This week at Top Notch Vintage Towers – I show you my shed roof or rather the space where the roof used to be, before it got completely trashed by my neighbour’s mahoosive tree branch.
We take a visit to a local Fabric Barn to look at lovely soft furnishings fabrics then more disaster areas in the garden as my ‘to-do’ list gets bigger and bigger. We’re back at the allotment and boy have things grown – but… things have mostly been munched by the peskies.
As we’re now in spooky season I show you a little of my vampire books collection which is gradually being listed on the website. And finally – it’s not Christmas without the traditional Christmas alien is it! LOL
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Stir fried rose harissa pak choi recipe I made:
• Onions.
• Sun dried tomatoes
• Chick peas.
• Peppers.
• Rose harissa paste.
And I can report back that it was indeed lush!
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Thanks for watching my video, please like and subscribe if you want to see more of my content. I am an over 60 old crone, aging goth and former owner of a brick n mortar vintage shop in Somerset UK, which I closed late 2024 and now sell exclusively on my website, link below.
As I found myself with more time on my hands, I got an allotment plot in the village and started my adventure into growing veg and becoming more self sufficient. Thus with an abundance of home grown food this also initiated having to start baking, so you will see my cooking and baking experiments, fails and successes on here too, as well as allotment fails such as my constant battle with caterpillars.
Naturally there is also a fair amount of vintage clothing, accessories and jewellery for me to show you, try on and find, as I frequent local charity shops and carboot fairs and I also visit posh antique shops too, as well as garden visits and exhibitions and whatever else takes my fancy to visit in and around Somerset.
If you see anything you like from any of the videos then please contact me via my website, or search the site to see if I have listed it yet. If not then just ask me about it.
Visit my vintage shop: https://topnotchvintage.co.uk/
Instagram: @topnotchvintageshop
Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/mortalandwild
All music via Udio.
It’s not Christmas without an alien, is it? Hello people. Right, this week on the vlog, I show you the annihilation that is left of my tool shed. Oh my god. Basically roofless. Then we I’ll show you some other bits in the garden as well, which are just basically just the the disaster zones in the garden. Things that I’ve got to do before the end of the month. I want a deadline cuz I got to get it done before the bonfire. But before any of that nonsense, we had a me and Morin had a little trip to a local fabric bomb just down the road in Queen Camel because she’s seen a lovely vintage chair that needs recovering. So, we’re on the hunt for an upholsterer and some lovely fabric. So, I haven’t been to this place in quite a few years. So, thought I’d take a look, see what they what they’re up to. So, if you love fabric, if you love interiors, interior soft furnishings, this place is amazing. And it’s in such a beautiful setting. It’s absolutely gorgeous. But I love that with the little monkeys. That was so imagine that in a kid’s room. Be so cute. But yeah, absolutely. Just it’s like a whole house basically in every room has got different fabrics in it. But yeah, wonderful if if you’re um a curtain maker or interior designer. And that was fabulous. That’s like cruel work. So I saw that in a couple of different colorways. So, yes. Anyway, I should let you have a little look around here. I might put some jazzy music up next. Catch you in a bit later. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Okay, so that’s my summer house which I can’t use because it’s forever done. And this is the reason why a humongous sycamore tree from my neighbor. And so it overhangs and it never gets any light and it never dries out. But that’s not the worst of it. Let me show you the remains of my tool shed. And inside are now thoroughly wet logged lawn mower strimmer. There’s an electric plug down there which will be getting nicely rained on and roof no more. And you see just how much this tree is a right pain. There’s a bit of a dead branch there. And it’s just huge. That’s the root of it. So, what to do? Hey, what to do? So, something nicer or something not so nice just behind lots of apples. So, I’m going to make apple cider vinegar this year. So, I bought a pot and some sugar, and I just need to get that sterilized. I can crack on with that. But the not so nice thing is, can you see it? Bloody great metal roof paneling which has been put back about three times already. And here it is back again. It is wherever there is. Oh dear. Oh no. What to do? Another thing. Anyway, I um trimmed the raspberries and the mud currants back a bit. So, you can actually see in here now. So, I’ve t them quite a lot actually. And Look how much the grass has grown. Need to get that lawn. I had a lawn mower now. So, another light barrier is this tsunami of a hedge, which I do as much as I can with a pair of secrets. That’s all I’ve got really, but I can’t reach any higher. And all of this I’m left with which I somehow have to get that over to the bonfire. Oh my god. Overwhelm. Where do I start? So this is dish. It is my pec choy and spinach from the aotment. Chickpeas, onions, pepper from the a lotment. Um, sundried tomatoes stir fried in this rose harissa, which oh my god is so tasty. It smells delish. So that’s my dinner tonight. I am, as we’re in spooky season, I am adding a new category to the shop website, which as you can see, I’m in the midst of adding all these books, and they are all spooky, vampire, collectible, and vintage books. So, some are already on the website and some are to come. And there’s a lot more than what’s here. This is just the load that were stacked up on one of my shelves. I have another several more boxes to come with. I think I’ve got um hardbacks and other kind of spooky spooky sort of books as well. But anyway, stage one of adding vintage books to the website. Oh yes, there’s going to be magazines coming too. Some collectible and vintage magazines. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I keep forgetting to bring the camera down to the a lotment. But uh spinach has done me good. Well happy with how that’s turned out. The pack choy right. Look at it. It’s full of holes. Caterpillars. Need I say more? However, if you cut those bits off, I’ve been eating it anyway. Still nice. I haven’t liked the purple one so much. So, do more of that next year and then some more there. Oh, hang on. Right, the back. So, look at the state of these. Oh, definitely going to have to rethink the security for uh brassacas next year. I’m going to cut these down. I’m just so fed up of picking caterpillars off. So, this is the purse lane. And then I’ve got some cabbage in between there. And there’s a couple of cabbage there. Some of which have been eaten. And then this is the more hardy uh winter spinach, which doesn’t look as well as my other spinach. That looks like a sneaky pack to got in there. That’s supposedly salad again. Well munched. But they don’t seem to like the purple stuff, do they? That’s interesting. I might do a completely goth Purple. Do everything purple. Uh, this was the mustard again. Munched. So, I have a a pumpkin. Look at that. Oh no. Oh no. I’ve literally just sat in the water and can got a wet bum. Oh, classic. Classic. That is such a classic. So, uh, yeah, I think that’s the only one that’s still alive. That one there. So, that’s my one and only pumpkin. I do have another one, but it’s I think it’s fallen off. So yeah, mildew is still going strong, but there are I’m going to have to come through the other side so I can get to it. Hang on. Oh. I really can’t be bothered to pick off any more caterpillars. I’ve just picked so many off. It’s like I’ve not been able to do any of the jobs because my entire time has been spent picking off pesky caterpillars. I mean, look at the devastation. Look what they’ve done. They’ve eaten it all. So yeah, writing these off as a lost cause, which is such a shame because they actually grew really well. They look like they were going to be I’d be making lots of kale chips. But anyway, so yeah, the squash I was trying to get to show you. There is what? There, there, there. You can just see there’s one growing there. But I don’t know whether it’s too late. Oh god, I’ve got to cut all that mildew off there, haven’t I? I don’t know whether it’s too late because of the frost, whether we just like basically too late getting them getting them going. But anyway, I’m going to leave it and just see what happens. See if they die off. cuz after all this is our first year me mooring on our a lotments. So, but you know as it is it’s looking pretty lush for my little my tiny little plot. There’s a lot of abundance here, isn’t there? Even if it is only the caterpillars that are liking it. Oh, look. It’s another little pumpkin in there. It’s a little diddy one. So, right, I’m going to switch off and I’m going to finish watering and I’m going to cut off those molded leaves and I shall catch you later. Oh my god, I’ve got my iPad so precariously balanced. I think the slightest movement in it will fall. Right, I just wanted to show you these which I had these cards which I had made and they’re basically these are you get one of these thank you cards when you buy something from the shop but if you’re interested I could also sell them if you want to start collecting them or whatever I could sell them individually. So, I got those. But I also like you get those now this time like just any time of the year, but at Christmas you get one of these special Christmasy ones, which are evil kitties. Glum goth doesn’t like Christmas. And of course the traditional Christmas alien. It’s not Christmas without an alien, is it? But yeah, but if you’re interested because I will with those actually um Oopsie. Let me grab one. I got these nice blue blue envelopes. So if you wanted a set like to send your own Christmas cards. So any single like postcard um but if you wanted some then I can sell those as well. I just thought they look great with the blue card with the blue envelope I mean. Yeah. So anyway so let me know if you want to buy any of these individually but they’re nice good nice quality. You can see they’re nice and thick. Uh, and good fun, I think. [Music]
Dining and Cooking