The lady wanted a basket for her husband and she wanted a basket within a basket with a divider. She also wanted it bigger than my usual baskets.
A quick look back at the year. Lots of highs and lows this year, more than most. But everyone I love is still here, and that's the main thing. As I get older I think how lucky I am with that being the case.
I'm going to do some different sections to normal, as our focus in life changes.
Children & Family
It's been a hell of year. One where we have shown that we can pull together and handle what the world throws at us. It's not been one we would have picked, I think that's fair to say. And not the best way to start my 40th time around the sun.
He has a remarkable concentration for a child of his age, two hours is fine for him, normally his hands give out before his concentration.
He used some of the skills he's practised the last few years. using hsi own V tool to outline the tree and create texture on the bark. A gouge as a stamp to mark out the leaves which there are hundreds of.
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| Injections 4 or more times a day. |
Christmas day it certainly hits a bit harder.
Thanks for the lovely comments on my last post. We had a lovely chilled out Christmas day, and I hope if you're reading this you did as well.
The children enjoyed opening their gifts, our boy loved giving the gift he'd made to his mother (more on that in a later post).
The day was spent with the children playing with their toys, mainly putting their Lego sets together. The youngest got a guitar, he's been having lessons like Middlest.
The children (and wife) finally broke up from school yesterday!
Seems like such a late start to the Christmas break and I really haven't felt Christmassy at all until today having them all back.
We went for "breakfast with Father Christmas" this morning. Where you get a fry up and then get to meet the big man himself. Knowing our children well my wife booked adult breakfasts for them all and there was only a few beans left on the plate when we were all finished.
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I think I may have packed up the last few Christmas orders. Feels like time to step back and breath (once I've built up stock of one or two items again...)
I'm sorry the blog has been so sporadic the last few weeks, it's been really busy (which is good)!
I'm so thankful that people choose to buy from me and support me, either on my blog here, on social media, on YouTube, comments, shares, likes, it all helps. I feel very lucky that people are still willing to put up with me.
Building this little business up so it works around the children has been great and it's especially hit home this year with our eldest and her diagnosis of Type One Diabetes. Being able to drop everything and go get her from school should I need to, or stay up all night with her when levels have gone wrong, has been so essential to everything running smoothly. Making and selling my products in a super flexible way has been great.
Thanks everyone!
Looking back on the year for my speaking engagements it's been brilliant. I have done 24 talks this year (plus one cancelation for snow and one where they double booked me but advertised the other guy) -
25th Jan - Malvern Garden Club - Unusual Fruit and Veg I
8th Feb- Blakeney Garden Club - Preserving the Harvest
16th Feb - Southam (Gloucestershire) - Unusual Fruit And Veg I
8th March - St. Michaels - Tenbury Gardeners - Unusual Fruit And Veg I - Cancelled due to snow
13th March - Bishops Cleeve Gardening Group - Unusual Fruit And Veg I
6th April - Dymock diggers - Preserving The Harvest
10th April - Llanthony - Preserving The Harvest
15th April - Worcester black pear gardening club - Unusual Fruit And Veg I
19th April - Gothering - A Talk About Our Homestead & How We Got Here
20th April - Kington - Preserving The Harvest
1st May - Colwall - Unusual Fruit And Veg I
17th May - Winchcomb - Unusual Fruit And Veg I
31st May - Little Thorne - Unusual Fruit And Veg II
8th June - Alderton - Preserving The Harvest
10th June - Hellen's Garden Festival - Q&A Session
27th June - Hereford Fuchsia Society - Unusual Fruit And Veg I
18th July - Leominster - University of the Third Age - A Talk About Our Homestead & How We Got Here
12th September - Slimbridge - Preserving The Harvest
15th September - Lower wye Valley - Unusual Fruit and Veg
21st September - Newent - Preserving The Harvest
27th September - Severnside cottage gardening society - Unusual Fruit And Veg II
10th October - May Hill garden club - Preserving the Harvest
8th November - Wellington Heath Garden club - Preserving The Harvest
13th Novemeber - Dodford Gardening Club (B61 9DD) - Unusual Fruit and Veg I
14th November - Pudleston Gardening club - A Talk About Our Homestead & How We Got Here
13th December - Bourton Vale Horticultural Society - Preserving The Harvest
Some of these were the first time I'd spoken at a club and some were the second or third visit.
As I'm quite a friendly chap who spends a lot of time on my own in my workshop I really enjoy going out to these clubs to meet people. It certainly strokes my ego when it goes well and I hope it makes an enjoyable evening for any that make the effort to come see me.
I put a lot of effort into my talks and I'm always trying to improve them, altering bits or changing out slides. When I did a talk with Tasmin Westhorpe earlier in the year we had very much the same ethos and she even said a phrase I'd been using word for word - "I treat these talks like stand-up". Now that's not to say we're trying to get a laugh all the time, more that we look at how the talks went and constantly try to improve them, tweaking them each time, learning what works and what doesn't.
I'm very aware that although I think all my facts are super interesting not everyone there will be into what I'm into. My first job is then is to entertain, to be positive, enthusiast, bring my "A" game, then to try to educate or describe whatever subject it is I'm teaching or talking about. I bounce about, I tell funny stories and I talk at 100 miles per hour, but that's 100% who I am anyway (hopefully this comes across in my YouTube videos as well).
I did a talk in Wales earlier in the year and I was speaking to the chairperson (who I have met a few times) and she said that she'd rather someone was 80% good at speaking and 20% the authority on their subject, as that's really what people at these clubs want, to be entertained. Now hopefully I can be better than that on my subject...
I have a few highlights from my talks this year, Hellen's Garden Festival is always amazing and I feel semi well know having spoke there for years now, getting to hang out and have a special lunch with people like Terry Walton and Tasmin Westhorpe.
I also gave a talk at a village somewhere (I can't remember which one now) where they funded the talks on a pay if you come basis and it was more like a social club. I was talking to an old lady afterwards and she told me she hadn't been out of her house for two weeks as has mobility issues, but she was really glad she made the effort! Gave me a warm feeling!
Alderton Garden Club was great fun because the chairman was incredible and did his own gardening advice each month, but told with real wit and knowledge. He really could be on TV and would knock the spots off Monty "boring as plain porridge made with water instead of milk" Don.
I also gave a talk (again can't remember where sorry) where they had to keep getting more and more seats out as they had so many guests turn up, I'd given a different talk a few weeks before at a village not too far away and people had decided to come to this one as well, plus some that had seen it on the internet. I was told afterwards that it was the largest number of non members they'd had turn up to a talk. It was the talk I give about our life and how we got where we are and that night I was on fire for some reason (some nights you just are it seems) and every joke and anecdote landed and I ended up with so many questions at the end.
I'm looking forward to my "speaking season" next year (and 2025). So far I have 19 talks booked in front of me, hopefully I'll get a few more as the year goes on as well. It creates some real memories for me and connects me to people who are interested in the same type of things.
Maybe I'll see you at one next year?
The second part of the build is a bit more fiddly than the first. All the cladding, mesh and doors end up taking far longer than the frame.
I used tanalised shiplap boards for the cladding, but it did add a lot of cost for to the build. And the weld mesh looks great, but there are cheaper options for the wire (rabbit wire would probably be the cheapest).
This summer we could have really done with an extra broody coop. Chicks don't always hatch as plan and sometimes come along completely unexpected.
So last week I was working on some apartments and in the one we had to inspect the loft, in it there was this fireplace.
Now I know it's not to everyone's taste, but I love it. Even with little the electric stove in there.
I put it on social media and loved all the different responses. It's fair to say it's a bit marmite (you either love it or hate it). But with social media things are lost pretty quickly. Having it on here means it's searchable and maybe it'll help someone one day looking for a different style or doing a college report (if you are doing a college report in the future feel free to use this picture).
So what do you think? Not what you expect to find in a 5th floor apartment.
Do you like it?
Or Loath it?
I love doing some carving projects, and I love sharing them almost as much as doing them.
Sometimes people are surprised that I don't make everything individually. But to make any money (and honestly I'm not making much) everything has to be made in batches. I tend to normally stick to batches of 8, 10 or 12 for things like my trays or baskets, but smaller items, like my scoops get made in in bigger quantities.
I know, random title to a blog post. But that's exactly what I've done here.
These seeds are from a squash I harvested this year. It was a self set hybrid, of which I'm not sure of the parents.
My mum has the most amazing garden shed (it should be, we built it for her!), and it's filled with the most amazing items she's collected over the years.
One thing that always catches my eye is this little tote.
I decided that it would be a fun project to make a reproduction one.
This weekend just gone I did a craft fair. It wasn't far away, just a mile or so up the road at a local private school.
Anyone want a sign carving?
It's a quick job but I'm already enjoying my walk to work a lot more!
Watch the video above and let me know what you think. Hopefully it's a really fun one.
Anyone else done a temporary job lately that makes them smile every time they use it?
The first was at a village just outside Bromsgrove, and as I pulled up the village hall I could see all the lights on, even though I was really early. I parked up the truck, got some of my gear and walked up to the hall. I then stood looking through the doorway in shock...
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| Photo credit - Mark Robson |
I decided I should film it as well.
I was reading the other day that YouTube is the second most used search engine. So I decided that as well as my usual videos looking at making things and doing stuff on the homestead, I should also have some videos showing my different ranges of products.
My scoops are a product I'm really proud of. I love building something that I know will last. IT's also nice that I use dad's workshop as well as my own to make them, the joining of skill is really nice.
I put a short video together (in my mum's very pretty garden shed) showing off the three main sizes I make, but I also have a large scoop (which is one I like but might be too big for many) and a dustpan available currently.
Let me know what you think. What would you build out of folded metal and wood?
Something I've been wanting to do for a long long time is to try to see if I could survive just eating what I've grown here in a year.
A question I'm often asked at talks is "just how self-sufficient are you?" And it's one where I probably give a different answer every time. The honest answer is "Not as much as I'd like". Life always gets in the way, running around after the kids, scouts, swimming, having to earn enough money to pay for everything. We do well in some areas though, our fruit is always good for example, but some years are far better than others.
Self sufficiency has been my obsession for as long as I can remember. I often recount the story of my wife and mine first holiday together (at the tender age of just 20) to Cornwall for the week. I took with me John Seymour's Guide Of Self-Sufficiency and read it cover to cover. Twice. I had my own veg garden on the family farm and frequently used to do all sorts of semi mad food quests, tapping trees for wine, or fighting squirrels for walnuts.
It's probably the way my mind works but I have to focus on something for it to work. Then it gets a lot of my energy (there's a fair bit to go round), I do have a habit of spreading myself quite thin. Having goals often helps me.
So I've set myself a couple of semi long term goals, the first is for the aim for the garden next year, which will come in a later post. And the second is to try and have a year living on what I can grow or produce.
I'm not sure whether this starts autumn next year or the year after. It will depend on a few things and how much I can get done towards some of the infrastructure I'd need to have in.
I've had years here where I think I've produced the vast majority of the veg we've eaten, but I've always lacked in the carb department, and protein even when the going has been good. I've always thought I could provide for us should I have to. But it would involve more area under cultivation, strips of grains and other crops on a larger scale, potatoes and beans.
So I'd need to make a few changes and get a few things into motion in the run up. Get some four legged stock back on the smallholding and ramp things back up a bit more to where I had them when I was a full time stay at home dad. Of course there is never enough hours in the day. But if my belly depended on it then maybe it could be a good driving factor.
I'd also need to set myself some rules to work by. And for that I think I need some help from people that read my blog (I want to do a post on this soon). Things like would trades be allowed and to what extent, and where I could harvest food from, would foraging be allowed, what staples would I be allowed in (salt for a start)? I'm already sure I won't be able to produce the animal feed I'd need yet (let alone store it), but buying in animals just to consume should be allowed.
It should make for a fun challenge. My wife has already said that her and the children are not taking part (hard with a diabetic as well to be fair - need to grow lots of hypo treatments), but also I tend to have more time during the day to indulge in this sort of stupidity, especially if I could cut back a little on my actual work (doubt I would though).
So let me know what you think?
Would it be something you'd be interesting in trying? How would you go about planning it?
Do you think it could make for interesting blog posts and videos?
Think I'd tackle it okay?
A friend I spoke to about it said I should just get myself to 20 stone before I start and then I'd be fine...
The Other day I moved the little broody coop we rear chicks in and the floor of the sleeping compartment fell out of it!
Not what I wanted to happen. Especially as it was not long before we were planning to head off for the weekend. And that sleeping compartment keeps a mother hen and her chicks safe from predators at night.
So I stopped what I was doing and set about fixing it. I didn't want to loose any more chicks to predator. This pen is worth investing some time in, like all wooden infrastructure on a smallholding or homestead, it takes a bit of time every year to keep it all running.
This isn't the first time I've repaired this coop in the 15 years or so since I built it. I doubt it'll be the last either! Luckily it was a fairly simple fix and didn't take too long.
I'm trying to make filming things something I do, hopefully this video is interesting to some people. Let me know what you think in the comments.
That bin represents a lot of learning in our little family. We've learnt that having diabetes complicates everything. That getting her levels right one day doesn't mean they're been anywhere near the next. It sometimes feels that the change in the direction of the wind can alter her levels. We learnt not to get hung up on the odd bad day and to look at the bigger picture.
That bin has some moments in there, highs and lows. It has the needles where I begged and pleaded for her to inject herself, it has the first needle where she did it, and where I ran around the house and screamed with joy when she made it happen. That needle represented her taking charge of her diabetes.
It represents all we've learnt about food and how we've all changed our diet slightly as a family to make everything seem normal. How a slightly more diabetic friendly diet has made me feel slightly better without realising anything wasn't right. We learnt that our diet was pretty good before, that our children understand food more than a lot of adults.
It has moments in there that shows how close her siblings are with her, whether that's her younger sister working out her carbs for tea and prepping her needles as she gets something else ready. Or whether it the moment where I was doing the food shop with her younger brother and he put back the breaded ham I'd picked up and replaced it with some that wasn't and just looked at me and said "less carbs". I had to hide a tear from the little man who often seems wise beyond his years and already a better understanding of diabetes than most.
It hides a few tears, both from me and her mum, and maybe from our daughter, but she's always stoic, I've not seen her shed many.
I remember when she was first diagnosed, I read a forum of parents chatting about their children with diabetes. On there one mother said how she cried every single day for her son and the normal life he'd lost, and I just thought No Way am I going to be like that, it wouldn't be fair on her or on us. I was determined as far as we could we'd own this problem as a family, we're always stronger together.
I so proud of the way my daughter has stepped up to this problem and how she's handled it. Starting a new school, adapting, and just getting on with life.
One sharps bin down, many, many, more to go.
So F-you diabetes. You won't get us down.
One that we keep growing is achocha. Now I'm not saying I plant it every year, it's just the plant that keeps coming back!
Our friends have four children and with our three it makes for a fun full house!
In our journey with diabetes we've been looking more and more at our diet.
I think we eat fairly well. We have a well rounded diet that provides all the stuff we need to live active lives.
But since my daughter has been wearing a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) we can certainly see where spikes occur.
One was right after breakfast. It was a "traditional" western breakfast of sugary cereal with some fruit juice (normally apple).
A friend suggest we tried egg on toast. She still needs the carbs but they are slower burning from the (homemade) toast than cereal would be and with the protein from the egg should keep her full until breakfast.
We did a week of it and noticed that although you still get a spike (that's just eating any carbs and the insulin having to catch up) it was way less, often keeping her in target for the whole morning.
It was so good I thought I'd change my breakfast and try it as well. No more 10 O'clock slump!
Then the other two wanted to try it and suddenly we didn't have enough eggs!
So we went and got some POL hens (Point Of Lay) that will hopefully lay all through winter. I was hoping 5 would be enough but the oy is insisting on two eggs every morning....
The video above is a fun little journey out with my boy to buy the hens and getting them set up in their new home. I also talk a little about diabetes on there and about the blood sugar spikes. It's amazing how much it makes me think about what we're all eating. We've made some very easy switches and I'm sure it's benefiting us all.
Squash instead of potato for some evening meals
Brown rice instead of white (way more taste and texture to it)
Wholegrain Pasta (tastes just the same)
Adding some Emmer Flour to our morning loaf (nowhere near a wholemeal loaf but still rises really well and tastes great.
Careful with the mixing of some foods - carbs and fats are a nightmare (pizza is a nightmare that sends her levels into a random plain)
With these little changes I seem to have lost a little weight (Hopefully don't have much to loose, but it's been quite noticeable around my stomach) and felt fuller longer. That said I've also band myself from buying any of the "rubbish" I normally eat. I still have to buy sweet for my daughter but tell her to hide them in her room!
Makes me think that for next year I might plan a "diabetic friendly" garden with the foods we've found to work best for her levels, although everyone is different. Lots of protein and veggies. We were wrongly told that some foods would be "free" and not need insulin, like carrots as a snack, but so far we've found that they make her levels shoot up without the injection.
#### Please remember before commenting that Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes are completely different things. She's not eating her way out of this one, her pancreas just doesn't work like it's supposed to anymore. A completely low carb or carb free diet doesn't work for Type one sufferers, nor would it be good for a young growing body like hers. ####
Hope you enjoy the video!
What food makes you "slump" a few hours later?
I know I keep saying it, but it never fails to amaze me how fast their childhood is slipping by!
It doesn't seem five minutes since I was announcing that the Middlest was born, now all of a sudden she's in double digits.
She certainly wants to be grown up! We often joke she's already a teenager (her temperament is a little too similar to my own), she is the first one to offer to help, does jobs around the house without being asked, works hard when she needs to. She's funny, smart, caring and thoughtful. Honestly everyone who knows her loves her.
The children only need the slightest nudge to do some baking.
Tuesday night was the perfect example of this. I had a urge to eat an apple pie, and not being too short of apples decided to see if one of the children would be up for making me one.
The Middlest leapt at the opportunity and set to work making some pastry.
The Eldest came in then and looked a little disappointed that she hadn't got in on the act, so I suggested she make some bread from scratch.
But last year (and the year before) we had a bit of an issue with the apples stored in the shed. The mice got into them!
So there is a question I get asked at my talks more than any other - Why do I have so many varieties?
I use it! Or try to at least...
A while back I got asked by my woodworking magazine editor if I fancied doing an article on making a different door handle.
I have a weird aversion to making or fitting handles. I'm not sure why, I just don't like them very much. So I saw this as a good challenge.
The term hefting normally refers to sheep. In some highland sheep you can buy them "hefted" where they already know their range and boundaries, taught by the older sheep in the flock. It stops them wondering too far on common land.
The main reason I get called out for saying this is a great think to try is people seem to think it has a tough skin. Each fruit will grow to the size of a grape then it doesn't get any bigger, it just gets tougher! They need to be picked really regularly to be a good edible crop.
We've been growing them (and saving the seed from them) since 2014 and they've very much become a garden staple in our household. The children insist I grow them every year and love when they come into baring. I've also made pickles with them.
A few plants will give you something tasty to snack on while you're working in the garden. They take up very little room as well, just growing happily amongst your other plants. i tend to grow them in the polytunnel or greenhouse, but have had really successful crops outside as well (although they then crop a little later). This year they've been late to come into fruit, but then I did plant them really late.
I put a short little video together to show what I think of these great little fruits. Give it a watch and let me know what you think.
Have you grown cucamelons? Do you think they're worth growing?
Every year our village has an Apple Day. The last time we went was in 2013 just before our Middlest was born! I'm not sure why we haven't gone since, there's always something that gets in the way, our weekends can be a bit manic at times.
It was nice as my brother came over with his two children, they all get on so well it was a lovely day together.
The man had a great story about how his dad used to store food down the well to keep it cool, but how a few times a year, even though it's 500ft above sea level, the Severn Bore would affect the pressure in the well and knock the bucket over!
I have talks about unusual fruit and Veg, about preserving and one about growing fruit for as much of the year as possible. I had a couple more talks booked last week for next year and already have some booked for 2025, it's already looking like quite a good number.
If you're Herefordshire, Worcestershire or Gloucestershire make sure you book me in!
What do you think, would you have me speak at your club?
A friend asked me to build his mum a potting bench. He is a another carpenter like me, but is absolutely snowed under with work at the moment.
I thought it very much fitted with my "brand" and decided with would make a great magazine article. I also decided to film it.
I made this back when the berries were still on the bushes and summer had some promise to it. It was something I really enjoyed making.
The start of the week always seems set up to kill us with how much we have to do. Especially with my eldest who has scouts (Monday night), and helped with Beavers (Monday night) and went to Cubs (Tuesday night) this week! Pretty full on start.
Beavers was great where we got to try a little bit of archery. It's nice to see how the activity centre worker got them to listen, very practised patter that worked great. I always feel I learn a little bit from them.
I decided it was a perfect project to make a new trivet. I loved making one a few years ago and it was the perfect magazine article for Woodcarving Magazine. I spoke to my editor and said about different design, making it in a different way.
My articles make up the first 21 pages of this issue.