Ann Leach

If you are looking for a way to reduce food waste, get a small fridge. "What??!!  Noooo..  I need a bigger fridge to put more food in because it's going bad!!" Think about what you just said.  Really, think about it.  You already have a fridge, probably a fairly spacious one.  And food is rotting in there.  Why?  Did it get pushed to the back (rotting zone)?  Is there more than one so one is good and the other bad?  Did you put it in there with all the best intentions of eating it tomorrow? And then forgot about it? See, I know whereof I speak.  I had one of those refrigerators.  It was big!  I mean really big!  It stuck out 6 inches in front of the kitchen counter.  And I was throwing away SO MUCH FOOD!  After a while, I started filling empty milk jugs and putting them in the back on each shelf, yep in the rotting zone.  That helped.  Finally when I opened the door, I could see everything in ther...

I am reading "The Self-Sufficiency Handbook" by Alan & Gill Bridgewater and am getting so much from it. The chapter on self-sufficient houses has this list for improvements: 1 -- Fit good heavy curtains to all the windows and exterior doors.  Open the windows during the day and close close them at night to keep the heat in.  Wear layered clothes when the weather is cold. 2 -- Replace all single-pane windows with double- or even triple-glazed units. 3 -- Reduce the number of exterior doors. 4 -- Insulate the roof space and all cavity walls.  If you have solid walls, add insulation to the inside or outside faces. 5 -- In the northern hemisphere, reduce the number or size of north-facing windows and increase the size and number of south-facing windows; vice versa if you live in the southern hemisphere. 6 -- Install a woodburning stove, and remove items like electric gas and electric fires.  Fit vents and ducts so that you can channel excess around the house....