Selfsufficientish.com

Folks Similar issues in Aus. I guess that as our better (ergo more profitable) seed companies become multi-national traders the quality goes down. I know that most no longer grow their own seed but source it anywhere. Some, such as our own beloved Yates Seeds, are now owned by multi-national compani...

Love to

Just can't figure out how, or how to view others pics.

I will throw something into the mix in the form of a question - perhaps it will spark some discussion. I don't practice self sufficiency in terms of producing most of my own food etc.(yet) but I do attempt to move towards a higher level of sustainability - however I am no saint at this.. (actually I...

OK I haven't really looked at nettles from a human consumption point of view but went back through some older info when checking the animal nutrition benefits (it is really highly nutritious, on a par with ryegrass and not far behind lucerne) I think this is largely a matter of personal choice if fo...

I think it will need some further investigation and a closer look at what the authorities interpret as agriculture. home garden etc. I have riparian rights which allow me virtually unlimited free water (as long as the river is flowing) for "stock & domestic" use, meaning for watering a...

Thank you Green Aura I did some research for here in NSW and the legislation is still in place for something like this to happen on town "commmons" for persons registered by the management committee as "commoners". dividing up into allotments is a greayish area though- unfortunat...

Thanks Flo very useful info - I will look up the legislation later and have a browse. They are really quite small plots at around 16 per acre

clanpowell, you are more than welcome to collect all the firewood you want from my place, we just heap most of it up and burn it anyway. Transport could be a bit of an issue through.

Hi Forgive my antipodean ignorance but would someone like to briefly explain this "allotment" system? I am presuming it is small plots of public land leased to individuals but how is it allotted and administered? Nothing like this exists in Australia although from my work in land titles pr...

Hi folks In Australia, particularly on the East Coast, invasive bamboos have created a lot of problems to the point where many species are banned from sale. In defense of bamboos, they are an attractive and very useful plant and can provide very useful building materials. We in the Weed World classi...

Thanks all for the info - perhaps I am just being too ambitious given my climate and should concentrate of what I can effectively grow and store and resign myself to buying what I can't. In terms of building a "passive coolroom" I was thinking of trying something like an overgrown Coolgard...

Guess I got my question wrong. Drying most vegies is not an issue, although I haven't tried onions yet. Storing dried things in sterilised jars is what I term "dry bottling". What I cant seem to do is store things like carrots (I can dried) potatoes, pumpkin, onions etc. They just start gr...

Hi No, in Australia molasses is the thick, black rich stuff often used for a cattle feed suppliment (mixed with urea) in drought and golden syrup is a light, golden coloured syrup used much more for people consumption. I use the "raw" molasses, not the refined type sold in health food shop...

Don't know where the minus 6.3 c was recorded! My records show only 3 sub-zero days for the winter and the lowest was minus 1.6. second week of spring ranged between 14c and 20 c daytime maximum. I will let folks know when we get our first plus 40 c, probably around the time you get a minus 10 C. An...

Dehydrating is probably your best bet. Over here, we use a commercial one, but I've seen loads of plans online for making solar dehydrators, which might suit your conditions and you could make it big, or small, enough to suit your needs. They're basically just wooden structures with mesh shelves to...