Just for fun - 1st subject you discussed on Ish

[Milims]

Slugs!
"I couldn't find the posting about how to deal with slugs so I thought that I'd just write my tip here anyway!! We've managed to keep slugs off plants by putting sea weed around them - its either wet and salty or dry and spiky - either way the don't like it!! After a while you can just dig it into the garden and bingo - instant fertilizer to boot!!"
(I'm pretty sure that this was a combined effort from me and OH! He dictates and I type)
My goodness how time flies!

I'm honoured that 2 peoples first posts were in reply to some of my burblings!

[Mrs Moustoir]

Mine was in a thread started by mew - about frosted tomato seedlings.

On GQT a few weeks ago, Bob Flowerdew suggested putting a hot water bottle in coldframes at night if frost was threatened.

Our neighbours already think we are mad - can just imagine what they would think if they saw me putting a hot water bottle in with the veg seedings!

"Folle!"

I'd forgotten about about hot bottles in coldframes....

[StripyPixieSocks]

Well, I'll give this a go but there's not much as I've only just started:

1. Put the fish tank lights on timer so we don't forget to turn them off... better for the fish and plants / better for our electric bill
2. Recycle almost everything (even if Greenwich Council are making it stupidly complicated and wretched)
3. Started to grow my own herbs in window boxes and hanging baskets... neighbours think we're insane but we have no garden
4. Turn off lights... my OH was a one for leaving all the lights on but I have trained him well and now he turns the lights off when he's finished (and he just said "OI don't blame me") :D
5. We don't have a TV
6. We got a water butt in the front concrete postage stamp sized thing at the front of the house downstairs (probably a brave move in London but we shall see)
7. Use the water from the fish tanks on the herbs
8. Are in the process of turning 4 car tyres off of our car into planters which will join the water butt downstairs and have herbs in them (probably and certainly a Bay Tree)
9. Cut out un-necessary trips in the car (maybe forced on us by the fuel prices but it's a start and we need a car because I have a bad back and can't walk very far at the moment)
10. We had a condenser boiler fitted
11. we only turn the central heating on when we really need it, otherwise it's jumpers and even blankets (which I will be knitting soon)
12. Keep the freezer full to reduce dead space being kept cold and making it un-economical even though it's an A rated fridge freezer.
13. All the simple things like turning off taps when brushing teeth
14. Stopped throwing away food (unless it's totally un-usable) and now plan meals to use extra left over items (such as when you buy a pack of peppers and always have one left)
15. Freecycle
16. Look in charity shops for pretty much anything (more a budget thing really but second hand stuff is just as good if you pick out the gems)
17. Gumtree (we bought our fridge freezer from there for £30)
18. E-Bay (for practically anything and everything and our car was only £10 from there... seriously!!)
19. Use practically anything for craft purposes or DIY etc... I always ask myself if something else can be made from it before I recycle it etc
20. Don't eat processed foods and cook everything from scratch (lately anything passed the mince form is off the menu completely)
21. Cook from scratch and freeze leftovers
22. Bake our own bread (rarely buy from the store and only usually reduced to clear items)
23. Showers instead of baths

... woah... a little more than I initially thought and I'm sure there's much more but it's something we are still working on and especially of late so I'm sure the list will grow month on month!

Wow... quite a first post methinks lol

Funny how things have changed so much!

[Minnesota]

If you rent, you are committed to having an income forever to pay it. If you buy, you are committed to having an income to pay the mortgage, but mortgages eventually get paid off, and then you are home free. For being self-sufficient, owning is definitely better. The only issue is that it's an uphill slog to get there.

I bit the bullet and did the rat-race thing for quite a few years. My home strategy was: (1) rent while saving up a down payment; (2) buy the cheapest place I could stand to live in; (3) pay the mortgage down faster than the minimum rate (which is why it had to be a cheap place). The third point was the most important. Paying the mortgage down faster and especially doing so as early as possible in the life of the mortgage, saves a ton of money. As a result, I paid it off in only 11 years.
Owning a place mortgage-free is, for me, essential to self-sufficiency.

The first thread that I started was about rainwater collection.

We are trying to get our garden set up for growing most of our own food. Problem is, we get almost no rain in the summer, and our well doesn't produce enough water for the garden. On the other hand, we get lots of rain in the winter, so rainwater collection and storage is a no-brainer.

I've got 2500 gallons of storage on-line right now, ... blah blah, brag, brag...

Keith,
well, we've had a discussion on our difference on AGW. But your first "ish" posts are nearly my life story. We do get rain most of the time in MN, But I have rainwater storage in case of droughts, which seem to be about once every other year. I too (after 18 years in the rat race) have come to own my home "mortgage free", it's not the nicest house in town, but I no longer work fulll time and most of my friends are jealous of that fact. I'm glad we have some similar ground.

[KathyLauren]

I'm glad we have some similar ground.

Me too.

[MKG]

Just checked. (Just found out that I CAN check!)

It was ... surprise, surprise ... about winemaking.

Am I really so predictable?

Mike

[red]

Just checked. (Just found out that I CAN check!)

It was ... surprise, surprise ... about winemaking.

Am I really so predictable?

Mike

I knew you were going to say that....

[Rosendula]

After introducing myself and saying hello to a few other newbies I started a thread called In what way are you naughty?

I saw something like this on another site once, but unfortunately can't remember where it was. The idea is, you tell people what you do that you shouldn't, or what you don't do that you should - that is, your environmentally unfriendly habits that you can't give up. It works because 1. you feel better for getting it off your chest, 2. people might be able to give some advice to help you kick your bad habit, and 3. other people might have been doing the same as you all their lives without thinking about it, and now they have, they might change.

[sleepyowl]

I am going to the Lichfield medieval festival on a family outing my sister has been there before & said it was good, they have crafts, stalls, falconry, archery & knights. July 5th

There is also the Banbury Hobby Horse Festival on, with morris dancers, mummers, stalls, storytellers & Hobby Horses (not the sock on a stick variety), I can't go to this one as it is the same weekend. July 5th-6th

Stourbridge Carnival July 6th, not sure what it is like

This was mine, although for some reason (I think it may have been car troubles) I didn't get go in the end

[Millymollymandy]

There are some good ones here, a good recipe , a good laugh (Julie! ), a good old predictable one (MKG) and a great bit of nostalgia/looking back from Red and then seeing how far she's come on over just a few years (you did get brave and get pigs and sounds like you weren't even thinking of sheep back then!). Also I think we ought to resurrect Rosie's naughty thread.

[JulieSherris]

I'm quite sure that I have a whole heap of things that I do that I really shouldn't.... and then there's the bigger heap of things that I don't do that I really should.... they say that confession is good for the soul.....

[Keaniebean]

Mine was in the 52 week bin bag thread, obviously I'm just obsessed by rubbish! .

Strange how things come around again, this was only in the news the other day!

so in the year or so that I made no posts on here nothing changed , maybe I should get a job as a dustbin girl so I can truly live my obsession

[kiwirach]

heres mine......i now know it would have been fine, and we never did grow together....within a month of making that post i got an allotment

*Hi everyone, this is my first post other than to say hello!.

My friend and i are about to have our 1st go at growing veges this yr in her backyard. At the moment the plan is to use an area of ground where her rabbit hutch currently stands. the rabbit will be moved along!!.

as we are novices at this, what is your view on using this ground the rabbit has been stomping(and pooping) on?

i'd appreciate any thoughts and will answer any questions the best i can.
thanks,
rach*

what i am surprised at is that i have 6 pages of threads i've contributed to since i've been here....i didnt think i said that much