Note: This article about PTSD is largely based on my own personal experience (since I have been diagnosed with the disorder myself and successfully live with it). I'm not a qualified physician nor do I claim to have all the answers in combating this mental illness. Therefore, any of the "tips" I give in this
Making a tree change into self-sufficiency is it "living the dream" or buying into a nightmare or both? It's interesting how people can have different perceptions about the same thing or situation. These perceptions (or how a person sees a given thing/situation) are mostly formulated by one's life experience, education, age, belief systems, and many other
When visiting my in-laws last holiday season down in NSW (Bowral to be exact) we went on a small day tour out to a winery for lunch and on the way, we stopped in at Harper's Mansion. A really brief history about Harper's Mansion in Berrima Situated in Berrima approximately 125 kms south of
Most cucumbers sold in the supermarket are small to medium size, even though they can grow much bigger, so why aren't more larger sized cucumbers sold? Is it because the flavour of the cucumber decreases as the fruit gets bigger? Burpless cucumber variety (image above) The truth is, yes, sometimes older and larger cucumbers can taste awful
The other day, I received an email from Nytasha asking me if I could help her find out what was wrong with her lemon tree… Basically, Nytasha was puzzled by how bad the fruit (produced by her "seemingly healthy" lemon tree) tasted and if I had any experience or thoughts as to what was causing the
New Zealand based lifestyle magazine NZ Life & Leisure (In Your Backyard) has included our firepit design in their latest release! Emma, the Magazine's Editor, contacted me several weeks ago requesting the use of our firepit design images and the steps to make it. Naturally, I had no problem sharing this information with such a top
I've literally only had my Pickle Pipes for 3 days and they're working for me already by helping me lacto ferment some organic, heirloom, homegrown rainbow carrots. How these silicone fermentation airlocks perform over the next several weeks will determine whether I decide to purchase more Pickle Pipes or not. Fermenting rainbow carrots (image above)
If you think your child's school has a good Sun Smart policy then you might want to double check before it's too late because just as I (and unfortunately my son) found out, using the catch phrases like: "sun aware or sun smart," doesn't necessarily mean the school will care… Background On the 28th of Oct,
Article updated on 15 Nov 2017 – I'm a keen food plant gardener and usually prefer to plant fruiting and other food crops in lieu of ornamentals; however, there are times and places in the garden where ornamentals are necessary and food crops just wouldn't be appropriate. Today, I planted 50 Arthropodium Matapouri Bay plants, which
Preserving jars (the really good ones) are expensive to buy; however, if you keep an eye out you can still find excellent quality preserving jars for "free" scavenged from products we use. The pic (above) shows this free jar in action used to preserve cucumber, Jerusalem artichoke root, and mustard stems Now, most standard jars
For our readers over in the USA (of whom they're many… THANKS) I thought I would inform you about how some Birdies raised garden beds are now starting to be sold on Amazon. Those that don't know, Birdies was one of the very first companies (about 12 or so years ago) to see a future
Cheap egg incubators are a great way to get into hatching your own poultry at home; however, they can also be a total waste of money! This article will outline why you can waste your time and money buying a cheap incubator online and what you can do to limit the chances of that happening.
Lots of people would love to grow their own fresh vegetables but baulk at the idea because they simply don't have the space or desire to maintain a large garden bed. Sometimes it's the lack of permanency such as people who live in rental properties that prevents them from getting into food gardening knowing they
Pokemon Go is breaking all sorts of records since it's release putting creators Nintendo back on the financial map again but it's not the money this clever app is making that interests me it's the potential health benefits. I played tennis fixtures last night and my (much younger) opponent Adam happened to be a Pokemon
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.
