Planning for being self sufficientish in 2015

[sleepyowl]

Things have fallen very much by the wayside so far this year due to my dad's brain tumour, but now he is gone I kind of feel that I owe it to him to carry on his good work in growing veg, he was my inspiration for being into this way of life. I'll be inheriting his greenhouse so I will think of him each time I use it. It will also be a good addition to the plot as I tend to just start things off on the window sill.

[KathyLauren]

With moving and all its uncertainties, I didn't think we were going to get much of a garden in. I just had a visit to the new place, and there are raspberries, something that may be blueberries, rhubarb, and asparagus in the garden. We'll get there in time to sample the rhubarb and asparagus. Have to wait a bit for the berries. But moving day is coming up fast, and we'll be able to plant some late veggies. We're going to start some strawberries this year for a first harvest next year. There's a greenhouse, so maybe tomatoes next year, too.

Yay!, I'm feeling much Isher today than I did earlier this year. And I've watched the entire series of The Good Life, so I get the Selfsufficientish logo now.

[ina]

Yay!, I'm feeling much Isher today than I did earlier this year. And I've watched the entire series of The Good Life, so I get the Selfsufficientish logo now.

That's more than I do. Never watched any of it - I don't have TV - but I've read enough about it to know roughly what it's about...

Where are you moving to? I'd love to have asparagus and raspberries, but I think my garden is too small to have all those things.

[Green Aura]

Great news, Keith. By this time next year you'll have forgotten the dark non-Ish months that preceded.

[KathyLauren]

Where are you moving to? I'd love to have asparagus and raspberries, but I think my garden is too small to have all those things.

Hall's Harbour, NS. Same province, same part of Canada, but a community that is moch mure our style than where we are. Our theme song these days is, "We gotta get out of this place"!
http://www.hallsharbour.org/

[ina]

Nice! Could almost be Old Scotia, what with the sea and the hills... ;)

Only, we don't have that spectacular ice in winter, it's colder in summer, and our tides aren't anything like as strong. :)

(In other words - it's quite different!)

I live in a small community that used to have a fishing harbour - all silted up for many years now; but the next village down the road still has fishing.

[Flo]

Well another allotment will produce more food eventually.It's going to take some time mind looking at the state of it last Sunday afternoon. Nothing like a challenge.

[Green Aura]

That looks lovely, Keith. I hope you're happier there.

Flo, your new allotment looks like a good portion of my garden! We've been trying to sort it for years (literally) and every time something happens to stop us. Now part of it has been earmarked for the dome (our original choice of site wasn't big enough) and another portion will be fenced off to house a new shed, so it doesn't look quite so daunting. Good luck with yours.

[Flo]

Good luck with the move Keith, may all run smoothly and may the new place meet your wishes.

Everything looks better on the new allotment after a good bonfire and with arrangements in hand to shift some of the stuff that won't burn well. We don't need to inflict the smoke from burning polystyrene supported pallets on the neighbours.

It'll be weedkiller and a lot of spade work to see what is underneath that has been left buried over the years. But I should get something planted this year.

[Flo]

I've stepped backwards and recalled the window cleaner because I just so hate cleaning windows.

[mamos]

I would like to start adding more perennials to the allotment so there is less work to do and i would like to learn a lot more about foraging and hunting/fishing.
Once the dome is finished (hopefully this weekend) I will start planning my aquaponics system to provide year round veg and fish.
The dome/aquaponics set up is also going to be my first serious foray into alternative energy production as I will need power for the pumps and monitoring systems. We will start off with a very simple solar system but I have a few other ideas in the pipeline as well.

paul

[Flo]

I've just been re- reading an old challenge about living out of the store cupboard which has made me realise just how self sufficient I could be at the moment if I turned my hand to things.

I really should be drying herbs to use off the allotment but most of them seem to have moved on in a hurry in the spate of hot weather we had recently. Disorganised I am.

[Green Aura]

I can't make my mind up if we could live really well out of our store cupboard and freezers. My pantry is filled with some seriously weird stuff - fufu flour anyone?

At least we'll be able to make bread for a while. We've got all the flour left over when we closed the bakery. I'm desperately trying to get it used up before it goes off.

No chance of our herbs bolting flo - still mid-winter up here. We haven't had two consecutive days of warmth and sunshine since April

[Flo]

I was going to ask before a power cut interfered - what on earth did you do with fufu flour? Yes I've found out what it is but am not sure what it would produce to sell. Please tell me more.

[Green Aura]

In one of our many weight loss efforts we gave up wheat (briefly). Apparently you can make a half way decent bread from plantain flour, but I couldn't find any, so I bought this. It didn't work as I wanted and I wasn't convinced that banana smelling bread was the way we wanted to go so it has been sitting in the pantry for a while. Whenever I remember I chuck a spoonful of it in something (pancake batter for instance)(anything) but must admit I'd completely forgotten about until you jarred my thoughts about living out of the larder.

Now lentil flour is another story - absolutely gorgeous. We still use it regularly despite being back on grains.