Horseshoe at door

How many of you have a horseshoe nailed above your door? This tradition dates back hundreds of years and is said bring you luck. The actual story is all to do with keeping the Devil away.

The story is that Saint Dunstan was once asked by the Devil to shoe his single hoof.

Saint Dunstan realised who the Devil was and proceeded to tie him up with ropes and then nailed a horseshoe to the Devil’s hoof in such a manner that caused him great pain. The Devil begged for mercy and Dunstan only agreed to remove the shoe and release the Devil after the Devil promised never to enter a place where a horseshoe is displayed.

 

Keep the Devil away!

Has anyone heard the Cuckoo yet?

I was shoeing a good friends horse the other day and we were talking about the lack of Cuckoo’s around these days. My friend is a writer for The Times and had just had a meeting with a guy from the British Trust for Ornithology. They are conducting a study of the numbers of Cuckoo’s that come to the UK each year. Numbers have really fallen in the last couple of years and you can help the BTO  by going to their website and letting them know if and where you have heard one.

We’ve changed our name!

We are proud to announce our new identity, Made by the Forge (you previously knew us as Kitchen Irons). As a valued subscriber to our blog we are happy to offer you 10% off* all our products; including our latest addition, beautifully hand forged handles. Each one is totally unique so you can achieve an elegant new look without the expense of a new kitchen.

*10% discount on all purchases to existing customers and subscribers during May 2012. Use discount code MBTF04 at the online checkout.

Spring foal

My friends new born foal is so gorgeous. Spring is here.

 

 

Towel rail

Last week a good friend asked me to make them something to hang their hand towel off in their small downstairs cloakroom. This is what I came up with.

Blacksmithing….

Blacksmithing…

Heat it…Draw it out…

Upset it…Twist it…Drift it…

Punch it…Weld it…File it…

Blend it…Fuller it…Swage it…

That’s about all there is to it!

Trees in and looking good

The rain has given our new trees lots of life to climb their plastic tubes into the world. They seem to be growing fast. They are really looking healthy and good.

 

 

What’s in my kitchen?

My long bread board is one of my favourite  things in my kitchen. It is great for chopping on and for serving up cheese and biscuits. I find it easy to clean as the handle means dry hands plus hanging it up means it is always just there.

 

 

Cosy dogs

Today was incredibly uncomfortable for me shoeing horses. I got soaked through completely twice. Not nice. However my dogs were cosy!

Preparing the ground for the trees

It always seems that any sort of preparation before a task takes so long.

The early heat wave on Sunday made for a perfect day preparing the ground for our young trees. We took Mr Castleden’s advice and put down a membrane so that the little trees don’t have to compete with the weeds for moisture. The actual line took a lot longer to get perfectly straight than expected. Planting will resume for our pledge at the weekend.