Selfsufficientish.com

Not being too hard on yourself is a good tip but don't go too easy, either. Try to spend at least a little time with the guitar each day so that your skills (and finger toughness) get a chance to develop. As an exercise, I would suggest making sure you can change between chords smoothly is a good on...

I'm not sure that I'd be entirely happy relying on pH alone though - I know you can get a low pH with a relatively low level of titratable acidity if your water has very low alkalinity, and I suspect that adding vegetables to it could dilute it further and raise the pH beyond the safe limit. That's...

How wet is your compost already? Mine tends to get quite dry so adding liquid from time to time helps.

You can also use urine directly on the ground to feed plants and, in that case, it is recommended to dilute it first.

Wulf

In preserving, you are relying on the combination of ingredients and method to destroy nasty bacteria and prevent them from re-establishing. The vinegar trick uses acid to create an environment hostile to bacteria. ... and that makes me wonder if the important test of a vinegar is checking it's pH v...

Kohl rabi seems to be a favourite of my local cabbage whites. They were the ones crawling with caterpillars while my kale was relatively untouched. That worked out pretty well - I knew where to look when keeping the population down and by that point in the year, the kohl rabi leaves would be pretty ...

Do you mean plants you don't want or plants that someone without an -ish frame of mind wouldn't want?

Wulf

The best place to start is small. Don't worry about getting too much done now but, as spring starts to draw on, perhaps a herb garden near the back door would be a good start. If you are really impatient, you could get a few plants in now, though threats of an early and harsh winter make me a touch ...

I've been experimenting with fruit cheeses. The first batch came out like toffee - too much sugar and letting it boil too long, I think. However, my second attempt (apple and tomato, detailed notes on my blog ) came out much more like what I expected. Of course, I now have to wait a month for it to ...

There's a project running in the Philippines where they use old plastic bottles inserted in the roofs of shanty town dwellings to give light inside. From what I remember (I saw a video online but can't remember details) they have two tricks too make it work better than just a small glazed hole. Firs...

They should fall off naturally but it wouldn't hurt to give them a gentle rub. They've done their job once the fruit starts to set.

Wulf

Turning them inside out is a bit of a struggle. First cut away the side wall (a stanley knife will work - try some glycerine as a lubricant as it helps the rubber part easily). Then get a portion turned inside out and stand on it. Following that, you have to wrestle your way round the rest of the ty...

They have already offered wulf! Do you cook it just like ordinary spinach? pbf. Yes - after giving it a good wash (keep the water for putting on the garden - that way you aren't wasting any water but won't skimp on getting any dirt and critters out), you can boil, steam and anything else you might ...

I think it is fantastic. The only problem now is that it has grown so well that it is shielding other parts of the garden and I can't eat it fast enough to keep up. I will definitely grow it again next year, although I might grow in small stands rather than a long row. Perhaps the fellow allotment o...

We go for Carcassonne or Magic the Gathering in the Powell household... I do like Carcassonne too, so I'm not all about co-operative games. I've tried MtG in the past but put it down when I realised that progression was all about spending money to get more and more cards. I can see how it is a grea...

I wonder if our choice of favourite games is a reflection of our personalities... Possibly. I'm probably far enough away from you safely say that, judging from your world-dominating inclinations! :iconbiggrin: I also found a co-operative version of Settlers of Catan which I prefer to the original. ...