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As people were kind enough to enjoy our "solar firewood" thread, I thought some here might enjoy seeing the step by step process of taking our outbuildings off grid. In this video we look at Sizing & designing an installation Selecting a storage & power solution Buying, installing & wiring...

Today, we completed a tiny self reliance step with which I am inordinately pleased Log stack by English Countrylife, on Flickr The logs here are sustainable local wood. Blowdowns, dead trees, line hazards etc. The crates are old veg crates too rickety to use for harvest but fine for log...

Not everything on the homestead has to be utilitarian. I find mistletoe beautiful & a little mystical. Right now it has both fruit and flowers. It's the perfect time to seed new trees

As old hands here will know, we cure our own bacon, make jerky, butcher our own meat etc. Something we haven't had before is a proper, old fashioned, meat safe, but we are increasingly looking at air cured meats & have started experimenting so it's time. Our first attempt is Guanciale (pepper...

It may seem prosaic & less fun than knives, but if you are ever going to grow anything or raise any kind of livestock, you are going to need a barrow. A good one is a joy to use. A bad one is wheeled misery.

Lincolnshire is old fashioned, I get it. It's not for everyone. We don't have Uber or Deliveroo. The nearest pub is a 45 minute walk & the nearest bus stop a mile. When they run. However today I got a phone call from a farmer friend. "Come round for some Christmas veg". Off I wander with game...

Don't worry, we don't want your money! We would really like some input & advice though so if you can help, please take a look at our latest video! We are re-planning the smallholding but struggling a bit!

In the second on our series on cooking with fire, we look at some of the tips & tricks that are helpful in cooking on a solid fuel range cooker

All through Autumn and Winter we heat and cook on wood. We have been asked many times to film exactly how we do that & we have finally caved :) In this modern world of induction hobs and fan assisted ovens we decided to start the series with an explanation of easy, reliable fire lighting...

Go outside, put your phone in Night Mode to enhance the vividness, let your eyes adjust and look. Do it now IMG20241010222920 by English Countrylife, on Flickr

When we started incubating our own poultry we bought a cheap Chinese made incubator. It was awful! But that was many years ago & we wondered if they had improved. So we bought one to find out!

A quick reminder that the deadline for registering all poultry in England & Wales is 1/10/24 (or risk criminal prosecution)

Some members here know that Fiona & I love cooking "properly" when out & about. Fiona's campfire Thai curry has become renowned Thai Curry by British Red, on Flickr We also do a lot of chinese dishes & a while ago I became interested in really doing them properly. I was surprised to find that...

Some members here know that Fiona & I love cooking "properly" when out & about. Fiona's campfire Thai curry has become renowned Thai Curry by British Red, on Flickr We also do a lot of chinese dishes & a while ago I became interested in really doing them properly. I was surprised to find that...

Spices are often overlooked in peoples plans for self reliance but food without herbs and spices is dour bland stuff. Our latest video looks at how to grow & use a useful range of herbs and spices. It's very possible in this country to grow enough to produce a wonderful array of Chinese...

We are huge fans of chickens - they are great fun, hugely productive, cheap to own and easy to care for. We strongly commend them to anyone looking to produce their own food. There are though some things that we really didn't know when we started chicken keeping years ago and took us by...

One of the most frequent questions that we are asked (indeed the reason we started on YouTube) is "how do I set up an electric fence to protect my chickens from foxes". Our latest video explains how step by step.

For those of us interested in homesteading and off grid living, solar power is becoming increasingly approachable. One tricky aspect of building such things is understanding how all the components are compatible. Our latest video explains how to get the right number of panels, the right type of...

One of the most frequent questions that we are asked is "what equipment do you recommend for new chicken keepers"? Over the years we have made many detailed videos on individual items but often what people want when starting out is a simple checklist with the best coop, best feeder etc. listed...

After starting our series on simple solar power, we have been asked a lot of questions about portable power stations & solar generators. They certainly do represent a simple way to capture, store, transport & utilise power, but there is a bewildering array of units out there - all a little...