Hello from new member!

[Goodlife1970]

Hi all,so pleased to have found this website,seems to be full of people like me! Three years ago my partner and I ran away from the Midlands with our then two baby girls,to start a new life in South Wales. We havent got acres just a garden but despite having to practically rebuild the cottage we have found time for hens,a huge veggie plot,wine making,breadmaking and flour milling,preserves,collecting firewood for my ancient but wonderful Rayburn and recycling all manner of weird and wonderful stuff! We had a baby boy in January last year and are expecting our fourth child,also a boy,in June! Id like to hear from anyone who is interested in anything self sefficient ish (well isnt that why Im here?) and have a burning desire to know how to do anything and everything!

[Andy Hamilton]

SOunds like you know a bit already. What a nice set up you have I walked over to south wales a couple of weeks ago, just to chepstow.

Welcome to the site, with a name like I think you will be quite at home here.

[ina]

Hi Goodlife, and welcome to the site!
Sounds like you are miles ahead of most of us... Don't we all aspire to a bit of the goodlife? Looking forward to learning from you!

[glenniedragon]

Welcome! sounds like you're well on your way to losing the-ish! I'm sure you'll love it here. Flour milling, that sounds fun do you use a quern or something more modern?

kind thoughts
Deb

[Tigerhair]

Welcome! Jeez, I have trouble keeping up with my one two-year-old - let alone 4 of them! You are very welcome...

[Shirley]

Hellooooo

You sound like you'll fit in just perfectly....

Looking forward to getting to know you better.

[hedgewitch]

Hello and welcome to the forum, I'm looking forward to reading your posts too

[Wombat]

G'DAy Goodlife,

Welcome to the site! Sounds like a great setup you have there. Look forward to hearing more about how you set yourself up and what you get up to.

Nev

(PS I live in NEW South Wales! )

[Goodlife1970]

Hi Deb,Im afraid I use an electric cereal mill,not very self sufficient I know but it does the job and makes the neighbours wonder what Im up to!

[ina]

If you grind all your own flour for bread etc, and that for a family of 5, you'd be at it all day if you didn't do it electrically... I've got a manual mill, and anything above 250g is really too hard to do.

[Goodlife1970]

Hi Ina,thats quite true! Im not sure how much my mill grinds over any given time but its certainly easier than doing it by hand.I bet your flour is of a nicer texture than mine though being hand milled (is that stoneground?) What wheat do you use? Ive bought the expensive organic wheat but found the glueten content too low for breadmaking,I ended up with several bricks,so now Im using organic chicken wheat and mixing it with 1/3 bread flour (after sieving out a high proportion of the bran) for breadmaking.Its fine for biscuits and cakes though (with the addition of a little baking powder for rise)

[Millymollymandy]

Hello Goodlife and welcome to the site. Milling chicken wheat - that's food for thought - except I don't have a mill, electric or otherwise! Nor can I buy organic chicken wheat. Oh never mind!

[Libby]

Hiya Goodlife

[woolcraft]

Hiya Goodlife, Your life sounds just brill, but I know how much work it will be - having brought up 5 young'ens myself. Look forward to reading your posts. Sue

[ina]

Hi Ina,thats quite true! Im not sure how much my mill grinds over any given time but its certainly easier than doing it by hand.I bet your flour is of a nicer texture than mine though being hand milled (is that stoneground?) What wheat do you use?

I must admit that I've not done much grinding recently.... It's so much easier to buy the stuff, and I get it from a shop where it's reasonably fresh and cheap. I do sometimes grind wheat very coarsely, for a kind of porridge. My mill is metal, by the way. But yes, you'd have to find the right wheat if you want to use it for bread, and that might be more difficult than anything else, unless you happen to know a farmer who grows breadwheat and lets you have a bag or two.