What Can You Compost? Compost ANYTHING which was once alive. That’s what nature does so why don’t you? This list shows you many of the things you could be composting, whether you feel you should depends on your lifestyle. Try to at least add one more thing from the list to your heap and you’ll be throwing away less and getting more for yourself from your own waste. Add all of the things on the list and I promise you’ll have very fast acting, super rich compost and a happy healthy garden. I know as that’s what we’re lucky enough […]
Preserves – Basics Part 1 – Utensils & Stuff
The main thing to know is that people have always preserved food in times of glut. That means its possible to do so without any fancy equipment or scientific knowledge. Here though are a few pointers – things you should know if starting to make jams, chutneys, pickles and so on. we should all try to store as much produce as we can vie preserving/canning. Food preservation does not need to be overly complicated and it can be done with a minimum of equipment. Preserving Pans are expensive. You don’t need one – what you do need is a heavy, […]
Make Your Own Easy Peasy Piccalilli
Yes, as you can tell I have gone a little preserve crazy. But hey if there is spare food around we should do something with it. Here’s how to make piccalilli. As ever there are no fancy skills or equipment required and the end result is vibrant and tasty so go on have a go yourself! As with most pickles and chutneys this one adores strong cheese but personally I think its fab with jacket potatoes and cottage cheese. Easy Peasy Piccalilli Recipe A traditional pickle from the days of the British rule in India this is exotic looking but […]
How To Save On Electricity
Living totally off grid we are very conservative with our energy usage. This was not always the case though. When we lived in the UK with all the modern conveniences that town living brings, we never really thought about the electricity we were using in the home. Now it is a completely different matter. When the Sun shines we get electricity which is stored in a bank of batteries, but no sun equals no power to store. We have a generator as a backup but we would rather be ultra conservative in our energy usage and keep the use of […]
Beetroot And Orange Chutney Recipe
Simple Pink Beetroot And Orange Chutney A great way to preserve the beetroot glut and a bit more interesting than just pickling the roots in vinegar which can get a bit repetitive. This is great with bread and cheese or to liven up a salad with some feta too. The salty cheese is balanced brilliantly by the sweet chutney. Ingredients for Beetroot And Orange Chutney Recipe 350g raw beetroot, scrubbed and cut into 1cm dice 350g eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm dice 300ml red wine vinegar 200g sugar 225g onion finely chopped 1 garlic clove crushed finely […]
Spicy Eggplant / Aubergine Pickle
Simple Spicy Indian Eggplant Pickle This is a great way to deal with a glut of Aubergines (Eggplant) in the summer. Scale the recipe up or down depending on how much of a glut you’ve got! We love this as a chutney side served with curry and poppadoms but is also good (perhaps surprisingly) with cheese sandwiches too. Ingredients for Aubergine Pickle 2kg aubergine / eggplant cut into 2cm dice 125g green chillies chopped 2 garlic cloves crushed 600ml white wine or cider vinegar 2 tbsp chilli powder 2 tsp ground turmeric 310ml sesame oil 1 tbsp cumin seeds 1tbsp […]
We Cannot Waste Food and be Self Sufficient.
One of the underlying principles when aiming for a self sufficient life is not to waste resources. One of our most important resources is food, so please do NOT waste any, ever, at all! That’s the shouty bit over for now… I know there are always exceptions, but, as a general principle, we should all be aiming to ensure we waste no food. I won’t bore you with the figures – we all know a massive volume of food goes to landfill which is completely unforgivable. However you get your food; hunt it, buy it, grow it, find it, please […]