about what had changed. I started off asking about whether the eggs he sells are free-ranging and he said yes, all of his hens have access to outside all the time (plus another invitation to come out any time and have a look around). I then asked him if he grew all the veg himself and he said that he bought in some stuff, mostly the different mushrooms, from other farmers in the area who wouldn't necessarily find it worth their while to have their own market stall.

I think sometime in the summer I definitely need to find a friend with a car or hire a car and take a few days off work and go driving around to visit all of these places and get to know them all a bit better.

Random photo of the other thing I did manage to do yesterday, which was finish a dishcloth which was last in a pile I was sending to my brother. I've done a few now in the sideways square shape which involves starting with one stitch and then increasing one every line until you get to the size you want then decreasing one every line until it's back to one. It really is a great way to practice a technique as I've always been a bit hit and miss with increasing before - I even did one this time which was in stocking stitch so that involved increasing in purl as well, which was a bit tricky but I think I've figured it out now.

I like this photo the best though - something about a nice pile that is very satisfying. I need to knit lots more dishcloths so that I can have a few for myself as well!

Things have a way of not quite turning out the way you thought

Tried to talk to my lodger yesterday and realised that not only does he have zero interest in any of the things that I am trying to learn about and take into consideration in the way I live my life (where food comes from, the state of the planet and how our actions actually mean something), he also has a very different idea of what me helping him entails than I do. After a three-hour late night conversation I think I managed to make the point that me accepting him the way he is (e.g. doing nothing to fix his problems and just letting him 'think' until he has figured things out) also involves the reverse of him accepting me the way I am (trying to live a life where I keep a nice house, cook and eat properly, have a bit of a routine, try and do things). I don't know if he really heard what I was saying but at least I have said it. Why the hell these conversations need to happen on the day I start my period I don't know as the fact that I kept crying undoubtedly didn't help matters. Not to mention that the puffy-eyed look I have today really does nothing for me. Oh well, c'est la vie. It did mean a slower start to the day than planned and I'm not feeling quite so active as I wanted to be. Had thought I would do the kitchen stuff this evening but just remembered that I have choir this evening. At least I did get to the market.

Irish Sally Gardens

I have added a link to the lovely Rebecca's paypal store, where you can purchase the e-booklets she has written over the last couple of years with all of the basics on various homesteading/smallholding activities like keeping goats and growing vegetables. I don't generally want to fill up my blog space with lots of ads or commercial activity but every once in a while I think helping someone out who is fighting to keep the life they have built up for themselves and their children is a worthwhile thing to do. Although I haven't actually bought any of these e-booklets myself yet I have attended one of Rebecca's kitchen workshops, where I went to her lovely smallholding in the Leitrim countryside and learned how to felt and I'm sure her e-booklets are just are useful and practical as her workshop proved to be.

Not much else to blog about now or else I have so much to say I can't get it all out. Am just back from a few days with a friend in Brussels and have the rest of the week off work as well so I hope to get a few things done that have been bothering me in the house. And I need to kick my lodger's ass into gear to get out and find a job pronto. Or at least to get out and do something, anything apart from sleep all day and watch DVDs all night. It's still cold and snowy but it is starting to feel like spring despite that - it didn't get dark until after six today. Hooray!

Plan for tomorrow:

Go to farmers' market in the morning - have milk ordered and have to let beef farmer know how much suet I want (yes, I am this far behind in the stuff I planned to do for christmas that I am only now getting around to getting my hands on some suet in order to have a go at making my own mincemeat) done - also ordered beef mince to go with the suet and found preserved ginger in the health food shop on the way home as well as took the time to chat a bit more to some of the farmers about their operations, which was interesting

Go to post office to send off two parcels I should also have sent weeks ago just back from doing that - actually found a third package I also should have sent to Ireland a while ago. Ooops

Go for a walk or, if it's raining, head to the swimming pool for an hour I walked home from choir (about 35 minutes) and that will have to count as my walk

Sort out the kitchen - move around the tupperware and baking stuff so that the things I need often are more accessible. Clean fridge. am going to do this today (Thursday) instead

Sit down at table for three meals and once for a cup of tea and a snack. since my table is still full of tupperware I didn't achieve this one either although I didn't buy any takeaway crap either and did eat proper food - no proper breakfast (did sit down for a cup of tea and had some chocolate with it for a sugar rush to get me out and about) but leftover lentil stew for lunch and bread roll with some garlicy cream cheese for a quick tea before choir as well as a cup of tea plus yummy macaroon from the market for a four o'clock snack

Light ritual

Went to the Candlemas (Lichtmess) ritual this evening. Was interesting and I am very glad I went. After the ritual was finished we took a few minutes more and each pulled one card from a new set of angel cards which our hostess was given recently. Mine said "you are your own dance". I like it, it fits me and my life at the moment in many different ways.

February week 1 gone already

So much for posting every day. My friend H. has been staying with me while he tried to find a job in this part of Germany. He's originally from a town an hour or so away from here and his mum lives just across the border from there in Holland. So he has been staying with me. He started his new job today, in a town about 40km away. They're providing accomodation, at least for the first few months so he'll just be back occasionally on his day off. He couldn't really handle not having a telly though and spent nearly the whole time on the internet watching films. He copped on yesterday that there are lots of films to be seen on the internet that haven't even come out in Germany yet. He was like a little kid. I really hope this job works out for him. He has a serious drink problem and it sort of feels like this might be his last chance to sort himself out. After being offered this job he even said something to me about how he would have to be careful with drink if things were going to work out. Closest he's ever come to really admitting and accepting he has a problem so it made me feel hopeful. He has an offer to go back and work in the hotel in the Black Forest where he first did his apprenticeship (and then worked for 15 years or so) starting in March so if what he has now doesn't work out he has something else lined up. But I hope what he has started now does work out as it's a much better situation for him I think.

Anyway, with him spending all the time on the internet I couldn't really get to blogging. Tomorrow will be a busy day. In the morning I'm meeting up with the other people who work in the garden for their annual outing. Instead of just a meal this year they've organised a walking tour around the 'Altstadt' (old town) of Dusseldorf which I think will be really interesting. We'll go for a meal and a beer or two in one of the breweries afterwards.

Then, in the evening I'll head off to the next in the annual circle rituals which I've been going to. After the last one just before Christmas I wasn't honestly too sure that I'd bother going to the next one. But when the hostess sent me an email last week asking if I would be joining them and giving the details it sounded interesting. It's a Candlemas ritual (if the online translations have gotten it right) for cleansing and preparing for the new beginning. I'm still very deep in a winter funk and I know I wouldn't have gone looking for something to do but the note at the end of the invitation really did catch my interest: "during the ritual we will change clothes; we will put away our dark winter clothes (symbol for energy which has been used up) and pull on white/light clothes." It can take me months to 'wake-up' again after the winter and it might be that this is what I need. I planned to take down the Christmas decorations last weekend but didn't get very far. So I will do that tomorrow instead in preparation for this ritual. Putting away the artificial light that I have had in my life for the last month or so and getting ready for the light of spring to arrive. For the ritual tomorrow we also have to bring a white candle with us as well as a glass which has special meaning for us. Not sure yet, what glass I'll bring. Can't think of any off-hand which are particularly special for me although I do have one jar which was my mum's and her mum's before her, which I've always had a fondness for. And the German word for glass is the same as the word for jar so I'm not sure which is meant. Now just need to find something bright to wear and decide what food to bring. Might just be lazy and buy a block of cheese and dig another jar of chutney out of the cupboard. Depends on how well I sleep tonight probably :-)

Time flies

Can hardly believe it has been nearly three months since I posted anything. Life got a bit overwhelming for a while. Still is in a way but I'm starting to cope a bit better again. Had lots of choir practice during November and December - one concert end of November, another second week of September plus I volunteered to sing Messiah at Christmas with another choir in a town an hour away so on top of normal choir also had Monday evening rehearsals there as well as a couple of Saturdays. That meant I had no time for getting to ww but I wanted a break anyway as they changed the program and it was just all too much for me. I'm starting to get back to eating properly (again!) so I'll go back to classes by the end of February.

I'm going to try and blog every day except Wednesdays for February, even if it's just a sentence or two.

My annual household costs bill should come in soon and it will be interesting to see what the difference will be. I got loads of money back last year because I hadn't used the heating much. We have had some very cold weather this year though so I had the heating on more - leaving a couple of radiators on the lowest setting for a few weeks even to make sure they didn't freeze up. I've discovered that I'm comfy getting to sleep so long as my bedroom isn't much below 14 degrees by my thermometer and that is good to know. Also discovered that with the windows closed, even with no heating on even when it's -5 outside, the bedroom stays at around 12 or 13. Am going to start writing down the temps every day soon I think.

And I pay gas and electricity on a monthly budget scheme so I pay a fixed amount and once a year they take the readings. That should be soon as well. I got loads of money back from that last year too because I had just taken over the amounts that the previous tenant had been paying (52 euro per month). Don't know how she was managing that but my average was around 28 per month. I fixed my amount to pay 35 per month to give me a bit of leeway but it will be interesting to see how it works out this year. I've had lights since November plus the small oven I got is electric and I only started using that in January 09 so that'll show up as well. And I did a lot more preserving and cooking this year too. We'll see.

Speaking of which though...

Here's my new sitting room light:

I still have the uplighter in the sitting room as well so this one has a lower wattage bulb in it and with the slight red hue it makes for quite a restful light I find. And then if I need stronger light I can use the uplighter instead. I do use the light in the bathroom at nighttime ocassionally but mostly I still don't bother. Great to have a proper light in the kitchen though. That has made a huge difference.

I moved the cupboard (which I call the tall boy, 'cos that's what it was called at home) underneath the tree out of the kitchen and into the sitting room. It still has kitchen stuff in it but it really was in the way there and I'm glad I decided to move it. It ended up being the perfect place to put the tree as well. I decided not to go for a real tree this year and just dragged out this old small one, which still looks pretty good I think. Most of my tree ornaments are too big or heavy for it though so I've had them hanging on nails and door knobs all over the place.

I'm thinking about painting the tall boy. Would love to think it's a priceless heirloom but it's not and I think it could look fantastic with a coat of paint. Might chicken out and just varnish it a slightly lighter shade but we'll see.

And a few final pictures. Here's a pot full of the start of a pumpkin, quince and apple chutney.

Here are a couple of shelves in my hall cupboards, which have proved very convenient for storing my preservation efforts.


Jams and above them the few jars of tomatoes left from the one small batch I did plus one jar of fruit leathers gone not-quite-right.









Chutneys, pickled garlic, tomato ketchup, salsa, picallilli.





Now just need to make more effort to eat all of this stuff!