Sunday 24 September 2017

More Car Boot Sale Smallholding Treasure.

We went car-booting this morning in the rain.  The missus found me a John Seymour paperbook version of his Self Sufficiency bible.  I have two versions already.  I think I paid twenty eight Euros for the hardback version.  Its been worth every penny though.   I think John Seymour inspired me more than any other author.  I rented my first allotment after reading his book, many moons a go.  Which author inspired you more than anybody else to do do something?


 The missus bought herself a large Mrs Beeton's Cookery In Colour.  Both books cost a Euro each.  The next time I talk to somebody about the great JS I will let them read the paperback version instead of my hardback version.  We have a small paperback copy of Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book but there are no pictures and its a very poor font.  Hopefully we will get inspired for some great meals?  We went in Lidl in Clonakilty the other day and I showed her some baking tins.  She said to me:

"Are you hinting at something?"  



I also purchased this rubber garden trug for three Euros at the car boot sale.  Its got a broken handle but number one son said he will fix it with a pot rivet for me.   I usually use old paint buckets or large coleslaw buckets for weeding.  What do you use?  That path needs weeding, yet again!  I won't use weedkiller.



Have you found any  carboot smallholding bargains recently?  I think they are great for finding cheap books and tools.

14 comments:

  1. Some great finds there Dave, especially the two books. I have my mother's Mrs Beeton's 1930s editiion and refer to it more than any other cookery book, especially for basic cooking information. What few people realise is that she was cooking things like curries and other foreign food even then. I am sure you will find it useful and sometimes slightly amusing.

    I have never been to a car boot sale.

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    1. Hi Rachel. Mrs Beeton was very cosmoplotitan with her cooking. I have even found a recipe for Mulligitawny soup. No doubt sourced from the British Empire in India. You should visit some car boot sales. Its unbelievable what you will find, be it books, antiques, furniture, paintings, even gardening tools. We are always going to them. Thanks!

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  2. John Seymour lived in a farm cottage in Suffolk not far from where we had the smallholding when he started writng his SS books. Local people said he spent more time in the pub than working on the land! His wife Sally did most of the work and JS just wrote about it.
    My road to smallholding started with John Seymours books so I was quite disappointed to learn the truth!

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    1. Hi Sue. I think JS will have gained a lot of knowledge talking to the farm labourers over a pint or two. He lived in Ireland for a while too. Would love to have met him. I think HFW is the modern day smallholding and grow your own guru. Thanks!

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  3. I've got 3-4 rubber trugs like that dotted around so that they are to hand when I do impromptu weeding.

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    1. I weed my garden very similar to you Philip. I have five or six buckets dotted round the veg plot and herbaceous borders. My wheel barrow lives in different places too. Thanks!

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  4. Not exactly at car boot but at a flea market only yesterday I found an old destination sign for the 41 tram which is the one I use most often. It's a cardboard sign the driver would stick in window before the days of modern signs. I also found a nice painting of a local church. The artist is not famous but I like the painting so I bought it and also a yellow duck with a red beak for holding my pencils.

    What book inspired me to do something is a very good question and I'll have to give it some thought, although I think Ron Hill's biography (part 1) is amongst the books that have inspired me to take up and continue running. Jeff Gallway's Keep Running Until You're a Hundred is another one.

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    1. I love flea markets Gwil. Don't see many of them in Ireland. We have collected several oil and water colour paintings from car boot sales.

      Thanks for telling us about the books that inspired you Gwil!

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  5. One book that always kept me busy and in constant employment is The Machinery's Handbook and I still refer to it on rare occasions.

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    1. Hi Heron. You must be very technically minded? I have heard of The Machinery's Handbook. Thanks!

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  6. Yes, I was for my sins a Design Engineer.

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    1. There are some very talented people Heron. I

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  7. I agree with what Sue has said, my road to farming was inspired by JS. Then we moved to Ireland and we met him, (by then he and his wife had separated) he was a great character, and certainly loved a few pints, I have a lot of his books and all signed by him.

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    1. Hi Anne, JS inspired thousands of people to grow their own on allotments, vegetable gardens and smallholdings. I would loved to have met the great man. Thanks!

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