Part of the plan with Oaklands is grow our own food and for a few years at least have a crack at a much more self-sustainable existence. I want to retire before I am 60 and preferably at 55 - five years of slog in the desert left. The "cheaper" life can be for a few years the earlier I can retire and Jane and I can get on with the garden and wood full time. It should be possible with 2 acres of garden and 2 acres of wood to produce a fair amount of food through the year. I have a plan for a couple of pigs in part of the wood. We can have a small orchard with some chickens. I looked up a goat milking machine online and thought about goats but unfortunately they eat everything - hedges, trees, shrubs !
Other options for protein include rabbits, wood pigeons (license situation permitting) and the hind quarters of squirrels if I am brave enough. There is a purchase needed of a high power air rifle with a scope for that plan !
The bedrock of cheaper living though will have to be fairly sizable vegetable production, My history with vegetable growing is distinctly patchy. Interest comes and goes. I had a real drive with Kale last year in Dubai which was very successful. I have dabbled with potatoes in the UK and carrots. I will at Oaklands need to upskill and get into the rhythm of year round crops. We have made room in the garden design for an area of raised beds not so far from the potting shed and greenhouse. Plans were pinging back and forwards to the garden designer Cheryl Cummings who is working with Jane. There was a debate over paths and tractor access for the wood. Things resolved themselves with a scribbled drawing on my part. The interest for this post is that there are of 12 raised beds - each will be about 1.2 x 2.4 m.
The area around the house and current "turning" circle will be cottage garden. Coming from the back of the house out of the conservatory you will walk up some steps - a seating area is situated where the old pool heating house currently stands. Moving further into the garden the first port of call then is the main "engine room". My wood shed will be converted into a potting shed and then the area we cleared recently will take the greenhouse. Off to the left hand side of this main artery is a gravel area set in which will be the vegetable garden with its 12 raised beds. I got a bit carried away last week with my scribbling and drew in 15 !
I have decided while in Dubai to use what time I do have to upskill as well. Recently I have got interested in a little bit of preserving and last weekend I had my second go at fermentation. A staple I love is sauerkraut. The process is very easy and the results are quite delicious - although Jane perhaps does not share my enthusiasm.
The measurement is easy - 10 grams of salt for 1 lb of cabbage.
We invested in a decent food processor and I have decided that the weapon of choice is this evil looking shredding disc.
You mix in the salt and some caraway seed - bash it kneed it. After a short while the cabbage shreds start to give up their liquid. The juicy bashed up cabbage then gets tamped down in a kilner jar. You need to top up with a bit of brine (just mix some salt and water and then the whole thing just sits on the side for two weeks. The finished result can be "stopped" at two weeks by fridging or you can let it decline further into a much more mushy consistency.
There is plenty of information about the benefits of fermented food and human bioflora and so on these days. I think one of my 12 beds is going to be dedicated to cabbage - white and red - interlaced with Kale. Things should be pretty as well as edible. So for now and until I can get stuck in at Oaklands its sauerkraut from supermarket bought cabbage but at least a step in the right direction. Watch this space for my 1/2 sour dill pickles and soon to be special hot sauce !
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