Brexit, exchange rates, surviving on less in france, New Year

It’s the start of a New Year. As always you look back on successes and things you perhaps could have done better.
For me 2017 was a year of ...let’s say...revelations about friendships and suddenly realising who and where you are! Yes...it’s only taken 60 years!
So , for me, 2018 has started with a renewed vigour and a sense of of purpose.
What did I learn from last year.....
* Take each day as a new day
DO WHAT YOU CAN. ENJOY EACH MOMENT AND DONT BEAT YOURSELF UP IF YOU DONT GET ROUND TO EVERYTHING YOU HOPED TO DO.
* Fill you day with things you like to do and not just the things you have to do
OF COURSE THERE ARE DAYS WHEN THINGS HAVE TO BE DONE THAT DAY.....MISS PAYING THAT BILL AND YOU WILL HAVE AN EXTRA CHARGE ON TOP, FIRGET TO WATER YOUR VEG AND THERE GOES YOUR FOOD SUPPLY. DEAL WITH THESE THINGS FIRST...YOUD BE SURPRISED HOW QUICKLY YOU GET THINGS OUT OF THE WAY AND THEN HOW MUCH “You” TIME YOU HAVE AFTER.
* I’m looking at how to cut out some of the things I feel I have to do but don’t really need to
THOSE FRUIT TREES THAT ARE SO OLD THAT YOU SPENDHOURS PICKING UP ROTTEN FRUIT, THAT GROUP MEETING THAT YOU HATE BUT FEEL YOU HAVE TO GO TO, ..WHATEVER IT IS. KICK IT INTO TOUCH.
* get even more organised to feel in control of my time
PLANNING.....
* Accept the things you can’t change and live with them

OF COURSE I WOULD LIKE AN ECO FARM WITH A HECTARE OF LAND AND LOTS OF ANIMALS ....BUT.... I HAVENT WON THE LOTTERY AND MY JOINTS ARE PAST BEING ABLE TO COPE WITH THAT AMOUNT OF WORK.

so.........just a few thoughts of mine.

Brexit and the low exchange rate has meant that our annual income has dropped so much that the extra odd jobs we did to pay for our treats now only covers the essentials.
Living well for less is becoming harder.
We are going to have to review some of our outgoings. That doesnt  mean to say we are struggling as I know some Brits in France really are at the minute. It’s just not so easy.
However, I feel lucky that I can live in a lovely environment that a lack of money cannot change. We are safe, we can eat, we have freedom of speech and movement, we have a roof over our heads, we can pay our bills, we do not live in fear of attack.We work hard but we still can get so much pleasure from the simple, free things in life. Most of all we have each other and our family.

On that note ...watch out for my next listing with some more practical ways of living well for less.

Bonne Annee
Happy New Year

ROSE PETALS... Rose water, Rose oil,rose petal jelly

By the end of June...we have filled our preserve store with dandelion, nettle.cherry and elderflowerer products. So...before everything is ready in the potager.........

What now?

ROSES!

Driving round the villages of Charente you cannot fail to be impressed by the beautiful climbing roses outside doors and beautiful bushes in gardens. They flower abundantly from now and it's a great time to start looking at what you can make with them while they are at their best.

Here are a few easy ideas......

Throw some petals onto your salad

Dry on newspaper to use in pot pouri and to make scented bags

Infuse some petals in honey to make a great antiseptic for the throat. Now there's no use making this when you need it as it takes 6 weeks to infuse.....prepare one just in case.!..
.Pack some petals in a jar and cover with liquid honey. Make sure this is local and from one producer. Supermarket honey can come from multi producers and has none of the health benefits,

READ THIS ARTICLE FROM LATIN HONEY SHOP TO FIND OUT WHY


 Supermarket honey is not actually honey

Supermarket honey is filtered in a process which removes most, if not all, of its pollen. The removal of pollen from honey makes it impossible to determine its botanical origin, or whether is it even honey.

A 2011 survey by Food Safety News on 60 different supermarket honeys in the United States found that 76% had no pollen at all. Most supermarket honey in the US is the same as that supplied to supermarkets in the UK. 

Honey without pollen is not honey, it's just a honey-flavoured sugary syrup.

) Supermarket honey is not labelled with a country of origin because it does not have a country of origin

The labels of most supermarket honey sold in the UK are marked, "Blend of EC/non-EC honeys." Such a vague description is proof that the honey contains little, if any, pollen.

If the honey contained pollen, then its geographical origin would be traceable and known and its country of origin would be marked on the label.

)

 Supermarket honey is dead and has no living, beneficial nutrients in it

Honey starts its life as a living product which contains living nutrients, beneficial bacteria and enzymes. It is these nutrients that provide all the powerful health benefits of honey.

These living nutrients can only survive up to a maximum hive temperature of 37C/99F. Above this temperature, they die.

In order to prevent supermarket honey from crystallising, processors heat the honey up to 60C/140F.

This process certainly delays the crystallisation process, but it also kills every beneficial living nutrient in the honey. Dead honey has no health benefits beyond providing a sugar rush.

On the other hand, raw honey is "cold pressed", meaning that the honey is never warmed to above 37C/99F when it is filled into jars.

SO...INFORMATION BIT OVER....BACK TO PREPARING YOUR THROAT ANTISEPTIC

. Leave rose petals and honey in the jar for 6. Weeks, Strain and squeeze out honey from the petals.  Store in jar in a cool dry play. Add a teaspoonful of this to a warm drink when needed.

ROSEWATER

This can be used in cooking and in beauty products. 

Gently Wash the petals of about 7 scented roses 

Put them in a cooking pot with 1.5 litres of distilled water

Simmer over a medium heat for 20 minutes until the petals lose colour

Leave to cool

Strain mixture and discard the petals

Store in a sealed glass container

ROSEWATER to make TONER...simply add 1 tablespoon of ROSEWATER to 4 tablespoons of distilled water.?

ROSE OIL

Have you ever noticed how expensive this is! Once you see how to make it you will understand why!

It's not really labour or time intensive in the real sense but it is a commitment 

You need...

4 cups of water boiled then removed from heat

Shred or crush 1 cup of rose petals into  1 cup of carrier oil.....jojoba ( jojoba is best for holding the scent of the roses), grape seed, almond.....in a jar. Seal with the lid and put the jar into the pan of hot water.

Leave until cool.

Remove to a sunny window ledge for 7 days.

Now the commitment bit.......

Squeeze the petals to get the oil out.

Repeat all the above steps another 7 times. Using the same oil. Top up a little if needed.

So in total you need 8 cups of ROSE petals 

After the last time put into small dark glass jars. If you like you can also add some oil from vitamin E capsules at this point.

Dandelion burgers

DANDELION BLOSSOM BREAD RECIPE

DANDELION BLOSSOM BREAD

1 cup of blossoms

2 cups of plain flour

2 tsps baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

2 heaped tablespoons of of honey

1 egg

half a cup of milk

whisk together the oil, honey eggs and milk

stir this into the flour, salt  and baking powder mix

slowly fold in the flowers

put in a 1lb greased loaf tin and bake at 400F for 20 mins  then turn down to 350F for another 15 minutes

When a skewer is inserted into the bread and comes out clean then its ready!

Enjoy x

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STORMS IN CHARENTE AND A BLOWY START TO MARCH

One of the reasons we moved from the Languedoc Region was the constant winds.

Not known for a lot of wind here in Charente.......we go more for massive downpours of rain.....we seem to have been hit twice in the last month with the dreaded ORANGE ALERT  meteo message. Batten down the hatches, unplug your computer and prepare for the worst!!!

We dont have a lot to batten down so other than moving  the car away from the house, where falling tiles can cause major damage, we really just sit by the cosy log burner saying...oooh isnt it windy out there!!!

After storm one I discovered that my plastic greenhouse had become our first casualty.
I thought I was being quite clever tying the greenhouse to a tree. The storm...being unable to blow the whole thing away had satisfied itself by dismantling all the poles causing the shelves to collapse. The plastic was merrily blowing off the tree like an enormous kite and the contents of the greenhouse ..,everything you couldnt find space for in the garage  over the winter....was spread out like Steptoe and Sons yard!!

Apart from a couple of little tears in the plastic I was thankfully  able to peice it all together and decided to relocate it  to the bottom of the garden where it might be a bit more sheltered next to the shed.
So two weeks later with all my first set of seeds planted out....cucumber, butternut squash, I was happy all was well.

Sadly not to be .....enter STORM NO 2......what the heck is going on!!!! Snow in Spain, flooding in Marbella and WIND IN CHARENTE!!!!

Despite the extra shelter the greenhouse fell victim again....no damage to the greenhouse but  now I had lost my first batch of seeds. No chance of rescuing them from the mess of soil on the ground as the mice and birds had already beaten me to that!!!

We also lost half of the plum tree.It was in a poor state and had so many holes in it from the woodpecker making its nest .that Im surprised it hadnt gone before. It was such a sorry looking tree and really should have been cut down when we had the other poorly ones taken away but we just couldnt bear to disturb the woodpecker or all the other birds that seemed to enjoy making nests in the prepared holes.

So now the tree is looking even sorrier and the fallen branch has been cut up to use on the woodburner next winter ( no waste!!!) Still cant bear to take it down.....we even had some good plums from it last year as if to say "keep me keep me" .....So ...... here it stays until  the next storm.

Nervous stressed chickens

Last year one of our chickens died. The rest spent months  not producing a single egg.
It wasn't just our chickens every one in the Charente area seemed to have had the same problem.
Anyway.....as we were going back and forward to the Uk for periods of time  and we didn't want to constantly ask our neighbour to look after them....we decided to re home  them.Also as we were meant to be living as self sufficiently as possible it seemed daft to be keeping chickens and buying eggs!

The lovely Sue from the Astrofarm near Confolens took them in to mingle with her own flock. Although it took them time to settle ...and to get  their pecking order....they have so much more free ranging space than they had here so they are happily retired.

I really missed having the girls in the garden ....as much as I missed the eggs.   So as Spring is approaching I figured it was time to get some more.

We visited the monthly market which is held at Roulliac on the 27 th of each month. It was the same supplier as last time but when we got the chickens home we realised we were dealing with very very different personalities.

WHATS NEW IN PENNY PINCHING. in 2016?

If you are a seasoned penny pincher then it's really hard to find something new that really is the bees knees!

I always get excited when I see articles on saving money to just find the same old stuff being recycled! I suppose the longer you do it the less chance there is of actually finding any new little gems.


So here's a call to those folk like me.......exactly what new have you discovered in 2016 !

Mine is as follows....


WATER
We saved 40 euros on our annual water bill despite having had a drought. That was down to less toilet flushing.  You know the  saying.......if it's yellow let it mellow.....if it's brown flush it down.

TOOTHPASTE
We used half as much toothpaste than in the previous year.......and that's .nothing to do with the number of times we cleaned our teeth. We changed to buying a particular type of tube of toothpaste.

One with a smaller nozzle!

Simple as that! You reallly do only need a pea size amount of paste but with most tubes it comes out at  the speed of the TGV. SMALLER nozzles are more controllable. One tube now lasts over 2 weeks instead of 1



Most of the money saving ideas are for small amounts. What about major savings ..... often this involves investing a lot before you get anything back which is not really an option for most of us.

What I would love is.......in the future....

All roof tiles on new houses were solar panels...... a replacement scheme for older houses

Local councils/ Mairies had centres with electricity generating bicycles and we could all go along and  do our bit! Along with Recycling centres that generated power for the community thereby saving money on local taxes.

Parks planted with perennial fruit and veg.

Any other suggestions!