Category: Self sufficiency

Green Tomatoes

Over Summer and early Autumn, we had great success with the tomato plants in the greenhouse.  We’ve eaten tomatoes most nights, given some away, frozen some for use in Winter casseroles and stews… and still there are more!  At the end of the season, we couldn’t believe the number of green tomatoes hanging on the vines. … Continue reading Green Tomatoes

Bread and Butter Pickles

There hasn’t been any posts on self-sufficiency for ages, so I thought I would share my first attempt at pickling.  I’ve tried sauces, butters and jams before, but never pickling. We had an excess of cucumbers, and the most common recipe in my cook books for using up cucumbers was ‘Bread and Butter Pickles”.  Apparently the … Continue reading Bread and Butter Pickles

A Sourdough Fiasco

Over the last few months I have been valiantly attempting to make sourdough bread.  I’ve spent days cultivating the starter culture, adding wholemeal rye flour and filtered water every six hours to feed it. After about a week, I had a lovely frothy starter, that looked just perfect. My bread, however, wasn’t perfect. Despite my … Continue reading A Sourdough Fiasco

Step by Step Firewood

It seems only a week or so ago that I was complaining about the heat.  Now the weather has turned and we have days that are quite wintery.  One huge difference between living here and living in our former home is heating.  In the past, I have always had gas heating.  Getting warm was simply … Continue reading Step by Step Firewood

Setting-up the Greenhouse

Over the last couple of weeks, we have began to use the greenhouse.  First, to hospitalise plants that were burned in the severe heat, and then to raise seedlings in punnets.  Thanks to family help, we also have one of the raised garden beds filled with soil, and have directly planted it with seeds as … Continue reading Setting-up the Greenhouse

Lotions, Potions and Soap

If you have ever made a mayonnaise for a salad, then you are already familiar with the basic process involved in making body lotions. Home made body lotions are essentially emulsions of oil and water, with added ingredients to provide fragrance and longer shelf life.  This week I set aside time to restock my bathroom … Continue reading Lotions, Potions and Soap

Lime Curd

At long last one of our fruit trees produced enough fruit to make preserves! Our Tahitian Lime tree is inside the cat enclosure and protected from parrots, so our limes ripened without interference.  I used a Lime Curd recipe in a book I was given late last year:  Marisa McClellan’s ‘Food in jars:  Preserving in … Continue reading Lime Curd

Preparing for the Greenhouse

On Friday we had word that the greenhouse is ready to collect from the warehouse.  This is exciting news!  It comes flatpacked, so next weekend we hope to construct it.   During the week, our raised garden beds and greenhouse shelving should also arrive.  We’ll need to order crushed rock to form the floor in … Continue reading Preparing for the Greenhouse

Taking a chainsaw to my green ideals

When we moved here, I knew we would need a chainsaw.  We had so many trees, and our heating comes from a wood-burning fire.  In my mind, I could see that after a high wind, it was inevitable we would need to clean up fallen branches, and I knew there were some dead trees which … Continue reading Taking a chainsaw to my green ideals

Lotions, Oils and Scrubs

One thing I have been doing for a while now is making my own cosmetics.  I have not had a need to buy hand creme, body lotion, face moisturiser, face scrub, lip balm, soap, liquid soap, foot creme etc for more than a year. Setting up was a little expensive. In order to have the … Continue reading Lotions, Oils and Scrubs

Book Review: Keeping Chickens in Australia

In a previous post I boldly stated I would review two books in a few days time.  It’s a bit late, but here is an overview of information contained in the first book “Keeping Chickens in Australia”.  As I don’t yet have any chickens, I really don’t know enough to review it from a position … Continue reading Book Review: Keeping Chickens in Australia

Chicken Breeds in Australia Poster

I found a fantastic poster outlining chicken breeds found in Australia on the Poultry Hub website.  This shows an image of the male and female, outlines their key characteristics of the breed.   This allowed me to immediately narrow down to a few breeds to investigate in more detail.  I like the look of the Sussex … Continue reading Chicken Breeds in Australia Poster

A Wishlist

Waiting for the property settlement gives me time to dream and plan -there’s seven weeks to go….  I’ve never lived anywhere but in a suburban house before, so thinking about what I could do on 15 acres of land is both exciting and daunting. For some people this probably seems a very small land holding, … Continue reading A Wishlist