A Self Sufficient Life

How Long Does it Take to Build a Chicken Coop?

Mrs.Dirty Boots — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 15:59:15 +0000

So last week we finally got around to building the new chicken run. We really should have done it sooner, but it’s so easy to put off jobs you know will be a bit of a faff, and probably take ages. We are expert procrastinators if the sun is shining and we could be enjoying what might be the last day of summer (in Britain you just never know when it will end and simply must make the most of every warm day). But how long does it really take to build a chicken coop? For us, in all honestly […]

The post How Long Does it Take to Build a Chicken Coop? first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

A New Beginning

Mrs.Dirty Boots — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 14:13:58 +0000

It’s been a while (um years!) since A Self Sufficient Life was updated and a lot has changed for the Dirty Boots Gang. The big news (well for us at least) is that we’re no longer residing on a Spanish mountain. Instead we’re enjoying the rolling hills of the English countryside. Self sufficiency is no longer quite so obvious or indeed imperative, as life is mostly “on grid”. We are however, still very much self reliant. Working from home to pay our way and ensure we enjoy life to the fullest without relying on the whim of bosses in suits. […]

The post A New Beginning first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

Don’t You Just Love Freebies – Great Water Butt from Idealo

Mrs.Dirty Boots — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:04:19 +0000

The world of the web is a peculiar place at times. Often we get unsolicited emails from folks. Usually they want to let us advertise their dubious products we’ve never heard of and have no interest in finding out about. Other times they simply want us to turn the site into a spam fest sending links to folks for cash. But once in a while an email is a pleasant surprise. In May Tommy at Idealo got in touch to ask if we’d like a water butt. Yes indeedy I replied, expecting not to hear back from him. But low […]

The post Don’t You Just Love Freebies – Great Water Butt from Idealo first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

Enjoyable Emergency Food Survival – Grow Your Own

Mrs.Dirty Boots — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:05:53 +0000

If you want to feed your family yourself, why not simply grow your own? Mr DB’s recent look at emergency survival food supplies got me thinking (dangerous obviously). I cannot imagine having a bucket of dried prepared meals handy should zombies attack, but I do have a stash of home grown vegetables to munch on. Of course there would be plenty of potential emergencies that might actually put an end to the vegetable plot, but hopefully not in the long term. If you grow from viable seed and then collect some of those seeds produced by those plants each season, […]

The post Enjoyable Emergency Food Survival – Grow Your Own first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

Emergency Survival Food Supply 275 Meal Pack

Mr.Dirty Boots — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:56:46 +0000

I came across the Emergency Survival Food Supply 275 Meal Pack the other day and it got me to thinking about all manner of things. Self sufficiency is one thing but I wonder what would happen if there was no access to the shops for a few weeks. Maybe some form of a backup plan is on order. Here is the link to the product in question Emergency Survival Food Supply 275 Meal Pack As you can see it is pretty cheap, actually a lot cheaper than I would have imagined. The product itself is a bucket full of food […]

The post Emergency Survival Food Supply 275 Meal Pack first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

Kindle Reader – The Green Way to Read?

Mrs.Dirty Boots — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:44:35 +0000

Who hasn’t heard about the Kindle Reader yet? It seems you cannot get away from talk that electronic books are the future, and indeed their sales are soaring so fast Amazon has already said that US ebook sales are doing better than sales of real paper books. People love gadgets, and something that is even smaller, lighter and perhaps more convenient than a paperback is certainly a popular choice for fans of reading. I admit I have on occasion lusted after a Kindle myself. The convenience of having several books (or thousands if you want) all stored in one little […]

The post Kindle Reader – The Green Way to Read? first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

Organic Shampoo for Better or Worse?

Guest Poster — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 10:13:39 +0000

This is guest post and it makes for some very interesting reading, the things you learn by having a website! A friend of mine who was very proud of his luscious head of hair used to always talk about the benefits of either not washing his hair with any shampoo and only using an organic shampoo when he did. Admittedly, his hair was very impressive but I always put this down to his genes rather than his hair care routine. However, now I am not so sure. When he went overseas, my friend gifted me his stock of organic shampoo […]

The post Organic Shampoo for Better or Worse? first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

Protecting Your Garden from Genetically Modified Pollen

Guest Poster — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:52:39 +0000

Today, at A Self Sufficient Life, we have a guest post by Ashley Warner. It’s an interesting look at the perhaps very worrying world of GM food and the implication for home grown crops everywhere: Genetically modified organisms (GMO) have sparked a hot debate in the world of agriculture. Many people scorn the usage of genetically modified seeds due to their questionable safety of consumption and potentially harmful biological effects. Others claim that this attitude is pure conservatism and that GMO crops are the future of agriculture, bringing higher yields to poorer land and allowing us to feed a burgeoning world population. Whether safe […]

The post Protecting Your Garden from Genetically Modified Pollen first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

At Last New Homemade Compost Bins

Mrs.Dirty Boots — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:00:29 +0000

Aah, we love our garden compost here at Casa Dirty Boots. But, the one thing we don’t – well didn’t love was our compost bins. Oh they were fine and dandy when first created. In fact we were rather smug that we’d used scraps of wood from the house that were good for little else to make them. Five years on though and what once was merely wood-wormed was starting to dissolve a little. The whole bin arrangement needed reinforcements to keep it all dog proof (essential when you are composting humanure). I shuffled some spare blocks that had […]

The post At Last New Homemade Compost Bins first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.

Frugal Sustainable Gift Wrapping

Guest Poster — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:36:30 +0000

Today we have something a little out of the ordinary at the kind of Self Sufficient Life; a guest post from Kate Willson about helping achieve a frugal gift giving season this year. So over to Kate: Christmas is fast approaching, and as some of you may know, sometimes buying the wrapping paper can cost as much as the actual gifts. To save money this season and continue with your mission to live green, below are some great and cheap ways to package your gifts this Christmas. Old Gift Bags/Wrapping paper—The easiest way to save and be green is to simply reuse old […]

The post Frugal Sustainable Gift Wrapping first appeared on A Self Sufficient Life.