Selfsufficientish.com

In the agricultural shops here, mushroom kits are next to the seed racks in the shop. They're pretty small packages that contain (I think) the substrate with spores or fibres in it. If I understand it correctly, you layer the substrate on top of other stuff and leave in a warm damp place. You can ke...

You would need a battery (car or van battery would do but better using a leisure battery from a caravan shop), otherwise the lights would only work when it was sunny. I think you should start looking for some 12 volt lights. Connect the solar panel to the battery (probably best putting a charge cont...

Oooh, I bet you struggle in the local osterie, don't you? Everyone down here tells me it's pork, pork, and more pork on the menu up there. Although that could be like people from New Jersey thinking that everyone from Florida has a pet alligator. I was a veggie right up until we got to Italy. Now I'...

There's always the faithful chickens, who'll put a dent in the numbers of ants. However, they might do some damage to your veggies too.

Oh, but 'they' can... http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Greenhousetax/ Certain local councils are planning to raise council taxes for houses with 'green' upgrades. Quote: There are reports that local councils are considering raising the Council Tax on houses which have eco-friendly improvements such as sol...

Thank-you everyone for your warm welcome. Andy, the wind turbine depends on many things (whether we can get net metering, planning permission, demand, etc..) so I could be aiming for anywhere between a 300w or a 2kw turbine. I follow progress and plans from otherpower.com, but am also tempted to buy...

What a coincidence! I've just received some comfrey seeds from the UK. They came from Chiltern Seeds and I got two types - weed comfrey and Russian Comfrey (Blocking 14). The Russian stuff is very difficult to get to set seed so is less invasive. Both are good for all the purposes suggesting in this...

Ooh! I forgot some. Laurel or Bay. The flowers are pleasantly whiffy and of course, when 'snapped' the leaves are sublime. Parsley doesn't invade, but doesn't smell of much either. And, rather more dubiously, there's Jasmine. Not a herb as such, but edible and a lovely smell in the evening sun. Citr...

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. My wife and I gave up our day jobs to become self-sufficient in southern Italy. We have an olive grove of about 180 trees, a vinyard in an embryonic stage, and several vegetable gardens. Chooks and two dumb dogs are the current extent of our livestock, but we're gr...

Sage, basil, lavender, and rosemary are all that spring to mind for me. I think thyme is pretty well behaved too. Oregano is also a good'un, cos you can cut it and dry it like crazy if it gets out of hand.

To build my solar drier, I took the side panels off an old bedside table and replaced them with flyscreen material, and made a few shelves that slotted in in the same way. It worked for a while, before the wife nicked it for drying cheese in. This summer, a new high speed solar dryer will make an ap...

A Slovak family have built an entire house from wine bottles in Roma.

http://www.corriere.it/english/articoli ... mily.shtml

Hi. I've looked into growing grain this year, not for milling as the flour we buy from the mill is good, but instead for supplementing the chooks and rabbit fodder. I found a good website called Realseeds.co.uk (I think) which explains that the likes of wheat and barley have been bred for mechanical...