How self sufficient can you get when you don't have a smallholding?

Pink.

Hi dom300186,

As your thread has dropped down the board I've added it to another on self sufficiency in a normal home to keep the suggestions together. You should also find lots of fantastic ideas on this thread too:

Great Tips... one liners

Pink

COOLTRIKERCHICK

We want to be self sufficient in wood for the fire for next winter, so we will not buy coal..

so we have started collecting wood for free, pallets, cut trees etc.

so this will mean we will have free heating, and free hot water ( unless we need to put the emersion on)

We are seriously thinking about changing our living room coal fire for a rayburn cooker, ok it might look strange in this day and age to have a mulitifuel cooker in the living room, but only a generation or 2 ago this was the norm. We have a very small narrow kitchen so no room for a rayburn in there...

we dont go for trends or the norm in our house now, we just think of ways to save money, and make use of other people's cast off's or unwanted items:D

flowertotmum

Hi ..we are trying to be almost self sufficient..we have 2 large allotments,chickens and fruit trees and bushes in the garden at home o and 2 hazelnut bushes..well trees actually...we grow all our own food,i try to eat in season foods and not buy from supermarkets..i swap clothes with my dd's and we have a clothing circle going for the little ones...i make jam,chutneys,pickles,bake all my own stuff..only thing i have to buy is meat and milk, i hunt for bargains in that area..my eldest dd is a hairdresser and part-time butcher so thats 2 areas covered lol..i use my local library all the time..always on the look out for a bargain too..free is better..
We recycle just about everything we can..swapped my asparagus for the same amount in weight of ice-cream from the icecream man 2 doors away..all the neighbours save me bottles and jars..you can never have enough of those..
We make our own laundry gloop,wax polish and cleaning liquid(white vinegar)mix with a bit of water..and tea tree oil gets it clean..
make my own air freshners..febreeze bottle add water warmish and few drops of essential oil..shake it up and its ready..remember to shake it when you want to use it...lovely and cheap..
I can sew long as its straight lines lol..trying to learn to knit and crochet..have seen some lovely wools in CS but won't buy it because i can't do it properly yet..
Love trying to do it all myself and sticking my fingers to the rest of the world..if i can do it then i will if i can't then i'll find someone that can for a swapsie of something...
keep going all
ftm

Pocketlady_2

babyshoes wrote: »

Something you could do with your little one is "pick your own" fruit in summer and make things like jam, chutney, 'bottled' fruit, flavoured spirits (damson gin is amazing!) etc. They are great for presents throughout the year, and to use at home. I store jars through the year to re-use at jam time - ones that I can't get the label off properly get used at home or for non-occasion gifts for close friends and family (a plain white stationary label or even masking tape is a good idea so you know what is in the jar!), and I use nice labels from Hobbycraft for gift jars. If you get too much fruit to process in one go, you can freeze to cook with later on.

Growing stuff is easy if you have time and space. Potatoes and 'squash' family such as courgettes, pumpkins, butternut etc are easy to grow. Salad leaves are also easy, but don't plant them all at once otherwise you will have a glut of lettuce and not be able to store it all! Plant a few seeds every week or two through the season and it will be more manageable.

How do you make Damson Gin please? my aunt has orchards and often has more than enough to give away and freezes by the bucketload.