Leakeyvale Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Not something I would relish - silage, wood chips and grass - but the German population had a worse food shortage than the British and it was a German recipe. But as they said when you have little to eat anything is worth having! The only food I know that had wood chips as an ingredient (according to my mother and others in the family) was blackberry jam. Not as much fruit was in the jam whenever you could get it so wood chips were put in to simulated the seeds you normally get in "proper" blackberry jam, I have never been overfond of blackberry jam! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 I did manage eventually to order the booklet a couple of nights ago. The last episode to be screened was very interesting with the homing pigeons bit. I also thought that the 'black bread' left a little to be desired, nice bit of 'roughage' but I'm sure you would not be able to live on it. The bit on flax growing and turning it into fibre for parachute webbing and other strong cloth items for the War effort was very wrong in my oppinion, firstly, it was not a flax crop they were growing, nor was it flax that the 'POW's' were harvesting, it was linseed and you can't use the stems of linseed to make cloth of any type. Flax was and is not used for what they were doing, flax is used to make linnen, ask an Irishman. Hemp is what's used for what they were trying to demonstrate. The part with the War artist was also a bit of 'poetic license', War artists were more to do with the Great War, 1914-18 as in 1939-45 those that were 'employed' in this way were War reporters who would be seconded to batallions serving in the field carried cameras and notebooks, not easels and paint, in 1914-18 the War correspondents were more the artist types but their drawings were more of a propoganda nature to boost the morale 'back home' and usually depicted the 'better' side of War and not the horrors, that was their own private recording and would not be shown or come to light for many decades later, so they got all that wrong. Repeated tonight BBC2 17.00-18.00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 still one more episode to go Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Yes, next weeks. Reading back my last post it reads like that episode was the last but I meant the last episode to be screened not the last in the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Yes, next weeks. Reading back my last post it reads like that episode was the last but I meant the last episode to be screened not the last in the series. got you Tim,didnt want you to miss the last one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Linseed IS flax, Tim. People often get confused. Nowadays it is grown for the oil rather than fibres. Producing flax is a long job and the reason for a lot of village/farm ponds was that all the flax would be dumped in the pond for retting (rotting off the outer casing) extract from Wikipedia Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil, is a colorless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried ripe seeds of the flax plant (Linum usitatissimum, Linaceae). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by solvent extraction. Due to its high levels of a-Linolenic acid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Thank you Sue for clearing that up, my mistake. Linseed oil is good for 'feeding' antique Tortoiseshell (should be turtleshell) objects, horn and cricket bats, boiled linseed oil is the stuff to use. I did hear somewhere that linseed oil is very volatile and should be kept at a low(ish) temperature as it's prone to spontainiously combust but the boiled sort is safer than raw. Speaking of combustion, keep your glass paperweights out of the sun, they can act like a magnifying glass and set fire to your curtains! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 (edited) Thank you Sue for clearing that up, my mistake. Linseed oil is good for 'feeding' antique Tortoiseshell (should be turtleshell) objects, horn and cricket bats, boiled linseed oil is the stuff to use. I did hear somewhere that linseed oil is very volatile and should be kept at a low(ish) temperature as it's prone to spontainiously combust but the boiled sort is safer than raw. Speaking of combustion, keep your glass paperweights out of the sun, they can act like a magnifying glass and set fire to your curtains! They mentioned the flammability of linseed oil on the program the other night when the waterproofing mix was being created. Thanks for the warning about paperweights. I will keep mine off the south windowsill in future! NB linseed oil is also good for "feeding" the shells of live tortoises too! Edited October 20, 2012 by Leakeyvale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Linseed IS flax, Tim. People often get confused. Nowadays it is grown for the oil rather than fibres. Producing flax is a long job and the reason for a lot of village/farm ponds was that all the flax would be dumped in the pond for retting (rotting off the outer casing) extract from Wikipedia Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil, is a colorless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried ripe seeds of the flax plant (Linum usitatissimum, Linaceae). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by solvent extraction. Due to its high levels of a-Linolenic acid I don't really agree with you there Sue. Linseed and flax are pretty much the same but you won't be able to get the same result from either plant. The linseed grown in the UK nowadays is very short stemmed and has been selected for maximum seed yield and oil yield. We only grow flax over here which is much much taller and grown specifically for the fibres. The seed is collected but not of much value. I think most of it is used as cattle feed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I don't really agree with you there Sue. Linseed and flax are pretty much the same but you won't be able to get the same result from either plant. The linseed grown in the UK nowadays is very short stemmed and has been selected for maximum seed yield and oil yield. We only grow flax over here which is much much taller and grown specifically for the fibres. The seed is collected but not of much value. I think most of it is used as cattle feed. They are both the same plant just different varieties. A customer of mine grows it for the seed so uses the short-staple variety. It is a bit like wheat grown for milling or the long-staple for thatching. It is all wheat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 The booklet that accompanies this series from the OU that I ordered arrived today, have had a brief scan through it, basically just highlights things that were gone over in the TV series with several photographs, a nice thing to add to the DVD when it comes out, well, DVD's of the Victorian and Edwardian Farm series were released some time after those were screened so I'm assuming one will be released for this series also at some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 The booklet that accompanies this series from the OU that I ordered arrived today, have had a brief scan through it, basically just highlights things that were gone over in the TV series with several photographs, a nice thing to add to the DVD when it comes out, well, DVD's of the Victorian and Edwardian Farm series were released some time after those were screened so I'm assuming one will be released for this series also at some time. obviously tim you got through to get the book then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted November 15, 2012 Author Share Posted November 15, 2012 (edited) The three disc DVD set of the series is now on offer from a few outlets. Due for release on 25th November. The price varies considerably between sources so if you're looking to aquire the box set search around for the best deal or put it on your Christmas present list. Rather than add a post I'll add to this one. I notice that someone is listing the booklet from the Open University that accompanies the series, which is free from the OU and is actually hoping to sell it and also charge post and packing for it as well! Someone ought to put this person straight. Edited November 15, 2012 by powerrabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 The three disc DVD set of the series is now on offer from a few outlets. Due for release on 25th November. The price varies considerably between sources so if you're looking to aquire the box set search around for the best deal or put it on your Christmas present list. Rather than add a post I'll add to this one. I notice that someone is listing the booklet from the Open University that accompanies the series, which is free from the OU and is actually hoping to sell it and also charge post and packing for it as well! Someone ought to put this person straight. There is always someone hoping to make money and I bet some fool will buy it! Thanks for the info on the DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted November 16, 2012 Author Share Posted November 16, 2012 The book is also available but again look around as the price of this one varies considerably as well, cheapest from the book shops is £12 and on eBay up to £24 odd including postage but the cheapest one listed is only £6.99 with £2.75 postage, that's a total of £9.74 I think I'll buy one of these. Link. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wartime-Farm-Rediscovering-the-skills-and-spirit-of-World-War-II-Peter-Ginn-R-/261110246991?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item3ccb622e4f Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Word of warning. I have bought books direct from the same seller but I have had substandard books on occasions. A lovely book my husband bought me about sailing ships had the last section including the index replaced by MOTORBIKES. Pity he did not check before buying it and the shop was closed down when he went to take it back. They do tend not to have shops except temporary ones and you can often see their books and other items offered for sale in office reception areas. Buying from eBay does give protection so a faulty book should be returnable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted November 16, 2012 Author Share Posted November 16, 2012 The listing is for a new copy so I have no reason at present to suspect anything different but we'll see when it arrives. If there is anything wrong with it the seller will soon feel my sharp end! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britainswomble Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 I've just read this topic from start to finish. What fascinating reading. I was born in 1952 and had forgotten many things mentioned here. I didn't have a particularly good childhood as I was one of the middle children of four and my father was brought up by his Victorian Grandmother and still lived by Victorian values. Children had to be seen and not heard. Showing affection made them weak etc. Typically Victorian. However, I often say to people, "I wish i could do it all over again, but only in the same time span as before" In spite of everything, and growing up in a world where we didn't have everything; I look back at my childhood with great memories. We did have more freedom as children, but more was expected of us in return. We made things to keep ourselves amused, usually from whatever we could find around the farm. We used to get things from the local tip and make something out of whatever we found. We often helped around the farm, feeding and cleaning out the animals. I was probably about eight when I used to help dad feed the animals. By the time I was thirteen I had done a fair bit of harvesting like bale carting etc, pulling wild oats, getting in fodder rape which was cut and collected by hand and brought in to the dairy cows on a horse and cart. At the age of thirteen I was driving tractors around the farm. I was only allowed to pull trailers for the first year though. One thing not mentioned though was how scratched and bloody our legs became stacking and moving bales. We wore short trousers to school and often got comments about our scabby legs! I too grew up in an era where nothing was thrown away until it had no further use, and I'm still like that now. I've had arguments with my 30 something boss at work over it. He just doesn't like clutter, but I have said to him that our so called "Clutter" is very often what gets our trucks back on the road when spares aren't readily available. My mother could make all sorts of tasty meals out of leftovers. Very little got wasted. The food we ate would probably be considered unhealthy now, (Stews etc) but we burnt off all the food we ate during the day. Very few children were over weight and our family were rarely ill in spite of being with animals etc. When I was very young we washed clothes in a "Copper" didn't have a TV, a washing machine, fridge or cooker. We always had electricity. No heating in our house! I too remember paraffin stoves in the bedrooms, paraffin nightlights, ice on the insides of windows, an unheated bathroom (When I was about five we had our first house with a bathroom). Children of today don't like eating "Plants and leaves". We absolutely loved the food we grew in our garden. Summer salads were a treat, especially as we were often sent up the garden to pick it for our meals. Surplus apples were wrapped in paper and stored for winter consumption, runner beans were salted in Kilner Jars, onions strung and hung in the "Pantry", meat was kept in a stone cooler that had water in the top. ( Osocool?? Blue door?) Ice cream and fizzy drinks were an occasional treat. Crisps were too! Mushrooms were picked off the fields around the farm. They were often picked when we were bored or walking out to get the cows in. Wild mushrooms and what we called "Horse mushrooms" were a real treat for breakfast. I'm glad I din't grow up in an era like today. We accepted life for what it was and were grateful for everything we had, including the beautiful world around us. When I was at Primary school I always remember the Harvest festival Church service. It was a time when we gave thanks for another good year, brought gifts for those less fortunate than ourselves and prepared for winter. Looking back there is little I would have wanted any different. I didn't always understand everything as a child, but I can see what my parents had to put up with. I feel sorry that my dad wasn't brought up in such easy circumstances as me, although as I got older I understood why he and I didn't always hit it off. Sadly he's gone, but luckily for me I still have my mum to laugh about the good old days with............. including the time she ruined her frying pan. Serves her right for hitting me over the head with it! It never did sit right on the stove after that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Horse mushrooms - one fills a pan! I did not live in the country as a child although my godmother lived on the farm which I LOOOOOOVED to visit. Short trousers were de rigueur for boys and certainly at my school long trousers were not permitted until the unfortunate reached 14 years. Girls were not allowed trousers at all - shock/horror at the thought of a "decent" girl wearing trousers! Times and values have changed but like you, William, I have lovely memories. I certainly never felt hard done by, I appreciated what I had and accepted what I was given gratefully. Christmas was magic but if someone said "what do you want for Christmas" the answer was generally "nothing" and it was true. And like you it was a case of children are seen not heard at least when visiting "grown-ups". I have memories of visiting a very old friend of my Grandmother's where I was sitting on a chair minding my own business and looking at the décor (what else can you do?) when Mrs Barrow said "Suzie, you do not want to sit here listening to two old ladies gossiping. Go out into the garden and look in the shed - my grandson's pedal car is in there so play with it." A PEDAL CAR! I was in heaven! Mrs Barrow - I remember her fondly. She and my grandmother had been friends for years but they always addressed each other as Mrs Barrow and Mrs Brenton never first names! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britainswomble Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 It's funny Sue that you should mention the fact that "Grown ups" didn't call each other by their first names. I too can remember that. Perhaps children weren't supposed to know the first names. Familiarity breeding contempt, perhaps. I've just said to my wife, that I'm not totally certain of any of my grandmothers or grandfathers first names, as they never addressed each other by them. Names like mother were used, but I suppose it's happening all over again to a certain extent. We are known a "Nan-nan and granddad" by our grandchildren. Funny how things change! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leakeyvale Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 The only people who used first names between themselves were relatives or friends from childhood otherwise it was always the formal Mrs or Mr even if they had been friends for 40 years or more! In the early 1900's when my grandfather told his parents he was intending to marry their comment was "you had better get on in the Navy if you intend to marry Mr Rebbeck's daughter" rather than Alice or even Miss Rebbeck. Very formal and very Victorian I suppose and my grandmother was a proper Victorian Miss in her younger days. I remember a story my mother told me about when my grandfather was late one morning and told my grandmother he had not chopped wood for the fire. My mother said that Grandmother had drawn herself up to her full height (5'2") and said "I have never chopped wood in my life and have no intention of starting now!" She didn't and also objected to Mother, then aged about 14, picking up the axe to do the job with "..and I don't expect my daughters to either". On the other hand she mellowed in later life and never objected to anything I did or wanted to do - even mini-skirts caused no comment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted November 21, 2012 Author Share Posted November 21, 2012 The book arrived this afternoon, came by courier. Fantastic book, full of photos, more like 'stills' from the series and a lot of 'posed' pictures as well. If you liked the series, which judging by the posts on this subject you all did, then this book is a must have. I'm going to get the DVDs as well and when they come I'll report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 I now have as from this mornings post got the 3 disc DVD of the series so can now watch the whole again on a wet cold winters day. I wonder what they will cook up next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 wartime farm christmas,on bbc2 NOW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 Just watched it. I'm not sure that it's on the DVD set, I think it is. I wonder wheather anyone would like to spend their Christmas day (and night) in a cave eating stuffed rabbit and drinking bpotato beer these days? Whilst here and on the subject of War Time Farm, a friend of mine sent me these two pictures. Although not 'period' but modern 'staged' shots, they do evoke the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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