Selfsufficientish.com

How do you get the balance right between being as self sufficient as possible and earning money? I used to work part time which left plenty of time for growing food, foraging and looking after animals but didn't really provide enough to live on. I now work full time (business has taken off which is ...

Hello, I'm east of you, in lower normandie. Hope you enjoy the site.

Hello David and family. I'm in France too, Basse Normandie. Just as I thought Spring had finally made it, I've woken up to snow again and its still snowing now. Guess the hedge cutting will have to wait again!

Hello and welcome. Sounds like a wonderful lifestyle.

Why do I want to get rid of it? Because it traps the moisture in an already damp area and then other weeds start growing around it and the front of my house looks a mess. I have spent hours hand weeding this year but eventually gave up and sprayed the gravel with weedkiller. Only the moss has surviv...

Thanks for the replies. The moss is in the courtyard in front of my house, shade in the morning, sun in the afternoon. Its a very damp site, not helped by the gravel being sprinkled on to about an inch of weak tarmac so there is very little drainage. Its difficult to dig through although I have mana...

Does anyone have any ways of getting rid of moss from a gravelled area? I wondered whether salt would work? Not possible just to rake it up as all the gravel would come away with it.

Bonjour à vous aussi. I've just learnt where Correze is; the furthest south I've been is Angers!

I just did a double-take on your post. I misread it and thought you were cross-breeding ponies and sheep!
Are you able to grow much on the Isle of Islay? Looks beautiful from pictures on the net.

Hello Millymollymandy (loved those books when I was little) Have you been in France for long? I've nipped back to the uk this weekend so am enjoying central heating, what a luxury!

I agree - if it was easy there would be something seriously wrong with us! Nobody likes despatching their animals but it is a necessary part of raising animals for meat. There are days when I can't face it and other days when I set my mind to it and get on with it.

Riff-raff element, nice to know there are other people in france using this site. Any more of us? Demi - I haven't found rabbit meat to be a strong flavour but cooking it in red wine does add a certain something. Try it in cider instead or just in stock with lots of vegetables. And younger ones will...

Hello, I moved to rural france nearly 5 yrs ago and its taken a while to get myself up and running partly because of the language difficulties (now much better) but also because work in a rural district is really hard to come by. I'm self-employed looking after secondary homes, childminding and clea...

Hello Milims and Merlin, nice to hear from you. Merlin - re. the rabbits. The general ones used here are Lapin Normand which is medium sized, brown/grey coat, basically a wild rabbit. Others are Fauve de Bourgogne which has a beautiful reddy brown coat or Geant de Flandres which is grey/black and a ...

Thanks for the welcome. It doesn't normally snow until February here so I was hoping to hang on to my wood supply for a bit longer but I think I will have to start lighting fires more regularly.