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Self-Sufficiency in Style 

even more from the dustbin

 

Now we could get this information from dustbin.

 But, instead, we can take it all from a nice clean and warm kitchen.

We are interested in the foodstuffs, the packaging and, in particular, the ingredients.

Don't forget the fridge and the freezer.

These are the things you are eating and drinking.

Start making a list of the items that make up the product.

You can forget the flavourings, colourings and preservatives.

Many of you will recall the famous radio quiz show

Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?

 You will quickly find that the list falls into some clear categories:

Minerals

Fish, Meat and Dairy Products

Vegetable and Fruit Products

and quite a few things that you are unsure about. Actually, further research will quickly establish that they are, in fact, one of the above.
You are now going to ask yourself, whether these could be, in theory, produced by you.

You do not ask yourself, whether it is feasible, desirable, cost effective or anything else, come to that.

You do not ask yourself whether you have the inclination or skills either.

Just the simple question.

 

The answer is always "Yes."

It is not surprising that the Romans used Salt as a currency.

Making the "salary" has always been a bit tricky.

 Even fish. 

You could drive to the sea each week-end and fish with a line from the beach.

Salt is the trickiest, but even then personal production is just about possible.

You can, given adequate energy, produce everything on your list.
To become self-sufficient takes imagination. 

You need to clear your mind of established ideas; to remind yourself that milk didn't originate in the bottle.

Plenty of people make a living doing things for you, that you could, with effort and knowledge, do for yourself.

This is meant to fire your imagination.

We can deal with the question of whether it is worth growing oranges in Newcastle on Tyne (it is!) elsewhere.

It is important to realise that garbage collection is a relatively modern facility.

The normal English term of "dustbin" says it all.

Collections came in as part of the improvements in living standards and the passion for clean houses of Victorian times.

Your forefathers did not need a dustbin, there was no waste that could not be recycled at home.

They were truly self-sufficient.

Now you have riffled through many dustbins, you might like to go back to the Home Page leaving the rubbish behind. Or you can find out how well you eat in Isn't the food boring?


...your best measure of how successful you are in becoming self-sufficient is the contents of your dustbin

and you can start in a the kitchen of a one bed-roomed flat in Lambeth.

...leaving the dustbin behind at

- the nonsensically named Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner.

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