Selfsufficientish.com

g'day everyone i want a good recipe for a weatherproof whitewash. i want to use it to weatherproof hessian stretched on a bamboo framework. i have plenty of surplus eggs and whey and goat fat; if these ingredients can be incorporated so much the better. or if anyone knows a better way of preserving ...

goldfish will prevent the pond from becoming stagnant. water weeds can be planted in baskets to keep them away from fittings that might get clogged. a complete ecosystem that is self-sustaining will emerge within a week or two if you only put in enough good soil to sustain the plants and a few young...

plant them whenever you can plant ordinary radishes - in temperate climates all year round. sow thickly and eat the thinnings as salad radishes, then let the rest fill out.
wyverne [/b]

thanks for the warning, jed! i'll stick to ornamentals henceforth!
wyverne

i'm using tyres for low walls, and just white-washing them to reduce their heat-absorption in summer. they lend themselves very well to having trailing things planted in them (pumpkins do splendidly, periwinkle - vinca major - is attractive year round, ivy, livingstonias etc), and with the right cho...

if it's clothes moths you mean, lavender works - you could include it in a pot pourri with camphor laurel, southernwood etc. but it needs to be strong - you need several placed around the room, or else put it in sachets to protect things in drawers. the easiest way is to spray the room, especially t...

so at last my oldest carob tree is beginning to bear good crops and the younger one will start soon too if it is a female - and i've got new ones coming on. the beans are delicious to chew when just ripe, but quickly become too fibrous to swallow. can anyone tell me how to turn them into the soft, c...

strategically placed mothballs, or small containers of household ammonia (in a screwtop jar with holes in the lid), will keep dogs from widdling on your plants. pieces of fresh or dried orange or lemon peel scattered over a seedbed will keep cats away too - so can rue.
wyverne

bay leaves in the containers solved my weevil problems - nowadays i see no weevil, hear no weevil, speak no... seriously though, weevils are a family of beetles, and are often blamed for food spoilage due to other insect species. i used to work on an outback sheep station as a governess in the 1960s...

wouldn't walking be the ultimate in self sufficiency? i know of people who actually drive themselves in petrol-guzzling internal combustion machines to gymnasiums where they can pay a small fortune in money for exercise they wouldn't need if they used their own bodies instead of machines for a chang...

The flowers are self-pollinating, and the seeds germinate readily provided you plant them as soon as you take them out of the lemon, and before they can dry out. give them a 2 - 4 inch terracotta pot or similar, with good soil, loamier than the supermarket potting mixtures - add a good quantity of g...

I ate them very often for a long time, but after a few years of it they made me a bit incontinent. This often happens with wild plants. In nature, you're expected to pay for what you eat, and some plants have evolved diuretic or aperient properties or both to ensure that they get their payment in hi...

All except one of our five citrus trees are grown from pips. i start them inside in terracota flowerpots and in our warm climate they grow happily outside. They love urine, but don't overdo it - too much nitrogen can make them dry and stringy instead of juicy. Woodash is a good source of potash too ...

I grow daikons (japaese radish), and even in my adobe soil with variable water quality (from the murray) they are gutsy little performers, and taste great. Eaten raw, they're milder than radishes, and are superb cooked like turnips. Their flavour is between the two but without the strong aftertaste ...

thanks for the friendly welcome. it's great to be in touch with so many people from all over the world. i've got some spare time toda so i'll be browsing the forum and soaking up the ambience.
happy self-suffing!
wyverne