Selfsufficientish.com

we are just about to make a solar dehydrator using Eben V. Fodor's book. I had great success making leathers last year and my prefered method for preserving toms is with the sun but often resorted to a fan oven due to dodgy weather. Red, a complete pasta sauce?? how do you do that? what's your fav ...

I use one extensively. I now have a top of the range side fan type, but startyed with the basic round five tray jobs. We make everything from jerky to dried tomatoes, home made fruit leathers...dried pasta sauces and chilli. People like Westafalia do basic models - and they are just fine http://www2...

We do have basic pressure cookers, but not purpose designed pressure canners. I know they are, to some extent, interchangeable, but size, proportions and often a lack of relevant weights makes canning in a pressure cooker problematic :)

Its important to remember though that those books are, from an animal understanding point of view, utter twaddle. Animals are animals. If we shouldn't interfere with their nature, are supposed to allow rats in our food, flies on out meat and or dogs to bite us as they try to assert a position in the...

Povester, Your local Bee keeping association will probably re-home the swarm (take it away and put it into a hive) if you ask them - generally free of charge (well its free here although a small thak you donation that goes the cost of running the association is always welcome). Once they get the que...

Once I get a veg garden established (another dilema for a different post!) I would like to reduce these trips, but then again, I might have more surplus to freeze/batch cook and freeze. I am confused! Thats the clincher for me. Storing garden produce. We try every way we can think of to keep veg fr...

Huh? Don't watch that sort of thing but did look up a video to understand. Nowt cruel about it - people have been training animals to do tricks - useful and otherwise - for millenia. At least the dog gets cmpanionship, interaction and some activity. Far less ignored than those lonely, inactive dispi...

Oh and recently there was a ferral cat which had a litter of kittens in the woodpile for our burner! Been there - done that http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7078/6975158708_e30e04c235_z.jpg Woodshed Invaders by British Red , on Flickr http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7045/7121253607_409d6e36e1_z.jpg Kitt...

Oh, and I'm not sure how you got to population control from the preceding discussion BR but it would appear you're much closer to the Permaculure nobs than you might think - it's one of their preciously held views. :lol: Its not much of a leap really. When we consider if a system is extensible, the...

Thats the kind of intensive farming I'm talking about contadina. I don't believe there is anything mutually exclusive about intensity and organic. Intensive - to me at least - means "hard work" - I cannot find any definition that equates the word with "animal cruelty" or " f...

Wasn't having a go or a dig at anyone ss - sorry it came over that way. I just don't believe permaculture works in the UK on any significant scale. It may well in Greece - but this little island has a massive - and growing - population density (over population). It is a massive statement to say &quo...

...and ex wives?

JuzaMum wrote: Anyone know how to persuade...one husband to give up the TV - I wish I knew

JuzaMum

Agent Provacateur, two bottles of wine, whipped cream and a willing girlfirend.

Nothing saying that a greenhouse cannot be heated by wood...or manure. I just despair of the "greener than thou" nonsense associated with permaculture. The population of this country cannot survive without food imported on cheap fossil fuels and land fertilised with hydro carbon derived fe...

I'm a wee wipes convert. Only for wee though...for number 2s it has to be toilet paper and then a wet wipe. I'm enjoying not flushing as often using wee wipes. I'm sticking to the Autralian Mantra: If it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow. Its fairly irrelevant how much you put d...