Drip feed bottles

[Millymollymandy]

Jill - I asked my hubby and he says that Lidl do sell Bratwurst. I just had some Walls bangers on the bbq that a friend brought over - more my thing!

[cheap&cheerful]

MMM,

Thanks, that's good news about the Bratwurst.

I've told all our friends they can come to stay with us France as long as they bring supplies of bacon and tea bags. I've heard decent tea bags are rare and if you find any they cost the earth.

How long have you lived in France and are you still enjoying it?? Our move is starting to get so close now I'm getting "pre wedding" nerves. I know it's pre moving but the last time I felt this bad was when I had pre wedding nerves. Still that was 30 years ago.


Jill..

[shiney]

I send out regular supplies of Yorkshire Teabags and Marmite to my mum. Good tea is very hard to find in France, but in general they beat us hands down on the food they have in their markets and supermarkets.

Oh and galaxy chocolate in mahoosive bars for my friend Tracey!

[Millymollymandy]

You can get perfectly good bacon in the bigger supermarkets - the only problem is that it is thinly cut and has no rind. So I asked a friend to bring me some bacon - guess what he brought - rindless!!!

If you like strong tea you will definately need it sent over. They sell Tetleys tea bags here but they are NOT the same!

Now you see I disagree about better stuff/quality/choice in the French markets and supermarkets. I think there is far more choice in the UK (the French don't like foreign foods so little interesting stuff) and the markets here are expensive and just the same old spuds, cabbages, carrots etc. Last time I was at a market I needed a lettuce but only found one stall selling them and they were not good at all.

I've lived here for 8 years - so I have no rosy specs about France - never did actually as we came here through my husband's work at the time. We aren't escapees and we love the UK (except the traffic!).

[cheap&cheerful]

Right I will remember to stipulate "avec rind"!!. Next year we will be keeping pigs but of course they won't be ready for bacon until the end of the year.

I know what you mean about French markets we definitely felt they are more expensive than the supermarkets. The nice thing though about vegetable counters in French supermarkets, most of the stuff you buy has still got mud on it.

And your right they are VERY patriotic with what they stock. I haven't had the chance yet to check out spices/curry powder etc etc. What I've been doing is accumulating a stock of ingredients that I know I use but don't know if I will be able to get. Just to give me a buffer until I can check it out. In their own way they do have a wonderful wide variety of foods, there's just some of it that we are not used to like..brains..tripe. Can't quite get my head around eating those two things!!

And of course there's the cheeses, the smellier the better. There was a French market in town last week, now THEY are expensive, I spent a fortune on smelly cheese and sausages. On the bus on the way home I was getting some rather strange looks, as if I'd done something I shouldn't.

Veg and meat wise we will be growing our own. Our biggest expence will be dairy. We haven't got enough land to fully graze a goat, so we would have to buy in feed which off sets the value and hardly makes it worth while getting up early to milk it.

So our luxeries are going to be a decent cuppa with cows milk and all those lovely cheeses. I am a woman of modest needs, John makes our wine and the occasional bar of chocolate and I'm a happy bunny.

We are not so much escapees, it's just that cheap property prices and the amount of land you can get for your money enabled us to take (frugal!) early retirement so that I could fulfill my dream of having a (small) smallholding.

Luckily having had a large allotment for several years, kept chickens, rabbits and ducks for the table it's not going to be shock..the hard work that is.

[cheap&cheerful]

Sorry everyone,

Reading back I can see I've digressed the thread.

Now about these nozzels



Jill..

[Millymollymandy]

Yes I must get them out and stick them in by my toms as the forecast is 30C this weekend!

Jill - I realised you asked if I was still enjoying living in France which I didn't reply to - too busy being negative! - of course I do, there's a lot I don't like but thats only normal, and like you, how else would we get so much land and space in the UK unless we were millionaires? Sure I could have the lovely countryside and birdsong and peace and quiet in England too - but then there would still be the traffic..... (you can see I have a thing about that - our last trip to England in 2002 seemed to be spent in an awful lot of traffic jams!).

[matty]

i find that any 500ml bottle, sprite, water, whatever, take the cap off, drill a small hole where the cap goes on. about half way donw from the very top, so half way down the cap aswell, cut bottom off, then insert about halfway in ground, depending on what u are growing - curcubits a bit more shallow ofr example. i find that 500ml bottles are enough. plants arent that thirsty - i have watered four butternut squashes on one 500ml bottle. then screw cap back on gently, u can try filling up at this point. take a bit of playing to get what u want. one small hole is even enough. then even the tightness of hte cap can determine how fast it comes out. this mean u haven't got soil going back up in tubes or whatever, and through capillary action or something, the roots all get it! plus, u are recycling. work canteens, schools or what ever will be pleased to give u their bottles. might b a bit of rubbish delving. worth a try.

[Andy Hamilton]

ingenious matty, nice one.

[cheap&cheerful]

My nozzels have arrived so I will be giving them a go later today.

Shall I try method A-B or C Decision, decisions.

Jill..