Selfsufficientish.com

Definitely worth a go, but am still recieving shipments of chocolate from Belgium (Kevin's mum).

Nev

it's not just food that' the problem it is also all the cleaning products....most of which we don't need anyway. They are just invented to make us buy them and then the advertising aims to make us feel guilty if we don't. There are many miles used in this totally unnecessary way.

Good point Diver,

There are some good books and no doubt sites about making your own cleaning products! You can save money as well as the environment!

Nev

We are trying to cut down food miles but also fall into the "If you're stopping the tea you'll need to sedate me first" camp.

I do buy fair trade tea, coffee and chocolate and I think it is most likely shipped rather than flown so not as bad as things brought in by air-freight.

We use farm shops and local butchers rather than supermarkets as much as possible.

Wassail

Karen

I have organic fruit and veg delivered by a box scheme. It comes from Dorset, which is a lot of miles.
I get my milk, olive oil, eggs and other supplies from them too, so I don,t have to shop for too much.
I searched for a closer scheme, but the nearest one I found doesn,t deliver to my area 20 or 30 miles away !!!
Tastes like I remember veg tasting in my childhood.
The carrots.....YYYUM.
The 'organic' supermarket stuff I,ve tried just doesn,t compare for flavour.
I have organic meat delivered from a farm in Wales, so not such a distance for that. It,s expensive, but I,d prefer to have a little of something I,m happy with the quality of!
I buy a bit of fair trade too, the co-op, which is my supermarket of choice, stock a good range. To be honest I don,t worry about the miles it,s travelled if it creates some fairness in the system.

At least I hope it does

I like the idea of buying everything locally and try to do the same save the odd treat like Nev and his Belgium chocolate.
I must admit it is a lot easy now I've moved to the south west with Yeo Valley farm nearby and the Bath Brewery (Not that I live on just Cheese and beer).
I remember listening to something on Radio 4 about UK grown tea and did some digging. If you live in 100 miles radius of Tregothnan in Cornwall it looks like you can have locally produced tea!
http://www.tregothnantea.com/index.asp

Trouble is, it is bloody expensive

Blimey that IS expensive...

Interesting though - and they do mail order....

Now that is on my wishlist for when we have got a job

I had a look around for the seeds for tea plants and found this site http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/ they have both tea and coffee plant seeds.

I would love to grow my own, even lower food miles, and no sacrifice? I am not sure if the coffee will come to anything as we are not high enough but we are higher than anywhere in the West Country so the tea should work for us.

Steve Hanson wrote:so the tea should work for us.

Actually there is talk of growing tea in cornwall http://www.plantcultures.org.uk/plants/tea_grow_it.html

difficult but well worth a go.

First, a poke; making home brewed beer doesn't eliminate the problem since you need sugar to make it but it IS much lower in energy costs I think. I had a quick look but can't see anybody processing their own sugar beet at home!

Libby, is that Riverford friut and veg deliveries? It comes from Devon, but I'd be interested in a closer scheme until I get our garden into full production.

Teas - I actually don't have too much of a problem with shipping tea across the world because the weight an adult gets through is very low compared to, say, kiwi fruit. From my garden in the past I've done;
peppermint (tip and two leaves fresh into a mug and scald... nothing beats this, nothing but I don't like the dried stuff much
elderflower, yarrow and peppermint (dried mix) useful remedy for cold and flu symptoms, not a great taste
valerian root for sleeping (ick! ack! uck! *collapses*)
lemon balm for sleeping (MUCH better - v nice actually)
chamomile, picked wild but have never tried drying it. Not bad at all.
Sage tea - unusual taste but it grows on you and is very good for sore throats, esp the red sort
Nettle - it's not bad I suppose
Catnip - similar to mint but more aromatic, very soothing

I thought I might put some hibiscus "rose of sharon" into an edible hedge I'm planning this autumn too.

what herb teas do you people make at home?

hedgewizard wrote:First, a poke; making home brewed beer doesn't eliminate the problem since you need sugar to make it but it IS much lower in energy costs I think. I had a quick look but can't see anybody processing their own sugar beet at home!

I have done it and I did write it up for grass roots (Andy, did I send it through to you?) There was some work involved for not a lot of return, basically a "beety" flavoured sweet liquid. After finishing the experiment I read of a better way of making the sugar but never got back to it!

I think I would probably go with honey - can you make beer on honey? I suppose you could just say "bugger it" and go with mead!

Nev

I'm lost in admiration - sweet beety liquid is teh kewlest (sorry, copying son's style). Has anyone ever seen a recipe for "small beer", the peasant drink before the Dutch started importing sugar? Small beer was used to make well water safe to drink, since the yeast outgrew any bacteria and took it out of suspension in the lees. I'm sure it was horrible though!

Thanks mate!

Steve, have you looked into growing your own rice. on Jaqui French's website she has an article written and says you can harvest a bucket of rice from a square metre. Haven't looked into it as I don't eat rice.
For pasta, I use plain flour, egg, water and a little oil. I roll out and cut to size for what is required. for lasagne I roll out as thin as possble, cut to size of the pan and cook in boiling water. used also for fettuchini, cannelloni and filled pasta. different taste but a good alternative to the dry stuff.

I don't drink coffee or alcohol so I'm let off the hook on that topic

enjoy black teas and herbal teas. use nettle with a little honey and ac vinegar. peppermint okay. lemon balm tea doesn't agree with me but I use it in the bath (in a sock) for relaxing

Diver, try a bulk bag of bicarb soda (stock feed), white vinegar and a good cloth. will clean pretty much everything. the soda by itself is a great abrasive. good for cleanig stovetops, showers, baths, toilets (with a brush ) also good for septic systems. add a handful to the wash for a fabric softener or in the bath as a replacement for soap (great for kids with skin problems and babies with nappy rash) also a replacement as a deoderant. just dust under arms.
a saturated solution of bicarb and vinegar will clean ovens and microwaves. a bit of bicarb washed down the drain with vinegar will fizz and clean the drains.

chocolate well.... um..... can't go without that.

majority of vegetables come from our garden. eat own eggs and beef.
have a good range of fruit but still need improvement. only by seasonal and as local as possible.

hedgewizard wrote: valerian root for sleeping (ick! ack! uck! *collapses*)
what herb teas do you people make at home?

Hi Hedgewizard,you want to be careful with Valerian,too much can be fatal! Seem to remember Wendy Criag doing somebody in, in Midsomer,by an overdose of Valerian!