sime42

Cheers mate. I was trying to do it without the space but it just keep hanging without completing so I gave up in the end.

The little ones with the pointy tops.

Hello @Madmax. Could you satisfy our curiosity please by confirming what you are?

Reminds me of a story I heard years ago about some guy applying handfuls of nettles to his member, to make it bigger I think. The mind boggles. An urban myth probably, hopefully.

Good to see the knife being used. Chimes with my thinking on introducing them, and other tools, as early as possible. (within reason obvs - no chainsaws until double figures!) Is that one of those Opinels with the rounded tip? My four year old lad keeps on about wanting an axe for Christmas, I'll hold off for a couple years though and give him a knife first.

Puff balls are a real treat, you certainly get a lot for your money! Eryngium is a new one on me. This is American but looks like it might be useful;- Eryngo, Tough Sweetie - Eat The Weeds and other things, too WWW.EATTHEWEEDS.COM Array I forget to mention Ground Elder, makes good soup. Apparently introduced into Britain as a food stuff, by the Romans.

Agreed. Good spot. What is it then in that case, a social media bot or a chatbot? (A very brief bit of research has just revealed these - another school day!)

I don't feel guilty about using our wood burner, there's far worse offenders around. All the middle class(?) drivers of the completely unnecessary SUVs parked up idling outside schools on the other hand .........

Not on topic I know, but ......

Have you seen Pignuts, or know where they grow? Apparently they're quite challenging to forage. Hard to spot in the first instance and then tricky to harvest as the eating bit, the nut, is underground and only attached to the leaf by a thread, so easily lost when you try to dig it up. That's what I read in a Ray Mears book anyway. We've tried but failed to find them before. I'd recommend more plentiful wild foods such as stinging nettles or wild garlic, or if on the coast samphire, sea spinach or seaweed. I'm curious to try JKW though.

Evening, come on in. A warm fire and a tasty pints awaits!

It could be a bit of a fire risk as well. Eucalyptus trees burn like stink once they start. They might be regretting planting so much of it in Portugal right now.

It was more of a rhetorical question but this is thought provoking, thanks. Maybe it's time for a rethink of how we run our economy, to move away from investment in property and services, back to manufacturing. Said in a somewhat tongue in cheek manner obviously, as it'd be a huge cultural shift, but with everything else going on in this time of social and economic turmoil we might as well give it a go. Wages are rising in China, and in the East generally so it should be getting easier to bring manufacturing back to the UK. Whilst we're at it why not initiate higher pay for skilled engineers and other manual trades, and at the same time lower pay for bankers, lawyers, management consultants etc? A couple of incidental thoughts; A lot of manufacturing is done by robots and other automation now, that's only going to increase. I've no experience of either but I imagine that working in a factory can't be much worse than working in an Amazon distribution center, or suchlike. Also, working in a lot of the service industry, such as high street retail must be pretty soul destroying. Personally I'd hate to spend all day in a shopping centre;- artificial lighting, noise, air conditioning, no constructive output, that'd be zero job satisfaction for me. At least you see the fruits of your labours in a factory.

Never underestimate the power of NIMBY! The nemesis of many a sensible idea.

Beef Rendang this evening. No marks for presentation obviously, not one of my priorities, but it tasted damn fine. Plus, the meat was meltingly tender. Homegrown Chard on the side.

Yeah, I suppose I was a bit unfair. It's ok as kindling or if you want some quick heat. I had a load of it taking up valuable space in my wood stores and it just seemed to to make an inordinate amount of ash.

You've got to admire that guy's logic at least.

Add Poplar to that list as well. It's pretty crap firewood but needs splitting, stacking and covering sharpish if it is to be used as such. It turns into mush in no time at all if left around.

Phew, panic over. 👍

Interesting, I've wondered what it's purpose was. Another great idea. Is it invasive at all, does it spread itself around? Like a lot of the bamboos do for instance.

Does that mean you're agreeing with me? 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ Help! Call the site admin. @Johnsond's account has been hacked!

Interestingly, the bark of birch trees is far more resistant to rotting than the timber. You often see logs that have half rotted away inside, with bark still intact. Presumably why they use I to make Birch Tar, lots of useful compounds in there.

I don't think anyone is looking at us thinking how environmentally friendly we are anymore nd. Mugs or otherwise. Why as a country are we not grasping this opportunity to invest in our own renewable energy industry? 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ We've just about still got the skills and knowledge to make all the stuff here in the UK. This could be our ticket to reviving our all but extinct manufacturing industry.