Eight Acres

Even though we call it a "simple life", getting started can appear anything by simple.  Especially if you watch too much Gardening Australia or other DIY programs, everything they do seems to involve lots of expensive inputs, like bags and bags of palletised manures and bales of lucerne hay instead of trying to find simple, cheap and local solutions.  And cooking shows are just as bad! There are lots of ways to start living a simple life and the path you chose will depend on your priorities and abilities.  I've been thinking about some good (easy and cheap) places to start, based on my own experiences.  I'm going to start with -  Growing your own food. Simple: A backyard vegetable garden If you have some space in your backyard, you can start to dig up a bit of a garden area.  You can start small, just a 1m square space will produce a little food for you.  Just make sure you will have enough water, sunlight and organic matter (compo...

Last week I wrote about sprouting chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and other beans for added protein. My other favourite sprouts are fenugreek and alfalfa, which I use to add green veges to meals if the garden isn’t producing enough. the sprouts ready to eat The green sprouts take longer than the beans because you need to wait for the green leaves to appear, but the process is the same. Although you don’t have to soak the smaller seeds for as long, it doesn’t matter if you do (I find 12 hours is a pretty convenient time period between other things that I’m doing, like working or sleeping). I only put a few tablespoons in the jar and watched as the tails (roots) appear, followed by the leaves, until they are about 3-4cm long sprouts. I am always amazed by the increase in size, it seems like every time I remove some sprouts from the jar to eat them, the jar is full again by the next day! It takes several days of regular sprout eating to empty the jar. This is a good thing if you have ...