2009 the big Selfsufficientish Year - one month challenge

[Andy Hamilton]

I don't mind a bit of blogging if it will help you.

Great! It could be good to have you chart your progress if you like? Want me to get you a blog set up now for you to use?? Give me a PM.

[Flo]

Andy - I've sent you a PM which seems to have decided to stick in my outbox. Ho hum. no idea what to do about that.

[Millymollymandy]

Flo - all PMs sit in the Outbox until they are picked up by the recipient at which point they go into your Sentbox. Then you know that they have been read!

[Flo]

Thank you Millymollymandy - learn something new each day

[Claripup]

Well count me in... I dunno what level we'll be able to do as I'm new to this growing food thing... but we'll definitely give it a try!

[Millymollymandy]

I can do a 'don't buy any fruit or veg for a month', but only the month of September, which is my most productive month of the year. And that's only if we don't get brown rot on the peaches and plums and don't have a drought!

[bantamlady]

Well that date has naffed it for us! we are going to be all over in August right through to beginning of September! Yorkshire, France , Switzerland then France again! I really love the idea of own produced local food though, but not sure if my produce will have grown enough or be ready in time!

[whodefu]

that certainly is a challenge, with 3 children in the house I dread to think of the tempers at the end of it all...

[Cloud]

Um, I might like to try this. Is it still set for 15 Aug to 15 Sept?

Strategies I'm considering - not sure if all these are allowed...

1) Have frequent BBQ and invite friend round food - that usually means we have food for next day or two as most people seem to bring a little more that necessary

2) Go visit parent and parents in law each weekend - they're always hinting we don't visit enough. They're bound to feed us well, at least for the first few visits.

3) Offer to drive to the pub when out with friends - one of us should get a drink out of that maybe even a meal or two if it's a distant pub (bless them).

In between living on the generosity of others, we have, or hope to have

4) a veg patch that can support our basic needs + gooseberries
5) freezer full of home-made pies and leftovers
6) a friend who is only too pleased to give us eggs (has far too many chickens)
7) A month's supply of Thorntons Gift vouchers (OH won a year's supply)
8) mushrooms and blackberries from the local fields (if we're lucky)

Problems needing more thought;
* butter, oil for cooking - any alternatives?
* are we brave enough to do some scrumping
* who do we know that owns bees and do they like gooseberry pie?
* salt and brown source, etc - may need to pay a visit to McDs
* nut trees - is anything local?
* flour, milk, yeast - need to source

If half way through we get gravely ill (due to poor diet) do we still pass the test if it's only hospital food we're eating?

[Derry]

^^ scrumpings the best - my mom works at a doctors, and every year we go scrumping round the back and then have a massive apple pie making day =D

[Flo]

I think that Cloud has some good ideas for self sufficiency.

I'm working on it in detail now that the season of food harvest has started. The cupboards are pretty well stocked with basics that need eating so I'm just settling into what food can I provide for myself without going to the shops. Some of the pickles are home made even. But growing baked beans and such is not something that happens a lot in the UK. Being vegan can make swaps interesting.

What looks even better is the amount of compostable material that has appeared from various sources to go towards next year's soil improving. To be self sufficient in compost is quite something on a full allotment - never happens but you can come close.

[Flo]

Swapped seeds for some gooseberries. Every little helps.

[Flo]

So what has happened to this challenge? anything? nothing? not heard of any levels - seems to have died.

[Peggy Sue]

I had every intention of being up for this but had quite forgotten how you just have no time at all left in August you are madly harvesting and trying to use everything

I think accidentally I'm almost doing it, but absolutely no time to plan (should ahve done that in June I know).
I'm am going from one 'excess' crisis to the next. Have had excess marrow, beetroot and wild plums (so I hade plum jam, plum cake, beetroot ckae, beetroot chutney and finally a large amount of plum, beetroot and marrow chutney in my brand new preserving pan- such fun making BIG lots now). So now I have another excess in Vegetable spaghetti and Orach is also overwhelming.

I'm pretty good at making a whole meal bar the meat, cheese, cooking oil (just run out of Christams goose fat), and a few spices. I've even managed to scrump some puff balls and been given some eggs so even the pud only needs sugar & flour.

Food bills should be good this month, just as well as I have no time to shop with all this harvest/cook/harvest/weed/harvest

[Cloud]

Moving house has thawted any real attempt at this, and we went on Holiday for a week to really make this fail. Our new garden had produce, but not anywhere near enough to make us self sufficient, and most was right on the edge of going over - peas, beans, onions - all had to be eaten in July (couldn't justify freezing them just to the sake of having something for August). Greenhouse was empty - still is due to lake of time. Although we've planted carrots, onions, beat, kale, etc, none are going to be ready (expect perhaps the radish) to eat in August. Peach tree had just three fruit - all but one home to a family of earwigs. And much of our produce from the old house had not matured/ripened (e.g. gooseberries) or had all gone (e.g. strawberries).

Foraging seems to have us failed too. We only found one local field right for mushrooms, and so far it's produced just three., and blackberries are not quite ready - found enough for one small crumble.

Did manage to scrump some apples whilst on holiday - from a very overgrown and apparently forgotten orchard (hope the NT don't mind). Took all we could carry at the time. There would be enough to feed a whole village, but rather a long way to travel back to get more.

We are buying eggs and veg from the lady over the road, and our meat is coming from a local farm shop who slaughter and butcher their own produce. - not quite self-sufficient but hopefully in the right spirit.

New house has lots of potatoes, so they are the only item we can truly claim to be self-sufficient with (and some pot grown herbs we took with us).