Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil (Rain or Shine)

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As I know its summer elsewhere I thought I’d put some of our favourite summer preserving recipes on the site. So while I dream of future harvests those in the Southern Hemisphere can get preserving now!  I’m not jealous at all… Sun-dried tomatoes are gorgeous but really expensive and sun-blush tomatoes are even worse – just a daft name for a ‘not so dry’ sun-dried tomato!   I wish I’d thought of that marketing gimmick – they’re even more expensive! Much as I really love sun-dried tomatoes (with tagliatelle and prawns – drool) I will not pay for them.  If you […]

Compost Toilet DIY

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As everyone who follows this site knows, we are fairly fanatical about preserving water and composting anything that we can. Let me ask you a question. If you owned Chickens, or if you do, would you, or do you, compost their droppings? You would?  You do?  So why don’t you compost your own poo and pee? Urrghh!!  It’s nasty I hear you say!  Well, get over it.  Parents face much nastier things when they are bringing up children.  Quite a hands on approach to bodily wastes is involved.  So what is so nasty about simply emptying a sawdust covered, non […]

Saving On Electricity-An Easy Way To Save Money

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Strangely enough this very easy method of saving Electricity was actually inspired (copied) from a tradition we found prevalent in Thailand. Every morning a large quantity of water would be boiled that was to be used throughout the day. Whether it was for making Coffee or Tea, or any of the numerous other Cooking Duties that involved the use of Hot Water this is what they would do. After the water was boiled it would be transferred to a Pump Thermos. This is an amazingly effective way of saving vast amounts of Electricity. It is nearly impossible to only boil […]

Reduce Food Waste – Week One

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Last week I confirmed that Family Dirty Boots would be jumping on the ‘reduce food waste‘ bandwagon.  I am going to be perfectly honest and admit I’m really surprised how much food we have in the house, but don’t consume ourselves.. Compared to our previous city life our food wastage is tiny.  All that we don’t eat goes into dogs, cats, hens or the compost heap.  Cooked bones are the only food item we send to landfill and even those are boiled down for stock first.  However, when you actually start taking note of all the little bits and bobs […]

Simple Water Saving Tips

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Since living with no water supply we’ve become somewhat expert in the ways of saving and recycling water. With the warming of the world and the increase in remote living I guess water usage is an important topic for a lot of people out there too.  We haven’t got a sophisticated rainwater harvesting system but we do collect enough to keep ourselves supplied for up to eight months of the year. Which, considering the climate and our water use on the huerto, I think is pretty good. We harvest rainwater from the house and sheds.  Our roofs all run to […]

Worm Farm Composting Bins

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A lot of people on Twitter have been talking lately about Wormeries.  They are the perfect solution to those with limited space or who maybe just want to get involved in an interesting and different kind of project. They seem great way to get started in the world of composting.  You can get all manner of shapes and sizes of worm composting bins to suit the largest, or smallest, of spaces. Many are suitable for indoor (yes, really) or outdoor use.  Apart from the obvious advantage of making compost they have a number of other great advantages. Worm Composting Bins […]