Chicken House Destroyed In Storm

Approximately a month ago we got out hands on an old play house, which we quickly decided to use as chicken house. Not only would the chickens provide us with fresh eggs, meat and add to the farm life here - however...
We had a huge storm, and this is unfortunately the result... I'm just glad we didn't get the poultry yet but had decided to do that in the spring, since theres a lot of other projects here, that demands our attention.

Collect Your Own Seeds - It's Free

It's easy to collect your own seeds for next year. I try to collect as many types as possible, since seeds can be quite expensive, but also cause its the way to do it to be self sufficient.

A couple of days ago - on a rainy day - I prepared seeds for tomatoes and pepper. I took some seeds from store bought fruits.
I put the seeds onto pieces of kitchen towel to let them dry for a couple of days.
The reason I use kitchen towel is, that it dissolves easily. Seeds from tomatoes for instance, will stick to any surface, so when the seeds are dry, they are like glued to the surface. Thats okay, cause when using kitchen towel (or toilet paper) You can just cut or snip your homemade seeds off the paper.

I store my seeds in anything, as long as its made from paper. An old envelope, folded paper etc. NO plastic bags or similar, if the seeds are not dry enough, they will rot.  

Allways remember to mark the seeds, and there You go :-) Homemade seeds for the kitchen garden ready to use next year :-)

Chicken House

We have picked up a playhouse for chickens today. We got it for free, as long at we picked it up ourselves, and to tell the truth, that was a hard job for the "boys".

We are very excited to start to prepare for poultry, but first we have to decorate the house and build the fence, so we have decided not to get chickens before next year. Theres a lot of other projects, that demands our attention before that.
But I can't wait until we are able to collect our own eggs, from poultry that have been living the good life.

Blackberries - Collected In Nature

Blackberries can be collected in nature for free. Even though its nice to be able to be self sufficient and we like to grow everything on our own land, it is in many situations meaningless to grow berries and fruits you can collect elsewhere for free.  

Blackberries however is very popular, so if we want to be sure to get any - before other people take them - we find we have to have it on our own land. Also, if you grow them yourself, you can choose a thorn free plant :-)

I collect berries every other day, since they are not all ripe at the same time. I put them on a plain surface and stick them in the freezer for half a day, before I store them in a freezing bag. That way they wont stick together and I can take out the exact amount I wish to use.

Since we just started out our self efficiency project, we didn't get that many berries this year - but next year I want to make blackberry marmalade - great for pancakes :-) And besides... Everything I'm able to store in glasses wont take up space in the freezer.

Elderberries - Collect Them Free In Nature

We collect a lot of vegetables and fruits in nature for free. One of them is elderberries, which we use to make juice. The juice can be stored on glasses but we prefer to store it in the freezer, even though it takes up some of the space.

It's great to drink hot, spiced up with a little lemon and cinnamon, or use thickened a bit for soup when you have the cold.

Since theres so many plants in nature, we do not use any of our land to grow them - it is meaningless to use up farmland for berries, that you can find for free in nature.