Selfsufficientish.com

Tracey has just returned to France to recuperate after two weeks of whizzing around the UK in a the tiniest of cars. You should have seen what she and my mother managed to pack into it. Everything but the kitchen sink. She has been a very busy girl and will be reporting back here to tell you how she...

I have a cherry tree in my garden which gives tonnes of fruit. But...they are sour as can be. When I moved to the house it was very sad looking, so I pruned it back and it is blooming. I have taken to picking them and boiling them up with some brown sugar and eating them with yogurt or ice cream. DE...

I remember seeing chokos in the markets in Eumundi Market, Queensland. I remember them being green and shaped rather like a capsicum pepper. Never bought any, because I wasn't sure what to do with them. They looked like a sort of veg that you could 'pad' out a stew with to make it go further! I did ...

Who has some ideas for watering plants and valuable veggie plants when you go away.

Apart from roping in a neighbour?

Oh lovely, I went out there on the tourist trail to the Three Sisters.

My god mother lives in Black Heath? Can never remember the exact name. It's beautiful countryside.

Oh I agree with the yeast in one packet, it's cheaper and you get more for your pennies.

If you are a fresh yeast bread maker (which is rare these days for me) Tescos or Asda will give you a big lump for free if you ask one of the bakers. Smile sweetly!

I am pleased I am not alone on the cat front!

Thanks for all your suggestions ~ sneaking cats out of the area under the cover of darkness sounds tempting.

We do keep the grass short to keep them from doing what cats do and we have tried the water blasters when we've been quick enough!

Thanks for the Welcome Nev.

Where abouts in Sydney are you? I have been there and loved it. I have friends in North Sydney, Crows Nest and a great mate in Brisbane.

Thanks for your welcomes everyone. Andy ~ it was Jools you saw pick up Tracey at the station. I am about half the size of him and if I called him Shiney he'd probably turn me upside down on my head! You'll be glad to know, I have him out in the garden making another little raised bed for our beans. ...

Thanks for that reply ChickenLady. I could find space for some then! I dream of having a large garden to have all my veggies etc in, but I think it is possible to have some in a small area. I am on the hunt for an allotment and will be calling my council tomorrow to see if anything is coming up in t...

Our neighbours have such a lot of cats, never spey them or get the blokes 'sorted'. They go from having say 8 to about 20, as they have lots of kittens. It is a nuisance really. Some of the cats are a bit mangey but they get fed and I have had the RSPCA around as well as environment on a few occassi...

Dunno if you are an ebayer but have a look here!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 48177&rd=1

or just put cauldron in the search box.

Thanks Magpie,

I'll try the orange peel stuff to start with!

What's napthalene?

I have a cat. The problem is our neighbours have about 20 of them. Any ideas on how to keep them out of our garden? The Toms spray on virtually everything we have in there and do the other things that cats do everywhere. We have to clean the garden up before we can let the kids out etc. It doesn't h...

Just going back to the no sugar in the bread machine bit...that's really interesting. A while back we decided to use a spoonful of honey in the machine, (just to keep the yeast happy) it tastes pretty good as well.

I will try it without sugar tho. Thanks for the tip everyone.