The beginnings of a knitted beanie hat - one of Martin's Christmas presents
A slightly belated Merry Christmas one and all.
Sorry for the big gap since I last posted. I've actually been back here dozens of times, made 43 attempts at posts but none ever made it to publishing stage. Most posts were just random thoughts that were never expanded, others were just plain dull so I abandoned them before the end. I really needed a break - I felt like I ran out of things to say. I lost the ability to write about subjects this blog was supposed to be about. If I ever did to begin with.
Anyway, I'm here once more. It feels like a lot has changed in my life, but it hasn't really compared to what some people go through.
:: I was made redundant at the end of September, but our financial preparations and grocery stockpiling have done us proud and made the process a hiccup rather than a huge fall off a cliff. I'm back to being freelance again, although this time I can add labour market researcher onto my skills list as well as copywriter. I'm still going to go and find another job, but probably a part-time one because I have a slight 'change of life' plan for next year. It will be a miracle if I pull it off.
:: The garden put on the greatest show since we moved here. The new beds combined with the good weather meant a glut of everything, all of which has been processed and preserved.

Butternut squash soup, soda bread and foraged chestnuts for dessert!
Six full flushes of blackerries in the garden...I was picking them for weeks
The foraging opporunities in the countryside have been amazing as well, and I've enjoyed many walks foraging for mushrooms, chestnuts, crab apples, hips, sloes, damsons, bullaces and hazelnuts.
Foraged mushrooms...
...and crab apples
:: We'd done so well stockpiling money to prepare for my redundancy, including making the wrenching decision to pull out of a holiday to France in August to celebrate my best mate's 40th birthday, and then our estate car decided to spring a plethora of faults all in one go so the money we saved ended up being spent on a replacement car. After four years of doing over 350 miles a week it had just had enough. However it has worked out in our favour in the end, as we've gone from a 1.6l estate car to a little 1.0l city car and reduced our petrol spending by 60%.
I can't help feeling however that money-saving in the last half of this year has rather made my life a lot less interesting. I would have preferred France to being so sensible, but it would have been a tough one to rationalise if we subsequently defaulted on our bills because I couldn't find a job and the savings ran out.
Sophie getting old and fragile
:: We nearly lost Sophie to a kidney infection. At 17, she's now got dementia which means she forgets to eat and drink now and then, but we didn't realise how bad the problem was until suddenly we were in the midst of a full-on crisis. The vet pronouced renal failure after a blood test and pointed us towards expensive renal cat food until such time - and he said it would be soon - as she needed to be put to sleep. As testament to her staying power and sheer bloody-minded obstinacy, she got better and the 'irreversible renal failure' disappeared along with the need for renal food. Her dementia worsened after the crisis though. She's more aggressive than she used to be and quite unsteady on her feet (scratching her ears too vigorously can result in her losing her balance) but she's not doing too bad for an old girl. She just needs a lot of love and a very gentle guiding hand.
Me and a gloucester old spot weaner in July 2011
::And finally, a change of life. Part of my life plan has always been to buy a smallholding and raise some animals and crops, and Martin is happy with that because a smallholding come with barns and that means space to park his classic cars! But it ocurred to me that if I wait until we have a smallholding to practice smallholding skills I'll be in my fifties and possibly too tired. So, this year marks the start of me expanding my repetoire of skills. I want to know which ones will work for us and which ones won't before we buy our smallholding. Everything I need is around me already. If I need extra space I am surrounded by farmers who let their fields, and there are dozens of hobby and commercial farmers in the area I can find support from. This will be the start of five years of experimenting.

Making my own cumberland sausages this evening from shop bought pork mince. One year soon I'll be making my own pork mince and sausages from our own pigs.
To help me on my quest to forge a different and better future for us both, my amazing husband pulled a rabbit from a hat this Christmas. I found this under the tree - a complete surprise.
How does he do it?
