We had an awful lot of trees to choose from to burn in the range, and some were far better than others.
Granny Spear
Granny Spear was born in a small cottage in Devon, Southern England in 1925. Married to farm labourer Ernest, she raised her family in the heart of the countryside without any of the amenities we rely on today. Using skills passed down from her mother, who had learned those same skills from her mother, she not only survived but positively thrived living a self-sufficient, off grid lifestyle. Outliving her husband, one of her children and two of her grandchildren she stayed in the cottage until 2003 when a serious fall saw her hospitalized. She now lives with her daughter just four miles from her old home. For her 89th birthday her grandchildren and great grandchildren brought her an iPad, which she instantly rejected until they showed her Angry Birds...After much persuasion she has agreed to share some of her knowledge with us about what she calls the 'old days'
Outdoor Cooking Was Essential To Keep the Cottage Cool
In the Summer, especially if there was no breeze passing through the place it was suffocatingly hot, and unbearable if you lit the range. In order to burn less fuel as well as keep the cottage cool we would cook and eat outside as much as possible.
Fertilizing the Vegetable Garden
Mostly animal manure was used to fertilize the garden but sometimes it was too fresh, it hadn’t been stored long enough and that’s no good as it can burn the plant roots and often it would kill them as it was too strong.
You Need to Grow A LOT of Sugar Beet to Get a Little Sugar
I would usually end up with six or eight jars of beet syrup, four or so jars of crushed leaves and several dozen eggs from the swapping of the mash. Not bad from a handful of seeds.
Dealing With Flies the Old Fashioned Way
I’m sure there are other ways to deter flies, but these worked for me so I stuck with them.
Ironing Day Using Flat Irons: The Blight of My Life
There were two types of iron years ago, the solid metal ones, flat irons which was what I had, and box iron, a similar thing, but the top of the iron where the handle is, lifted up letting you put hot embers inside to save keep reheating it.
D-Day Memories From Knowle Cottage
When my mother opened the door on the morning of June 6th 1944 there was a pile of tin cans on the step, and the path, dozens and dozens of them.
The Winter of 1962-1963
By the start of October 1963 I had enough food at Knowle that I could feed a battalion for six months! There was a huge wood supply in a shed Ern built in the garden and we had two more water barrels, just to be on the safe side. No point in going through something like that unless you learn from it.
Getting The Most From The Cottage Garden
As I’ve said before the garden at Knowle cottage was big, but not huge. It took some creative planting to make sure we produced enough to feed the family.
Doing The Laundry Without A Washing Machine…Or Electricity
We were lucky though. We had the coppers, many folks had to stoop over a regular tin bath and they often never had a mangle, now that really would have been hard work.
