How Long Does it Take to Build a Chicken Coop?

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 […]

A New Beginning

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. […]

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

water butt with downpipe connection kit

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 […]

Enjoyable Emergency Food Survival – Grow Your Own

Unusual Heirloom Vegetables

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, […]

Emergency Survival Food Supply 275 Meal Pack

Emergency Survival Food Supply 275 Meal Pack

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 […]

Kindle Reader – The Green Way to Read?

green kindle

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 […]

Organic Shampoo for Better or Worse?

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 […]