Selfsufficientish.com

It sounds like it's a copper or brass pan and I've eaten from one on seveal occasions. The acid does work but make sure you rinse it out properly. A friend of mine "cleaned" a brass jam pan the lazy way (he thought) by simply soaking it in vinigar for a few days. However, when it came to be used for...

We were relatively lucky as we on a small rise in the ground near the bottom end of the field close to the bridge to the plastic camp but still awoke to find water on most sides. We stayed until sunday but still ended up getting towed off. I think there was a picture on livinghistory of a tractor pu...

I'm with the Wars of the Roses Federation and to be more accurate the Ferrers Household , you can find us on facebook. I originally started at the other end of the fifteenth century but migrated slightly later but oddly enough English Heritage asked the fed to put on the seige of Harfleur and Aginco...

I have every sympathy with you Clare and your opinion of the building industry. I was employed mainly in restoration for a little over 30 years until last year when I was made redundant. I managed to get another job but the wages were less, plus I had to supply my own vehical and power tools. That j...

Digger a very nice job of scribing that your wizard has done with those boards. I've done plenty of such like jobs in my time and it is always pleasing to see it done properly and not just "good enough" and finished with mastic or filler.I've also at times had to scibe a vertical post against a wall...

Digger , please tell me that you were leaning when you took the picture because on my screen it looks as if the shed is 3 or 4 inches out of plumb in your first shot. Actually such a lean reminds me of a door and frame I put in an old timber framed cottage several years ago. The frame needed to be p...

A new dress? You spoil that woman , I can't see any holes or patches in it. edit Should have said what I've got really . couple of mints chives sorrel good king henry garlic lemon balm white horehound feverfew comfrey soapwort herb robert lavender and I did have things like rosemary which seemed to ...

I might not be selfsufficient in food but I do manage to be with sheds. I've built several in my time and have a few at the place I live now. You could do a lot worse than look at the Swedish hermits hut thread on the green building section but for what it's worth here's some of mine. This is a very...

I think Oldjerry's post has said pretty much everything really. I'm not totally or near self sufficient but being able to lessen the clutches of consumer society a little bit more really pleases me and I can't help but feel smug when people moan about being in debt or not being able to get there han...

One of my hobbies is re-enactment and the period I do is the wars of the roses, second half of the fiftheenth century. To be completely honest our group concentrates on the lives of the common man as most of us are artisans of one sort or another. We feel that although history is written about kings...

Just to complicate things a little further. I've spent most of my life in restoration albeit working with wood but it's the kind of profession where one picks up a lot from other trades. I've worked at times with Stafford Holmes who is allegedly one of the foremost "experts" concerning lime. When we...

P&P I'm going to take your reply as a compliment ! I do hope that nobody thinks I was trying to critisise their relationships just saying what works for us. Of course there's always the possibility that I'm the biggest dullard on the planet and my wife is secretly salting all my money away before ru...

Maybe my wife and I are just idle but we've never even worked out if our finances are 50/50 , 60/40 , or 73/27 for that matter. When we married we were both working and opened a joint account , ok so I was earning more but that didn't matter the gross was our combined income and used by both of us a...

I've had no problems with diesease and not too much problem with slugs and pests so the potatoes I've lifted are ok, but not as good as last year. This year they seem to have an awful lot more of the small ones, still edible though.


Pete

Does anyone know if there a potential hazard with burning off cuts (or old bits of scrap wood from tips/waste from building sites etc) in home boilers. An obvious example would be painted wood, say bits of an old door as paint has chemicals in it that are toxic. Also alot of wood is treated with fo...