Yule Pot Pourri

I've bagged up the Yule Pot Pourri today, 9 bags.

Also bagged up some dried orange slices and some cinnamon stick bundles.

 Ready for the Christmas Craft fairs now. :)

Christmas/Yule Cards

For Sellers its that time of year already. It doesn't seem that long ago since I was creating Yule decorations to sell.

This year I've been making Yule/Christmas Pot Pourri and Glass Painted cards. I have some Fair booked into my calendar and fingers crossed I get some sales.

More are currently in the paper and pencil stage so I will add those when they are complete. :)

Lemon this, lemon that.

The other day I felt quite creative, and I decided to make myself some conditioner and shampoo.

Here are the results.

Lemon balm and tea tree oil shampoo blocks

Lemon and Geranium oil conditioner

Lemon balm and Lemon ointment

Shampoo doesn't quite lather up as well as I'd liked and it didn't wash out the conditioner I'd put in first, going to try it again without putting on the conditioner first and see how it turns out.

They smell lovely though. :)

Busy as a Bee

I've been rather busy of late. So many things have been going on. Time for a little update.

Work is manic, but it looks like from the end of September I will be on the market for work again. A little nervous about this but I'm contracting so it is to be expected I suppose. I've had a contract with the same company for over a year so I've done exceptionally well for a contract that was for 3 months. :D

I've recently completed my Reiki level 1 and thoroughly enjoyed it, I'm due to start my level 2 shortly. I attended a Herbal Medicine workshop, here are the results. Being well used I must say.

I decided to do a diploma in Herbalism and another in Aromatherapy, so they are in progress.

The garden is doing well, some things aren't quite doing what I expected them to, but its a learning process isn't it and this is my first year and I started a little late due to moving in late.

Progress is being made in the house, the bathroom is nearly complete after finding woodworm and having to replace most of the floor. Kitchen is functioning, and we've had a quote for a multi-fuel burner in the living room. Just to get it ordered and paid for now I suppose.

And I got stung by a bee, 6 times. Poor thing, got tangled in my skirt.

Salad is ripe for the picking

Everything seems to be growing well. So I thought it time for an update to share my garden again.

Salad is now ready to pick and tonight hubby and I had mixed salad with some parsley and coriander mixed in along with mixed pepper frittata. It was yummy. :)

Garden potterings

I have a few things growing in the garden now. Its beginning to look quite nice. The cats are having a field day knocking stuff of shelves. The rocket took a tumble the other week and this morning I went into the greenhouse to find that the kale seedlings, the tiny strawberry seedlings had been knocked onto the floor and had damaged my grape vine in the process. I wasn't impressed.

I've managed to salvage the seedlings, hopefully they will survive, they are looking OK and not too damaged from their fall. The grape vine is looking a little sorry for itself but should be ok.

Thought I'd share some pictures of my little garden so far. Shame there isn't much to eat yet.

KaleBroccoli

Onions

Rocket and Lettuce

Beetroot
Some flowers, marigolds and wildflower mix

Blackberry and Raspberry
Tomatoes
Herbs (I can't actually remember what I planted... oops)
PotatoesPotatoes, Onions, Carrots and Salad

So its all coming along, may need a little hedgerow foraging and looking for a place to find dandelions. I have some dandelion seeds planted but I'm waiting for them to grow.

Making free fuel

I have been a rather busy bee recently, however I have had time to start on one of my mini frugal projects.

My plan is to have a multi-fuel burner and therefore there will be a requirement for fuel to feed said burner. A couple of Christmas' ago I was asked what I would like for a present, I asked for a briquette maker, which was duly provided. Anyway, we tried it out then and failed miserably at making fire briquettes as we didn't have the space to dry them properly.

So after a little research about how best to dry them and now having a suitable amount of space to make these fire briquettes and dry them en-mass. I've started the process again.

I've filled a red tub with shredded paper, which is a mix of newspaper, old bills, junk mail, envelops, old road maps and then poured some water out of the water butt over the top.

I've then left it for 4 days to soak and come back to soggy paper mess which I've loaded into my briquette maker and squeezed the water out (as much as possible back into the red tub to be used again.

The resulting briquettes are turned out onto the greenhouse worktops where they will be left to dry, as they become most stable I will begin to stack them and leave them to dry until winter, when hopefully

I will have my multi-fuel burner and lots of lovely briquettes to burn and keep us warm. Each briquette is supposed to take about 2 hours to burn through if dried properly.

Bring on the junk mail I now have a use for you!