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January 1, 2008, 13:06
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Blog Posts

Category: Asides (5)
- What The Good Life can tell us about self-sufficiency
  February 2, 2010, 17:17
  The Good Life was an inspirational sitcom from the 1970s about Tom and Barbara giving up their regular employed, consumer-driven lives in favour of self-suffici…
- Free Delia Smith DVDs
  January 30, 2010, 11:01
  The Daily Mail is giving away free Delia Smith DVDs, but you'd better get in quick. The first of four vouchers is printed today, with the second, third and…
- Money for nothing
  February 6, 2007, 21:17
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- Compost
  February 5, 2007, 12:28
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- Green paper
  February 5, 2007, 11:19
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Category: At home (24)
- Eco answers
  November 20, 2008, 08:45
  How environmentally-damaging is your cycle ride to work? How long will it take a home wind turbine to pay for itself? The New Scientist knows.
- Home-made Christmas cards
  November 19, 2008, 19:45
  Planning on making your own Christmas cards this year? This site of templates for making 3D pop-up greetings could be all the inspiration you need.
- The cost of solar power
  September 7, 2008, 07:00
  Thinking about installing solar panels? Good on you. Just be wary of the fact that it could take 208 years for them to repay their initial cost.
- Intelliplug: review
  September 4, 2008, 08:00
  Intelliplug is the simplest way to control all of your devices with just a single button... entirely passively. Put one in your socket and you should ever…
- Bye Bye Standby: review
  August 15, 2008, 08:01
  As energy prices rocket, anything that simplifies cutting down on waste is a boon. Bye Bye Standby does just that, by putting control of every plug in your…
- Why self-sufficiency matters
  August 4, 2008, 17:56
  As inflation takes a hold, there are better reasons than ever to move towards self-sufficiency.
- Self-sufficiency made easy
  July 15, 2008, 12:07
  Self sufficiency doesn't all have to be about growing your own vegetables, keeping chickens in the garden or screwing a solar panel to your roof. Sometimes…
- Energy consumption monitors
  May 17, 2008, 07:00
  My electricity supplier actually wants us to use less energy rather than more, with the help of a free energy monitor that tracks your usage and costs.…
- Slimmer, trimmer home wind turbines
  February 18, 2008, 08:38
  Wind turbines generate more controversy than electricity. While recent research suggests that some generate less power in the course of a year than it would…
- Can you save money while charging your phone?
  January 22, 2008, 09:04
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- The price of clean dishes
  January 14, 2008, 09:15
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- Home wind turbines and self-sufficiency
  January 9, 2008, 09:16
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- Are energy saving light bulbs dangerous?
  January 8, 2008, 14:07
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- Free water saving kit
  December 29, 2007, 20:30
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- Frugal Christmas tree
  December 28, 2007, 20:19
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- Recycled furniture
  April 5, 2007, 17:59
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- The house
  April 2, 2007, 17:36
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- Electricity monitor
  February 22, 2007, 07:17
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- Easy ethical shopping
  February 20, 2007, 07:19
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- Washing the dishes
  February 13, 2007, 07:17
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- Home-made power
  February 9, 2007, 07:21
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- Seeing the light
  February 8, 2007, 07:20
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- Green tunes
  February 6, 2007, 07:57
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- Greener homes, higher bills?
  February 1, 2007, 07:44
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Category: Five of the Best (7)
- Five sites for wannabe chicken keepers
  February 15, 2008, 13:44
  Fresh eggs every morning. You can't beat them - especially not if you plucked them from under the chicken yourself. Here's Blagger's rundown of the first sites…
- Five must-have tools for growing vegetables
  February 8, 2008, 13:12
  You can't grow your own food, keep chickens or generate your own electricity without access to the outside world (herbs aside), and so before you start living…
- Five wind-up, self-powered gadgets
  February 1, 2008, 11:27
  Clockwork technology, made popular by the introduction of the Baygen wind-up radio, is coming on in leaps and bounds. Here, we've rounded up five essential…
- Five Utility Switching websites
  January 25, 2008, 08:03
  Gas and electricity prices are on the up, leading many consumers to look for an alternative supplier. Yet it seems there are just as many sites vying to give…
- Five online ethical eco superstores
  January 18, 2008, 08:28
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- Five self-sufficiency podcasts
  January 11, 2008, 09:00
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- Unusual Online Seed Stores
  January 4, 2008, 13:29
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Category: General (69)
- The redcurrant jelly disaster
  August 16, 2010, 22:04
  Taking my eye off a pan of stewing fruit proved disastrous. The long and the short of it is the loss of a crop... and no jelly for our toast this autumn.
- We find a dead fox in the garden
  July 4, 2010, 19:27
  A dead fox in next door's garden caused an almighty stench out by the chicken run. Unfortunately that was the least of our problems, though, as we're looking…
- A steady supply of home-baked bread
  June 23, 2010, 08:17
  A weekly gift of a loaf of freshly home-baked bread is doing much to enhance our breakfasts, and proving to be highly inspirational.
- How to Live a Simple Life
  June 22, 2010, 18:45
  BBC2's How to Live a Simple Life posed a simple question: can you live for most of a year without any money? Peter Owen-Jones surrendered his wallet in an…
- Our first rhubarb of the year
  June 19, 2010, 11:19
  Our rhubarb is still maturing very slowly, as it's only its first year in the garden. With that in mind, the offer of some dead cheap rhubarb sticks on the…
- Popular Blagger posts of May 2010
  May 30, 2010, 09:50
  May was a month of getting produce back in the plot in time for this year's growing season. It was also the month we said goodbye to one of the longest serving…
- Our unproductive flowers prove strangely rewarding
  May 22, 2010, 08:04
  The only flowers we used to grow were sunflowers and marigolds, because they were both productive and useful. This year's foray into purely decorative blooms…
- Popular Blagger posts of April 2010
  May 1, 2010, 15:56
  April was a month of successes as we opened the first bottle of our homemade plum wine and cut into the round of cheese that we had been maturing in the…
- Popular Blagger posts of March 2010
  March 31, 2010, 18:46
  March was a busy month on the plot and in the kitchen. We started planting this year's seeds, introduced three new chickens to our home flock and finally baked…
- How to use rooting powder
  March 29, 2010, 07:57
  After two small branched got broken off our money tree we decided to re-pot them so that we could grow ourselves a couple of new plants. The best way to start…
- Flowers. Yes, really - flowers
  March 28, 2010, 18:59
  After a successful day of planting tomatoes yesterday, I spent today planting flowers for the very first time since moving into this house. Fortunately we…
- Success with the sourdough bread
  March 23, 2010, 21:31
  Our second attempt at baking sourdough bread was more successful than the first, but the results were still nit as light and airy as we had hoped. We suspect…
- Mixed results from the sourdough mix
  March 21, 2010, 12:41
  Our first sourdough bread was flatter and denser than we had been expecting, but we've worked out why and reckon that next time around we should have it…
- Popular Blagger posts of February 2010
  February 28, 2010, 12:26
  From knitting scarves to planting rhubarb, and from keeping poultry on scraps to taking our first home-made cheese out of the press, February has been a busy…
- I think our yoghurt has died
  February 24, 2010, 19:37
  Our first successful batch of yoghurt has come to its natural end. After six generations we took our eye off it for a little too long, and it's gone bad. Time…
- Stitch n Bitch by Debbie Stoller
  February 12, 2010, 08:39
  Stitch n Bitch is an excellent beginners' guide to knitting, taking you through the process of identifying needles, choosing wool and casting on, all the way…
- Spring cleaning the greenhouse
  February 1, 2010, 08:15
  We've left it a long time to clean out the greenhouse after the end of the last growing season. Having now put all the dead tomato vines in the compost bin and…
- Popular Blagger posts of January 2010
  January 31, 2010, 08:51
  Missed any posts on Blagger this month. Here is our pick of the top posts for chicken keepers, cooks, yoghurt makers, book readers and more...
- My Dream Farm on Channel 4
  January 20, 2010, 08:14
  Channel 4 is launching My Dream Farm, fronted by ex-Gardeners' World host Monty Don. It followed the trials and tribulations of six families who have traded…
- We try cheese
  January 7, 2010, 17:50
  After a chat at a party, we discover that our yoghurt is just one step away from cheese. We've decided to put the cold outhouse to good use and try our hand at…
- Food miles to be cut short?
  January 5, 2010, 07:58
  Wherever possible, we grow our own veg, and when we can't we try to buy as locally as possible, but now the government looks set to ask us to think less about…
- A year on the plot: another five highlights
  January 4, 2010, 09:44
  The second half of our review of the year just gone by sees us making our own cider, finally triumphing with yoghurt and reviving a 150-year-old recipe for…
- A year on the plot: five highlights
  January 3, 2010, 09:18
  From keeping chickens to growing vegetables and brewing our own wine and beer, it's been an interesting and educational year on the plot. Here are our top five…
- Self-sufficient successes at Christmas
  December 30, 2009, 12:41
  Hosting guests over Christmas was the ideal opportunity for us to dish out a lot of our home-made food. The yoghurt was a great success, but without sufficient…
- A second snow for 2009
  December 18, 2009, 18:12
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- Yoghurt fail
  December 15, 2009, 07:08
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- Brighton Council wants amateur shepherds
  October 29, 2009, 13:27
  Brighton council is training residents to look after sheep so that it can use small flocks to naturally control the growth of grasslands around the city,…
- Our meagre tomato harvest
  September 29, 2009, 13:35
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- Shredding trees for the chicken run
  September 28, 2009, 21:33
  With a dozen trees in need of some trimming we planned on shredding the off-cuts and using them to layer the floor of the chicken compound. Unfortunately,…
- Keeping bees in the garden
  September 15, 2009, 13:56
  The next step on from chickens is probably bees. They don't take up much space, they're easy to look after and they make honey, which has so many uses in the…
- Blagger Forum goes live
  September 14, 2009, 22:47
  The Blagger forum is live. Join us in the forum to chat about chickens, vegetables and general self-sufficiency.
- Green news round-up
  September 8, 2009, 13:16
  Newspapers are seeing the value of greening their fingers. Today's news round-up looks at what The Guardian and the News of the World are up to.
- Eating this year's crab apple jelly
  September 5, 2009, 08:42
  Last weekend we made this year's batch of crab apple jelly, and this weekend we tried the first of it on some slices of toast. The results were very tasty.
- B&Q to sell pigsties
  August 16, 2009, 18:45
  Looks like keeping chickens is getting a bit passe. Now B&Q is going one step further by stocking pigsties to cash in on the trend for home-based self-sufficien…
- Picking wild-foraged apples
  August 10, 2009, 10:32
  A trip to the apple tree growing down by the river lands us a healthy haul of free fruit, but even so we'll be heading back to pick some more.
- It's autumn already
  August 7, 2009, 08:08
  The first red leaf of the season is already here. Is it a sign that autumn is on the way, or is there some other explanation for its early appearance?
- Sunflowers
  July 22, 2009, 08:24
  This year's sunflowers are really shooting up. So much so that I've had to replace the original support canes with longer ones, and tie four of them to the…
- Your chance to live on the Victorian Farm
  July 20, 2009, 08:31
  The team that brought you Victorian Farm is looking for members of the public to spend a week on the Farm estate, living the life of Victorian farmers in…
- Jam making on the up
  July 18, 2009, 08:29
  John Lewis and Lakeland are both reporting a massive hike in sales of jam-making supplies as shoppers turn to DIY rather than bought toast toppings.
- Edwardian Farm coming soon
  July 17, 2009, 08:24
  Good news for fans of Victorian Farm: the BBC has just announced that it has commissioned a follow-up, Edwardian Farm, and it looks set to be bigger and better…
- Back home
  July 6, 2009, 13:43
  After a week away we've come back home to find one of the chickens moulting and the vegetables fighting a healthy crop of weeds for space in the plot.
- Stiffening the panniers
  May 25, 2009, 10:00
  Now that the shopping bike has been rebuilt, and the panniers fitted, we decided that it was time to give it a proper run out, so we took it to the market with…
- Fitting panniers to the shopping bike
  May 19, 2009, 07:11
  The salvage shopping bike is really coming on now. The squeaky brakes have been fixed, and this weekend I fitted the panniers. They are essential to transformin…
- The rebuilt bike
  May 11, 2009, 14:38
  The bike I bought to do up and teach me about bike maintenance is ready to use, although I can't claim much credit for its wellbeing.
- Planting lavender
  May 5, 2009, 22:11
  We don't plant many flowers in the garden, as we give over most of the available soil space to growing fruit and veg. Lavender is the exception, though, as we…
- Spring at last
  April 15, 2009, 18:17
  After a hard winter and a changeable spring we went to the Dales to look at all the new growth as a new season arrives.
- Most-read posts on Blagger from March 2009
  April 1, 2009, 01:00
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- The demise of battery eggs
  March 24, 2009, 07:30
  Battery eggs are on the way out. Quite literally: they've been removed from the theoretical 'basket' of goods the government compares year to year to see how…
- Self-sufficiency at the White House
  March 20, 2009, 15:44
  Michelle Obama started digging up the White House lawn today to plant an 1,100 square foot vegetable plot that will be used to grow vegetables for use in the…
- Most-read posts on Blagger from Feb 2009
  March 1, 2009, 00:00
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- Gardeners' Question Time on Radio 4
  February 18, 2009, 08:59
  The BBC is going to 'evolve' Gardeners' Question Time as it hands over the contract to a new production company. Will it offer more for self-sufficnet…
- Victorian Farm... finale
  February 16, 2009, 22:58
  The BBC's Victorian Farm has come to an end, and already the DVD is available to order for less than a tenner. I've bagged one, so I can enjoy the experience…
- Eggs and cholesterol: it's all a myth
  February 12, 2009, 07:56
  Good news for smallholders with chickens: cholesterol doesn't have all that much to do with eggs after all, so have as many as you want, according to this…
- Greenhouse protection
  February 5, 2009, 13:10
  This week's heavy snow could have caused some serious damage to the greenhouse, had we not gone out to clear it down.
- Most-read posts on Blagger from Jan 2009
  February 1, 2009, 00:00
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- Victorian Farm on the BBC
  January 28, 2009, 08:14
  The BBC is running a show called Victorian Farm right now, in which three people - two men and a woman - are spending a year living as tenant farmers on a…
- Most-read posts on Blagger from Dec 2008
  January 1, 2009, 00:00
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- Christmas hampers
  December 25, 2008, 08:20
  We snuck out early this morning, before anyone else's lights were on, and delivered four hampers of home-made gifts to the neighbours' doorsteps. With jams,…
- Most-viewed posts on Blagger from Nov 2008
  December 1, 2008, 00:00
  Too many posts to handle? If you missed out on some posts from last month, here's a quick digest of the top posts that you may want to check out.
- Christmas presents... already
  November 13, 2008, 15:21
  Every time we've bottled or preserved something over the last few months, we've made a few extras for the neighbours. Not for now, but for a secret midnight…
- End of The Good Life
  August 29, 2008, 08:23
  The man we have to thank for naming our chickens died last week. John Esmonde part created Tom and Barbara Good, and their neighbours Margot and Gerry…
- Eating the offcuts
  May 23, 2008, 08:12
  The wartime dig for victory campaign was spurred by the fact that blockades meant Britain could no longer rely on the 55 million tons of food it was previously…
- Tescopoly by Andrew Simms: review
  March 4, 2008, 09:00
  There are many reasons to become self-sufficient. For some it's the simple enjoyment of standing on your own two feet, while for others it's a desire not to be…
- Free self-sufficiency classes
  January 26, 2008, 09:17
  Self-sufficiency might not come easily to everyone. So the Soil Association has teamed up with Stony to run A Taste of the Good Life, a series of free classes…
- Petition for a greener planet
  February 24, 2007, 07:25
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- The Archers
  February 21, 2007, 07:39
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- Green Charles, red Queen
  February 3, 2007, 07:44
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- Freecycle
  January 29, 2007, 21:59
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- Hello world
  January 26, 2007, 16:52
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Category: Growing food (190)
- This year's potatoes are champions
  August 29, 2010, 10:37
  The potatoes we have grown this year are much bigger than any we've had before, and more plentiful, too. Digging them up also has the side-effect of conditionin…
- We bag some bargain rhubarb for the garden
  July 21, 2010, 09:48
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- Our redcurrants are... well, red
  July 9, 2010, 08:08
  Now that the strawberries are finally coming to an end in the plot, the redcurrant bush is really coming into its own.
- Picking the cherries and beans
  July 7, 2010, 08:46
  Our beans are cracking on at quite a pace, and tonight we picked and ate the first fruits of our labours. It's a shame we can't say the same for our cherries.
- We're enjoying a garden fruit glut
  July 2, 2010, 09:18
  Our strawberry patch is having its best year ever, delivering more strawberries every day than we can possibly hope to eat. And now our raspberries are…
- Something is eating our strawberries
  June 22, 2010, 08:00
  A pest in the strawberry patch is eating our fruits almost as quickly as we can pick them. The culprit looks like it might be woodlice, but until we can be…
- Returning home to find rampant potato growth
  June 10, 2010, 16:27
  Sometimes you don't need to spend all day working in the garden: nature tends it for you all on its own. That's what we discovered when we came back from a…
- They may still be green, but they're strawberries
  June 5, 2010, 09:18
  With fruit it's often best to wait and see. Bide your time, wait a year or two and you'll be rewarded by the kind of crop we're expecting from our strawberries…
- Potato progress
  June 3, 2010, 09:02
  Our seed potatoes are going great guns. Right across the plot now we have dark green leaves poking up through the soil. We have so many this should easily keep…
- Our beans are being eaten... and not by us
  June 1, 2010, 12:56
  Something is eating our beans. We suspect the slugs. It is very irritating when they have only been in the plot a few days after weeks of care in the greenhouse…
- A surprise showing from the 'dead' rhubarb
  May 20, 2010, 08:42
  A rhubarb root that we thought had died in the ground seems to have found a new lease of life and is rather unexpectedly starting to shoot. Better late than…
- This year's beans are in the ground
  May 18, 2010, 20:30
  It feels like summer is finally on the way as I can now look out of the window and see the wigwam of bamboo canes I have built to support this year's bean crop.
- Three years of raspberry growth
  May 6, 2010, 08:36
  We didn't really believe that raspberry canes would grow as quickly as they do, but three years after planting our first ones they look set to take over the…
- Planting up this year's spuds
  May 4, 2010, 08:47
  The plot is now covered by small white markers, picking out the spots where we have planted this year's potato crop. We normally grow them in potato bags, but…
- The monster parsnips in our plot
  April 21, 2010, 08:58
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- Finally getting the planting underway
  April 20, 2010, 10:40
  Spring is well under way so we've spent the day planting the seeds for this year's crops. As we approach the end of April, our potting bench is full of…
- Planting this year's herbs
  April 18, 2010, 09:53
  Hoping the last of the frosts have passed, we've transplanted this year's mint and rosemary. Whether they make it as far as summer is in the hands of the…
- The garlic is shooting... quickly
  April 13, 2010, 21:49
  It looks like the worst of the winter weather may be behind us, and the plants are certainly enjoying the warmer days. In some cases, though, that's not…
- The rhubarb is shooting
  March 30, 2010, 08:50
  The first of our rhubarb roots has started to show signs of shooting. We're not going to force it this year, but instead let it get itself established so that…
- We've started planting this year's seeds
  March 27, 2010, 18:57
  Spring is finally upon us. One day before the clocks go forward for the start of summertime, we have planted the first of this year's seeds: Ildi tomatoes. It…
- The seed sprouter has worked its magic... sort of
  March 14, 2010, 08:17
  We've succeeded in growing a good crop of sandwich mix in the seed sprouter, but our beansprouts are still disappointing. We'll eat what we have so far, and…
- Our beansprouts are stunted
  March 10, 2010, 08:55
  Our home-grown beansprouts are a lot shorter than we had expected, and look nothing like the kind of beansprouts you'd buy in the shops. We've followed the…
- We're growing our own beansprouts
  March 4, 2010, 14:58
  I never realised beansprouts were mung beans, despite eating them at least once a week. I bet not many other people know that either, when you consider how bad…
- Chitting potatoes... at last
  March 2, 2010, 19:32
  Our potato order has finally arrived, so we have laid out the new tubers in the outhouse so they can start chitting. They should be ready for planting by early…
- We've planted a redcurrant bush
  February 16, 2010, 08:05
  After planting a redcurrant bush we have counted up the different fruits we are growing and found that we are at ten. Not bad going for a very small plot. It…
- Planting a lingonberry plant
  February 15, 2010, 13:43
  We are growing our own lingonberry plant so that we can use the cranberry-like fruits in pies and cakes. Unfortunately our plant is very small, so it may take…
- Our 2010 seeds have arrived
  February 11, 2010, 08:25
  The seeds for this summer's crops have arrived, with a few weeks to spare. Although we are still waiting for our seed potatoes and the will need chitting, most…
- We've planted some rhubarb
  February 2, 2010, 08:08
  We have been out in the plot planting rhubarb crowns. These are fairly inexpensive, and although we'll have to wait until next year before we can take our…
- We've ordered our seeds for 2010
  January 30, 2010, 11:07
  Spring is approaching, so we've been sitting down with the seed catalogues again and finally ordered this year's seeds. We're growing tomatoes, potatoes, beans…
- Time to start planting for 2010
  January 25, 2010, 08:56
  It's time to start planting the seeds for this year's vegetable crops, and the Royal Horticultural Society is lending a hand with a functional, useful guide to…
- Digging our first parsnips
  January 19, 2010, 08:07
  We were worried that the melting snow - and the rain the followed - would have ruined our parsnip crop, but after digging up the first four specimens we're…
- The potatoes have survived the snow!
  January 18, 2010, 08:51
  Our home-grown potatoes have surprised us - in a good way. After all the snow and ice they still looked good to eat when we turned out the latest bag.
- Caring for the raspberries
  December 31, 2009, 10:41
  Our raspberry plants have been in need of attention for a few weeks, so we headed out with the secateurs to prune them, and with three brand new canes to…
- Red chillies
  October 28, 2009, 13:57
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- The last tomatoes and raspberries
  October 26, 2009, 13:44
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- The cheat's way to grow your own
  October 13, 2009, 16:44
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- The tomatoes are ripening
  September 23, 2009, 09:15
  And about time, too. It looks like the harsh trimming I gave the tomato plants is finally paying off. Their fruits, which have stayed stubbornly green through…
- Pickled onions
  September 16, 2009, 08:10
  We pickled enough onions to fill two jars in the end. That was the good bit. What wasn't quite so good was the fact that one of the jars leaked, so it wasn't…
- Helping the tomatoes to ripen
  September 11, 2009, 07:36
  It's late in the season, but we still have plenty of green tomatoes. In an effort to get them to ripen, we have trimmed back the foliage on our vines.
- Planting cauliflower and cabbage
  September 10, 2009, 07:31
  For the first time ever we are going to try out hand at growing crops over the winter. To this end, we've planted cauliflower and cabbage seeds.
- Nigel Slater on growing your own
  September 9, 2009, 13:56
  Chef Nigel Slater has a new book coming out, which focuses primarily on vegetables, and particularly on growing your own. He got so frustrated about not being…
- Emptying the plot
  September 9, 2009, 07:34
  As summer draws to a close, we have emptied out the vegetable plot, leaving only the parsnips in place, and the option of planting some new crops.
- Harvesting and storing onions
  September 7, 2009, 07:31
  With summer coming to an end, we have pulled our onions out of the plot. Although some are small, they are well matured, with satisfying brown papery skins.
- Harvesting sunflowers
  September 4, 2009, 16:39
  Summer is drawing to an end, so we have cut down a third of our sunflowers and harvested the seeds for us and the chickens to eat.
- Recycling the end of the beans
  August 25, 2009, 23:06
  Who says the scraps you feed your chickens need to come from the kitchen? Now that our potted crops are coming to the end of their run, we're getting them to…
- How to grow a bumper tomato crop
  August 5, 2009, 08:10
  Caring for tomato plants is simple, but if you want to maximise your crop some careful, regular pruning is essential. It'll keep your plants' minds on the job…
- Bumper beans and potatoes
  August 3, 2009, 08:32
  After months of very slow progress on the plot we managed to bring in a bumper harvest with just an hour of picking, giving us plenty of beans and potatoes to…
- How to preserve greengages
  July 30, 2009, 23:23
  We found ourselves a greengage tree, its boughs heavy with ripe fruits. It was too good to let it all go to waste, so we picked a bucket-ful and brought it…
- How to blanche broad beans
  July 28, 2009, 07:24
  Blanching broad beans lets you preserve your crop so that you can continue feeding yourself from the produce of your garden right through the winter.
- First tomato of 2009
  July 21, 2009, 13:17
  Well, we've had our first tomato of the year, but it isn't great news. It was green for starters, as you'd expect right now, but more importantly it had also…
- Raspberries
  July 8, 2009, 23:06
  Yum yum. The first raspberries are ready for eating. Perfect timing, really, as the strawberries have now all been picked and eaten.
- Broad beans
  July 7, 2009, 22:31
  Tonight we harvested the first of our broad beans. Ten pods in total, with three or four little beanlets inside each one. We cooked them up into a risotto with…
- Nature is your enemy
  June 28, 2009, 07:24
  Nature is your enemy: that's the verdict of one BBC journalist berating the current trend of allotment ownership.
- Strawberries without the straw
  June 24, 2009, 18:53
  The strawberries have been our big success story this summer. Surprising, really, as they have been a dead loss in years gone by.
- A hard year on the plot
  June 7, 2009, 10:42
  2009 is turning out to be a very hard year on the plot. We have planted three runs of carrots on three different occasions and in two different locations, and…
- Hot hot hot
  June 2, 2009, 12:03
  The sunny weather has pushed up the temperature in the greenhouse to the mid-50s Celsius (127F), and the plants are struggling to cope.
- Dropped apricots
  May 29, 2009, 16:46
  The apricot tree is looking distinctly sorry for itself and now, with a gust of wind, it's lost two of its only four fruits.
- Why should you grow your own?
  May 27, 2009, 07:01
  We had a very good demonstration of why it's worth growing your own this week, even when vegetables are so cheap in the shops at the moment. Here it is.
- Strawberries
  May 24, 2009, 09:48
  The strawberry patch looks like it's going to provide us with a bumper crop this year. It's a happy accident that we left them in the plot all winter, as we…
- Bad news on the plot
  May 14, 2009, 18:10
  A few days was all it took for our bean saplings to lose all their leaves. We haven't yet worked out whether the wind or the birds are to blame.
- Second-year strawberries
  May 8, 2009, 07:01
  After a disappointing strawberry crop last year we're keeping our fingers crossed for some bumper pickings this year as the plants have survived the winter and…
- Transplanting the tomatoes
  May 7, 2009, 07:43
  The years is rapidly passing by, and already it's time to transplant the tomatoes into their final homes - the big pots in which we hope they'll bear fruit.
- Little lettuces
  April 29, 2009, 18:19
  Even the frosts don't seem as harsh as they were, and as we move into spring the plants - both in the greenhouse and out - are enjoying the warmer weather.
- We planted a cat
  April 26, 2009, 09:04
  It seems that it's not only our lettuces that are enjoying the sun in the troughs behind the greenhouse. A hairy visitor has made them his bed.
- Clearing out the greenhouse
  April 25, 2009, 09:00
  The greenhouse was such a mess that we were literally climbing in and out. A few hours of tidying, though, has not only made access easier, but turned up…
- Free BBC Dig In seeds arrive
  April 24, 2009, 11:33
  If you missed out on getting your free seeds from the BBC, you can still follow the series by downloading the book and buying seeds of your own.
- Happy beans
  April 18, 2009, 07:06
  Could beans be the happiest and most cheerful plants in the plot? Even before they blossom they have a happy demeanour and beg for your attention.
- How much space do raspberry plants need?
  April 17, 2009, 07:51
  Raspberries take up considerable space when they get growing, as last year's canes are starting to prove now that they've begun growing new foliage for this…
- The potatoes have started
  April 16, 2009, 07:38
  Rather excitingly, the potatoes have started shooting. I really enjoy growing potatoes in bags behind the greenhouse, as they don't take up any space in the…
- Chilli in the greenhouse
  April 14, 2009, 07:17
  The chillis have sat dormant for weeks since we planted them, but since we've been heating the greenhouse they have woken up, and now we have a healthy crop of…
- Transplanting seedlings
  April 12, 2009, 08:38
  Now that they're starting to get a bit bigger and stronger we've transplanted our healthiest tomato seedlings into bigger pots, giving them room to start…
- How to use a paraffin greenhouse heater
  April 10, 2009, 09:17
  After three days of using the greenhouse heater we are already seeing results. We're pleasantly surprised at how cheap it is to run, too... if you follow the…
- Planting beans, lettuce and sunflowers
  April 3, 2009, 06:20
  With the greenhouse heater in place, we've started to pot up more of our seeds, putting in some safety-net duplicates in case the ones in the plot don't come…
- Heating the greenhouse
  April 1, 2009, 06:27
  It may now - technically - be summer time, but the cold nights are still with us which means that with the main planting season underway we've invested in a…
- Planting raspberry canes
  March 31, 2009, 06:10
  The raspberry canes have finally arrived. And not a moment too soon, either. They were scheduled to turn up somewhere in the ludicrously wide window of…
- Re-using old compost
  March 26, 2009, 14:25
  Having turned out two bags of potatoes and all of last year's tomato pots, we find ourselves with plenty of used compost at our disposal, which could well come…
- Growing potatoes in bags
  March 23, 2009, 13:56
  We don't grow potatoes in the plot: we use bags instead. You can use tyres (tires to Americans) just as well, but bags, to my mind, are neater and easier to…
- Self-sufficiency at the White House
  March 20, 2009, 15:44
  Michelle Obama started digging up the White House lawn today to plant an 1,100 square foot vegetable plot that will be used to grow vegetables for use in the…
- Free seeds from BBC Dig In
  March 18, 2009, 08:02
  The BBC is jumping in the home-grown bandwagon with its new Dig In project, and it's even giving away free seeds to get first-timers started.
- The tomatoes are shooting
  March 13, 2009, 07:47
  I'm very impressed by the Black Russian tomatoes. It's only taken them a week to start shooting in their little paper pots. At the moment they're sat by the…
- How to make your own cloche
  March 12, 2009, 07:05
  Cloches are expensive, so we looked for something cheaper but just as effective. A quick root through the recycling bag cane up with the answer: old bottles.
- Chitting this year's potatoes
  March 9, 2009, 13:41
  Spotting a bargain in town at the weekend, we bought ourselves some seed potatoes to plant for this year's crop, having more or less decided that we wouldn't…
- How soon should you start planting your veg?
  March 8, 2009, 18:12
  Has a day of sun and singing birds lured us into a false sense of security? We put our first seeds into the plot this morning, just before the wind and hail…
- Planting Black Russian tomatoes
  March 5, 2009, 07:13
  The growing season has officially begun on the plot as we have planted 2009's first seeds: a dozen Black Russian tomatoes that should stand out from our…
- A late potato harvest
  March 4, 2009, 07:46
  Turning out the first of four very late potato bags revealed a healthy crop of good firm spuds, reviving our faith on the humble vegetable after disappointment…
- The last carrots
  March 3, 2009, 07:06
  Clearing out the end of the plot saw us haul a massive harvest of carrots, which will be shared between us and the chickens. Even those ones we don't eat…
- The garlic starts to grow
  February 27, 2009, 08:27
  The garlic cloves have been potted up for almost two months now and the early signs are good, with a couple of strong shoots leading the way.
- The last onions
  February 26, 2009, 11:06
  In an effort to get the plot ready for the first planting of the season, this morning saw us digging up the last of the onion harvest.
- National Trust goes on an allotment drive
  February 20, 2009, 13:50
  The National Trust wants businesses around the country to use their spare land to provide allotments for their staff. Blagger isn't convinced it's practical.
- Ordering this year's seeds
  February 9, 2009, 23:20
  The rain is hammering on the window as I type this; the snow has only just melted. Yet it's time to be thinking seriously about what we're going to be growing…
- Mucking in
  January 21, 2009, 08:28
  The chickens have proved to be a great addition to our self-sufficiency drive. They provide us with eggs, most obviously, but also help at both ends of the…
- Monster carrots
  January 20, 2009, 08:21
  We've just pulled up the biggest carrot we've ever grown. A whopped the size of a cat's leg, it's heavy, straight, bulky and free of nibbles from the slugs and…
- Planning this year's planting
  January 19, 2009, 09:14
  It's still early January, but already time for us to start thinking about what we want to grow this year. Some seeds need to be planted well before spring so…
- Carrots
  January 15, 2009, 00:00
  We are enjoying a bumper harvest of carrots this year. The other morning we dug up almost a kilo of them from the frosty ground, which came up in great icy…
- How to grow garlic
  January 5, 2009, 08:51
  Garlic needs some very cold weather before the spring comes along if it's to grow well, so the snow and ice we're having right now makes this the perfect time…
- Harvesting the carrots late
  December 16, 2008, 22:49
  We're starting to wonder whether we've left the carrots in the ground too long. Our late harvest is proving to be pitted with black marks and scars.
- How to boil (and freeze) beetroot
  December 6, 2008, 08:50
  We've harvested far too much beetroot to eat in one go. The most common method of preservation is, of course, pickling, but as that's not to everyone's taste…
- Replanting the strawberry patch
  December 3, 2008, 08:28
  Our initial investment in just 12 strawberry plants has now become 35 healthy plants, primed to bear fruit next year.
- Pulling the first carrots
  December 2, 2008, 08:25
  Despite a wet summer and an ever wetter autumn, our carrots are thriving. The first sample has us looking forward to a feast for Christmas.
- Pruning the fruit bushes
  November 30, 2008, 08:29
  Autumn is well and truly over, and it's time to start tidying up the fruit beds. Most specifically, the currant bushes.
- Harvesting the beetroot
  November 28, 2008, 08:27
  Having ignored the beetroot since it was planted, we half expected to find nothing but mush as we dug up the first roots. But we were in for a pleasant…
- Harvesting the chillis
  November 17, 2008, 08:00
  All of our summer crops are coming to an end, so today it was time to harvest the chillis. We don't use them at any great rate, so the number we snipped off…
- Our first home grown apple
  October 31, 2008, 23:52
  Our first home-grown apple is a whopper, and both juicy and sweet. What a shame it was the only fruit on our decidedly underwhelming tree.
- Green tomatoes
  October 20, 2008, 07:07
  It's been a disappointing summer for the tomatoes, despite the fact that the vines are now putting out new flowers, trying to make up for their bad behaviour…
- The first tally of 2008
  October 6, 2008, 22:37
  A quick tally of this year's vegetable harvest shows that we're already half way to matching what we grew last year. The most exciting addition, though, has of…
- A bumper apple harvest
  September 19, 2008, 07:00
  The neighbours are on holiday and have given us free access to their abundant apple tree. But what should we do with all that fruit?
- Readying the plot for winter
  September 17, 2008, 07:00
  As winter approaches, we decided it was time to clear the front half of the plot ready for a new season of crops. We picked a bumper harvest of beans in the…
- Our plummeting food bills
  September 3, 2008, 08:00
  Looking over the plot at the weekend, it occurred to us that we have hardly bought any vegetables this summer. Considering that one of us is a vegetarian,…
- Eating from the garden
  August 31, 2008, 15:04
  With the family coming around for the weekend, we wanted to feed them as much as possible using produce from the garden. Clearly a big salad was called for.
- Food deflation
  August 27, 2008, 12:57
  Two years into growing our own fruit and veg, we can start comparing the year-on-year price differences. The results are somewhat surprising.
- Harvesting our first onion
  August 20, 2008, 08:00
  Our first onion was a tasty base of a hearty meal, but what appeared to be a monster when still in the soil was only half the size we'd expected when we…
- The value of good neighbours
  August 18, 2008, 07:43
  A trip away helps us understand that true self-sufficiency requires the help of a good set of neighbours and friends.
- The first tomatoes of 2008
  August 13, 2008, 10:12
  The weather is doing a pretty good impression of winter right now, so I'm glad I was able to pick the first tomatoes this morning. The first tomatoes always…
- Loving the lettuce
  August 8, 2008, 19:58
  A good lettuce is so much more than just limp green leaves. This year's specimens have been a particular success, which we're putting down to the fact that…
- Our little garden helper
  August 7, 2008, 19:14
  The cat is turning out to be a first-class mouser, which is having benefits we hadn't initially considered. Could he be the ultimate self-sufficient accessory?
- Salad days
  August 3, 2008, 22:39
  Our various salad crops are approaching readiness, and with 23 tomato plants of four different varieties to choose from we're hoping for plenty to eat, and…
- Harvesting the beans
  August 1, 2008, 07:15
  An early morning picking session bagged us a bumper crop of beans, taking our total for the year so far well beyond what we produced in the whole of last…
- Three-bean risotto recipe
  July 14, 2008, 12:09
  We had our first proper harvest at the weekend. Three types of beans: French, runner and broad. Not a huge amount of any variety, but enough to cook ourselves…
- A hedgerow harvest
  July 13, 2008, 16:36
  We had a bumper picking session, and the most prolific crop wasn't even one we were after. After a hunt for more elder flowers for a second batch of champagne…
- A busy night in the plot
  June 24, 2008, 09:55
  With summer in full swing, the plot was due some mid-season maintenance. We moved the tomatoes outdoors, built a climbing frame for the cucumbers and pulled an…
- A late potato harvest
  June 16, 2008, 19:25
  A big surprise on Saturday: 2007's efforts are still bearing fruit. Well, vegetables, to be more precise. Turning out a bag of last year's potato sowings…
- Pest control
  June 11, 2008, 21:11
  Something is eating the best strawberries, and it certainly isn't us. To be honest, I'm quite at a loss to explain what it is. I don't think it's slugs or…
- How to grow cucumbers
  May 30, 2008, 12:26
  We're trying cucumbers for the first time this year, and so far it's going pretty well. Why? Because everything we have read indicates that their taste is a…
- 2008's first strawberries
  May 29, 2008, 16:39
  The fruit trees are steadily loosening their grip on the last few petals of blossom, and while the strawberries in the patch are plumping up nicely, they’re…
- Eating the offcuts
  May 23, 2008, 08:12
  The wartime dig for victory campaign was spurred by the fact that blockades meant Britain could no longer rely on the 55 million tons of food it was previously…
- The (almost) final vegetable tally
  May 16, 2008, 08:00
  The harvesting of the leeks marks a far more important passing: they are the last of last year's vegetables to leave the plot. Adding this to the total harvest…
- How to blanch vegetables
  May 15, 2008, 12:05
  The key to successful blanching is to have everything ready in advance so that you can create a kind of one-person production line.
- Planting for summer
  April 20, 2008, 17:38
  It's a year since we first started to grow our own food in the plot, and so we're finding ourselves repeating some of the things we did around about now 12…
- How to plant a tree
  April 14, 2008, 21:57
  Plant a tree and you get a wonderful sense of achievement. Perhaps it's because we have it drummed into us from an early age that trees are the world's lungs…
- Grow your own chilis
  April 5, 2008, 05:00
  Chilis not only taste great - when used appropriately and in moderation - they look good, too. Growing as colourful fruits on small bushes, they make an…
- How to grow your own onions
  April 4, 2008, 05:00
  Onions are a staple in pretty much any country's cooking. They can be the main part of a meal, as in onion soup, or a constituent part of a salad, risotto or…
- What seeds should you plant in April?
  April 3, 2008, 05:00
  With April now upon us, spring is most definitely sprung. The forecast for this weekend - in the UK, at least - may be for snow and ice (again) but as the air…
- Spring cleaning
  April 2, 2008, 12:51
  Most of us only ever spring clean in the house - if at all - but as the new growing season begins, it's equally important to make sure that your garden, and in…
- How to plant a fruit bush in five steps
  March 11, 2008, 00:01
  If you want to grow any fruit this year, then now's the time to get your bushes planted. So this weekend we headed out into the plot and planted a new…
- What food is in season in March?
  March 2, 2008, 09:10
  It may feel spring-like, but we're still in the closing days of winter, and our diets should reflect that. Root vegetables are still ripe for harvesting, and…
- What seeds should you plant in March?
  March 1, 2008, 09:05
  As March arrives, things are starting to warm up, and it's time to start planting some of the hardier crops, ready for sprouting in the spring. Here's out…
- A very late harvest
  February 25, 2008, 10:01
  We're rapidly moving into spring. The trees are starting to bud, and there is blossom in the nature reserve next to the house. So this weekend we pulled on our…
- Lazy broad beans and cat grass
  February 11, 2008, 10:58
  Two weeks on, the broad beans and cat grass are showing very little in the way of signs of life. Is it too early to be planting out? Are the optimistic seed…
- Five must-have tools for growing vegetables
  February 8, 2008, 13:12
  You can't grow your own food, keep chickens or generate your own electricity without access to the outside world (herbs aside), and so before you start living…
- What seeds should you plant in February?
  February 2, 2008, 09:08
  It's the start of a new month, so time to plan what should be planted in February. It's not yet properly spring and conditions are cold, so the more you can…
- Grow your own cauliflowers
  January 31, 2008, 08:44
  Cauliflower isn't the guaranteed cash crop it once was, and so its continued propagation - in the UK at least - is in doubt. That will likely push up prices…
- Paper Potter
  January 28, 2008, 08:05
  The Paper Potter is an excellent frugal and ecological way to recycle your paper while starting off your crops. When your seeds have started to sprout and…
- First signs of spring
  January 21, 2008, 19:04
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- The Butt Butt water butt
  January 19, 2008, 09:36
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- The Allotment Cookbook : review
  January 15, 2008, 18:32
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- The pre-spring clear-up
  January 7, 2008, 14:38
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- The plot in 2008
  January 1, 2008, 18:57
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- Wellies!
  December 30, 2007, 20:40
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- Sprouts
  December 24, 2007, 20:50
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- Recycling too far
  November 23, 2007, 13:32
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- Last of the beetroot, end of the squash
  November 22, 2007, 11:39
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- Frostbite
  November 1, 2007, 10:26
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- Summer summary
  October 24, 2007, 17:40
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- A stunted harvest
  October 19, 2007, 09:27
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- Carrotastrophe
  October 7, 2007, 22:10
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- Marmalade and quince jelly
  September 23, 2007, 21:55
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- Carrots
  September 15, 2007, 11:47
  No description found for this item.
- More tomatoes than we can cope with
  September 11, 2007, 19:01
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- Red potatoes and blight
  August 19, 2007, 22:17
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- End of the beans
  August 13, 2007, 20:38
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- Tomatoes: the first harvest
  August 10, 2007, 21:34
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- Caterpillars, butterflies and slugs
  August 7, 2007, 09:08
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- Beetroot and Broccoli
  August 5, 2007, 22:24
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- Squash and Dwarf French Beans
  August 3, 2007, 08:21
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- The First Potato Harvest
  July 29, 2007, 16:14
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- Lots of garden growth
  July 25, 2007, 21:18
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- Olives, squash and dwarf French beans
  July 22, 2007, 21:54
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- Flat veg
  July 20, 2007, 21:28
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- Broccoli!
  July 19, 2007, 10:58
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- Has-beans
  July 18, 2007, 12:13
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- Potato Blight and Blossom End Rot
  July 17, 2007, 10:06
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- Food from the garden
  July 11, 2007, 10:12
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- Planting out
  June 23, 2007, 16:50
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- Quince
  June 22, 2007, 16:15
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- Flowers in the garden
  June 13, 2007, 10:48
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- Babies
  June 11, 2007, 22:52
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- Drooping
  June 4, 2007, 12:25
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- Strawberries
  June 1, 2007, 10:23
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- Moving the veg
  May 29, 2007, 16:20
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- Beans and canes
  May 24, 2007, 23:01
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- First Harvest
  May 15, 2007, 14:11
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- The jungle in my greenhouse
  May 8, 2007, 21:10
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- Big girl’s blouse
  May 2, 2007, 19:13
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- Busy beans
  April 25, 2007, 21:18
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- Germination
  April 24, 2007, 21:24
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- Shoots
  April 11, 2007, 05:35
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- You say tomarto, I say tomayto
  April 8, 2007, 22:59
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- Planning for planting potatoes
  March 14, 2007, 20:54
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- Greener food
  January 31, 2007, 07:01
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- Oily food
  January 30, 2007, 07:00
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Category: Keeping chickens (94)
- Should we let sleeping hens lie?
  August 19, 2010, 13:50
  One of our chickens is reluctant to put herself to bed inside the coop at night. Instead she perches on its roof and waits for us to come out and tuck her in.
- Our little bruised chicken
  July 19, 2010, 21:45
  The chickens are still not happy. One of them in particular. In short, the old chickens haven't yet forgiven us for bringing home three newcomers. Rather than…
- Our new hens are getting hen-pecked
  July 13, 2010, 21:37
  Our new hens are being viciously pecked by the older members of our flock. Settling in these three newcomers is proving to be a lot more difficult than we had…
- Three new chickens join the flock
  July 10, 2010, 17:46
  didn't think I'd be writing this again quite so soon, but we've added three new chickens to our flock. Another three Rhode Rangers, which have proved such a…
- We build the chickens a climbing frame
  July 8, 2010, 08:50
  The chickens have been laying so well that we decided to give them a treat by building a new, higher perch in their compound so they can see further down the…
- Even our chickens are self-sufficient now
  July 3, 2010, 09:29
  The chickens are more than paying their way now. We haven't paid for chicken food out of our own pockets for a couple of months, which is another small step…
- Margot the bow-legged chicken
  June 21, 2010, 07:30
  One of our chickens is laying double yolked eggs every day. It's great for breakfast, but we worry about her health and how much longer she'll be able to carry…
- Barbara chicken falls off her perch
  May 14, 2010, 16:49
  Poor Barbara, one of our first chickens, has died. She went downhill over the course of a few weeks, and when the end came she simply fell over and didn't get…
- Is our chicken sunburned?
  May 5, 2010, 08:59
  It looks like one of our chickens has been spending far too much time out in the sun and now she has gone and burnt her comb, silly girl.
- A monster month for eggs
  May 3, 2010, 10:21
  We are now getting so many eggs a day from our five hens that we can't eat them quickly enough. Pretty soon we're going to have to put a for sale sign on the…
- Barbara chicken's dirty bum
  April 17, 2010, 19:25
  One of our chickens started moulting, and getting her faeces matted in what remained of her rear feathers. Much though we wished it wasn't, it soon became…
- Your chicken-keeping questions answered
  March 26, 2010, 17:20
  Starting out with chickens can be a confusing business - we know from when we did it ourselves. That's why we're always happy to answer first-timers' questions.…
- A rude awakening for one of our chickens
  March 20, 2010, 12:34
  A small egg in the next suggests that one of our new chickens may have laid its first. But has it? And if so, which one? This does seem remarkably early…
- Peace has broken out in the coop
  March 12, 2010, 13:40
  The new chickens seem to have settled in well. in less than a week. That's the good news. What we're wondering now, though, is whether the real squabbles will…
- The new chickens are settling in
  March 9, 2010, 09:43
  Our new chickens have now been with us for three days, and they're settling in surprisingly well. The worst of the pecking and squabbling is over. The only…
- Introducing new chickens to our flock
  March 7, 2010, 17:25
  We are introducing three new chickens to our little home flock. It has led to some fighting as they try and find a place for themselves in the pecking order…
- We're getting some new chickens
  March 5, 2010, 13:29
  As our chickens start to get a little older and slow down on laying eggs, we're taken the decision to buy three new birds to add to our flock. We're picking…
- The chickens lay a rubber egg
  February 19, 2010, 18:39
  One of our chickens has laid an egg with a soft shell that did not form properly inside its body. It was very soft and rubbery - so much so that we could…
- January 2010 egg count shows how our chickens are declining
  February 6, 2010, 08:20
  Chickens lay fewer eggs as they get older, but how much does production drop off after one year? In our case it seems to be a massive 66% after comparing our…
- The chicken bomb in our garden
  January 28, 2010, 08:11
  Seems chickens aren't just good for laying eggs. The British government spent time and money during the Cold War developing a bomb that would have used them to…
- How cosy is a chicken coop?
  January 27, 2010, 08:44
  By putting a thermometer in the chicken coop we have been able to keep an eye on how cosy it gets in there when the door is closed and they're all packed in…
- Eden Project chicken coops
  January 21, 2010, 08:03
  The Omlet Eglu finally has some serious competiton. The Eden Project is selling its own plastic hen houses made entirely out of recycled plastic. They are the…
- A new feeder for the chickens
  January 11, 2010, 08:25
  No description found for this item.
- Chickens in the ice and snow
  January 10, 2010, 12:27
  We've had snow and freezing temperatures for three weeks now, but the chickens don't seem to have noticed. They're lucky: they're not the ones that have to…
- Rooster lungs
  January 6, 2010, 18:54
  Ever wondered why environmental health departments aren't keen on having roosters / cockerels in residential neighbourhoods? Watch this video and your…
- The final egg count for 2009
  January 1, 2010, 10:46
  Despite a serious decline in the number of eggs we got from our hens at the end of the year, the total for 2009 was 876, which averages 2.4 eggs a day - almost…
- Scrambled eggs
  December 21, 2009, 09:23
  Problems in the coop. The chickens are slowly starting to lay again, but they are doing it on the roosting bars, not the nesting box. The result: broken eggs…
- November egg count
  December 2, 2009, 19:36
  No description found for this item.
- The collapse of our egg supply
  November 11, 2009, 13:50
  No description found for this item.
- Barbara's bare bottom
  October 25, 2009, 16:46
  No description found for this item.
- Rear your own turkey for Christmas
  October 22, 2009, 14:36
  If you want to rear your own back-yard turkey in time for Christmas, now is the time to find your bird and start fattening it up.
- The chickens get a new roof
  October 16, 2009, 19:05
  No description found for this item.
- Eggs for September
  October 3, 2009, 10:31
  You can tell we're heading for winter. The chickens are responding to the shorter days with fewer eggs: in September they laid just 77.
- More moulting
  September 24, 2009, 08:07
  I swear it looks like there was a fox in the chicken run last night. There wasn't, or we'd have no chickens left, but the floor is covered in feathers.
- Chicken coats
  September 11, 2009, 14:09
  This poor little chicken isn't keen on the new coat he's been given to keep his featherless body warm. Cute video.
- August egg count
  September 2, 2009, 08:22
  August was a great month for the chickens. They seemed to enjoy the warm weather and sunshine, and responded to the extra light with 91 eggs.
- Recycling the end of the beans
  August 25, 2009, 23:06
  Who says the scraps you feed your chickens need to come from the kitchen? Now that our potted crops are coming to the end of their run, we're getting them to…
- A year with the chickens
  August 17, 2009, 07:10
  This weekend marked a year with the chickens. What a change we've seen over that time. And the changes have been in us, as much as the chickens.
- June egg count
  July 15, 2009, 08:31
  A little late, perhaps, but I've tallied up the eggs laid in June. 85. That's slightly down on last month, and the fourth monthly decline in a row, down from a…
- Broody Barbara
  June 21, 2009, 11:39
  Poor old Barbara clearly wants to be a mum. She's not coming down from the nest in the morning, and after three hours (or more) of sitting on not only her…
- Oyster shell
  June 14, 2009, 10:49
  I don't think the chickens like oyster shell. It's supposed to be good for them, as it replaces the calcium in their bodies that they lose through laying eggs,…
- May egg tally
  June 9, 2009, 07:10
  May saw a slight fall in the number of eggs laid by our three hens. That was unexpected, but there are some possible explanations.
- How to get yellow yolks
  May 26, 2009, 07:30
  Whenever we give away or sell any of our eggs we get compliments on the yellowness of the yolks. And they are very yellow - almost orange at times. The reason…
- Moulting chickens
  May 20, 2009, 18:22
  Margot is starting to lose her feathers. They're running thin on her undercarriage and now, when you pick her up, you can see they grey chickeny skin underneath…
- April egg tally
  May 6, 2009, 13:30
  Counting up the eggs laid in April shows remarkably similar rates of production between that month and March thanks to the longer, sunnier days.
- The chickens keep digging
  April 6, 2009, 06:06
  I think the chickens are trying to knock us off. They won't stop digging. And they're not entirely random about where they're doing it, either: they've chosen…
- Longer days bring extra eggs
  April 2, 2009, 06:31
  Now that the days are getting longer the number of eggs we're getting each week is increasing. For anyone with a small flock like ours, it's surprising what a…
- The problem with big eggs
  March 17, 2009, 16:26
  After the call to ban battery farms and intensive rearing it's now the size of chickens' eggs and the effect that they can have on a hen's wellbeing that has…
- Could we kill the chickens?
  March 14, 2009, 07:53
  Naming our chickens turned out to be the biggest mistake we could ever have made, and it's left us wondering how we could slaughter something that has stopped…
- Could we live on the income from our eggs?
  March 11, 2009, 07:35
  You don't need many chickens before you start having too many eggs, but how many would you need to use them as your means of earning a living? Here's the maths.
- Racking up the eggs
  March 2, 2009, 07:48
  We keep a tally of the daily egg laying now, on a calendar in the outhouse. It's a good way to check how the chooks are fairing with the shorter, darker days…
- The chickens get a new home
  February 23, 2009, 09:45
  We started our little home flock with an Omlet Eglu Cube, rated for six birds. That should have been fine as we were only keeping three, but without much…
- New chicken compound
  February 17, 2009, 13:15
  We ordered a new compound for the chickens a couple of weeks ago, and on Thursday morning it was delivered. Not a problem, you might expect, except that as I…
- Floods
  February 10, 2009, 18:14
  A bit of a disaster last night: we got a month's rain in 12 hours. You can imagine what that does. The nature reserve is completely flooded, about half of the…
- Deep snow on the plot
  February 2, 2009, 10:29
  A heavy fall of snow overnight, and more to come, has left the chickens spooked. It was only when they realised they could eat it that they trusted it.
- Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too
  January 27, 2009, 14:37
  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall returned to our TV screens last night to once again take on Tesco in the battle for better chicken welfare. The supermarket giant…
- The chickens' grand day out
  January 25, 2009, 10:38
  We put the chickens in the greenhouse for half an hour as we cleaned out their run and they revelled in the space. It's made up our minds to build them a…
- Big news in big eggs
  January 23, 2009, 17:17
  An average shop-bought chicken egg weighs about 60g. A hen in Gloucestershire has surprised the school that looks after it by laying one weighing twice that…
- Chicken jumpers
  January 22, 2009, 13:49
  They don't show it, but chickens feel the cold, too, which is why the art of chicken jumper knitting is gathering pace. One rescue centre is asking for jumper…
- Mucking in
  January 21, 2009, 08:28
  The chickens have proved to be a great addition to our self-sufficiency drive. They provide us with eggs, most obviously, but also help at both ends of the…
- The chickens dig for victory
  January 16, 2009, 12:01
  The chickens have formed an escape committee. I'm convinced. They've been digging - quite discretely - at the back of the coop, as far away from the house as…
- Paper bedding for the chickens
  January 12, 2009, 23:25
  Recycling works both ways. Just as we're using the chickens' waste on the plot, so they're using our office waste in the nesting box.
- The chickens and the cold
  January 6, 2009, 08:19
  The chickens don't seem to notice the cold at all. Every morning right now I have to go out with the kettle to defrost their water supply, which had a good…
- Chicken nibbles
  December 29, 2008, 11:11
  Gerry is laying an egg a day, pretty much, with pastel pink shells. Trouble is, nice though the shells are, and tasty though their contents might be, the…
- Three hens a-laying
  December 23, 2008, 08:03
  We're almost certain that all three of our chickens are now laying eggs as the regular brown and cream ones have been joined by a pink variety.
- Gerry's first egg?
  December 10, 2008, 10:27
  It looks like all of our chickens are laying now, as we find an unfamiliar egg sitting at the bottom of the pan. It's taken almost four months to get there,…
- The chickens' progress
  December 9, 2008, 18:56
  As the weather turns colder, the chickens are eating more and getting much bigger. Even Gerry, the smallest of our little home flock, is piling on the pounds.
- The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow: review
  December 8, 2008, 08:11
  This comprehensive guide to diagnosing and treating your chickens' health problems is impressive in its breadth and depth. However, the lack of a comprehensive…
- Techno chicken
  December 7, 2008, 08:02
  I bet this is what the chickens get up to when the coop is shut up at night.
- Winter brings slower egg laying
  November 27, 2008, 10:39
  As the days turn colder (and they really are turning colder) the chickens are starting to lay less. We used to get two eggs every morning, but now it's down to…
- Chicken heads
  November 23, 2008, 11:24
  Keeping chickens is a constant journey of discovery. They're not nearly so dumb as they look. And as this video shows, they can do some very cool things with…
- Chicken update
  November 6, 2008, 14:14
  The chickens are spooked by bonfire night, and find a double-yolk and have the day of extra egg production explained in a very logical way.
- Four eggs in the big freeze
  October 30, 2008, 10:33
  As the weather turns cold, the chickens are thriving. Egg production is up and they're shedding their summer plumage.
- The cheapest eggs in town
  October 25, 2008, 17:54
  As the chickens come to the end of their first sack of layers pellets, we re-do our maths and realise just how cheap our eggs are.
- Sex-changing chickens
  October 23, 2008, 13:07
  Spontaneous sex changing in hens could mean that your all-female flock suddenly includes a chicken chap, landing you in trouble with the council.
- Chicken economics
  October 22, 2008, 20:27
  As mobile, living composters, the chickens are transforming our vegetable offcuts, that would otherwise be thrown away, into fresh, tasty eggs.
- Our biggest egg to date
  October 21, 2008, 07:08
  After weeks of popping out small eggs, the chickens came up trumps this morning and squeezed out a proper monster. Whoever did it will be sitting uncomfortably…
- Egg sizes
  October 3, 2008, 12:39
  A quick reckoning of the egg supply shows that if we're going to use them as a ready ingredient for future home baking, the chickens are going to have to start…
- Stopping the chickens from smelling
  September 24, 2008, 07:00
  The chickens were starting to smell. We'd been cleaning them out as regular as clockwork, but still they smelt like... chickens. Something had to be done, and…
- Building up the chickens' calcium
  September 20, 2008, 08:00
  Now that the hens are laying two eggs a day, we need to ensure they don't use up all of their bodies' calcium supplies.
- Eating the first of our eggs
  September 18, 2008, 07:00
  The chickens have been busy over the last week and a half and delivered us 8 eggs. Time we got cracking...
- Egg production increases
  September 15, 2008, 09:07
  The chucks are getting into full egg-laying swing now. Yesterday, for the first time, there were two eggs waiting for us in the nesting box.
- Our first egg
  September 11, 2008, 09:29
  Barbara lays the first of our home-raised eggs. It's not a biggie by any means, but this small step on the road to self-sufficiency feels like a landmark…
- The chickens and their cold
  September 6, 2008, 08:23
  After the chickens' colds started to spread, we decided it was time to turn to more drastic measures to clear things up.
- Keeping the chickens entertained
  September 5, 2008, 07:24
  The chickens look like they're getting bored, so we're working hard to brighten up their coop and give them some intellectual stimulation.
- The chickens have a cold
  September 1, 2008, 07:10
  Gerry has caught a cold, and she's strutting around the coop doing teeny little sneezes.
- What do chickens eat?
  August 28, 2008, 10:59
  Fortunately the breeder from whom we bought our hens also kitted us out with everything they needed to eat and thrive, saving us a lot of head-scratching. So,…
- Establishing a pecking order
  August 25, 2008, 17:33
  Now that they've settled into their new surroundings, the chickens are starting to work out who should be queen of the coop. So far Barbara's heading for a…
- One week with the chickens
  August 24, 2008, 10:05
  After a week in residence, the chickens have become a part of the family. With a little careful management, they could also turn out to be hard workers in the…
- The chickens arrive
  August 19, 2008, 08:05
  On Saturday morning, we drove up to Stebbing for our lesson on chicken keeping, and to pick up the first three members of our little home flock: Margot, Gerry…
- The chickens are coming
  August 14, 2008, 08:12
  In a rather exciting turn of events, we're off to a chicken-keeping lesson on Saturday morning. We're taking our wellies, as it takes place on a farm just…
- Building an Omlet Eglu Cube
  July 9, 2008, 22:04
  The chickens' future home arrived last week. Very exciting. Having got permission from the council's environmental health people to keep chickens in the…
- Getting chickens
  May 31, 2008, 11:23
  I'm about to launch myself back into the world of poultry and eggs, as I've put in an order for a coop. It won't be here for another month, which gives me…
- Getting permission for chickens
  January 16, 2008, 08:25
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Category: Online (11)
- Today's online round-up
  June 24, 2010, 00:01
  No description found for this item.
- Easy-to-grow crops, the ultimate eco house and solar panel loans
  February 5, 2010, 08:15
  The government is set to make solar power a lot more attractive, while one homeowner in the Cotswolds has built himself a house that costs just £60 a…
- Make your own chicken doorstop
  April 7, 2009, 13:22
  The Guardian has published instructions for sewing your own fabric chicken doorstop using off-cuts of old clothes. We have our own at home, but it gets so much…
- Smallholdings for sale
  March 19, 2009, 07:58
  Want to progress beyond a back yard for keeping your chickens and growing your potatoes? Then it's time to buy into a proper smallholding. The trouble is they…
- Home-made Christmas cards
  November 19, 2008, 19:45
  Planning on making your own Christmas cards this year? This site of templates for making 3D pop-up greetings could be all the inspiration you need.
- links for 2008-11-06
  November 6, 2008, 23:08
  No description found for this item.
- Five wind-up, self-powered gadgets
  February 1, 2008, 11:27
  Clockwork technology, made popular by the introduction of the Baygen wind-up radio, is coming on in leaps and bounds. Here, we've rounded up five essential…
- Five Utility Switching websites
  January 25, 2008, 08:03
  Gas and electricity prices are on the up, leading many consumers to look for an alternative supplier. Yet it seems there are just as many sites vying to give…
- Five online ethical eco superstores
  January 18, 2008, 08:28
  No description found for this item.
- Five self-sufficiency podcasts
  January 11, 2008, 09:00
  No description found for this item.
- Unusual Online Seed Stores
  January 4, 2008, 13:29
  No description found for this item.
Category: Opinion (2)
- What happens when the supermarkets run out of food?
  January 16, 2010, 09:15
  Britain is dangerously dependent on imports to feed its population. Our reserves are dwindling and another protest could see us go hungry. Now is the time to…
- Opinion: how green should our media be?
  February 10, 2007, 07:20
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Category: Profile (1)
Profiles of the great and the good working towards a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
- Living off-grid in Spain
  February 6, 2009, 07:00
  David and his partner left the UK in 2004 and now live on a Spanish farm without mains electric, gas or water. Blagger got in touch to investigate the…
Category: Recipes (66)
- How to make rosemary and olive bread
  June 28, 2010, 19:01
  Rosemary bread is very easy to make, and you can add olives to give it a Mediterranean twist. It is great with both salads and meat products.
- Butternut squash and leek lasagne
  June 20, 2010, 11:22
  This vegetarian lasagne is a beautiful orange colour, and contrasts the sweetness of the squash with the full-bodied herbiness of rosemary and a good strong…
- We've made beer bread
  March 22, 2010, 19:18
  We've been experimenting with making bread using beer. The results aree delicious, and with only three ingredients in the whole recipe it's a quick and easy…
- How to make treacle tart
  March 17, 2010, 08:32
  Treacle tart is very quick easy to make with this recipe, so it is ideal as a last-minute dessert if you have friends coming around. It is ideal with custard,…
- Our sourdough starter is maturing
  March 13, 2010, 13:43
  The starter culture for our sourdough bread looks like it's ready to use. It's bubbling and has a thick top, like a cappuccino. All we need do now is find time…
- Starting to make sourdough bread
  March 8, 2010, 08:42
  Sourdough bread is made using a naturally-occurring living organism rather than traditional bakers' yeast. It requires patience and care as you grow your own…
- Our first yoghurt cheese
  January 8, 2010, 09:08
  Yoghurt cheese is easy to make, requiring only a way to drain your yoghurt and a little salt for flavouring. The result is a smooth, creamy cheese that is…
- Vegetarian chilli
  January 6, 2010, 07:40
  Vegetarian chilli is easy to make, and a warming comfort food that is great for the winter months. Meat-eaters can easily adapt this recipe by adding ground…
- Sausage Plait
  January 2, 2010, 09:37
  Sausage plait is easy to make, requires few ingredients and is easily adapted for vegetarians. It's a great stand-by recipe for unexpected guests and freezes…
- Yoghurt win!
  December 23, 2009, 12:37
  On our second attempt we've made a good litre batch of nice thick Greek-style yoghurt overnight. It was much quicker than our first attempt, and it tastes…
- Marble cake
  December 14, 2009, 11:15
  Marble cake is great for parties and birthdays. The colourful inside makes for a great surprise when cut, and it's not much more difficult to make than regular…
- We try our hand at homemade yoghurt
  December 8, 2009, 15:52
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- How to make spicy tomato soup: recipe
  October 17, 2009, 19:30
  No description found for this item.
- How to pickle onions
  September 12, 2009, 07:31
  With so many onions harvested from the garden we decided that the best way to save them for winter was pickling. Here's how we did it.
- How to make fig jam
  September 8, 2009, 07:20
  The surprise arrival of some free figs saw us learning a new jam recipe and, as a thanks to our neighbours, we shared the result with them.
- How to make blackberry and apple pie: simple recipe
  August 19, 2009, 07:31
  There is so much free fruit to pick right now that it's the perfect time to make one of the most tasty pies going: blackberry and apple.
- How to make blackcurrant liqueur
  July 26, 2009, 14:05
  Our small blackcurrant tree has now produced all the berries it will this year. There are no flowers left, and only a very few under-ripe berries still on the…
- Fruity oat slice
  June 8, 2009, 07:07
  A flapjack in essence, this is very quick and easy to bake and uses store cupboard ingredients, so you can keep stocked up on everything you need and make a…
- Old-fashioned lemonade recipe
  March 30, 2009, 06:00
  Old-fashioned lemonade is a far sweeter, thicker drink than you buy in the shops, and is altogether non-fizzy. This recipe comes from my great, great grandmothe…
- Easy Coffee Cake recipe
  March 16, 2009, 10:27
  This recipe for coffee cake is so simple you can make it in about 10 minutes, bake it in 30 and be serving it 20 minutes later. It's the perfect last-minute…
- Blackberry and Apple jelly recipe
  January 7, 2009, 08:30
  We're still using up our bumper crop of apples, today combining them with another great hedgerow scavenger fruit, blackberries, to make a delicious breakfast…
- How to make rum truffles: recipe
  December 22, 2008, 10:41
  Rum truffles are a delicious, rich treat, and this simple recipe tastes better than anything you can buy in the shops. It doesn't require the use of the oven…
- How to make lemon curd: recipe
  December 18, 2008, 23:26
  Lemon curd is one of the easiest and quickest preserves you can make. It needs just four ingredients, a pan, a bowl and a bit of stirring, and is a job you can…
- How to make mince pies, the easy way
  December 15, 2008, 19:01
  Mince pies are one of the best things about Christmas, and with so many cheap and good quality jars of mincemeat to choose from, you can easily make your own…
- How to boil (and freeze) beetroot
  December 6, 2008, 08:50
  We've harvested far too much beetroot to eat in one go. The most common method of preservation is, of course, pickling, but as that's not to everyone's taste…
- Order in some fakeaway
  November 18, 2008, 08:49
  I thought Indian and Chinese food was a bit of a no-brainer - particularly as you can so often do your whole meal in a single pan by building up your flavours…
- Easy Green Tomato Chutney Recipe
  November 7, 2008, 19:39
  Chutneys, as we've said before, are easy. So long as you keep an eye on them and don't let them stick to the bottom of the pan they're a good first step on the…
- How to cheat at marmalade
  November 1, 2008, 19:24
  We've discovered Ma Made, the ultimate cheat's marmalade. Made by Hartleys, who know a thing or two about jam, it's the only real way you can skip the first…
- Apple chutney recipe
  October 16, 2008, 18:43
  Apples are ripe for picking right now, and with the hedgerows being so heavy with this free crop it's the ideal time to make apple chutneys to see us through…
- How to make Apple Schnapps
  September 26, 2008, 07:00
  Now is the time to be making schnapps, ready for drinking at Christmas. We're making ours with apples for a seasonally-appropriate treat.
- Brie and broccoli quiche recipe
  September 25, 2008, 07:00
  Continuing our series on things to make with the eggs you'll get from a small flock of home-kept hens, which recipe for brie and broccoli quiche is a delicious…
- Jammy disaster
  September 23, 2008, 07:00
  A bit of a disaster in the kitchen as, half way through making jam, the bag of fruit pulp falls off the support and into the juice. The mess is almost…
- How to freeze fruit
  September 21, 2008, 07:00
  Don't be tempted to cut corners when you're freezing your hedgerow harvest. A little bit of preparation will repay you many times over in the long run.
- Frugal Food
  September 16, 2008, 16:53
  Even Delia Smith, one of the richest women in Britain, is leaping on the current frugal bandwagon.
- How to make crabapple jelly
  September 16, 2008, 08:00
  Crabapple jelly is a classic autumn jam. It's easy to make and requires very few ingredients - just crabapples, sugar and water.
- Free cookery book
  September 15, 2008, 12:49
  The UK government has decreed that all schools have to start teaching kids how to cook, and to help they've produced a free book of 50 everyday recipes.
- How to make pastry
  September 9, 2008, 08:00
  Pastry can be quite temperamental, but once you have mastered the art of making it, you can make some big savings on the cost of buying it in.
- Chocolate mousse recipe
  September 2, 2008, 08:00
  This rich, decadent dessert is the perfect ending to any meal. And, with only three ingredients, they are quick and easy to make.
- How to make damson brandy
  August 26, 2008, 07:28
  As autumn approaches, it's time to start thinking about winter drinks. Last year we made sloe gin. This year, damson brandy is calling.
- The Apple Jelly
  July 31, 2008, 09:34
  This is what the 15 jars of our finished apple jelly looked like. They're much darker than crab apple jelly, which is a light pink. The rich red brown of this…
- How to make apple jelly
  July 28, 2008, 09:57
  We finally got time to make jelly with the apples this weekend. They take a little bit of planning, but jellies are easy, and so long as you can spare a couple…
- Three-bean risotto recipe
  July 14, 2008, 12:09
  We had our first proper harvest at the weekend. Three types of beans: French, runner and broad. Not a huge amount of any variety, but enough to cook ourselves…
- How to blanch vegetables
  May 15, 2008, 12:05
  The key to successful blanching is to have everything ready in advance so that you can create a kind of one-person production line.
- Grow your own chilis
  April 5, 2008, 05:00
  Chilis not only taste great - when used appropriately and in moderation - they look good, too. Growing as colourful fruits on small bushes, they make an…
- Cornish pasty recipe
  March 10, 2008, 00:01
  Cornish pasties are very easy to make - much easier than you probably realise. If you can knock up a pastry you're half way there, end even if you can't, you…
- Scones: recipe
  March 3, 2008, 09:00
  Scones are particularly versatile, and can be eaten any time of the day. They are just as good as a breakfast product as they are a mid-morning cake with a cup…
- What food is in season in March?
  March 2, 2008, 09:10
  It may feel spring-like, but we're still in the closing days of winter, and our diets should reflect that. Root vegetables are still ripe for harvesting, and…
- Gingerbread recipe
  February 27, 2008, 09:03
  Gingerbread men are the traditional shape for this biscuit, but if you don't have a person-shaped cutter to hand you can make these into any shape you like. We…
- Home made sloe gin - the opening
  February 26, 2008, 09:19
  We've finally cracked open the sloe gin. It's been slowly fermenting for the last six months, since we headed out into the meadow to pick sloe berries from the…
- Condensed milk cookies: recipe
  February 13, 2008, 08:19
  These soft biscuits are wonderfully sweet, thanks to the condensed milk that binds them together, and because you don't cut down on the sugar.
- What food is in season right now? Part 2: summer
  February 10, 2008, 23:10
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- What food is in season right now? Part 1: winter
  February 9, 2008, 07:30
  Isabella Beeton, famed for her Book of Household Management, wrote in an era before air-freighted bananas and a fridge in every home, and so her lists of what…
- Simple pancake recipe
  February 5, 2008, 10:31
  Shop-bought pancake mix is little more than flour and powdered milk. If you're lucky you might get a dried egg thrown in, but you usually have to add yourself.…
- Easy shortbread recipe
  January 30, 2008, 09:08
  What makes shortbread so compact and crumbly? The high fat content. Have no illusions about the health benefits (or lack thereof) of this biscuit; butter is…
- Easy carrot and coriander soup recipe
  January 24, 2008, 08:57
  No description found for this item.
- Ginger cookies recipe
  January 17, 2008, 09:15
  No description found for this item.
- The Allotment Cookbook : review
  January 15, 2008, 18:32
  No description found for this item.
- Coconut buns recipe
  January 10, 2008, 09:14
  No description found for this item.
- Toffee recipe
  January 3, 2008, 22:28
  No description found for this item.
- Sloe progress
  October 16, 2007, 12:57
  No description found for this item.
- Making Sloe Gin
  October 8, 2007, 07:55
  No description found for this item.
- Marmalade and quince jelly
  September 23, 2007, 21:55
  No description found for this item.
- Tomato chutney recipe
  September 13, 2007, 22:51
  No description found for this item.
- Beetroot cake
  September 12, 2007, 22:20
  No description found for this item.
- Washing the dishes
  February 13, 2007, 07:17
  No description found for this item.
- Happy, healthy H2O
  February 11, 2007, 07:20
  No description found for this item.
Category: Recycling (9)
- Saving grey water at home
  August 18, 2010, 09:16
  Saving water we would usually tip away is paying dividends in two ways: it's cutting out water bill and helping our garden vegetables to flourish.
- Eco answers
  November 20, 2008, 08:45
  How environmentally-damaging is your cycle ride to work? How long will it take a home wind turbine to pay for itself? The New Scientist knows.
- Water recycling... extreme
  November 14, 2008, 19:38
  Nasa is putting the rest of us to shame. I think we're pretty good at conserving water at home, but it works on a whole different scale when you're in orbit.
- Recycle your Christmas cards
  January 6, 2008, 11:50
  No description found for this item.
- Recycling too far
  November 23, 2007, 13:32
  No description found for this item.
- Recycled furniture
  April 5, 2007, 17:59
  No description found for this item.
- Money for mobiles
  February 15, 2007, 07:27
  No description found for this item.
- Batteries and the environment
  February 12, 2007, 07:19
  No description found for this item.
- How to get a discount at Starbucks
  February 2, 2007, 07:31
  No description found for this item.
Category: Reviews (26)
- The Treehouse Diaries by Nick Weston
  August 2, 2010, 22:35
  I wasn't going to buy this book. I saw it in Waterstones, picked it up, made a note and then put it down again, intending to buy it when (and if) it came out…
- Dig on for Victory by C H Middleton
  April 2, 2010, 10:35
  First published in 1945, it is a week-by-week guide of what you need to be doing and when in your vegetable garden. It may be over 60 years old now, but the…
- Stitch n Bitch by Debbie Stoller
  February 12, 2010, 08:39
  Stitch n Bitch is an excellent beginners' guide to knitting, taking you through the process of identifying needles, choosing wool and casting on, all the way…
- Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps
  February 3, 2010, 08:15
  Chicken food is fairly inexpensive, but if you want to be truly self-sufficient you should be making best use of your kitchen scraps to feed your hens. This…
- Victory Cookbook by Marguerite Patten
  January 15, 2010, 08:35
  This fascinating book is both a history of how the population coped with meagre wartime rations, but also a useful reference of low-cost, simple recipes that…
- Tender by Nigel Slater
  January 9, 2010, 09:12
  Nigel Slater's Tender is an homage to growing your own vegetables in the garden and, when harvested, using them to make tasty, simple meals in your own…
- Cheese Making by Rita Ash: Review
  November 23, 2009, 17:26
  No description found for this item.
- The Bike Book by Haynes: review
  September 30, 2009, 13:35
  If your bike is a key part of your drive to be more self-sufficient but you haven't got a clue how to go about fixing it when things go wrong, you need to add…
- Grandma's Remedies by Cherry Chappell
  April 5, 2009, 06:38
  If you're serious about being self-sufficient, you really need a way to remedy simple illnesses and ailments, rather than reaching for commercial drugs in the…
- Vegetable Growing Month by Month: the best veg-growing book ever?
  February 19, 2009, 16:14
  Steering clear of fancy paper and full-colour photos, this how-to book cuts to the chase and really delivers, with clear advice for the first time edible…
- The Concise Guide to Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour: review
  January 29, 2009, 08:15
  The slimmed-down edition of John Seymour's classic text on providing for yourself is an essential read for any small-scale homesteader. Well written, beautifull…
- Henkeeping: Inspiration and Practical Advice for Would-be Smallholders : Review
  January 8, 2009, 08:22
  A very quick read, this book is beautifully produced, small enough to keep to hand, and contains pretty much everything you need to know. Better yet, it's…
- The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow: review
  December 8, 2008, 08:11
  This comprehensive guide to diagnosing and treating your chickens' health problems is impressive in its breadth and depth. However, the lack of a comprehensive…
- Delia Smith's Frugal Food: review
  September 22, 2008, 07:00
  Picking up a 1976 edition of Delia Smith's Frugal Food proves highly instructive, and more than a little entertaining, too.
- Omlet Eglu Cube: review
  September 15, 2008, 08:00
  We've had our Omlet Eglu Cube for a while now, and it's been home to our three chickens - Barbara, Margot and Gerry - for the last month. So how has it stood…
- Intelliplug: review
  September 4, 2008, 08:00
  Intelliplug is the simplest way to control all of your devices with just a single button... entirely passively. Put one in your socket and you should ever…
- Roberts solarDAB : review
  August 30, 2008, 08:36
  This smart, rugged solar radio has a clever trick up its sleeve, but despite stamina few competitors can match, it's still not perfect.
- Our Farm by Rosie Boycott: review
  August 22, 2008, 19:15
  A reality check for any Good Life dreamers looking to quit the city and make a living from the passion, Rosie Boycott's Our Farm, recording her first year as a…
- Bye Bye Standby: review
  August 15, 2008, 08:01
  As energy prices rocket, anything that simplifies cutting down on waste is a boon. Bye Bye Standby does just that, by putting control of every plug in your…
- Tescopoly by Andrew Simms: review
  March 4, 2008, 09:00
  There are many reasons to become self-sufficient. For some it's the simple enjoyment of standing on your own two feet, while for others it's a desire not to be…
- The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: review
  February 14, 2008, 09:03
  Search Amazon for self sufficiency, and this is the first book in the list. And with good reason. John Seymour's hefty time is beautiful, indispensable and one…
- How to Store Your Garden Produce: review
  February 4, 2008, 13:25
  Freezing, bottling, pickling, preserving, clamping, fermenting, brewing... the options for storing your annual crop are manifold, but it's not immediately…
- Starting with Chickens, A Beginner's Guide: Review
  January 29, 2008, 08:59
  This book delivers exactly what it says on the cover starting out with an extensive and balanced list of the pros and cons of keeping your own home flock.…
- Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance: review
  January 21, 2008, 08:36
  No description found for this item.
- Review: The Rough Guide to Ethical Living
  February 23, 2007, 07:20
  No description found for this item.
- Food for Free by Richard Mabey
  February 4, 2007, 07:52
  No description found for this item.
Category: Shopping (15)
- Bag a book bargain
  September 8, 2009, 14:19
  Rosie Boycott's "Our Farm" can be yours for just £2.99, rather than the advertised £15.99.
- Halfords to target frugal cyclists
  November 21, 2008, 19:52
  Cycling is on the up, and one of Britain's biggest retail park retailers is cashing in by opening up a chain of bike-focused stores.
- Frugal Christmas
  November 15, 2008, 09:25
  Hot on the heels of this week's posting about the hampers we're making for our neighbours this Christmas, the Telegraph notes that 'sewing machines, buttons…
- Why self-sufficiency matters
  August 4, 2008, 17:56
  As inflation takes a hold, there are better reasons than ever to move towards self-sufficiency.
- Tescopoly by Andrew Simms: review
  March 4, 2008, 09:00
  There are many reasons to become self-sufficient. For some it's the simple enjoyment of standing on your own two feet, while for others it's a desire not to be…
- Grow your own cauliflowers
  January 31, 2008, 08:44
  Cauliflower isn't the guaranteed cash crop it once was, and so its continued propagation - in the UK at least - is in doubt. That will likely push up prices…
- The Butt Butt water butt
  January 19, 2008, 09:36
  No description found for this item.
- Five online ethical eco superstores
  January 18, 2008, 08:28
  No description found for this item.
- Chicken Out campaign
  January 12, 2008, 09:41
  No description found for this item.
- Unusual Online Seed Stores
  January 4, 2008, 13:29
  No description found for this item.
- Bike trailers
  December 13, 2007, 14:24
  No description found for this item.
- Recycled furniture
  April 5, 2007, 17:59
  No description found for this item.
- Easy ethical shopping
  February 20, 2007, 07:19
  No description found for this item.
- Say it with flowers
  February 14, 2007, 07:38
  No description found for this item.
- Ethical shopping
  February 7, 2007, 07:37
  No description found for this item.
Category: Technology (10)
- Energy consumption monitors
  May 17, 2008, 07:00
  My electricity supplier actually wants us to use less energy rather than more, with the help of a free energy monitor that tracks your usage and costs.…
- Slimmer, trimmer home wind turbines
  February 18, 2008, 08:38
  Wind turbines generate more controversy than electricity. While recent research suggests that some generate less power in the course of a year than it would…
- The wind-powered iPod
  February 6, 2008, 14:16
  No description found for this item.
- Pedalites: The Review
  January 2, 2008, 23:56
  No description found for this item.
- The view from space
  February 25, 2007, 07:20
  No description found for this item.
- Money for mobiles
  February 15, 2007, 07:27
  No description found for this item.
- Ethical shopping
  February 7, 2007, 07:37
  No description found for this item.
- Green tunes
  February 6, 2007, 07:57
  No description found for this item.
- The true cost of upgrading your computer
  February 5, 2007, 07:57
  No description found for this item.
- Calling for free
  January 29, 2007, 07:57
  No description found for this item.
Category: Transport (8)
- A bike to build
  February 11, 2009, 13:15
  I've bought an old bone-shaker to do up. The paint could do with some touching up, the brakes squeal and the gears are reluctant to change, but it should be…
- How to fix bike brake cables
  December 5, 2008, 08:25
  My front bike brake has been broken for a while. It still pulled me to a stop, but the cable had snapped right after the pads, and could have easily slipped…
- Halfords to target frugal cyclists
  November 21, 2008, 19:52
  Cycling is on the up, and one of Britain's biggest retail park retailers is cashing in by opening up a chain of bike-focused stores.
- Shafted through double-counting
  August 5, 2008, 18:14
  Headline figures rarely tell the whole story when it comes to working out how much prices have really increased. Sometimes it's not how much you're paying but…
- Self-sufficient transport in London
  February 12, 2008, 07:26
  London mayor Ken Livingstone plans to introduce 12 bicycle motorways within the city. These will offer a 'network of quick, simple, and safe routes for…
- Pedalites: The Review
  January 2, 2008, 23:56
  No description found for this item.
- Bike trailers
  December 13, 2007, 14:24
  No description found for this item.
- Cycling in the dark
  November 21, 2007, 17:55
  No description found for this item.
Category: Brewing and winemaking (32)
- Our nettle wine has finished fermenting
  July 6, 2010, 22:27
  After almost three weeks of fermenting in the outhouse our nettle wine has gone quiet. Testing it with the hydrometer we found out why: it was ready for…
- Making our first batch of nettle wine
  June 24, 2010, 08:32
  Nettles are plentiful at this time of year and, of course, free, so what better time could there be for us to try our hand at making a few bottles of nettle…
- Celebrating summer solstice with the first of our homebrew cider
  June 21, 2010, 20:25
  It's the summer solstice, so what better way to celebrate than with a good old traditional drink? Time to crack open the homebrew cider.
- We've opened our first plum wine
  April 26, 2010, 19:54
  We've opened our first bottle of home made plum wine, and it exceeds all of our expectations. It's light, fruity and very slightly fizzy. So good, in fact,…
- Bottling the wine
  November 21, 2009, 17:15
  No description found for this item.
- Moving on with the wine
  November 10, 2009, 20:57
  No description found for this item.
- Starting the Christmas wine
  October 27, 2009, 13:52
  No description found for this item.
- Bottling the plum wine
  September 14, 2009, 15:48
  Our plum wine finally finished fermenting over the weekend. After two weeks of gently bubbling away in the outhouse it breathed its last and fell silent. Time…
- Moving on the plum wine
  September 6, 2009, 08:54
  After a couple of weeks in the first fermenter, we have syphoned the plum wine into a second barrel and added yeast. Things are progressing...
- Bottling the cider
  September 1, 2009, 07:56
  We decided this weekend that after two weeks in the demijohn it was time to bottle the cider. Despite all the effort, it only stretched to six and a half pints.
- Making plum wine
  August 24, 2009, 14:01
  There are so many wild plums around our way at the moment that we're having a go at plum wine. This is alongside our existing cider efforts, which are happily…
- Making cider
  August 18, 2009, 07:51
  With so many apples starting to ripen we thought we'd try our hands at making cider. Unfortunately the wait between brewing and drinking is a fairly long one...
- Drinking the Elderflower Champagne
  April 4, 2009, 06:10
  We have opened the first bottle of Elderflower Champagne. It was a long time coming, but I thought that two years in the house, and having friends around for…
- Old-fashioned lemonade recipe
  March 30, 2009, 06:00
  Old-fashioned lemonade is a far sweeter, thicker drink than you buy in the shops, and is altogether non-fizzy. This recipe comes from my great, great grandmothe…
- Drinking the home brewed wine
  March 10, 2009, 07:02
  We've been drinking our home-brewed wine for almost three months now, and in that time it's mellowed and matured, and it tastes rather good.
- Drinking the Apple Scnhapps
  January 18, 2009, 18:03
  We've opened the apple schnapps. Well, one of them. I'm not sure whether it's the one we made from the tree next door or the apples down by the river, but it's…
- Bottling beer the easy way
  December 11, 2008, 08:32
  Finally the beer was ready for bottling, but having learnt from our mistakes the last time around we tried a new strategy this time. It worked surprisingly…
- The cold and the beer
  December 4, 2008, 08:06
  This is the first time we've brewed beer in the winter, and we've both been surprised how different it is to doing it in the warmer summer months.
- Top 5 tips for successful beer and wine-making
  November 29, 2008, 08:39
  Now that we're brewing our second batch of beer, we've sealed our first 23 bottles of wine and cut our teeth - rather successfully - on making ginger beer,…
- How to make ginger beer: simple recipe
  November 26, 2008, 18:31
  Making ginger beer is easy. A bit retro, it played a key part in Enid Blyton's adventures, and is a refreshing drink when you don't fancy anything alcoholic.
- Bottling the wine
  November 19, 2008, 10:27
  After a week and a half fermenting, the wine is ready, and with two barrels, a syphon and some corks, we set about bottling it up for drinking and storage.
- Still waiting for the wine
  November 16, 2008, 18:38
  Seven days in and the wine brewing is running a little slower than scheduled. But then slow food and drink is half the fun of self-sufficiency, isn't it?
- The wine: three days in
  November 12, 2008, 08:54
  The wine is very active now. The fermenter is sitting a the corner of the kitchen, bubbling away like a little alcoholic jacuzzi. It sounds lovely.
- Home-brewed wine
  November 9, 2008, 22:13
  A new venture. This week we're making wine. We're cheating slightly, as we're using a kit, which yields 30 bottles for £19, so about 63p a pop.
- How to make Apple Schnapps
  September 26, 2008, 07:00
  Now is the time to be making schnapps, ready for drinking at Christmas. We're making ours with apples for a seasonally-appropriate treat.
- The elderflower champagne has beaten us
  July 11, 2008, 10:29
  The elderflower champagne is too dangerous to keep in a cupboard. So far we've had 18 explosions, which come with such force that they are shredding the seals…
- The explosive elderflower champagne
  July 6, 2008, 12:12
  The elderflower champagne is proving to be even more volatile than we expected. First it was just one bottle that kept on blowing its cork, but now we've had…
- Bottling the elderflower champagne
  July 3, 2008, 07:44
  Tuesday night, I bottled the elderflower champagne. It was happily fizzing away to itself in the fermenter by then, and ripe for corking up.
- How to make Elderflower champagne
  June 30, 2008, 22:08
  Wine is easy to make, and the recipe for elderflower wine is doubly-simple. Right now, at the height of summer, the hedgerows are heavy with the creamy white…
- Opening the first of the beer
  May 20, 2008, 08:00
  So this weekend we finally opened the home-brew beer and it was... quite nice actually. In fact, very nice. Between four of us we got through the best part of…
- Bottling our homemade beer
  April 7, 2008, 06:23
  After two weeks in the fermenter, it was finally time to bottle the beer this weekend. So, we hoisted the fermenter onto the worktop, tested its gravity and…
- Brewing beer at home
  March 31, 2008, 15:28
  Beer is very easy to brew, and it's one of the most cost-effective self-sufficiency moves you can make. You can quickly and easily set up a small brewery under…
Category: Cheese (8)
Cheese is one of the most versatile foods you can have in your fridge. Here’s where we chronicle our efforts to make our own.
- Our first homemade cheese is a success
  April 19, 2010, 10:15
  Our first homemade cheese is ready for eating, so we've brought it out of the outhouse and cut into it. It reeked on the outside, but that was just the rind.…
- Our homemade cheese is ready to eat
  March 15, 2010, 08:12
  Our homemade cheese has now been maturing for four weeks, so we could technically start eating it. We want a mature round, though, so we're going to leave it…
- Our home made cheese is getting mouldy as it matures
  February 27, 2010, 12:16
  The mould on our home made cheese has come back with a vengeance. It is now turning crusty in parts and growing a blue-green fur in others, making us wonder…
- The mould on our cheese
  February 22, 2010, 08:17
  Our home made cheese has now been ageing for a week and is starting to show mould spots on the surface. We can wipe them away with kitchen roll, but would we…
- The cheese is out of the press!
  February 14, 2010, 17:41
  After a week of turning, pressing and rewrapping our cheese we have finally taken it out of the press and now need to store it for between four and ten weeks…
- Making cheese, day two
  February 9, 2010, 08:49
  No description found for this item.
- How to make cheese starter
  February 8, 2010, 08:37
  Making cheese takes several days, and once you are finished you must let your results mature for between four and 10 weeks to improve the taste. With all of…
- We have a cheese-making deadline
  January 26, 2010, 08:34
  We're all set to try our hands at making proper hard cheese, having found ourselves a bottle of vegetarian rennet at the supermarket. The only trouble is, we…
Category: Crafts (9)
- Our home-knit blanket has earned itself a third colour
  March 16, 2010, 08:19
  Our home-knit blanket is taking shape. At the half-way point it's now got three colours: red, blue and muted green. Do we stick with them, or add a fourth?
- Now I'm knitting a blanket
  February 20, 2010, 14:09
  After the success of the home-knit scarf I've turned my hand to a blanket in three colours: red, blue and knocked back green. It's going well, but my squares…
- I've finished my scarf
  February 10, 2010, 08:01
  Switch to a thicker yarn and you can knit much quicker. In just three hours I managed to knit myself a lovely chunky scarf to seem me through the rest of…
- Re-thinking that scarf
  February 4, 2010, 08:28
  After a couple of weeks of knitting my own scarf I've realised that I'm going it far too wide. So, after a bit of careful thought I've unpicked it all and…
- I'm knitting a scarf
  January 24, 2010, 12:33
  As a first-time knitter I'm finding it slow going. So far my scarf is just 12cm long, and on my rough calculations it should take a total of 125 days to…
- Make your own mittens
  January 22, 2010, 08:10
  Ruined a jumper by washing it too hot? The Guardian has followed up its guide to knitting your own hat with instructions for turning your shrunken garment into…
- Knit yourself a winter hat
  January 14, 2010, 08:33
  The snow and ice seems to have inspired The Guardian in its decision to publish a set of rather easy looking beginners' instructions for knitting yourself a…
- Crocheting is surprisingly difficult
  January 13, 2010, 13:30
  Having found wool and needles in an old knitting bag, I decided to try my hand at crocheting a scarf. As it turns out, even that simple project is a surprisingl…
- A stash of retro knitting needles
  January 12, 2010, 13:07
  Rooting through an old knitting bag turned up a veritable treasure of old needles, retro packaging and an ingenious gauge for identifying unmarked needles.

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