Selfsufficientish.com

I was thinking of starting a new section called challenge selfsufficientish.

Basically in the last couple of months I have got into setting myself challenges. - set one for 30 articles in June and with a bit of help we managed it. (thanks again for contributions) - The next was to get to Ilfracombe on a bike and we just managed that well we did over 100 miles anyway which was the challenge. At the moment I am trying for 2 weeks without purchasing any plastic about half way through this challenge.

So any REALISTIC challenges that you would not mind seeing?

oooh this is good!!

How about only eating food and drink that is produced within 15 miles of your home.

Shirlz2005 wrote:oooh this is good!!

How about only eating food and drink that is produced within 15 miles of your home.

Harder than you think in the middle of Bristol! Mind you with the not buying plastic thing I am pretty much doing that as I tend to eat mostly allotment stuff at the mo. I guess 15 miles means that I can eat yeo valley stuff as that is down the road.

Now if you bake your own bread then the flour has to be milled and packaged AND grown from a local source. I think that is where I would fall foul. I have never seen locally produced flour!

oh dear..........use of the word "challenge"
You're not going to be wearing an all-in one cat suit with a stripe down the side, looning around the countryside whilst the camera team focusses on your bum? - please, tell me you're not!!!!!

just like this - long straggly blonde hair...............

martin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Andy

You could produce your own. just for a fortnight...

C'mon... you can do it....

"Challenge Andyka!"

roflmao!!! In an eco-friendly foot powered copter!!

I do have an all in one jump suit and bum that is increasing in size.

Make my own flour for a fortnight shirley??? Let me sleep on it

Make yourself a wearable item of clothing from recycled materials.

Have every meal contain at least one thing you have made/grown/produced yourself for a month.

Barter at least 10 items in a month.

Andy Hamilton wrote:I do have an all in one jump suit and bum that is increasing in size.

That's got to be worth a pic! LOL - got the Ish logo on it?? (the jump suit and not the bum.... )

It's an interesting idea. I'll think about it.

Luath wrote:Make yourself a wearable item of clothing from recycled materials.

Have every meal contain at least one thing you have made/grown/produced yourself for a month.

Barter at least 10 items in a month.

I have done the meal thing already probally since mid July or even before. Food bill is down to under £10 a week sometimes £5 a week. Also includes stuff that has been foraged.

I like the clothing idea, I can't sew though but would be willing to give it a go.

Food from a 15 miles radius, given it some thought and I think that I will have to get on my bike and search the net to find all the local farms and producers in the area. It could be done I think, perhaps even making my own acorn flour - although it does taste rank.

Barter 10 items a month, hmm probally done this in a different way with freecycle. I have almost certainly given away and collected that many items from them. I wonder if there is a barter website out there?

When I say I have a jump suit I really mean Dave has one that I could borrow, got any pic's from the gigs when you wore it dave?

Luath wrote:Make yourself a wearable item of clothing from recycled materials.

Have every meal contain at least one thing you have made/grown/produced yourself for a month.

Barter at least 10 items in a month.

But what would it prove? I like the "fortnight without plastic" thing because it shows up just how hard it is to do, how much plastic there is around, and what the alternatives are.

Over on www.downsizer.net there is a thread about buying nothing new for 12 months, again it brings up issues about just how much we buy that we don't really need to, and what are the alternatives to buying new, and what are the advantages/pitfalls of that.

I'd rather see challenges that we learn something from. How about halving your mains water usage? Or halving your electricity bill? Halving your food miles? For all of those you'd have to measure your current usage first and then make changes and see what effect the changes had. That could be very informative. What works? What's not worth the effort? What is the average usage in the UK and how do you compare to that?

Or how about try to go zero-waste - put nothing at all in landfill. You'd have to freecycle, recycle, reuse or compost all your waste, and avoid buying anything that is totally unrecyclable in this way. You'd be bound to come aross unforseen difficulties doing this, which wouldn't really happen trying to make a recycled garment. I've made loads of clothes from new materials and old, I know what's involved with that and so do millions of other dressmakers. It's a nice thing to do but it's not really a very illuminating challenge.

Sorry to be a sourpuss but do you see what I'm getting at?