Learn How To Become Self Sufficient…
Beginner’s Guide to Bee Keeping
“And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey …'’ By his own admission Winnie the Pooh is a Bear of Little Brain but he does know a bit about bees. So you’re thinking [...]
Car Share Schemes
You probably already car share. At its most basic level car sharing is defined as being when two or more people travel together in a car for all or part of a journey. But, of course, taking the car to [...]
Building Your Own Cob House
More than one third of people in the world today live in homes made of earth and we’re not just talking about third world countries. Records show that cob houses were being built in England as long ago as the [...]
What Are Alternative Fuels?
For most households fuel is one of the major expenses. Whether it’s for heating, lighting, cooking or transportation we all use fuel of some sort or another in our daily life. The increasing cost of the usual fuels, such as [...]
Cutting Down Our Electric Bill: A Case Study
Although not trying to live a self-sufficient lifestyle, when Mike took voluntary redundancy, he decided that, as they’d be living on less money, he should look at where the money was going and try and work out if costs could [...]
Doing Car Boot Sales
Reduce, reuse and recycle. For those seeking to be more self-sufficient and trying to live by this mantra, car boot sales can provide genuine bargains. From almost new household goods to baby clothes, rare vinyl records to garden plants, the [...]
Natural Homemade Beauty Treatments
It’s remarkably easy to do-it-yourself when it comes to natural home-made beauty treatments: our great-grannies knew a thing or two about looking after their skin and they didn’t have a fortune to waste on expensively-marketed products. One of the major [...]
Making the Most of Your Library
It is amazing to think that less than one hundred years ago, public libraries as we know them didn’t exist for the majority of people in Britain. The history The idea of a library that would be open to all [...]
Keeping a Pig
So you’re thinking about keeping pigs. You’re not alone; after poultry, pigs are the most popular livestock for smallholders. And no wonder: they’re great for clearing and fertilising the ground, plus they produce delicious meat. There’s very little of a [...]
Our First Year in the Allotment: A Case Study
Alison and Simon have an allotment near their home in a small Devon village. As they're new to allotmenteering we thought they might have some good advice to pass on to potential allotment holders and beginners. We asked them about [...]
Selling from Your Allotment
“Can I sell vegetables I’ve grown on my allotment?” The answer is yes. Or possibly no. Perhaps the best answer is “it depends.” Whether you are allowed to sell fruit, vegetables or flowers you’ve grown on your allotment depends on [...]
What Not to Do in Your Allotment
An allotment is your own little piece of land to do as you will on – as long as it’s legal! But to get the best from your allotment it may be helpful if you are aware of some allotment/gardening [...]
Getting an Allotment
Potatoes and carrots on your plate an hour after they’ve come out of the soil. A plentiful supply of herbs as you need them. Plump juicy raspberries straight from the cane into your mouth. Sounds good? Today more and more [...]
History of Allotments
To understand the history of allotments we have to go a long way back in history. In 1086, according to the Domesday Book, the basic economy of England was agrarian with 90% of the people living in the country and [...]
How to Keep Animals and Vermin Away from Crops?
Perhaps the first thing to do is to contact your local environmental health pest control officer. Some councils are willing to treat garden infestations; others will only attend if the infestation has spread indoors. However they should be able to [...]
Home Composting and Growing Vegetables: A Case Study
When Carys Jones started her own home composting project, the initial incentive was pure laziness. That was six years ago and Carys, the manager of an electrical shop, and husband Mike, a design engineer, had just moved into a new [...]