Self-Sufficient in Suburbia: June and July

This is the programme that covers June and July on the allotment and in the kitchen (with a trip to the Smallholder Show thrown in for good measure). There's lots about the ducklings and chicks. Jam making has started and the elderflower champagne is made.

Cutting up the honeycomb

I recently harvested honey from one of our hives. The comb has now been cut into 225g pieces. The video shows how we dealt with it.

How to make mint jelly

We have an abundance of mint on Dad's allotment and we had some very small windfall apples I found under a wild apple tree. Mint jelly inevitably followed.

Deep clean

Our henhouses are suffering from a mite problem. We think this may have contributed to the recent fall in egg productivity. I have ordered some Poultry Shield (used for killing off mite infestations) and was hoping it would arrive today. When I got back from the market selling out honey and jam, I found the it had not yet been delivered. So, this evening, I took a barrel of warm water, a scrubbing brush and washing up liquid to the allotment and gave the first of the henhouses a thorough deep clean. No surface went untouched. All crevices were thoroughly cleaned as well.

It was interesting to note that many of the hens of their own accord moved into the new (and mite free) duckling house to roost through the night recently. The henhouse I cleaned tonight normally houses 8 but recently the number has dropped to 4, though I have moved hens back into it. It was interesting to note that in its super clean state tonight, 6 hens chose to roost in it. And hopefully the other two will move back into it shortly. Hens, after all, aren't daft.

The self-sufficiency challenge - days one to three

The challenge to spend at least a month on food we have produced ourselves or traded with other local food growers has got off to a reasonable start. So far we have not had to resort to going to shops for food. Our diet has, admittedly, been a bit repetitive over the past three days but there is nothing new in that. We tend to make enough in one go to last a few meals. On Thursday, for our main evening meal, I made a meatball casserole. The meatballs were made from sausagemeat from our Tamworth and the vegetables in the casserole were traded with other allotment holders (for jam). To it I added some leftover vegetable soup (again, all made from locally produced food). We finished the casserole tonight.



Lunches have been satisfying but simple. David has been having pork sandwiches, from a Tamworth leg joint roasted earlier this week.I've been having scotch eggs I made using some of our duck eggs and sausagemeat from the Tamworth. For a bit of variety today, I had a green leaf salad with my scotch egg for lunch, picked fresh from the allotment. Leaves included mustard, radish, nasturtium and lovage.



Tomorrow we switch to roast lamb for dinner. We traded some of our pork for a friend's lamb earlier this year so it's time it was used up.

No more shop bought food - self-sufficiency begins today

If we are to be self-sufficient, at some point we have to reach a point at which we take the decision to stop buying food from shops. Well, the day has arrived. We set 1st August as the date and food purchases from shops have now ended. Okay, we will have some very minor exceptions for things we cannot produce ourselves, such as tea and coffee, flour and, in the absence of the goats, milk. We will however strictly limit our consumption of these products, using alternatives wherever possible. And we have lined up a friendly shopkeeper who is prepared to trade for some of our honey, jam and eggs.

For a month I will be keeping a diary on this blog of the food we consume. We do have a modest transition period as there are some perishable foods we bought that still need to be used. There will also be a short gap in August as I may be away for a few days.

The main rules we are following are: we eat the food we produce ourselves, forage for or trade for with other local food producers. Where this is not possible, and alternatives do not exist, we will aim to trade for the products we need. In the absence of that, we will have to buy in the shops. Our aim is to avoid that. Read on to see how we get on.

How to make elderflower champagne

Making elderflower champagne is normally a task for June but this year, due to the late start to spring, everything is a month late. July saw 24 bottles of champagne produced. The video shows how I make it.