Selfsufficientish.com

To be honest these days it's quite easy to avoid most nasties in your products so long as you don't want to find everything in the supermarket - why on earth would you want to shop there anyway????? Crystal deodorants last for years and don't leave any white marks, natural cold processed soaps are v...

I've never washed my hair more than every 2 or 3 days but have found that if you use the commercial SLS type shampoos then you can get into a vicious circle of needing to wash more and more often and then needing loads of conditioner to compensate for stripping the natural oils. Not good. I use a sm...

Mine's still in a demijohn in the cupboard under the stairs, all indicates on various web sites indicate that it should be ready to drink by about September this year. It's stopped doing anything but no idea what it tastes like as I've not been near it since before Christmas at which point I was sur...

I saw it and found it quite interesting but not something I'd ever do as it looked like a heck of a lot of work to get things slightly out of season. I already extend my season in my polytunnel and produce more veggies than we can eat so don't see the need to do any more - it would have been better ...

I tried to some years ago but they rejected my application based on the credit check despite the fact that my credit rating was very good. I contacted them to point this out and they said it was probably administrative but wouldn't change the decision. I was quite disappointed.

I don't like using plastic for long term storage at all and would always prefer to use glass as it's more inert.

Canning is what the Americans call it, over here technically we should call it bottling. It is different to putting in jars though as the way in which you process things is different. I use normal jars for jams and jellies (these have low pH and high sugar) and chutneys and pickles (again low pH and...

I've got one of those wooden things that you wind the paper round to make little pots, make dozens of the things every year and they work really well. Sow all my chillies, peppers, aubergines, tomatoes and tomatillos in them which can then be potted on into 3" pots without any disturbance. They...

You also need to make sure you're growing early varieties which can be harder to get hold of. The ones that the likes of T&M are a bit rubbish to me but you can get some brilliant ones from the likes of Real Seeds which although a bit expensive to start with should work well, they give you great...

I have used the crystal sticks (not PitRok but the same stuff) rather than the spray. You simply wipe it over your wet armpits after a shower and it works brilliantly. If you've not showered then you need to wet the crystal first. Really really cheap as it lasts about 3 or 4 years (the crystal not t...

We're Warrington and well into the foraging thing, OH is good with mushrooms although I'm better with hedgerow stuff.

I've always made mine in plastic pop bottles (after a few days in a covered bucket) and it's usually ceased in a few weeks but I do mine just using the natural yeasts. Have you added other yeast and how much sugar? Might be worth checking the SG to see how much is left.

I have the book and it's really good, well worth getting for something that you'll turn to again and again over the years.

I only filled mine with sugar about 10 days ago and already the sides of the marrow are soft and a mit mushy and there is a fair bit of liquid seeping out the bottom. Is this normal? Note I've not had to make any holes in the marrow at all, it's just finding it's own way out.

Had ours installed last week and was impressed with how much they were generating today even when it was somewhat overcast. Really please but we are getting a lot of nosey visitors :)