All change..

Hello all, how you doing?
So here at Flowertot Mansion we have been rethinking our life or should i say how we live.
Growing our own food is now more important than ever and then storing it.
The allotments are thriving and my husband and son are working hard to make sure we have veg and fruit to last us from one year to the next. The price of food is creeping up already and we noticed that 9p seems to be the price they putting things up by. You add up all those 9p's in a week then a month then a year and its a lot of money.
So to make sure we have a good supply we are going to start pickling and preserving more of our produce.
I already make jam and chutney but have never pickled before.
My husband watched a Youtube tutorial on how to pickle Beetroot.
We now have 2 jars of Pickled Beetroot.
These are our first jars for our Pantry.
Speaking of the Pantry, we have to change the lay out of the room we use for our freezers.
It needs stripping out of everything and a coat of paint and the window fixing properly.
The room is not huge but i think if we use the space to the max we can have a decent size Pantry with shelving to store our food.
We have 2 bookcases that are no longer used and these will be stripped down and the wood used for shelving.
I am already emptying my shed of stuff i no longer need/want or use.
This shed will be turned into a storage area for empty jars, tubs, containers.
The one thing you need is extra space for not only your produce but the containers you need to store them in. The she shed is currently not doing much so i will line the inside and arrange some shelving so my stuff can stored properly. I have hooks at the ready to hang things up. Its ok having a storage shed but it has to be organized properly otherwise it becomes a dumping ground for crap..and i have been slowly ridding myself and home of crap.
The Pantry will also be used for our bulk buys.
I have 20 litres of vinegar and 6kg of salt.
These are actually cheaper to buy in bulk for us as we plan to use a lot of vinegar for pickling and the salt also.
Our flour is now direct from the miller and instead of trying to make it fit in my tiny pantry it will also go in the big one.
We already make our own bread and cook from scratch at most meals but we have been reading on how to improve your own sufficiency.
Its a learning process we both want to do.
Making our own wine and cheese is one thing we want to do. We have excess fruit at times so that will be preserved and made into wine.
Our own Grapes will hopefully be made into wine or eaten by us..that al depends on how many fruit.
Growing foods that we eat and will eat..no fancy crops of stuff that we might like or not.
 Our Apple trees have some good size buds already.
Look at the Plums..ooh i cannot wait for them.
Using our allotments to the best of their potential is another thing.
My hubby has made his own liquid feed for the fruiting plants. It consists of Comfrey and Nettles placed in bag in bin full of water..the lid is essential.

 When its stewed for 14 days its ready to go into bottles..hubby then adds a litre to so many litres for feeding the plants..be warned it stinks and i mean stinks..manure is one word for it. The lid is essential for the keeping the bloody smell in. However it stinks it works and that's the most important thing ..plus its free.

We already recycle and repurpose a lot of things , we are guilty of having the odd splurge on stuff..but we are going to try and restrain ourselves.


Doing some of our plans is not going to be cheap but in the long run it will save us money.
We have some jam jars but not enough ..i had loads at one point and gave jam to family and friends and never received the jars back even though i asked.
Paint is another thing we need but then the big tub will also be used to repaint ceilings.
Brackets for the shelves..we would make them from wood but we are thinking the weight of full jars on them may buckle them so metal ones will be bought.
I would like proper storage tubs for flour,sugar,salt but they are expensive so i will buy them one at a time.
A good blackout blind as well..to keep it cool and the food out of sunlight.
I am pretty sure there is more we want to do but i cannot think of it right now.
We all know a recession is here and prices are going to rise but wages won't, so being prepared for it will help every penny we get be more precious and be able to be spent on absolute necessities.
These are our plans and already we are making a start.
Its nice to talk to hubby about all these things and know we are on the same wave length.
Take care all
ftm




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