Selfsufficientish.com

Nearly ready: 40 pints of bitter, black cherry wine and some "chardonnay" - all from kits.

Started some mead yesterday.

Does anyone else find watching the bubbles in the airlock hypnotic and comforting or is that just me>

Wassail

Karen

This site reproduces out-of-copyright cookbooks. Mostly from the 1800s and early 1900s there are lots of old-fashioned, frugal ideas in them.

http://www.vintagerecipes.net/

Wassail

Karen

I think one of the main problems is that people have become very desensitized to advertising and just absorb the info without questioning it. If any of you have some spare time (ha ha) then there is a very good series up on Google video all about advertising and how people are manipulated by it. Fou...

Ah, the very funny, very talented Tim Minchin. Well worth finding some of his other stuff on Youtube (not always suitable for kiddies!).

Wassail

Karen

We get free compostable material courtesy of the local council's cemetary maintenance team. We've been barrowing large amounts of now unwanted annual bedding plants and putting them on top of cardboard and newspaper and then covering the whole lot with plastic to rot down.

Oh, and weeding...

There's a good article giving a general overview here http://www.allotment.org.uk/articles/Allotment-History.php Cost can vary. I pay a measly £13.50 per year for two plots which is cheap. In London and other high-demand areas it can be £100 a year. Average is probably about £30 per year. Average si...

Speaking of raisins. Does anyone have a recipe for Black Beer and Raisin wine?

Wassail

Karen

I've had one of those "isn't it obvious"? moments that always leave me feeling a bit daft (shut up at the back!). Caterpillars are attacking my brassicas. Well, not all of them. They're leaving the red cabbages well alone. Of course, if you are bright green hanging around on something this...

Digging up the "odd" spuds we found sprouting around the plot which we stuck in a corner and which seem to have done better than the ones we bought... Covering bald bits over with newspaper and cardboard and piling comfrey and weeds on top. Our soil is very sandy and if it isn't covered or...

Well, I'm a polytheist, animist and I worship my ancestors (and you can argue all you like about which god(s) are out there but I KNOW I've got ancestors ).

Why? Personal experience as well as some shared ones.

Wassail

Karen

I've used blackstrap molasses to make Shoofly Pie which is very nice either by itself or with custard. Various recipes here http://www.berksweb.com/pam/shoofly.html The closest one on that page to the one I do is this one Shoo Fly Pie 1 c. flour 2/3 c. brown sugar 1 Tbsp. shortening 1 tsp. baking so...

Lots of info and how to instructions for making and using primitive technology.

http://www.primitiveways.com/

I think not having a TV has provoked the most reactions and, oddly enough, the most hysterical "What do you do in an emergency?" being my favourite. DH once answered the door to someone trying to flog Sky who, upon being told there was no TV in the house got most upset and said "But y...

Yes, you can use alcohol - in fact, wine is one of the recommended steam generators. Even so, being ultra-cautious, I always boil for a couple of minutes before putting on the lid if I'm using wine, and I'd do that anyway if using beer, lager or cider to get rid of the fizziness. Thanks! I do like ...

In the end went for a not so cheap version in Stainless Steel and made in Germany. Pleased with it so far and amazed how quiet it is - just goes "pssst" occasionally like a steam iron. What I have been unable to find out is whether you can use alcohol in recipes - beef in beer and so on, o...