I’m finally able to get back to updating the site after six months of frustratingly doing too much travelling and unexpectedly putting in too many hours on my day job. It’s been a frustrating period in many ways, and at times it has felt like this years goals weren’t going to happen, but rather than dwell on that lets do a quick assessment of where we are based on those targets we set ourselves.
Composting: No progress, but this should be a quick one to do now we have more time. We’ll pick this up when we build our raised beds (see below)!
Establish the Vegetable Garden: This has been the most frustrating thing for me. Due to some timing issues concerning the additional land we purchased, and the need to clear some of the existing land, not to mention my lack of availability, we missed the opportunity to do anything other than grow a few things in pots and plant a bed of salad leaves this year. I’m pleased to say however that we are now in a position to be able to construct our raised beds so we’ll be bringing you some updates on that shortly. Our aim is to continually build our level of self sufficiency in fruit and vegetables as quickly as possible, but realistically we don’t expect to see real benefits until 2012. We’ll share the journey in the hope that it might inspire you.
Greenhouse: We’ve identified the size and style of greenhouse we want, and have now identified an appropriate spot on the plot for it. There is some remaining work to clear that area which will take a bit of time and effort, but this is the thing that has our current focus.
Heating & Hot Water: Complete! We replaced our LPG boiler with one that was much more efficient and whilst we’ve not had chance to assess it’s efficiency properly, it can’t be nearly as bad as the aged boiler it replaced. We’ve also selected a wood burner and sized solar panels, so as time and funds permit, we’ll update you on these. The wood burner was always in our plans for 2011, but we’ve struggled to find time to select an appropriate hearth and surround so far, and we were disappointed to find out that our chimney failed it’s test and has to be re-lined. C’est la vie. The boiler was the critical thing though and thankfully that’s been done.
Chickens: Complete! Yes, we purchased the first four pullets back in May and they’ve been laying reliably for a few weeks now. They are currently in temporary housing whilst we complete the plot clearance and move them to a better location, before adding to the flock. It didn’t really feel like we’d made a start on self sufficiency in our new home until they arrived, and it feels great to be enjoying eggs produced by our own hens! I can thoroughly recommend the wonderful Wells Poultry for poultry equipment and supplies. They are well stocked and deliver extremely promptly. We’ll provide more details on the hens in the near future.
Whilst we’ve not had the time to do some of the things we planned, we’re aiming to make the best of the longer days during the summer months to move things forward quite significantly, and we’ll be resuming more regular updates, and hope to bring you equipment reviews, as well as adding richer content to the site.
But what of the rest of the world. At times, I’ve felt that it’s gone compeletely pear shaped in the last six months, but the reality is that the mainstream media have bounced around sensationalising one thing after another, and we’re still heading obliviously into a worse situation than we’ve been in the last couple of years.
Clearly the public sector cutbacks have been emotional in some areas and we’ve seen some of the inevitable strikes. Whilst I think it’s regretful that those people concerned should be impacted in this way, I do believe the cutbacks are absolutely necessary and unfortunately do not go far enough. That said, it does seem like the government are perpetuating the craziness of their predecessors by focusing on the wrong areas. There are many services that they do not need to, and should not be providing that don’t seem to be being touched, and others that I would consider are legitimate public sector services which appear to be being targetted. Central government blame local government and vice versa. They need to get their act together – fast! But we all know they won’t.
Food and other prices have escalated quite substantially, and I think this is something we have to learn to expect and live with. It’s almost scary to think that in 1930 there were around 2billion people on the planet. Roughly 50 years ago there were 3billion, and in the next few days or weeks we will cross the 7billion barrier!
In the midst of phone hacking, war, strikes, governenment scandals and the rise of the cult of pointless celebrity, it’s easy to lose sight of something very very important. Where I’ve spent my own time over the last six months has brought this home to me acutely. The actions we each take day to day and moment to moment make a difference. We can choose to spend our time on unproductive things, or on distracting things, or, we can choose to spend our time building our own personal levels of self sufficiency so that we can weather the various storms and crises that will inevitably come our way. It’s all down to whether we stand up and take responsibility for ourselves and our families.
