The Cottage Smallholder

This is the start of the second year of not buying flowers and just picking flowers from the garden. In January 2007 I decided not to buy flowers for the house for a year. Having been a rather extravagant flower buyer for decades, this was a testing challenge. Especially when I passed a flower shop Read More »

Many years ago, when I wasn’t into cooking, I invited my best client and his wife for a weekend in the country. This was one of those invitations that you suggest to a very busy person after a very long lunch. To my horror he jumped at it. We both enjoyed good Soho food. Perhaps Read More »

We have done the last shop for January. The challenge is to save 25% of our weekly household bills in 2008. Food, loo rolls, dog food, chicken food, consumables, fish food, grog and anything that we actually buy over the counter. I have been trying to shave our budget for quite some time now so Read More »

Here is another really useful post from The Mildred Mittens Manufactory. Danny linked up with some coffee freaks about a year ago and every now and then talks about making his own coffee roasting machine (apparently it can be done using a windscreen wiper motor and an old drum). There are links to a great Read More »

If only there was a standard answer. We often are asked this question. Danny reckons that it’s school children researching a project. I suspect that it’s grown up chicken owners that are gradually being driven crazy by the fact that their point of lay chickens, bought six months ago, have never ever laid an egg. Read More »

I always used to choose risotto in Italian restaurants as I imagined that it was a complicated dish to cook. “Let them do all the stirring and sweating.” I’d think as I pointed to my choice on the menu. Recently I discovered that risotto is easy and quick to make. And a great way to Read More »

Nearly 25 years ago my sister Sara decided to get a pug. She’d had a pug as a child and Tweedle was the perfect dog. Even though the mutt looked rather plain in a bonnet she was happy to be dressed in dolls clothes and be pushed around in a pram. Looking back, Tweedle was Read More »

I tend to work a 10 to 6 day. One of the hardest things about decorating is working in a house where children eat at six. Just as I am beginning to feel a bit tired and peckish, delicious wafts drift out of the kitchen from 5 o’clock onwards. By the time I am leaving Read More »

I had an interesting email from a guy that writes the blog – Bay Area Kicks. He suggested swapping links as we had a lot in common. I nipped over to his site for a reccy. It’s a blog that focuses on trainers. The ones that you wear on your feet. Years ago I bought Read More »

Cayenne pepper is not something I have used very much over the years. In fact, until last week, we were using a jar that I had bought when I moved into my first flat in 1979. It was just sprinkled on egg mayonnaise as a garnish. It still smelt spicy to me. Cayenne seems to Read More »