[doganjo]

Yes, exactly, Rosemary, and like it or not we are all dependant to a greater or lesser degree on each other.  Natural progression and technology has made that happen.  I am nowhere near any form of self sufficiency nor would want to be - I like people and company too much to want to stand on my own.  But I do like the idea of bartering - if someone does me a favour I give them half a dozen eggs or some vegetables or plants, or babysit, or animalsit.  I think that is the way forward in trying times.

[Crofter]

Perhaps a better term, and a better goal, would be Sustainable Living?

Dave

[Tullywood Farm]

Sustenance - now yer talking

Is it time for tea and biscuits Sandy

Julie 

[doganjo]

Sustenance - now yer talking

Is it time for tea and biscuits Sandy

Julie 

Sure is - one of my pups is back for a  couple of days holiday and her mummy brought me some rock cakes and cherry buns - off to have a cuppa with a couple of these and hang the diet!

[Tullywood Farm]

Self Suffiiciency to me doesn't mean that you are only looking after yourself and your immediate family.

To me, it means that you do not have to depend on outside corporations ripping you off every day
(Gas, Electricity, Water, Oil, Supermarkets, Butchers, etc.)
and pushing farmers prices down in order to make a fortune out of the consumer.

The other thing is the Quality factor, and knowing what is contained in your food is really important to us.  Our food is pure, natural and without any unneccesary medication, chemicals or preservatives added.  So we should benefit healthwise, and also financially, once initial costs are absorbed ( a bit like the hen story under Chickens in the Rain.

We have a friend who has a commercial pig farm, and a dairy farm.

He is currently paid 19 cents per litre for his milk.  The same milk in local shops is 1.40 euro per litre.

The situation is really mad.  The farmer has to raise the animal and feed it every day, and gets a pittance.

I am thinking of maybe making Irish farmhouse Cheese and Butter from his milk and offering him more per litre, he has mentioned that I can take as much as I wish from him - and I will still make money!

AND I will be able to sell my cheese and butter at a good price to the consumer too. Along with my Pedigree free range pork from farm to fork - I've already invested in HACCP training and a stainless steel processing unit!

We can all take it as far as we wish - having hens for eggs only - to  full scale pig breeding or other food production - what we are really doing is GETTING BACK TO NATURE - As things used to be! before they invented - Marketing - Consumerism - Shopaholics - Choice and Calories!

Just need equipment for making butter and cheese - where's Russ - hows that windows of his doing
he will know what I need to get.....................

Trouble is I like living so much I need 100 hours in a day and to stop ageing....

Julie

[rustyme]

Hello Julie,
            managed to pop on at last... windows is sorted ok 'ish' now , pc seems ok so far ....pop!!!! no all ok ... had a power cut here tonight  god if it don't rain it pours.... anyway ... MILK is the answer to your question .... sorry couldn't resist ... Apart from making the odd 1/2 lb here and there of cheese , I wouldn't have a clue what you need for commercial quantities !!! I know it involves big stainless steel tanks , but thats it!! sorry  I make my little bits in bowls and  jugs I have here in the caravan . Same with butter, just use a big jar and shake it for hours !!!!  I lose interest in anything more than I need , I don't fancy going down the same road HFW has gone !! He has his road and I have mine . Mine is, supply me with what I want or need, and give any surplus to relatives or maybe sell a small amount to cover costs . I have spent years decombobulating myself from the rat race , and have no intention of recombobulating back into it .... My limit is swap 6 eggs for a few pints of milk or some such ...I do know that making cheese is easy ..making it right is a bit harder....gotta get back to smashing the cr*p out of the pc now ....

cheers


Russ

http://www.allotment.org.uk/allotment_foods/cheese-making/making-cheese-equipment.php

not a bad place to start from !!! some basic info and some links to follow too..

[Tullywood Farm]

Thanks for that Russ - keep me busy for a while - don't go battering that pc too much - it'll only get its own back when yer not looking

I don't want to be too big - just sell a bit each week to the 30-40 people that buy meat from us at the farmers market and our farm shop - plus it would be nice to have our own - we have goats too so thats worth a try, I have heard goats milk and goats cheese is good for people and kids who suffer from asthma and theres a lot of that around here.

I watched an old lady make butter at an event in Dublin recently, she had a churny handle winder thingy bobby and then moulded it with two wooden paddles into shape - looked really simple, and I wondered if it would be worth making it at some of the events we do just like this lady did - the kids were amazed at the demonstration, and we do a lot of work with schools so, as they say where you were born  "It mite be just down are street mate"

Anyhow, got to go - under pressure today and Joe isn't well so have to make tea to go with the sympathy the poor bu88er needs.  I cannot get him to go to the Doctors - he hates them, but I think he needs some pain killers or anti-inflamatory stuff 

[rustyme]

Hello Julie,
         butter is really easy to do . You can still get the big glass jar churns with the handles ...although they are always to dear for me . The only thing is it takes time , people tend to give up before it turns !!! , but it is easy , and tastes lovely too. Cheese is easy to ,as I said before, but it is a bit long winded , that is till you are used to doing it, and aren't standing there waiting to try it !!!   I used to milk a herd of Jersey cows and had as much free milk as I wanted , made great cheese and butter , I also made loads of yogurt . It all came in handy with 7 kids in our family .
 Sorry to hear Joe's back is still playing him up ....I take MSM tablets now ... (nothing to do with Microsoft or Bill Gates) , but they are basically sulphur tablets , and they help create new cartilage and to lubricate joints . I suffered terrible problems with my back till I started on those , only the odd problem nowdays .... maybe worth a try ? They take a week or so to have an effect at the start , you still have to go carefull with what you do though afterwards , no lifting car engines etc ....

cheers

Russ

[Tullywood Farm]

Excuse my ignorance, but if its not bill gates or microsoft

What is MSM tablets??

DG's are all that would take my pain away - and my doctor will not give me anymore - apparently there addictive - so have to put up with paracetamol, or a bottle of cheap plonk (neither of which work)

I slipped my disk when I was 28 and its still sore at times   

MSM  Not homeopathy is it - supposed to have studied that a while back but it never seemed to work for me - does ok on the dogs though

Julie

[rustyme]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylsulfonylmethane

I stumbled on to MSM after helping a farrier for some time . Some peoples horses were old and didn't move about much, if at all , due to arthritis. Some people were told that there wasn't anything that could be done for their horses as they were too bad to be treated  These same horses, after just a few weeks on MSM would be running round the field like foals , it really was an eye opener.
 Now if this had been done on people I would have said oh it is just the placebo effect !! but horses can't read what it says on the bottle and would have no idea what they were  being given . It worked for them , so I tried it and it worked for me too . After years of agonising pain from a broken neck and back , I was virtually pain free , still am today . Now if it is a placebo effect on me , I don't care, as long as it works  . But I have seen it work since, on dogs as well as more horses. I crushed 5 vertebrae in my spine altogether , two in the neck and three lower down just below my shoulder blades , I have shrunk by about an inch and a quarter , and up till I started taking MSM I had regular debilitating pain . I still have problems , it hasn't cured the actual breaks but it has taken nearly all pain from my back and about 90% from my neck . It has no effect on my headaches that I get , some are  very bad aches within my head , to do with the way a smashed my skull . Others are like a sort of migraine  , but as long as I am pain free in the back I will continue to take them . I don't say they will work for everyone  , but I know a few who also take them and it works for them too.
http://www.simplysupplements.net/product/49/msm-methyl-sulponyl-methane-1000mg/

cheers

Russ

[Tullywood Farm]

Will try to get some at the local health shop in Carrick-on-Shannon for Joe.

We have just finished putting up post and rail fencing after having the digger in all weekend, so he is wet and cold, so I will have to make him a hot water bottle.

You must have had a serious accident to break your back and neck, did you have to have pins and things? 

Julie