Selfsufficientish.com

Everyone has their own reading preferences and it is absolutely fine not to like late nineteenth century literature (can't stand it myself, got over it a long time ago). I don't expect my friends to like what I like, nor do I expect them to read what I do. I don't touch literature at all - I need so...

Bulk White Sauce mix (this makes a better white sauce than trying to make it from the start each time): 2 cups (500 g) powdered milk 1 cup (250 g) plain flour 2 teaspoons salt 1 cup (250 g) butter or margarine. Combine dry ingredients, add butter and blend until mix resembles dry breadcrumbs. Put in...

People often don't realise how close they are to being self-sufficient in some area of their lives. It really helps to have a good hard look at what you are doing, and often you realise that you are, indeed, no longer reliant on the dreaded supermarket for a large chunk of your life. Just as often, ...

The onset of menopause gave me ovarian cancer, so it ain't all good. ;) Please, please, please, if anyone experiencing menopause gets an otherwise unexplainable new round apple shape - large belly, no waist any more - get it checked out. If you start to have to get up every night to go to the loo, g...

I notice that most English based sausage recipe books insist that for wet sausages you always need some form of rusk - usually breadcrumbs pop up - rusk to absorb fat and flavour. But I have a bunch of French sausage recipes here and I note not a single one of them uses any form of rusk - although t...

I am worried most about onions. To grow enough for what I would like to eat I'd need to cut down on other crops. I can use leeks instead of onions, but I will need to develop strategies to cope with the inevitable onion-less weeks. Onions are the one thing I can't seem to grow in pots ... unless som...

I bought the best dehydrator that I could. I dehydrate just about anything I can get my hands on. Mine is a round one which can expand to 30 trays and yes I have and use all 30! I do have a vacuum sealer but I rarely seem to use it - fruit and vegies will last fine in an airtight glass jar - you can...

I am very restricted in the way I arrange my beds - my block slopes toward the north quite markedly - so everything steps down in a series of terraces toward the northern boundary - most of the beds are actually at different levels. I'd dearly love a FLAT piece of land with regular rows but I just c...

Interesting thread ... I would like to try growing ginger from the shop bought stuff, so come spring and the warmer weather will definitely give it a go. Thanks for the tips!

After coming out of a year to 18 months of being so ill, I need something to get me going again. So a couple of months ago I decided that in 2010 I wanted to be as self-sufficient as possible. I decided that: * In 2010 I will be 100% self-sufficient in vegetables and herbs. * I will be 30% self-suff...

*makes note of the fact you can put whiskey in a sausage ...*

Welcome Richard from half an acre at the other end of the earth from where you are :) Your new venture sounds amazing although I don't want to swap your winter for mine. :wink: Good luck with it all and don't forget to take some muscle rub with you. :wink: That and lots of hot deep baths will get yo...

Hello, Stuart - welcome from the edge of the world!

Sausages = SNAGS = Skin, Nose, Arse, Guts.

I am getting into making my own snags this year - I love gourmet sausages but they are way too expensive to buy, so will try my hand at making my own.

Mine grow all year round, too ... they're like triffids ... Well - I do think your climate is slightly different to ours... :wink: True - I am blessed by my climate for growing things here, but then I moved to Tasmania specifically for that reason. Most mainlanders think we are encased in snow the ...