Shipping Container

When we moved here I gave up the lovely workshop that I'd built at our last place. So to house all my "big" carpentry tools and the other things we'd need for a smallholding, we brought a shipping container until we could build something better.

Painted green and the with the ceiling insulated inside, its the perfect secure store.

I then went for planning permission to build a barn, this would have provided me with space for storage of things like hay and straw (and a tractor) as well as giving me somewhere dry to work. I got turned down - my own fault I think as it was probably too big for the area, although i had no complaints from the neighbours the council had the final say.

But now with my homemaker duties coming up in a few months, I could really do with a small workshop to make things in the evenings to sell (when the kids are in bed). So as a temporary measure I'm considering getting another container - this time an office type one so it will be ready insulated and have windows to provide some natural lighting. I like the place looking nice but sometimes you have to be practical as to what best suits your situation. unless anyone has got any other ideas on what I could do for a temporary workshop in the mean time?

Hidden Beetroot

I was tidying up in the veg garden at the weekend when I came across these little fellas hiding under some weeds.

 This made my mouth water, I love beetroot. Hopefully I think I might have talked my wife into making one of my favourite dishes this week - Beetroot Tart Tatin.

Crumbled with feta cheese on top and served with mash its meal that really doesn't need any meat. If you want to make it the recipe we use is from River Cottage and can be found here.

I love beetroot in every form!

Fruit Tea

Or as it affectionately gets called by my workmates "Gay Tea".

I'm not your usual builder -I don't drink tea or coffee.

In fact I've never drunk a full mug of either.

Most of the year I just drink water.

But when it's cold and your working outside you need something to warm you up.

I settle for a fruit tea. I get a lot of stick about my choice of drink (not helped by the fact it says "Fresh and Fruity" on the front of the box) but I really enjoy them and I don't think I would have survived working on a roof the last couple of weeks without them!

But I'm always on the look out to cut costs or try something else, so I wanted to ask if anyone makes their own from scratch and does it cut it when compared to the ones you can buy? If it does give me the recipe or link and I'll try it!

Vehicle Dilemma

With my role changing in the Spring to full time homemaker, part time carpenter, we're really struggling with what to do with vehicles.

We both need a vehicle as we're quite far out from the village and even further from the town. When I'm not working I want the children to go to play groups, grandparents houses, etc and these will all involve driving and my wife's work is 45 minutes away.

Currently I have a transit van, which is about the minimum sized van I can get away with to do the type of work I do (I've had smaller vans but it never works out very well). I plan to continue doing my own private work for customers at weekends and school holidays and also it's handy having something like this for a smallholding where I can pick up large items (hay, straw, feed etc). The van has three seats in the front so me and the girls do fit in it, the trouble is it's expensive to run and drinks the juice.

My wife has an estate car, which is ideal for the children, fits all the stuff she needs for school in and is quite economical to run.

We also have (and are trying to sell) a small Skoda Fabia, my wife's old car. This is cheap to run and is a good runner.

My wife has suggested that we keep all three as it would be better if I had the estate car (as I'd have the children all the time), she kept the Fabia for going to work and I only used the transit for when I've got work (to keep fuel costs down).

The trouble is I don't like the idea of paying to keep all three vehicles on the road.

What would you do in our situation?

Carrots

I often get tips for the work I do, but this week dad gave me half of one of his - A 25kg bag of organic carrots.

I certainly wasn't going to turn down half a potato sack full of carrots!

Not sure what we're going to do with them all though - any ideas? I think a carrot soup might be in order...