 May is such a magical month that the appearance of fairies in your garden should come as no surprise! Even the staunchest disbeliever must do a double take when ... apple, pear or cherry blossoms float and swirl though the air, fresh new leaves rustle in the wind or the sun shimmers and gleams in nooks and crannies in the garden. All these subtle happenings can be evidence of fairy activity ... Here are 3 simple ways to attract fairies to your garden:  1. Foliage This is a biggie because fairies are like songbirds. They love trees as this gives them little branches to cling to, or big branches for swinging and leaves to hide behind. Not to mention that their older cousins, the Dryads, will often tell them stories at night about ancient times and places. Plant lots of perennial flowers that will magically sprout up in the Spring, year after year, without any extra work on your part - bluebells, tulips, daffodils, forget-me-nots, Jack Frost, Lily-of-the-Valley, foxgloves - your garden will be alive with colour and sweet scents that attract the birds, bees, butterflies ... and fairies!
 And for some fun, blow some bubbles from a bubble wand! There is nothing more magical or gentle than bubbles floating on the breeze ... and the fairies will be sure to notice. Accept the magical world around you and welcome it into your garden. It doesn't matter how big or small it is. Whether you are charmed with a "back 40", a fantastically witch-y cottage garden, a "postage stamp" city plot or a balcony; you can always add in a little bit of nature - usually more than you think once you get started! Prepare to be amazed at how special life becomes when your home becomes a safe haven for fairies to congregate and play. Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2018
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 Be Prepared - The Girl Guide Motto Sometimes life lands you literally "flat on your back" and out of commission for a few days or weeks. In such instances, you may need to rely almost exclusively on family, friends and caregivers. But what if your ability to move around is only partially affected? For me, an unexpected mid/upper back injury has temporarily left it difficult for me to bend down, carry heavy items or drive - though I can walk and putter around the house - or even complete short errands. This has caused certain things to jump into sharp focus. Beyond facing any personal assessment and conclusion of this incident; day-to-day life still carries on! I believe in being prepared, but hindsight is 20/20. Here's what I have learned, and a list of a few things that might help you to prepare in advance of a (knock on wood!), similar situation occurring: Hindsight is 20 / 20 - A list of things to ALWAYS have on hand:
 Own a button-up shirt I prefer to wear shirts and sweaters that pull over my head. It never occurred to me what is involved in that simple action! Fortunately, I did have a couple of button-up shirts, way in the back of my closet and I guess I'll be living in those for the next little while! Own a cap or hat It's also useful to own a cap. Fortunately, I am fond of the Irish "newsboy" type of cap which is great for walking in light rain. I'll be using it a lot over the next little while since I can't carry an umbrella. Hoods are also out since they force you to turn your neck a lot further than is comfortable when crossing streets. Own an old bell Meadow Sweet Grove currently has two charming brass bells. One is a goat perched atop the bell and the other is a little girl with a full skirt. The goat is an obvious bell, but the girl could simply be seen as a decorative brass figurine - but for the clapper under her skirt! How useful are these in a three-story house when you need to summon help from someone other than the fairies? Keep the receiving room clean I have a bad habit of letting the housework slide ... piles of laundry, vacuuming, stuff laying around that I've been meaning to swap, sell or donate ... and general clutter! But I used to have one good policy - always keep the "parlor" clean - if nothing else. For us, that's the first room guests enter and right off the front door. My logic was that even if the rest of the house was a disaster area, there was always one clean and tidy room that I could usher unexpected guests into ... and maintain some sense of pride. Unfortunately, I let that wonderful practice slide and the front room has seen a few unexpected guests lately. My advice - ALWAYS keep the room nearest your front door, clean and tidy - you never know when you might not be able to - and that could also be when more people than usual will be showing up! Stock up on heavy items Lately, I have been quite good at stocking up on non-perishable food items and emergency items such as candles, matches, duplicate keys and the like. What I didn't think about was heavy items. While it might be easy to walk down to the local store and buy toilet tissue ... it is quite another to lug home a bag of cat litter! Last, but not least, and most indispensable: cherish the loved ones who will care for you! Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2018
 Thrift Stores and Charity Shops Many people make a New Year's Resolution to "clear the clutter" and get organized. When taking your clutter into your local thrift store / charity stop to donate - do make sure you check inside the store to see what's on offer. Many people donate unwanted Christmas presents in January or donate the items those gifts replaced. Ironically, they often donate better quality items, than the new replacements they received! For example, someone might donate their "out-dated" dishes that were "Made in England or Japan"; in exchange for a shiny new set from Home Outfitters, Pier 1 and the like. To each their own, but for the lover of antique, retro, quality or just plain eclectic dishware -- your local thrift store becomes a treasure trove! Charity shops often have promotions too, like any other retailer, at this time of the year, to make up for low sales.  A Yorkshireman's Advice to His Son But January is also a time of year when many people are cutting back on their expenses. For some, there are more tax deductions taken off the pay cheque starting in January. Others overspent at Christmas or feel the need for a holiday somewhere warm. Whatever the reason for shortness of cash in January - there are still many thrifty ways to save money.
~ Reuse food containers in your kitchen ~ Isn't it silly that we buy containers to freeze or store our food in - when we throw perfectly good containers into the recycling bin every day? Containers that are already bought and paid for. Recent news has led me to believe that many of the items we faithfully recycle are not being recycled at all - but shipped to other countries for disposal. This, of course, defeats the purpose of recycling which is to keep the items out of Mother Nature's belly! Here's a number of re-uses for those many containers that make their way into your home: Glass Jars The best! Use for dry beans and lentils, pasta, popcorn and rice. Freeze homemade applesauce and crushed tomatoes (make sure you leave a good inch or so at the top for expansion). Use for non-food items like: nails, screws, tacks - you get the idea. Plastic Tubs Yogurt, margarine, sour cream, cream cheese, and those funky plastic take-away/delivery containers - anything that is packaged in an opaque plastic tub can be re-used. Use them to freeze meal left-overs, extra tomato sauce and chicken broth. Keep them handy to send guests home with left-overs, children to school with cut veggies, cookies and cupcakes for school parties and numerous other non-food uses like: crayons, craft supplies, pet food - just don't get the two mixed up! Bread Bags & Cereal Boxes Those many bread bags basically replace plastic wraps! Okay, they don't "cling" but many items you wrap don't need that feature. Use them to wrap extra portions of raw meat like ground beef and chicken for freezing. Cut them in half and use them to wrap sandwiches and snacks for lunches. Collect dry seed pods in the summer or fall - shake the bag and all the seeds will collect beautifully in the bottom of the bag (I learned this trick from a wonderful old Yorkshireman). Talk about thrifty. He also cut up his cereal boxes to make shopping lists! Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2018  1914, Photo by Harry W. Frees
~ Never throw food out ~ Save Vegetable Peelings/Cuttings & Leftover Bits of Chicken Chicken broth is relatively inexpensive at the store and available in tins or tetra packs. But why pay for anything that is so easy to make and for which you already have the ingredients? You do have the time if you remember your freezer. Just keep a bread bag in the freezer closed with a twist tie. Next time you are chopping or peeling vegetables (especially carrots, onions, broccoli and celery), toss all the good bits that you would ordinarily throw away, into that bag and keep them frozen. Wrap up any leftover bits of cooked chicken and freeze separately. Now, and at your leisure, you may make up a batch of chicken stock whenever you choose. Simply tip the various little bags of frozen veg and chicken into a large pot. Add black pepper, parsley and a bay leaf. Cover, bring to a boil and simmer. When ready, pour over a strainer into ceramic bowls. Use immediately or transfer, when tepid, into plastic containers for freezing. And if you are lucky enough to have a left-over chicken carcass, you can immediately add the frozen veg directly into the pan to make your broth. Don't forget to check the bottom of your crisper bins in the fridge! Often there are some veg "on the way out" that can be easily added to the broth.  Save Soft Tomatoes Tomatoes starting to soften in the refrigerator? Bad on one side? Put them in a large metal mixing bowl, boil a kettle and pour over top. When cool enough to touch, make a slight cut -- the skins should peel off easily. Slightly chop, discarding any spoiled pieces, and place the remainder in a medium pot. Reduce to mush over medium to low heat. Ladle into sterilized mason jars (just boil jars and lids rapidly for a couple of minutes in a large pot of water), add a small squirt of lemon and sprinkle of rock salt on top and seal jars. Freeze when they reach room temperature. Now you have some wonderful crushed tomatoes for your next spaghetti, lasagna or other pasta dish! If you are in a hurry, simply wash the whole tomatoes in cool water, dry and freeze in a bread bag. You can then add the frozen tomatoes directly to any pasta sauce or soup you are making at a later date - just takes a little longer to break them down.  Richard Scarrey, The Crow & The Cheese Save Bits & Pieces of Cheese / Odds & Ends of Bread Cheese is so incredibly expensive ... at least in Meadow Sweet Grove. The fairies in Britain often come to visit their little cousins in the Grove and are shocked at the price of cheese! So, every time you slice cheese for snacking, or grate cheese for a meal, make sure you save the little leftover bits, wrapped up tight in the refrigerator. Start a bread bag in the fridge for left-over bread - that last slice no one seems to eat, the broken crust, etc. Also, don't throw out that last bit of sour cream, cottage cheese or unflavoured yogurt - unless it truly is off of course! Black Bananas Banana Bread of course! A tasty snack anytime and perfect for kid's lunchboxes. These are just a few ways to save food that you might otherwise have thrown out. Once you get used to the idea, you will discover many, many more ways to use up food that you thought had no life left in it, or was too small to save - and start saving lots on that shocking grocery bill! Next week for you: Two recipes -
"Pull-It-All-Together Macaroni & Cheese" & Delicious Banana Bread Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017  Vintage Postcard advertising Quick Meal Range, c. 1909 The price of food keeps going up, up, up! Even the fairies have discovered increases at their little local markets in the Grove. With the price of food so high, it makes sense to cut waste at every opportunity. One of the best ways to do this is to save all your leftovers so you are truly eating most of the food you buy.  ~ Save your leftovers ~
Freezing The saving of leftover meals is of course thrifty in itself. The best way to save leftovers is to immediately freeze what you think you won't eat in the next few days. Almost everything can be frozen nicely although dishes containing potatoes and eggs don't freeze very well. While it's nice to have freezer containers that are purpose built in varying sizes, stacking ability, etc - you can also use old margarine or yogurt tubs and the like to save money. When money runs low - don't reach for the credit card at the grocery store - turn to your freezer to make up a supper. Storing in the fridge Put leftovers in the fridge that you know you will use in the next little while, but don't cover with that costly and wasteful plastic wrap or tin foil! The fairies, who simply don't have those type of factories in the Grove, use covered glass and ceramic dishes. Many Pyrex and Fire King-type dishes were intended to be used for preparation of the meal directly in the oven, and then provided a simple method for saving leftovers by adding a lid on top before placing in the fridge. Of course even if you didn't prepare the meal in the dish, you can use it for storing leftovers! Estimate the amount you pay each year for disposable food wrap. You will quickly see how a covered dish, that you use year after year, makes good economical sense. Mother Nature will love you too when you consider the waste involved in manufacturing those wraps, transporting them and finally disposing of them. Covered dishes are yet another way to work towards self-sufficiency and move away from the dependence on, and expense of, disposable products. And remember - leftovers aren't just cooked meals! Ever open a tin of crushed tomatoes or vegetables and only need half for your recipe? Freeze the rest immediately in a small tub. Freeze it, no matter how small the portion left-over, you can always add them all together to make up a full portion at a later date. Freeze the left-over portion before preparing - just use what you need and freeze the rest. Likewise wrap up bits of cooked chicken, turkey, ham etc. to later use for soups and broths. And make sure to wrap up any leftover (and very expensive) cheese when cutting or shredding! It makes a great pull-it-all-together macaroni and cheese at a later date. Once you get started truly saving all your left-overs, you will be pleasantly surprised how much money you save, or how few ingredients you need to buy to make up some type of meal when money is tight ... not to mention saved preparation time on those nights when you just don't feel like cooking at all! Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017 |
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Disclaimer: Most of my items are vintage. Please be aware that vintage items will vary with the manufacturing methods available at the time of their production. They are not made at the current standards of manufacturing ... and in my opinion, that is a good thing! They are generally an exceedingly higher quality than today's manufactured items, last much longer and have more attention to detail. However, items do also deteriorate with age and it is up to the customer to decide how they will use each product.
Disclaimer: Most of my items are vintage. Please be aware that vintage items will vary with the manufacturing methods available at the time of their production. They are not made at the current standards of manufacturing ... and in my opinion, that is a good thing! They are generally an exceedingly higher quality than today's manufactured items, last much longer and have more attention to detail. However, items do also deteriorate with age and it is up to the customer to decide how they will use each product.