Miss Clare’s larder is one of the pleasantest places. I know….it has a red brick floor and whitewashed walls. The wooden shelves have been scrubbed so often and so well that the grain stands out in fine ribs. From the ceiling hang ropes of bronze onions, dried herbs in muslin bags, and a ham…Bottles of fruit…and jars of jam and jelly flash like jewels…and on the floor stand bottles of home made wine…beside two large crocs containing salted runner beans.
Village Diary, Miss Read
Hello Friends,
How are you? I trust that for those of you whose rhythms revolve around term times, you’re settling well into a new academic year.
I love the description in the above quote. Miss Read is one of my favourite authors, having been introduced to her by my Granny who was also a teacher and called “Miss Reid”. My own harvesting and preserving continued throughout September, we have started the new term (not altogether smoothly), and had an amazing visit to the Chained Library at Wells Cathedral, definitely a highlight for me.
I hope your month too was punctuated with some everyday highlights as well as a few treats. Take care of yourselves as you take care of your families,
Love Molly x
Nature notes and homestead jottings
“What type of washing powder do you use?” I remember having this conversation when the boys were small, trying to find one which didn’t irritate their skin. If asked now, I would have quite a different response: we make our own out of conkers. I tried this for the first time last year and it works well. The liquid soap produces a good head of bubbles and it is free and natural. No chemicals. If you’re interested in having a go yourself, there are plenty of videos on YouTube.
We also pulled our onions (not enough to last us the year and I have yet to learn how to tie them into beautiful ropes), picked blackberries which I bottled, made sloe gin and continued with the apple harvest. Some of these I bottled (I think I’ve worked out a way of sterilising in the oven), some I used for apple cider vinegar, some I dried and some we enjoyed in cakes, crumbles and deliciously stewed with chocolate custard.
Homeschool journal
It can be hard starting back to structured learning after a long summer break. I usually try to ease ourselves in by reinstating morning routines together with some readaloud time the week before we start term. However, despite my best efforts, it’s taken a while for the girls to settle back into learning, although Sparkly Eyes in particular does well with routine. Dancing Toes is now in her last year before college and so the level of academic work required has increased again. We add in a little at a time, but even so it can feel like walking a tight rope. However, at the beginning of October as I write, I think we may have found our groove.
We started our Home Ed Co op with a couple of local visits, one of which was to Wells Cathedral for a Reformation themed day. This impressive medieval cathedral is known for its soaring Scissor arch and three magnificent towers. While it is a Protestant cathedral now, it was build pre Reformation and so was originally a Catholic place of worship. It was fascinating learning about how the actual building changed during that period, as well as the worship. If you’d like to see some pictures of this cathedral which is both majestic and welcoming, take a look here .
Part of our tour took us up to the Chained Library. Built in the fifteenth century, it is one of only four such libraries in the country. It houses books published prior to 1800, most of which were gifts to the Cathedral. The books were chained to prevent them from being stolen. We were able to look more closely at an early copy of a Coverdale New Testament…or it might even have been a Tyndale translation. Either way, it was one of the first printed Bibles. (This probably means it was Coverdale?). The other was a hand written and illustrated Psalter, produced on hide; exquisitely beautiful.
Back to the present day; I took part in another of the very popular “New to home education” webinars hosted by Streams Home Education. They have so many fantastic resources; do check out their website and sign up for regular emails if you have not already done so.
Musings for our time
I don’t seem to have had many musings this month. I’ve been working away at the book, but mainly liaising with the other amazing contributors, rather than writing myself. I trust when I need to, the inspiration will come afresh. However, I have continued to read as much as I can, and it occurs to me again and again the importance of historical literature. A good understanding of history would hopefully stop us repeating the same mistakes. Yet, it seems so often we do; the issues are the same, just wrapped up in different packaging. There are so many complex issues in our world, and one of my prayers is for wisdom and discernment as well as good friends and the ability to robustly debate!
Mothering through the seasons 
Hallo Molly – I’m sure you know it, but just in case it had somehow passed you by, have you read Elizabeth Goudge’s ‘City of Bells’, set in ‘Torminster’? – actually Wells, where she was born and spent most of her childhood – her father was a clergyman who taught at the Cathedral. With all good wishes, God bless, Ginny
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Hello Ginny, Thank you for pointing us all to this. I have read Goudge’s books based in Wells (?3 of them) but I only discovered her relatively recently. Having lived near Wells for years, it was none other than the lovely Sally Clarkson, all the way from America, who introduced her to me. If you’re on instagram, have you come across @elizabethgoudgebookclub? One of my favourite accounts.
I had fun compiling a couple of posts about “Torminster” …I’ll see if I can post the links.
X🌿☕️🍰🌺
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A host of interesting activities and ideas. A busy but productive time for you.
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Thank you xx
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Such a lovely post to read. I love seeing all your inspirational produce. How are you getting on with using conkers? We still use them here although have starting making our own laundry powder too. I am very curious about your fruits and vergetable preservation; how do you preserve without turning them into a jam or chutney?
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The conkers are working well for most laundry apart from smelly socks! Home made laundry soap sounds good.
I’ve kind of make up my own way of bottling produce; it’s not gone green so far, but I’ll let you know if it does! I gently soften the fruit/tomatoes on the hob, then put them into a pre warmed kilner jar. Then into the oven for about 20 mins at the same temp I use to sterilise jars. Once they’re bubbling I take them out and put the lids on immediately, when hot. This preserves the seal. I did some with plastic seals and not sure how long they will last as it was too difficult to shut them down when hot. I also put the filled jars in a pan of water in while in the oven. No idea if this is necessary, but it doesn’t hurt.
I think you can use a water bath for the whole thing, but I’ve not got one. If I do lots of preserving, it might be worth investing in. I wondered if a slow cooker would work???
What have you been preserving? 🍎🍐🍅🧅🥒
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Thankyou for sharing your tips. I need to look at what I need in order to be able to preserve in jars. Thus far I have chopped all my veg and frozen it, made fire cider and organised our log pile for winter. This way we can grab and create chutneys and jams whenever we are ready without being forced to when we are short on space. My only concern is whether there will be supply issues (water, electric and gas) at any point. In which case, preserved jarred food is preferable.
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That’s been my thinking too…up until last year I just put everything in the freezer, but decided I’d better learn some other methods of preserving produce. We’re still a very long way from being self sufficient in veg, but I’m learning a little bit more each year!
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Yes smelly socks and DH work clothes are the only things evading cleanliness with conkers. Soaking over night in hot water and bicarb seems to help. We have started making laundry powder using these recipes:
2C soda crystals, 2C bicarb, 200g of marseille or castille soap grated, (optional, add 300 drops essential oil of choice) – mix and use 1-2Tbsp per wash. Add vinegar to rinse.
1C fine sea salt, 1C epsom salts, 3C soda crystals, 3C bicarb, 25-30 drops of essential oil of choice. – mix and use 1-2Tbsp per wash. Add vinegar to rinse.
Either seems to work.
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Thank you….😊. I’ll give that a go. Your winter prep sounds good! 🍂🌺💚
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