Hi from North Bucks.

[pyrosfx]

Well I'm a 57 y.o. former pyrotechnician in north Bucks. I became partial disabled in 2006 after losing a fight with a fork lift truck. I'd always leaned towards a self sufficient life style and a love of the natural world . I have an Honours degree in Wildlife conservation. I also used to foster and retrain large breeds of dogs for a couple of rescue charities.

I'm now reliant on benefits for an income, which has pushed me further into a thrifty life style, which has had several positives rather than negatives. My wife and I try to produce everything we can from scratch, but living on a modern estate limits our production to the basics, we obtain our meat from an organic farm and do a fairly large amount of foraging . I've installed solar PV and hot water which has helped the budget immensely.

I can't do all I'd like to do, but what I do do helps fill the days. I've developed a passion for producing sparkling wines using the traditional method. My ventures into the beer world have proved more disaster than triumph, but the last two batches have been acceptable. Just starting into cheese production and basically looking to spread my wings further, in the smoking and curing areas. Got the hang of bacon ,hams ,sausages and pancetta. would like to move onto the salamis, and other fermented air dried products.

[happyhippy]

Sometimes life throws you a doozy and it sounds like you've really made the most of it!Welcome to SS by the way! Is it possible for you to get an allotment near where you live?Just thinking if you needed more room to grow stuff?Good luck for the coming growing season,please keep us posted.x

[diggernotdreamer]

welcome to the forum. You sound as if you are making the best of things, it really does help living on benefits if you can grow a bit yourself, makes you feel a little more empowered, benefits can be a bit of a trap.

[pyrosfx]

Thanks fr the welcome, actually we had an allotment when I was injured. My pelvis and lower spine were the bits that got messed up, so I'm not wheelchair bound, but I walk like an orang in diaper's and have no real power in the tank physically. So we had to let it go.
We do container garden as much as we can.. spuds, peas, tomato's etc. but quantity wise its only a few meals. But having the time free means we can at least work from basics, no tins or packets. We freeze a fair amount from local sources. The one thing we have really failed on is sour dough and keeping a starter going for more than a few weeks. I think I eat far better now than when I was earning a good wage.

[jamesintayside]

Welcome aboard - Pyrosfx so much here and so many great folks -

[tosca]

Hi and welcome. It is surprising how much you can grow in a small area and very rewarding no matter how small the quantity. We had a tiny garden in the UK and had three chickens and grew an amazing amount for the space, making sure not to grow anything that was really cheap to buy or we didn't really love. Now we have plenty of space and still we are trying to grow as much as we possibly can so that we don't have to buy, even though veg is really cheap in the markets here in BG.

I must admit I once wanted to try smoking and preserving meat, but only one of us eats meat!

Wishing you well with your salami and brewing.