Badgering Around in the Forests and Fells

McGonks' April Challenge - Day 1

The first day of April, Easter Monday, dawned dull and grey, not at all as the weatherman had predicted, so McGonks sat it out in the comfort of home, waiting for the clouds to clear and the sun to fight its way through the leaden sky. It took all morning!

 

By afternoon, the sun was shining from a blue sky, so we headed off into the wilderness to follow the trails of the Sneach and the wild animals that inhabit the lands around Frugaldom.

 

Along the way, the sun had melted patches of snow and little Hooter McGonk was able to find all sorts of exciting objects - none more so than this huge bone! McGonks were too scared to venture too close to this, just in case they got scoffed by whatever had been gnawing on the bone!

 

A little further along, they came to a giant cavern! Or at least that's what it looked like - a massive earthen cave! No amount of snow had stopped its inhabitant from scraing and digging to keep it clear. Hooter, being his usual nosy self, ventured right up to the mouth of the cave, peering in from a fairly safe distance. He assumed the residents were home and asleep, as they had left a rock in the doorway, probably to hold down any mail that the postman might deliver. Afterall, it was quite windy out there, despite the sunshine and blue sky.

What an Easter 'egg'citing day Hooter had!

 

He was absolutely exhausted by the time he returned home. But to his delight, he found a lovely surprise awaiting him - the first quail egg of the year! Tiny Hooter was quite shocked by the enormity of it all and developed a sudden fascination for eggs - that's when he discovered that he could actually fit inside a duck egg!

 

Being relativey new to Thrift Cottage, the McGonks had never seen a quail egg before, so the great red chief, Ruaidhri (Rory) McGonk, himself, had to have his photograph taken standing guard over the precious egg, too.

 

It remains to be seen if the egg will ever reach the plates of those in need of nourishment and sustainance, as the McGonks seem to be treating it as though it may hatch out a miniscule McGonkette at any minute!

 

Wouldn't that be a miracle!

McGonks' Christmas Clootie Dumpling

Traditional Scottish Clootie Dumpling

It's Christmas Eve here in Scotland and that means one thing for McGonks - the making of the Christmas clootie dumpling!

 

What is a 'clootie dumpling', you may well ask. Well, a 'cloot' is a cloth and the dumpling is the cakey goodness that gets boiled inside it to make pudding to have as part of the Christmas dinner. It's a really easy recipe and you can mix and match anything you like into the basic 'goo'. We use raisins or sultanas, but you might choose to include chopped nuts, glace cherries, dried mixed fruit or even grated vegetables, seeds or grains. Our 'secret' family recipe can be found here.

 

We sent one of the junior McGonks to fetch the cloot this morning and that was when panic struck the tiny, furry inhabitants of Thrift Cottage - they couldn't find the pudding cloth!

 

"Fear not," declared the wise, red King Ruaidhri, "we'll make a new one!"

 

With that, he began giving instructions to little 'Rory', while the other McGonks scurried around Thrift Cottage looking for suitable materials.

 

We still aren't sure if this will work, but we're trying using a freebie pillowslip that had never been used. It's more of a pillow protector than an actual cotton pillow cover, so it remains to be seen if it will hold the Christmas dumpling together for long enough to cook it! We cut our circle the exact same way we do the Tam o'Shanters, only on a much larger scale! Then we'd to rinse it and scald it in boiling water to ensure it was clean. So far, so good - it didn't disintegrate in the boiling water! (McGonks were banished from the area during the use of scalding water.)

Flour, suet, sugar, spices, raisins, syrup and treacle - these all need to be weighed and then mixed together with some milk to turn it into pudding goo! Ruaidhri junior had great fun bouncing about the bowls, jars and tins, making sure all the right ingredients got added in the right combination and in the right quantities. He was most helpful, only falling into the pudding bowl once - thankfully before the ingredients went into it!

 

Once it was ready to mix with the milk, things go a little bit too sticky and messy for 'Rory' junior, so he was asked to stand back and observe from a safer distance.

 

The pudding got stirred and mixed, stirred and mixed, adding the milk little by little so it didn't turn into a soggy, muddy looking mess. Once it looked good - not too gloopy, not too doughy, the cloot got rung out so it was nice and damp, laid inside a big bowl and then a sprinkling of flour added, which clung to the damp cloth like frost around a freezing glen.

 

The pudding mix was then poured, scraping every last morsel into the 'cloot', then it got tied firmly, with enough space for the goo to slowly turn into a big dumpling. You have to be firm and strict with dumplings! They must be tied in tightly, lest thye attempt to escape or, worse still, break free!

 

Now we have ten McGonks sitting patiently waiting for the dumpling to bump, bubble and boil in the big pan of water, but they'll need to be patient. The dumpling won't be ready to unwrap for at least 3 hours! Let's just hope that it doesn't burst out of its thrifty, homemade cloot before that!

 

With some festive luck, we'll be back later to update you on progress and, hopefully, with a photo of the McGonks' first attempts at making their own Christmas clootie dumpling!

 

McGonks

Clan McGonk Welcomes You All

Welcome to Clan McGonk!

Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a clan of Scottish gonks, many of them known as McGonks. As the years passed, new rulers and new rules came to the lands of Scottish gonks and this, in turn, saw the demise of these tough, hardly little creatures. In fact, many of them had to go into hiding! They searched out the darkest recesses, hiding out until long forgotten. For many, they found themselves confined to the realms of understair cupboards, boxrooms and even BINS!

McGonks were never meant to be toys - although there were gonk toys. McGonks, for me, were a token reminder (and very hard reminder, if inadvertently hit by one) of the hardy Scots and their tough ways of surviving a cold and, for many, inhospitable environment. Wastefulness was everywhere and the humans wanted bigger and better 'playthings'.

By the late 1990's, simply, frugal little gonks were a thing of the past - overtaken by the techno-furry, whizzkid known as the Furby! Now, once again, the fabulous techno-Furby has resurfaced, but we're ready for them this time!

Archie McGonk says,
"Fun can be frugal, fun can be free, you don't need a fortune to have fun with me!"

The ancient tribes of McGonks were never overly adventurous, that seems to have been their problem. Brave, yes, without doubt, but not as adventurous as our modern-day heroes. But nowadays, a McGonk can go almost anywhere, be it by horseback, bicycle, plane, train or automobile. In fact, once you have a McGonk as a friend, it will willingly accompany you almost anywhere you want to go.

Clan McGonk is ruled firmly, but fairly, by the red king. Being of Scottish descent, many of the clan names are of old Celtic or Gaelic origin, so Ruaidhri McGonk is well named. Ruaidhri ('Rory' to you and I) means 'red king'. He has set up home, along with many of his kinsfolk, in Thrift Cottage. His sidekick, Bhreac, is easily spotted and never mistaken. (Bhreac is gaelic for speckled.)

McGonks are very frugal - they hate waste and try to make the most of everything they find, recycling everything from bottle tops to buttons, scraps of fabric, cardboard and even shredded paper. They love recycling! In fact, they even have pet worms to help recycle the mealtime scraps into 'worm juice' plant food, which can then be used to feed the fruit trees and vegetable plants.

Thrift Cottage lies in the heart of the tiny kingdom of Frugaldom, which lies along an ancient hill ridge in the Machars area of Galloway, southwest Scotland. It is from here that they have succeeded in re-establishing a small clan of McGonks, one that is growing steadily, ady by day. Indeed, several have already left and are on their way to investigate other corners of Britain.

Right now, Angus McGonk is preparing to set off and amke his way even further afield... across land and sea, sand and surf, all the way to Egypt!

During the coming months, years and, possibly, decades, we will be following these adventures, recording the trials and tribulations of the various McGonks as they set out to conquer the 21st Century world. It's sure to be a rollercoaster ride but it is one in which ANYONE can take part. All you need is your own McGonk.

We have already set up the McGonks Adoption Agency at http://frugaldom.ebid.net but if you would prefer to make your own, then check back here soon to become part of our 'make a McGonk workshop. It will be online here, free for anyone to enjoy.

We'll be back very soon with more news of Clan McGonk and details of the free workshop. In the meantime, you can subscribe to this blog and come visit Clan McGonk on Facebook, where you can add your own McGonk photos and news. There's also a McGonks website at www.mcgonks.com that should make it easier for folks to remember where to find us.

Until next time x