Selfsufficientish.com

Thing is - did you get the allotment back in order? I'm missing mine with the cost of food, something to do but the family has moved many miles away into Scotland and it was too big for one person. Oh and now the greenhouse in the small back garden has blown down flat and been removed. So food produ...

There's a lot of very battered polytunnels up here in Northumberland - we've had a couple or three very hectic storms this year.

Ah so I'm not the only one with raucous weeds Winter doesn't seem to have deterred them up here. Have a round of sympathy.

Ah tis the ground preparation that I missed out for two years in a row with waiting for new knees to set in that heled me up. If the beds aren't prepared ....

That's good with the reduced hours from March. Glad to hear. However will you manage to get all the work that needs to be done before then in hand to make the season productive? What was that you said? Not a chance. Hmm after two years when nothing got done till March middle of due to knee replaceme...

Dunno but they are rather handsome.

Storm Arwen got worse before it got better. 11 days some outliers were without power. There was a firm chomping at the bit to install generators (supplied and maintained by a group of companies with the know how and ability to get outlying places)to be paid for by Northern Power till they could get ...

I have a list of manufacturers from over the years which suffer from the shrinking T shirt syndrome. You see them passed on to the charity shops and think oh dear me. It's always worth a tour to see which brands are the latest before buying.

Ah you and me don't do mushrooms. Had an uncle on the farm as a child who knew all about mushrooms - so the rest of us never learned. Thing is - up here a lot of older people's social housing bungalows are out in the villages where the power is off. When people get to 70 and over it's really not sen...

Storm Arwen has certainly revealed that a lot of the North East has no idea what happens or what to do when the electricity goes off for three or four days and the power to the local pumping stations may well ensure that there's no water either. One night of high winds has removed a lot of Kielder F...

At this rate everyone will be digging up their back gardens to grow some food. We have allotment holders giving up at the moment due to age or having to work and the ones on the waiting list all want half plots. I suspect we shall have takers for bigger plots who will be evicted later on for lack o...

The best laid plans of men and mice are often wrecked in the growing as we don't know what the weather will do. It certainly doesn't plan for the year ahead. Hope that the greenhouse Viper is planning doesn't get laid low by the winter weather. Ina - up here all the cafes/pubs/care homes are adverti...

:scratch: Thought you had thought of moving towards civilisation Maggie? No more mileage to supermarkets or shopping and charges for deliveries to the end of the world at one point. :mrgreen: Have had family in Thurso in recent years so have some idea of where on the ends of the earth you are going....

Where are you both going when you move?

The work involved in off grid living.

This couple have invested heavily in things to make it possible for them to be self sufficient. I suspect it's taken time and money over years to get this far.