Peppermint oil for pest control

 Been having a running battle last few dry weeks here with ants invading the house. Honestly I think the house must be completely undermined by the mini tunnelling activities. I then read about peppermint oil on cotton wool balls distracting mice from eating your pea seeds. Looking it up it also said it worked on insects too.  Here's just one article -  https://www.biome.com.au/blog/natural-pest-control-peppermint-oil/

I could not get neat oil from my supermarket (not been out shopping anywhere YET) so got some extract/essence in the next delivery. Wacked a strong dose with some water in a sprayer and set about misting all round the outside, around our external oil boiler (which they love to nest in),  inside the conservatory and back hallway. Seems to be working!!!!   Not sure about the potential smell if I have to come into living spaces but its not so bad.  

Need to get some peas in soon so will try out the cotton wool balls when I plant those.  Definitely going to buy some mint plants on next garden centre foray. Strangely the old mint that used to invade one of the flower beds seems to have disappeared during recent hedge renovation. Both, usually cant get rid of it!  Sounds like it is easy to make your own oil by emersion of leaves in veg oil. 

Cheaper and better than the powdery spray things we have had knocking about in the shed!

Village litter

 I live in a very rural village in Norfolk (just off The Wash) which is 90% middle to upper class yet we have a dreadful problem with litter. In fact if the evidence of litter tells you anything we have a dreadful problem with alcoholics as 50% of the litter is gin, vodka, beer or energy drinks. And most of that seems to be tossed out of cars!!  There are quite a few bins around but litter is everywhere right out to the rural roads where the next habitation is a mile or two further on. Worst thing to see is how it gets ploughed into the fields and mixed with all those food crops! 

Last weekend some of the young parents of the village organised a litter pick (within Covid restrictions) off their own bat on the village Facebook. It was extremely successful with 200 black bags collected. Local businesses chipped in a skip and bags/gloves. Absolutely nothing was organised by the Parish or Borough council. As I am on the Parish council I was a bit ashamed but did my bit as a private citizen and expressed private support to the organiser. Not allowed to be public on this social media stuff apparently (and one day I probably will get sacked as a Councillor)!!!

Small Treasures blog posted this image of an anti litter campaign " 'up North".

I love it. Suggested to the other Councillors we get some! But probably not "suitable" language round here!! 

I have put a poster on my non-recycling bin supporting the Tidy Village campaign and openly invited anyone to drop a black bag of litter picked in it if there is room. We never fill our bin up completely anyway and our 2 widower neighbours can go months without even bothering to put out their bins they have so little in them. We have plenty of capacity for litter and we have paid for collection anyway!

Shame that even after last weekend's efforts I have within half a mile of my house picked up 3 carrier bags full of rubbish in the last 3 days. Ah well, at least litter picking on the way back from the post box (the one marked NHS priority right out at the end of the farm lane) where I was dropping in the Bowel Cancer tests allowed me to say a sentence I never expected to my husband on return:

 "I've been posting poo and picking up crap!".

Mask washing?

 Hi

Saw a bit on day time TV the other day about mask washing. They did a bit of practical/people science research about putting mask in a bag after use, wash frequently etc but then came out with something new. The new bit lasted all of 15 seconds and I have not been able to find any follow up to the point made by the on screen "expert". I wish in all this Pan-dy talk of statistics, strategies and rules that they would spend a bit more time on details!!  

Anyway, the point was in washing you need to use NON BIO washing powder. It has an ingredient that breaks down the fatty element of the Covid micro. BIOLOGICAL powder does not do that apparently. Two reactions.

What was the ingredient?

What am I using?

Had a look on the shelf above the washing machine and I seem to be a NON BIO user. Vaguely remember giving up Bio as it was too harsh at one stage? Years ago. Usually I go on price!

Had a look on internet and can find nothing to back up that comment/claim. In fact a couple I read almost says the opposite!

https://www.biggreensmile.com/article/bio-versus-non-bio-laundry-detergent-whats-the-difference.aspx

https://cleanandtidyliving.com/difference-between-bio-non-bio/

Did I mis-hear the broadcast? (on that new BBC morning programme - only saw it as indoors decorating!)  Anyone heard anything?

Gloves

I have been thinking about gloves. I hate the thin disposable ones (shudder, too many genealogical exam thoughts!) and by the time I am half way round the local small supermarket my hands are all sweaty. Then you have got to peel them off and dispose of them properly. Far too many plastic gloves being seen littering the UK.

 But am I ready for  bare hands when out and about? (If I ever leave the house). Then using that gel stuff that is making hands all dry and painful till you get home for another lot of hand washing.

Back in the 1950s my (daft) mother thought it was really posh, and necessary, for us to wear gloves when going out on a Sunday outing. (You can imagine my rebellious 1960s years!) But before running her down was she right?

We were elegant and protected.  Well a bit. Like face coverings in cotton its not going to stop the deadly virus completely. Would still need to wash them after each use and your hands all the time but you may feel better.


Thinking about it there are still patterns out there to make thin cotton gloves and these days we have nice light stretchy fabric. I could reuse all those baby gros and things my grandchildren have given me for recycling.


You can even still buy pairs of 1940/50s gloves on various sites like Etsy.  These were £17!


Hang on. I think there is a pair of my mothers posh cotton gloves around somewhere with her pearls (fake). To the attic!!!!

Helping my village?

I had three starter packs from my Organic Gardening training which contained big packets of organic pea seeds. As all volunteering directly to people is out of the question I left this message on our village Facebook page:

" have been working with www.gardenroganic.org.uk as a volunteer to encourage more people to begin grow their own food. As our volunteering spring activities have been cancelled I have 3 unused introductory packs which include a packet of pea seeds and I don't want to see then go to waste. I will put them out at the end of our drive in T**** Road in carrier bags if anyone would like to pick them up on Saturday morning after 10 am. The packs says you could get a crop in 9 weeks so kids could get some results before getting back to school. For parents - I will pop a few sticks of freshly picked rhubarb as we have far too much to eat ourselves."

They soon disappeared. Though afterwards thinking about the loo roll crises I did wonder if the free Rhubarb could have been a mistake!



We've got lots more to come - I will continue to give this away freely. 

Put some in freezer for next year for us but as we are still wading through last years frozen fruit I don't want to overdo it!  However I have just found out how to roast rhubarb and now I have lots of ideas for different dishes using that. Its lovely. Do try it. Just put in a dish with golden sugar or honey, cover, bake for 15 mins. it is not as sloppy as stewed and fits in better with making desserts. Went great with a cheesecake made from a packet which is usually too sweet and cloying.

Have you got some garden goodies to share locally?

Consequences of slow down in the world?

I wonder what the consequences of change in behaviour will be after Coro is over?

1. Pollution. So Climate Extremists are a bit quiet this week? They wanted people to stop flying here and there and now they got their wish!!! I am sure they did not mean for it to happen this way. But I would like to see some figures about drops in pollution level. Last week there was an article and map in weekend papers showing Carbon Dioxide emissions over China from space before and after the shut down.  Yesterday I saw a similar thing for northern Italy. It was remarkable.

2. Appreciation for our homes and "I could mend that attitude" rather than "I will go and shop for a new one"?

3. Grow your own food more?  If you are home for up to 12 weeks they are a lot of crops to be had in a little space.

4. End of globalisation/commerce thinking - "hang on I don't need to transport it half way round the world I can get that man down the road to make that" ....

5. Schooling - is home schooling or on line better than dragging people together 5 days a week and causing all that daily traffic chaos - how about 50/50 with more diverse group activities during a school session?

6. Adults learning new skills from on line resources and by asking their elders on line! Two of our sons are discussing sour dough bread making on Whats App with me. Taught bread making when younger but city slickers now forced to re learn.

There are lots of other bonus changes I can rattle on about - I am sure you are having same debates. Any changes you would like to see long term?



We are starting a mental list called "losers and winners" too.
 It started this morning when the daily lorry went buy to pick up its supermarket ready packed daffodils from the factory farm up the road. I was unsure if only one went by or the usual 2 or even 3 a day especially  coming up to Mothers Day.
"Would people be buying daffs when they are panic buying everything considered essential" I wondered. "Would it be another trade to hit the skids? Especially if this weekend they can't take flowers to their Mums. Would florists delivering be cancelled?"

My husband thought flowers and florists will be in the winners column. Eventually. Funerals. Cheerful 73 year old strikes again.

Organic?

I went to the induction day to become a volunteer Master Gardener on Saturday.

I will talk more about the role of encouraging people to grow more food themselves and the organisation in the future  but as I had to take two buses to get there I had plenty of time to contemplate what to say if asked "Was I organic?".

I certainly don't pay out deliberately for things labelled organic - for the garden or in our food consumption.
If it meant rescuing a plant from devastation I may well reach for some sort of spray but would check its harmful side effects first. I might even give up on those grounds (but more likely not bother if it was an expense!).
I compost and recycle.
I keep plastic use to a minimum and keep it off our land.
Look after and try and improve growing area soil.

OK. As I neared the door I felt quite confident.

Turned out they were lovely people and their definition was

"A practical way of producing food that makes best use of resources and works with the environment".

Came away thinking, yes I can do this! Which was a boost as retiring can knock your self confidence a bit.

So I may include a bit more about gardening in this blog and include news of things a Master Gardener may do.  I would encourage any keen gardener to join in!  www.gardenorganic.org.uk  (formerly Henry Doubleday research).

Stuff buyers and railways rant.

So addicted shoppers who have to just buy "stuff" because its "stuff" what are you going to do when you realise China is virtually closed down and not making any more stuff for a while to be transported in big ships round the globe to feed your addiction?

As an anti "stuff" buying persona I can only gloat ( a lot)!!!!!! And hope the stuff addicted don't start coming to charity shops!

Meanwhile feeling extremely sorry for anyone who has had flu anywhere. I have been a fortnight getting over mine and I thank that orange coloured airline for making it ten times worse delaying my plane mid January by a total of over 3 hours cause 1) the pilot forgot to turn up for work and 2) on way back they could not find a screwdriver to mend the luggage door.  Never again. Sticking to trains. 

O, hang on trains are not doing that well either are they?  There is a fantastic input on one of the Whitewick's YouTube videos by a railway engineer about the HS2, who points out that by having an express route it eases the congestion on local lines allowing more capacity locally. His example was improving Aberstywth to Birmingham journey - having done that several times in the past I can see the logic of HS2!!!  Whitewicks usually trace old railways but that input was one of the best explanations I have ever seen and I will probably never see it on mainstream media will I?

I am spending far too long in front of the TV as we wait for February weather to improve. I must find something gardening related to watch.  Oh hang on, the BBC don't do current gardening programmes till after March??? 

Sorry for rant. Bored.

Council Tax value for money?

The season of Council Tax bills will be upon us Uk residents soon. That is when we pay for local services. As I am on the Parish Council I get to see up close now how that money is spent and accounted for. So I started to think about the other tiers that get my money (we have 3 layers here - parish/local; borough/nearest town; County/overall services but based 40 miles away).

Over 6 years I have paid the Borough council £468. What have they done for me?

Emptied my wheelie bin 300 times. 

That is £1.56 each time whether it is non recycling or recycling (and remember in theory they could collect money from stuff that is recycled not that I would know).

I have not used any of the other local services that are free except I have walked in 2 parks about 5 times in 6 years. Can't find anything on their web site that I would have need of except I have used council car parks in town and paid about 10 times in 6 years.

So this week I had no hesitation in making a DEMAND. They have an on line presence where you can ask for stuff to be done.  I asked "Can you please clean the streets in my village?"

This was my second time of asking in the last month and this time I sent 10 photos of the mess in out gutters from health centre, past schools and to the shops. Even grass growing in places! Drainage compromised and as a cyclist I get forces to ride through the mess when cars swing too close.

They came and did it yesterday!!!

Some inventive re or up cycling

I am always on the look out for re cycling or up cycling where ever we go. So on holiday in Funcal (Maderia) last week I spotted 3 interesting "art" ideas.

Firstly the giant fish made of collected rubbish. It was well done and the nature of the materials really fitted the shape and colours needed in the sculpture. The eye for example was a yellow building site safety hat. What was strange was seeing it along side one of the 13 cruise ships in and out of the harbour that week. This was a "small" one. Monstrous things. Having been brought up around Southampton in the good old days when ships looked like ships (original QE and QM for example) I find these blocks of flats afloat an affront. One cruise ship was plastered with its green credentials as it was run on natural gas! 

Along one of the narrow roads (read alleyway in UK terms) there was blank wall hung with giant bunting. What a good idea! Fabric bunting would have been too small, faded quickly in the sun and not had the same effect. These were odd bits of ply board painted and hung along a painted line.  We have a blank wooden fence which is worse for wear and I am thinking it would cheer our summer view up a lot to do this!

Outside an art gallery some painted tins had been wired up to take plants. They were nice big tins (saw them in supermarket for peaches) They looked great. Or was it the fact the wall was brightly painted too?

Full of flu since returning(thanks to delayed flight with terrible air quality/cross country crowded trains) and despite some nice sunshine outside my outlook is grey, grey, grey....

Village litter pick

Just got back from volunteering for 2 hours of litter picking round the main area of our east Anglian village. Started cold but wind eased and sun came out.

So the population is 4500 approximately. We had 11 volunteers and 3 of us were parish councillors. Only 3 children, so we concluded the Climate Emergency wave had not yet reached here. There were more people stopping us to say we were doing a good job as they walked their dogs or drove their mobility scooters to the shops. All the women with me of a certain age, all refrained from saying if you did a bit on your way it would be a help, mate.

Conclusion? 



From all the pop cans and sweetie wrappers and the empty vodka bottles and cider cans we picked up at the next "What does this village need?" survey I expect it to say - we need a dentist and alcohol rehab! 

I wonder how many villages know that this village was once famous for having "a Methodist home for inebriated women" where the magistrates of London used to send the habitual drunk women off the streets?  Tradition at its best?