Fall cleaning

We have 4 weeks a year which are marked cleaning (order and organising storage) Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. 

Many tasks are the same, and then trees the seasonal tasks.

When living self sufficient it's important to clean out cabinets and make order, to be sure nothing is wasted and must be thrown out. Cause that's a waste of money and resources.

The last harvest

I think we almost got the last fruit on stock.
Most of it doesn't keep for a long time, so we use as much as possible as long as it's fresh. Then we store otherwise, by drying or freezing.

It's a well known quote that "one bad apple can spoil the bunch" - and it's true.

When the fruit start to ripen, the picking of fruits start.

Herbs in the freezer

When I know, that I'm not going to use all my herbs, I cut and wash them and stuff them in the freezer.
Actually we strive to do this with anything we grow: we freeze all the stuff, we don't use. Also in order to be self sufficient, you of course have to grow a huge surplus, to feed yourself and the animals thru the winter.

As you can see from this tiny area of my garden, it's time to harvest herbs. Here the price for fresh herbs is approximately 1,5€ when it's cheap, so freezing herbs is a good way to save some money.
Further more, like all the tasks we do to be self sufficient, it's a satisfying feeling to have grown it yourself

August, the most busy month

Plans change quickly when living selfsufficient.
I was in the middle of moving new strawberry plants, when my neighbour called me up to hear, if I could use some apples.
Our own apples is not yet ripe, so of course we went there - also to say hello.

He had hurt his arm yesterday at work, so he was home and a lot of apples had fallen from the tree to the ground.
Fallen fruit goes bad very fast, so after the visit, the dogs and I returned home.

Here's a little stupid idea... When doing the same (boring) job for a long time, bring it to a table and sit down while watching whatever on the tv or listening to the radio.

Re-use As Much As Possible

To be self sufficient (or striving to be as much as possible) we not only grow the garden and keep livestock.

We also strive to "recycle" as much as possible - not just by sorting our garbage.

When starting up living self sufficient, we also started to consider, what we could use for other purposes, than just filling up the garbage can.

Emty plastic containers from storebought food, marmelade, ice cream etc. is cleaned and used again for food that goes into the freezer, fridge, as lunch boxes (and for leftovers for the son who just moved away from home :-) )