WELCOME TO FRUGALDOM!

Frugal Living with a degree of Self-sufficiency
First chick of 2010 arrived 25/02/10
It's not just about gardening, it's about rural living, household budgeting and a frugal lifestyle. Talk about it, chat with friends, swap hints, tips and recipes HERE!

What is Frugaldom?
Frugaldom is our home based frugal living project. It's an attempt to live a simple, frugal, self sufficientish lifestyle in the country. It began several years ago by working to a strict budget, then growing a few veggies in the garden whilst searching for a more suitable place to live. In November 2008, we moved here and the true challenge of frugal living began. The available growing space is still very limited, plus we have hens and ducks freeranging in the garden, but what's a challenge without a challenge? We plan on meeting our various needs by earning whatever those cost from home. Joining the local LETS group has been a major step in the right direction and I now have a list of items that I no longer need to buy, as I either make, bake, grow, produce or substitute for a frugal alternative:

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Where is Frugaldom? Operation 'Frugaldom' is based in south west Scotland within a military Low Flying Area (LFA 16). We don't mind the occasional low flying jets, helicopters and other military aircraft, although even we can be taken unawares when they appear just 100ft above us! Visitors to the area can be caught unawares, as most places conveniently 'forget' to mention the fact that this part of Scotland is a Tactical Training Area for the military (LFA 20T). Regardless, Galloway Hills, Forest and surrounding areas are spectacular all year round. Take a walk with us here

I hope to be able to provide the household with enough vegetables, preserves and eggs to last from one year to the next and have enough left over to trade, making the entire project self-funding. It's almost a full time job already.

Poultry Keeping We started off with 6 broody hens. By buying pure bred fertile eggs and some cheap, homemade incubators, it meant chicks hatching out all over the place by spring 2009. As numbers escalated, it also meant registering with DEFRA.

Being a registered poultry keeper, I hope to develop my hobby into a frugally, self-funding enterprise, so most of the garden has been reserved for that aspect of the project. Most of the hens and the ducks freerange, but we now also have Quail, Pekins, Lavender Araucanas and Silkies. Protective measures are being incorporated wherever and whenever possible. In 2009, however, the feathered marauders won the war against many of the vegetables! We have a freeranging pheasant, too.

Duck Keeping We successfully hatched 3 ducklings in 2009. By sheer luck, we got 2 ducks and a drake, Phoebe, Monica and Joey. Duck eggs are for baking and surplus get sold. Ducklings grow really quickly and they eat anything in their sight.

The Frugaldom project includes square foot gardening, raised beds, container gardening and vertical growing. We've also managed to incorporate a small greenhouse, a shed and a walk-in larder that used to be the coal cellar. We've joined the Galloway LETS group, where we now trade our home produce. Frugaldom now has an online store where surplus hatching eggs will be offered.

Growing Fruit & Vegetables What's growing in Frugaldom? Potatoes, radishes, cabbages, leeks, turnips, carrots, onions, spinach beet, broccoli, peas, beans, cauliflower, beetroot, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, courgettes, butternut squash, artichokes, garlic, herbs, strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, Tayberries, apples, pears, cherries, blackberries and rhubarb. Homemade wine, home cooking & baking and preserving are all part of frugal living. Elderflower champagne is my favourite.

The garden is fairly exposed, so high winds are something we are having to fight all the way. We lost the first greenhouse, albeit a plastic one, to the January gales and, from May's gales (07/05/09), it is clear that vertical gardening is going to be a major challenge. Root vegetables are looking better by the day, although I'm counting on the now solidly built greenhouse staying put so I can cram as much as possible into that. However, we have already had to do emergency roof repairs following storm damage! Update - we now have a gazebo type structure securing the greenhouse and providing vertical growing space plus hanging space for baskets in 2010.

Preserving and Frugal Cooking Frugal living doesn't mean doing without luxuries. When lemon curd making is done, it means meringues get made from the leftover egg whites and there are frequently fruit loaves or biscuits baking in the oven to use up leftovers.

Nothing beats home cooking - it's fresh, it has no additives and there's far less packaging to worry about even if it's being stored in the freezer. Despite this, t we do not rear any livestock for our own consumption. Our hens, ducks and quail are for eggs only. Surplus get sold or traded.

Pie Making & Baking Aiming for a self-sufficient (ish) lifestyle means there's a lot of pie making and home baking goes on as a means to preserving foodstuffs. By food sharing, we can have a varied diet all year round, including meat pies and fruit crumbles.

If we can produce enough from the garden to keep us fed, plus enough to sell or trade to make the project self funding, I'll be extremely happy. To help improve our chances, I'm building up a small flock of hens that will lay blue eggs. My chosen variety is the lavender Araucana. By having broody hens, I should be able to remove the need for electric incubators and brooders other than for quail. Being in rented accommodation obviously means we are restricted in how far this self-sufficientish project can go, so we won't be rearing our own meat. We'll stick to fruit, veg and eggs. Purebreed poultry includes Lavender Araucanas, Silkies and Pekins. Surplus birds and hatching eggs will be sold or traded. Quail rearing is something I enjoy, so there should be plenty of quail eggs from Spring 2010.

If you're in the fortunate position to have a choice of supermarkets, always compare prices. You can compare prices at mySupermarket.co.uk - Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys & Ocado