Selfsufficientish.com

Knowing which seed company is not owned by another is something I'm not good at ....

Suttons Seeds website says that they will post to the EU but there are various hoops to jump through. May change of course and they just haven't got round to it.

The minion allotment worker daughter has taken up jam and chutney making with a lot of the fruit glut we have had this year. I've found her a lot of jam jars to help with that. Didn't do at all well on the onions - late start, jackdaws pulling up - so those have had to be shop bought for the chutney...

It's going to be beetroot and red cabbage for pickling if the promised jars turn up.

Just got to run it passed the works management of course. They may not see things the same as the lady in your life Viper.

Obviously none of us are prepared to live off grid and provide all our own utilities. That's a whole different way of being self sufficient.

If there is one thing that 2020 has shown, if your lifestyle basics aren't right you are never going to be self sufficient. I've spent the last couple of months renewing some of the basics on the allotment I plan to keep next year in order to ensure that I can grow as much as possible. After 13 year...

We've just finished clearing plums, pears and cooking apples. Am still in the process of clearing eating apples as these are easy to reach and don't require the minions to go up ladders. Also the daughter has discovered that the decorative crab apples can actually be used for jam so that's something...

Maybe it's gooseberries don't like you DnD

At least you know the pitfalls now. Hope that you will be welcomed back - best to leave your name on the waiting list mind.

Picture of growing things in cakes livens a boring day.

If you’re going to cook with them, look for slightly under ripe – but not rock-hard – berries. For eating raw, choose berries that yield to the touch, and are juicy. You can check before picking can't you? Have you tried making something like crumble to see if that is as bad as the jam? Do you think...

Now I didn't know that Ina. Should have asked here first.

I come back to this ancient conversation as I'm reducing my allotments back to 1 from 2 after three years. We've a waiting list for a change so it's not fair to keep two as they are big ones. It's recycling I suppose. However, I want to take cuttings and fruit bushes from the newer one back to the o...

Sheesh. Friday morning was the morning that was. Of the 4 sites with allotments on them, the biggest one has 40 full sized plots. We managed to persuade the association treasurer to pay for a second skip in the last 6 weeks to get rid of all the rubbish that folks had collected over the years. You'd...