What things do you make from scratch, to be more wholesome for you and your family?

missymoo81

Wow some absolutely fantastic suggestions and thoughts. Sorry for MIA, children still poorly . Have explained my goals and thoughts to OH though, And he appears to be in on the quest, which makes everything a whole lot easier!

I've had another look at my seeds, and having not grown anything from seed before, I have been rather naive, in what I thought were sprouting seeds, that are in fact cress or grass. Having removed these, I can see I do have 1 courgette, 2 cucumbers and 3 sweet corn have germinated, but so far, out of about 50 seeds, that appears to be it!!!!!

Need to try harder!

marmiterulesok

I make my own bread and cakes.
I have made my own jams and chutneys,though not for a while,as I've got a large stockpile.

catladyspain

Slightly off-piste, but visit the lovefoodhatewaste.com website for recipes for soup and other meals and tips on how to not waste any precious food.
A personal tip on growing seeds - half fill the cardboard inners from finished toilet rolls with potting compost, and plant larger seeds (beans, squashes etc) in them. When the seeds start to grow you can plant them straight into the ground as the cardboard slowly disintegrates and you haven't disturbed the roots of the fledgling plants. If seeds don't come up, you haven't wasted too much potting compost and could even re-use with another seed.
Use grass cuttings as mulch around the plants in your veg bed to keep down weeds and help stop water evaporation. Be sure not to let the cuttings touch the actual stems of the plants as they can burn if the cuttings are too deep (have you ever put your hand into a pile of grass cuttings a few hours after they've been cut - it's ho-ho-hot!). Eventually the cuttings go into the ground as a kind of automatic compost mechanism.
Crush garlic cloves and add them to a pot of olive oil next to where you cook, and you'll always have nice garlic-flavoured oil to use for cooking or salad dressing. I use a jam pot as it has a lid and a useful little spoon so you can either use just the oil or dig down to the crushed garlic if a stronger flavour is required.
Buy knitted clothing !tems from jumble sales or charity shops and after washing, unpick and reknit the wool into new garments. Knit while watching television or listening to what you like to hear so as to save time by doing 2 things at once. You can even knit or crochet accessory items like bags and hats and personalise them - add buttons, ribbons etc salvaged from clothes that are beyond redemption.
Most of all, if it's not fun or takes too much time, don't do it. Making things from scratch should be fun as well as money-saving, and if it becomes a chore, then you are sacrificing time, and time is the most precious commodity we all have.

missymoo81

Lovely to see some new people posting, hi Goosey gander, ionadragon, cat lady Spain and tomstephens, thanks so much for your ideas and input.

Mooliesnuffles, I agree, I've gone at this challenge feet first, but got caught up in too many things! So I'm going to take it a little more slowly and change my ways bit by bit.

Marmiterulesok - I miss my stockpile of jam, shop bought just doesn't taste the same. I love plum jam the most but we had an issue with sawfly last year or maybe it was plum moth.... Either way no plums. So looking forward to this year.

Had another look at my seedlings, no tomatoes have come up, just cucumber and courgette and squash. So fingers crossed they make it! Tenuissent thanks for the growing tips, will try them later.

Hoping to get to the farm next week for milk too.

Thanks again for the input.

missymoo81

My seeds are growing! I never realised growing things from seed would bring me so much joy! I must check them 100 times a day! I didn't end up buying a propagater, they're just on my windowsill, and have grown! Im so pleased

Still taking small steps, life has been a bit crazy with illnesses and OH being home but I'm getting there slowly. Any ideas on making cream cheese?

Out,_Vile_Jelly

missymoo81 wrote: »

My seeds are growing! I never realised growing things from seed would bring me so much joy! I must check them 100 times a day!

I still find the sight of a tiny green speck getting bigger every day thrilling. I know it's sub GCSE level Biology, but really it's like magic.

Butterfly_Brain

I did have a blog but I let it lapse because I couldn't keep up with it mainly due to ill health
But I am thinking of starting another one, I will let you know if I do.

Butterfly_Brain

suki1964 wrote: »

Butterfly, you truly are an inspiration

What do you mean when you say you foil your raised beds?

We are on the NE corner of NI and our weather is usually dire. Cos we have the glens one side and the sperrins the other we are in a constant wind tunnel, serious winds, sometimes it's a battle to get the doors open. We are struggling to get decent crops. We do get some, but no where near enough to have enough to store for the year. We have one bed turned over to spuds( knocked back by frost ) and another with onions, carrots, parsnips and leeks and beets. Have also put in broad beans and cabbages ( both survived the frost) and have lettuce under a cloche Inside the " greenhouse" we have tomatoes and courgettes. However the toms are still only inches high and the courgettes we had to buy in as none of our seeds germinated. We will be adding Brussels, winter cabbage and more onions later in the year. Also have pots of herbs dotted about. And my rhubarb is only about 6 inches high still and not that pink

Seems we are at least a month behind the rest of the country and then winter comes early to us, not unusual for us to have snow from November to April up here

But I wouldn't move for all the tea in china

So any tips and advice?

I have raised beds and I just staple foil around the edges.
Plants thrive on light!
Never overwater plants, just once a week will do unless they are showing signs of distress and always water in the morning rather than at night.

Nettles are a brilliant food for plants, soak them in water a lidded pot (coz it stinks to high heaven) leave for a week or so then pop some into the watering can.

Nickitree30

I've really enjoyed following this thread, thank you to the OP.

suki1964

missymoo81 wrote: »

Ooh 2 of my courgette seeds have popped up above the surface!!! Not sure if I'll be able to keep them alive, as it's so late in the year. But it's something!

Wow Suki, sounds like you're up against it! Good luck.

My courgette plants have survived and each one is flowering away like mad :T hopefully the weather will pick up soon so I can move them outdoors. Broad beans are in flower and the spuds will be ready in three weeks :j. The rest is coming along very slowly

And we just netted off 8sq metres of lawn and built a coop so now on the search for four layers and I'll beg some pullets from the farm ( hubby will do the dispatching when time comes)

Next years plans are preserving and making our own wine. I've never done it before so I'm going to start slowly. First job is to clear the cupboard under the stairs for storage