really old style living?

mardatha

Is anybody in here so OS that they can cook, eat and live without shopping for months on end ? Like past generations who maybe lived on a remote farm & only went to the town a few times a year ..? I would like to really try for this next year, and would welcome your ideas and tips on how to do it.








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Penelope_Penguin

mardatha wrote: »

Is anybody in here so OS that they can cook, eat and live without shopping for months on end ? Like past generations who maybe lived on a remote farm & only went to the town a few times a year ..? I would like to really try for this next year, and would welcome your ideas and tips on how to do it.

This is what DH and I plan to do, starting in about 3 years' time We plan:

1. to grow all our fruit and veg (we do some already)
2. keep hens for meat and eggs (we do this now)
3. keep other birds - ducks, geese, turkey, guinea fowl, quail
4. keep pigs for meat (we have done this, and would do it again if we could get land)
5. keep goats for milk and meat
6. keep sheep for meat and wool
7. keep bees for honey
8. keep a cow for milk (and calves for meat)
9. to have access to shooting game and wild fowl (we do this already)
10. to have a wind turbine, solar panels for energy
11. composting toilet (my personal favourite )
12. it would be great if we could have our own water system, with reed beds for wast :T

What we won;t be able to have is

1. chocolate
2. nice wine
3. coffee
4. tea
5. citrus fruits
6. wheat

ubamother

interesting thought. I think the difference between modern town/country living and the remote farmhouse that would make this a difficult project is the very practical one of space. Remote farmhouses tend to have sheds/outbuildings, pantries etc. so long-term storage for bulky items, flour, etc. is not affected by lack of space. even tiny country cottages usually have outhouses etc. Remote properies would also be more likely to have growing and chicken-keeping land, and access to wild food - rabbits etc. if meat eaters. Obviously everyone has different levels of available space so that might not be an issue for you.

I guess I would start by going through my supermarket items (I only supermarket shop monthly as i have access to local privately owned shops for fresh stuff), and estimate how much physical space I have and how it would fit.

zarazara

Interesting question. Recently I have been making preserves. I have ordered jam jars and bottles,maslin pan etc. I reckon to have enough to make a years supply of jams,marmalade,chutneys and pickles. I have bottled some fruit,and made elderflower cordial.Yesterday I went to the supermarket [ independant supplier] which sells baking things in bulk. I bought large bags of sugar,flour,currants,almonds etc etc. I am growing fruit and veg. I am sort of falling into a seige mentality. Stocking up . Maybe last winter influenced my thoughts. I have all sorts of preserves stashed under the bed as well as a cupboard full of flour,pasta,tinned goods. Ditto cleaning products. Its a matter of getting in front. Filling the freezer,bottling friut,making jam,all costs money. Its lump sums up front instead of steady weekly dribbles at the shops.

zarazara

ubermother, your post came up as I was posting! you started "interesting thought" I started "interesting question" ---great minds think alike!

Rowan9

I like the idea of this but think I prefer reading about it to doing it. We moved recently to a city centre flat, so keeping chickens etc is out of the question ha ha. But I love living in the city after living in towns and suburbs for years. I still intend to make chutney and jam soon(ish) after years of not doing it. I like well stocked cupboards but have always done this. I enjoy seeing people at the allotments near us although I wouldn't want one myself.
Will read this thread with interest
w

Winged_one

I have a long term plan, somewhat similar to Penelope Penguin's. At the moment, all we grow is soft fruit and veg on an allotment, but we are both professionals working in town. Long term, we aim to move towards a country "holding" with chicks, ducks, geese, pigs, few sheep, perhaps a goat for milk and cheese, perhaps a cow (but probably more a couple of cattle for meat than cow for milk) and LOADS more fruit abd veg (including a decent orchard - even if it takes a few years to grow). We buy a lot of storecupboard goods in reasonable bulk too, and my long term plan has included either a basement or other good storage for bulk foodstuffs. I use most of the soft fruit in jam already, and make some chutnies and other preserves too. And I will also have at least one chest freezer to keep summer gluts of veg and put a side of an animal in at once.

At the same time though, that is quite a long term plan and is at least 5-10 years away. In the meantime, we are putting away every shilling we can for that dream , to avoid too much debt when we do get it!!

Zazen999

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

This is what DH and I plan to do, starting in about 3 years' time We plan:

1. to grow all our fruit and veg (we do some already)
2. keep hens for meat and eggs (we do this now)
3. keep pigs for meat (we have done this, and would do it again if we could get land)
4. keep goats for milk and meat
5. keep sheep for meat and wool
6. keep bees for honey
7. keep a cow for milk (and calves for meat)
8. to have access to shooting game and wild fowl (we do this already)
9. to have a wind turbine, solar panels for energy
10. composting toilet (my personal favourite )
11. it would be great if we could have our own water system, with reed beds for wast :T

What we won;t be able to have is

1. chocolate
2. nice wine
3. coffee
4. tea
5. citrus fruits
6. wheat

Unless of course you make your own wine from the fruits in your garden [we are making a gallon a week just from strawbs and rasps]...

Coffee, tea and wheat; you can bulk buy a couple of times a year

Chocolate, using cocoa - bulk buy - ditto

so as long as you don't mind no citrus fruits; you will pretty much be self sufficient with a bulk buy of staples a couple of times a year.

Penelope_Penguin

Zazen999 wrote: »

Unless of course you make your own wine from the fruits in your garden [we are making a gallon a week just from strawbs and rasps]...

I like hedgerow wine (my 10yo eldeberry is yummy :beer: ) but it's not a patch on a rich Rioja, or my annual bottle of Veuve Cliquot :beer:

mardatha

wow, great help already thanks ! Zara, your post is a tremendous help, because this is where I am just now, but only just starting & its the mechanics of managing the money that is the 1st problem to be dealt with.
I have tons of room to store things so that box is already ticked , and my daughter has room for hens etc when she gets herself sorted . But I wasnt sure where to actually start. Maybe things like tea, dried goods, grains and flour ? The first jump into this new pond is the hardest LOL!
The garden - well we have room for a lot more if I organised it properly. This year the snow stayed so long that I used the money set aside for other thins, and when I did plant they all got flung in together. It's mainly tatties & kale out there. Not wildly exciting. But I got all winter to sit here and plot...!
Any more ideas or suggestions please gimme them

zarazara

If you can store dry goods properly,ie in the dark and dry, then go ahead. Be aware that tea,if old will taste awful and flour gets mites,so check sell by dates carefully. Dry goods will spoil if there is condensation,they need to be really dry. Things like kilner and jam jars,are I think ,good to stock up on. They wont go bad! I like to bottle fruit ,no freezer needed and if the electric goes off they wont spoil. I also like salted runner beans, pickles etc. I am going to have a go at bottling french beans this year. I buy seville oranges already prepared in a tin,really easy to make marmalade from,[just add water and sugar and boil],so can be made at any time of year.I recently invested in some good cake tins,to store HM fruit cake. HM mincemeat for xmas is delicious. As is lemon syrup,blackcurrant syrup,rosehip syrup,HM elderflower cordial,elderberry and blackberry jam. yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm