Selfsufficientish.com

hedgewizard wrote:You'd have loved my gran (I hate your new avatar btw - you look like you might have a shotgun hidden in your coat and someone has just told you they can't serve you breakfast because it's 11.01am) - she was very fond of pig's trotters and never, ever, threw anything away.

I'm with your gran - pigs trotters are great.

As for the avatar, I thought it amusing to go with a feral look for a while.

I was going to make a post about the new avatar but will go along with hegewizards point.

Hello folks

Thanks for all of this. A few days into not having a fridge hasn't really worked for the dairy stuff. It's been really mild here for a few days and we've lost a few things already, plus fermenting stewed apple for breakfast this morning, yum yum.

The hessian and terracotta options sound good and we will have a go, but perhaps next month? We'll still keep veg in the larder.

If anyone fancies popping in (East Sussex) for the grand switching ON of the fridge, you would be most welcome.

Sharon

I'd been hoping to do away with my fridge, too - but then maybe I shouldn't have tried it in the hottest summer of all times! I do have a double claypot outside, but it didn't work well enough for dairy produce (especially when I forgot to keep it wet...).

That story about margarine falling off the window ledge rings bells, too ! It happened to me when I first lived in London, in a rented room... My landlady thought it was a strange German custom , to keep cheese on the windowsill and throw it down occasionally. It landed outside her backdoor, and got eaten by the cats and dogs.

In winter I use my guestroom as a walk-in fridge. Without guests in it, of course. With the window open it's well cold enough for most stuff; sometimes I keep dairy produce outside in a box.

I've stayed with friends where the guest room was an unintentional fridge! Well, didn't see any cheese in there. Think we've lost touch with them now ...

My grandparents had larders like the one Martin describes - even down to the beaded nets but Nan also had a hole in the garden for meat and milk - just about one foot square (30 cms) but deeper than that, lined with slates and with a lid on top. The hole was kept cooler by a flap of turf, still attached to the lawn, that sat over the top.
I just want to add that I was very young!