Trying to be self-sufficient

This is not my garden. Picture credits: Paola Bassanese

If you read my previous article about failed vegetable growing experiments you know that my goal is to become self-sufficient.

Is it realistic to be self-sufficient in Ireland? I am starting to have doubts and here’s why.

Let’s start by my initial plan to save money on groceries and grow my own food.

These are some of the reasons why so far I haven’t managed to put this plan into practice:

• weather – as it rains most of the time you are limited to what you can grow and because I don’t have a greenhouse the only few things I can grow are potatoes and sprouting broccoli;

• soil – I live near a bog or wetlands which means that the soil is dense, acidic and water-retaining, which means that many plants rot and those that survive get eaten by slugs and snails

• garden size – I have a small and narrow garden where I can grow vegetables, plus having a dog means that the soil is disturbed by my dog’s daily running over it!

Irish houses. Picture credits: Paola Bassanese

Dreaming of becoming an off-grid household

As soon as I had moved to my house in Athlone I started dreaming about installing solar panels and going off-grid. The thought of spending so much money on electricity every year was giving me cold sweats so I started looking into renewable energy.