Selfsufficientish.com

how old is she? could she be moulting? is she showing any sign of broodiness? sometimes chooks pluck away chest and belly feathers so that their warm little bodies can warm their eggs. if another chicken was pecking feathers the baldness would more likely be found on her head or bum. if you see any ...

filling the holes with earth gets dirt in between the forming layers. It makes them gritty when you eat them. If you water them in, soil washes down on to the roots but is not forced between the leaves. Leeks can grow quite substantial root systems. when putting the leek in the hole, if the roots ar...

I wait til pencil thickness. I don't trim. I make a good sized hole with a broken garden fork handle (in a bed that previously contained legumes if possible cos leeks love nitrogen) Then I bung a leek in each hole (usually only an inch or so of leaf sticking out the top of the hole. Fill holes with ...

well, good news bad news I guess :lol: you have there a wonderful loom. It would be wasted on ragrugs but you will be able to make some beautiful, highly patterned fine weave rugs and wall hangings. (that was the good news!) the bad news is, you will really need to enrol in a class to learn how to t...

Years ago, Safeways used only paper sacks made from recycled stuff. granted, they didn't have handles so weren't as convenient as carrier bags. Supermarkets thrive because they kid people into believing they are more convenient. Their marketing strategy depends upon people going in for one thing and...

Their yolks are not as orange as they are when we feed the commercial laying grain, but I would think more grass would do the trick. . brassicas are very good for yolk colour. suspended from above (not too high cos jumping can affect laying) chickens love a game of brassica swingball :lol: It's a g...

here's a tip for you..... choose a noise and make it each time you give them a treat. (we make a high pitched boc-boc-boc noise :oops: ) Soon, everytime you make that noise they'll all come running towards you like a pack of mini dinosaurs....sounds mad, but you'll see what I mean :lol: This will pr...

done

I always made my ragrugs without a loom. just cut into strips about an inch or two wide but all of differing lengths and mix them all up. Take three out and start a simple plait. as each 'ribbon' finishes just join another in by overlapping it slightly, no need to knot it cos your ribbons shouldn't ...

My eldest is 18. My youngest is four. The rules (or rather fashions) changed completely between the two but sadly, the interfering bossiness of health visitors remained the same. As for sterilising, I feel that germs can and do sometimes acculmulate to a dangerous level for children. Yes, some kids ...

the most difficult thing i feel, would be telling J that (s)he will be the only one not getting a go :( what a rotten position for any parent to be put in!!! I do feel for you. how about this by way of compromise.... go with the bowl suggestion, safer for J's eczema (plain water can irritate eczema ...

a sad fact is that people who steal tools from allotments can always sell them off cheap at bootfairs to people wanting cheap old tools to leave at their allotments :roll: vandalism is a very big problem at many UK allotment sites and I know of a great many folk who, after decades of hard graft, hav...

kohl rabi are quick and (like any brassica) will really appreciate the nitrogen.
Or leeks....mine are going in my broadbeans bed. When the beans are finished I cut them off at ground level so that the roots release all their nitogen as they rot down, just in time to give the leeks a boost

you'll never look back now you've started!

well done!

I have a deep paranioa about late frosts :oops: so in my allotment I have growing various types of onion and shallots broadbeans strawberries sweetpeas carrots (with nigella) assorted potatoes kohl rabi weird 'oca' tubers from realseeds and perrenal fruits like rasps and goosegogs but at home in pot...