Food and Drink #16 Liedown larder

[HotesTilaire]

So exciting! I know sheep are designed to be outside, I think I was thinking of something a bit like a bus shelter? Like one wall with a bit of roof. I guess they just go stand behind a hill, if it’s windy though.
If something goes down do the sheep come looking for you? I am not sure what kind of catastrophe would qualify, clearly April getting her head stuck wasn’t it.

 

[emm]

So exciting! I know sheep are designed to be outside, I think I was thinking of something a bit like a bus shelter? Like one wall with a bit of roof. I guess they just go stand behind a hill, if it’s windy though.
If something goes down do the sheep come looking for you? I am not sure what kind of catastrophe would qualify, clearly April getting her head stuck wasn’t it.

I just now have the funniest image of sheep in a bus shelter

Anyone here made a broccoli mac and cheese and can recommend a good recipe?

I don;t like mac and cheese (unpopular opinion I know) but my go to, sort of , recipe for this is boil broccoli with the pasta in the same water so it is kind of mushy, conserve some water, then drain, mix altogether with some pasta water and add grated cheese (also amazing with some melted tinned anchovy)

 

[HotesTilaire]

They can wait at the bus stop all they like, the driver still won’t let them on!

 

[Falkor]

So exciting! I know sheep are designed to be outside, I think I was thinking of something a bit like a bus shelter? Like one wall with a bit of roof. I guess they just go stand behind a hill, if it’s windy though.
If something goes down do the sheep come looking for you? I am not sure what kind of catastrophe would qualify, clearly April getting her head stuck wasn’t it.

Oh, I see - no, they just tend to use the landscape. The reason I've put them out onto the point for the next few days, which would seem a bit counterintuitive as bits of land sticking out into the sea tend to be windier places, is that it's got the best shelter options for them. If it comes from the east or the west then they can go down the sides, which are mostly grassy rather than actual cliffs, if it comes from the north there's a big rocky outcrop at the top of the field they can tuck into the bottom of, and if it's a southerly, which it looks like it will be, the next field to the south is about three feet higher than mine along the boundary, so they'll line themselves up behind the bank that creates.

It also helps having the right sheep - North Country Cheviots are our local breed, they started from a batch of sheep brought to Caithness and Sutherland from the Cheviot hills in 1791 and were then crossed with other large breeds until a distinct type occurred. Within the breed we have park types and hill types, mine are hill types, and they're extremely efficient at turning rough poor grazing into energy. If you put a hill-type Cheviot on good grass for too long, you're going to get a very fat sheep, as Loppy, Nibbles and 406 are currently proving! So they're well-adapted to this land. One of my neighbours has decided to breed Texels, which are originally from the Netherlands and have only been in the UK for about 50 years (and I personally think they're pretty ugly things, but each to their own!). She hired in a ram this year and even fed daily with unlimited access to hay, he lost about a third of his bodyweight in two months because the weather from late November to January was so vile and he just couldn't cope with it. Her ewes at the moment are mostly Cheviot-Texel crosses and so coped much better.

Sheep in a bus shelter is totally a thing! Type it into Google and click on images Most of the top results are either from up here or the Western Isles.

 

[HotesTilaire]

Googled sheep at bus stops, it is a thing! They love them.
Texel sheep are fugly

 

[Oxford_Girl]

I use a heated electric throw when sat at my desk home working we even bought one for our JRT to lay on She has more sofas than we do !!

 

[Universal]

I’m mostly a lurker on here but wanted to pop up to recommend Turtle Doves fingerless gloves (not an AD!). They’re made from recycled cashmere and they come in loads of different colours. Mine have kept my hands from freezing into claws while I’m WFH (I have the heating on all day but always end up with icy cold hands by the end of the day)!

I have seen then advertised and might take the plunge thank you!

Cant stop thinking about the Ewes at the bus stop waiting for the 86 to take them into town.

 

[Captainmouse]

I like the ones with koala faces, and woolly legs, but can’t remember if they are one or two separate breeds so I googled and found these guys

 

[Falkor]

Valais Blacknose! Gorgeous but phenomenally expensive at the moment because there aren't many in the country - they come from Switzerland and the Swiss aren't terribly keen on exporting them.

 

[colouredlines]

Just popping in to thank @Bumbear for recommending the All About Agatha podcast. It took me a couple of episodes to get over the Americanness (if you know what I mean...), but I'm really enjoying it. Great to listen to on walks!

 

[Blurp]

Eek. Asda cancelled my delivery yesterday due to the weather so I'm missing crucial parts of my planned meals; therefore, I put on my jacket and warm woollen mitts to brave the outside worksop and root around in the deep freeze.

The mitts were more for the freezer but it was a trifle chilly out there. I accidentally slammed the door of the workshop on the way out and the lock is frozen solid (shut) - will have to get out there in full sun tomorrow, if necessary with a hairdryer if I can find it after some 14 years of disuse. As it was, I really thought that I wasn't going to get the front door locking though eventually managed it.

No wonder none of the animals except the sole male of the household (cat) were keen on staying out for long today. Brrrrrr.

 

[Bumbear]

Just popping in to thank @Bumbear for recommending the All About Agatha podcast. It took me a couple of episodes to get over the Americanness (if you know what I mean...), but I'm really enjoying it. Great to listen to on walks!

So glad you like it...I've just finished Dead Man's Folly and I now only have 14 episodes left to get into real time (about another 4 novels). I feel a bit sad really as it has kept me going for over a year now in lockdown...although to be fair I keep feeling sad about all sorts of things at the moment! I'm up and down like god knows what emotionally.

Re the Americanness - they do make me laugh when totally mispronouncing place names...there have been some classics recently (none of which I can remember now)!

I've also started on Shedunnit so thank space you to the frau that recommended that to me!

 

[Flumps]

Fraus. talk of the weather and broken heating (hope it gets fixed soon, mine was broken for ages 2 years ago and I still remember the unpleasantness of the mornings, all the sympathy from me), reminds me I have a random question. Do any of you have thoughts you'd like to share with me on oil central heating? Is it more/less/about the same to run as gas? Is it a massive hassle to deal with in any other way?

Also, private drainage. Anyone know about that? Is that a pain?

We're seriously considering a house that has both and I'm trying to put my sensible head on when considering it.

Oh, and big thanks to those with podcast recommendations. I am after new ones. I've just powered through the whole 'You're Wrong About' back catalogue (which is wonderful), and have just started on 'Everyone has an Ex' which is quite fun, and I am after new ones to listen to while packing and redecorating.

In food news, I made homemade chicken doner tonight. Was v nice, but was too tired to do all the sides, so had it with rice and yoghurt and a nod to green stuff. Used this recipe and I'm not convinced it made a very British chicken doner, but it was very tasty.

Homemade Chicken Doner Kebab recipe

Homemade Chicken Doner Kebab recipe - the better version of the midnight post-pub kebab runs beacuse you know exactly what's in it!

www.recipetineats.com

 

[Falkor]

Fraus. talk of the weather and broken heating (hope it gets fixed soon, mine was broken for ages 2 years ago and I still remember the unpleasantness of the mornings, all the sympathy from me), reminds me I have a random question. Do any of you have thoughts you'd like to share with me on oil central heating? Is it more/less/about the same to run as gas? Is it a massive hassle to deal with in any other way?

Also, private drainage. Anyone know about that? Is that a pain?

We're seriously considering a house that has both and I'm trying to put my sensible head on when considering it.

Oil central heating is fine, you just have to remember to keep an eye on the tank, because if it runs out of oil the sludge in the bottom of the tank can get sucked through into the boiler and that can get expensive. You can get a system called a Watchman which is a sensor that is fitted to the tank and communicates with a receiver in your house to tell you how full it is. I've got three oil boilers ranging in age from 14 years old to 2 years old and you do need a decent engineer who knows his stuff, but if they're regularly serviced and given a bit of TLC, they're not too much of a problem. My last top up was about 1300 litres, I paid around £400, and that will keep that house in maintenance temperature (14C - it's a holiday cottage and obviously we have no guests right now!) for about three months at this time of year. It's a large 3-bed, 164 square metres, with not a huge amount of wall insulation, though we did put new windows in and insulated the loft.

Private drainage isn't usually a problem at all as long as it's installed properly. One of the holiday cottages is on a communal septic tank, so I don't have to worry about that one at all, Scottish Water looks after it and I pay normal water rates. The other has a modern (ish, it's a good 15 years old) plastic tank, that was fine once we pumped it out, which the previous owners had never bothered to do since it was installed - haven't had a problem since and will probably get it pumped every five years. The one at the house we live in is a bit of a pain, it's an old-style concrete pit and is prone to leaking grey water over the top, either because the outflow pipe to the soakaway has got blocked (so we have to get someone in with a powerful jetter to blast it through) or because the ground is so sodden/frozen that there's literally nowhere for it to soak to. I think the latter is causing our current leaking, but I can't be sure until everything thaws out. Make sure your solicitor checks that it's been properly registered with SEPA if in Scotland (not sure if there's an equivalent requirement elsewhere in the UK).

 

[Blurp]

Fraus. talk of the weather and broken heating (hope it gets fixed soon, mine was broken for ages 2 years ago and I still remember the unpleasantness of the mornings, all the sympathy from me), reminds me I have a random question. Do any of you have thoughts you'd like to share with me on oil central heating? Is it more/less/about the same to run as gas? Is it a massive hassle to deal with in any other way?

Also, private drainage. Anyone know about that? Is that a pain?

We're seriously considering a house that has both and I'm trying to put my sensible head on when considering it.

Are you talking about septic tanks etc? I just make sure that I use environmentally friendly stuff (and never quilted bogroll) and get Scottish Water to come and empty it every few years. A lot of people never bother emptying and a friend swears by a sheep's stomach from the butcher dropped into the hatch every few years provides all the munching bacteria required; there are sachets now that you can buy instead to flush into the tank and I do feed slightly off natural yoghurt down the drain to feed Senga the Sceptical Tank.

I had a choice of oil tank or LPG tank as we're too far from the village for the gas network. My parents had oil and I had LPG with Hank the Tank in the barley field. You can pay by direct debit monthly now and tanks have radio connections to trigger deliveries when required. It can be expensive but depends on the price of the market and not really any more hassle than normal.

My heating system died a few years ago and I've been considering replacing it with an air pump system; a lot of people are doing that or ground pump or biomass.

PS You also don't pay council sewage charges if you have a septic tank. Senga is an old Victorian brick tank with overflow into the river.

 

[Flumps]

Awesome info, thank you @Falkor and @Blurp - that's all super helpful. It's not putting me off wanting to buy the house of dreams and ridiculousness much though.

 

[Blurp]

Awesome info, thank you @Falkor and @Blurp - that's all super helpful. It's not putting me off wanting to buy the house of dreams and ridiculousness much though.

It's not really any more hassle than town heating and sewage, just different hassle

 

[Falkor]

It's not really any more hassle than town heating and sewage, just different hassle

Absolutely this

One other thing I'd say, if you do buy the house, think about what it will eventually be replaced with - unless they really get cracking with biofuels, oil boilers will eventually disappear. I'm going to be replacing with air source heat pumps, we've just built a new village hall with one in and it does an amazing job with underfloor heating very efficiently, but they work less well when retrofitted, so I'm going to have to budget for upgrading my insulation and either changing out radiators for ones designed to work efficiently with an ASHP or get underfloor heating in.

 

[Captainmouse]

Valais Blacknose! Gorgeous but phenomenally expensive at the moment because there aren't many in the country - they come from Switzerland and the Swiss aren't terribly keen on exporting them.

I got so distracted by them I forgot to find what I was originally looking for

Eek. Asda cancelled my delivery yesterday due to the weather so I'm missing crucial parts of my planned meals; therefore, I put on my jacket and warm woollen mitts to brave the outside worksop and root around in the deep freeze.

The mitts were more for the freezer but it was a trifle chilly out there. I accidentally slammed the door of the workshop on the way out and the lock is frozen solid (shut) - will have to get out there in full sun tomorrow, if necessary with a hairdryer if I can find it after some 14 years of disuse. As it was, I really thought that I wasn't going to get the front door locking though eventually managed it.

No wonder none of the animals except the sole male of the household (cat) were keen on staying out for long today. Brrrrrr.

Gun oil and Vaseline have kept my car locks and doors unfrozen

 

[kachoochoo]

god, you really do learn something every day on this thread. sheep, oil, sewerage...

FWIW, my dad and stepmum are part of some sort of co-operative where they and the neighbours pay in to get the best price on oil and it kinda magically turns up every so often