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Cooking sausages in a wood fired oven
Having lit some 10 fires of ever increasing size in our new wood oven in order to ‘cure’ the construction (slowly drive out all the moisture) it was nice to declare the oven open and pop in a few appropriately named ‘firecracker’ sausages from Taylors at Lathom. At last… Dinner is served!
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Growing our own firewood
Many years ago we abandoned the idea of being able to own our own woodland as there is so little of it in West Lancashire in the first place and, of that, it is very rare that it comes up for sale. But, rather than admit defeat, we bought some arable land and field by…
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Making rustic table numbers
I have been getting a bit behind with restocking our rustic table numbers and with the wedding season ramping up today was the day to put that right. They are easily made from any suitable, seasoned logs but risking your fingers in a band saw to save a couple of pounds is not to everyones taste.…
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Outdoor Wood Fired Pizza Oven
Having made it all the way from Portugal to Hesketh Bank without damage, it was quite exciting to unpack our new brick built outdoor pizza oven. As it weighs about 600kg, the forktruck was definitely needed to carefully lift it out of its packing crate and onto a pallet. I have been reading up on…
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Dog with ‘Scouse Brows’
Ever seen a dog with Scouse Brows? Sue’s friend Pam sent us this pic taken on their hols in Koh Samet, Thailand which made us laugh. Coleen must be so proud.
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Green wire wreath bases
Not much ever happens by way of innovation in the world of wire wreath bases but these new green plastic coated frames are causing a bit of a stir amongst the trade. They are only slightly cheaper than the more traditional copper finish but for some who ‘hide’ the base feel that may now be…
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Valentines 2016
Just as we have nearly finished restocking after the Christmas rush on wreath supplies it is all systems go getting all the orders for wire heart frames and heart shaped padded wreath bases on their way. The Berisford ‘Hearts and Kisses’ and the cross stitch ‘Love’ design will no doubt again prove to be a…
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Pollarding Ash Trees
We have quite a few young ash trees which we grew from seed gathered from local trees and planted out around 8 years ago. Whilst the vast majority of our ash trees are being grown to coppice, we have some that are under grazed by free range chickens. Pollarding trees is a bit out of…
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Harvesting Basket Making Willow
Having packed away the fresh wreath making ‘production line’ for another year our next job is to get our home grown willow rods cut and into storage for processing as willow whip tips for floristry, straight sticks for crafts and little log bundles for picks to decorate next year’s wreaths. These items are sold all…