Before I get into my little story, which proved to me beyond doubt how chickens can learn from a single experience and remember it for years, I would like to quickly outline some other observations and opinions I have about them. Also, at the end of this post are two videos: the first one is
This is a quick down and dirty guide about how you can easily get free food plants from your own garden without hardly any effort at all! Often we see garden TV shows showcasing vegetable seedlings or seeds purchased from a garden centre, but what the presenter doesn’t often do is explain how easy most
One of the biggest scams to hit modern society is the introduction of self-service checkouts at our major retail supermarkets. Supermarkets would rather pay theft and shoplifting costs than wages and that’s the bottom line! Today, I lined up behind one of only two manned checkouts (out of about 20) at my local Woolworths supermarket;
Do we need to question the relevance of organic certification? A court case in Western Australia where an organic farmer sued his GM neighbour farmer for contaminating his crop and subsequently losing his organic status has ended in favour of the GM grower. The contamination of the organic farm/crop was not in question and was
Oh brother, am I the only one who is getting fed up hearing the same lard dribble out of media networks around Australia and the world trying to shock us with yet another (but the same) we’re getting fatter story? Today, all media networks were on the same message about a study showing how 25%
Updated on 20th Dec 2017 If you've ever had a leaking dam or pond on your property, like me, you would know how frustrating and costly it can be to fix. Thankfully, there's an easy, cost effective solution to fix a leaking dam, pond, or even a lake, and it doesn't require heavy machinery, equipment,
Article updated on 4th June 2018 Have you ever tried a macadamia nut freshly removed from its hard shell? Well, if you haven’t you just have to do it because that’s the best way to eat a macadamia! However, removing the macadamia kernel from its incredibly hard shell is no easy feat and that’s why I
Clean living, diet, healthy lifestyle, and exercise… So these are the ongoing topics of constant discussion I hear in my work environment (as a master PE teacher) or when I’m training my clients, I come across these buzzwords in every magazine and paper I read, and I see them play over and over during both
This article was updated on 14 Apr 2015 When I first built our duck dam/pond I never imagined these cute waddling birds could do so much damage with their bills to the walls! Seemingly overnight, our ducks had eaten away large segments of dam wall where the water lapped the earth and caused so much
Today, I planted about 23 new gazanias in our garden adding to our ever expanding gazania collection. My main gardening passion is food and I love all types of food plants but over the past few years I have been paying more attention to ornamental plants because I have realised how growing ornamentals (particularly flowering
Hi everyone! I’m baaaaack… And, may I give a special hello to all those valuable regular readers of Self Sufficient Me and I’m so grateful you have continued to return to check our site out even though I haven’t posted any articles for about 6 weeks. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean I have not
We often read or hear how important spacing is when it comes to planning our backyard food crops. Seed packet instructions and the experts all tell us that plants need appropriate space if we want the best growing results. Well, I’m going to debunk this myth and blow it right out of the raised garden
I've been experimenting lately with lacto fermentation as a way to preserve and create good, healthy, and tasty food from our own surplus produce. The modern way to make pickles and preserve food is to use lots of vinegar or sugar and pasteurize or boil the heck out of it to sterilise the food by
Lots of people complain about the cost of living (I’m one of them) but many don’t do much about it (I’m not one of them). The media says that grocery prices have actually reduced over the past 12 months or so; however, I don’t see much evidence to back this claim up. And, the media
When it comes to growing quail in the backyard environment one of the big advantages we have over a commercial operation is the lack of any market pressure to sustain a product all year round. Therefore, we don’t need to worry too much when our quail go off the lay for a few months and
Do you find kneeling, crouching, and bending in the vegetable garden is getting harder as you get older? Well, you’re not alone! But, don’t despair there's an easy solution that will keep you plodding in your vegetable allotment until you’re pushing daisy’s yourself! It’s called Stand up Gardening. That’s right all we have to do
So it’s the dreaded fruit fly season in Queensland Australia (where I live) and unfortunately it coincides with our best growing seasons being spring and early summer – that’s no surprise I guess. However, what does surprise me is how much fruit actually survives the sting of the fruit fly. Queensland fruit fly preparing to
This article was updated on 27 Apr 2015 When I first built our chicken enclosure/pen I had to compromise quite a lot because of the number of large gum trees in the way. This meant, I couldn’t build a conventional rectangle or box enclosure without cutting down a heap of trees and I wasn’t prepared
Eating weeds might be the trendy thing to do and talk about at the moment amongst frugal living, self-sufficiency, survivalists, preppers, hippies, raw foodies, and organic gardeners but I really question the effort in opening the subject up to the wider community. With obesity becoming the number 1 threat to world health and dietary related
Tim’s the boy from the bush and he not back in town because he hates it… Well, maybe not town but he definitely hates the city and every one of those Claytons greenie, soft skinned, whinging, people who live in it (especially the politicians). Nup, Tim has time on his hands but none for those
Self Sufficient Me is a blog about self-sustainment by growing our own produce (plant/animal), and self-fulfilment by looking after our health (physical/mental) through exercise and slowing life down a little.
