[arobwk]

<<< [ Interesting little bit of advice I gleaned from the Silky web-site:  apparently olive oil is good for dissolving sap residues on a saw-blade ] >>>


That should work on my penknife 
Thanks arobwk

I haven't tried it yet - please do report [member=4333]Fleecewife[/member]

[Fleecewife]

<<< [ Interesting little bit of advice I gleaned from the Silky web-site:  apparently olive oil is good for dissolving sap residues on a saw-blade ] >>>


That should work on my penknife 
Thanks arobwk

I haven't tried it yet - please do report [member=4333]Fleecewife[/member]

I'll try to remember. The thing that makes the blade really sticky and horrible is comfrey sap, but there's none through up here yet to try the olive oil trick on. In the summer I use that knife for everything but not much is happening yet to make it mucky.

[SallyintNorth]

Geoff Hamilton (main presenter on Gardeners' World until his untimely death in the '90s, when Alan Titchmarsh took over) used to keep a tin of sand by his tool board, tip used engine oil into the sand, and plunge his sharp tools into that before hanging them up.  He said that the oil and the sand grit between them cleaned, lubricated and protected the blades.  I keep meaning to set something like that up for my sheepy shears. 

[Fleecewife]

Geoff was the best 

[arobwk]

Now, I'm a lover of the mighty swede (aka turnip down 'ere) and in its simplest cooked form of mash with butter and pepper.  However, I also like it chopped and steamed especially if the whole turnip has been left to dehydrate for a while when it can be become particularly sweet and buttery all on its own as well as turning a deep orange when cooked.  However, I decided to check-out cheffy (?? spelling) recipes:  my goodness, I have a very good list to now try out with one of my fav' veg.  Anyone with their own fav' long-serving turnip (swede) recipe/s ??


[I've never considered eating the skin of a turnip (swede), but apparently it's OK if not too old !]


[And, leaving aside the potato (!), I would say runner beans are, actually, my fav' veg, but not as versatile as the mighty turnip (swede) perhaps!]


[Also, in passing, what is the correct spelling of a mangel, mangold or what-ever other mang* spelling ?] 
   

[arobwk]

Geoff Hamilton (main presenter on Gardeners' World until his untimely death in the '90s, when Alan Titchmarsh took over) ...

I never took to Alan T, but who was 'the' guy before Geoff ?  Was he called "something Mole" and did the prog' name include the word "shed" ??!  Whatever, I recall the filming included the interior of a shed - at least at the end of each showing. Of course, I might just be making this up,  but I seem to think my vague childhood memory is true!


Or maybe it was Percy Thrower who preceded Geoff H'.  I still reckon there was a Molely though !

[chrismahon]

According to my rather old Collins (1985) [member=152775]arobwk[/member] , it is either 'mangel wurzel' or 'mangold wurzel' (a variety of the beet plant), but I seem to remember John Pertwee called just Wurzel? The dictionary goes on to describe it as cattle food, so if you can do anything better with it, fair play to you.

[SallyintNorth]

Geoff Hamilton (main presenter on Gardeners' World until his untimely death in the '90s, when Alan Titchmarsh took over) ...

I never took to Alan T, but who was 'the' guy before Geoff ?  Was he called "something Mole" and did the prog' name include the word "shed" ??!  Whatever, I recall the filming included the interior of a shed - at least at the end of each showing. Of course, I might just be making this up,  but I seem to think my vague childhood memory is true!


Or maybe it was Percy Thrower who preceded Geoff H'.  I still reckon there was a Molely though !

List of all presenters in the Wikipedia page

Arthur Billit preceded Geoff, Percy Thrower was the one before that. 

No-one with Mole in their name that I could find.  i did watch a bit of a 1969 animation called The Little Mole as a Gardener... 

[arobwk]

According to my rather old Collins (1985) [member=152775]arobwk[/member] , it is either 'mangel wurzel' or 'mangold wurzel' (a variety of the beet plant), but I seem to remember John Pertwee called just Wurzel? The dictionary goes on to describe it as cattle food, so if you can do anything better with it, fair play to you.

As youngsters, I do recall wielding our sheath knives to take a raw slice or two "in the field" ! 

[arobwk]

Arthur Billit preceded Geoff, Percy Thrower was the one before that. 

No-one with Mole in their name that I could find.  i did watch a bit of a 1969 animation called The Little Mole as a Gardener... 

The ol' grey matter has churned:  the "Mr Molely" I was thinking of was Ted Moult who I have spuriously remembered as a gardening presenter.  As to the programme I'm remembering:  it must have been BBC because we only had BBC in our house (I never saw the Flintstones !):  whoever the presenter was, the prog' started and/or ended with pic of the interior of a potting shed - probably Percy as Arthur doesn't ring a bell.   

[doganjo]

I remember Ted Moult. He was a farmer and use to sit on a number of quiz and discussion programmes - What's my line, any questions etc - It would have been mid fifties I think -  i might have been about 10 or 11 when my grandma got a TV
I don't remember him being on any gardening programmes though

[arobwk]

I remember Ted Moult. He was a farmer and use to sit on a number of quiz and discussion programmes - What's my line, any questions etc - It would have been mid fifties I think -  i might have been about 10 or 11 when my grandma got a TV
I don't remember him being on any gardening programmes though

Yo - agreed; Ted didn't do "gardening" (contrary to my wobbly memory).  He was a "character" though wasn't he ?!


[As an aside:  I remember a time when the majority of Miss Britain (or Ms England - whatever) contestants were, supposedly, "milk-maids" or "dairy-maids".  And for those younger TAS members who can't quite believe that, it really is true !!]

[Chipmonk]

I don.t have a problem with that at all.  I firmly believe the human race has become lazy - we need to get back to eating foods that are in season and close to home to avoid unnecessary food miles

We love the path of least resistance this is why we moved from hunter gathers, walking around, then ''farming'', couldn't be bothered walking any more so we jumped on horses. Too much hassle mucking out and maintenance and you need land to feed then. Ah yes lets all jump in cars.... and we now have to deal with this disaster, (electric cars are not the answer and are likened to using a sticking plaster to stop a dam bursting, these things cause massive environmental damage in production and there is a finite amount of lithium available - so another good unsustainable idea)

After the 2nd world war the UK was pretty much producing all it's own food, at the end of the war, well we couldn't be bothered with that any more so the imports started. And it has just got worse ever since.

Now you can eat strawberries in December - there is something fundamentally insane with this approach, driven by supermarkets in search of profit, add to that television advertising (because we cant be bothered reading or talking anymore), we have created a living (dying?) monster that serves no purpose other than to continue to destroy our host (and create profits for ''business''), this is further driven by governments whose only interest is profit and economic growth.

None of this is sustainable or particularly clever but the masses carry on regardless

Now we have huge fields, 'farmed' with huge tractors, producing grain to feed cows to make burgers, this all adds to the UK being a leading nature deficit country. 

All from taking the path of least resistance.

[Fleecewife]

I don.t have a problem with that at all.  I firmly believe the human race has become lazy - we need to get back to eating foods that are in season and close to home to avoid unnecessary food miles

We love the path of least resistance this is why we moved from hunter gathers, walking around, then ''farming'', couldn't be bothered walking any more so we jumped on horses. Too much hassle mucking out and maintenance and you need land to feed then. Ah yes lets all jump in cars.... and we now have to deal with this disaster, (electric cars are not the answer and are likened to using a sticking plaster to stop a dam bursting, these things cause massive environmental damage in production and there is a finite amount of lithium available - so another good unsustainable idea)

After the 2nd world war the UK was pretty much producing all it's own food, at the end of the war, well we couldn't be bothered with that any more so the imports started. And it has just got worse ever since.

Now you can eat strawberries in December - there is something fundamentally insane with this approach, driven by supermarkets in search of profit, add to that television advertising (because we cant be bothered reading or talking anymore), we have created a living (dying?) monster that serves no purpose other than to continue to destroy our host (and create profits for ''business''), this is further driven by governments whose only interest is profit and economic growth.

None of this is sustainable or particularly clever but the masses carry on regardless

Now we have huge fields, 'farmed' with huge tractors, producing grain to feed cows to make burgers, this all adds to the UK being a leading nature deficit country. 

All from taking the path of least resistance.

I agree about electric cars.  I thought the big idea was to reduce the amount of electricity we use and to reduce our travel by working from home, holidaying in the UK and so on.  I suppose those ideas don't get votes.

My original post was about what we could grow ourselves instead of importing salads and veg from distant countries.  In fact I think the Great Veg Shortage was a bit of a damp squib which all goes to show that we are perfectly capable of doing without exotic crops in winter and eating what we can produce in the UK, often in our own gardens.  I own up to loving tomatoes so much that I do miss them in winter, but imported versions are over ripe, squishy and smell of nothing so I would rather go from December when my last crops are done to July when the first tomatoes appear in my polytunnel, without eating any than buy the flaccid offerings in Tesco

You mention WW2, surely that was a big lesson in self sufficiency which we as a country failed to heed. We are an island which both makes us vulnerable to blockade but also gives us huge advantages to pull together as a people? What happened there?