Climbing out of the Abyss

So we have been through the most weird and strange global crisis, aka the Covid-19 pandemic.  And those of us lucky enough to still be here and healthy are doing  okay...aren't we?  The truth is that it is after something like this that we start to struggle emotionally.  At the time we are in survival mode.

So...what should we do to recover?  Move house?  Get a dog?  hmmm.  I am thinking get some rest and reduce your cognitive load to allow the brain to recover.  Too much stress eventually leads to anxiety.  And if you are anxious for long enough, it leads to depression.  As does being overtired.

Which means: 

don't try to hard.  

Get to bed when you are tired.

moderate the alcohol and sugar.

Have enough fun.  A daily fun prescription is essential to recovery.

get outside.  Every day.

Move.  it's the only thing that disperses stress hormones.  It doesn't have to be strenuous.

Stay off the computer in leisure time as much as  possible, especially if you are working remotely.

And be patient, gentle and give it time...

  Sounds boring right?  Well it takes our mental health longer to recover than physical health and its really important to be gentle with ourselves and let that recovery happen.  

Ever dreamed of turning your hobby into a business? Read on...

Ever dreamed of turning your hobby into a business?  Read on...

Your money or your life, what is most important?  Well I say both - because money buys freedom.  The trick is to know how much money it takes for you to survive and then to spend no more time earning it than is necessary for day to day survival, savings for emergencies, a decent level of comfort and a few luxuries. And some longer term savings of course, but it's actually keeping the spending in check that will get you there, not how much you earn. 

I know the perceived self help book wisdom is to do the work you love in order to earn a living. However, reality check although I know this is contraversial.  That dream can disappear rapidly when it is pursued at the expense of work/life balance!  Because trying to turn what you love into a business usually means working very long hours to earn enough money.  This can seem okay at the start but after a year or so it becomes well, just more work.  

Your dream of being an artist becomes at least 50% marketing, selling and book keeping if you really need to make a living from it.  Then there is what sells.  Probably producing the same thing over and over - limited edition prints and variations on a popular theme, such as painting the coastline or mountains near where you live cos it sells, fine a few times but 50? 100?  500? coasters, greetings cards... So where is the studio time for producing one-off creative pieces?  There is the same challenge fitting that in as there would be in an actual job...and you are probably earning an awful lot less money.  

 

So go ahead if you don't mind that and if not, keep it as a hobby business for earning a bit extra and enjoy  it.  For your main source of income, get work with the best hourly rate you can, that  you like and that is relatively easy to earn a living from.  That may well be a job but going freelance or  having your own business is an excellent option as your main source of income,  just look carefully at the earning potential, competition and profit margins before  you decide what to do.  Have more than one business if you want to! 

If starting any business but especially a 'dream' hobby     business, think about scale and that sweet spot where your business will produce the best return whilst not taking over your life.  We are both self employed and have three businesses between us.  That sweet spot is in constant motion and a hot topic for discussion in our house!  It works and we are part time with a decent income.  

It has also been very handy in these Covid times not having all our eggs in one basket.  If  you re not too heavily invested in  your business being your 'dream' and markets dry up, you can change what  you do and still have an income.  So you were an artist?  You are already set up as a business and art is not selling in a recession? Start doing something else, such as dog walking, cleaning or helping others with book keeping...Or all of the above.

Charles Long puts it well in  his book 'How to Survive Without a Salary'.  He tells the story of a young man who is a baker and walks to the local town delivering cookies from his rucksac.  He loves it.  Loves the baking, loves the walking to town.  He has a simple lifestyle with few overheads so it works.

 Then someone suggests his product is so good he should expand. So  he gets a Unit to work from and a van to deliver cookies.  Before you know it, he is working twice as hard, spending a lot of time marketing cookies, doing admin, accounting and cash flow, ordering supplies and driving the van - and of course  paying someone to make the cookies and paying the bank for the loan that bought the van.  But does he earn twice as much?  No, because of the overheads.  More worrying, he is now back in the rat race, competing for the same market as other cookie companies and doing all the things he did not want to do.  No time for walking with a rucksac now!

Aim to maximise your hourly rate, doing well-paid work full or part time.  Assess all your work-related expenses to work this out, even if you are in a job rather than having a business.  For example, the car needed to get to work, child care, a cleaner, lunches you buy instead of make when rushed, work clothes, extra treats and holidays to make up for working full time etc.  Often, working full time is not such good value as you thought, especially for the second job in a household.  This is because it often means getting child care, a cleaner, dog walker and not having time to get the best price for groceries and other items.

The less you spend, the less you need to earn.  When we are happy and working part time, we tend to spend less.   And you can squirrel away the cash from that extra wee hobby business whilst working at the day job.  You will enjoy watching it grow and it makes it a very satisfying hobby business.  

 News flash in the UK you can earn £1,000 profit from a hobby business, ebay Airbnb or other sources without having to declare it or pay tax on it.  That's profit, not turnover.  So a hobby business can earn you 20% more if you are a basic rate tax payer.  If you live elsewhere, check if your country does the same.

Dandelion coffee

This is the loveliest, yummiest thing, not a bit like the instant stuff you can get at the health food shop.  All you need is a slightly messy garden with some dandelions in it.  Eat the leaves in salad and make coffee with the roots.  No need to buy special seed from the gardening catalogue, any old dandelions will do.

Leave a few to go to seed and you will have more next year. Dig up the largest plants, or save the roots of any that need to go because they are in the way.

Give them a good scrub then lay out to dry for a couple weeks.  Once they feel hard, pop on a baking tray and bake in a low oven for about ten minutes or until they have gone darker and smell roasted.  This is the secret, its the roasting that makes them taste so good.  Do keep an eye on them because its easy to burn them and they cook fast.

Dandelion roots drying

Let them cool then wizz in the blender.  Wait a while to let the dust settle before opening the lid of the blender.  Then spoon into a jar.

Dandelion coffee ready to use

To use, one scant dessert spoon or to your taste in a wee coffee filter, or cafetiere and add hot water and leave to brew for 3-5 minutes. 

Brewing the coffee

We like to add some of our homemade almond or cashew milk.

Paper napkins

How many paper napkins does it take to eat a piece of cake? Or a cafe/restaurant meal?  As a bit of a cafe addict I have been counting and typically it is around five if you eat in a restaurant.  Here's the thing: its been going up steadily.  So now there is often a glass of water on a saucer, with a napkin under the glass.  One wrapped around the knife and fork.  One put down with the main course. Another under the garlic bread, one under the coffee cup on the saucer, one under the cake and another loose one to go with the cake as well.  

Sometimes all of the above, totalling seven. So if we go out together that's FOURTEEN napkins.  And we really do only need one each.  So I take the surplus home if it cannot be put back.  Often if you hand them back,staff throw them away.  And they go in the tissue box to be used as tissue substitutes.  So we seldom need to buy tissues and I am working hard to tell cafe staff in advance not to bring more napkins.  Its hard to remember. And its hard for them to remember, they bring them anyway then throw them in the bin when I remind them.  The rubbish surges at you and it so hard to refuse, feeling like a lone voice in the throwaway wilderness.  So what I want to know is: who else out there tries to refuse and reuse napkins in coffee shops?  We have just ordered a rigid tissue box to keep them in, we don't use many tissues anyway cloth handkerchiefs prevail chez nous.  

what can you buy for £1/$1?

On the radio yesterday:
A conversation about how someone had won £1 for their baking entry in a local show. Great hilarity about  how to spend such a princely sum.  But it got me thinking and asking the question what can you buy for £1 and how far could I make that money go?   It inspired me to re-focus and look more closely at the food budget.

Another, very good question is what costs nothing at all?  We inevitably begin to think of things that cost nothing or can be bartered, swapped, made, exchanged etc whilst considering how far £1/$1 (or one of whatever is your unit of currency is) can go.  In other words, thinking this way gets us into a resourceful state of mind.  That resourceful state may also lead us away from the shops and back to our own cupboards/closets/garage, to rake through what is already there that could be used, adapted or made into something else.  Shopping in your own cupboards is free and can provide free entertainment too. So the real question is not 'what can I buy?' but 'what do I need?'

  £1 is not of course the same value as $1 or a Euro etc but  it works to think in units of 1, so work with whatever your own unit of currency is.  So off I went to the shops to see.  Was that a mistake?  Possibly, there are many other places to buy or find things that are less obvious, such as batering, swapping, the person down the road who sells eggs or veg from the garden gate, jumble sales, auction sites, buy and sell Facebook groups, local summer fetes, Christmas fairs, car boot sales and so on.  And my £1 would have bought more in many of them.

The trip to the shops resulted in a purchase of two bags of pears (60p) and some lemons.  Total price 90p, so still 10p left to spend.  

Last time it was brocccoli, which with the potatoes growing in the garden made a pot of soup for 60p.  enough for three and the same again for the freezer.  People used to adapt their daily diet to what was available.  What if I did that based on what is best value?

40p for 2 heads of broccoli.   Potatoes from the garden & some stock saved from a chicken.

That thinking just led to the discovery that roasted peppers freeze well and are great with a cooked breakfast.  that lemons sliced up and put in the freezer (5p/4c for 6 lemons) are great in drinks or as a garnish and work just the same when making hummus. So breakfast is potatoes from the garden, hummus instead of eggs, bargain peppers from the freezer and some left over baked beans.  Absolutely, unexpectedly delicious. 

A really cheap, yummy meal with a bit of thought and using what was available

Business, working from home and well, clutter

I notice a tendency to overwork and over commit.  Always to have several irons in the fire and more ideas in the background that I must try one day.  Seems good, huh? Always a plan B for earning a living if things don't work out.  Always the stuff poised ready, should that idea ever come to fruition...

A recent read was Year of No Clutter by Eve Schaub.  She made one insightful comment that has truly stuck.  It is the many possibilities and massive potential in our lives that prevents us from achieving what we want. AND cause a lot of clutter. Apparently people with serious hoarding issues often cite that as their reason for keeping stuff.  So I have been letting go of possibilities.  And their attendant stuff for the last couple of weeks.  It really has freed things up and the possibilities already seem more manageable. 

Having sold several large craft items that were a part of the business, less clutter, more in the bank is the new mantra.  The things that have been re-homed have liberated the cupboards and shelves in my wee studio-office and things have stopped falling off the shelf when I am hunting for stuff needed for a workshop. 

The best thing of all is that it has led to clearer thinking.  Some actual work has been let go too, the parts that were too much work for too little money, or too far from home.

And what has filled the vacuum is a long-held ambition, I have been asked to write online courses for the Low Impact Living Initiative.  One on spinning, one on weaving and one on natural dyeing. The first two will be filmed mid May. And LILI also want to publish my third book, Diary of a Downshifter, which will be the next project after the courses. 

I am picturing the size of the pile of stuff that left our house over the last few months and cannot imagine how it all fitted.  Now I am off to clear out some more, inspired by another great book, A Year of Less by Cait Flanders. Check out her blog too at Caitflanders.com

How to make dandelion coffee

Its February and I just started using the dandelion coffee which is part of last year's bounty.  Two of the most useful and versatile plants in the garden are dandelions and nettles.  More about nettles in March when they start to grow and are one of the very first greens available.  But then so are dandelions.

dandelion roots drying

 You don't need to go planting fancy dandelions from seed companies, any old dandelions will do and there are most likely some in the garden already.  Let them grow where they will, in amongst other plants and vegetables is fine and if they take up a bit too much space, pick some leaves.  The young leaves are great in salads and you can force dandelions by placing a flower pot over the leaves, weighed down with a stone.  Then the leaves will be pale and even more tender.

Cook briefly (steaming works well) as a hot vegetable, or add them raw to a mixed salad.  Or juice them in combination with other greens and some carrots and celery.   Add apples to the juice if you like it sweeter.   You can use the ordinary green leaves in salad too all year, if you don't mind a slightly bitter taste. They add a dimension to salads as do other bitter leaves like land cress, rocket or mizuna greens.   They are really mineral rich and a nutrition boost, especially needed in spring.

We leave the flowers for pollinating insects and they are popular with many species of hover fly as well as nocturnal pollinators and bees.   They can be picked off just before the seeds disperse but allow a few to set seed for next year's crop.  Green Finches love the seed heads anyway. 

Then, when they get old and in the way of the next crop, we dig some up, leaving any that can stay to sprout again.    The roots are laid out to dry for a few days until hard, then roasted in a low oven.  Grind them up and you have dandelion coffee.  Half a dessert  spoon full is enough to brew a cup of coffee, done just like you would with coffee grounds and it is surprisingly tasty.

dandelion coffee - very tasty and not bitter at all

clutter challenge number 4

today's sixty second de-clutter happened because I was planning a felt making workshop.  The boxes of dyes and miscellaneous textile supplies.
The dyes were not too bad really but time had moved on and now I use gallon containers for the dye rather than 1l bottles.  A stock take of the box revealed old paper towels, some empty bottles and other bits and pieces.  Now that the old bottles are gone, there is room for some of the gallon containers in the box and therefore more space in the cupboard...

Flushed with success after only 30 seconds, I spied another box in my textile workshop that continues to bug me.  Miscellaneous.  Having replaced a white plastic bag with a clear one, I can now see at a glance what is inside.  Some bits and bobs have been re-homed or offered for sale and it all now fits in the box.  A total of two minutes and I am off for a cup of tea.

A few days into this and the sixty second de-clutters have achieved more already than a day-long tidy and sort session.  And the total time spent is probably no more than ten minutes.  It is a powerful tool that somehow gets around resistance.  Probably because your brain thinks a minute is painless and not scary...

It's a funny thing, because we have kept on top of clutter and had a 'one in one out' policy for years, but it seems to creep in during the night.  having a home based business doesn't help.  Nor does being too busy to focus on home stuff.  So this year, the focus is changing to more home based time to garden, look after our house and just hang out. 

Clutter crunch day three

So today's wee clutter jobs are... The sewing boxes.  Everything came out onto the floor in the large box first.  Some bits of fluff in the bottom, gone.  Several reels of lurex thread will never be used so will be donated to a craft group.

And despite having a number of old zips, saved from old clothes, none are the right length for the two pairs of trousers that need zips.  There is a great one for a sleeping bag and well worth keeping given the price. 

So two zips are on the shopping list and the sewing project on my 'to do sometime' list.  Those two pairs of trousers are really worth repairing but have not been worn for a couple of years as the zips will not stay up.  I thought I needed more trousers till the sewing box reminded me about those ones that are not wearable.  So a quickie, sixty second de-clutter of sewing box number one has saved money.

There is more space in the box after letting go of some stuff and I now know what is in there.  And I just remembered there is a half finished skirt on top of the filing cabinet, so that is another job worth doing.  Sometimes I have taken clothes to a repair shop for new zips.  It only cost me £8  to get trousers repaired that cost £40 new and I don't

often find good trousers in charity shops for some reason.

Sewing box number two contains mostly reels of thread.  And I got some really cheap ones in a charity shop. But how many reels of pink thread can I use in this lifetime?  Have let go of a couple of them and that wee box now has a lid that shuts easily.  It surprising how much difference a small thing can make.

Clutter in your handbag, rucksack and car

Does it really matter if you have a load of bits and bobs in your bag or car?  To get started, clear it all out of the car or bag and make a pile. Then you can sort through everything.  And you will soon know!  I really didn't think this needed doing, but as it was only a sixty second de-clutter, thought I might as well go through the stuff.  That's the power of the sixty seconds, it unblocks because hey, it will only take a minute...

First, I discovered I had a nifty car booster for a flat battery.  I knew I had the compressor but had forgotten about this wee thing, which means you can jump start without another car to help and without lifting the bonnet. Oh, and the spare coat and wellies I keep in there for winter emergencies were in the house and I had forgotten to put them back in the car!

So a quick tidy of the car, which took two sixty second de-clutters in total (one for the boot and one for the car interior) and I was all set for the winter weather.  I added some more screen wash in a bottle and a blanket too.  And now I also know the spare tyre is inflated correctly and have even added a few snack bars for emergencies.  Amazing what organising the car does for your bad weather driving confidence.

So inspired, I moved on to the handbag, or wee rucksack in my case.    First thing was the mini torch I keep in there, which had a flat battery, so I put that right. And how exactly had so many bits and bobs accumulated,  left over from previous trips?  Three tubes of mints when one will do, a phone charger that I had been hunting for, which had somehow tucked itself into a corner, umpteen paper serviettes saved in restaurants.  These have now been added to the tissue box.  A pair of gloves too many. And there was the tiny pen knife that should have been in the bike bag, I had been looking for it everywhere.

  Another sixty seconds was all it took to sort those things.  Potential future hassles have been avoided and life actually feels better.  Partly because I am feeling rather smug I suspect!  So yes, it is well worth sorting out your bag and car and takes all of three minutes.

You will notice too, that a couple of lost things that turned up during this process.  De-cluttering the car and bag sooner would have saved all that hunting time.  The more you keep on top of clutter, the less time is spent looking for stuff.

The Sixty Second De-clutter

Its terrible isn't it, this de-cluttering thing?  I once had a book by Peter Menzel called 'Material World: A Global Family Portrait'.   It is a wonderful book, which does in photographs what thousands of words could not.  It is about the stuff that people in different parts of the world posess.  He got them to move all their stuff outside and he photographed it.  Simple.  The American familly's stuff went around two blocks.  And there was a family in (I think) Guatamala who had two cooking pots, two pairs of wellington boots and the clothes they stood up in.  That was it.  When the word 'de-clutter' comes into my mind, simultaneously so do the images of those two photographs. 

Why do we accumulate unnecessary stuff?  It gives us a (mainly false) sense of security maybe?  Insurance against the future?  Makes us feel accomplished and well off?  We all do it, and you can guarantee that the Guatamalan family would not be saying 'hey, we don't want any more stuff'  if they had the chance to get some... 

The sixty second de-clutter came from a blog called the Daily Om, which appeared in my Facebook feed.  Most of what it talks about is a bit airy fairy for me to be honest, but this was great.  It gets under all those barriers that prevent us from letting things go.  Just de-clutter or put things away for sixty seconds and you are done.  Even if you clear one tiny thing, such as a pen off your table and put it away. 

I really like adding the idea of simply putting things away to the concept of de-cluttering.  So many of us struggle with that.  If we are overwhelmed with stuff, it is easy to start thinking it will be easier to find things if they are left out and anyway, the cupboards and drawers are full of who-knows-what. 

I found I was accomplishing a staggering amount in sixty seconds and enjoying it immensely.   Do as many sixty second slots as you feel like.   I go into my office to start work and do sixty seconds before getting down to business.  Then later on, make a cup of tea and do another sixty seconds.  It is easy to think what to do and resistance disappears. 

A lot of the post-Christmas has been paperwork, which can really accumulate due to having a business.  For me, it is not a solution to keep everything in the computer, although we definitely have less paper than in the past.  People who try to keep everything paperless often can't find things and get in a terrible muddle when their battery goes flat or they are in a meeting.  And you need a good computer filing system and to clear out the computer files just like you do the paper ones. 

The sixty second de-clutter has led to other things, such as painting the spare bedroom and selling books that I no longer needed on Amazon. The goal is to sell enough surplus stuff to pay for a forthcoming yoga course.
More about clutter soon.

its all about balance

I have the career of my dreams as a textile artist.   Therein lies a trap, however.  Work is work, however much you love it and we all need balance.  I also thrive when I am doing more than one thing.  Preferably lots of bits.  So this week it is back to basics.

A simple low cost cycling holiday, this is how I think and write...

that means keeping simplicity principles and  values at the core of what we do.    Your principles and values may be different.  The important thing is that you know what they are and can use them as a guiding light. 

Our values are: 
Mental and physical health first
People- those we care about who also care about us
Start by building community in our own locality
By doing the above we inevitably end up being healthier, saving the planet and saving money
spend less that we earn
No debt ever again

So exactly how does building community make us healthier, save the planet and save money?

It works like this:
When you are involved in your local community there are consequences for things.  Offend someone, and the next time you want a plumber, it turns out the person offended is their second cousin once removed.  So no plumber for you.  In other words, being involved makes us behave better.

When you shop locally, you get to know people, chat, see posters and get to learn what is going on in the community.  Then you can go to local things because you know they exist.  Contrast that with someone who drives to work in another town.  They will typically shop at a supermarket on the way home so may never go in a local shop and don't tend to know about local activites.  They get less exercise than the person who gets the bus to work.

The person who works in another town but gets the bus  on the other hand, meets others on the bus.  They will buy groceries on the way home after they get off the bus and meet yet more people.  And have got exercise walking to and from the bus stop.

For us, the expense of running a car averages out at £300 a month, including replacement of the car every few years, So Health, the environment and finances all benefit by the one action, getting the bus. Cycling to work or working locally have similar benefits and there is always more than one way to achieve a given outcome. 

Janet returning from her ten week cycling project, 'Knit 1 Bike 1'

So now you may be thinking 'I can't get a bus to work'.  It doesn't matter, the same logic can be applied to many different things.  And the 'green triangle' as it is called, seems to work regardless.

For example, when we originally decided to spend less on food many years ago, we cut down on eating out, ate less meat and ate more pulses and vegetables.  Our health benefitted and so did the Planet.  We ended up with a better diet, travelled less by car and there was less packaging on the food we bought.   We were healthier, saved money and reduced our environmental impact.  Then we decided to grow more vegetables and the benefits multiplied!

So back to work.  I simply like doing more than one thing.  A couple of years ago, I cycled round Scotland.  Since I was a textile artist, I decided to do workshops on the way, in exchange for a bed for the night or a hot meal.  Apart from meeting some wonderful people, I camped for the first time in years, spent 10 weeks travelling alone and wrote a book about it.  It also led to an exhibition.  See more about Knit 1 Bike 1 here.

The whole thing was transformative and I came home really fit.  Two years later I am still fit and the garden has benefitted from my extra fitness too.  So now we are growing even more vegetables and have wwoofers come to stay with us.  That is volunteers who help with the garden and textiles. There have been positive benefits socially, health-wise and for the environment yet again.  

Shopping in your own cupboards/closets

Many of us in more affluent countries speak of de-cluttering and having too much stuff. The trick of course is to not buy it in the first place and put the money in a savings account instead.

That is how you build up an emergency fund (3-12 months living expenses) then have a fund for luxuries and extras and finally a 'retire early' fund.

We have decided to trim our spending again. It crept up when we had a larger income, as it does. That is the main reason it is how much you spend/don't spend that will get you ahead of the game, not how much you earn. Once you earn £15,000 per person that is. Below that more income does tend to make a difference.

I decided that I would rather do something I loved and earn less.  So now I teach spinning and weaving and write books.  I have let go of my other income stream.

I looked at a recent book written by someone who spent on nothing but essentials for a year. She still paid her basic essentials which came to £1800.00 a month. That is more than we live on anyway - and I suspect more than a lot of you do too.

So I have been shopping in the cupboards.  In other words, when I think I need to buy something I consider what we have that might do.

Our duvet was too small.  I was going to buy another but remembered there was an old smaller one insulating the hot water tank. So I cut a strip off and sewed it to ours.

I needed a watch but then hubby remembered he had an old one and now it is mine.

I have been using up food that has been in the cupboard for a while. The dried fava bean soup is utterly delicious and i am going to make hummus from them too.

I had been buying frozen berries to put on porridge.  The home grown ones ran out months ago. Then I remembered all that rhubarb in the freezer and am eating that instead.

We will have different snacks instead of crisps etc.  Rhubarb and custard. Fried potatoes or home made oven chips.  Crackers and cheese.  Soup. All far more nutritious of course...

 The goal is to spend no more than £10 a week on groceries.  We can feed ourselves very well on very little money and have lots in the cupboards.   Below is the fava bean soup.

Leftover tub pasties

We are focusing on the food bill and on all bills really. The concept I love this month is shopping in your own cupboards.  Leftover tub pasties are always a favourite meal and work as follows:
If there are little bits of savoury food leftover, instead of putting them in the fridge to go off, you keep a tub in the freezer and put them in there. This is not food off people's plates but that left in the pot.

Once the freezer tub is full, make a batch of shortcrust pastry. Or buy frozen pastry if you prefer, or if the hassle of making pastry is going to mean it never happens.  It is still a very cheap meal.

Empty the tub into a bowl and add seasoning. We add curry powder, herbs and/or tamari.

Roll out the pastry and cut into oblongs.  Put a spoonful of mixture in each one. Add a couple of slices of onion and/or some cheese to each one if you want. Dampen edges of pastry, fold over and press them down.  Bake in the oven on baking trays for about 15 minutes until golden.

The miracle is, whatever you put in them, it always seems to work.

Home made pastry freezes well too so why not make an extra large batch for next time?

Voila - several almost free meals.
And the pasties freeze well.

Contents of the leftover tub

adding a small amount of cheese and onion

Ready for the oven

the finished pasties

all change - libraries updated and Radio 4 Extra

Our local library was a great resource, particularly for talking books, which I use in the car and whilst knitting.  However despite being well used, it was shut down by the Council as a cost saving  measure.  Do they realise what a huge hole something like that leaves in village life?!

Online library books
However, many libraries now have a free on line resource.  They use different packages to provide this, but a common one is Overdrive.  My own local authority does not have an online resource as yet but the Cargegie library of a neighbouring authority does.  I was able to join their main library years ago becuase I worked in the area.  Most main libraries in the UK will let you do that and it allows me to access their overdrive resource.  You often cannot join a branch library in this way, but there is no need, because once you have a main library ticket, it works for all the libraries in that local authority area.

Older syle Kindles will not work with Overdrive but the website pointed me to a free Overdrive app, This allows me to access both audio and e books on my phone and it could not be easier.   There are thousands of books.  So I sit the phone beside me in the car and can hear it pretty well except in windy weather.  Putting inside  a hard plastic box of some kind really boosts the volume, so I am on the lookout for a suitable receptacle.    If you want to access the books on your phone, get the app on your phone, although there is also one for laptops.

For actual books, you can look up the catalogue for most local authorities online, and get books sent from another library to yours.  Then just return them to your own library.   So here is what I do:
1. Identify a series of books I want to read.
2. visit Fantastic Fiction and check what order to read the books in.  This is an amazing resource.
3. Write a list and put it in my 'reading' folder.
4. find out which ones the online library has
5. find out which ones all the other libraries in the area have and add all this info to the reading list ready to order them in turn.
6. check on Amazon for any that remain and order those at the cheapest price possible.  this is often not a Knidle copy, but a second hand paper back.  actual books also have the advantage that we can both read them more easily.
7. Start reading!

It takes a bit or organising to get started but all the organising takes less time than one on line or physical shopping trip.  About one to one and a half hours.  I got a bit stuck with the Overdrive account to start with but phoned the main library.  They re-activated my library card as I had not used the one there for some time and gave me the default passcode start me off and to access the site.  Then it was easy.

Other libraries
I am a sucker for buying books on holiday.  We had a timeshare in Aviemore for some time and I joined the library there.  I merely had to show the documents proving we had a temporary address there.  It saved me about £30 per holiday in book buying.  Now I can access Overdrive from anywhere so it is far less of an issue.

And if you can't sleep, you can get a book right then.  When I was away on a ten week bike trip and had a rough night in the tent, I was able to download a library book and read it in the dark on my phone. 
 
Many out of copyright books are available free online and the one below is a particularly good list. 
https://archive.org/details/west_virginia_university

Radio 4 Extra
this is an Internet radio station so can be accessed from anywhere.   There are lots of archived items such as plays, detective programmes, books read outloud and other things.  You can also access it live via digital radio. 

Here's what we are eating

There is kale, parsley and garlic in the garden and some winter salad leaves and spinach in the polytunnel. Lee's new Facebook group, Practical Simple Living is helping us to re-focus.  It was easy to stay focused whilst paying off the mortgage but has been way harder since then. Tomorrow we will review our bills and see what we can save. This is always worth doing, especially if you have not done it for a while.

And we will re-focus on the food bill, too. That means I need to actually pick the garlic, salad, spinach and kale for starters.  Tonight it is quorn meatballs and spaghetti on the menu and Lee made potato soup with the wonderful box of veggies a friend gave us at New Year.  Total money spent zero and we will give them a 'swap' of something

Yesterday we ate trout caught by a neighbour with the potatoes and carrots from said veg box. So that was  another frugal and tasty meal as the only financial cost was the broccoli (48p/50c).

life moves on...

So Knit 1 Bike 1 is a success! The book has been published (get your copy at www.createwithfibre.co.uk ) the exhibition opens 14th oct 2016  at the borders textile tower house in hawick, Scottish borders. Being away for ten weeks alone and by cycle changed so much and things have been changing ever since.

We have been de-cluttering and i realised how important it is that i grow food. So this summer we grew lots of it and had many WWOOFers (volunteers with worldwide opportunites on organic farms). Not that we have a farm, but seriously growing veg in a suburban, vertically challenged garden qualified us as wwoof hosts.

 I am focusing on what is important. It can be hard to figure out what that is and has taken a year to re-focus and figure it out.  Change is hard.  Turns out i want to live on a lot less again and to work part time so that i can get out on the bike more. We did that when getting out of debt but our motivation was less thereafter.  Now it is more again and it feels good.

So here is our progress to date:

• Hubby has sold a lot of tools etc from the garage. Loads more space
• We have had gardening volunteers and grown lots of food.
• We have sold the caravan and a vehicle and vehicle a campervan
• My tiny studio space now has amazing shelving and space to actually work in
• I have been steadily assessing my clothes and have even less than before
• I bought some additional,  very lightweight camping gear including a stove 
• Create With Fibre has grown and i have help with admin etc
• Our daughter is assistant weaver
• Hubby re-designed the website and has helped with the business too
• we decided to stay put after years of wondering whether to move house
• This has led us to become more engaged with the area where we live
• And the ongoing project is to simplify still further

And here's the big news - 

We have decided to offer simplicity and downsizing mentoring and to have people stay at our home for workshops and retreats. They will be bespoke and we hope it will often be just a couple of people coming to see what we do. So if that is you and you want some help to re-design your life, get out debt, and look at work- life balance, get in touch mail@createwithfibre.co.uk 

gardening and foraging

We have a shiny new gardeners n foragers group. Right here in our village and folks ha e travelled from elsewhwere. So i got to go on my first coastal forage in the dead of winter. It was so cold i ended up wearing two coats. And who knew all coastal seaweed was edible? Pick it with scissors to leave the 'roots' and pick a little of each not all of it of course.  And sea buckthorn has squishy orange berries full of vitamin C.  Scoop them off the branches n they implode. Suck up resultant yummy mess.  So at home i soaked the seaweed and cooked some of it briefly. Some was left raw. All was then dehydrated.  I made seaweed powder and also left some whole. Great in stews etc. And the sandhoppers ard edible too...

Knit 1 Bike 1 update

I set off on the Knit 1 Bike 1 project on 29th June 2015. The recent Kickstarter campaign was not successful but I want to make sure everyone knows that this project will go ahead regardless. I am looking at other funding options meanwhile and here is a Paypal button if anyone would like to support the project. I would be most grateful.

Knit 1 Bike 1 options

Option 1 £5.00 GBP Option 2 £10.00 GBP Option 3 £20.00 GBP Option 4 £25.00 GBP Option 5 £27.00 GBP Option 6 £37.00 GBP Option 7 £50.00 GBP Option 8 £53.00 GBP Option 9 £78.00 GBP Option 10 £100.00 GBP

A new adventure - Knit 1 Bike 1

As some of you will know, I am setting off to cycle round Scotland on 29th June this year.  I will be knitting and crocheting what I see on the way and the whole thing will result not only in a book but an exhibition of the work I produce.

On the way, I will be meeting lots of people and delivering wee talks about the trip and FREE mini workshops on knitting and crochet.  I hope to include details of other textile artists around Scotland in the book. 

The itinerary is coming along nicely and can be seen on my Create With Fibre blog.  Do follow my progress on the Create With Fibre blog if you can...
I have started a Kickstarter funding campaign and have a month to raise the funds to enable me to write the book and carry out the necessary work for the project.  Here's hoping!  Meanwhile here are a few photos. 

My 12 year old Brompton folding bicycle - i am cycling round Scotland on it.  Brompton have re-furbished it and it will go on a bus if i get stuck.

Me on the bike, taking a break to do some knitting.