Selfsufficientish.com

The 2 things that stick in my head are from my mother: Eat your crusts - they'll make your hair curl (when passing a farmyard) That smell will put hairs on your chest! I am of course eternally grateful that after 30years of eating my crusts and living in the country, I now have curly hair and a hair...

Hi esther,

You got PM.

For the stock - the world is your oyster (or chicken)... I always boil-up the carcass after a roast and make absolutely anything from soups to risotto or paella. How about using it instead of beef stock in a vegetable or turkey-mince chilli-con-carne. As far as I'm concerned, chicken stock is the ba...

I would suggest getting a slightly oversized piece of flue pipe with a flat base plate. Make your roof penetration roughly this size and fix it internally. If you place your terminal on this piece, then your actual flue can come up through the centre of this unaffected. Or can you modify a twin-wall...

I'm sure this has been posted before, but: The Firewood Poem Beechwood fires are bright and clear If the logs are kept a year, Chestnut's only good they say, If for logs 'tis laid away. Make a fire of Elder tree, Death within your house will be; But ash new or ash old, Is fit for a queen with crown ...

IMHO I would ditch the LED option and go for IRC Di-chroics. I think Phillips make some. Basically they're coated "halogens" as you call them so that they do not produce so much heat and are therefore more efficient! I re-lamped a whole health club with them and our electricity consumption...

Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but I am considering planting some willow to coppice. I have heard though, that ash might be a better wood to use as it is excellent firewood - green, or seasoned - and is more useful as a working wood as well.

Anyone got any suggestions?

As long as it just says "test post" then yes!

In my experience, chilies do really well on a kitchen windowsill, although I would go for a smaller variety so you don't get swamped! Never tried tomatoes in the house though. There are loads of winter salads you can grow in pots - we're planning some as catch crops having dug-up never-ending amount...

Colour - Depends on the time of year. Summer = delicate colours, Winter = warm reds browns Holiday - Madeira, walking and viewing the gardens in May Clothing - Aussie bush hat (needed to keep the rain of my bonce!) Dance - At a friend's wedding 3 weeks ago (and in the car on the way home from work e...

We froze blackberries and elderberries last year and plan to do the same this year. We found it worked really well to give everything a thorough wash and drain. Strip the elderberries from the twigs using a fork and then freeze as they are. You can then make jams, puddings, etc. at your own pace rat...

I think the price changes are quite true to life. If anything is in short supply, the price goes up (ref: Economics supply & demand graph). Wages-wise, with no mortgage to pay and living far more simply, I can see that money would go a long way. If you don't realise its available - you don't wan...

We grew all our cabbages, etc. under netting this year. Unfortunately it made us very complacent about picking off the eggs and as a result we ate one cabbage when it was very young and the others got composted. It seems that the butterflies had layed through the net. Does napalm work as a repellent?

I concur.

My only rule of blackberrying is to never pick anything lower than waist-height. I've yet to meet the dog who can cock its leg higher than that!

Almost exactly like summer pudding, but purple fruits rather than red (and I only had bread with seedy-bits in)!

I might have nicked the idea from "Food For Free" but that is yet to be confirmed and I ain't telling!!

Just had some more for my tea!! YUMMY!!