I've just put the one's I harvested from my balcony in a bowl with some ripe ones to give them an idea of how they should look.

Yes I know what you mean Mo, but I'm sure many people did start family life in such a place. Now that I'm older I think that for me the secret to a reasonably content life is to know "how much is enough" and not to want for more than that. So I can go though life without wanting the latest...

And yet we managed Mo, I don't mean to be nostalgic for the "good old days" or "young people today don't know they've been born" or so on. What I do mean and incidentally what attracted me to life in a Bulgarian village is the waste not want not /can do / get on with things lifes...

Yes freeranger, having moved into a "two up two down" terraced house with my Mum and siblings on her divorce we went from "middle class semi" to a house with an outside loo and no hot water, but I at least was a lot happier because there were no more daily arguments and tensions....

Not here in the UK because I live in a high rise however in Bulgaria we would if we could get to it before the neighbours, but someone who has lived there for many years has warned us not to use painted wood i.e. old furniture, floorboards as the residue can lead to blocked flues.

Here in the UK I live in a high rise flat and as a result have managed to find loads of furniture in the basement people dump it there when moving out. Some of my finds come up to the flat to be used by me (lots of "brown furniture" discarded to be replaced by flat pack tat ) while I put o...

TB and I have decided to press ahead with getting our village house up to Bulgarian winter standard which means getting the basement "habitable" as many locals move down stairs and into a couple of rooms to keep warm. This will mean getting more electric sockets put in, plastering the wall...

My neighbour has as much English as I have Bulgarian which is very little but we get by.

I've just returned from Bulgaria or Frugal Central, firstly my grown up men and one girlfriend loved their first visit to Bulgaria, they approved of the house, the garden ,its proximity to beaches, the weather, the village and the shops. TB and I had a very different stay it being the first time we'...

Having ransacked my knitting cupboard I've started knitting a new woollen blanket from moss stitch squares, because three of my blankets have been taken to our village house in Bulgaria and its getting cold here, up north.

Someone from the food bank collected the apples this morning and with any luck a bit of fresh fruit will be a welcome addition to the usual food packages. I'm just pleased that they're not going to waste as there's a lot more where they came from. We're all off to Bulgaria this week end but the lads...

Our local food bank usually only accepts tins and so on, however I made enquires and they will take the apples and leave them in the main seating area for clients to help themselves. Demand for food has been so high these school holidays that I get the impression they need all the help they can get....

Today I spent an hour on the family allotment picking eating apples I gathered two large boxes which, when I get transport will be delivered to the local food bank on Monday. Meanwhile there's still loads more left on the trees and I've yet to start on the pear trees.

There was a time when food wasn't sold with a "sell by date or use by date" and people used their common sense. I bake my own bread and make my own pastry and cakes, all flour goes into the freezer for three days once bought because it could have been "milled" months or years ago...

I've just discovered Lidls Waste not Want not label, all the bargains had a use by date for today but I know that they'll keep longer in the fridge so for the princely sum of 60p I got a kilo tub of potato salad, a large tub of coleslaw and a bottle of milk. Well pleased.