Vegan Living & Ethical Buying

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  • It's been a long time!! :eek:

    Story so far - house is done :j few bits left but for all intents and purposes its completed :D

    Its been very hard to stick to not buying from supermarkets and I've failed a few times now but I've done a pretty good job with all thats been going on ;)

    Life is back to a new normal now, I'm starting to do more cooking, keeping on top of things and planning ahead where possible.

    The vegan food wraps haven't survived - nothing to do with them, just very poor maintenance :o We've also given up on the veg for this year, no time or space if we're being honest, but we've got plans in place for next year ;)

    All in all, I'm pretty impressed with my progress but now the house is sorted I'm going to make an additional effort! :D
  • savvy
    savvy Posts: 31,128
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    Story so far - house is done :j few bits left but for all intents and purposes its completed :D
    Congratualtions! Still have a ton to do on mine and now driveway collapsing :(:(
    The vegan food wraps haven't survived - nothing to do with them, just very poor maintenance :o We've also given up on the veg for this year, no time or space if we're being honest, but we've got plans in place for next year ;)
    Ah was going ask about the food wraps! Still have the cling film in the cupboard, but want to replace it when it's used up :) I've just picked up on the veg front but haven't got any raised beds still - so doggos can get in and dig up!!
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  • Not a lot going on at the moment (she says with a sigh of relief! ;)) but I've started planning for next year :rotfl:
    My main ethical move next year will be growing much more fruit, veg and flowers for cutting in the garden. That way, most of the fresh food I eat will be grown veganically! :D
    Bit of a bonus- ds picked up some free garden pots for me! :D I was going to check out freecycle or fleabay as I need some big ones to move the plants ready for the garden makeover in the spring - talk about a stroke of luck!! :j
    I love autumn - snuggled under a blankie, deciding on how my veg beds will be and this year planning the rest of the garden too! :T
    It's going to be a lot of work getting it prepared but it's going to be worth it!
  • mmmmikey
    mmmmikey Posts: 1,597
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    Hi squirrelgirl - have you read Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew? I find it really inspiring and the advice there translates well into growing veg in pots. There's lots about square foot gardening online, but I think the book is particularly good. Must admit, I had a bit of a failure this year with broad beans totally decimated by black fly and most other veg just a bit disappointing. Green beans were good though. To be honest, I think one of the best bits is watching the seeds germinate in the spring. Good luck with it.
  • Thanks mmmmikey, I'll give it a look ;)
    Not a lot going on at the moment, I'm looking to eat out of the cupboards and freezer for the next couple of months so will be needing a large suma order in the new year!! :eek::rotfl:

    I'm deciding what to grow next year...I'm looking to grow job lots of tomatoes as they are probably the thing I use more than anything else and are easy to store for the autumn and winter by dehydrating, roasting and freezing etc. I also want to do garlic (another one of my big use items) so need to get that in pots pretty soon as I believe it works better if it gets some frost ;)

    I'm not going to plant too much of anything else...I only want to have seasonal veg (other than the tomatoes) really so will plant enough to cover what we need with a few extras to cover the inevitable disasters ;) I'm hoping that we can be reasonably self sufficient in veg by the end of next year - fruit is a different matter as we just don't have the space to grow as much as I'd like and keep enough garden for the grandbaby to have all his toys! :rotfl: However, some raspberries and apples (if they survive this winter in pots) blueberries (does anyone have any advice on small footprint but heavy croppers?) and strawberries will take the edge off the need to buy stuff ;)

    Previously I have grown stuff that is difficult to find in the shops but next year it's also the stuff that is easy to obtain (carrots, potatoes etc) so that it's grown veganically :D just got to see if I can keep the critters of it all!! :rotfl:
  • Does anyone have any tips on buying organic in a less expensive way? :eek:
    Original mortgage free date: November 2044
    Current mortgage free date: November 2038
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  • Unfortunately greeng, the only way I have found is by obtaining some of mine from local 'roadside' sellers. There are quite a few people locally who sell their surplus and I've managed over time to speak to a few and buy from those who produce organically (it helps that they tend to be very enthusiastic about it and chatty! ;))
  • I'm not going to plant too much of anything else. I only want to have seasonal veg .


    Have you thought about sweetcorn and asparagus? I took on an overgrown allotment a couple of months ago and am planning for next year. I'm not veggie or vegan so won't be restricting my use of the horse manure which gets dumped at the site entrance but do hope to otherwise be organic.



    Blackmoor Estates sell asparagus and soft fruit plants including blueberry, which I'd also like to have as well as fruit trees. Might be worth a look.



    For some of my other seeds I've been looking at the Real Seeds online catalogue as they sell heirloom varieties from which you can also save your own seeds as they aren't F1 hybrids. Some interesting looking chillies!
  • Thanks Silverwhistle... I'll definitely be doing sweetcorn - I did it a few years back and picked & cooked it immediately...never had sweetcorn so lush in my life!! Not sure about asparagus though as I'll have raised beds and not sure if it would work :think: I need to do a bit more research I think ;) I'll definitely check out Blackmore Estates and Real Seeds though...thank you! :D
    I'm currently checking out garden designers in my area - I really want to have the hardscaping completed by the end of March so that I can have a full growing year but I guess that I'll just do pots if I can't get the timing right ;)

    Nothing new to report really - I need to get a Suma order in in December as I'm really low on a number of things. I need to clear out under the stairs after the final work on the house has been completed next weekend so that I have the storage space for it! Freezers will be cleared by the end of November too so I can get those defrosted ready to refill :D I'm looking forward to next year as this one has been very full on and being able to chillax and enjoy the fruits of my labour is very appealing!! ;)
  • Look at lowering your energy and water bills.

    LED lighting, water flow restriction on taps and showers.

    Also there is a product called Rabot that you put on your radiators that automatically adjusts heating patterns that can save 10% on your energy bills. I got mine from SaveMoneyCutCarbon, brilliant little things! I think they still on discount now as well.
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