Hard Times...

[poliphilo]

This summer has been so wet!  Lovely weather for slugs. Ailz got up in the middle of the night a few weeks back and found no fewer than 14 of 'em sliming their way round the kitchen.

But not good weather for farmers. Apparently we can expect a  grain shortage. And a grain shortage means higher prices on bread and flour.

To add to all the other higher prices.

We're preparing for a tough winter. Energy prices have gone up so much we're not going to be able to have the central heating running like we're used to.

So we've laid in a stock of fleeces and woolies and we're hanging curtains in doorways.

And since there could well be power cuts- what with little Mr Milliband sticking out his little pink tongue at the Russians- we've made sure we've got lots of candles and tea lights.

Ailz has been trawling survivalist sites. Did you know you can use tea lights to boil a kettle?

It's raining again this morning. You can feel the chill in the air. The leaves are coming down.

An Indian summer would be nice.

We've just booked a mini-break in January- with Ruth- in deepest, dampest Somerset (rooms £9 apiece).  It's something to look forward to.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We've talked about cooking in a straw box. I think we could rig one. We keep straw in the house for the rabbits.

Those hand cranked radios are a great invention. I'd like to have one.

You sound very well prepared.

[oakmouse]

Straw boxes (or hayboxes, as they tend to be called over here) just plain rock. They're easy and cheap to make and they save a lot of fuel. We have two, actually stuffed with polyester quilt batting rather than hay or straw, and they work wonderfully for soups, stews, chili, cooking dry beans or root veg, etc. If you want to talk shop I'd be happy to chatter about how we made them and what we do with them.